SAN DIEGO -- Although the Padres lost a major piece of their starting rotation with James Shields being dealt to the White Sox on Saturday morning, players and manager Andy Green were adamant that, for them, nothing has changed.
"The goal right now for us didn't change," Green said. "It's exactly the same as it was when I got up this morning and didn't know James was traded at that point in time.
"It's to win a baseball game today. There's more than enough talent on this club to go out and do that job today."
While the players weren't surprised to see that Shields had been traded, given the rumors the previous week, they were disappointed to see him go. At the same time, none allowed the deal to sway the focus from winning baseball games.
"Obviously it's unfortunate. He was the leader of this ballclub," said Melvin Upton Jr., who also played with Shields in Tampa Bay. "It's not exactly how we drew it up, but we've got a number of guys that have been around. We'll figure it out. We're still a team. We'll move on."
Shields' former catcher Derek Norris -- who has already moved into Shields' former locker -- talked about how players couldn't worry about the moves general manager A.J. Preller and the San Diego front office make.
"Whatever they're doing, I'm sure in their minds, is in the best interests of the ballclub going forward," Norris said. "Most importantly we have to go out tonight and try to win another ballgame. I think A.J. has got a general idea of what he wants to do. He doesn't really express those with the clubhouse, so until something changes he's going to do his job and I'm going to go out there and do mine."
With Shields out of the mix, right fielder Matt Kemp pointed out how everyone else in the clubhouse needed to improve -- especially considering the team's slow start to the season.
"I think we all need to step up more," Kemp said. "I think if anybody in this clubhouse is happy with how they've performed this year, then that would be shocking. We all need to do a better job of playing baseball and getting wins."
Even for a player like Wil Myers, who attributed some of his development to Shields, the only thing he can do is move on.
"He's a guy I'm for sure going to miss," Myers said. "I learned a lot from him. I learned how to play this game and how to be a good teammate. So I'm definitely going to miss him in the clubhouse. He kept it loose. He was a leader here.
"The business side of baseball [stinks] sometimes," Myers said, "but it is what it is."