Sunrise in San Diego- All In

[royals19]

Prologue

The Padres were virtually the laughing stock of baseball. Owner George McGovern promised more wins, a dynasty and a string of 10 consecutive world series runs when he took office as owner. Unfortunately, that was far from the case, sure the Padres won 114 games and sure they were well on the road to becoming a dynasty in 2015 but the team was no where near close to being the Atlanta Braves or the New York Yankees. A year later, George McGovern had become the next Gene Autry, an owner with all the talent in the world that just couldn't win. All analysts, GMs and Owners considered McGovern a one hit wonder...

Quote: Originally Posted by Buster Olney

McGovern's bus is just about out of gas down there in San Diego....

Quote: Originally Posted by Tim Kurkjian

That type of success has occurred 3 times, once by the 1970s Reds teams and by the Braves and Yankee's teams in the 90s and for George McGovern and Theo Epstein to think that they can match that success is absolutely ludicrous...

Quote: Originally Posted by Walt Jocketty

The Padre Way is a bumpy road with a limited window for success...

Quote: Originally Posted by Dayton Moore

If your asking me if the Padres can keep winning, I had to say they're just about done. They've tried every trick in the book, they're running out of options...

Quote: Originally Posted by Hal Steinbrenner

For the Padres to think they could model themselves after our teams of the 90s is disrespectful in its own right...

Quote: Originally Posted by Nolan Ryan

George McGovern wouldn't know a winner if it bit him in the ***.

It seemed like all of baseball was out to destroy the Padres. It was George McGovern and his franchise against the world. Everyone would be gunning for them this year. Baseball wasn't as nieve as when McGovern took over. He had played the game and now, the game was playing him like a sucker and he hated it.

Essentially, McGovern's back is up against the wall. He has to win this year or the other two owners will fork over their stock and the Padres will be fed to the sharks.

*****

McGovern sat at the head of his conference table at the Padres Spring Training facility. The sun was setting and a cool breeze blew through the room alerting everyone that a much needed desert rain was on its way.

His staff said not one word, McGovern looked each one of them in the eye and turned his back to them to watch the sun set gently behind the town.

Quote: Originally Posted by McGovern

Well gentlemen, this is it... We have to win here, Warren and Boone will pull their stock out if we don't... Our fanbase feels alienated, we're losing the players and we're now facing the biggest challenge any baseball team has ever had to go through. If we don't win here, the San Diego Padres team that we built will cease to exist and we will all go down in history as the smartest idiots to ever manage the game. Now, I'm not going to lie, it won't be easy... All of baseball is gunning for us, Beauregard is still on the loose, hunting each and every one of us in this room and now time is far from being on our side... But, the buck stops here, this is where we draw the line. This my friends, is where we make our last stand. Every great dynasty has that one season where they go all in! This, this season, is that one. This is the season that will define the San Diego Padres franchise! This will define where we rest in baseball history! It's time to test your skill, your limits and most importantly your heart and dedication. Now gentlemen, now is the time to leave your mark on the game of baseball!!!

[royals19]

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season. We took a little break because you know, it's the NFL playoffs and because minecraft is a heck of a game. But anyway, we're back and we've got a ton on tap for this year. We're going harder than ever before in an effort to get that World Series win and put us back on top so get ready for perhaps George McGovern's craziest year yet.

This is going to be perhaps one of the most interesting seasons we've had in recent history. We had a rule 5 draft blow up in our faces, the owners are threatening to pull out their stock and we just realized we're a little short on lefthanded hitting. It should be an season in player development as most of our prospects are finally ready to make an impact at the big league level. Yessiry, we've got plenty to go with this season as George McGovern and his antics will fill the pages of what could be our very last season on Sunrise in San Diego.

Now I'd also like to that the time to announce that this is the 5th season we're undertaking this year and needless to say, this is like an anniversary of sorts so I mean we're basically obliged at this point to do it big. We can't in our right minds just sit back, kick off our shoes and watch this thing go down the drain... No, we need to go absolutely crazy this year.

So with all that out of the way, now's the time where we grace you with the annual history lesson of how George McGovern's San Diego Padres came to be.

2012-Sunrise in San Diego
George McGovern was hired fresh out of retirement to be the vice president of Baseball Operations but was promptly promoted to replace the departing Jed Hoyer. McGovern quickly built his staff comprised of household names such as John Shierholtz and Theo Epstein. However, his off the field changes weren't the only ones. He blew up the roster at the deadline and acquired Hunter Pence, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee and Salvador Perez in an effort to build a world series winner, which the season ultimately culminated in. Behind the scenes, Bud Selig was kidnapped and Harry Caray became the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. However, George McGovern was sensed something wasn't right and launched an investigation into the matter culminating in a duel at the MLB HQ between Caray and McGovern

2013-Sunrise in San Diego- Revenge of the Ownership
McGovern was ready to strike the death blow to Caray but it turned out that Caray was being played by Will Ferrell. Upon his discovery, George McGovern was shot and presumed to be dead. For the entire 2013 season, Theo Epstein and newly hired General Manager Damon Oppenheimer struggled to build a winner but ultimately succeeded in building another division winner by acquiring pieces such as Kris Medlen, Tyler Pastronicky, Justin Smoak, Hanley Ramirez and Luke Hochevar.

2014-Sunrise in San Diego- The Padre Way
2014 began with George McGovern actually turning out not to be dead and coming back and buying the Padres with Billionares Warren Buffet and Boone Pickens. McGovern then came back and made his first high profile offseason trade acquiring Matt Holliday in the Offseason in hopes of building another winner and shoring up right field. George McGovern would engage in a sort of checkers match with an unknown foe who appeared to be intent on destroying him. This deadline wasn't without it's excitement either. The Padres acquired Giancarlo Stanton for most of their young players. However the Padres made up for it by acquiring Mike Olt and Joey Gallo as well to fill in slots. The Padres yet again won the World Series in another shootout with Texas. However, big things were brewing as George McGovern was wrongly sent to prison...

2015-Sunrise in San Diego- Executive Decisions
The Padres blew up the roster before the season even started acquiring most of the Blue Jays farm system sending Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in exchange. However, things seemed doomed from the beginning. The Padres big money acquisitions in Clayton Kershaw and Felix Hernandez did very little to stem the tide and Tommy Hanson only heated up towards the end of the season. At the deadline, the Padres shipped off former top prospect Jedd Gyorko and acquired Trevor Rosenthal. In another move, the Padres sent Matt Holliday to Cleveland for Francisco Lindor and Cody Allen among others. Despite entering September 3 games behind the Braves in the Wild Card, the Padres suffered a Red Sox like collapse and were out of contention by about the middle of the 2nd week.

And that my friends, is where we'll pick this thing up.

[royals19]

OFFSEASON- PART 1

That was truly a spirit crushing season. We thought that we had a good ballclub but we should have known better when everyone had career years in 2014. We should have predicted that but instead it came back to bite us so inevitably, we have some work to do this offseason.


Now there is some pretty good talent on the board no doubt. There are obviously franchise changing pieces available but there isn't that piece that we need that will fit with our team. As much as we like Cliff Lee, it wouldn't be wise to dump money onto a 37 year old pitcher when we have plenty of young and cheep talent available in our organization.

Regardless, we'd persue a couple free agents but not the franchise changing ones. We started off with Jeff Smardzija but the bidding quickly got too high for us so we backed out.

Instead, we invested our money somewhere we know it will be used well. We signed Carlos Ruiz to backup Salvador Perez. Chooch has great experience as a catcher and we needed someone to compete with Tony Sanchez who was relatively unimpressive last year. Chooch's contract was relatively low risk at 1 year 2 million and if he doesn't make the team we'll just cut him. It'll definitley be nice to have Chooch around to mentor Salvy as he continues to develop into one of the best catchers in baseball.

Now of course, George McGovern wanted a 10 year contract for Stanton but Damon Oppenheimer talked him out of it convincing him that now was not the time. I mean Stanton has one year of arbitration left, we might as well use that and then extend him next offseason.

But as far as free agents go, that was really it for us this offseason.

[royals19]

OFFSEASON- PART 2
Now luckily we made it out of the Free Agency with our money supply relatively intact for perhaps a later transaction. Everything appeared to be running smoothly, the offseason was going great, this may be the one where McGovern doesn't do something horribly stupid....

Then, we arrive at the Rule 5 draft.

We thought the 40 man roster was filled so we skipped over it only to be given an early Christmas present. George McGovern freed 4 roster spaces and went to the draft by himself and brought home the last thing we needed.


Most front offices would be thrilled with this draft but not us. This is one of those "what the hell were you thinking McGovern?" type instances. We don't need any middle infielders on the roster and we're loaded with pitching so why, exactly would we give up three roster spaces...

The fact that this even occurred is beyond me. We have plenty of in house solutions. Why didn't we use them!? McGovern seems to think that when the opportunity arises we should take it regardless. This is probably the worst roster move that we've ever made in the history of this dynasty. This isn't how you win championships McGovern.

So now, we're stuck with Didi Gregorius, Justin Nicolino, Dan Straily and Marcus Stroman...

Way to go McGovern.... way to go.

[royals19]

OFFSEASON- PART 3

Now that the Padres have been stuck with 4 new players thanks to George McGovern, we have to find that lefthanded bat. Last season, we had issues with lefthanded hitting. All we had were Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso both of whom were needed elsewhere in the lineup causing us to have some gaping holes where relievers could come in and just mow us down. So, in order to fix that Theo and his staff have been hard at work coming up with possibilities for us.

Now before we begin the search, let me just say that we're looking for someone who can play in the outfield and has some defensive upside and will give us a good middle of the order presence. In effect we're basically looking for someone to protect Mike Stanton there in the middle.

So, in order to accomplish that goal, each one of our key front office components found their own candidates.

Theo Epstein

Spoiler

McCutchen has all 5 tools which is something we don't really have at this point. He is certainly a game changer and has significant defensive upside. The only worrisome part is he's in the last year of his contract so we would more than likely have to fork out about 12 million annually to retain him which is no guarantee. Overall, he's probably the most realistic and player that fits the bill most out of all the candidates expect for the fact that he isn't lefthanded.

Billy Beane

Spoiler

Hamilton has all the tools that we're looking for and could easily play a corner outfield slot for us. It would be interesting to have him sandwiched between Olt and Stanton but from the numbers above, he's declining and right now, the only thing holding us back from making the trade is the prospects and the money.

We're essentially asking the question "Is it worth 3 high level prospects for 2 years of a declining Josh Hamilton who is still and impact player at the moment?" Any deal for Hamilton is going to hurt us in our farm system but it's nothing that couldn't be replaced.

Overall it's a gutsy move and it's really something that would be interesting.

Damon Oppenheimer

Spoiler

Rasmus has most of the tools and is under 30 but we're a little hesitant with him because he looks exactly like what we gave up in Jedd Gyorko last summer, a player with a ton of power but can't hit for average. He's seemed like a streaky player in the past few years and I suppose the best way to describe him is as the dark horse candidate in this. He has the tools that we would like to see but he's in the same boat as McCutch being in the last year of his contract. It'd definitely be tough for us to retain him since he'd want around the same thing as Cutch.

He's a player that could turn the corner though and put up some amazing numbers in PETCO. It's just really hard to weigh giving up some prospects for a player who won't hit for average in a park where that is the only way to generate runs.

George McGovern

Spoiler

Alright, I don't even know what to say to this. This isn't a lefthanded bat and it's a guy from in the division. McGovern really went in deep on this one. Why would we trade a big package of minor league impact talent to a division rival is beyond me.

But the real kicker is that he actually thinks this would work in the clubhouse. After all the crap that he's done to us, I just don't think it's a good idea to have him in the clubhouse for obvious reasons.

We have the players to give up for him but I just can't see us doing that and diminishing our advantage over the Dodgers in the longrun.


Honestly, I don't even think he knows who Mike Trout is. He doesn't understand the talent and potential this dude has. We would love to have him sure but after the "Bean me Maybe" tune, would Mike Trout want to come here.

Honestly, I'm at a loss for words here. We can't just go around saying we want this guy and that guy. We have to be smart. We have the players to make this happen and for some reason, it seems more feasible by the second.

I might be insane but I'm just sure I'm comfortable with breaking the bank for a career .249 hitter who's been an anomaly this far. Frankly, I'm still scratching my head on how he won the ROY and MVP in his 2012 season with THOSE numbers... something fishy's going on here.


McGovern also brought up the idea of Joe Mauer and Miguel Cabrera. Mauer might work in right field but Cabrera? Where would we put him? Third I guess but Joey Gallo should be there sometime this year...

This is why we have others do the decision making.

[xboxxerx]

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[AC]

Quote: Originally Posted by royals19

So now, we're stuck with Didi Gregorius, Justin Nicolino, Dan Straily and Marcus Stroman...

I don't see how that's bad in the least lol.

Go for Colby. 5 tool, realistic, had a couple of ~.300 seasons, HUGE power, and if you don't like defensive metrics, he's a damn good fielder.

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by xboxxerx

i'm not just following. I'm subscribed. I approve this message.

Glad to hear it dude! You won't be disappointed!

Quote: Originally Posted by ACMilan99

I don't see how that's bad in the least lol. Go for Colby. 5 tool, realistic, had a couple of ~.300 seasons, HUGE power, and if you don't like defensive metrics, he's a damn good fielder.

Well, we already have players slotted to fill those spots and now its turned into a major burden. I like everybody that we got but it blocks some players expected to get to the major leagues.


I like Colby the most out of everyone because he has the tools we need. I just wasn't really sure about the defense. But then of course, you can't forget about George McGovern wanting Mike Trout either.

We also can't forget Byron Buxton who is waiting in the wings at this point as well as Anthony Gose who just needs to start hitting.


If we acquire Rasmus, the San Diego Blue Jays will in effect be complete. We already have all the members of the Lansing three and virtually their entire Farm System...