Padres GM Pulls Off Holiday Miracle, Lands Two of the League's Top Starting Pitchers Without Selling the Farm

Blake Snell, new Padre

Me and my fellow San Diego Padres fans have at times been befuddled and bewildered over the years by the moves the Padres front office makes. But not this week. The events of the last 48 hours will go down in the history of the Padres ball club as a franchise game-changer.

In two brilliant and unlikely trades, soft-spoken wunderkind General Manager AJ Preller picked up two A-list starting pitchers - Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays and Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs -- without selling the farm.

Snell, 28, a lefty who won the American League Cy Young award in 2018, dominated the Dodgers in the recent World Series but was then inexplicably pulled from the game. That boneheaded move is presumably part of the reason Snell is evidently eager to play baseball somewhere else next season.

Yu Darvish, new Padre

Darvish, 34, this past season's National League Cy Young runner-up, came of age in 2019, and in 2020 he was flat-out dominant, finishing second in the National League Cy Young Award voting to Trevor Bauer.

If all that weren't enough, the Padres also today signed Korean superstar slugger and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who will be a huge addition to the infield and at the plate. Or he could be traded for yet another A-list player.

Kim is obviously not going to beat out Fernando Tatis, arguably the best young player in baseball, at short. The Padres infield is already arguably the best in baseball with Manny Machado at third, Tatis at short, Rookie-Of-The-Year runner-up Jake Cronenworth at second, and Eric Hosmer at first.

This embarrassment of riches reminds me of 1998 when the already talented Padres brought in pitching ace Kevin Brown from the Marlins to help escort that team to the playoffs.

Brown was near-perfect in the '98 postseason and ultimately helped the squad make it to the World Series for the first time since 1984. But in the Fall Classic, the Padres ran into the unstoppable New York Yankees. Many believe the '98 Yanks were the best team in baseball history. No argument here.

With all respect to the '84 and '98 teams, this is now the most talented team in Padres history, with three legitimate aces on staff, and four if and when former Cleveland Indians ace Mike Clevinger returns in 2022 from Tommy John surgery.

And probably five when super-prospect MacKenzie Gore gets called up and gets some experience in the Bigs. The lefty, who is the team's #1 prospect, is expected to be a front-of-the-rotation star as soon as later this year.

Life is very good for Padres fans right now and will be for a long while. We already live in America's Finest City, and we are finally getting a baseball team that is as great as the city.

Will we be able to see the 2021 model in person? I still have my doubts. But watching this squad on TV is better than not having baseball at all. I'll take what they can give us.

The window for the Padres to make a deep run in the playoffs and make it to the World Series for the first time since 1998 has officially opened wide for the next four or five years, at least.

Granted, the Padres gave up some good players in thkmese trades, including starting pitcher Zach Davies and several very good prospects. But incredibly, only one of the top five prospects -- Luis Patino, a right-handed pitcher -- was traded away.

Getting two A-list pitchers with the words "Cy Young" attached to their names in exchange for prospects? That is almost unheard of!

All praise to GM Preller, the cooly shrewd baseball savant who stocked the farm system and made almost all the right moves over the last few years. He had this vision all along.

For all the trade activity, the Padres' lineup from the exciting 2020 campaign is still mostly intact, including Padre superstars Machado and Tatis, as well as clubhouse leader Hosmer, Trent Grisham, young phenom Cronenworth, Tommy Pham and Wil Myers, who had a hugely successful rebound season.

Starting pitchers Danielson Lamet and Chris Paddack, too, will be back, but Paddack needs to bounce back from a tough year.

The 2020 Padres were the most fun team to watch in all of professional baseball, largely thanks to the pure, good-natured joy of Tatis, who set the tone for a really positive clubhouse.

He gets it. As the son of a longtime Major Leaguer, Tatis respects the game but understands that it is a game. If it isn't fun, why bother?

The 2021 Padres will be an even better show. The team now now has the talent, heart, management and ownership to compete with anyone in Major League Baseball. Yes, I mean anyone. I'm looking right at you Dodger Blue.