Already on a roll, Padres ready to roll out their new look

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres ride a five-game winning streak into their three-game series against the Cardinals at Petco Park this weekend. Their roster is going to look quite a bit different than it did on Wednesday.

San Diego swung a flurry of five trades involving 22 players ahead of the Trade Deadline on Thursday -- including a deal for relief ace Mason Miller and a handful of other moves designed to bolster their offense and rotation depth.

“We’ve taken a team that was positioned to play in the playoffs -- a really good team -- and hopefully rounded it out,” said general manager A.J. Preller.

That would appear to be an understatement. Here’s how the Padres might now line up after a frenzied Thursday:

Potential post-Deadline lineup:
1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Luis Arraez, 1B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Jackson Merrill, CF
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Ryan O’Hearn, DH
7. Ramón Laureano, LF
8. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
9. Freddy Fermin, C

For four months, the Padres’ lineup was loaded with star power but far too top-heavy. No team in the Majors has posted a lower OPS from its bottom third than San Diego’s .584 mark. Their pinch-hitters have combined for a .156 batting average.

That should change in a major way following Thursday’s moves -- with upgrades at DH, left field and catcher. Plus, rather notably, this lineup could see Gavin Sheets moved into the bench role where he started the season.

Sheets has been one of the Padres’ best hitters at times this year. His presence on the bench -- or whoever else from the above projected lineup gets left out -- will give the Padres a fearsome pinch-hitting option every night.

Catcher Elias Díaz remains on the roster, with Martín Maldonado designated for assignment. Trenton Brooks was DFA’d, as well, and trade acquisition Will Wagner was optioned to Triple-A. Presuming Jose Iglesias’ utility-infield spot is safe, that leaves Tyler Wade and Bryce Johnson in contention for the final bench place.

Potential post-Deadline rotation:
1. Nick Pivetta
2. Dylan Cease
3. Yu Darvish
4. Randy Vásquez
5. JP Sears

Michael King is nearly back from a nerve issue that affected his right shoulder. Darvish has already returned from the right elbow inflammation that cost him the first 3 1/2 months.

If they’re both healthy, the Padres have a fearsome starting five. The guess here, however, is that they’ll use a six-man rotation for at least some portion of the dog days, incorporating newly acquired lefties Nestor Cortes and JP Sears into the mix. (Cortes himself is on his way back from a flexor strain in his left elbow.)

Padres starters won’t necessarily need to work deep into games considering the obvious strength of the bullpen. But they have a group that can do it. And if they can ease the burden on that ’pen before October, they’ll look to do so.

Potential post-Deadline bullpen:
Closer: Robert Suarez
Closer: Mason Miller
Setup: Jason Adam
Setup: Adrian Morejon
Setup: Jeremiah Estrada
Middle innings: Wandy Peralta
Middle innings: Yuki Matsui
Middle innings: David Morgan

Preller said he’d let Shildt and pitching coach Ruben Niebla decipher the roles of their late-inning relievers. His thought in acquiring Miller wasn’t that he was necessarily acquiring a closer.

“You can never have enough arms -- and never have enough impact arms,” Preller said.

Miller and Suarez will presumably vie for that closer role. Morejon remains the highest-leverage left-hander, though Estrada and especially Adam have proven very capable of getting lefties out. Still, the Padres could stand to have one of their two lower-leverage lefties -- Peralta or Matsui -- step up.

As super ’pens go, this should be one of the all-time greats. The Padres were already the first team to send three relievers to the All-Star Game. They lead the Majors by a sizable margin with a 2.97 bullpen ERA. They’ve been going to their back-end weapons as early as the fifth inning on a regular basis.

And that was before they added Miller.