Every night, the script seems to repeat itself for the Padres. A few flashes of promise and an offense that can’t deliver when it matters most. On Tuesday, the Padres’ face, Manny Machado, tried to bring a change with his homer, but still could not rescue a lineup that once again fell short after an early four-run hole. And the worst is that the frustration is no longer limited to the fans.

Even Machado started doubting whether the Padres have enough gas left to survive until October.

“I kind of doubt that. 1. We can’t sustain it. 2, I have confidence in everybody in this room that we’re going to be right where we need to be,” MLB insider Marty Caswell quoted Machado when he was asked if the Padres can sustain their winning pct if the offensive core doesn’t figure it out.

The Padres have hovered near the bottom of MLB rankings, featuring a team batting average of around .219, an OPS of .662, and a wRC+ of 92, meaning they are performing slightly below league average as an overall unit. In contrast, the team is ranked 12th in terms of ERA (3.85). Thus, it is their offense that is holding them back.

Then there are high-profile hitters like Fernando Tatis Jr., Machado, and Jackson Merrill, who have simultaneously struggled to find a rhythm. For instance, a prolonged home run drought for Tatis and sub-.600 OPS stretches for Machado and Merrill have severely limited the middle of the lineup’s run-producing capabilities.

Despite Tatis’ home run drought, the Padres still rank 18th in scoring homers (55), which contributes one-fourth of their total runs scored (214). This suggests that the Padres’ lineup has repeatedly failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. They were 0-22 with runners in scoring position in the last three games entering Tuesday.

No wonder the Padres’ manager Craig Stammen sends a wake-up call to the clubhouse. “We’re not as good as we expected right now… they know it, we know it, the whole world knows it… Eventually, we’re going to break through,” Stammen said.

The Padres’ lineup proved their manager right on Monday in their shutout loss against the Phillies. In the first inning, all bases were loaded for the Padres with no outs, and still the inning ended without a single run! Machado and Jackson Merrill were struck out, and Nick Castellanos ended the inning with a groundout.

The only point that both Machado and Stammen agree on is that the team will rebound. The Padres have done it in the past. Back in 2023, the Padres struggled to gain momentum through the first five and a half months. They erased their deficits with a red-hot seven-game winning streak in mid-September to salvage a wildly underperforming season.

The Padres clubhouse is hoping to repeat the same, and amid all these woes, the only silver lining is the trade rumors around the franchise.

The Padres are expected to go hot this trade deadline

The Friars’ bet on their existing lineup is expected to continue for now. Reason? The majority of the trade rumors around them are related to their pitching staff. The biggest one of them is Tarik Skubal.

“Now that it’s becoming inevitable that the free-falling Detroit Tigers may have no choice but to trade two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal at the deadline, rival executives believe the bidding will come down to four finalists that not only can afford the remainder of his $32 million contract, but will also be willing to give up prized prospects: The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres,” MLB insider Bob Nightengale said.

The Padres previously showed their aggressiveness during the Mason Miller trade. They gave up Leo De Vries, one of their top prospects at that time. Currently, they have two players in MLB’s top 100 rankings. Ethan Salas is at No. 52, and Kruz Schoolcraft is at No. 92. So, for Skubal, the Padres could go all in.

No sluggers are rumored with the Padres till now, which makes us believe that this same lineup would take the team forward. Let’s now see if Machado’s clubhouse could bring a change, or his doubt comes true.