Padres’ patience is no reason to panic — at least not yet

It’s understandable that plenty of Padres fans feel something between dread and mild panic about the team’s relative inactivity this offseason.

Other than signing Japanese reliever Yuki Matsui, the front office along 100 Park Blvd. has been as quiet as the Vatican Library.

In spite of holes galore. In spite of the in-division Dodgers shaking baseball to its cleats by snapping up other-worldly Shohei Ohtani and coveted right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. In spite of one of the most underwhelming seasons, given star power and payroll, in the modern history of the game.

Breathe. Patience. Working your brownand-gold gut into an ulcer at this point is akin to grading a class during the first week of the semester. Filling holes in the rotation, in the outfield and the lineup with a lefty bat or two — perhaps at DH or first base — is not about haste. It’s about homework.

You only need to rewind to last offseason, when President of Baseball Operations

A.J. Preller shopped wisely on Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, veteran pitchers with question marks.

Think of the Padres’ moves in recent years. Many of the team’s major signings came after Christmas.

During a two-day span in late-december 2020, the Padres acquired Yu Darvish from the Cubs, landed Blake Snell in a trade with the Rays and signed Korean free agent Ha-seong Kim.

Eric Hosmer, results notwithstanding, joined the team on Feb. 19, 2018; Manny Machado signed his first big contract with the club on Feb. 21, 2019.

Wacha’s deal was finalized on Feb. 16 of this year. Rotation anchor Joe Musgrove came in a three-way trade with the Pirates and Mets on Jan. 19, 2021. Closer Mark Melancon, an All-star in his lone season in San

Diego, was a Feb. 18, 2021 signee.

Whether you agree with the Padres’ pace is open for a fair debate. Their modus operandi, though, is not to rush. It’s to ruminate. That’s who they are under Preller.

Concern about the direction of the team and franchise is reasonable. This is a different type of offseason altogether. Recent laps have

been about building and adding, through big names and major money. For the first time in that span, the Padres shed a superstar in Juan Soto and decided to let Snell and Josh Hader wade into free agency.

Starting pitching drains from the free-agent-options list by the day.

Potential fits like center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, a Gold Glove defender and left-handed bat re-signed by the Blue Jays for a reasonable $10.5 million, are disappearing, too. You wonder how long before designated hitter and corner outfielder J.D. Martinez, who hit 33 home runs and drove in 103 runs a season ago with the Dodgers, and big bat Jorge Soler stay on the market.

The Padres do not necessarily

need the newest shiny object, though. They’ve been there with one big postseason run to show for it. They need brick-andmortar moves. They need to hit on more players like Lugo, Wacha and Kim. They need innings-eaters and lineup-lengthening bats.

The thinking of the past felt a little like a child salivating over a Playstation 5, only to see it gathering dust months later. The Padres must lean into more utilitarian decision-making at this point, especially as they try to right-size their payroll.

The franchise is hunting for those socks-and-underwear types of gifts, rather than expensive electronics. If they succeed in building a sustainable winner, it will not be one move that gets them there. It will be a series of choices that fuel change.

Is the shot clock running? Of course. But the

Padres could be more careful not to overpay at the front end of the offseason, especially after handing out an 11-year, $280 million contract to free agent Xander Bogaerts and agreeing to a seven-year, $80 million extension with Jake Cronenworth.

It’s the trickiest of tightropes, waiting for the market to come back to reality while not missing out on players who truly can help. Holding while others pounce is a game the Padres consistently play, though.

When March arrives, evaluation and team-building judgment does as well.

If the Padres mop up rotation and positional messes, with an expectation that top-of-the-lineup stars bounce back, the team could be more well rounded. If the back end of the rotation is held together by gum and bailing twine, “Macgyver”-style, and the lineup is too righty-heavy and pop-less at the bottom, that’s the time to work on that ulcer.

Slow starts do not mean slow finishes, especially when it comes to Preller’s Padres.

Without knowing the whims and wants of the organization after the passing of beloved owner Peter Seidler, you have to think hiring another manager in Mike Shildt and failing to produce consistent results while stars age by the minute could mean this is the general manager’s last shot.

Preller, no doubt, feels that urgency. He should be more than incentivized to build a better mousetrap the next two months. Panic? Not yet. March? That could be a different story.

Columnist