JANUARY 17: The Padres have announced the deal.
JANUARY 4: The Padres have agreed to a multi-year contract with free-agent righty Craig Stammen, reports Robert Murray. It’s a two-year deal that will guarantee Stammen $9MM through the 2021 season with a team option for a third year, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. If exercised, that $4MM option would raise Stammen’s earnings to a total of $12MM over three years—otherwise, he’ll collect a $1MM buyout. The deal, pending a physical, also includes $500K in yearly incentives (Twitter link), bringing the overall potential payout to $13.5MM. Stammen is represented by Paragon Sports International.
Stammen, 35, has spent the last three seasons with San Diego and has been an indispensable piece in a solid bullpen unit, with the Padres relying heavily on his right arm in the late innings: his 241 1/3 innings pitched since 2017 are the second most among all relievers during that span, with only Yusmeiro Petit pitching more in relief.
Not only has he been durable, but Stammen has quietly been one of the best bullpen arms in baseball since joining the Padres, posting a 3.06 ERA with the team; Fangraphs’ WAR metric ranks him as the 36th-best reliever over the last three years. He has served as a stellar second fiddle to relief ace Kirby Yates, with the pair anchoring a bullpen that was among the best in the National League in 2019.
Last year, Stammen notched a 3.29 ERA (4.12 FIP) in 82 innings for the Friars, striking out 73 batters and walking just 15. He’s proven to excel at preventing bases on balls, but he’s had some trouble preventing home runs, with opponents averaging 1.4 HR/9 against him. Not surprisingly, his best season came in 2018 when he allowed just three homers all year, but that was buoyed by a perhaps abnormally low 4.9% HR/FB rate.
The San Diego bullpen looks to once again receive top marks in 2020, with Stammen and Yates returning and free-agent signee Drew Pomeranz adding a solid lefty to the late-inning blueprint. There are a couple of wild cards in the mix, but the likes of Pierce Johnson, Matt Strahm, and Andres Muñoz have the potential to alleviate the workload of the high-leverage arms. If the offense, bolstered by Tommy Pham and (fingers crossed) a full year of Fernando Tatis Jr., can take a leap forward, one hopes that the likes of Yates and Stammen will more often be put in a winning position.
Stammen will play the 2020 season at age 36, so while he will no doubt remain a key cog in that San Diego ’pen, it’s reasonable to expect a slightly lighter workload for the veteran moving forward. He missed nearly all of 2015 with an elbow injury, but he’s quelled any lingering concerns about his durability with a weighty role in recent years. His new contract falls right about in line with the two-year, $10MM deal MLBTR projected for Stammen at the beginning of the offseason, and he’ll of course have the chance to tack on another year if he can keep up his current production.
He’ll be good for like the 5th-7th inning slot.
I’m not a Padres fan, but this should be a good deal for the team.
Padres could sport one of the best bull pens in the NL, this is a good thing. Now get that No. 1 SP and we’ll be looking pretty decent
That’s funny. Beyond Yates the rest of the pen is meh.
To: “Outinleftfield”:— This is the most ludicrous comment I’ve seen by far on this thread. I agree wholeheartedly with “nowheretogobutup,” above. Team excels greatly in terms of its Pen, what are you talking about.
Aside from local media and blind homer bloggers, who says our bullpen “excels?” Is it better than last year? Yes, but that’s a very low bar.
Must be a Dojers fan.
19th in ERA last season and all they added was was a guy that had a 4.85 ERA. Just like last season they have multiple starters on pitch and innings limits so they are going to be rotating 20 relievers in and out every week from the minors.
“19th in ERA last season and all they added was was a guy that had a 4.85 ERA. “ – ignorantoutinleftfield
The rest of his post was pure jibberish, citing 2019’s starting pitching to justify his previous nonsensical comment that beyond Yates, the rest of the 2020 Padres bullpen is “meh”.
Static analysis is always wrong. The 2020 Padres will not be in any way the same, as the 2019 squad.. Ignoring the recent improvements to Padres pitching for 2020, including both the bullpen and rotation, as well as the REASON for 2019’s bullpen collapse, i..e. injuries to all left hand relievers, is reflective of nothing, other than irrational bias. Ignoring the innings and appearances that Stammen put in, and the couple of times he was left in because there were no other arms in the bullpen to replace him, accounting for 8 of his earned runs, makes his “4.85 ERA” statement/judgement of Stammen’s worth, just foolish.
The Padres are fielding one of the best bullpens in baseball, today, right now, and it’ll only get better as Spring Training sorts things out.
Yates
Pomeranz
Johnson
Stammen
Strahm
Munoz
Castillo
Wingenter
…. just to get started, is a pretty strong relief corps. Add in those starters who don’t make the cut, possibly Quantrill or Lucchessi, plus other relievers like Guerra, Perdomo, and Bolanos, plus other AA/AAA prospects (e.g. Reyes), and the AAA squad may have the best bullpen in the minor leagues.
“all they added was was a guy that had a 4.85 ERA” – liaroutinleftfield
4.85 ERA?
Try 3.29, over 76 games, 82 IP, 73 SO, and a 1.159 WHIP. Plus, as I mentioned in my earlier post, 8 of those earned runs were in situations where appearances where he as sacrificed for the team, i.e. he’d pitched 3 or 4 games in a row, there was no one else left to pitch, and Green left him in to twist in the wind..
Now, why would this guy lie all over these pages about Stammen, just to “dis” both him and the Padres?!
He was talking about Pomerantz. But that apparently was beyond your comprehension, if you think the Padres are significantly better than last year. Davies is another 5-inning 4th or 5th starter. Pomerantz is a guess – will he be the great pitcher of the last 20 games or the one who’s been rotten the last 3-4 years? Keep drinking Preller’s kook-aid.
“He was talking about Pomerantz. But that apparently was beyond your comprehension, if you think the Padres are significantly better than last year.” – nypadre66
Oh, hi. Yeah, I’ll play.
1) This thread is about STAMMEN’s resigning.
2) Our friend wrote: “19th in ERA last season and all they added was was a guy that had a 4.85 ERA”
3) Again, this thread is about STAMMEN, and our friend wrote that all the Padres have added is “a guy that had a 4.85 ERA.
4) If he was talking about Pomz, how does ignoring the topic of this thread, Stammen, or the signing of Johnson, support his case?
Davies, doesn’t make or break the rotation, and no one except you, have cited him. Richards, Lamet, Paddack, and Gore, are the reason that the Padres win or lose with pitching next year. That, plus the best bullpen in the majors, which is what is now realistically possible.
“Keep drinking Preller’s kook-aid.”
You didn’t support your case, with any logic or facts, so you resorted to the personal attack. Hey, it’s all good. Your contention that the Padres are NOT significantly better, is not supported by any baseball pro’s analysts out there. You can believe what you want, out there in NY.
We’ll see what happens; it’s why they play the games, right?
Cherry picking stats leftfield? Pomeranz had a 4.85 total ERA yes, but a 1.88 as a reliever, which is what he will be doing this year. They will still have Yates(1.19), Stammen(3.19) and Munoz(3.91). Munoz is likely to improve in his 2nd year. Castillo(3.23) will be back from injury. Strahm will be relieving(2.76) as opposed to starting(5.97) That is 6 guys with ERA’s under 4.00, 5 under 3.24, 3 under 3.00 and 2 under 2.00. Can any other team match that? Maybe 2? 3 at most?
Munoz is likely to improve? Why? Just like Wingenter did last year? They’ll need 4 good pitchers as the starters can’t be trusted to go beyond 5.
Was Stammen added in the off-season? No. Therefore, the line that “They added a guy with an ERA of 4.85” couldn’t apply to him. Again, reading comprehension apparently isn’t your strong suit. And why do you expect Johnson to factor? His stats are no better than Kaz Makita’s were and he was a BP pitcher in the majors who settled down to AA last year.
As for the team being significantly better…Profar isn’t any better than Kinsler was coming in to last year, so 2b is still likely a minus. Pham is an improvement in the OF, but Grisham doesn’t look like much and Margot and Myers are still the same. Catcher is a hole – Hedges is great behind the dish but often bats behind the pitcher. Mejia has a good bat but can’t catch -with his bat, they should be looking at him in LF. Tatis has been injured the last two years at least 3 times; why expect something different? Davies isn’t significantly better than Lauer and everybody is expecting Richards to be a pitcher that he’s been for about 10% of his career (namely, healthy). They may be better, maybe enough to win 75 games. I don’t see much more though and I’ve been following the Padres since 1972. Is there enough there now?
I think it’s pretty obvious they know they’ll need “4 good pitchers” based on how they have prioritized the bullpen this off-season. The don’t want to make a mistake by overpaying for an established starter because there are so many big starting arms coming quickly. They only need a couple to step up for the staff to be above average.
The pen has the “potential” to be a top-5 pen in baseball. The starters are either young, or coming of recent Tommy John surgery. I think the goal will be to get five or six innings out of them and then have:
Strahm or Johnson get the 6th.
Castillo or Stammen get the 7th.
Munoz or Pomeranz get the 8th.
And Yates finish it off.
Maybe Perdomo and Bednar for two inning middle relief stints.
Leave Wingeter, Reyes and Guerra at AAA and see who proves worthy of the first call up. They all throw 97-100 mph.
Hopefully the team takes a big step forward and competes for a wild-card this year, but I think 2021 is the serious target. Preller might not survive another sub-500 season.
I like the Stammen signing for leadership as much as for his talent.
outinleftfield, you know who you sound like a blogger who had a tag name of Tatis, I feel you dropped the name Tatis since you made so many bad calls on trades and your boy Urias was traded and you said that would never happen, So go ahead and spout your negative garbage no one listens to your comments and takes them to heart. Maybe you should become an Angels fan see ya.
NYpadre why don’t you just become a Yank fan since you live there and stop your lack of knowledge in baseball blogs by putting forth statements that make no sense. Its obvious by your blogs you know nothing about the game.
Guerra is out of options. He can’t be left at AAA.
outinleftfield is koamalu
“You know nothing about the game.”
Ain’t you the same guy who said that Jake Cronenworth is a better prospects than Xavier Edwards and that Easton Lucas was the Marlins’ top pitching prospect?
Most players improve after their first and second seasons in mlb. They learn what works and what doesn’t.
Speaking of “blind homers” … all you did was list names. Outside of Yates, that bullpen is pedestrian, at best.
@OldSalt:
Did you really type “best bullpen in baseball?” And you expext to be taken seriously?
The best! Yates has 1 monster year in resume. Pomeranz pitched 100 innings career as reliever
nypadre66…..so you are completely disregarding Castillo,Johnson,Strahm and and Muñoz?
They didn’t just add Pomeranz.
They now have Johnson and Castillo….Strahm back to the end and a full season of Muñoz.
Pay attention.
Do you realize Johnson is a 28-year old with a 5.44 ERA in about 45 big league innings? There’s a reason he was in Japan last year.
Castillo … Munoz? Maybe remind me again what their injuries were last year?
Johnson was nothing and had a good year in Japan last year, but if you look at his team’s stats, he wasn’t even their best reliever. His stats weren’t much different from Kaz Makita, who was a good AA reliever last year, but nothing more. Munoz is 21 and has stats that are about what Stock and Wingenter had in 2018 coming in to last year (Higher ERA, slightly lower WHIP). Who knows what kind of year he’ll have. Castillo is coming off a lost year, again no guarantee he comes back. Strahm and Stammen have been solid in relief. Again, Pomeranz had 20 good innings at the end of the year last year, but had an ERA over 5.50 the year before out of the bullpen. If all goes well, they could be good. But, given the law of averages and what’s happened to Padres pitchers over the past few years, I don’t expect all to go well.
I concur.
I concur in terms of Padres sporting best Pen in NL.
Best pen in NL? Oh please. Lol @ giving Pomerantz such a deal.
“Best pen in NL? Oh please. Lol @ giving Pomerantz such a deal.”
Well, Pomerantz was pursued by about eight other clubs, The Padres won that bidding war, but it wasn’t by 2x or 3x what other clubs were offering.
So, I guess those eight MLB GM’s knew less than you.do.
My guess is that your clueless as to who the Padres even have on their roster. But, that’s OK, you’ll find out all about that next year as the Padres bullpen proves itself against your team.
I’d like to know what the second best offer Pom got was. And who it was from.
Probably all of the same clubs that were in the bidding war for Hosmer. 1 year (and 26 good innings) after signing a 1-year deal for $1.5m, he gets 4 years for $34M. Pretty nice deal for Drew.
Get your facts straight. Pomeranz said he had 6 clubs, but he didn’t specify if they were even Major League deals.
The bullpen is looking solid…we are going to need them with the list of unprovens we have in the starting rotation.
Thats a start…
good deal for everyone involved
Put an a at the end of his name and he could pitch the whole game.
Replace his last name with “T. Nelson” and he could manage the team.
Pretty surprised he got 3 years, but he’s been effective. Probably got only 1 or 2 year offers elsewhere.
It’s 2 years with a team option for year 3, so technically a 2 year deal.
Good signing, he is still very effective despite his age.
I thought the age cited in the article was a typo. How is Stammen already 35? Didn’t realize he came up so late in the game with WAS.
Excellent news! Welcome back Craig!
His stats would look a hell of a lot better if he didn’t pitch against the Nats that one afternoon in SD.
Was that the game where he gave up four consecutive home runs?
Yes sir
Very underrated reliever the past couple seasons.
If the Padres are out of contention by July they should package stammen and Yates to a contender and plan on making Pomeranz the closer going into 2021.
Even with their history it’s a little too early to put them out of contention. Save it.
It’s realistic and true
Contingency plans. Sure every team goes into seasons with aspirations of winning or achieving some goals.
But the good teams have contingency plans in place in the event those plans don’t wind up happening.
I see this team in contention just need that No.1 SP and I think AJ is working on that also.
This is a nice signing and the team is moving in the right direction. Contention? Dodgers are still the class of the entire league and the DBacks have improved. No way the Rockies have that season again. Padres finished last in the division. If they pick up 11 wins and get to .500 that’ll be a successful season.
AJ is not working on getting a #1 starter. He grabbed away his best chip for garbage from the Brewers and the others he would have to trade for a #1 are untouchable. That is unless you want them to trade Gore or Patino. Anyway, Padres have already said they are going into 2020 with the starters they have.
They have good starters.
@coachbrad
I agree, the Padres are still in the cellar in the NL West, and they’ve earned that position of dishonor. Until the Padres do something to change that, i.e. results, not prospects and signings and new managers/coaches, and future planning, they’re who they are.
And, Padres fans like myself, are honest enough to admit it. Problem is, other team’s fans (and some of our own fans) trash the Padres, ignoring (or ignorant of) their progress.
I think 2020 will be “a little better year” than 2019. (LOL, I’m being cautious, with my optimism, for now, for the record.)
outinleftfield, you know who you sound like a blogger who had a tag name of Tatis, I feel you dropped the name Tatis since you made so many bad calls on trades and your boy Urias was traded and you said that would never happen, So go ahead and spout your negative garbage no one listens to your comments and takes them to heart. Maybe you should become an Angels fan see ya.
Hey, let me know when that “progress” starts to count in the WIN column. Year 6 and counting.
not likely padres should have losing season in 2020 against all teams in NL west.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, let’s see how were looking in July, might be we’re going to be adding and not subtracting names
Munoz will close when Yates is gone.
Good deal for both sides.
If Castillo can come back and pitch like he did in 2018, this could be one heck of a bullpen!
I had no clue Petit led innings pitched for a reliever. Interesting
I enjoyed watching Stammen last year. He was the bullpen workhorse last year. He does need help though. He has blown games and leads when working long stretches. Overall, great egg!
Petit’s probably the most under-rated pitcher in the game. He starts, he works the middle, he closes. And while he may not be great anywhere, he’s pretty good everywhere.
Worth every dollar he makes.
A no brainer. Good job this time Preller.
And you do not see Preller and good job in the same sentence too often!
Time will tell if “good job”
Let’s keep this in the positive side
I’ll only give Preller that credit when SD starts playing ball in October.
But but we have the best prospects doesn’t that mean Preller a genius lol
Padres not likely to start playing in October any time soon . Padres will finish last in 2020 in NL west,
In the Padres mind, baseball is a spring and summer sport. October is for golf.
As a lifelong die-hard Padres fan, it hurts to say you’re probably right. Unfortunately (and evidently), I’m also one of the few realistic Padre fans.
A lot of contending teams with bullpen issues sitting on their hands. Not saying he’s the answer to all of their problems but a cost efficient upgrade for many of them
The two most recent signings were for 35-year old relievers including Craig Stammen and Will Harris. I don’t blame those ‘contenders’ for not wanting to go the 3 guaranteed years the Nationals gave Harris or even the 2 + option the Padres just re-signed Stammen with.
There are still a few free agent reliever options available who offer slightly more youth, a little more potential upside and some postseason experience in Daniel Hudson, Steve Cishek and Pedro Strop. There are even more intriguing possibilities who might be available in trades including the high octane arms of closers Josh Hader and Ken Giles.
Were fine with relief arms need SP at least one if not two vets to sign or for a trade if we get those and a legit CF we’ll be a force
Not an upgrade. He was party of the team last year.
2 years = 9m + 3rd year of $4m = 12m?
Is the option amount wrong or the total?
1st year – 4mm
2nd year – 4mm
3rd year is option at 4mm. If they decline he gets 1mm to get to the 9mm guarantee. If they pick it up its just 4mm in year 3.
The Padres staff is looking like it could be a force. It seems like everyone is overlooking the potential because of the lack of true ace at the top of the rotation but Gore could very likely be that ace by mid-season (he’s already projected for the most fWAR on the staff).
Paddack, Lamet, Richards, Lucchesi, and Davies is a solid starting group with a ton of upside. Paddack and Lamet could be #1’s if you squint a bit and Lucchesi is great the first two times through the lineup.
The bullpen mix has high-leverage arms Yates, Munoz, Pomeranz and Castillo with Strahm as a workhorse lefty and Stammen as a workhorse righty whose numbers will get better with a less intense workload. Then you’ve got Johnson, Perdomo, Bednar and Wingenter for middle relief with top prospects/rotation candidates Quantrill, Baez, and Morejon vying for innings as well with future aces Gore and Patino likely up at some point mid-season.
That’s one of the deepest groups in baseball with a ton of upside. Rather impressed by the collection of arms Preller has amassed, it’s more the offense that’s suspect now.
Nah, people are just more objective.
I think Gore and Patino need a full year in 2020 there still very young and green, don’t depend on either one coming up unless its in Sept. and were out of contention.
What would be the point in bringing them up if the Padres are out of contention? Would make more sense if they were contending and needed quality innings.
“I think Gore and Patino need a full year in 2020…” nowheretogobutup
Not denying that such could be the case, particularly when you factor in the unknowns, i.e. injuries, development slumps, etc..
However, have you compared Gore’s 2019 MiLB record with Paddack’s 2018? Paddack was better in AA, which along with a hot Spring Training and weak rotation, got him his call up. Gore pitched MORE innings than Paddack did, and 2/3’s as many in AA, with a pretty good record overall. Gore is a more consistent pitcher, with a higher ceiling than Paddack. If Gore has a good S.T., the Padres will NOT send him down to AA; you can bank on that.
As much as I like Paddack, Gore is better, period. Unless he’s absolutely squeezed out by five starters pitching like aces in S.T., he’s in the rotation opening day.
As far as Patino goes, though he’s only six months younger than Gore, and probably a year behind him in both maturity and development. And, he’s only pitched like 7 innings in AA.. I think the Padres will treat him with the same “kid gloves” as Paddack and the TJ recovering guys, start him in AA, and take a look at his progress midway through the season.
Gore is ready for the majors; Patino, is not far behind (and in fact, they’ve been best buds and throwing partners throughout their minors career, much as Lauer and Lucchessi were).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gore in the minors to start to season for service time reasons (they aren’t going to want to lose a year on ALL their young talent… I’d imagine) but he’s ready now and has a more impressive pitch mix than Paddack. I’d guess he’s right now a 3 WAR 3.5 Era type guy with massive upside from there.
@CheeseHeadPadre If you look at Preller’s track record, he clearly doesn’t care about the service time thing. If they need a fifth starter on opening day and they think Gore is ready, he will break camp with the big club.
Wont really matter how good pen is when you are down 5/6 before bullpen comes in lol.
You are really underestimating Paddack/Lamet/Richards
Richards and Lamet are returning from TJ. They are not going to be around the whole season because of innings limits and they won’t be going deep in games because of pitch limits. About a 99% chance that they wont be as good as they were before the surgery in their 1st year back and neither was an Ace then.
Paddack is a stud. Its going to be his 2nd season and the league will make adjustments. How will he adjust? If Hedges is traded will he pitch as poorly as he did in the starts that Mejia caught last season? Too many question marks to count on him as an Ace.
“Richards and Lamet are returning from TJ. They are not going to be around the whole season because of innings limits and they won’t be going deep in games because of pitch limits. “
Man, do some research. NEITHER Richards nor Lamet, or Paddack either, are on pitch limits for 2019.
Paddack’s 2020 season depends on his adjustments. His pitch limits were so strict, it impacted his side sessions. He was not able to work on his third pitch (let along, a fourth). I strongly suspect he’ll come into S.T. 15-20 lbs heavier, a whole lot stronger than last year. That alone will aid his development, giving him more time in his side sessions, while he stretches out for starting. Yeah, I agree, he’s a stud, and fully expect him to show TOR, or #2 stuff next year. He’s got the make up, mentally and physically, he’s got the stuff, he just needs injury-free time to develop further.
(The nightmare scenario for all of these guys, is health. If any of the guys we’re talking about, i.e. Richards, Lamet, Paddack, or Gore, have a pulled lat or side strain, it’ll crash their Spring Training, and set them back a couple of months. They all need that S.T. development time. )
Lamet is most certainly on a innings limit dude.
That is a lie. They are both on pitch limits for 2020. Reported by Cassavel in November.
Kinda like Kershaw in the playoffs.
typical Doyer envy of the best pen in the NL,
Kinds like a Doyer team with a $240M payroll and can’t buy a WS ring
The Dodgers had a payroll under $200 million thre last two seasons and the Padres bullpen is not close to the best even though they had thre best closer last year. They were 19th last year and the additions they made are a guy that failed in the majors so he went to Japan and a guy who had a 4.85 ERA last year.
….. and more static analysis, from our friend “outinleftfield”.
Oh, and he’s 4.85 ERA stat he cites over and over again for Stammen? Go try to find a source for it, because I know he can’t.
Solid signing. Was hoping he’d land here. Consistently low whip.
I think I’d rather have Greg Holland or Brandon Kintzler for less money or Cishek for a little more.
There’s still a few guys like Jeremy Jeffres, Cody Allen and Andrew Cashner that are worth a shot on a minor league deal with big league invite. I like Stammen but at age 36, a two or three year deal seems a bit risky.
Stammen over those guys he’s been lights out for the Friars last two yrs.. Its only risky if this team in 2020 doesn’t come in with 85 W’s
Life is risky let alone a pitcher, that’s the gamble ever GM makes I like the gamble and many Friar fans as well
With each team now carrying 26 players that gives us 13 pitchers on the 26 man roster, with the new rule about relief pitchers must face a min. of three consecutive batters I’m glad AJ is stock piling the pen. Need a legit CF now.
AJ picked up two more pitchers and a C and OF off the board (minor league signings) that will come to ST and also make AAA EP for possible call up if and when needed.
The catcher is a 29 year old who’s been playing independent ball for 4 or 5 years. I wouldn’t get too excited.
padres roster still seems suspect at best, there’s always next year
Makes incredible sense to trade Contreras AND Quintana to the Padres.
The Cubs might even throw in CF Albert Almora who could fill a Padres need with his defense and whose bat might improve with a change of scenery. The million dollar question is who Theo Epstein would want in return from the Padres that are MLB ready or nearly so and doesn’t include Wil Meyers in a package?
Willson Contreras and his 3 years of relatively cheap arbitration control alone might require a kings ransom from San Diego. The Cubs need to prioritize pitching which is not something the Padres currently have in ‘aces’ on their roster. Adding Jose Quintana in any trade only makes the Cubs need for starting pitching more urgent. I can’t fathom Theo trading Contreras and “Q” without top Padres prospect LHP MacKenzie Gore in the package which is probably a non-starter for A.J. Preller as well, even with the latter’s job in jeopardy without a substantial improvement in San Diego’s 2020 W-L record.
Who gets DFA’d now? Somebody’s gotta go unless a trade is coming soon. Guerra most likely.
Or Margevicius? I see more of a future with Guerra in the pen than Margevicius in the rotation.
“Who gets DFA’d now? “
I’ve got Perdomo, Guerra, and Marge on the block, on my list.
Perdomo would be worth trading. Guerra is out of options; if he can’t stick on the 26 man roster, he’s gone regardless. He’s a talented arm, but he was pitching in Single A last year. He needs a place to land that has extra 40 man roster space. He’s MLB ready, but still needs development, and the Padres bullpen is just too rich to keep a guy like him.
I”m not sure about Margevicius. With his sub-90’s FB, he needs something more to keep him in the majors.
My guess is that Preller works a trade with one or more of these guys. For swing guys, i.e. guys at the front of the bullpen to AAA trolley, they need to have options. Only Marge is in that position. Maybe he can do a Pomz, and develop a better FB as a reliever. The place for him to figure that out is AAA.
Nice prediction! Spot on.
Padres Fan here,—Extremely stoked about his re-signing. Management ponying up, and keeping Craig a Friar through the end of his career was essential.
Looking much forward to a Kirby Yates/Drew Pomeranz/Craig Stammen, Triple Threat out of the Bullpen!
Good addition. Need a strong bullpen if they don’t plan on adding a top tier starter via the trade market.
Craig Stammen is a joke. If anything, he weakens the bullpen, Only way he should come in is up by a lot or down by a lot. Apparently some of you guys forgot the games he blew or the many many games he came in relief with men in scoring position to promptly give up hits to drive them in. Who cares if the runs didn’t belong to him. He’s not dominant, not someone to be trusted by a ”playoff caliber team” And, willing to bet many of the higher caliber teams didn’t even entertain the idea of signing him. Bad signing.
“Playoff caliber team” RyanD? You mean like the World Series winning Washington Nationals? Stammen’s ERA was at least 3/4 of a run lower than ANY RELIEVER ON THAT TEAM not named Hudson. Try again.
Javia, Okay then, Lets run the soon to be 36 year old guy out there this year in tough situations and see who eats crow. You think he’s going to get better? gmaf break. He’s a post 3 era reliever. Who is projected analytically and by some really really smart people, computer systems, etc. to carry a 3.77 era in 2020 and I cant possibly imagine you think he’s going to get better? Oh wait maybe he does like I said when the teams way up or way down in a mop roll. Your comment is laughable. Yesterday’s wins or great pitched innings don’t win today’s ball games. There are much more talented relievers in the system right now hands down not up for negotiation. And if there were teams out there who had a real shot of contention, why didn’t he sign with them? It must be because the Padres have a real shot of taking the division right? The guy is a nice dude but not worth 9 million dollars. AT ALL Clayton Richard is a nice guy too and a real veteran presence. Padres should bring him back too. Next
Forgot to add one thing, You’re going to throw in stats from other relievers in other divisions and how they aren’t as good as Stammen. Remember Petco is a pitcher friendly park, (81 games) as well as Dodger stadium and San Francisco. So over 100 plus games in pitcher friendly ball parks. Put Stammen in one of those other teams and he’d be far worse.. ‘.
Petco is neutral. Has been for a number of years now.
OK Ryan its like you know it all like someone else who use to be on this board his tag was Tatis, could this be you? Certainly glad you’re not the GM
I played there its not. It’s better then it was but still leans pitcher friendly.
Dude came into games in an astronomical amount of rough situations. 3.29 ERA in a high offense year.
I agree but did you know he only threw 3 more innings last year from the year before in 2018 (which was a great year)? I just don’t see how he fits. Padres got dudes from Munoz, to Drew Pomeranz, to Kirby, to Baez, to maybe Quantrill (who has higher upside), to Jose Castillo etc…. Why sign him? He’s not more talented than those guys right? Am I missing something?
At first I was skeptical about this deal for the same reason, but I think the reason for this and the Pomeranz deal is that SD knows it can’t afford anything in the SP market so they’re trying to heavily invest in the bullpen to shorten the game on the backend.
They have a mostly young pitching staff and a couple guys coming back from injuries so they’re going to need additional innings from the bullpen. If you’re going to be frequently pulling SPs after 4-5 innings, and Stammen is the guy that you have coming in for the 5th or the 6th thats a pretty good spot to be in. He’s eaten a ton of innings for them the past few years and put up good numbers doing it. I don’t think he’s going to be used in high leverage situations anymore, likely mostly just eating innings and mop up duties at this point in his career.
I think with Yates closing and Pomeranz/Munoz handling set up duties, Strahm, Castillo, Stammen, Johnson, Perdomo, etc… rounding out the bullpen makes this arguably the best pen in the NL. If its not the best then its definitely the deepest. Injuries happen and if Wingenter, Reyes, Bednar, etc… are all waiting in the wings they’re positioned well.
Ryan D Yes your missing the mind of a baseball guru for sure. with the new rule about relief pitchers Drew and Craig are going to be a major plus. Do you even know what the new rule is?
Down with Brown. Love the comment about Preller Kook-Aid. The owners have been drinking it for years. Maybe Fowler should distribute that instead of beer.
Down with you not Brown, go back to Indiana and enjoy the cold and snow. Time will tell what the team does do, but I’d bet you even money right now they finish with 80 W’s.. I figure $500 would be worth the time.
Over under is 84
Welcome Home Craig Padres almost missed the bus It’s going to be a great year!
I have the Padres written all over this
Nice to have extra arms in the bullpen.
Yup. I think we’ll ’em.