Padres veterans Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer received some credit for the team’s decision to include shortstop prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. on its season-opening roster, but it was more of a front office-driven call, Dennis Lin of The Athletic writes (subscription required). While a report suggested Machado and Hosmer lobbied for Tatis’ promotion over dinner with Padres owner Ron Fowler, that meeting never took place, according to Fowler. “There was no dinner,” Fowler told Lin. “There was no request for a dinner.” Rather, Fowler revealed he and general manager A.J. Preller had been discussing elevating the 20-year-old Tatis “for quite some time.” The move may cost the Padres a year of control over the standout prospect, though Preller was nevertheless insistent upon placing him in their season-opening lineup. “We talked about it, and frankly it was his decision,” Fowler said. “There are ramifications in terms of control and all those things, but based upon his input, based upon his feeling that that would be our strongest team, he made the recommendation to do it, and we agreed with it. So, it was totally coming from A.J., coming from baseball ops.” To this point, the Padres have not discussed a contract extension with Tatis, per Lin, who adds that could change if he acquits himself well early in his major league career. Tatis has done exactly that so far, having collected three hits and a walk in his first seven plate appearances.
The latest on a couple of San Diego’s division rivals…
- At the beginning of the offseason, the Diamondbacks issued center fielder A.J. Pollock a one-year, $17.9MM qualifying offer as he geared up for a trip to free agency. Although Pollock went on to reject the offer and sign with the NL West rival Dodgers for a four-year, $60MM guarantee, he told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic this week that he nearly accepted the D-backs’ QO. “That was a really tough decision on my part,” Pollock said. “It seemed like a great option. I was 100 percent thinking about it.” Pollock added that he and the Diamondbacks didn’t engage in any substantive talks once he turned down the offer, paving the way for him to leave the franchise he had been a part of since it used a first-round pick on him in 2009. So far in his Dodgers tenure, Pollock has torched the Diamondbacks in a pair of head-to-head matchups, having gone 4-for-9 with a home run and two walks.
- Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy, the team’s big-ticket offseason acquisition, suffered a left index finger injury Friday that required X-rays, Thomas Harding of MLB.com was among those to report. There’s no word yet on the severity of the issue, though it did keep Murphy out of the Rockies’ lineup for their game against the Marlins on Saturday. Ryan McMahon took the reins at first in his stead. Murphy, 33, climbed aboard the Rockies on a two-year, $24MM contract in free agency after a few strong seasons divided among the Mets, Nationals and Cubs.
- Back to the Diamondbacks, who don’t expect to return Jake Lamb to third base in the near future, Piecoro relays. The 28-year-old Lamb played third almost exclusively from 2014-18, but the departure of Paul Goldschmidt and the free-agent signing of Eduardo Escobar spurred the club to shift him to first. Regardless of where he lines up, this is a pivotal season for the 28-year-old Lamb, a valuable Diamondback from 2016-17 who fell to earth last season. The lefty-hitting Lamb’s now in his penultimate season of arbitration control.
Well, I’m sure the players were happy with that decision, as were the fans (although I do see a few grumpy ones on the previous Tatis post — I mean really grumpy ones).
What do you have against Austin Kearns?
Are you a stalker?
Yes Mr. Austin there certainly are some grumpy fans. And we happy fans just don’t know what to do with them. It seems like 95% of the fanbase is happy with this decision (I am basing that on the ether).
I would like to congratulate you and the other chap/lady for your hilarious play that you wrote on the other Tatis post. What a pleasure! (Scroll to the very bottom)
link to faulty previous Tatis post: link to mlbtraderumors.com
Thanks?
What the hell is going on
Apparently, you’re having a conversation with yourself on the comment board.
I’ll tell you what’s going on. My kids think they are funny. Apparently, they wrote a play on a previous post. It looks like they may have been driving Padrefanatic nuts as well.
I’ll have to reward them with ice cream for driving Padrefanatic nuts.
Such a liar
I would like to applaud Reflect.
It’s what happens with people that have multiple accounts to troll these posts and aren’t signed in or out of the account they thought they were.
Such a liar what?
There were no multiple accounts. Just one. They’re smart kids. They saw a back and forth with between me and another commenter and let their imaginations run wild. They’ve done it once (that I know of) before. If you were driven nuts by them, how do you think I feel? I did read their play. It’s pretty funny.
“This isn’t who you think it is.” XD XD XD
Okay Ryan.
The grumpiest one of them told me to get off of his lawn.
I’m not expecting miracles from my Padres this year, I’m just enjoying it for what it is. A step in the right direction.
I have it on the BEST authority that the meeting between Machado/Hosmer and Ron Fowler actually DID happen. They discussed adoption protocol and a presidential candidate’s e-mails.
I may be flipping between the channels too quickly…….
I recall it had something to do with forced labor, pizza, and dungeons, but I may be misremembering or getting things confused.
Where would such false reports come from and why did neither player come out and say the dinner didn’t happen? Clearly there is something here that the media is portraying to be wrong but no one is coming clean about it. I fully believe certain veteran players impacted this decision. I’m learning majority of baseballs reports have very false true connections as so many reports past year or so have been rumored false by ownership and management.
Machado and Hosmer already have 50% of the teams payroll maybe they don’t want a report out there showing they have anymore power. Or you know maybe this is just Prellers M.O. as he’s done this before. I’d lean towards the latter but the dinner story is weird if it has no merit.
Maybe it was just appetizers or tapas. Playing the food technicality card.
Very false true connections? Amusing phrasing. It does seem like there are a few reports from Passan in the last year or so which were later refuted by another sports reporter.
Probably because they don’t care about the “report” at all. It literally affects nothing.
Those darn anonymous intelligence sources! Damn you Deep State!
Just call this site, MLB fake news.
If Fowler didn’t allow Tatis to be promoted because his players lobbied him to do so, then its even more of a stupid decision. If he gave up $20+ million just for a PR move, then it’s even dumber.
If Tatis pans out they wont care. If they have to eat a year so be it
If Tatis pans out is when they should care about it the most. Sending him down for 15 days wouldn’t have stopped him from panning out.
^
Gaining a year for 15 days should be a no brainer, especially with a potential above average player. Let’s see what all these “happy-happy, joy-joy” fans are saying when Tatis is in his walk year, we’ve been winning, and there’s no comparable replacement.
No-brainer … trying to resist a Preller dig …
Preller and Co clearly aren’t interested in service time manipulation. We saw it with Margot and Lucchesi. And then with Renfroe I seriously question how much of him getting sent down was about wanting the extra year.
Not saying I agree with his thinking, but it appears to be the case.
All off season you’d hear how Manny is only 26. Now he’s a veteran. If most rookies are between 20-22, when does veteran status begin?
Veteran status has nothing to do with age. It’s about time served. Didn’t think that was a difficult concept to grasp.
It isn’t and I am aware, thank you. It was meant to be humorous and rhetorical with hint of sarcasm. Sorry for disturbing your superior intellect.
Praising a team for trading a full season in the player’s prime in exchange for two weeks in his rookie year is like praising a recent retiree for spending his entire retirement savings on his retirement party.
Yes, it is more fun at the moment…
Yeah but when you work 50 years and spend your savings on one day that’s suicidal. I think suicide will be off the table if they lose a year for Tatis.
It’s the biggest no brainer in sports to have hold the player down for two weeks to gain a full year in the players prime. I’m shocked that all these Padre fans think it was smart. People weren’t even making a big deal about Tatis going down either. It’s such a silly short sighted decision.
I think you’re overestimating the amount of Padres fans that think it was the “smart” move. Just because they are excited about it doesn’t mean they think it was the right choice. Even if it’s not the best long-term business move, they SHOULD be excited to see Tatis playing every day.
Those Padres fans who think it was smart … well, let’s just say they would never be confused with Cardinal or Yankee fans.
Lamb will be led to the slaughter by the Christian walker.
Ladies and gentlemen. The Padres lost. Well, this season is over. Guess we better thrown in the towel and start thinking about the next one. Maybe trade Machado and Tatis and get some pitching.
Tatis has played 3 games….San Diegan for life but take a breath everyone
Forgive what might be an ignorant comment. Hypothetically, if the Padres send Tatis down to the minors mid/late season for 15 or more games would his service time be the same if he missed the first 15 games of the season? Or is missing the start of the season key to the club gaining an extra year of control?
That’s not ignorant, it’s a good question. Supposedly the real reason they sent Renfroe down in 2017 was to get that year back. Honestly, I can’t say with any certainty.
The extra year of control can be gained if the player is sent down. However, once their big league career has begun, optioning them would result in a grievance from the MLBPU if the player was not struggling mightily, showing that the move is based purely on service time manipulation (as I understand it).
They can hypothetically send him down later to get those 15 days. But in reality if he doesn’t completely suck and they do that they will get hit with a grievance from. The MLBPA.
Padre fans calling postseason after 2 wins
This post screams, “Hey! We’re the decision makers here in San Diego! The players do not run this over here. We are the boss! They seem to be making that point with every statement. I believe they influence.
We’re fans; appreciate the team on the field and hope the players/team are successful. We’re not the GM. If Tatis is good, he’ll probably be offered a contract before his rookie contract is up anyways and all this wining about these 15 days will be irrelevant.
Who says he’ll accept it? Who says he won’t prefer to just go the arbitration route?
Nobody cares
You clearly do or else you wouldn’t have replied to me on a 3-day old thread.