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Padres Acquire Yonder Alonso

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The Padres have acquired first baseman Yonder Alonso from the Braves for cash, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. He’ll join the Padres’ taxi squad. Alonso had been with the Braves on a minor league contract since the winter, and he hasn’t accrued an at-bat this year.

Now 33 years old, Alonso’s a veteran of a handful of major league organizations since he joined the Reds as the seventh overall pick in 2008. Alonso’s no stranger to the Padres, who acquired him in a 2011 blockbuster with the Reds, but he made a minimal impact in San Diego before it dealt him to Oakland in 2015.

Alonso had his best season between Oakland and Seattle in 2017, but he has generally offered middling production relative to his offensively charged position. He has taken 3,773 plate appearances in the majors, including a combined 335 between the White Sox and Rockies last year, and batted .259/.332/.404 (102 wRC+) with 100 home runs.

Now that he’s back with the Padres, Alonso will give the club a bit of insurance at first behind Eric Hosmer, Jake Cronenworth and Ty France. He’s also now part of the same organization as brother-in-law Manny Machado, the Padres’ third baseman.

West Notes: Hosmer, Rangers, Rockies, Giants

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There’s a “very good chance” the Padres will activate first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list Saturday, manager Jayce Tingler told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters. Hosmer has been out since July 28 with gastritis, which cut off an encouraging start to the season in which he was hitting more fly balls than ever and getting tremendous results. The Padres have mostly turned to Jake Cronenworth at first in Hosmer’s absence, and the rookie has been excellent in the early going.

  • The Rangers announced that they’ve activated righty Rafael Montero and placed lefty Joe Palumbo on the IL with an ulcerative colitis flareup. Montero hasn’t pitched this season, but as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in April, he has been a real find for the club. The former standout Mets prospect amassed 29 innings of 2.48 ERA pitching with 10.55 K/9 against 1.55 BB/9 in his first year with the Rangers last season.
  • The Rockies placed RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez on the IL on Friday with right biceps tendinitis and recalled fellow righty Ryan Castellani, per a team announcement. Gonzalez has made one start for the club this year, but he yielded three earned runs during that three-inning performance. Castellani, meanwhile, ranks as Colorado’s 18th overall prospect at MLB.com. He’s finally in line to make his Rockies debut six years after the team selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft. Castellani struggled to an 8.31 ERA with 9.76 K/9 and 6.23 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings in his first Triple-A action last year.
  • Righty Reyes Moronta and outfielder Hunter Bishop have reported to the Giants’ alternate site, the club announced. Moronta’s continuing to work back from right shoulder surgery, while Bishop has been down since late June because of a positive coronavirus test. Bishop is now a part of the Giants’ 60-man player pool. There’s a chance Moronta will get into the Giants’ bullpen this season, manager Gabe Kapler said (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Moronta has been highly effective since he debuted in 2017, having recorded a 2.66 ERA/3.38 FIP with 11.22 K/9 and 5.12 BB/9 across 128 1/3 innings.

Padres Option Joey Lucchesi, Josh Naylor

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The Padres announced last night that they’ve optioned left-hander Joey Lucchesi and outfielder/first baseman Josh Naylor to their alternate training site. The moves trim San Diego’s roster to the requisite 28 players that will serve as the maximum roster size from this point forth.

Every club made some moves to drop their roster to 28 players yesterday, but the Padres’ specific choices create a bit of intrigue. Lucchesi had been lined up to start today’s game against the D-backs, but that clearly won’t happen now. San Diego is, at least temporarily, left with a four-man rotation which has already led to speculation among fans about the potential promotion of MacKenzie Gore — ranked by many as the top pitching prospect in all off Major League Baseball.

The anticipation is understandable, but it’s also perhaps best to temper expectations. The Padres had an off day yesterday, so they could simply move everyone else in the rotation up a day. Zach Davies can start on normal rest today, followed by Chris Paddack on Saturday and Dinelson Lamet on Sunday.

San Diego also has other options on its current roster. In both of Lucchesi’s starts this season, he’s been followed up my a multi-inning relief appearance from righty Cal Quantrill. The Padres could turn the spot over to Quantrill to see how he fares in a start or two. Elsewhere on the roster, 20-year-old Luis Patino is considered one of the game’s better pitching prospects himself. The club has said he’ll begin in a bullpen role, and he’s not an option Friday after pitching two innings of relief Wednesday. However, if everyone is pushed up a day thanks to Thursday’s off-day, Patino could easily make a start this weekend or early next week.

All that said, it’s surely tempting to consider Gore. The Padres have lost four of their past five games, allowing an average of 6.2 runs per contest in that time. Their two prior wins to that were slugfests in which the pitching staff still yielded a combined 14 runs. Overall, San Diego ranks 21st in the Majors in ERA (4.70), 17th in FIP (4.23) and 18th in xFIP (4.30). The rotation, anchored by Paddack and Lamet, has been better than the bullpen to this point, but there’s still room for improvement. And in a short season where every win is magnified, the Padres currently sit in third place in the NL West behind the Dodgers and the surprising Rockies. Anyone promoted to the big leagues at this point would fall shy of a full year of MLB service. At the very least, the rotation now becomes an intriguing storyline to follow with a watchful eye.

As for Lucchesi himself, it’s a disappointing outcome after the 2016 fourth-rounder had held down a rotation spot for the two prior seasons. The now 27-year-old southpaw debuted early in 2018 and immediately impressed the club to the point that he stuck for a full year, ultimately making 26 starts with a 4.08 ERA and an average of 10 punchouts per nine innings. His 2019 season was similar: 163 2/3 frames of 4.18 ERA/4.17 FIP ball with solid control, plenty of grounders and nearly a strikeout per inning.

But Lucchesi also struggled to a 4.60 ERA in the second half of the 2019 season, and the Padres have generally been averse to letting him pitch to opposing lineups a third time. The reason for that is glaring; opponents have hit Lucchesi at a .233/.293/.397 clip the first time through the order, a near-identical .233/.288/.407 clip a second time — and a disastrous .312/.395/.548 pace once the lineup turns over a third time. Viewed through that lens, it’s not surprising that Lucchesi has averaged only five innings per start in the Majors (299 innings, 58 starts).

Looking to Naylor, opportunities for the 23-year-old have been limited. Trent Grisham, Wil Myers and Tommy Pham are all producing in the outfield, and Jake Cronenworth has hit well in lieu of injured first baseman Eric Hosmer, who’ll likely return this weekend. Naylor, the No. 12 overall pick by the Marlins back in 2015, has received just 14 plate appearances this year. He made a pair of early starts at DH, but the Friars have rotated several players through that spot rather than committing to a primary option at the newly created post.

Naylor tallied 279 trips to the dish in 2019 but didn’t force his way into a larger role with that showing. In all, he’s a career .248/.314/.402 through 293 PAs. Injuries or slumps in that outfield/first base/DH mix figure to get him another look later this season, but for now he’ll hone his approach at the team’s alternate site.

Padres Promote Luis Patino

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3:40pm: Patino’s contract has been selected to the Major League roster, per a club announcement. Righty David Bednar was optioned to the Padres’ alternate training site in a corresponding move.

12:10pm: The Padres are set to promote top pitching prospect Luis Patino. It appears the ADN Barranquilla Twitter account first posted the news, which has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Patino is just twenty years of age, but he’s widely considered one of the most electric young arms in baseball. He’s expected to work out of the bullpen to begin his tenure, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets.

Though he lacks extensive experience in the upper minors, Patino did reach Double-A last year after an impressive run at the High-A level. He’s still ironing out his full secondary arsenal, but possesses the kind of elite stuff that ought to play right out of the gates, especially in a relief role.

The 2020 season sprint creates opportunity for the Friars, who have started out with a nice 7-4 stretch. The up-and-coming club is hoping to hit on a variety of talented but fairly inexperienced players. Patino now joins that mix.

The timing of the promotion is such that Patino cannot accrue enough service time to reach a full year. Accordingly, the San Diego club can control his rights through at least 2026. He will, however, likely qualify for arbitration after the 2022 campaign as a Super Two player — if he can grasp ahold of a permanent roster spot from this point forward.

Rockies V. Padres: Who’s More Likely To Make Playoffs?

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Neither Colorado nor San Diego entered the season as teams expected to contend for playoff berths, but both the Rockies and Padres have been among the National League’s best teams a week-plus into what will go down as a strange 2020 campaign. The NL West rivals met over the weekend, and the Rockies took two of three to vault them into first place in the division – yes, even ahead of the mighty Dodgers – with a 6-2 record. The Padres, who are trying to snap a 13-year playoff drought, are now a game back at 6-4.

When the dust settles at year’s end (if a full season actually happens), there’s little doubt that the Dodgers will be the top team standing in the NL West. Frankly, they’re too loaded to expect otherwise. But it would still be a major accomplishment for the Rockies or Padres to earn wild-card berths. Colorado’s not far removed from back-to-back playoff spots, having played meaningful October ball in 2017-18, though the team fell on hard times during a 71-win effort last season and did little to nothing to improve during the offseason. San Diego was pretty aggressive, meanwhile, though it entered the winter as a 70-win team with a similarly high hill to climb.

The fact that the league added three extra playoff teams in each league for 2020 obviously helps the causes of every club, especially those that have started well this year. The Rockies have charged to first in their division on the strength of some of the usual suspects (Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, German Marquez and Jon Gray), and they’ve done so despite struggles from team MVP Nolan Arenado. Surprisingly, though, veterans Daniel Murphy, Matt Kemp and Daniel Bard – whose best days seemed long gone when the season started – have picked up some of the slack.

The Padres are playing .600 ball in the early going thanks in no small part to continued marvelous performances from second-year stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack, but they’ve also gotten excellent production from other sources. Outfielder and offseason acquisition Trent Grisham has been fantastic; so have currently injured first baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Wil Myers, both disappointments in recent years, as well as righty Dinelson Lamet. To the surprise of no one who has paid attention to his career, newcomer and outfielder Tommy Pham has also thrived. The Padres also sport an impressive bullpen on paper, though the unit’s off to a surprisingly poor start. Regardless, in order to upgrade their cast of pitchers, the Padres could pick from a deep well of prospects (MacKenzie Gore? Luis Patino?) if they need to bolster their roster in the next couple months.

It’s going to be interesting to see if either of these rival clubs will emerge as playoff teams in 2020. They’ve certainly begun well, but which one is more likely to keep up its current pace? (Poll link for app users)

Padres Add Three To Player Pool

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The Padres announced that they’ve added left-hander Travis Radke and infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Jason Vosler to their 60-man player pool. All three will head to the club’s alternate training site. The additions bring San Diego’s pool up to a total of 57 players.

Radke, 27, pitched well across three minor league levels in 2019, working to a combined 2.64 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 71 2/3 innings of relief work. He allowed only two home runs in that time and posted a ground-ball rate north of 60 percent as well. A 25th-round pick back in 2014, Radke underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2016 season and much of the 2017 season. Radke has never been considered a high-end prospect within the organization, but he carries a cumulative 2.22 ERA since returning from surgery and also threw well in a 2018 Fall League stint.

Mejias-Brean made his MLB debut with the Friars last season and clubbed a pair of home runs in a brief look that included 33 plate appearances. The 29-year-old can play all over the infield and is a career .269/.334/.382 hitter in just shy of 1500 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

San Diego acquired Vosler, now 26, in the 2018 trade that sent right-hander Rowan Wick to the Cubs. He split his time evenly between first base and third base with the Padres’ Triple-A club last year, posting a quality .291/.367/.523 slash with 20 long balls, 19 doubles and four triples in 425 trips to the plate. Between the right-handed-hitting Mejias-Brean and the lefty-swinging Vosler, the Padres look to have added some largely MLB-ready infield depth that can cover multiple positions and platoon scenarios.

Padres Place Eric Hosmer On 10-Day Injured List; Select Jerad Eickhoff’s Contract

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The Padres placed first baseman Eric Hosmer on the 10-day injured list Saturday due to gastritis.  Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff will take Hosmer’s spot on the active roster, as the club announced today that Eickhoff’s contract had been selected.

Hosmer has only played in three games this season, though the good news is that team doctors have said that his stomach issues aren’t related to COVID-19.  Such stomach problems are hard to gauge in terms of a timeline, so the Padres clearly felt an IL placement was necessary to give Hosmer proper time to fully recover.

Eickhoff signed a minor league contract with San Diego in January, and he is now in line for his first MLB appearance in anything besides a Phillies uniform.  Eickhoff posted a 4.15 ERA over 440 innings with Philadelphia from 2015-19, though the bulk of that good production came during a 2016 season that saw him deliver a 3.65 ERA over 197 1/3 innings.

Multiple injuries curtailed his performance over the past three years, however, and the Phils outrighted Eickhoff from their 40-man roster last November.  He’ll now get a crack at reviving his career in a relief role for San Diego.

Predict The NL West Division Winner

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With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway, it’s time to make some predictions. We’re polling the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — though plenty more teams will crack the postseason under the rather inclusive new playoff qualification system. We’ve already surveyed the AL East, AL Central, AL West, NL Central, and NL East landscapes, so it’s time to wrap things up with the National League West.

The Dodgers have owned this division for some time now and are perhaps more laden with star-level talent than ever with Mookie Betts on board. Then again, they may be more vulnerable than ever in a short-season format. There’s a nice assembly of talent on the Diamondbacks roster, which includes an elite young player in Ketel Marte and a sturdy slate of veterans now highlighted by intra-division transferee Madison Bumgarner. Then again, you could argue that the Padres have the greatest capacity to surprise with their own budding legend in Fernando Tatis Jr., still-youthful star Manny Machado, and a potential-laden rotation. The Rockies have an excellent core unit in their own right and perhaps have more upside than is generally recognized. And while the Giants don’t really appear primed to compete, they managed to do so last year and still have a lot of players with lofty established performance ceilings at the game’s highest level — even if it has been a few years.

Which team do you think is going to take the division title? (Poll link for app users.)

Latest On Padres’ Jorge Mateo

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Padres infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo, who tested positive for the coronavirus July 8, has been cleared to return, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Mateo worked out Friday, per Acee, though he’ll begin the season on the COVID-19 injured list. It’s unknown when he’ll be ready to make his 2020 debut.

Mateo was formerly a top 100 prospect with both the Yankees and Athletics, but after back-to-back underwhelming showings in Triple-A over the previous two seasons, the A’s shipped the 25-year-old to the Padres in June for a player to be named later. Mateo has amassed 1,076 plate appearances at the minors’ highest level and slashed a below-average .261/.306/.433 with 22 home runs and 49 stolen bases.

San Diego acquired the out-of-options Mateo knowing he’d either have to make its season-opening roster or be designated for assignment. If healthy, Mateo may have been a candidate for significant reps at second base, and that could still be the case when he’s able to take the field. In the meantime, the Padres will primarily go with Jurickson Profar at the keystone, while Ty France, Greg Garcia and Jake Cronenworth could serve as fallback options.

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