One year after he went through free agency, Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer discussed his experience and the team’s intriguing pursuit of some new big-ticket items, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Public reports can capture elements of what’s going on behind the scenes, he says, “but at the end of the day you really just don’t know” until the ink dries. While he wasn’t able to help with an understanding of where the Friars stand in their pursuit of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, Hosmer did call it “exciting” and “motivating” to hear of the club’s efforts. “It just shows where this organization is at,” he said. “Where we’re at in the process right now, we’re trying to win baseball games.”
More from San Diego …
- Wil Myers is once again changing positions, this time heading to Padres camp as a left fielder, writes Dennis Lin of The Athletic (subscription required). San Diego has put Myers on a defensive roller coaster since acquiring him, as he’s shifted from right field to center field, to first base, to left field, to third base and now back to left field. Myers expressed a comfort level he found in left field, and Lin spoke to first base coach Skip Schumaker and manager Andy Green about the now-28-year-old Myers’ work in the outfield. Schumaker praised Myers’ speed and ability to cut off balls headed down the line, preventing some extra bases, while Green more generally praised his ability to take to the new position. Myers rated quite well in left in a tiny sample of innings (+4 DRS, +3.4 UZR in 268 innings).
- Of course, Myers’s future with the Padres is still somewhat up in the air, Lin notes. The presence of Hunter Renfroe, Franmil Reyes, Franchy Cordero, Manuel Margot and Travis Jankowski in addition to Myers gives the Friars a glut of outfield options. Myers’s salary will jump to $20MM beginning next season. If the team manages to land Machado or Harper, it may increase the pressure to trim other salary commitments.
- The Padres will be without reliever Miguel Diaz for the first month of the season, as the right-hander sustained a lateral meniscus tear while throwing a bullpen session over the weekend, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). He’s slated to undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair the injury. Diaz, 24, has struggled through 60 1/3 innings with the Padres over the past two seasons, but he turned in a 2.35 ERA with better than a strikeout per inning and a 56.4 percent ground-ball rate in 65 innings of Double-A ball last year. Diaz has a pair of minor league options remaining, so he wasn’t a lock to make the team’s Opening Day bullpen anyhow. He’ll likely be a factor at some point in the 2019 campaign, though.
I heard Bryce found a salon he likes in Philly. It’s a done deal.
Given the current FA zeitgeist, Pads look like morons for the Hosmer deal, and rightfully so
As a Padres fan I can assure you it made them look like morons at the time too.
Make sure to tell the players at spring training, if you’re going….I am going to spring training. But Ill will be rooting and cheering and getting autographs…
Yup! Hosmer signing was premature, unnecessary, and excessive.
So was Trouts contract…so was Stanton’s deal…so was Cano’s. We can do this all day. Hater’s gonna hate…and bottom line, IT AINT YOUR MONEY, so why do you care?
Yes, it was a bad signing at the time – I guess bad isn’t the right word; it was inexplicable. The Padres already had a reasonably capable first baseman in Myers, who can’t stay healthy in the outfield, but had two full healthy seasons at first. I know Myers’ speed and arm are wasted at first, but the Padres had other options anyway;; I mean, they could have moved Villanueva there…or maybe Reyes – first base is where you put the bad defenders or the guys who can’t throw or whatever for a reason. To sign a first-base only player like Hosmer to that deal was just bizarre; it’s not like the Padres didn’t know Machado and Harper were going to be available a year later..
Anyway, yeah, a year later, and it looks even worse. Hosmer’s bat is just not that good – he hits everything on the ground, and he doesn’t have the footspeed or ability to find holes to make that approach useful. The defense was not good, which might be a one-year outlier (players have bad seasons with the bat, it’s reasonable to assume that they have bad seasons with the glove as well). But first base is an easily fillable position; I mean, you don’t see too many 20 million dollar first basemen for a reason – it’s the least important defensive position on the field, and the one most easy to be replaced. I mean, Ryan Howard led the Phillies to a World Series title while standing around at first base. It’s a bat-first position, and Hosmer’s 253/322/398 line is more acceptable of a great defensive shortstop or catcher. The hope is that with the DH coming to the NL fairly soon, the Padres can work around the immovable object at first that is Hosmer.
Padres were obligated to sign Hosmer in order to play their part in owner collusion and Padre conspiracy.
All owners met in basement of Sacramento Dave and Busters. All agree that Padres would be designated place for at least one big bad contract each year until CBA.
Then after get big bad contracts and still lose, owners and owner lawyers point media attention to still losing Padres despite big spends.
Also owners and owner lawyers point media attention to fact that young cheap guys on Padres actually doing better then big bad contract guys. CBA being played like chess by owners.
Also part of conspiracy.
Owner all agree if big bad contract not given out by February 18, then Padre has to take one for owner team and make the bad sign on February 19.
Hosmer signs on 19th and Machado signs on 19th. No coincidence!!!
Sure, a career line well above league average. Who’d want that in their right minds?
The deal wasn’t panned because Hosmer is useless (he isn’t) but because $144M is a steep price for a player who’s more “ok” than “great” for a low-payroll team with a first baseman already locked up for 5 years. Hosmer at his best is a pretty good player, and at his worst he’s painfully unremarkable. Imagine if the Padres didn’t have over $100M still committed to Hosmer… they could keep both Myers at first and all their outfield talent intact while using $20M+ on their rotation on guys like Keuchel and/or Corbin.
Stfu…go padres!
Myers might be the most overrated player in baseball. He’s so…meh.
Nah when healthy he hits .250 with 30 bombs and was a plus defender at first and average in the OF. Every team would take that.
Most MLB teams would want no part of Wil Myers at 20 Million a year. Myers is a negative asset. The Padres would have to eat quite a bit of salary and provide solid prospects to get a team to take Myers.
negative asset, also known as a liability
Yes, Myers is overrated simply based on salary. Otherwise, he’s a great ball player. Just overpaid.
no that’s bryce harper dummy. Myers would literally start in 30 teams outfield right now.
MLB leaders, times on base, 2018:
Trout: 279
Bregman 278
Freeman 274
Harper 273
Harper isn’t overrated, offensively. the objective of a hitter is to not make outs. It is to get on base. Harper got on base better than all but three hitters in 2018 (including both of the league MVPs). He scored and drove in over 100 runs. He is younger than the Padres’ current right-fielder, Hunter Renfroe. He’s not overrated at all.
All those times Bryce Harper got on base accounted for how much WAR? not fangraphs WAR…that is a crap formula.
now compare it to the WAR of the other players you listed…see the difference? You see how your argument is crap?
Harper is overrated, but not in the worst way possible. he is overall a pretty good player, but it’s hard to act like he’s as good people make him out to be with his inconsistency. good overall stats skewed by a few mediocre seasons and an MVP.
Look at O-WAR and D-WAR…Harper is a very good to great hitter. He has a career .900 OPS and 139 OPS+.
He does need to learn how to hit against the shift.
But he was asked to play a lot of CF last year, which he cannot do. Furthermore, he’s a prima donna so his defensive effort fluctuates.
But he’s a Top 10-20 MLB hitter.
I would rather have the other 3 players on that list over Harper. But come on don’t base it off of WAR last year…
Harper had no business being in CF last year first off. And his D in RF was terrible as well. Compare it to his career numbers in RF. He battled some leg injuries. Perhaps he won’t be the same going forward, but perhaps he is healed now and is still just 26. I just don’t think it’s fair to use WAR to judge his 2018 with the D being such a big part of that number.
How about basing on WAR for the past two years then? Lol
I’ll take all the runs created in this case. His bWAR is puzzling but it is whatever. I’ll take the hitter who makes less outs and gets on base everyday. You might know that the rules of baseball use runs to win games. The only way you score runs is to not make outs and get on base.
Harper is overrated only in the sense that instead of him being a top 5 player like most people see, he’s actually only top 10
OK if you do not like Fangraphs WAR I am guessing you are using BR?
2017 WAR by BR
Harper 4.7
Freeman 4.5
Bregman 1.9
Trout 6.7
So Trout is an overlord, but Harper is best of the remaining. I do not think Harper sniffs Trout, but that is an unfair comparison for any player! Maybe Harper’s media hype doesn’t match his performance, but he’s a really good baseball player,
Not even remotely. He’s one of the few 20/20 guys in a league that doesn’t steal much, he has a good throwing arm, and he’s still young. The injuries are the concern, of course, but, hell, AJ Pollock has as many healthy seasons as Myers in his career, and he was a sought-after free-agent this offseason. Myers was a 2.5-win player in half a season in 2018; a 5-win season is very good – that’s an all-star and borderline MVP type of year. He seems like a disappointment because of the injuries and because the Padres just can’t make up their minds about his position, which is something they really need to do, but he’s not “meh”
Yoan Moncada & Byron Bust come to mind
Guys, I’m on the plane to Vegas now to bring Harper home.. Aj I’m leaving the rest to you on Manny.. #meetmehalfway
Myers moving to LF because Machado will be playing third base for San Diego.
nailed it.
…and not RF because that is Bryce’s territory.
Someone tell hosmer that he’s gonna have to be a lot better to help that team be good even if they sign MM or Harper
Padres would trade Myers in a heart beat if they could find a taker. I think they are taking pressure off him and letting him focus on LF to either have a productive Myers or productive Myers they can possibly trade in the near future.
LMAO at Padres “glut” of outfielders.
franmil reyes has no business playing the outfield
jankowski is replacement level
renfroe had a .302 obp
i don’t hate franchy but he’s not a center fielder. Is he even healthy?
margot .292 obp
Joseph — No need to mock. The article isn’t saying that the Padres have 5 all stars in the outfield (no team does) — simply that have a glut of major league ready options, one or two of whom may turn into all-star caliber players. Don’t judge the players’ stats in their early twenties. I think all of the above (minus perhaps cordero) have shown extended periods of time that they belong as a starter on a big league roster.
Jankowski is 27 with nearly 3 full seasons to show something. He’s shown next to nothing. 5th outfielder sure. He won’t hurt you on D.
I still have high hopes for Margot.
Franmil Reyes is probably much more valuable on the field at first base than Eric Hosmer is. But he’s not an outfielder let us not kid ourselves. He is a gargantuan 6’5 275lbs. Basically a boulder in the outfield.
Don’t think Renfroe will overcome on base issues. But that’s more just suspicion.
Myers is their best outfielder right now no question.
Stfu…go padres!what about franchy?
guess when you hit like .240 in your walk year, you are deemed a “superstar” these days.
Harper reached base more times than the NL MVP in 2018. If you want to look at anything look at that, rather than batting average. The goal of batting is to not make outs.
David — but one of the reasons why Harper had as bad of a year as he did was because he DID walk so much. Yes, he was feared. But he also took walks because of his lack of confidence in his hitting. That’s a huge problem. It is the hitting that Harper is getting paid for, not the walks. If he can hit again, the walks will naturally come and he won’t have to look for them.
Imagine thinking walks were a bad thing
No one is saying they are a bad thing. But they aren’t as good as a base hit. Harper needs to trade in some of those walks for base hits. If he doesn’t, he will merely be a decent/good hitter. If he can learn how to consistently hit again, those walks will continue, not because he is looking for them, but because those pitches will be another couple inches outside the strike zone than they currently are.
Nah he is fine with an .889 OPS the world in 2019 doesn’t revolve around batting average
To me, a 1.000 would be better than a .889 OPS. I think Harper is capable of that. And I think swapping 20 hits for 20 walks would be an upgrade, regardless of the OPS. But that’s just me. Harper has lost his confidence for long stretches. His reputation and good plate discipline get him walks. I don’t disagree that .889 OPS is just fine. We 100% agree. I just think Harper is capable of more. And I think his .889 is as low as it is, is because he looks for walks because he lacks the confidence, at times, to get the base hit. Walks are never bad. But when they become a replacement for base hits, that can be an issue. Of course that means that Harper has to find his hitting stroke back again. And if he does, it means he will replace some of those walks that he “forces” and turning them into base hits. And in the process, he will probably walk as much because he will be considered even more dangerous. Now, ya dig?
.889 is above all star level
He scored 100 runs and drove in 100 runs; I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at with this whole “walks are bad” thing – they tax the pitcher, force him to work out of the stretch (pitchers perform more poorly from the stretch). The idea that Harper just drew walks because he was afraid to hit is just odd; if that were actually true, he would have batted like .500, using your logic, because he’s have never swung at anything that he couldn’t hit hard.
But that wasn’t the case; he had a fluky bad season on balls in play, his BA wasn’t great, but he was still putting runs on the scoreboard, and runs are what win games.
It’s not a fluke when he just hits into the shift every time
OBP & OPS are your friend, don’t ignore them.
machado signs!
Just heard Machado to the padres !!!!
Myers best year at the plate was when he had lineup protection, he posted a First Half in 2016 of .286-.351-.522-.873 and made the AS Team. He finished the Year with a 3.5 WAR. If he could return to that form, they should be able to move him for a return that would be helpful, like a SP, Mid-season. At best Myers is a complimentary piece with no real value at any defensive position. With Machado signed, and once Tatis arrives the Padres have solid 8 man core of position players. Decent Bullpen, and a starting staff that is still being developed. Lamet & Richards will return. 7 Blue Chip arms on the farm or with less than one year ML service. PADRES ARE ON THEIR WAY!!!
Lineup protection isn’t a real thing. Myers’ problem is that he swings at EVERYTHING.
Not true. He strikes out on called third strikes, especially with men on base, all too often.
Well if pitchers indeed did change their approach against him after Kemp got traded, it resulted in a lower OBP. Since their endgame is to keep him off base, that is how they will pitch to him until he makes them stop.
Holy wow. Manny is a Pad. Trump is a Prez.
Which one of those seemed more preposterous a couple of years ago?
Is it also that neither works hard, and both cheat?
Actually, I apologize to Manny Machado for that inappropriate comparison.
Lmao
Yay! It’s always a pleasant surprise to see political commentary on a baseball trade rumors site! This is MLBTR, not CNN or HuffPost.
Honestly in hindsight Machado isn’t that surprising. It matches their timeline almost perfectly. If not it’s one year before they compete but who cares he’s still young.
#trump2020
I’d love to see the Padres keep Myers and compete, but they will need to shed some salary for Manny. I’d really love to have Wil Myers at 1B in Arlington! We will send Guzman back and pay for $15 of the $20. Deal!
Myers would make sense to the Rays. Wendle, Stanek/Castillo, Yarborough/Chirinos, and Kevin K for Margot, Myers, money, and Gore and Paddak or another arm. Might be a little off but they’re intent should be to start competing now. KK wouldn’t be the best addition to the trade until he shows something at the plate and health so it’s more of a two month in trade. Wendle would gain some value by starting out hot and steady. Gore is the prize and Margot/Myers have potential value, while Stanek/Castillo have now abilities with upside. The Padres will probably make one outfielder available with a prospect just to consolidate before the season.
Pads should make this happen: Myers & a prospect or 2 to Cleveland for Kluber, then go out & sign a cheap veteran SP like Bucholtz then they have a #1 & #3/4 in rotation then fill the other 3 spots with lefties: Erlin, Lauer & Lucchesi…they then have an “ace” plus veteran leadership in the rotation to go along with young lefties. Takes care of the OF over crowding & have a pretty decent rotation. Thoughts?
They’d have to eat Myers’ entire contract and probably include one of the very best non-Tatis prospects (Gore or Paddack or Urias) for Cleveland to do that. Kluber is still really good and still has some control. Cleveland’s outfield is atrocious, and they do need outfielders badly, but I doubt they’d take on Myers and his contract for Kluber unless they were getting terrific prospects. But it’s a nice thought. I bet Cleveland would rather have Renfroe than Myers.
The Indians aren’t taking overpaid Myers in a Kluber trade you freaking moron! Completely ridiculous that people even think to suggest that!