Padres now face tough reality

The San Diego Padres are terrible. It seems that sentence can apply just about every season for the Padres in recent years. Since losing Adrian Gonzalez prior to the start of the decade, San Diego has been without a face of the franchise-type hitter in the lineup.

This season, we have seen more of the same. Last year, the front office went out and added Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, Justin Upton and Melvin Upton Jr. Immediately, the Padres went downhill and never were seriously in contention, something that has continued well into 2016. Justin Upton is already gone and Norris is a defensive liability and hitting .212.

While Kemp, Upton and Myers are all hitting this season, the rest of the lineup isn’t doing much. Myers made the All-Star Game and batted cleanup, hitting .286 on the season with 19 home runs and 60 RBI. Kemp has already hit 16 homers and knocked in 58 runs, with Upton contributing another 16 blasts and 44 RBI. Meanwhile, the Padres are getting absolutely nothing from anybody else in the order sans Jon Jay, who is hitting .296 albeit with no power and just two stolen bases.

All of this means a few things. San Diego can’t hit and because of that, is sitting in fourth place of the National League West with a 38-51 record. Combined with their rancid starting rotation, the Padres need to sell and sell hard at the deadline.

If they can get some nice prospects back for Drew Pomeranz, the Padres should move quickly. San Diego got Pomeranz from the Oakland A’s and the move has looked great, with the lefty making the All-Star Team thanks to eight runs, a 2.47 ERA and 115 strikeouts. Other than Pomeranz, there is nobody worth dealing on San Diego due to having little talent and horrific numbers.

Offensively, it might be time to look into selling anybody and everybody not nailed down. San Diego would be better off getting rid of the current crop of talent and landing some prospects with high ceilings. For years, the Padres have been trotting out teams with relatively high floors but ridiculously low ceilings, always ensuring that the best possible finish in the West will be third behind the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.

To truly rebuild and get fans back in the seats at beautiful Petco Park, the Padres have to give up the dream of re-racking the roster on the fly every November.