At one point last year, the San Diego Padres didn’t have Juan Soto or Josh Bell and Fernando Tatis Jr. was injured.
That unit was basically Manny Machado and whoever was hot at the time.
But then, the Friars acquired Soto and Bell, and the offense outlook improved a bit.
Without Tatis, they had enough to make it all the way to the National League Championship Series.
Having retained most of their pitching assets and after adding a couple of potentially big bats, San Diego is going for it.
Not only do they still have Machado and Soto, but they will get Tatis back around April or May and signed Xander Bogaerts and Nelson Cruz.
Let’s take a look at what the offense looks like for the 2023 season.
Here is an updated look at the Padres after signing Nelson Cruz 👀 pic.twitter.com/hdhgB600ex
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) January 11, 2023
Soto, Machado, Tatis, Bogaerts: it’s very, very hard to beat that foursome.
And, additionally, the Padres brought in Matt Carpenter.
He revived his career with the New York Yankees and parlayed his performance into a nice contract with San Diego.
Cruz wasn’t actually good last year (.651 OPS) and is 42, but hit 32 homers as recently as 2021 and could bounce back.
Jake Cronenworth is a very underrated asset, and while Trent Grisham is more glove than bat, he did have an amazing postseason and has bounce-back potential.
All things considered, the Padres lost Jurickson Profar and Bell but added Carpenter, Bogaerts, and Cruz, not to mention they will get Tatis back.
This is one of the best offenses in the National League, without a doubt.
