A.J. Preller Breaks Down Teams Belief In Trent Grisham

The 2023 season for the San Diego Padres was one to forget as the team missed the playoffs despite a strong offseason put together. Multiple members of the Padres had down seasons offensively, leading to some of the issues that the team saw.

Padres President of Baseball Operations and General Manager A.J. Preller addressed the struggles of outfielder Trent Grisham, and about how the team needs to become more consistent.

“The consistency factor for the last two years just hasn’t been there. … “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.”

Per A.J. Preller via The SD Union-Tribune

Grisham put together another poor season in 2023, hitting just .198 on the year. He hit 13 home runs and drove in 50 runs this season as well. It was a disappointing year all around for the veteran outfielder, and his future with the team remains in doubt.

He has two more years remaining on arbitration, so the Padres could keep him at a discounted rate. But he will need to improve his stats from the past two seasons if he wants his spot on the team to remain the same.

Preller indicated that the team still believes in his abilities and wants to give him a chance to show them that he can get back to being himself.

“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.”

Per A.J. Preller via The SD Union-Tribune

The Padres will be looking at all angles about how to improve the roster this winter, including where they can upgrade. The team knows they need to get themselves back into playoff contention, so pretty much anything is on the table this winter.