Last season, the San Diego Padres had all kinds of trouble scoring. They finished with the second-fewest runs runs in the National League, with 593, and the league's lowest OPS, .653. The team leader in home runs was Ryan Ludwick, who hit 11 before getting traded away in July. The spacious Petco Park obviously played some part in making the Padres' offense look worse than it was, but the offense still wasn't good, and it didn't allow for much in the way of hope for the near future.
Padres Find Budget-Savvy Way To Address Offensive Woes
The San Diego Padres had trouble producing runs last season, and they’re also run on a very tight budget. Yet a solution, it seems, has been found.
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That's one problem. Another problem? The Padres don't have much available money to fix what's broken. Last year's opening day payroll of just under $46 million was the team's highest since 2008, and right now the front office is in penny-pinching mode. The team is looking to trade either Orlando Hudson or Jason Bartlett to clear salary, and for all I know the Mark Kotsay contract ate up all remaining funds. The Padres are not presently in a position to spend.
So the Padres need offensive help, but they can’t afford offensive help. It also makes little sense for them to trade for immediate offensive help, since they’re not a team that ought to be trading its youth. Throw in the fact that the Padres probably can’t even afford to move in the fences to improve the offense artificially, and it seems like a hopeless situation. What prayer do the Padres have of scoring runs in 2012?
But the Padres have a new man in charge, and, faced with a difficult problem, he’s arrived at an ingenious solution. A Padres team press release from Thursday afternoon:
SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres today announced that they have named Alonzo Powell assistant hitting coach, working under Phil Plantier on Bud Black’s Major League coaching staff.
The Padres recently hired Phil Plantier as their new hitting coach. On Thursday, they hired Alonzo Powell as their assistant hitting coach. The Padres now have two hitting coaches.
It’s an exceptionally rare coaching situation they’ve put together, and it’s founded upon the following principle:
The Padres figure that, if one unit of hitting coach instruction leads to X production, then two units of hitting coach instruction will lead to 2X production. By doubling the input, the Padres hope to double the results.
That's brilliant enough. Even better? The Padres can do this because they can afford this. You know who gets paid way less money than players? Coaches. Especially non-manager coaches, and especially assistant non-manager coaches. Alonzo Powell might end up getting paid more handsomely than you or me, but he'll get paid significantly less handsomely than Josh Spence and Jesus Guzman. His cost will be just about negligible, even for them.
This is a bold and cunning move on the Padres’ part, and assuming it works out as designed, a team that many had written off could be ready to contend as soon as next season. And, assuming it works out as designed, one can only imagine the implications. More teams might hire a second hitting coach. Some teams might hire a third. Certain teams could put the bulk of their resources towards building a coaching army.
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