While Padres ace Tyson Ross has moved onto the next phase of his rehab from shoulder inflammation and is doing stabilization exercises (with strengthening exercises around the corner), there’s still no timetable for his return, writes MLB.com’s A.J. Cassavell. Ross has yet to resume throwing, and manager Andy Green tells Cassavell that not only is there no timetable for a return to the Majors, there’s not even a timetable for when Ross will pick up a ball. Green somewhat vaguely says that Ross has reported feeling good, but the lack of definitive updates on his return continues to represent an ominous scenario for the Padres.
More from the NL West…
- The D-backs’ lineup at the big league level is fairly crowded, especially when it comes to positions that could theoretically be manned by prospect Peter O’Brien, but manager Chip Hale said recently in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link), “If you can swing it as well as Peter has, we’ll find a place for him, if he continues to do this — force our hand.” O’Brien is indeed off to another monstrous start at the Triple-A level, hitting .340 with eight homers through his first 97 plate appearances. Of course, O’Brien has also drawn just one walk against 26 strikeouts, and the matter of where on the diamond he plays is an ongoing conundrum. Formerly a catching prospect, Arizona moved O’Brien from behind the plate early last year due to defensive questions (most notably, he developed a case of the yips even throwing the ball back to the pitcher). He’s seen time at first base and in the outfield corners, but the D-backs have Paul Goldschmidt at first base with David Peralta, Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury all serving as corner options. Defense and a lack of walks will continue to be a question for O’Brien, but he’s a .293/.333/.570 hitter with 34 homers in 154 Triple-A games, so the Snakes are understandably intrigued by his bat.
- D-backs GM Stewart also appeared on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this week with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette (audio link) to discuss Shelby Miller’s early struggles. Said Stewart: “Shelby Miller, I think, it’s more really just he’s feeling some pressure of the trade: the players that we traded for him, trying to fit in, I think the whole ordeal has just been different for him leaving St. Louis going to Atlanta. … I think he’s feeling some of the pressure of [Arizona’s expectations to win].” Stewart says he had a conversation with Miller explaining that “there is no pressure here, on him,” instead conveying that Miller need only go out and throw as he has in the past with the Cardinals and Braves. It’s somewhat of a tough sell, in my mind, to cite the players that surrendered for Miller as a source of pressure, considering he was recently flipped for Jason Heyward. And, coming up through a competitive Cardinals organization, expectations of winning aren’t a new phenomenon for Miller, either. The 25-year-old has struggled to an 8.49 ERA with as many walks (19) as strikeouts through 23 1/3 innings this year.
- Early struggles from Matt Cain and Jake Peavy (who tied a career-worst by allowing four homers in his most recent start) have many Giants fans wondering about Tim Lincecum, but manager Bruce Bochy has continued to stand behind his struggling starters, writes Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Bochy reiterated on Wednesday what GM Bobby Evans said earlier in the week: the club has interest in Lincecum in a relief role — more specifically, a long relief role, per Bochy. Lincecum seems intent on attempting to break back into a rotation, though, making a reunion with the Giants difficult to envision. And, as Baggarly notes, Lincecum wouldn’t even be ready to join the rotation immediately, so he doesn’t represent a short-term fix for San Francisco’s ills. Moreover, it remains to be seen if Lincecum is even capable of performing as a quality big league starter on the heels of September hip surgery. While it wouldn’t take much to outperform Peavy (9.00 ERA, 4.96 FIP, 4.72 xFIP in 29 innings) or Cain (7.00 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 4.79 xFIP in 27 innings), I’d imagine that the Giants would want a more definitive upgrade were they to unseat one of their current starters with an external option.
When are the dbacks going to face facts and rebuild?
They have one of the youngest teams in the majors, how much more rebuilding can they do? The have their franchise player on a very team-friendly contract for a few more years. This is their time to go for it. They brought in the pitching to do it, but it’s just looked terrible! The injury to Pollock is a big one. They actually have a pretty nice core in Goldy, Pollock, Castillo, Lamb, Drury, and Peralta, and the back end of the bullpen is solid. It’s just not coming together right now.
As for O’Brien, put him in left with Tomas back in right and Peralta in CF. Drury at 2nd, Segura at SS. Losers here are Mr. 0-2 count Chris Owings and, unfortunately, Nick Ahmed. I LOVE watching Nick play shortstop, but the defensive drop off between Ahmed SS/Owings CF vs. O’Brien LF/Drury 2nd should be more than compensated for with the additional offense. There are 2 problems in Arizona right now: too many opposing homeruns, not enough timely hitting. Good defense doesn’t help either of those.
The problem is that Dave Stewart doesn’t understand the value of low level prospects (including bonus money and draft picks). He’s exhibited this on at least 3 head scratching occasions and is setting this team up to be a perennial 3rd place team.
When are GMs going to learn that the huge offseason never works- citing 2012 Marlins, 2013 Jays, 2014 Mariners and Yankees, 2015 White Sox Red Sox and Padres. It just doesn’t work–
Its not about going all in- its about setting yourself up to compete while keeping the future in mind like the Cubs and Mariners did this past offseason.
Dbacks don’t need to rebuild. They have a lot of money to spend from a nice TV contract and some great contracts with controllable parts. And despite trading away some great prospects, they still have some nice pieces, like Cody Reed in A-ball, not to mention top prospects: Shipley, Bradley and O’Brien, among others. Supplement stars Goldy, Pollock, Greinke and Miller – after he rights the ship – and they will be there with SF & LAD. What’s more, they’ve avoided some bad contracts. Keep avoiding them and they should be competing for years.
Avoided bad contracts? They just gave a 32 yr old pitcher $206.5m. They also gave Tomas, what, like $70m?
That dbacks franchise is going to be fkd in a few years. Hope they win for their fans sake
So Tyson Ross probably has a trade value of ~0 atm.
Pretty much.
The fact that he’s not even close to picking up a ball yet is pretty concerning. They should have traded him this past offseason.
Yeah, that’s what made me think that. He may not even be back by the time the trading deadline passes.
And yes! They absolutely should have. Dude has always had issues with injuries and his value was probably about as high as it’d ever get. Obviously, without knowing what offers SD got for him, it’s kinda hard to say they should have traded him. It’d be interesting to see what type of packages teams offered during the winter for him.
Preller was probably looking for a pretty big return, something similar to the Shelby Miller trade. Yeah, I’m interested in seeing what teams were offering for him too.
He wasn’t going to get a similar return to Shelby Miller for Ross. For one, the Miller trade was a giant overpay to begin with. For two, Miller has one more year of control than Ross does. For three, Miller is a former top 10 prospect in all of baseball while Ross was once seen as a bust with the A’s. And finally, no team wants to get taken by the Padres. In their eyes we are the team that is supposed to get taken by others.
Shelby Miller’s problem is between his ears.
DBacks cannot compete with LA and SF. The Shelby Miller trade was terrible and they would have been much better off holding their prospects and signing a proven Veteran FA starter, like Lackey or someone similar to a short term deal. They will need those prospects as trade bait in the future.