11:37AM: The Padres have announced the move, with right-hander James Norwood called up to take Weathers’ spot on the active roster. San Diego acquired Norwood from the Cubs in an April trade, and Norwood is now set to make his first appearance of the 2021 season and make his Padres debut.
10:42AM: The Padres are sending left-hander Ryan Weathers to Triple-A, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee. Weathers will be stretched out again as a regular starter in the minors, though his next call-up to the big leagues could be to fill a hole in either the rotation or the bullpen.
The news represents a change of course from just two days ago, when the Padres initially planned to move Weathers to the bullpen. The rookie had been deployed as both a starter and reliever this season, stepping into the rotation due to injuries to Adrian Morejon and Dinelson Lamet. However, Lamet’s return from the injured list temporarily gave San Diego a six-man rotation, which the team saw as a way of keeping its starters fresh.
Now, as Acee writes, “Lamet appearing to have reached a point where he can effectively go five or more innings allowed the Padres to prioritize Weathers’ development, as they feel their second-ranked pitching prospect is better served for the long term getting consistent work as a starter.”
It creates a bit of an interesting present vs. future situation for the Padres front office. While nothing would stop the team from quickly calling Weathers back up to the active roster if necessary, the argument could be made that Weathers is most useful right now as a reliever in the majors, given how San Diego’s bullpen has been shaky over the last month. The leaky relief corps has been one of the reasons the Padres are only 4-12 in their last 16 games, and the team now sits five games out of first place in the NL West.
With the Giants and Dodgers not showing any signs of slowing down, it leaves the Padres with little margin for error for reaching the postseason, so having Weathers on hand to secure even one or two extra wins could make a huge difference in what might be a tight NL wild card race. Weathers is still only 21 years old, so it wouldn’t be difficult for the team to stretch him out next spring with an eye towards resuming his career path as a starting pitcher.
That said, being a starter could also ultimately be how Weathers best contributes to the 2021 team, in the event of another rotation injury. Having Weathers ready to go at Triple-A could be a necessity for the Padres, given their lack of healthy and experienced starting depth in the minors. Though Weathers has all of 47 1/3 MLB innings to his name, that still makes him the Padres’ top “sixth starter” candidate waiting in the wings.
I like what I’ve seen from Weathers so far. He definitely seems to have the stuff to succeed as a starter in the majors.
why cant they just stretch him out while in the pen?
Because baseball and the people who make decisions for it are so rigid and conservative that they don’t even know what outside the box means?
The way pitchers are used is long overdue for a change. But change in the game of baseball is a slow slow process.
No it’s because they cant control game script. It is much better for the long term development for a 22 year old to be stretched out in a controlled environment rather than a sporadic one. Try seeing things from more than one perspective before you insult an entire league.
I get what Steve is saying but it contradicts how the Padres have gone about business all year – The Padres are more all in on 2021 than any other team in the bigs….. I felt they coulda used Wheathers on the big league team in some compacity and was surprised by the news today –
That pen has been taxed HEAVILY as well
They are wanting to limit his innings due to the lost season last year. If they were to keep him on the ML roster, it would be more difficult to limit the innings, it is much easier for a AAA team to “skip” a guys turn in the rotation (or bullpen for that matter), than a ML team trying to win.
If they keep him down for 3-4 weeks, they’ll get an extra year of control.
well yeah, i guess that has more to do with it
Has nothing to do with it at all. A. J. Preller couldn’t care less about service time.
It’s not a service time thing – winning 1 extra game this season in that division is way more valuable than what extra he’d make in arbitration or hitting FA quicker.
That being said – mlb should surely revamp the arb process and pay scale to not ding the player for getting sent down. They need to remove the organizational benefit from sending guys down and eliminate the manipulation of service time.
I believe it’s 15 days
They’re developing the 7th year of control for Weathers
That’s why
Anyone who claims it’s 100% false because it’s Preller, you’re lying to yourself. Service time manipulation doesn’t HAVE to happen before their first call up. It’s cleaner but not a necessity. Even if they succeed(cough) teams don’t need very long to grab the 7th year. SD sees their team fading, but they have healthy starters, and they’re cashing in for a 7th year.
If they were 12-4 last 16, he’s not leaving the team.
98% of the time Id agree –
I don’t see it with the Padres for 2021 tho
These dudes are all in …Im confused by the send down and I don’t have the answer but I don’t think its service time tbh – They know they will need every single victory they can get this year .
@BeforeMcCourt No they are not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If A. J. Preller didn’t care about service time with Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Joey Lucchesi, Chris Paddack, Jake Cronenworth and (especially) Fernando Tatis Jr, why would he suddenly care about it with Ryan Weathers? Oh yeah, he wouldn’t!
And if they wanted the extra year on Weathers he never would have started the season in the majors. If he had been really freaking good (which is the only reason they would necessarily NEED the extra year) they wouldn’t have been able to send him down without getting hit with a grievance from the MLBPA.
“ If he had been really freaking good (which is the only reason they would necessarily NEED the extra year) they wouldn’t have been able to send him down without getting hit with a grievance from the MLBPA.”
He HAS BEEN REALLY FREAKING GOOD!
He’s pitching like your ace but he’s labeled your 6th starter. Now he magically needs 3 weeks of throwing 50 pitches not 80, and he’ll be good to go for the rest of the year? How the heck is the not manipulative??
As I said. You do not need to manipulate before a debut to manipulate. ESPECIALLY when a pitcher is as young as Weathers is
“He HAS BEEN REALLY FREAKING GOOD!”
He has demonstrated an ability to get big league hitters, out, but he has not shown that he can do so for the 6+ innings that we need him to do it. So they sent him down to stretch him out in a controlled environment rather than doing so in the majors where results matter. Full stop.
“He’s pitching like your ace but he’s labeled your 6th starter.”
No, aces don’t average 3 and a third innings per start. He has demonstrated that he has a future in the majors but they want that future to be as a starter. It is better for his development that he gets stretched out in the minors. Honestly, calling him up at all was a huge mistake as far as his development goes.
“Now he magically needs 3 weeks of throwing 50 pitches not 80, and he’ll be good to go for the rest of the year?”
Actually what he needs is to build up his durability so that he can go 6 innings per appearance rather than 3 and a third. Most teams don’t have 21 y/o’s do that in the majors. He should have been in the minors all year.
“How the heck is the not manipulative??”
Because it’s literally better for his career as a whole.
“As I said. You do not need to manipulate before a debut to manipulate. ESPECIALLY when a pitcher is as young as Weathers is”
If the player in question is the kind of player whose service time is WORTH manipulating, yeah you do. By calling him up to start the season you are risking him playing too well to make sending him down without getting hit with a grievance possible. This is exactly what happened with Tatis. If they really cared about the extra year with him, Weathers or anyone, they wouldn’t have even taken that risk. Your failure to see that is your problem. Not mine bud.
Also, I love how you fail to address all the other players that Preller chose not to get the extra year of control on. Weathers is not the most important player that has come up in the past 4 seasons (that would obviously be Tatis). He isn’t even the second or third most important (that would probably be Cronenworth and Paddack). If Preller didn’t care about the extra year on them, why would he suddenly care about it on Weathers? Service time manipulation is intended for your best-of-the-best prospects.
He’s held his own for the most part. My question is…how did they call up to replace him?
By phone?
I think he meant who, not how. The who would be James Norwood.
I knew what he meant, just being a smarta$$
Not about stretching out….entirely limiting his workload.
Need him in Sept/Oct more than now.
We have arms now…if we can hit we can use him In The playoffs
Not likely, I don’t see, Padres getting a wild card they have lost like 8 out of 10.
There are still about 100 games left in the season. Any 10-game stretch is small potatoes…or small beer, depending on your preference.
Sure it’s about stretching him out. You don’t draft relievers in the top 10.
Weather’s results have been excellent but he still has learning to do. He has almost totally abandoned his plus changeup and he is having trouble throwing his slider for strikes. Hitters are starting to spit on it. He needs to fix his issues in a lower pressure environment, not in an MLB playoff race.
Leaky bullpen is not the reason they have been 4 – 12. Their offense other than Tatis and Pham has collapsed. Machado is no better than league average, when he plays. Myers, Hosmer, Profar all struggling. Cronenworth is sluggish. They’ve gotten on base, mostly due to walks, but horrible hitting especially with runners in scoring position. Offense not pitching is problem.
Or text…hahaha
this is a bit of a head scratcher. lamet still hasn’t managed to pitch 6 innings yet this season, and so far paddack is the only starter who has completed at least 6 in june starts. pitching isn’t as bad as the offense right now but the starters and bullpen are still in need of some help. not sure sending weathers down is entirely beneficial to the padres at the moment. either continue to piggyback him with lamet or keep him in the bullpen. he’s not going to get stretched out any more in the minors if he’s still only throwing 50-70 pitches an outing, regardless if he manages an extra inning each start
I agree …Im confused entirely….doesn’t jive with the last 2.5 months “all in” approach SD has been rockin
As someone else mentioned earlier, this probably is at least in part motivated by service time.
In the absence of an injury, I believe he has to remain in the minors for a minimum of 10 days. If things are going well for the Padres, they can reasonably keep him in the minors for just long enough for him to miss the cutoff to accrue a full year of service this season.
If the Padres suffer a pitching injury in the next few weeks and they still don’t recall him, they’ll have a hard time arguing that their motivation isn’t service time manipulation.
It’s not even remotely motivated by service time. A. J. Preller doesn’t care about service time. Not. One. Bit.
It’s his job to care about players service time.
It’s likely a factor, we’d be silly to think otherwise.
BS. If he cared about service time even a little he wouldn’t have put Tatis Jr on the roster to start 2019. If losing the extra year of Tatis didn’t bother him losing the extra year of Weathers won’t even make him blink.
Service time was not a factor here. Not at all! If Preller thought that a prospect was ready today, he’d call him up today, even if he only had to wait one more day to get the extra year.
I agree with Remove. If it were “his job to care about players service time” Fernando Tatis Jr. definitely would not have been on the roster to start 2019.
Hahahaha. So since it wasn’t service time games once before, it can NEVER HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THEIR THINKING, EVER!
I mean. It happened once. Must always be that way! What a stupid argument. Wow
Jim…. or Preller thought they were a lot better than they were in 19, Tatis came and lit the world on fire then got hurt with no one else knocking on the door
You think Preller could have sent Fernando down mid ROY-caliber year, with no one to replace him, and not get any media flack or a grievance? Cmon. It’s a lot easier to manipulate a pitcher. Teams got a lot more pitchers than star shortstops
Sorry but you are thinking like a conspiracy theorist — you know giving one example and assuming that is the norm. Tatis situation is 100% completely irrelevant. He wanted to remain a Padre. The Padres wanted to keep the face of baseball. They signed him for a decade and a half. The Tatis situation is irrelevant. What service time?
Weathers is not and will not be the face of baseball. He is not a generational pitcher. But he might become a very good one. And if he is, they’ll want to keep him as long as they can. Hence, sending him down (in part) because of service time.
@BeforeMcCourt…
“Hahahaha. So since it wasn’t service time games once before, it can NEVER HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THEIR THINKING, EVER!”
Yeah. It can never have any impact on their thinking ever. Any reason you can possibly come up with as to why they would want the extra year of control on Ryan Weathers is 1000 times more true in the case of Fernando Tatis Jr and they didn’t do that. So why would they care about doing it here?
“You think Preller could have sent Fernando down mid ROY-caliber year, with no one to replace him, and not get any media flack or a grievance?”
No. I don’t think he could have done that and that’s what proves that Weathers getting sent down wasn’t about service time. If they wanted they extra year of control on Weathers they would not have put him on the roster to start the season and risked him pitching like an ace which would have made it really hard to send him down without getting hit with a grievance (and if he’s pitching like an ace that is the only scenario where they would necessarily NEED the extra year of control)
@Begone Spenglerd (parody) why do you change your username and have conversations with yourself Tipsy McStagger aka trillaryhump16 aka AustinKearnsIsNotGod?
Oh and it wasn’t “just once before.” Preller also didn’t manipulate service time on Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Joey Lucchesi, Luis Urias, Chris Paddack and Jake Cronenworth. He just got the most attention for not doing it on Tatis because he was the arguable top prospect in baseball when he was called up while none of the others ranked higher than #26 (Manuel Margot) and Lucchesi and Cronenworth weren’t even top 100.
“ Yeah. It can never have any impact on their thinking ever. Any reason you can possibly come up with as to why they would want the extra year of control on Ryan Weathers is 1000 times more true in the case of Fernando Tatis Jr and they didn’t do that. So why would they care about doing it here?”
Holy hell. No it’s not! I already explained this. Who’s the person who was supposed to force SD to send Tatis down after 2 months of his rookie year? No one
Tatis isn’t a 21 year old pitcher. You can’t say you’re worried about your SS’s arm so you’re sending him down to AAA for 3 weeks. You sure as heck can do it with a 21/22 year old pitcher who was drafted a handful of years ago..
Also.. they thought they were winning in 19. So Tatis started with the team. Just like they thought they were winning in 21. Now 21 has hit a rough patch. So they’re looking to the future, even in the smallest possible way. They found an opportunity and took advantage. They have 6 healthy starters.
The fact you refuse to even acknowledge they are absolutely gaining an extra year makes this conversation pointless. You clearly cannot have an unbiased conversation about Preller and SD
“ If they wanted they extra year of control on Weathers they would not have put him on the roster to start the season and risked him pitching like an ace which would have made it really hard to send him down without getting hit with a grievance (and if he’s pitching like an ace that is the only scenario where they would necessarily NEED the extra year of control)”
Dude. You’re saying it can’t be for them to gain a year of control, while sidestepping the fact that they are 100% gaining an extra year of control. And you know they will avoid a grievance by doing EXACTLY what you claim they couldn’t possibly be doing, because he’s a 21 year old pitcher.
There’s no grievance for sending a 21 year pitcher down to monitor innings. There’s certainly a grievance for sending down a SS hitting 350 or whatever Tatis hit in his rookie year, when Luis Arias was the next best option
The entire safety net is positional. SS vs SP. that’s why there’s no Weathers grievance. Cmon. You know this
“Holy hell. No it’s not! I already explained this. Who’s the person who was supposed to force SD to send Tatis down after 2 months of his rookie year? No one”
Not sure what that has to do with my comment, but no one forced them to put him on the roster to start 2019 either. If they cared about service time even the slightest bit they wouldn’t have done that. That way, the MLBPA wouldn’t have had any grounds for a grievance. They already lost the Bryant one and he was way more polished when he came up than Tatis was.
“Tatis isn’t a 21 year old pitcher. You can’t say you’re worried about your SS’s arm so you’re sending him down to AAA for 3 weeks. You sure as heck can do it with a 21/22 year old pitcher who was drafted a handful of years ago..”
Well sure you can if he struggles in the majors. Maybe not to protect his arm but possibly to work on his plate discipline. But since he showed he belonged, the Padres lost that chance. If they were worried about the extra year, they wouldn’t have taken that risk. Not on Weathers and most certainly not on Tatis.
“Also.. they thought they were winning in 19. So Tatis started with the team. Just like they thought they were winning in 21. Now 21 has hit a rough patch. So they’re looking to the future, even in the smallest possible way. They found an opportunity and took advantage. They have 6 healthy starters.”
Not sure what you are talking about here. But I assure you that sending Weathers down is not about “looking to the future because they hit a rough patch.” Preller is pot-committed to winning the division in 2021 so if anything that rough patch means they have even more of a reason to not worry about service time over putting the best possible team on the field. If he thought that Weathers made them better now, he would be in MLB. Clearly they want to stretch him out as a starter. As well they should, since you don’t draft relievers in the top 10. That is the ONLY reason he is in the minors. If Preller was willing to swat the free year of control to the ground on a transcendent talent like Tatis, he’s not going to worry about it on Weathers when the team is hanging onto its place in the division race by their fingertips and could really use him right now.
“The fact you refuse to even acknowledge they are absolutely gaining an extra year makes this conversation pointless. You clearly cannot have an unbiased conversation about Preller and SD”
They don’t get an extra year unless he stays down for 15 or more days (and it might actually be 20 days because he’s already on the 40-man roster, I’m not sure exactly how that rule works). But just because they get an extra year by sending him down doesn’t mean the extra year is the reason they sent him down. It doesn’t even mean it’s A reason they sent him down. Just like how the extra year isn’t the reason MacKenzie Gore is in the minors. It’s simply a byproduct of him being in the minors. And it’s the same way with Weathers.
“Dude. You’re saying it can’t be for them to gain a year of control, while sidestepping the fact that they are 100% gaining an extra year of control. And you know they will avoid a grievance by doing EXACTLY what you claim they couldn’t possibly be doing, because he’s a 21 year old pitcher.”
I’m not sidestepping anything. Obviously they gain the extra year of control if he spends 15 days in the minors. That doesn’t automatically mean that that is the reason (or even A reason) for sending him down. There are plenty of non-service time related reasons why a player might get sent down. Performance, wanting to rest his arm, etc. And if they wanted to avoid a grievance they never would have called him up at all. If he was pitching like an ace they wouldn’t be able to send him down without risking a grievance (and that situation would be the only one where the extra year would really matter in the first place).
“There’s no grievance for sending a 21 year pitcher down to monitor innings. There’s certainly a grievance for sending down a SS hitting 350 or whatever Tatis hit in his rookie year, when Luis Arias was the next best option”
Exactly. So if they cared about service time, even a little, they wouldn’t have DARED put Tatis on the major league roster to start 2019. And it’s the same way with Weathers. They’re not going to risk him pitching so well that they can’t get the extra year.
“The entire safety net is positional. SS vs SP. that’s why there’s no Weathers grievance. Cmon. You know this”
Actually there’s no grievance because Weathers hasn’t pitched well enough to warrant one and because service time isn’t the reason he was sent down in the first place.
In the end, no matter how you cut it, slice it or dice it, service time clearly wasn’t the primary reason (or even a secondary reason) for Weathers getting sent down. If Preller could send him down without getting an extra year, he would. That is how little he cares about the extra year. If he cared about the extra year even a little, Tatis would have 100% started the 2019 season in the minors. A full season of prime Tatis will always be worth more than 2 weeks of rookie Tatis. And it is going to stay that way whether you like it or not!
MY FACTS > YOUR OPINION
I don’t think this is a good idea. The Padres need another SOLID Lefty in the Pen to go with Tim Hill. Perhaps Drew Pomeranz is coming back soon?
After yet another terrible start by Snell, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Ryan claim a rotation spot and sending Snell to the bullpen after the break.
Snell still has minor league options. I’m just sayin’
Rockies! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
The Padres sent Chris Paddack down June 2019 when he was pitching great in order to limit his innings and I get kind of the same vibe from this move even if they’re saying it’s to keep him as a starter.
They ended up having to shut Paddack down in September of that year when he hit his innings limit, so hopefully they can skip some of his starts and keep Weathers available throughout the rest of the year because at some point they’re going to need him to start for the big league team again.
And guess what. They gained an extra year of control on Paddack by doing so…
Hmm. It’s like they’ve done this before!
Actually they didn’t. He didn’t miss enough days to have his free agency pushed back. And even if he had, it wouldn’t have been the reason he got sent down. It wouldn’t have even been A reason he got sent down. It just would have been a byproduct of him getting sent down. If Preller could send a guy down without getting an extra year of control, he would.
Sham Diego!
Like I said before. Every reason you can POSSIBLY come up with as to why A. J. Preller would want the extra year of control on Weathers is 1000x more true in the case of Tatis Jr. That’s right, every reason. And yet, he still didn’t get the extra year of Tatis. So if he wasn’t worried about the extra year with him (or Cronenworth or Paddack or Renfroe or Margot or Lucchesi or Urias) he’s not going to worry about it with Weathers. Makes absolutely no sense. Especially with the Padres’ chances at a playoff spot slipping away. Clearly Weathers is in the minors because they want to stretch him out as a starter and rest his arm for September (when they will need him). Not at all because of service time.
He should have never been sent down!!!