The same Wil? A new Wil?

On the field, that won’t be known for a while. If it can ever be known which Wil Myers the Padres will get.

But the same easygoing, stand-up guy as always stood at his locker Saturday morning before his first day participating in spring training workouts and addressed his offseason of trying to stop all the changing — as well as being the subject of intense and seemingly never-ending trade rumors, his excitement about the coaching staff and his relationship with former manager Andy Green.

Myers chuckled at the mention of Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler’s comments at a fan event early in the offseason, which included the owner’s resignation regarding the Padres probably being stuck with the $61 million remaining on Myers’ contract.


“I understand, especially throughout the life of my contract, I haven’t been great here,” Myers said. “But it only takes one good year to flip that. So I’m here. I’m excited for the season, excited to get going. Looking forward to flipping that script.”

Fowler’s candor may only be matched by that of Myers.

He didn’t hide the fact he was aware the Padres were trying to move him, including in the proposed package the team hoped would bring Mookie Betts from Boston before the Red Sox consummated a deal with the Dodgers.

“I knew what was going on from the beginning to the end,” Myers said. “That’s the way the game goes. There’s no fault by anybody. That’s the way the business of baseball is. At the end of the day, we’re just here to play. Wherever they play me or whatever team it is, that’s the way it goes. I’m excited to be here. Looking forward to the opportunity to be here and get going.”


A little more than a week ago, Myers figured he would be reporting to Red Sox camp in Fort Myers, Fla.

“It seemed extremely real at that given moment,” he said. “That’s the way things go.”

Not that it really is always that easy.

“At times you’re kind of pissed off,” Myers allowed. “You’re like, ‘Golly, come on.’ But you’ve got to put your feelings aside and say, ‘You know what, man, whatever they’re going to do, I have to focus on myself this offseason and getting better for me.’ ”


Plus, he likes it in San Diego, with his closest friend on the team, Austin Hedges, and a seemingly ever-improving lineup he believes he can still be a big part of.

“I’m very happy here,” said Myers, who will be trying to earn playing time primarily in right field. “The thing about it is I love all the guys in here. We have a great clubhouse. We’ve got a great new staff in here. I think it’s going to bring energy. … It is what it is. We’re big leaguers here to play the game. We’re very fortunate to be here. You take the good with the bad and give it what you got.”

In addition to possessing a kind of rare affability that is something like an engaged aloofness, Myers has had practice in this situation. The Padres have been trying to varying degrees to unload Myers (and at least a large chunk of his contract, which runs through 2022) for at least the past 15 months. The Padres, who acquired him via trade from the Tampa Bay Rays before the 2015 season, are also his third organization since the Kansas City Royals drafted him in 2009.

“I’ve been traded twice,” he said. “I’ve been in trade rumors a long time. I’ve figured out how to deal with it. I have no hard feelings toward anybody. … I understand the business side.”


That could be viewed as a rote answer in such a situation. But with honesty being his default tendency, Myers really has no choice other than accepting his part in the Padres choosing to conduct such business.

He was Baseball America’s minor league player of the year in 2012 while playing in Double-A and Triple-A with the Royals. He was the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year for the Rays. He was an All-Star for the Padres in 2016 and led the team in WAR in both ’17 and ‘18.

But while he has had multiple stretches in which he essentially was the Padres’ offense, in every season with the team, including his All-Star campaign, he has endured slumps that practically redefined the term.

Not for the first time (or even the 20th), Myers acknowledged Saturday, “There have been plenty of times in my career I’ve played at a high level, and there have been other times I’ve played at a very bad level.”


He is coming off a season in which he finished with a .739 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging-percentage), the second lowest of his seven big-league seasons. Along the way, he posted an .879 OPS in his first 85 plate appearances, a .321 OPS in his next 225 plate appearances and an .812 OPS in his final 180 plate appearances.

While Myers’ tendency to try something new at the plate with great frequency is viewed as among the biggest detriments to his production, some of the newness around him this season would seem to be a positive.

He thinks so, and so do the Padres.

There has appeared an intentional effort, not entirely disputed by those in the organization, to hire and keep coaches with targeted players in mind. Like Bobby Dickerson and Wayne Kirby are here in part to bring Manny Machado’s game back up, the laid-back Damion Easley seems especially suited to work with Myers as hitting coach.


“He’s a guy who can keep me grounded, who can show me ways to stay consistent, keep me in the same place consistently instead of letting my head try something else and try new things instead of keeping that one thing that helps me succeed,” Myers said.

Easley, the Padres’ assistant hitting coach last season, got more involved with coaching Myers at the end of the season, which coincided with Myers’ extended period of production.

“The thing I like about Ease, I worked with him the last month-and-a-half,” Myers said. “He saw me get really hot and also lose it, which that happened a lot last year. He was hands-on with that and was able to see what was going on.”


Easley visited Myers twice in North Carolina in the offseason.

“We are on the same page coming into the season,” Myers said. “We have a good plan in place, something we’re not going to (deviate) from and stick to it and not let my mind go around.”

Myers attempted to be coy about what that meant, but it is no secret that one of the team’s most gifted athletes and natural hitters is at his best when staying with pitches longer and hitting them wherever that takes him instead of trying to jump on offerings and/or overthink against certain pitchers.

“There’s a common denominator with me every time I’m swinging the bat well,” Myers said.


It was impossible to not read at least a little into Myers’ enthusiasm about the new coaching staff and rookie manager Jayce Tingler.

Extremely close for parts of their time together, an uneasy existence festered between Myers and Green in the year-plus leading up to the manager’s firing last September. Perhaps conveniently, some in the organization have even came to believe Green’s tinkering and approach were partly to blame for Myers’ struggles.

“Me and Andy had some nice conversations after the season,” Myers said. “It was just a different situation. It was the situation we were in. We were in positons that were, uh …”

Not ideal.


The roster was not even designed to be competitive during the first three of Green’s four seasons. Green spent more time with Myers than any other player, tasked with trying to make him a leader and trying to teach him in various ways. He pushed and prodded. It got old.

Now the bench coach for the Chicago Cubs, Green said in an interview with the Union-Tribune’s Bryce Miller this week: “When you know guys have more in the tank than comes out, you always look at yourself and figure out if there’s more you can do. Wil is incredibly talented, a good person with a good heart who wants to do great. You’re always going to take ownership of the context you create for your players to perform in.”

For whatever frustration he has expressed about Green, both privately and publicly, Myers also expresses what seems a legitimate respect.

“There was a lot here,” Myers said. “Andy got a bad rap here. Andy is a great human being, first and foremost. The thing about him is he’s going to have a lot of success going forward. He got a great job in Chicago. He’ll learn from some things and be great going forward. … Listen, it goes both ways. There are times you’re with a guy for four years and certain things happen. Nobody hates Andy. It was a situation that happens. At the highest level, emotions run high.”


Then, hardly pausing for a breath, he looked ahead.

“Everybody here,” he said, “is ready for a new season, ready to get going.”