What is Yangervis Solarte’s Future With the Padres?
Credit: AP Photo
Many San Diego sports fans say the Padres still have at least two years until they are able to make a run for the wild card, or maybe even the division. With the N.L. West having solid infielders like the Dodgers’ Corey Seager, Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt, Giants’ Brandon Crawford, and of course the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado, there is a valid question looming in San Diego and that is where Yangervis Solarte will fit in San Diego’s infield in the upcoming years.
Yangervis Solarte is loved by Padre fans because of his great personality and simply because of how good a player he is. Yangervis was acquired in July of 2014 in a trade with the Yankees that sent him and Rafael DePaula to San Diego, and the beloved Chase Headley to the Bronx.
Recently, there has been some rumors swirling that some clubs may be interested in acquiring Solarte because of his versatility.
Solarte has played every position in the infield in his 2017 campaign, and most recently he has been sharing time at shortstop with Erick Aybar so that Carlos Asuaje and Cory Spangenberg could get in the lineup each day.
The primary reason why Asuaje was even given a chance to play regularly was because of Solarte’s oblique injury he suffered in late June.
Asuaje took advantage of the situation at hand as he ended up batting in the top of the order nightly behind Manuel Margot. The young second basemen hit .270 this season with four home runs, while driving in 21 runs and playing excellent defense.
As Padres fans know, there are still many options for Andy Green and his staff. There are many questions for all the infield positions in the 2018 season and beyond. First base is pretty much a lock with San Diego’s franchise player, Wil Myers. But the rest are up for grabs.
At second base, it will probably be either Carlos Asuaje or Luis Urias. At shortstop, upcoming star Fernando Tatis Jr. is eyeing that spot in the future. But then you go to third base and you do not really know who will be there when San Diego makes its next run at a title.
It could be Cory Spangenberg, Yangervis Solarte, or even a free agent.
Yangervis Solarte has a solid chance at starting the season with the team if the Padres do not get a great offer for him. Spangenberg can be a good hitter at times, but still has consistency issues. In 2017, Cory had a batting average of .264, 13 home runs, and 46 RBI, while Solarte hit .255, with 18 HR, and 64 RBI.
While Spangenberg played more due to Solarte’s injury in the 2017 season, Yangervis was able to hit more home runs and had 18 more RBI than him. I get Spangenberg is more athletic, but in the future the Padres will have athletic guys in the infield like Luis Urias and Fernando Tatis.
If Solarte doesn’t work out, then the Padres can end the relationship after the 2018 season. He has two options for 2019 ($5.5 million) and 2020 ($8 million) and the Padres do not have to pick them up. They could easily take the $750K buyout after either season.
I am pretty sure that the Padres fans would love to keep Solarte around at the time the ball club is projected to start winning. If you have a lineup with Margot, Urias, Tatis Jr., Myers, Solarte, and Hedges, that could be pretty exciting. Yangervis Solarte will be a hot topic this winter. What will A.J. do with the switch-hitting infielder?
I am a die-hard Padres fan and season ticket holder. I am obsessed with baseball and have been a Padre fan my whole life. I want to become a baseball writer when I grow up. Go Padres!
None of you bloggers on this site seem to ever mention the lack of LH bats on this team going forward. No way Spangy ever hits .280-25-100, and in my book that is what you need from players who play on the corners. I hope we try some platoons next year, like Dickerson splitting time with Pirella. Keeping Solarte swith hitting plus plays 4 positions versitility is a must, how many 4A players and utility guys, 5th starters does this team need in the minors if we trade him. Urias shouls play SS with Solorate helping out, see his bat head to head with Ausaje, who is our 2nd baseman of the future. Backup catcher should stay with Sanchez, again switch hitter, can also play a little 1b. For the same reasons they left the the Super 4 we brought up this year in AAA last season, there is value in pushing these kids to go from 71 wins to say 84 next season. Our pitchers need more runs so they stop trying to be perfect all the time.
You are wrong. I constantly mention that fact on our podcast.
James, I am fairly new to your site. I have ONLY listened to one Podcast, #66, so far. I was talking specific about written content I read here. That is why I said Bloggers.
I have studied the lineup dynamics of the current playoff teams and NONE are RH as this team projects say circa 2019 or 2020. Urias and Tatis are both RH, Pirella is RH. I know people don’t like to use batting average at all in evaluation players, but we need atleast a couple of .300 hitters in this lineup, in the 3 hole for sure and one other spot. I am concerned about our inability to get on base. IMO we have guys with a plus RUN tool, but we really didn’t steal allot of bases. We have no bats that are LH except Naylor who is blocked by Meyers in our entire system that IMO projects on a starter for a competitive team. So we need to go outside of this organization and fix that problem. We need 3 LH hitters, IMO. Two with plus Power and one .300+ hitter.
If you assume the Supper 4 we brought up this year plus Urais and Tatis are part of our core come 2020, then we need these 3 LH bats to come from 3B, LF, and 1B. I have concerns about a 2 hole hitter also from that core.
Renfroe and Dickerson should platoon. Hunter was crap vs. RH pitching.