The Giants announced after last night’s game that third baseman Matt Duffy is headed to the disabled list with a strained Achilles tendon in his left foot. As MLB.com’s Chris Haft writes, Duffy is headed for a second opinion on the injury right now, though the initial expectations don’t appear to forecast a lengthy absence for the 25-year-old. Duffy cautioned that he wants to avoid returning from the injury too soon and aggravating his Achilles, as it could lead to a more prolonged absence. Ramiro Pena and Conor Gillaspie figure to platoon at third base in his absence, writes Haft, with outfielder Mac Williamson a likely candidate to come up and tack Duffy’s roster spot in the interim. Asked whether top prospect Christian Arroyo, who can play either shortstop or third base, would be an option to replace Duffy, general manager Bobby Evans indicated that the organization feels that Arroyo requires more development time in the minor leagues.
More from the NL West…
- Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune spoke to scouts from both leagues to get their thoughts on a number of the Padres’ trade candidates, including Fernando Rodney, Jon Jay, Derek Norris, Matt Kemp, Melvin Upton Jr., Drew Pomeranz, Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte (injured right-handers Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner are notably absent). One scout noted how difficult it will be to convince a team to take on Kemp’s contract in his “arthritic condition,” and a second scout called both Kemp and Upton “dead weight” despite the latter’s reasonably solid offensive numbers the past two seasons. Regarding Myers and Pomeranz, Lin received a pair of replies saying it’d be prudent to hang onto the pair of controllable pieces, while another pair called out each player’s limited track record in questioning their overall value. As one scout put it, a “lot of people are lukewarm about [Myers] across the game” at this time.
- Rockies right-hander Tyler Chatwood is among the most successful two-time Tommy John patients in history, writes Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Chatwood is currently the only two-time TJ patient that is currently making regular starts at the Major League level, and he’s pitched to a 3.15 ERA in 85 2/3 innings for the Rockies thus far in 2016. Chatwood credits his success to a dedication to studying other elite pitchers and adopting a mix of pitches that he feels could be less stressful on his arm upon returning from his second surgery. Groke calls Chatwood the ace of the Rox’ staff, though I’d respectfully disagree and give that label to up-and-coming Jon Gray; while Gray’s ERA pales in comparison, his strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates all point to improvement on the horizon. Regardless of one’s preference between the two, though, Gray and Chatwood represent a nice pair of arms for the Rockies to deploy in their rotation moving forward.
- D-backs outfielder David Peralta, who landed on the disabled list with a back strain yesterday, is getting an MRI today according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Neither Peralta nor the team believes the injury to be too serious in nature, so the test would appear to be fairly precautionary in nature.
- Pirates righty Ryan Vogelsong, who spent the 2011-15 seasons with the Giants, told reporters yesterday (including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle) that he would have loved to return to San Francisco but understood why the team elected not to pursue him this winter. “I kind of knew they were probably going after some front-line guys for the rotation to make it better and give them more innings and take a load of the bullpen,” Vogelsong explained. “It was never my intention to make it seem like I didn’t want to go back there. I would have loved to go back. It was a matter of a team progressing.” Vogelsong is currently recovering from a truly frightening eye injury suffered when he was hit in the face by a fastball. As he explained to Schulman, he feels fortunate that he’s able to see out of his left eye and is currently seeing with 20-20 vision and making throws of up to 90 feet.
NL scout either sounds clueless or like he doesn’t want to give honest answers for whatever reason
How so?
I could understand the whole reasoning behind kemp since his contract would be hard to move unless the Padres take on a good portion of it. As for Myers, maybe teams are feeling ambivalent because of his history with wrist issues?
All of those answers seemed honest, except maybe Myers
Why is his assessment of Myers dishonest? Is it because it’s not what you wanted to hear? Sometimes the truth hurts.
Myers has yet to put it all together for a full season because of health. I’d be weary too until he does it for the whole year. I think part of it also has to do with his ability to play the OF. If he can stay healthy and continue his offensive performance for the whole year he’ll be instantly more valuable. His ability to play OF also is going to be crucial. Needless to say “if” all stays the same he’ll bring back more in the winter.
Well he’s been playing 1B all season, none in OF this year
Poker face. Course teams and scouts will point out flaws and issues with what they want just like if youre buying a home you’ll act bullish and point out flaws in hopes that drops the value a couple grand or couple 10 grand.
No GM or scout will say “we love them theyre worth the farm or high prospects” that myers and pomeranz should command to be dealt. 3.5 years of myers 4.5 of pomeranz or 3.5 as well. That doesnt come cheap esp the kind of numbers theyve been posting with that much team control.
They called upton dead weight just cause of how much hes owed. Probably hoping padres pick up majority of his contract to be dealt. Hes been productive since coming to sd and a terror on the bases.
Testing!
They need to move Kemp/Upton at any cost. It’s dead money. The outfielders in AAA Renfroe and Dickerson need a roster spot. Other than that they are going to get low ball offers for everyone else and there is no point in moving them. Team will suck with or without them. Maybe next year or 2018 could look at moving Myers as he establishes consistency, but only for overwhelming deal. Other than that it’s time to wait and see how well Preller can scout, draft and develop. Strap yourselves in it’s going to be a wild ride.
“(Gray’s) strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates all point to improvement on the horizon. ”
Then wouldn’t that make him the FUTURE ace and not the current ace. I agree that Gray will be the ace in a couple of years, but he isn’t there yet.
strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates are all indicative of his current ace-ness unless you only measure ace-ness through ERA, then yes, he is the ace of the future…
Run prevention is a pretty important stat, they are also on the same team not like they have different defenses, Gray does have a slightly better FIP though. Are you also going to peg De La Rosa ahead of Chatwood because of his k/9? I know it is hard to believe but not every pitcher in MLB is trying to strikeout every hitter some do intentionally pitch to contact.
Luck is not just about the defense behind you. The #1 factor in luck is sequence. Pitchers can give up the exact same amount of K’s, walks, HR’s, singles, and doubles. One might have 1 run scored and the other might have 5. That’s simply luck.
I’d have to disagree you are completely discounting situational pitching
There is some, but there’s too much noise there. You can pretty much safely assume the best pitchers with the bases empty are the best pitchers with runners on base.
Could be why we have an abundance of high strikeout games and a lot of earned runs pitchers are not changing their approach with runners on, hitters change their approach based on the situation the good ones do at least. I’m surprised more pitchers are not trying to be more efficient in how they navigate a lineup knowing they have a 100 pitch wall basically for the most part. I’d like to ask someone like Smoltz who pitched with maybe the most efficient pitcher ever in Maddux, would Smoltz change his approach in handling a lineup knowing he had a 100 pitch count, would he throw harder early on or would he pitch to contact more like Glavine and Maddux and try accumulating as many innings as he could with the limited pitch count.
Corey Kluber is kind of the poster boy for the pitcher I’m talking about how can you be so good but lack consistent results. Does he always give up 2 and 3 run homers, does the hits always come in bunches he is just too hard to understand.
I never suggested that Gray was a better pitcher than Chatwood simply because his strikeout rate was higher. I was clarifying that based off of a handful (not all) of stats that accurately indicate ace-like performance, Gray IS ace-like at this point in time. ERA is cool and all and does give some great information but is not the ‘one-ring’ method to measure and compare pitchers.
I don’t recall any one saying ERA is all that matters
ERA > everything else
It’s just better than everything else. Especially wins and losses.
First, they tell us to stop looking at Wins, and now you want us to discount e.r.a., as well. Doesn’t that mean we can’t look at f.I.p. because it’s simply a predictor of e.r.a.? I believe it’s the “new” stats that are being too highly valued. For a Starter, it’s a combination of e.r.a, W’s, and innings pitched, and whether you can consistently perform at that level, that determine whether you are an “Ace”. Any other stat is just icing on the cake.
Woah. We’re still talking about pitcher wins in 2016? Willie Blair and Aaron Small are paging…
ERA and innings pitched. Wins and losses are irrelevant.
Depends on your definition of the term “ace,” I suppose. If I had to choose one Rockies starter to win a single game, Gray would be on the mound, and that’s enough for me to call him their ace. Chatwood’s outpaced him in ERA, but I think Gray is the better pitcher at the moment in spite of that differential.
If it was picking a pitcher to win in Colorado I’d take Gray are you sure you wouldn’t take Chatwood else where? hes been pretty dominant away from Coors.
Umm you realize that statistically speaking, the less runs you allow, the more likely you are to win. So wouldn’t Chatwood be more likely to win in a given game and therefore the better choice?
Statistically speaking, past ERA is not a good predictor of future ERA. So no
If Chatwood has been their better pitcher this year (and he has), there is every reason to assume he’s the best guy to use in a “win or your season is over” game.
The Rockies have kind of a three-headed monster when it comes to an ace. If the game is in Coors, I’d rather have no one pitching beside Jorge de la Rosa despite his poor 2016. On the road, I’d have Chatwood before anyone. Gray would probably be #2 in both cases, so in an average situation he might look the best. But you never play a game in an average of your home/road, so while he might average out the best, he’s still #2 in both cases in my opinion.
I just don’t buy that someone with 20 career starts is better than a good veteran starter. He might have better “stuff” but that doesn’t make him the better pitcher yet. There is a reason they call them pitchers and not throwers. Experience still counts for an ace in my book. I really hope Gray gets there someday soon, but he’s not there yet.
Is going to be difficult to trade kemp , more likely Upton is traded and i like Upton on SD Roster but the kids are Rising and Hunter Renfroe or Dickerson will be the Future in SD outfield.. Th San Diego Padres need Starting Pitching and Bullpen Help the offense is playing belter lately Hope they get better in the standings soon ..
The idea that scouts have an idea what the front office is thinking/doing is laughable. I have no idea why their words are taken seriously in this type of content.
And I don’t mean that to come off that I’m disrespecting scouts, I’m not. I have tremendous respect for the job they do, which is scouting players. They are not privy to the inner workings of the front office, though.
I agree with you generally, but they have insight in some ways. What players are they being asked to take a close look at? Who are other scouts talking about/looking at? What kinds of things are being focused on in their interactions with the FO? It’s not direct, hard info, but there can be some threads of value.
I agree, they provide a glimpse into the “other side” of basebal, and it’s neat. I just meant the general uproar over a scout’s comments.
But to be completely honest, scouts are often used to push a narrative. A writer with connections in the game, can pretty much find a scout or someone who works in a front office, that will spill a quote that fits what they’re wanting to write
Oh, that’s just wrong. If a scout is asked to follow around, say, Wil Myers, he has to assume it’s not just for fun, right? Scouts are asked to scout players from other teams because the team they scout for is interested in that player. Scouts are very involved in the process of trading for and evaluating players.
It’s funny to read the scouts takes on the different Padres players. In reality though all it takes is 1 desperate team to move a player. Just ask the White Sox about James Shields.. You can only imagine what scouts said about him prior to the trade.
I think the cubs would be a good fit for melvin upton. Wont cost much in terms of compensation, former joe maddon player who had him in tampa 06-12, and good 4th outfielder and defensive guy/base runner to have come off the bench in running for a guy situations.
Upton isn’t an upgrade over Almora. The Cubs have no use for a 4th OF.
He’s an upgrade over coghlan and when Fowler and Soler are healthy why keep Almora up as the 4th outfielder? Why not give him 2 months in the minors to play everyday and do a september call up? Meanwhile upton serves as the 4th outfielder who has better defensive value than szczur. Which, oddly enough. I do think the padres would do a deal for upton cash and rodney involving szczur. He’s only 26 and comes with team control for 5 years.
Just thinking around but I believe Texas and San Diego would be decent trade partners. The players involved would be something like a Shin soo Choo and Matt kemp swap both come with undesirable contracts, as well as Fernando Rodney and possibly a SP obviously depending on the prospects Texas would obviously have to part with it would depend on. Obviously Ross and cashner or hurt which leaves pmeranz. I don’t like to speculate which players/prospects will go where but I don’t think something of a deal like that would tap into Texas major prospect but a few young arms Texas has in the farm. Kemp would add some extra pop in the lineup which I believe Texas really does need another power bat in outfield that Choo just isn’t providing another strong reliever and some more rotation help never hurts with darvish on the shelf for who knows how long… Texas has to do something on top of last years Cole hazels deal to really help put them over the top as the top AL threat.
People take any opportunity to bag on the Padres. All those guys are tradable and could bring a decent return with the exception of maybe Kemp unless you pay down his salary. Even he is a second half player that is on pace for over 30 bombs. If a team could get him for 10 mil a year I think they would. He would be an upper echelon DH with the ability to spell outfielders when needed.
Myers is a stud. I bet he could still bring in a prospect haul as good as Ross and Turner.
No team that acquires Kemp is looking to use him in anything more than a DH role.
If Myers could bring in a prospect haul comparable to what was given up to get him in the first place he would be gone by now.
Myers’ value now is arguably higher now than when he was traded to the Padres. He is having a career best season and it seems his injury woes are gone since having that bone spur removed from his wrist. He also has less years of control which hurts his value but he is now the major league player everyone thought he would be as a prospect.
Still has 3 years isnt a FA until 2020. Team control isnt an issue at the moment.
MLBTR doesn’t like the Pirates, their name is not bold like the rest. how rude. I think it is a conspiracy, next think you know they will be posting stories about Trump buying the team, firing all the players and staff then turning PNC park in to a race track and casino… aka campaign headquarters…
Or.. maybe.. it was just an oversight ;-p
(sarcasm of course)
It’s not like Kemp is the only bad outfielder in the league. Maybe he isn’t the ideal everyday outfielder but you are going to have a tough time convincing me that he is markedly worse than guys like Jay Bruce, Mark Trumbo, Kyle Schwarber etc.
Well, we can take Scwarber out of the equation since he isn’t playing this year and the Cubs aren’t moving him. But just for fun, Schwarber’s WAR last season was 1.2, in 69 games, while Kemp’s was 0.6 in 154 games. Jay Bruce is a better comp, since he can’t play defense either but Bruce is having a good offensive season in 2016 while Kemp is not. Trumbo is a decent comp for Kemp but Trumbo isn’t going anywhere and at least has some experience playing first base. And the O’s are definitely not moving him now.
If we trade Melvin Upton send him to the A’s and steal another Starting Pitcher like Sony Grey will be nice for the Friars !