FanPost

Padres Future Depends On Our Current Minor League Pitchers

It seems like almost every year I curse the Padres when they draft pitcher after pitcher after pitcher, whenever we make a trade, our return seems to highlight pitching (except for Latos, although it did include Boxberger). I was pretty ticked when we passed on Gallo to draft another pitcher.

But the light in my head went off last night after the Royals-Rays trade. The Rays were able to turn two of their pitchers in to a top 5 prospect plus more pitching. I know we always get compared (or compare ourselves) to the Rays but the Padres need to follow the same logic. I think we have been but I just realized it now.

Currently our minor league pitchers and young pitchers of note include (get ready for a long list): Casey Kelly, Robbie Erlin, Joe Wieland, Cory Leubke, Matt Wisler, Donn Roach, Keyvius Sampson, Adys Portillo (he's still on the team right?) Joe Ross, Max Fried, Walker Weickel, and Zach Efflin. That's twelve pitchers right there, two rotations plus two, plus all the relievers I didn't even mention.I might be missing some too.

What we need is at least half of those to turn into solid big leaguers and half of those to turn into a #1 or a #2. It'll be rinse repeat with the Latos trade. James Shields is a great pitcher as is Latos and look at the hauls they brought in. If Luebke can come back and pitch to his talent next year we should be able to get a nice return (including bats and more minor league pitchers) with hopefully one of Casey Kelly, Robbie Erlin, and Joe Wieland filling the void he leaves. Once one (or hopefully more) of those three pitchers develop value, we can trade one of those away for another haul with the next wave of pitchers coming up.

To go back the the Rays, they just got their RF of the future in Myers and still have a rotation highlighted by Price, Moore, and Helickson, not to mention Odorizzi from the trade (still a year away I think). This time next year they'll trade away Price for another crazy haul and hope that they can do the same with Moore or Hellickson in a few with the new pitchers coming up to replace have coming up.


What do you guys think?

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball staff or SB Nation.