MANAGER WITHIN A WEEK

Preller says decision soon; starting arm competition fierce

The Padres expect to name a manager within the next week, A.J. Preller confirmed Wednesday in his first public comments on the search.

“I can’t say it’ll be in the next 24 hours,” the Padres president of baseball operations said. “But I would say here over the course of the weekend and into the early part of next week, we should be able to line up.”

While four MLB teams have named managers since Monday, Preller and his top lieutenants have essentially pressed pause on their search to replace Bob Melvin.

“We (decided to come) here this week and focus … more on some player personnel stuff, kind of get into that,” Preller said. “And then we’ll pick it up here in the next couple of days.”

The Padres are still considering talking to David Ross, who was fired as Cubs manager on Monday when that club hired Craig Counsell. However, it still expected they will choose from between Mike Shildt, Ryan

Flaherty and Benji Gil.

Seeking pitchers

Seth Lugo was a reliever who wanted to be a starter. The Padres guaranteed him $7.5 million and a chance to be in the rotation in 2023.

Michael Wacha, coming off a season in which he missed time with a shoulder injury, was seeking a longterm deal. The Padres signed him to a creative contract that guaranteed him $7.5 million and had options for the team and player to continue their relationship.

Lugo ended up making 26 starts and posting a 3.57 ERA over 140 innings. Wacha made 24 starts and had a 3.22 ERA over 1341⁄3 innings.

Both are now free agents, along with Blake Snell and

Nick Martinez. That leaves Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove as the Padres’ only starting pitchers.

The Padres could bring some of their top pitching prospects to spring training, though that won’t be with an eye toward them starting the season in the big leagues. Matt Waldron and

Pedro Avila will get a chance at rounding out the rotation. But the Padres have some work to do, by free agency and/or trade.

“There’s probably gonna be some guys coming from outside the organization similar to last year to fill some of those spots,” Preller said.

Lugo, Wacha and/or Martínez could be re-signed. But the competition for their services will be fierce.

Starting pitching is always at a premium, and this year it seems to be even more so. Agent Scott Boras said seven teams have told him they are seeking at least two starters. Other agents have indicated there will be about 20 teams seriously vying for the top 15 free agent starters.

“It’s gonna be a challenge, for sure,” Preller said. “I think it’s probably going to be finding value maybe in a player that didn’t quite perform the year before. … It’s a supply and demand thing, and there are a lot of teams looking for pitching.”

With some limitations in payroll flexibility, what the Padres essentially need to do is find another Lugo and Wacha.

“Yeah,” Preller said with a laugh. “Maybe four of them.”

Going with Grish?

The Padres know they need better production from the center field position.

The question is whether that better center fielder will be Trent Grisham.

“He’s an elite defender,” Preller said. “So I think that’s always a good place to start is up the middle of defense. It’s somebody that impacts the game every night from a defensive standpoint. I think we all understand the last couple of years, he’s got the ability to get on base, hit the ball out of the ballpark. The consistency factor for the last two years just hasn’t been there.”

What they can’t have is a center fielder batting .197/ .300/.344, as Grisham has over his past 1,387 plate appearances dating to July 1, 2021. That is especially true at the $5 million or so Grisham is projected to make in his second year of arbitration eligibility.

“I think we see that as a real opportunity to get better as a team and get better as an offense if somebody like Trent Grisham (goes) out and plays like he did for the previous two years where he was playing (well) — and on both ends of the ball,” Preller said of Grisham, who hit .256/.350/.467 in his first 654 MLB plate appearances.

“He’s capable of that, and I think we’ve got to figure out from our standpoint how do we get that consistently out of Grish, because he’s an impact performer up the middle if we’re able to see the offense that we’ve seen from different points in time with the elite defense.”