PEORIA, Ariz. —
Was it just September that the Padres fired Andy Green and Ron Fowler said more “heads will roll” if 2020 didn’t yield improvement. Just the end of October that Jayce Tingler was named manager. Just November that brown was brought back? Just shortly after Thanksgiving that General Manager A.J. Preller embarked on a 10-day splurge in which he added two outfielders, a second baseman, a starting pitcher and a back-end reliever.
Was all that longer ago? Was it yesterday?
The Padres offseason seemed to fly by, as offseasons do. But then this one somehow also seemed interminable, with the early flurry of activity and then the trades that maybe possibly might’ve almost come to fruition but ultimately didn’t.