Padres offseason primer: With World Series over, club has decisions to make

Before sweeping the Dodgers out of the NLCS en route to upending the Tampa Bay Rays for the team’s first World Series title, Pat Murphy sort of set the stage for the looming lockout.

The little ‘ol Brewers had won more games than the mighty Dodgers the last two years. They went on to steamroll their way through the postseason, likely to the chagrin of owners who were ready to throw the free-spending Dodgers under a work-stoppage bus this winter.

(The Dodgers) feel a little differently about it than I do when I know that the next guy up is a guy that’s never seen the big leagues or the next guy up is a guy that we picked up on as a DFA,” Murphy said ahead of an NLDS matchup with the Padres. “I just have the front office to thank for being able to pick up the right guys because those type of guys have filled in and did really nicely for us, but we don’t have the luxury of … a guy that hadn’t pitched much and he’s going to make his debut in August (and) he’s a $30 million two-time Cy Young winner or something like that.”

That side-eye seemed to fall squarely on Blake Snell, whose nine-start season did little to slow the Dodgers on the way to a 100-win season and an easy road through the NL West. The Dodgers, coming off back-to-back World Series titles, also paid Kyle Tucker some $60 million for a .715 OPS this year.