When a ballclub plows a quarter of a billion dollars into the player payroll, as Padres leaders have this year, it's the same as shouting out a request.
Fellas, the team's investors are saying, bring home the World Series trophy.
So far, deep into the regular season, the Padres have accomplished what was realistically expected of them. They're tracking toward about 90 wins, as forecast by oddsmakers, analytical systems and a few newspaper scribes, even after Fernando Tatis Jr. was projected to miss the season's first four months. The club's primary engines, correctly forecast as well, have been the starting pitchers and Manny Machado. Bob Melvin seems the upgrade he was expected to be, commanding respect of the vets and green-lighting a six-man rotation that paid dividends.
