ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR SAN DIEGO PADRES

Late Padres chairman Peter Seidler and head of baseball operations A.J. Preller redefine what is possible in small-market San Diego

- JEFF SANDERS

Xander Bogaerts spoke quietly as reporters gathered around him in the tiny visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. The finality of the Padres’ Game 5 loss in the National League Division Series had only begun to wash over the 32-year-old shortstop as he and his teammates dressed for a bus ride back to Petco Park and into the offseason.

They had planned to go so much further. “Roster wise, we had it all, to be honest,” Bogaerts said.

The injury-ravaged Dodgers, buoyed by National League MVP Shohei Ohtani and an MLB-high $328.5 million payroll, went on to win the World Series, stiff-arming both expensive New York clubs on the way to their first full-season title since 1988.

Los Angeles’ biggest test in 2024 resided some two hours down Interstate 5 in the form of a Padres team that rose from the ashes of the most disappointing season in franchise history, the death of a beloved owner and a sobering new financial reality to push baseball’s No. 1 seed to the brink of elimination.

To orchestrate a rebound with a heavy heart following chairman Peter Seidler’s death from an infection related to a compromised immune system, the Padres traded away Juan Soto to begin to rebuild a competitive roster minus some $90 million from the 2023 Opening Day payroll.

They paired some of the fruit of that Soto trade with several Day One draft picks, including their last two first-rounders, to add stars to the mix. They called up Jackson Merrill—one of the top prospects in baseball—changed his position and watched him blossom into an all-star. Jurickson Profar started the All-Star Game as a $1 million lottery ticket signed on the eve of spring training.

The Padres’ pro scouting department recommended important role players for both the lineup and the bullpen. And they reloaded the farm system via another top international signee and several early 2024 draft picks with promising upside.