Padres Players Concerned New Zealand Import May Be Spying On Them In The Clubhouse
It's been a rough year for the San Diego Padres, after entering 2023 with extremely high expectations.
Despite dominating the woeful Oakland A's and Colorado Rockies over the past week, the Padres are just a few results away from being officially eliminated from playoff contention. Just finishing above .500 also seems like an impossibility, given the team can lose just two more games to ensure an 82-80 record.
The reasons for the disappointing, season-long collapse have been widely debated, ranging from historic poor performance to an atrocious clubhouse culture.
READ: THE PADRES CLUBHOUSE CULTURE SOUNDS LIKE AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER
The Athletic recently spoke to a wide range of current and former Padres players, coaches, and front office staff about their view of what went wrong. And some of them offered a confusing, bizarre possibility for the disconnect between players and staff.
There's a random guy from New Zealand who sometimes checks in on meetings and no one's quite sure what exactly he does. Seriously.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 25: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres reacts after striking out against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on May 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
An Extremely Bizarre Situation In Padres' Clubhouse
The Athletic reported that after the 2017 season, General Manager A.J. Preller brought in Don Tricker to be the team's new director of player health and performance.
Except six years later, no one's quite sure exactly what Tricker actually does for the Padres.
Tricker's experience for his new role was entirely based on his time spent in the New Zealand sports world. Most notably, for several years, he served as high-performance manager for the All Blacks rugby team. Preller though, apparently hired him to oversee the medical, training and analytics staff. In Major League Baseball.
Tricker has no medical background, and with only a basic knowledge of baseball, was abruptly moved off of managing analytics. Preller gave The Athletic an interesting explanation for what he was brought in to do.
“He may not be the content expert in those areas. That’s why we have … our strength coaches and we have our athletic trainers. That’s their job,” Preller said. “His job is to make sure that they’re asking the right questions, they’re in communication with each other, they’re on the same page big picture-wise.”
According to the report though, virtually no one seems to understand what he actually does. And after he took notes while sitting in on meetings involving players and the coaching staff, some players think he's spying for Preller and the front office.
It seems odd for a president of baseball operations and general manager to hire someone to spy on meetings, implying a lack of trust in a $250 million roster and well respected coaching staff. But that's the Padres for you.
Preller's Created Major Problems He Has To Solve
The Padres roster construction is a confusing mess, and it's only going to get worse in the coming years.
Jake Cronenworth was a slightly above average hitter at second base. But Preller's obsessive tinkering moved him to first, effectively removing all of his offensive value. That'd be fine if he was a short term player, but Preller also signed him to a six-year extension through his declining years. That doesn't even start until next season.
Key contributors like Cy Young contender Blake Snell and star closer Josh Hader are set to become free agents after this season. Instead of spending money to extend either of those players, Preller signed Yu Darvish to a $108 million deal to pitch through his age-42 season. And $45 million on reliever Robert Suarez who will turn 33 during spring training and has a 4.15 ERA.
Juan Soto is also a free agent after 2024, after being the Padres most effective hitter.
On top of the clubhouse culture issues previously covered, and the clear lack of trust among the players, there are significant, on-field concerns in San Diego. Enhancing performance on the margins would be a valuable goal for a team looking to make a jump to the next level.
But for a team spending this much money, hiring random executives from New Zealand with vague job titles that players don't trust seems, well...exactly like something A.J. Preller would do.