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The San Diego Padres took center stage in baseball after pulling off this past weekend's only sweep in MLB. In the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," podcast hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman dove in on the Padres, who despite their winning ways lately have glaring weaknesses.
The lineup: Still top-heavy, still full of holes
Let’s be real: The top of San Diego’s batting order is stacked. Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arraez, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts — all are looking solid, with Bogaerts in particular showing signs that he’s heating up.
But then the well dries up: As Jake puts it, “The Padres are the opposite [of ‘no letup’ lineups]. There’s some let-up.” Jordan agrees, pointing out that when teams pitch around the stars, the bottom of the San Diego lineup can’t seem to punish pitchers.
If you’re wondering, that “bottom” Sunday included Luis Campusano, José Iglesias, Elias Díaz and Brandon Lockridge. Yuli Gurriel is now gone, so at least the organization is turning the page on ill-fated depth signings.
The wild card: Jackson Merrill’s return
Jordan hammers home a key point: Jackson Merrill — already one of the better young players in the game — has been MIA since he suffered a right hamstring strain in early April. He’s expected back from injury this week, and his early season performance was sizzling.
If he picks up where he left off, San Diego’s offense could be genuinely dangerous — not just “dangerous if” or “dangerous on paper."
The real story: The pitching staff
This is where things get spicy. Did you know that the Padres own the lowest team ERA in baseball? Their rotation ERA is good, but their bullpen ERA is a mind-melting 1.73. Jake acknowledges, “How sustainable is that? Not sustainable. But to get that low, you have to be legitimately good.”
Jordan breaks down why: Robert Suarez has become one of MLB’s most quietly dominant closers — no breaking ball, just fastballs and a filthy changeup. Plus San Diego has Jason Adam (the key multi-year acquisition from Tampa Bay), Jeremiah Estrada (24 Ks in 16 innings) and a quirky mix of arms such as Alec Jacob and Yuki Matsui. Not to mention, there's the revival project: lefty Adrian Morejon, now a nasty reliever after starting never quite clicked for him.
The rotation: King & Cease solid … but after that?
Michael King and Nick Pivetta have both exceeded expectations so far, but Dylan Cease, while still striking hitters out, has had a bumpier ride than hoped. The real wild card, though? Randy Vasquez.
Jake spins a fascinating tale about Vasquez, who is running one of the lowest strikeout rates in modern baseball but somehow still getting outs, despite walking more batters than he punches out. “Perplexing,” “effectively wild” and “the pitching version of David Fletcher” are among the descriptions thrown around.
Jordan notes that Vasquez had real strikeout stuff as a prospect, so this low-whiff, high-walk act is weird even by Padres standards. But because San Diego’s depth has evaporated after years of win-now trades, the team is letting Vasquez continue to try, even if it feels like a science experiment gone rogue.
Playoff hopes and X-factors
San Diego's is a roster with extreme strengths and glaring weaknesses — so much so that Jake compares them to the “outrageous amount of depth” that the Dodgers possess and says, “I just love [the Padres’ top-heaviness] in comparison to the Dodgers.”
The hope: If King, Pivetta and Cease stay healthy, Merrill returns strong and the bullpen doesn’t combust, this is a group that could rattle the NL in October. But the floor is there, too. If the offense goes cold or injuries pile up, the lack of depth could come back to bite San Diego.
In Jake and Jordan’s words, the Padres are “a strange club” but pretty darn good. If you catch only one Padres game this week, let it be a Randy Vasquez start — you’ll likely see some defense, plenty of traffic and baseball at its funkiest. No team combines chaos and intrigue quite like San Diego.
For more on the Padres and other baseball debates, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
