The San Diego Padres are in rare position that they might both buy and sell at the trade deadline, which is roughly two weeks away. A.J. Preller is a savvy general manager who prefers to maximize players value when it’s inflated. If there are players on the team that he feels can be moved for a better investment, then he will not hesitate to pull the trigger. Nor should he….
It is no secret that the Houston Astros need relief help. Would a trade for San Diego Padres’ closer Brad Hand solve the current bullpen issues for the defending World Champions? The 2018 trade season is in full swing. Manny Machado rumors are swirling. The Baltimore Orioles’ infielder will be dealt very soon. There is no doubt about that. The Orioles have to cash in now or forever hold their…
In an effort to put this lightly, I’ll classify the San Diego Padres’ 2018 campaign as “underwhelming.” The Friars are bringing up the rear in the National League West, and it looks like it will remain that way until the season concludes. Not all is lost however, as the following five aspects of the 2018 season have stood out as positives in an otherwise-underwhelming season. THE BULLPEN Let’s start with…
As the trading deadline approaches the San Diego Padres’ most coveted trade piece has begun to draw interest from a team that has the 6th best farm system in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. The Padres’ left-handed relief ace has continued his career resurgence as a Friar, sporting a career-high 35.3 percent strikeout rate across 41.1 innings pitched in 2018 while also experiencing a one mph increase in…
Note: This article was published previously but was lost in a site outage. After this year’s trade deadline, the tank should be dead. I say, good riddance. Padres fans were promised a five-year route to contention, and that would require a turn toward building a credible MLB on-field product after this season, not simply the accumulation of more prospects and thus more years spent sitting around losing while waiting for…
There are a lot of factors at play here for the Padres this year. The following prospects are currently in the top 30 of most rankings that need to be on the 40-man roster before the end of the year to avoid the Rule 5 draft: Luis Urias, Austin Allen, Chris Paddack, Anderson Espinoza, Jacob Nix, Trey Wingenter and Pedro Avila. There are a number of other interesting names just…
It has been made clear that the Detroit Tigers are rebuilding. Far from what they were in their prime years, the Tigers have already started the process by shipping Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros last August. Now, they seem to be willing to trade young right-hander Michael Fulmer, albeit with a big price tag. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the San Diego Padres have checked in with…
Report from the Train. Premature rumors of the death of the Taco Train are false. Full stop. False alarms, ring merry bells of spring in the taking. True. Wounded Knee at home plate, just because a man can turn around the young bats of the Phillies doesn’t mean it’ll take hold out West in the bat of an eye. Well, what can we say. The illusions of the Taco Train…
Although the Padres’ front office would never admit to such a strategy, last year’s team was constructed to lose (tank) in order to add top prospects to the farm system. However, this year the team added Eric Hosmer and Freddy Galvis in order to start in a new direction, one aimed at actually contending in the not so distant future. With over-the-hill veterans like Erick Aybar at shortstop and Jered…
Brad Hand has hit a bit of a rough patch in June. He’s been touched up to the tune of five runs in his past four outings, including a pair of blown saves against Oakland and San Francisco. His ERA has risen from 1.78 to 2.82 in only 11 days. This recent performance has undoubtedly complicated an already-complex situation regarding his future with the ballclub. Hand’s body of work in…
The San Diego Padres have made some noise in the first half of the 2018 Major League Baseball season. Despite not having an expectation to contend, they find themselves only a few games out of the first place in the National League West. The team made a giant splash early in Spring Training when they acquired Eric Hosmer, giving him the largest contract in franchise history (eight-years/$144 million). Usually, a…
With the rebuild fully underway, the San Diego Padres are in the midst of yet another noncompetitive season. Despite the overall record at this point, the 25 man roster does still have several guys turning in solid performances who could be had by teams in the playoff hunt come the July 31st trade deadline. We’ll take a look at those names and some potential trade partners that could arise over…