People frequently talk about how the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals (among other regular contenders) possess some of the worst fanbases in all of sports. They’re rabid and unforgiving, yet cocky and delusional.
If that was any argument for San Diego Padres fan superiority in the past, though, it appears they’re losing the ground they stand on. The folks in San Diego are growing restless, as the continued hype isn’t bringing results.
Pads general manager AJ Preller, time and time again, has done his best to put this team in a position to win and contend for a World Series. Perhaps he’s tried too hard, though, because the results are non-existent!
His latest masterpiece, trading for Juan Soto at this year’s deadline and completely gutting the top of San Diego’s farm system while also affecting team chemistry on the MLB roster (Eric Hosmer, Luke Voit), has backfired for the first month, and Padres fans are seemingly already fed up.
They recently booed Soto, who’s having a rough go of it since shipping out west. To make matters worse, he was hit in the shoulder with a pitch on Wednesday and left the game with a contusion. He’ll enjoy a day off on Thursday and return just in time to face the Dodgers on Friday.
Padres fans booing Juan Soto is yet another win for the Dodgers
A move that was supposed to unite the Padres and have them ready to take down the supreme teams of the National League has not paid dividends and has gotten their fans angry. Just how the Dodgers drew it up.
For a second there, LA fans were disappointed that Andrew Friedman didn’t make a blockbuster trade deadline deal or at least ensure the Padres didn’t land guys like Soto, Brandon Drury, Josh Bell and Josh Hader. Fortunately … none of those moves have worked out for San Diego, while the Dodgers are enjoying positive production from guys like Chris Martin and Joey Gallo, both of whom weren’t expected to do much at all.
Bell is hitting .193 with a .631 OPS. Drury is on the IL and was hitting .220 with a .672 OPS before landing there. Hader has a 15.26 ERA and 2.74 WHIP in 10 games. Soto is … somehow just as bad almost?
Soto actually addressed the boos when asked by the media, too. Though his response was admirable, this is not the publicity the Padres front office was hoping for.
Turns out, the increased stakes actually didn’t help with any of the Padres’ trade deadline acquisitions. To be fair, Soto and Hader will be in San Diego through at least 2023, so there’s plenty of time to see this through, but right now the myriad heavy lifting Preller did a month ago is somehow benefitting the Dodgers at a crucial point in the season.
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