It has been something of a trying spring for Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes, the venerable starter is unlikely to be ready to take the ball on Opening Day — though that isn’t necessarily the primary concern for the organization. The more important consideration, surely, is to ensure that Greinke does not end up with a bigger problem after experiencing what the team is characterizing as minor groin tightness. Greinke was already laboring with sluggish fastball velocity, but it seems the team is generally still optimistic that he’ll be at full strength for the bulk of the coming season.
Here’s more from out west:
- The D-Backs are seeing renewed promise in young righty Yoan Lopez, Piecoro further writes. It’s an interesting look at the winding path that Lopez has taken since he signed a $8.25MM deal as an international free agent — a contract that cost the team double that amount and also put it in the penalty box for the ensuing two signing periods. The Cuban hurler pitched last year at the High-A level, allowing just three earned runs on 16 hits in 31 2/3 frames while recording a shiny 59:10 K/BB ratio. Beyond the results, Lopez has impressed with his stuff and a new attitude; it’ll certainly be interesting to see if he’s able to push for a chance at the majors at some point in the near future.
- The Padres are no longer considering Jordan Lyles for their rotation, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets. The veteran righty could still earn a pen slot; given that the Padres promised him $1MM for the season in a deal that includes a 2019 option, it would seem they expected to carry him on the roster in some capacity. But the 27-year-old has been roughed up this spring and in his recent MLB seasons. By Cassavell’s reckoning, also via Twitter, that leaves the battle for the club’s final two starting jobs to veterans Tyson Ross and Chris Young along with younger hurlers Luis Perdomo and Robbie Erlin.
- Rangers prospect Cole Ragans is slated for an elbow MRI, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was among those to tweet. That’s certainly not the news the organization was hoping for at this stage of camp for a player who was taken 30th overall in the 2016 draft. The southpaw is still nowhere near the majors, having spent last season at the low A level, but he’s seen as a high-ceiling prospect and the Rangers are surely hoping to see him turn in a full season of development. Ragans racked up 87 strikeouts (but also 35 walks) in his 57 1/3 innings last year, ending the season with a 3.61 ERA. For now, it’s just a situation to monitor.
Can somebody please explain why Preller would give Lyles a major league deal for 1M guaranteed? He has looked horrible in spring training and the last couple years in COL and last year with SD so this signing is very head scratching.
I feel like he could have been had on a minor league deal.
The same reason he traded for Freddy Galvis and Chase Headley before a rebuilding year. He’s not a very good GM.
He traded for Bryan Mitchell, to get him he had to take on Chase Headley’s contract.
To be fair, The Padres have a very young pitching staff and they haven’t had a shortstop in years, and there is some value in having a good defensive shortstop behind young pitchers. Galvis can’t hit at all but he is obviously an upgrade on the likes of Erick Aybar or whoever was playing shortstop last season. Headley isn’t a great third baseman anymore but he’s a better defensive player than Spangenberg or Solarte, and, as mentioned above, taking on his salary was the price to pay for acquiring Mitchell, who might be a useful starter.
“Can’t hit at all”? .255, 12 hr’s and 14 steals is decent offense for a good glove ss keeping the position warm while Urias develops. Bows hit 15 hr’s in his entire career with a .260 avg. for the Phillies. I’d say the Padres made a good decision acquiring Galvis.
They still don’t have a shortstop. At least not for any years that matter. What’s going to happen to those young pitchers a year from now when Galvis leaves?
And as for Headley, they keep saying they only acquired him to get Mitchell, but why haven’t they flipped Headley to someone else? All he’s doing at this point is stealing PT from guys who actually have control and upside like Villanueva and Spangenberg.
@davidcoonce74 The Padres shortstops put up a -2.5 WAR last season which was the worst in baseball. Galvis is a 2 WAR player with all of his value being on defense. That should really help all of the pitchers and the groundball pitchers even more.
And those 2 WAR from Galvis will just have to be replaced after 2018 to keep the team from regressing.
Looking at their prospects, the Padres are loaded at SS. link to m.mlb.com
Tatis. Urias. Arias. Potts. Almazar. In their top 30. They also have that kid they got from the Red Sox that was a top prospect a few years ago. Guerra.
Pundits and fans have said the Padres only picked up Headley to get Mitchell. No GM worth their salt would do that for an unproven player.
If you look at the Padres at 3B last season, it was not good overall and no individual player on the team is better than Headley. Spangenberg isn’t at 3B and Villanueva has just a few MLB at bats.
The Yankees are the ones that were in salary clearing mode and the Padres took advantage of that to get better at 3B without blocking anyone long term and get a pitcher that might turn out to be really good for a guy that they would have had to DFA anyway.
There is more value in giving Villanueva everyday AB’s and letting him sink or swim than in running Headley out there everyday and getting maybe 2 more wins in 2018. Really all those extra wins will do is hurt their draft position.
Oh and running Aybar or Escobar out at SS every day in 2018 wouldn’t have stopped the shortstop prospects you mentioned from contributing at some point down the road. Having Galvis makes the Padres slightly better in 2018 and worse in all the years after that.
Is that you Ryan? Another new account ?
My name isn’t Ryan, this is my only account and it’s not “new” considering I’ve had it since 2013.
You’re right…he’s a horrible GM. The worst GM. But hey, let’s disregard that San Diego has the top ranked farm system in the game, right??
On what planet do the Padres have the top ranked farm in the league? It’s safe to say that the Braves, Yankees, and Sox have better farms. Then you could argue between whether the Dodgers or Padres would be #4
Edit: He also traded Grandal for Kemp, then Kemp for Olivera who is out of baseball. Went all in by trading for Upton/Kimbrel….and signing Shields<—LOL. Then there's the whole failure to disclose medical information trade….Preller is terrible
On this planet. Most outlets have them as the top system and rightfully so. The depth of talent is better than any other system. Boston is in shambles and the Yankees are close to graduating most of theirtop guys.
White sox….not red
He also traded Trey Turner. Failed to trade upton at the trade deadline (reportedly was offered michael fulmer), just signed hosmer to that ridiculous contract and also gave Wil Myers the extension.
The Yankees have revolutionized their entire player development system so now they might have a stead stream of youth feeding their major league efforts for years to come. That will be Cashman’s legacy, unless the Boone experiment goes down in flames.
That Hosmer deal is the biggest head scratcher of this off-season. Wil Meyers looked like he was finally going to start cashing in on his potential at 1B and then, why? Just, why? Hosmer, at more than market rate? Why, just, why?
To be fair, the Shields signing turned into Tatis, and they gave up next to nothing in the Kimbrel trade and ended up getting Margot out of it….think they ended up on the winning end of both of those moves
MLB Pipeline is the only outlet to have the Padres ranked above the Braves system… don’t get me wrong, the Padres have a loaded system and will eclipse the Braves before too long due to the Braves graduating a bunch of guys this season, but the Padres will have to wait another year to claim #1 overall
Preller didn’t know he would be able to get Tatis and Margot out of Shields and Kimbrel. Also, to get Kimbrel he gave up a then-top 100 prospect in Matt Wisler and took on Melvin Upton’s toxic contract. Hardly “nothing.”
It doesn’t matter if he knew at the time he would be able to get Tatis/Margot. What matters is he did. Wisler has a career 5.26 ERA with a 1.42 WIP. Who cares that he was once a top 100 prospect, he hasn’t done anything. The Braves have literally nothing to show for from that trade, which really stings, considering what other elite relievers have gotten back in trades
What they have to show for that trade is money saved from dumping Melvin Upton and they also got Austin Riley out of that comp pick they received in the trade who is starting to look like he might be something special.
Anyway, at the time of the Kimbrel trade, Preller wasn’t acquiring Kimbrel to trade him. He was acquiring him to use him. And the Padres are honestly the last team that needs to overpay for an elite closer. They get results out of the closer position no matter who they use. After trading Kimbrel, they signed Fernando Rodney for $3m and he had a better season than Kimbrel.
I’ll give you the Riley point, but what did they get out of dumping Upton’s contract other than more money in the owners pockets? And again, about the Kimbrel trade, IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT THEY WEREN’T ACQUIRING HIM TO TRADE HIM AT THE TIME. What matters is they did end up trading him, and receiving much more back than they gave up
They got more money to spend on free agents that would actually help them and peace of mind (Upton was not well -liked in ATL).
They got more back when they traded Kimbrel because they didn’t attach any negative value pieces to him thus allowing them to maximize his trade value.
Anyway, if you look at their history, overpaying for elite closers is not the Padres’ game. It’s developing their own closers or buying low on struggling closers and getting results out of them thanks to playing in a pitcher’s park and having one of the best pitching coaches in the game.
Like Bartolo and Dickey’s combined 0 WAR for $20M? Super helpful.
He basically did stuff a horrible GM wouldn’t do, which it was my original comment was in response to. The point I’m making is yeah, maybe the moves didn’t work out for him at the time, but when he saw they weren’t working out, he turned them around to the betterment of his team
Just because the Braves allocated that money poorly doesn’t mean having it didn’t help them.
Signing Shields and trading for Kimbrel were bad moves in the first place. Preller is lucky Rick Hahn and Dave Dombrowski bailed him out. And that is to say nothing about the ill-fated trades for Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers.
Did Wil Myers look like he was starting to cash in on his potential? He “cashed in” last offseason with 80 million and then took a step backwards last year. He didn’t look like anything.
He’s made his share of bad moves. He’s made up for them though. I wouldn’t say DD bailed him out in anyway though. Hahn absolutely did but Kimbrel is worth far more to the Red Sox than Manuel Margot. That was a good deal for both sides.
I’d give that trade to the Padres for the sole reason that Margot can’t see free agency with a telescope while the Red Sox are set to lose Kimbrel to free agency in a year. None of DD’s trades were necessarily overpays except maybe Travis Shaw but he did go all in on 2017-2019 and those types of trades always come back to bite you unless you win a World Series while you still have the guys you traded for.
After what? 20 years of a perpetual rebuild ? That’s the longest tanking job I’ve ever seen!
Those two improve his team by 6-7 WAR. That points to the opposite of what you are saying. Must not be the rebuilding year you think it is.
Why do you keep making that same comment over and over again.Those 6-7 extra WAR would only matter if the Padres were going to make the playoffs in 2018 but they aren’t. Playoff-bound teams don’t have Clayton Richard as their opening day starter.
Ok, Ryan. Nice to see you have a new account.
You nor I have any clue if the Padres or most other teams will contend or not. Before last season most of the projections were that the Giants would contend and the Twins would lose 90 games. I could post the records of the past 4 WS teams the year before they became a contender, but I will let you look it up.
6-7 more wins from those two takes them to 77-78 wins. Improved defense from Galvis, Hosmer, and Headley in the infield instead of the worst defense in baseball will improve their pitching staffs ERA and result in more wins. Some of those kids they played last season will improve. About half of the team was rookies or close to. They still have a really good bullpen. No more Rule 5 guys to keep on the roster. They had what, 3 of them, last season?
They are still a couple of starting pitchers away from being a serious contender, but you just never know. That kid Lamet was really good at times last season and with the new curveball this article on their website talks about he may just click this year. link to mlb.com
When you look at that prospect list they have a half dozen pitchers that could join the staff this year.
Ross could turn out to be the Ross of 3-4 years ago which is top 20 in the game.
You just never know what is going to happen. That is why they play the games.
My name isn’t Ryan and I have had this account for over 4 years now.
Padres won 71 games in 2017. Since 1988 only one World Series winner has won 71 or fewer games the year before. That was the 2013 Red Sox. Since 2004 the only World Series winners who were even below .500 the year before were the 2013 Red Sox and 2014 Giants. And the 2014 Giants still had largely the same team that had won 2 of the previous 4 World Series. So while it certainly could happen, the odds aren’t in their favor and it’s not a bet you should really be trying to make.
You admit that the Padres are still a couple of starting pitchers away from being a serious contender. With that being the case, the goal for this year is the development of their young players and seeing who is and isn’t a keeper. Having Galvis and Headley on the team does not help them in that endeavor.
Yes we do know the Padres won’t contend in 2018.
Ryan with new account lol
Haha I’ll say it again. My name isn’t Ryan and I have had this account since 2013.
Jordan Lyles must have some dirt on A.J. Preller.
Great GM! Padres are getting it done on the talent side, now they are working on the teaching side. Lots of folks wish they were this far into it and would trade spots in a hot minute.
Exactly, the Padres have a top 3 farm system at the very least, and that’s all after Preller mostly emptied the farm of the old prospects before the 2015 season during that splurge.
It’s funny how the Preller haters always go back to their tired three-point argument when trying to criticize the guy. They bring up the same things: 1. The 2015 season splurge with the Kemp/Turner trades; 2. The medical records incident; and 3. “The Padres still stink, therefore he stinks” or something to that regard.
All of those points have been addressed and explained before and yet the haters still bring them up. It’s beating a dead horse at this point.
I have things to say but almost all of my comments end up in the “Your comment is awaiting moderation” bucket, which is frustrating to me. I don’t swear, I don’t insult. And once a comment is “awaiting moderation” it never is released. Oh well. It’s just the internet, I suppose.
David, I’m looking into what’s causing that to happen. I’ve noticed it in the past and accordingly tried to do what I can on my end to prevent it. I asked a developer to try to figure out what’s behind it.
You’re always respectful on MLBTR, and that does not go unappreciated. Hopefully we can get it sorted out for you. Thanks for your patience.
The moderation filter is somewhat arbitrary. It flags posts with words that look like they might contain a bad word, even when they don’t. You might remember that it embargoed all posts mentioning a certain Japanese pitcher in Seattle and a knuckleballer from Toronto (neither of whom I will otherwise name, since I’m not sure if that filter has been modified). So my theory is your screen name itself is causing you this grief.
Yes, I worry about that, but that is my real name and I never am anonymous online. I don’t believe in anonymity because it leads to meanness and flaming and trolling. I stand behind everything I write (even the dumb stuff) in the internet sphere.
I had to laugh when I saw Greinke referred to as “venerable”. Reminded me of an old Kung Fu episode…
It’s because of players like ZG that owners are afraid to dish out big Muti year contracts going into late years.
No wonder why 80 players are still unemployed.
Just think ZG will still be collecting 34.4 million next year and at 37 and at 38.
Arz better think about what they plan to do with him in the next 3 years before it is too late
They had an out last year where the Dodgers would have taken on 25 million a year but they were too stubborn and insisted the Dodgers took on everything
Never heard that. Interesting
Was that ever anything more than speculation?
I find that hard to believe. Especially considering if the Dodgers ever made such an offer last year, it seems unlikely they would retract it after Greinke experienced a return to form in 2017.
Too late has already passed !
Get rid of Lyles !