The Padres did not make more than a cursory inquiry into acquiring a top-notch starting pitcher this offseason, believing they have burgeoning aces on their staff and ascending through the minor leagues.

They initiated trade conversations regarding a few superstar position players, though those were long-shot ventures from start to finish.

But as the pursuit of Mookie Betts and the attempt to shed Wil Myers’ contract dominated outside chatter about the Padres this winter, the team arrives at the doorstep of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training having put together a certain collection of players that seems like it could be a difference maker.

With $39 million spent on two new arms and with Manuel Margot the cost of a third, plus another $9 million committed to retain a venerable veteran, the Padres are attempting to make their bullpen the strength of their team and potentially the best in baseball.


So stacked is the group that it seems a virtual certainty some relief arms will be used to try to acquire another outfielder (such as Cincinnati’s Nick Senzel) via trade before the season.

“Every team tries to stack at least one side of the baseball where you have depth and endless possibilities,” closer Kirby Yates said Monday. “That’s what we’ve done in the bullpen.”

Amid his regular subterfuge and noncommittal answers, General Manager A.J. Preller offered a glimpse at his plan early in the offseason when he alluded to adding bullpen pieces as perhaps the quickest way to improve.

What was once a strength — often the strength — of the Padres regressed last year in a quagmire of injury and inexperience. The bullpen’s inefficiency wasn’t the biggest reason the Padres won just 70 games, but it contributed to them not winning more.


Yates led the majors with 41 saves. Andres Munoz’s fastball of 100-plus mph made him a revelation in the season’s second half. Craig Stammen was generally as dependable as ever. Matt Strahm was for stretches virtually unhittable after moving from the rotation.

But Stammen was overused, making a career-high 76 appearances, including a major league-high 56 in high-leverage situations, and at times it showed up in his results. Additionally, a carousel of young arms contributed to an uncharacteristic inconsistency.

The bullpen actually had 72 save opportunities, second most in team history behind the 1998 World Series club. But where that relief corps converted 78 percent of its save chances, the ’19 version secured saves at a rate of just 65 percent.


That’s a difference of nine victories over 72 games.

The 2019 bullpen’s 4.52 ERA was the highest by a collection of Padres relievers since 2003. Its 25 blown saves were the most since 2008, as were its 33 losses. The .252 average allowed to opposing hitters was also highest by a Padres bullpen since ’08.

“We knew last year the pen was an area that needed strengthening,” Preller said Monday. “There were a lot of ballgames we got into to, if we got the ball into Kirby’s hands, we were in great shape, but getting it to him was a little bit of a challenge. We obviously made that a priority and lined up on a few guys we felt, value-wise, fit for us.

“When we looked at the dollars in the budget we had in the offseason and the number of things we had to improve on, we knew we were going to have to spread out our resources and attack some different areas. … It fit together in terms being able to get some bullpen pieces and some of the position players we got.”


The Padres ranked 26th in on-base percentage and 27th in runs scored in 2019. They attempted to address those deficiencies by trading for Tommy Pham and Trent Grisham. And they believe a bounce-back season by Manny Machado, the team’s highest-paid player entering his second season in San Diego, will be significant.

But for whatever offensive infusion might be realized, it likely would not matter if the Padres hadn’t signed Drew Pomeranz in November and Pierce Johnson in December and just this past weekend traded for Emilio Pagan.

On Monday, as he watched a number of the Padres’ early arrivals work out at the Peoria Sports Complex, Preller essentially was underselling the bullpen FanGraphs projects to tie for the major league lead with a 5.2 WAR (wins above replacement) this season.

“We’ll see how it works out,” Preller said. “We feel good about what we did.”


Indeed, bullpens can be a fragile ecosystem. One injury often results in several roles changing, which can throw off routine and results. One bad outing (or string of them) by one pitcher can skew the effectiveness of the group. And relievers swear that struggles sometimes become contagious.

“That’s why I’m being cautious,” Preller said.

But he did acknowledge the chief difference this year.

“We have the ability to withstand some things this year,” Preller said.


Where the Padres scrambled in spring training last year to sign stopgap veterans Aaron Loup and Adam Warren after Jose Castillo went down with a forearm injury, the team was intentional about getting the left-handed Pomeranz and Johnson (a righty who posted a 1.84 ERA and struck out 91 batters in 58 2/3 innings last season) as well as retaining Stammen.

Where injuries and ineffectiveness prompted the Padres to call up pitcher after pitcher to fill in throughout the summer, a number of those young pitchers don’t figure to make the team at the end of this spring training.

In fact, the bullpen appears all but set before pitchers throw their first official bullpen session of the spring.

Barring injury or trade, Munoz, Strahm, Castillo, Pagan, Pierce, Pomeranz, Stammen and Yates would seem to be locks to comprise the opening day bullpen.


That would leave at least a dozen candidates in big-league camp vying for a job that, at this point, doesn’t exist.

“Our Triple-A bullpen should be pretty nails, too,” Yates said. “There are going to be guys in Triple-A that deserve to be in the big leagues.”

The ones that aren’t traded.

Not only are the Padres looking for more offense post haste, should their bullpen surplus turn out to be as real as it seems, some of the relievers could be packaged in trade-deadline deals.


For now, the focus is on how this group might actually improve the Padres.

With Yates (14.98), Pagan (12.34), Gerardo Reyes (13.15), Trey Wingenter (12.71) and Munoz (11.74), the Padres have five relievers in camp who ranked in the top 50 in strikeouts per nine innings (minimum 20 innings) in 2019. Only Boston has that many.

Stammen (4.4 percent), Pagan (4.9) Yates (5.4) and Luis Perdomo (6.1) ranked among relievers with the 50 lowest walk rates. No other team can match that.

Yates led major league relievers with a 1.19 ERA last season and Pagan’s mark of 2.31 ranked 18th. Just three other clubs have multiple pitchers still in their bullpen who ranked in the top 20 in ERA last season.


“I think we’ve got a great bullpen, but we haven’t proven anything yet,” Stammen said. “… But I think it has the makings of something that could carry the team to a few extra wins.”