Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet is headed for the disabled list after leaving Sunday’s outing after just six batters due to elbow pain, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. There doesn’t appear to be any structural damage to Lamet’s elbow and a source tells Acee that the righty will miss just “minimal time,” though that absence looks like it could last into May. “The hope is he will miss only the season’s first month,” Acee writes, which is a somewhat ominously vague timeframe for a pitcher who was expected to play a big role in San Diego’s rotation. Lamet posted a 4.57 ERA, 2.57 K/BB rate and a whopping 10.9 K/9 over 114 1/3 innings in his rookie season, displaying some control and home run-allowance issues but impressing many with his ability to miss bats.
More from around the NL West…
- A Giants trade for starting pitching help is “not likely” as of tonight, a source tells MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi (Twitter links), though the team is considering adding a starter with Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija both on the DL. Morosi cites the Astros’ Brad Peacock and Collin McHugh as arms that could be available, though these could be speculative names rather than pitchers the Giants are directly targeting. San Francisco doesn’t have much luxury tax room to afford taking on any significant salary, nor does the club have much in the way of prospect depth to trade away, so it will be interesting to see how (or if) the Giants can adjust to these devastating early-season rotation losses.
- Fernando Salas’ minor league contract with the Diamondbacks will pay him $1.5MM in base salary now that he has made the team’s Opening Day roster, The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan reports (Twitter link). The right-hander can also earn some additional money via performances bonuses. Salas posted an 0.90 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and just two walks over 10 spring innings for the D’Backs, an impressive performance that won him a slot on the 25-man roster.
- Even though the Dodgers made moves to get under the luxury tax threshold this winter, ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription required) isn’t certain that this team will use the reset of their tax penalties to pursue a big-name free agent like Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. Splurging on a decade-long contract for Machado or Harper would seem to run counter to how president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman works, though Olney wonders if Friedman could pursue a tactic like offering a shorter-term deal but with a higher average annual value. Of course, L.A. could also spend in different ways next winter, such as acquiring an expensive player in a trade, or (most importantly) exploring an extension for Clayton Kershaw, who can opt out of his current deal after the season.
Mchugh is a much more realistic trade target. Unless they trade Ramos there is no way they can get enough to acquire Peacock
Posey for Peacock, McHugh, Tucker and McCann lol im kidding
Well the Giants can’t really afford to run Beede out there every fifth day. Dude is terrible. I’d rather see Heston get another shot.
Suarez has hopped beede, I would assume if a prospect is filling the void it would be him.
There won’t be a trade. It’ll put them over the tax line. Beede is on 40 man roster. Suarez isn’t. Easier to go with beede. He’ll do ok.
the Astros wouldn’t even think about trading peacock imo. he’s a shutdown reliever on a team trying to win it all
Bartolo Colon goes to Oakland then, huh?
What? There’s nothing about colon or the A’s in this article. Giants make some sense for colon right now though.
Bartolo is about the right age for the Giants
Kees has will definitely resign with the dodgers. I don’t get why people keep saying he’ll be a free agent. Dodger continue to give hime all he wants. Why leave that? I’m not a dodger fan, but it’s hard to believe someone would leave their only team which has always been willing to spend on you and the rest of the team.
Kershaw runs the clubhouse and has dictated many times when he’s coming out of games with a well-timed tantrum. He’ll never leave.
I also doubt very much that Kershaw will leave the Dodgers. The thunderous silence on this huge issue coming from both the team and the player suggests to me that they have some general understanding in place that they are not talking about now, perhaps for luxury tax reasons.
Padres and Giants having some bad luck with their pitchers this close to opening day. Good luck to all 3 in getting back asap.
Doesn’t “sound” like Lamet’s injury is too bad, yet. Hopefully its just some inflammation. May be due to throwing some many curves this spring, that he’s not used to doing.
The Padres starting rotation is going to be so bad this year. I understand tanking, I suppose, but this team is going to be unwatchable. Hell, they may as well bring back Jered Weaver at this point.
Padres rotation looks elite compared to Miami.
And the Reds, Tigers, and Braves.
I am waiting to hear that the giants signed kazmir since he was released so only costs the minimum, that would be worth it for the couple of months it takes to have 1 or 2 of the DL stints finish.
I agree: grab Kazmir. Bounce back!
The Padres can throw whoever the hell they want out there on the mound for now. Richard, Mitchel, Ross, Young, Erlin most likely. The future looks bright for the rotation. Gore and Quantrill are going to crush it.
Quantrill worries me
Olney really describes nothing new about the thinking of LAD front office. There is very little chance that the LAD would fight, let alone win, a bidding war with any motivated, wealthy organization for any high profile FA–other than an asset such as Kershaw.
Clayton has value to the LAD organization that goes far, far beyond future WAR or any on-the-field metric. Clayton will be a priority and I doubt that any team will out bid the LAD if he opts out.
Harper, Machado will be evaluated through a completely different lens by LAD FO. Provided that at least one of the big market teams really wants these players and bids accordingly, the LAD will not be serious competitors to sign either of them.
I agree generally, though it’s worth considering that next year the Dodgers lose Ryu, and Hill will be in his last season. So even assuming they make a big exception to their usual spending pattern and lock Kershaw down for the rest of his career, they will still be looking at a potentially large hole in the rotation and the need to back up an aging ace. Might induce them to push more chips forward for a front-line starter than they might otherwise (depending on how they are evaluating their top pitching prospects).
I’m assuming Kershaw will be a Dodger for life too but it would be interesting to see what he could command on the open market. The Dodgers have limited the wear on his arm through their judicious use of the DL, and although there’s some notion that he can’t perform in the postseason (which is small sample-size nonsense) I think he could easily clear 40 M/season on a short contract, 2 or 3 seasons.
In the minus column is his chronic back problem, and it just isn’t going to get better as he ages. The fact that he’s been unable to make 30 starts in three out of the last four seasons because of it argues against such a huge guarantee (even more than any perception about his ability to pitch in the postseason). I’ve said this a few times before but I will say it again since I think it’s true: Kershaw is a player who does not lack for belief in himself (even to a fault). The Dodgers could give him the opportunity to be the first player to pull down $40m/year (or more), but he’d have to take on some of the risk.
If Kershaw gets that kind of deal , he’ll be more overpaid than he already is now!
Are you kidding me the dodgers got under the salary cap for a reason,they have more money than any other team in baseball and they will be big spenders next off season
They wont go after Machado because there is no place for him on the team. Unless they want to change 3 players positions (which wont happen). Harper is a different story. You may be suprised by how hard they could go after him. Harper is younger and better than any free agent in recent memory. Dodgers hesitate to pay older guys. A guy like Haprer who is only 26 will be a diffrent story for them. Unless the Yankees get involved there is no team that can offer the same money and winning appeal the Dodgers can.
Unfortunately, instead of giving the rotation spot (behind the Lamet injury) to a deserving prospect such as lucchessi, Lauer, etc…. the Padres will likely go with Chris Young or Robbie erlin, two pitchers Padres fan have seen plenty from. Also, three catchers on the roster….. AGAIN. A complete waste of a roster spot.
They will get to see Joey Lucchesi in May. No point in calling him up to start the year and sacrificing control over his 2024 season in favor of one month in what is still technically a rebuilding year.
Yea burnout a prospect genius move