The Padres are in the process of finalizing their pitching plans for the start of the coming campaign. Righty reliever Adam Cimber has forced his way onto the Opening Day roster after turning in an unexpectedly excellent spring, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reports on Twitter. The 27-year-old built off of a quality 2017 effort in the upper minors — over which he threw 80 2/3 innings of 2.90 ERA ball with 7.3 K/9 and just 1.1 BB/9 — by posting nine scoreless frames in the Cactus League. Meanwhile, veteran righty Chris Young will not break camp in the majors, Acee also tweets. It’s not known at this point whether he’ll exercise his opt-out clause, but that’s at least an option for the towering 38-year-old, whose spring (15 strikeouts but also four home runs in 14 1/3 innings) largely imitated his past two seasons’ output (116 strikeouts but also 35 home runs in 118 2/3 innings).
Here are a few more notes from the National League:
- It seems increasingly unlikely that the Brewers will make a move to alleviate their evident logjam of bats. As Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, that has left some eyebrows raised among the team’s players, some of whom still aren’t sure exactly how much playing time they’ll get once the season gets underway. It’s not exactly a new subject, of course, as the Milwaukee roster has been under a microscope all winter long. But it’s interesting to consider it from the player’s perspective, as Nightengale does. As third baseman Travis Shaw puts it: “Depth is a nice problem to have, but I’m sure it sucks individually for a couple of guys.” Meanwhile, skipper Craig Counsell says “there’ll be a lot of shuffling going on” early in the season, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports, but also notes that he anticipates some clarity to emerge as the season goes along.
- Pedro Moura of The Athletic takes a long look (subscription link) at talented Dodgers prospect Alex Verdugo, who drew much better reviews in camp this year than he did in his brief MLB call-up in 2017. The change wasn’t to his swing mechanics, though. Instead, Verdugo impressed the organization by making strides with his work ethic and attitude. As Moura documents, those improvements were the result of intentional offseason effort, though Verdugo’s overall level of professionalism also surely remains a work in progress.
Nice
I heard cy already opted out several hours ago
Preller is enamored of submariners. Now he has two in his bullpen, Makita and Cimber.
Cimber AND makita in the bullpen now? Not sure that’s an efficient use of two bullpen spots. Also, with Lamet out for the foreseeable future, I really hope they give Lucchessi or Lauer a chance in the rotation, instead of just running out Robbie erlin or some other pitcher we’ve already seen enough of
They will probably wait three weeks to call up Lauer or Lucchesi in order to delay their free agency. And Robbie Erlin has yet to truly get a fair chance to show what he can do.
I’m really hoping they don’t worry about their major league clocks starting… I know it loses and extra year of team control, but with how much they’ve been boasting about their pitching prospect depth (and rightfully so), inwojld hope bringing up ONE prospect to fill in wouldn’t be such a huge concern in terms of team control. I’d hope with Lauer, lucchessi, Baez, Espinoza, gore, quantrill… just to name a few… they would feel confident in the depth and waves of talent coming, to not play the Kris Bryant “get an extra season of control” scenario. But you’re probably right, I’m sure that’s what they’ll do, unfortunately.
“I know it loses and extra year of team control, but…”
But nothing! The Padres have nothing to lose and everything to gain by keeping Lauer/Lucchesi in the minors for three weeks to start the season.
“The Padres have nothing to lose…. by keeping Lauer/Lucchesi in the minors..”
THEY HAVE BASEBALL GAMES TO LOSE! They have their fans respect to lose! They didn’t take that approach with Manuel Margot last year, so why would they do it this year?? Especially when we supposedly have an abundance of pitching prospects, GIVE ONE THEIR CHANCE TO SEE IF THEY WILL ACTUALLY EVEN SUCCEED OR NOT. Year of control won’t matter much if they don’t even perform well in the majors. Padres brass is all promoting “creating a winning attitude and environment”… then you put the players out there who give you the best chance at that! Nothing to lose?? THEY ARE PLAYING BASEBALL GAMES! Remember? They could lose those things…
Wow, you really are westcoastryan. What a freaking douche! You FINALLY get banned, so you change your name and come back with a name even dumber than before!
well, I’m not whoever that is. Also, you might want to take some time away from this site…. if you’re remembering usernames and developing username conspiracy theories…. you might need to evaluate your life choices. Baseball input = none. Back under the bridge for you, troll. It won’t be worth the effort replying to you anymore. Try some AOL chat rooms… this is a baseball forum.
I was talking about red rooster, not you. My bad if you felt offended or attacked. Not my intentions with you or anyone else that’s not westcoastryan
I actually hit reply to his comment, but it doesn’t show that. Another tweak they need to make on here. Again, I apologize
All good haha. Didn’t feel offended, just thought you were talking about me. Had to come to my own defense! No worries!
Wow, you’re paranoid AF man.
This is the only name I have ever used on this site (and have been on here since 2013). And if the other comments I see from you are just like the aggressive, cancerous comment you posted here, then I agree 100% with Kwflanne’s comment towards you.
Grow up.
The Padres aren’t likely to win anything this year anyway so a full season of Lauer/Lucchesi when they theoretically should be contending in 2024 would be worth more than one month of them when they won’t. Holding them down for one month does not mean they won’t be given their chance. The years of control absolutely matter. Pitching prospects are volative, so it would be a benefit to maxiimze the utility from each one.
You know how to gain the fans’ respect and create a winning attitude and environment? By making postseasons and winning championships! Calling up Lauer or Lucchesi at the start of the season won’t make that happen now and makes it tangibly less likely in 2024. The Cubs sending Kris Bryant down for the first 2 weeks of 2015 didn’t lose them their fans’ respect or prevent them from creating a winning attitude and environment, neither will the Padres sending down Lauer/Lucchesi (who aren’t nearly the level of prospects Bryant was) do that.
I don’t mind the brewers hanging on to a couple guys for now. (Broxton, Santana). Give the season a month or 2, someone will go down on another team and the brewers will make the trade and reload the farm. I’m ok with the starting rotation for now. Suter shut down houston yesterday. Time to see if he’s ready. Woodruff concerns me. Miley….well….I’m hoping he’s just marcum 2.0. Innings eater that pitches close to .500
I said it months ago…nobody wants Santana. Bad OF and bad clubhouse guy. Not that hard to figure out.
Shut down Houston? In a spring game? Great. The sh**show in Milwaukee starts Thursday, should be a fun one. Everyone that said Stearns was GM of the year last year will be eating their words this year after that horrible offseason.
Horrible offseason? I think you’re being over dramatic. Even if the starting rotation ends up being a disaster and the Brewers miss the playoffs, its not like the Brewers are doomed for future seasons. They have a nice core signed for the next 5 years, and a plethora of quality prospects, especially at pitching(Woodruff, Hader, Burnes, Peralta). You people act like the Brewers only shot to make the playoffs is this year. The only way this offseason is a bust, is if Cain plays terrible, and shows he isn’t a quality MLB starter, which is unlikely. Stearns made the moves to make this team competitive for the next 5 years and didn’t feel comfortable giving 15+ Million to a middle rotation starter. With the amount of injuries Braun and Cain have had, having 4/5 starting caliber OF’s is not a bad option. He’ll deal for a pitcher when the timing is right, but meanwhile lets see how Woodruff and Suter play and how Nelson bounces back from injury before throwing money or prospects for a middle rotation starter.
Exactly. Stearns is playing a 5yr window here, not forfeiting the future for this year. Now if we lose Aguilar for nothing in 10 days when we need a 5th starter I’ll be upset but other than that and wasting $483k on Yo it was a good offseason and finding Miley w his pitching adjustments made this offseason was going to be and hopefully still is a steal. He’s also smart enough to know we need to not block a lot of our young pitching the next few years w overpriced average FA pitchers to try and win a wild card this year. The average fan doesn’t get how small market teams must operate to keep the window open as long as possible and always be at least close to competing.
“The average fan doesn’t get how small market teams must operate to keep the window open as long as possible”
Ah yes, of course. All small market teams give Lorenzo Cain the contract they gave him, to play a position they didn’t need to fill. THAT’S how they keep their 5yr window open!
Silly me, thinking small market teams were better off efficiently using resources to fill positions of need…
I like the Cain signing. It gives them a veteran voice to lead, someone with a ring. It improves their OF, their speed, and their offense. Plus, due to the market, he signed for less than projected. Even small markets have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.
Do you realize how hard it is to get a All-Star caliber free agent to sign with a small market team. When one wants to join your team, you do it. The brewers are just starting their years of contention, and signing an All-Star, proven player wont hurt. And yes, they needed a CF. Yelich’s defensive numbers are much better at LF/RF and Phillips/Broxton are eild cards.
The crew relied too much on the long ball last year and they struggled down the stretch because of it. Getting these multi tooled high OBP guys like Cain and Yellich at affordable prices locked in for 5 years is just smart small market business.
I agree. I don’t know what these Brewer fans are thinking. 3 months ago they had the division won. Now it’s a different tune and reality setting in. I always thought you play to win every year esp when your close. Bottom line is your window is far far from 5 years. The closest Milw got or will get is probably last year and this year. Really one good pitcher or even two could make it very close. Then again if your settled on just making post season I suppose it could happen in the next 5 seasons. But if Brewer fans think they have any shot at a real title they are on some serious $, hit. You think LAD it Chi are just going to go away? They will adjust every year. Wash no fluke and will probably be the team to beat this year. Yeah you heard it here first. Atl n Philly are young and they will be were LA n Chi are in a few years. When your talking title Houston not going nowhere and the Yanks are right there. Clev and Boston will adjust to needs. Maybe it take a year or 2 again. That’s a lot of teams to try to even start to be in that level in a block of 5 years. It will take more than any combo of players or pitching Milw has to even start to think about WS. You guys have no clue how far Milw is out. They are not even close to any of those teams in a 5 year block. You guys act like your farm and Yelich going to do it for you. Good luck. That’s all I’ll say. Your chance to even get to Post season is 17 not done, 18 doubtful and maybe 19 if your lucky. Other than that those teams will add on the fly. Wait till next year.
Cain was a waste and gambell by Stearns and Milw will pay for it. At least some can see reality. But if you think Milw set for 5 years your crazy. How long does St L go before they finally had enough of 2nd 3rd place. If they don’t make post season this year they will clean house somewhat and start spending big. Chi not going to sit back either satisfied. So you have a lot of work before you start thinking like that.
That was brutal to read. And it’s a good thing you can look into the future nostradomus! Even after trading prospects for yelich they still have a pretty good and deep farm system. Their window is just opening. Alex Cobb was not the key to winning big this year.
You’re right, that semi-coherent rambling was absolutely brutal to read. (did you really just spell gamble as “gambell?”) As for Brewer fans thinking that they were going to win the division 3 months ago, you can’t take any “fans” on this site seriously, most don’t know their A from a hole in the ground. And what exactly did we “heard here first”? You said nothing that was out on a limb or any kind of new information. As for missing out an a pitcher, they made a 9 figure offer to Darvish and didn’t get him. That was the only one they missed out on. Zips projects the young guys the Brewers have at better numbers than either Cobb or Lynn. Just because you don’t know their names doesn’t mean that an overpaid mid-tier pitcher was going to be an upgrade. If they can just hang around they still have the pieces and salary flexibility to add some big pieces via trade. They aren’t going to sit back either.
Milwaukees prospects are NOT difference makers. They are just guys. You don’t win championships with just guys, you win them with elite guys. That’s why Milwaukees farm is a lot of smoke, little fire.
Are you absolutely sure of that? They may not have top flight prospects but they have A LOT of guys projected to be solid regulars or possibly more. I’ll wait to judge the future brewers when 5 years gets here. You never know what moves Stearns will have completed by then
The Cards are playing for now and the future ! They have several pitchers near major league ready
and plenty of depth in the minors! Plus that billion dollar tv money to spend! They will be just fine!
Just because prospects rankings don’t have any Brewers prospects in the top 25, doesn’t mean elite talent can’t be developed. Those rankings show prospects that have the highest chance of becoming elite, not the only prospects that can become elite. There are plenty of All-Stars and MVP candidates that weren’t top 50 prospects throughout their minor league career.
Is this a chesteraarthur post without a link to a projection?? Where’s your basis, man?!
Who the $&@% are you?
OK, I understand the notion of the longer term plan, but 2018 is an opportunity, before the Cubs blow us all out of the water, by bringing in a Harper, Machado or a Donaldson (with Theo’s unlimited resources, possibly 2 or 3 of them) for next season. There’s plenty of salary room, and an Arrieta, Darvish or even a Cobb (plus the return of Nelson) could have allowed us a chance to sneak one in, before the price of poker skyrockets next winter.