Matt Kemp declared A.J. Preller a “Rockstar G.M.” as the Padres’ new baseball ops chief remade the roster in a furious first offseason. That Kemp and fellow newcomer Justin Upton needed 91 games to homer in the same game — on this date, July 17 — in 2015 was illustrative of the degree to which the makeover failed.
Even after Kemp and Upton’s team-up powered James Shields to a 4-2 win over the visiting Colorado Rockies in the first game of the second half, the Padres were seven games under .500, in fourth place in the NL West and contemplating a path forward as the trade deadline approached.