Trent Grisham will need a rehab assignment before returning to the lineup, but the Padres are hopeful that their centerfielder could be back in a week or so. San Diego anticipates rehab assignments for Austin Nola and Drew Pomeranz as well, though they aren’t expected back until closer to the end of the month, per the Athletic’s Dennis Lin (via Twitter).
Grisham’s absence, in particular, changes the dynamics of the Padres’ position player group. The Gold Glove award winner plays a strong centerfield, and in 2020, he was a multi-faceted weapon on offense: he walked at an above-average 12.3 percent clip, stole 10 bases, and provided pop with a .205 ISO. The 24-year-old has kept his foot on the gas when healthy this season, posting a 149 wRC+ in 154 plate appearances with an 11.7 percent walk rate, seven stolen bases, and a .213 ISO.
A foot contusion landed Grisham on the injured list for the second time this season on May 24th. Jurickson Profar has seen the most playing time in Grisham’s stead, and while he’s made some impressive plays with both his arm and his glove, he does not have the same offensive potency that Grisham can provide.
Like Grisham, Nola has a pair of stints on the injured list, but he’s missed more time in the aggregate. Nola has accounted for just 38 percent of the Padres’ playing time behind the plate this season, second behind his theoretical backup Victor Caratini. Nola brings more bat to the position with a 108 wRC+ in 59 plate appearances (versus 88 wRC+ in 138 plate appearances for Caratini).
Pomeranz, meanwhile, is a power arm whom the Padres would like to use to supplement Tim Hill in the bullpen’s lefty cohort. With Ryan Weathers in the rotation and Pomeranz on the injured list, Hill is the sole southpaw available out of the pen right now. Before landing on the IL with lat tightness, Pomeranz had a 1.98 ERA/2.70 FIP in 13 2/3 innings over 14 appearances.
On the whole, the Padres have been perhaps the most snake-bitten teams of the 2021 season with 842 total days accrued on the injured list, per the injury ledger from Baseball Prospectus. That mark leads the league by a fair margin – the Rays are second with 674 days missed.
With that in mind, the Friars are sticking with a six-man rotation for the time being, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (via Twitter). Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Chris Paddack, Weathers, and Dinelson Lamet are currently all healthy and lined up to start games. As the youngest of the group, Weathers is probably the man on the bubble, though he has held his own with a 2.30 ERA/4.82 FIP in 27 1/3 innings as a starter this season.
Man this has been a terrible year for injuries. I guess a lot of this is a result of last year being such a crazy year. Hope the injuries will slow down, but I’m afraid pitchers are in for a rough time the rest of the season.
I think it’s either due to over or under conditioning, probably the later. Players were working out during covid but without baseball activities they weren’t working out to a full degree.
Or they’re trying to over compensate for the lack of training and are putting their bodies through the wringer working out and it’s hittin their bodies hard
Maybe the Mets fans will quiet down after hearing this. Padres #1, Rays #2 in most games missed due to injuries.
The MLB knew that the transition back from a shortened 60 game sprint to a normal 162 game marathon would be taxing on players and that as a result of that , there was going to be far more injuries than normal. Having said that, I cant for the life of me understand why the MLB, while being completely cognizant of the injury risk, decided to not bring back the universal DH for the 2021 season. The universal DH was not only far more entertaining but more importantly it was a valuable tool that helped teams Mitigate the growing injury risk by allowing teams to give players the day off defensively while allowing there bat to remain in the line up. The MLB knows Injuries are more likely to happen playing defense than at the plate swinging the bat so you would think the logical thing to do would be to bring back The universal DH. Not to mention, the NL permanently adopting the DH is inevitable anyway so why should the NL get rid of it just so they can bring it back after the next CBA in a coupe years? The DH is used at All levels of baseball from little league through collegiate and every level of minor league ball, the NL is the only place that refuses to conform. Hopefully the Padres can find creative ways to get the team healthy and keep them that way cuz there is still over 100 games to go.
Who – you may be using MLB as a collective but if not, just remember the players Union and MLB have to agree on any such changes. Neither side really seemed interested in agreeing to anything leading up to the CBA negotiations. Basically, as one writer put it, the owners and Union couldn’t agree on a 1 topping pizza if they walked into a pizza place together. What transpires between these 2 groups in a few months (likely with a play stoppage or delay) will be an exercise in ridiculously insane decisions fighting over lots and lots of money while alienating the fans.
Andrew Miller was out for over a month on the DL due to a blister on his foot. You have to be kidding me. Today’s players are soft. The new in Vogue injury is the oblique strain.
Yes… Because nobody can get a core injury swinging a bat or throwing a ball. Blisters can be fickle if not left to properly heal… Was it his planting foot? Did he miss meaningful games? You could argue they’re being coddled but these are decisions mostly being made by management. If it was an important game you’d probably see him pitching. Slightly unrelated but if Chris Paul had let his coach sit him out in a pivotal game then there may have been a different narrative to the basketball series. If it was a meaningless game of course he would rest. Miller is no young buck by any means.