The Padres had to go without breakout star Dinelson Lamet in the playoffs last year because of arm issues, but the right-hander told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters that he’s healthy heading into the upcoming season. “I’m coming off that rest period, I did everything I needed to do, I feel well-prepared,” said Lamet. “I feel like I’m 100 percent myself.” That’s another excellent development in an offseason full of them for the burgeoning Padres, as Lamet was a 2020 Cy Young contender who pitched to a 2.09 ERA/3.16 SIERA in 69 innings and struck out more than 12 batters per nine. If healthy, he’ll open the season near the top of a San Diego rotation that added Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove in the offseason, and also has Chris Paddack in the fold as a holdover.
- Angels lefty reliever Alex Claudio is battling a hip infection that could delay his camp debut by at least one to two weeks, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweets. That’s unwelcome news for Claudio and the Angels’ bullpen, as the team’s counting on him to fill a regular role after it signed him to a $1.125MM guarantee in free agency. The 29-year-old spent last season with the Brewers and registered a 4.26 ERA/4.43 SIERA in 19 innings.
- Free-agent reliever David Robertson held his second showcase of the month on Friday, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. A dozen-plus teams were in attendance to watch Robertson, according to Feinsand, who writes that the right-hander “was said to look good.” Robertson’s fastball regularly checked in between 90-91 mph and hit 92 mph multiple times. The 35-year-old has averaged 92 mph on his fastball since his career started in 2008.
- Marlins righty prospect Edward Cabrera has an inflamed nerve in his biceps, and there’s no timetable on when he’ll be able to throw, according to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. The Marlins will obviously be careful with the 22-year-old Cabrera, whom MLB.com ranks as the 68th overall prospect in the game. Cabrera didn’t pitch last year because of the lack of a minor league season, but he put up 38 2/3 innings of 2.56 ERA ball at the Double-A level in 2019.
- Rockies reliever Scott Oberg hasn’t suffered any setbacks since he underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in September, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. The hope is that the procedure will help Oberg get over blood clots that have dogged him in the past. Oberg hasn’t taken a major league mound since Aug. 16, 2019, but the righty was highly effective out of the Rockies’ bullpen that season and in the prior campaign.
Not trusting Lamet is healthy. Let’s get Cole Hamels!
If Lamets healthy the sky is the limit for the Pads.
But even if he’s not there’s Gore/Weathers/Morejon
But I see Preller bringing in a vet like Hamels if still available during the Spring.
Can’t have too much pitching!
Gore and Weathers have no business on a big league roster, yet. They aren’t ready, and shouldn’t be counted upon. If Preller calls them up, I’ll just use that as more evidence that he doesn’t know squat about pitchers and pitching.
hehehehehe Dinelson Lamet pitched 69 innings last season hehehehehehhehehehehehe
If only he had a 4.20 ERA to go along with those 69 tasty innings. 😉
Nice
Hey mlb1225, I wanted to ask you something. I have been writing up a fanpost on the Hyeon-Jong Yang signing in Texas, and in doing so I was thinking of something that would be very useful right about now. A website that converts KBO stats to their MLB equivalents (NPB and other outsides leagues as well). I think it would be a very good tool to use in looking at foreign league players, and something that could’ve helped me right about now. I know you alone don’t have all it takes to make this, but you have connections and I was wondering if you could spread the word (or just tell me where it is because I haven’t found it yet lol).
Oh btw, I wrote my first fanpost a few weeks back. It was a trade proposal and I think I have found what to improve on. Here it is: https://www.lonestarball.com/2021/2/7/22270662/the-rangers-need-a-carpenter-to-fix-the-hole-elvis-left
I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarentee anything. A website that is essentially a database of projecting what a foreign player will do in the US is more of a coding thing than anything else. It’s a little out of my scope, but I’ll see what I can do.
Nice article,Rangers29 or Huffthemagicdragon, but I don’t see Texas giving up Terry just to save $3M overall. The extra cap space next year is unnecessary as they aren’t anywhere close to the CBT now.
Thanks mlb1225. I know you have a lot of other stuff going on, but just getting the idea out there is all I really want. Plus, I doubt you have all the coding skills to make it all happen. That’s not a knock on you, nobody has all the skills to make that happen singlehandedly. Just trying to get the idea out there because it would be very useful. Thanks.
Paddack has to show he can command a 3rd pitch to stick in the rotation IMO.
Fastball change-up won’t cut it.
Paddack is what Luis Patino will become if he isn’t able to develop secondary stuff that can compliment his big fastball.
You all are talking about your 5th starter..lol Welcome to #PlayoffTeamProblems
Bravesfan88: now that is a really good take on how issues change when you’ve become (well-if thinks don’t break wrong) an elite team! Thanks for helping me (at least) keep a prospective lol).
His curve got better last year and he has been working all off season on it…we’ll see.
paddack has an exceptional command tool. It wasn’t there for whatever reason last season. If his command is what it had been every season other than the last one than he’s gonna be among our best starters again.
SanDiegoTom tell that to Lucas Giolito
So the Angels big bullpen free agent is out. What a great off-season Perry. What a waste of an opportunity. I don’t know what’s worse, Perry not getting anyone or Perry expecting a guy who can’t get RH out to play a regular role in the bullpen. Both are sad.
I thought things started out promisingly enough for the Angels this offseason with the trades for Iglesias and Iglesias… but then they just didn’t really do anything else. That was a good starting point, but there was much more work to be done to turn this into a contending club. Quintana and Cobb simply isn’t going to cut it. They should have been in on Darvish, Musgrove, Carrasco, etc. And they need at least two more quality bullpen arms. Go trade for German Marquez is my personal suggestion.
Should’ve went after another high end bullpen piece and made a strong run at Marquez. Very disappointing off-season indeed. Makes me wonder if Arte is still pulling the strings though.
Yeah, I really liked the Iglesias trades, but I haven’t really liked any of their other moves. Odorizzi is still a free agent, though, and I think he would be a good player for the Angels.
Odorizzi is a bad fit for the Angels. Most of their rotation has serious questions about durability. They need a proven workhorse or two that can make 30 starts without falling apart. They should have been in on Lester. The only decent starter remaining that fits is Porcello. He’s not a sexy name or possess TOR potential but he will eat a ton of innings and keep them in most games. Get Ohtani healthy and make sure Bundy can go a season without having a season ending injury and then next year chase whatever they are missing. They currently have too many holes in a strong division to hope for the playoffs this year. Sign Porcello and maybe Hamels or trade for another innings eater and then pray for a miracle.
Odorizzi had a three year run averaging 30 starts and pitched well enough to get a qualifying offer.
His injuries have been pretty fluky. I’d trust him to stay healthy more than Cobb or Heaney.
The Angels seventh through tenth starters don’t have health issues.
I would have gone for upside. One, Barria in the rotation would mean the Angels could have gotten one more BP arm.
Two, the Angels seventh through tenth starters have about the same chance of being successful as Quintana and Cobb.
If they sign Odorizzi I can see Barria becoming a bullpen piece.
Barria is out of options.
And you have to figure there will be pretty limited workloads. He’s either a long reliever or spot starter
Yeah 11 I don’t see Cobb as an upgrade over Barria.
I’m with you on that one for sure.
Having a decent long reliever a la Salas a few years back would be good for this team (especially since joe usually has the starters on a short leash).
Look, I’m not happy with the off-season either. That being said, I think the bullpen is better off than it was last year.
HBan, German will never happen. They’ve said many of times there only going after good quality people. He doesn’t qualify last time I checked.
Swing….is there something negative about Marquez’s character that you’d like to share? Maybe you’re confusing your Marquez with Domingo?
Hban I loved his first two moves. In this market there was no excuse to have this pen.
On a nice note… Ohtani has been throwing for four months and although he had trouble breaking 90 a couple days ago, he’s been clocked at 95. After four months, if he was still having issues breaking 90, that would have been an issue.
And time is a flat circle …..
“It’s all one ghetto, man. A giant gutter in outer space.”
In time you will eat crow on this one. Claudio will be fine, the Pen will be fine. A RP can miss a few weeks of spring and be just fine. It’s not like they have to be stretched out or anything. This news is no news on him.
Claudio hasn’t been “fine” in five years. The pen will be fine. Enlighten me. Which guys do you expect to reach the level of mediocre. Because mediocre would exceed reasonable expectations and what they have done in their careers, You’re crazy to expect this pen be good.
Ehh, tell that to Will Smith, he missed last ST, missed stretching out and warming up, and was really never fully himself until about two-thirds the way into the season.
Some pitchers need a full spring training and warming up
Claudio hasn’t had a good season since 2017.
Mayers is 28, has a negative career WAR. Has one of the worst ground ball ratios in baseball, has been horrible for all of career except for 30 innings last year, and since he’s a fly ball pitcher, his chances of repeating last year HR rate against him is ZERO.
Buttrey is 29 and has yet to be good.
Those are the Angels 6th through 8th inning guys.
The other two guys, Guerra and Pena are even less promising.
Why would anyone expect these guys to be good this year? It’s insane.
If they are good, it’s by luck, not by design.
The Angels should throw money at Odorizzi. if they believe that joke of a rotation is going somewhere then it’s going to be a long season in Anaheim.
no. unlike a popular belief angels rotation is not in a bad shape. especially with ohtani coming back. where we are hurting is late inning relief pitchers other than iglesias.
Vizionaire, The Angels rotation is not in bad shape. They don’t have an established ace, but who in this division does? They have three fine arms, providing Ohtani regains his velocity. The reports of him throwing 90 were misleading. He’s been throwing since October and he’s hitting 95. At 90, scared, 95, not at all.
Bundy has one elite pitch and one very good pitch. Heaney has elite stuff, one day he is going to learn how to pitch. Canning has one of the best curve-balls in baseball.
The talent is there.
It’s their pen that worries me.
Cobb will Wind up in the Bull pen. Barria will probably get traded for a reliever before the season starts. Chris Rodriguez will get a spot in the starting rotation once Cobb gets moved to the bullpen.
So in this market you trade Barria for an RP instead of just signing a pretty good reliever for 2 million bucks?
I think Perry is a idiot, but that move wold pretty much remove all doubt.
Rodriguez is pretty far down the list right now.
Don’t forget Detmers.
@Halo11 –
Shane Greene, Jeremy Jeffress, D-Rob, Clippard, Chaz Roe, Alvarez.
I’m probably missing someone. All still available.
We’ve a lot of examples to go off of by this point. Those guys are getting $2-3MM AAV’s. They all seem to me to be capable of raising the floor of most pens in baseball.
Angels (like all contenders) can still improve their relief pitching.
Look, the Yanks have a pretty good bullpen. & I can easily picture Cashman adding one of the above mentioned relievers. Not opening day yet. Teams still have time to make improvements & additions.
So. Who do they release? Which is why, if they were not going to get a good starter, they should have given the job to Barria and which is why they never should have signed Claudio. I have no idea why this is so difficult to see.
The problem with such mediocrity in the bullpen is the team has very little idea which of these pitchers might prove helpful and which will be horrid.
I can’t answer that question, you can’t answer that question, and no one in baseball can answer that question. Like every year, they’ll figure it out in late May or June hoping they don’t fall too far out of the race. So far it hasn’t worked.
@Hallo11Fan, Luke Bard would be the first to be DFA. Green is the only viable reliever left that can be a 8th inning guy. Barria to Tampa for one of their relievers would match up good. Or to the Rangers.
late ’21. more than likely 2022.
Why on Earth would you trade Barria when it was SO EASY to get an RP on the open Market?
If that was Perry’s plan, he’s moron.
Luke Bard isn’t one of the 8.
The 8 are :
Iglesias
Buttrey
Mayers
Claudio
Pena
Barria
Guerra
Rivera.
Below that are Slegers and Bard who both have options.
How much better is this pen if Barria was in the rotation, Claudio was never signed and they spent the seven million bucks on relief pitching?
This was a colossal blunder by Perry and for the life of me I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t see it. Even if Cobb is good, which is highly unlikely, two men in the pen would have been more valuable.
Guerra isn’t on the 40 man roster. He is on a minor league deal, with an invite to camp. Barria was absolutely horrible out of the bullpen in 19 with an ERA of close to 10. Cobb would be better out the bullpen. But even with that, Barria will be fighting for the #5 spot with
Cobb
Rodriguez
Yan
Otani
Rodriguez has the best pure stuff out of all of those I just mentioned.
The number five spot on the Angels is Quintana. Cobb has the sixth spot Barria is the long man in the pen. You think Ohtani is going to the pen?
Barring injury the starting rotation is set. Barring injury the pen is pretty much set. Guerra or Slegers will make this team. Since Slegers has options and getting hitters out in the Spring is easier than in the Summer, I expect Guerra to make the team.
Bundy
Heaney
Canning
Quintana
Top 4 of the rotation. Ohtani will hurt his arm in Spring Training. The Angels will be forced to have Ohtani only DH again. Again Barria has not performed well in the long reliever roll. Cobb would be better as the long reliever. I still feel like Rodriguez will be the Angels fifth starter at some point.
So now that Oberg looks to be healthy, let me re-state this trade proposal:
Twins get: German Marquez and Scott Oberg
Rockies get: Larnach, Duran, and Jeffers
This trade got some push-back from both Twins’ fans and Rockies’ fans when I proposed it, so now that the season is fast approaching, I’d like to throw it back out there.
I actually like it. I feel as though that proposal is a pretty fair trade. Maybe make it Mychal Givens instead of Oberg.
Not a fan of either team. That’s not enough for Marquez.
Larnach and Duran are both top 100 prospects, aren’t they? And Jeffers looks like a solid young catcher. Compared to some of the other hauls that we’ve seen for top pitchers this offseason, this proposal seems pretty fair.
No one with Marquez’s value has been moved
He should be rivaling Castillo for potential haul size. I don’t know enough about the prospects to make an assessment of this deal, but just saying, Marquez’s deal should top any deal thus far, talent-return wise. And I’m a fan of his rival.
Claudio is already fitting in well here.
I’m actually more concerned about the guys with visa issues, notably Rule V kid with the huge fastball. What’s already a limited time to evaluate him is reduced.
Correct JJ, you hit it on the head there, as I posted earlier. Some are worried about the wrong guys. Claudio doesn’t need much time, and zero evaluation time.
The rule five kid has the best chance of success, but it’s a very low bar. Claudio was good five years ago, but he’ll be fine…oh brother.
As for Claudio… did you think Wally Joyner was a good hitter as an Angel? The typically RH against Claudio hits a little better than Wally Joyner hit as an Angel.
Claudio will be fine against the minimal RH hitters he faces. He keeps the ball in the yard against them. An occasional lousy single in between a couple lefties, will be just fine. We’re beating a dead horse here. Time will tell when I’m right… Hehhehe
Claudio isn’t fine against RH batters and he either has to close an inning or pitch to three batters. Which means the only time you can use him is with two outs against a batter they will not pinch him. And lord help the Angels if he doesn’t retire that first guy.
You are not looking at this logically.
Wally? My all time favorite player? My childhood idol? Yes.
I’m not enamored with Claudio but a single is not a home run. He’s replacing Noe, who gave up HR at twice the rate of Claudio.
I’m far more concerned with the league adjusting to Mayers new pitch. Many careers have been changed by late career swing/pitch changes. Well know if his has soon.
As for Ty, I’ve texted with him recently. Great guy. I’d love to see him bounce back but it’s been a while since he’s been solid.
One of these is Wally Joyner’s slash line as an Angel. The other is Claudio’s slash line against RH batters
287/350/450
305/356/442
I’m not worried about Claudio because I don’t think he gets important innings. Why would you have a guy like that pitch an inning? Who is that dumb?
As for Mayers, I don’t see how he will keep the ball in the park.
Buttrey has a chance, however, don’t you want you second best BP guy to be better than a chance?
jeremy jeffres might be a good setup man.for halos. he has closed in many occasions. that is if minasian has some senses.
Vizionaire, the problem is the Angels are going to carry 8 BP guys.
Rivera is the Angels 12th best prospect, has the best arm in the pen and is a rule five player. He’s going to make the team.
Pena, Barria, Claudio, Buttrey, Mayers and Iglesias are all locks. Guerra knows how to pitch and will look good this spring because he has to get players out in spring.
And what about Sledgers?
I look at the Claudio signing and there is so much they could have done with that spot.
Now that it’s obvious, I don’t understand why fans don’t understand that was a huge mistake.
Wouldn’t it have been smarter to have Barria in the rotation and have used that extra bullpen spot for a good Relief Pitcher.
I have no idea what Perry was thinking.
Halo11, you’ve missed the bus so many times, I’m surprised you still try. It appears from your ending there, Perry doesn’t know what he’s doing, but you do… Right! Hahaha
1) If Claudio is the worst guy in the Pen, as u think. Then the Angels will have one of the best BP’s in the league. Thank u for that, it makes me feel even better about the pen now.
2)you have Claudio “the last guy in the pen”, whatever that means. But they signed 3 other RP’s after him. If they felt they liked an RP for the price, they would of added one, regardless of your favorite Claudio sign. 😉
3)Barria will start many of games, and probably to begin the season. On top of that, the Angels can, and will need every pitcher u listed, due to health. Most teams break camp with a pitcher or 2 on the DL for a bit.
Perry wouldn’t be doing it right if he didn’t have a couple extra pitchers to compete for a spot, or needed for health reasons out of camp. As they say, things have a way of working themselves out.
Perry would probably be doing it right if Moreno Didn’t own the Angels
What do I expect from someone whose handle is “Swing the Bat”? Not much and you keep delivering.
I haven’t missed the bus once and you were dead wrong two months ago and you are dead wrong now.
You really must not know a thing about baseball if you still don’t see it.
Two months ago, you had an excuse. Today you have not excuse.
Claudio should be the worst guy in the pen. That fact that he might not be speaks volumes.
Make up your mind, you said Claudio is the worst guy in the Pen. Enough said Einstein, that makes our BP just fine.
Who is worse? What’s worse is who is better? That’s the problem. Claudio is the last person you want to bring in to start an inning when two of the three batters he’ll face are RH hitters. Everyone knows that.
Don’t you understand that A loogy is the last person in your pen? You still don’t understand that? I was right two months ago and that is obvious to any clear thinking individual today.
69 innings in 2020….nice!
Say hi to Beavis for me.
Padres biggest weakness is pitching, other than Darvish all SP have question marks of various degrees, but also the big wildcard here is now CJ Abrams has no path to SS anymore, and he’s arguably one of the best prospects in the game, period. My point is SD has a LOT of prospect firepower to throw at literally anyone. Paddack and Abrams plus get you just about any SP you want. They can upgrade Guerra, Adams, Hill, Strahm in the bullpen and still have a top 5 farm too. Terrifying. Rays are in a similar spot with Wander, Lowe, Brujan, Edwards and Adames only have 2 positions between them (not to mention Brousseau), the Rays could add 3 big stars with any 3 of those players heading 3 separate trades. Also terrifying. We could easily see multiple SD/TB World Series in the next decade.
Why would someone trade a top starter for Paddack? If Paddack was so good, the Padres would keep him and those multiple years of club control.
The Padres’ main problem is that man-for-man, they don’t stack up well against the team they’re trying to catch. The Dodgers’ best three position players are Betts, Bellinger, and Seager. Then comes Muncy, Turner, Smith, Pollock, and Turner. Who is the Padres’ third-best player after Tatis and Machado? Whoever you choose, it won’t be someone appreciably better than the Dodgers’ eighth-best player.
MLB Network just released their annual 100 best MLB players. The Padres have five of the players at #6 (Tatis), 18 (Machado), 30 (Darvish), 74 (Lamet), and (80) Snell. The Dodgers have nine, all of whom are in the top 50: #2 (Betts), 10 (Bellinger), 24 (Seager), 29 (Bauer), 38 (Kershaw), 40 (Buehler), 45 (Muncy), 46 (Turner), and 50 (Smith). That is a huge edge for the Dodgers, who have already proven to be a consistent winner. Over the last four years, the Dodgers have gone to three World Series while playing .631 ball in the regular season. That equates to 102-60 per regular season. Do you realize how hard it is to win 100 games in one season? This team averages 102 and doesn’t appear to have peaked. On paper, the 2021 team is their best yet. It’s also a relatively young team. In fact, their opening day roster will be younger than the up-and-coming Padres.
Suggestion: Before predicting multiple World Series appearances for the terrifying Padres, can you at least wait until they have a winning record over a full regular season? That’s something they haven’t done since 2010.
What a comment Cey Hey, with gameplay records AND MLBN receipts
Great summary
You said Turner twice smart guy
Has Lamet been able to throw his best pitch yet, a devastating slider? That will be an indication he’s back.
Regardless, his innings will be monitored and expecting a full workload is not realistic.
He has thrown 5 or 6 sliders so far according to mlb.com.
“5 or 6?” That’s still worrisome.
Saying all the right things now. Let’s see how Lamet is feeling in May/June after he puts another 50+ innings on that arm.