Padres players predictably buoyant about team – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

That it was predictable does not mean it wasn’t believable.

That it was almost the only acceptable thing for them to say doesn’t mean it wasn’t the truth.

“Listen, we have such a good team,” Jake Cronenworth said. “The majority of the guys who were on the team last year are coming back.”

Padres players on Saturday essentially shrugged and offered matter-of-fact testimonials about how unperturbed they are in the midst of an offseason in which the news about their team has been almost entirely limited to the list of players leaving via free agency a lawsuit involving who controls the organization.

“Are we disappointed we haven’t made any moves? Yeah,” Manny Machado told the media at the team’s FanFest at Petco Park. “As a team, we do kind of look up there, and you’re a little disappointed that we let some of the guys that were (part of the) core group here go elsewhere. But we can’t control that, right? We control it with the group of guys that we have here, and we’re going to get ready for a long season. … Our goal is to win a championship and win the World Series. Come spring training time with the guys that we have in that clubhouse, we’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna battle.”

Machado acknowledged how close he was with late team chairman Peter Seidler and that he remains close with Seidler’s widow, Sheel, who is suing two of Peter Seidler’s brothers over their handling of his trust. At stake is control of the trust and control of the franchise.

“That’s out of our hands,” Machado said. “It’s out of our control. We just want to go out there and perform and play baseball at the highest level.”

The lawsuit has cast a pall over the offseason and raised questions externally about the direction of the organization. The uncertainty has also been blamed in some corners for having a role in Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki choosing to sign with the Dodgers instead of the Padres.

The Padres were among three finalists for Sasaki, who visited San Diego before going to Los Angeles and ultimately choosing to make it his home.

“I think he had his mindset already where he was going,” said Machado, who was one of a handful of players to play host to Sasaki during his time in San Diego. “That’s just my opinion.”

Machado went on to call that contention a “gut feeling” based on what he saw while spending time with Sasaki.

Joe Musgrove said he did not want to speak for Sasaki, but he shed some light on where Machado’s assessment might have come from.

“The guy (was) on a world tour (for) a couple of weeks,” Musgrove said of Sasaki. “So (he was) probably a little bit worn out and exhausted. Towards the end of that trip, maybe you don’t get the freshest, most excited Roki. I don’t know how to feel about that. I’m not in his head. So I’m not gonna say he acted a certain way, but I could see where Manny sees that. I had a little feeling like he was either a bit worn out or kind of knew where he was going to go already and was just kind of doing the optics of going around and doing his visits.”

Mostly, the Padres sounded a theme of being focused on who they have.

Players will virtually always want key teammates to remain and for key additions to be made. No one is thrilled Jurickson Profar signed with the Braves, Ha-Seong Kim signed with the Rays, Kyle Higashioka signed with the Dodgers or that almost every other free agent who used to play anywhere else signed with the Dodgers this winter.

It isn’t that Padres players haven’t noticed who is gone or that the Dodgers have added so much while they have added so little. It is more that they choose to believe the remaining infrastructure supports sustained optimism.

They have six starting position players returning, a trio of starting pitchers that stack up favorably among most top trios and a largely proven bullpen.

And they know president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has almost two months to supplement the roster.

“I mean, there’s a little uncertainty, but I think everybody here trusts A.J.,” Musgrove said. “I’ve gotten to spend a handful years with him now, and he backs up what he says. He’s made it a point to tell us that he’s going to always do his best to put the most competitive product on the field, and he’s done nothing but that in the time I’ve been here. so I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. Yeah, there’s some uncertainty with what’s going on up top that really, but that’s out of our control. Regardless of who’s running the show, we’ve got a job to do as a team. And having the majority of guys that we had in the last couple of years coming back again with the same coaching staff, and the growth and the progress and the fun that we had last year is just going to continue to grow with these guys. So I’m a little more focused on that.”

Manager Mike Shildt made a statement on Saturday afternoon that, lacking context, might have seemed spurious.

“We’ve had a really productive offseason,” he said of a team that has, to date, signed one free agent (a part-time catcher on a relatively cheap one-year contract) and made no trades involving major league players.

It must be remembered, however, that Shildt is all about focusing on what he has to work with and empowering those players to get better.

He then spoke for more than five minutes without interruption about what great offseasons certain players had and how they looked and felt and what he expected of them.

“What we have is pretty darn good,” he said at one point. “… I’m really excited. You hear my voice, right? We all should be excited, but I can’t help everybody else and how they feel. But I can just tell you I couldn’t be more pumped.”

Five minutes without pausing puts Shildt in midseason form, and that brings to mind the fact the Padres’ 43-20 record after the All-Star break was the best in the major leagues and led to a 93-win season and playoff berth.

“We’ve still got a lot of guys coming back. … And guys are gonna have to step up like guys stepped up last year.”

Fernando Tatis Jr., who declared his right leg 100 percent after a season that was interrupted by a stress reaction in his right femur, was similarly enthusiastic despite his close friend Profar departing.

“I just see the room right now, the group of guys we have in there,” he said. “When I look around, I still see dudes surrounding myself … I feel like we can make a battle with the group we have right now.”