The San Diego Padres were the most active team at the MLB trade deadline, improving nearly every aspect of the roster. While A.J. Preller helped solidify Mike Shildt’s roster, the Padres aren’t guaranteed to make the postseason.
But, with a strong roster, the Padres look well set up to make a run. However, for ESPN MLB writer Bradford Doolittle, there’s one thing he remains concerned about after the trade deadline: the team’s history without a championship.
“The depth after the active-26 group isn’t great, so health is crucial.” Doolittle writes. “But as constructed, the Padres are as well-situated for the postseason as anyone. They, along with Seattle and Milwaukee, will try to snap a zero-for-eternity title drought. Any of the three could do it.”
While his messaging is positive, despite the deep concerns and weaker prospect group, he says that the team’s “Lingering concern” is the Padres’ history.
San Diego, like the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers, hasn’t won a World Series before. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t win it all this season. With the massive spending the Padres did at the deadline, their roster is strong from top to bottom.
MORE: Padres pull off blockbuster trade for Athletics’ Mason Miller
The rotation is sound, the bullpen is dominant, and the lineup has significantly more length. Doolittle admits that the Padres, after adding Mason Miller, Freddy Fermin, Ramon Laureano, and Ryan O’Hearn, “have eliminated any glaring holes on his roster.”
With no glaring holes on the roster, the only thing Doolittle can have concerns about is the team’s history. But just two years ago, the Texas Rangers won their first World Series title, and did so fairly easily.
The team in 2025 is different than the Padres team in the past; the team’s history should have no bearing on how they perform the rest of the year. To call the Padres’ lack of championships the team’s lingering concern after the trade deadline is strange.
MORE MLB NEWS:
