The Padres have reached an agreement to sign former Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama to a minor league deal, per The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans (via Twitter).
There were rumors even earlier today that the Seibu Lions were interested in bringing Akiyama back to the organization where he made his name, but the Japanese outfielder apparently is not yet done with Major League Baseball. With the Reds, he made 183 trips to the plate in each of 2020 and 2021, hitting a combined .224/.320/.274 in that time.
The Padres seem almost continually to shuffle their roster in reaction to injury. So long as Trent Grisham remains healthy, he’ll be the man in center field, though health has been an issue at times for Grisham. With Wil Myers recently going on the injured list, however, it’s been a new collection of bodied patrolling the grass including Matt Beaty, Trayce Thompson, and Jose Azocar. Akiyama could provide necessary depth in this area.
Good pick up
What’s good about it?
It’s outfield depth for just peanuts.
Lol Padres
We all know the Shogo must go on
Glad he didn’t stick with Reds
Weird comment
I wish he WOULD have been good enough to stick with the Reds!
Did he step in fly paper?
Channeling my inner “TonyGwynnSD19” here and just gonna go: LOL Padres
Channeling a troll to be another troll? That dude isn’t even a Padre fan.
Lol 14-7
Big name pick up for the Padres! Going to be tough for LAD to match that.
Oh yes, because the Dodger’s bench is soooo deep and they aren’t playing primarily displaced infielders in the outfield.
Bellinger a defense was too good to waste and now he is a gold glover type CF, Taylor is an adequate defender in left, Betts is the best RF of this generation at least with the glove, Lux yeah sure… at least they haven’t tried Freddie in Left
It’s crazy to think that a team with San Diego’s payroll will most likely be a better team with Akiyama in the outfield. Myers is hurt (wasn’t doing anything before going on the IL), Grisham looks completely lost (but still has the “big league attitude”, Beatty is doing worse than Grisham and Profar is coming back down to earth. Trayce Thompson looked alright last night in Pittsburgh and with the way he was tearing the cover off the ball in AAA, hopefully they give him a chance.
The Padres are winning with smoke and mirrors right now and beating teams they should beat, hopefully they can keep this up until Tatis gets back.
Where are you on putting Tatis in the OF?
The way Kim has been hitting, I would be for it personally. Of course, if moving Tatis off of SS has him tripping over his bottom lip in the OF, then it wouldn’t be worth it. This team NEEDS his bat terribly.
The pen really needs to start getting things figured out too, the team can’t rely on Rogers pitching ever game. He has had to come in the last 3 games to get the final outs and in reality he should have only been needed in 1 of those games. Pomeranz, Pierce and Castillo will definitely help things, but Preller & Co. may have to look outside the organization for some help if this keeps up.
Just keep him away from soccer balls.
And motorcycles!!
And groupies
I’m glad for Akiyama and hope he finds success with the Padres. It was a sad situation in Cincinnati and I always thought he was a fun player to watch.
As a Red’s fan I am happy for Shogo. He seems like a very nice guy, but just had some terrible luck here in Cincinnati. A tree landing his wife’s head being the most serious. I hope he can turn it around and contributes to the Padres.
Wait what
Shogo should be no show
Hey!! Yu has a new pal…
This is minor league depth piece to replace Trayce
This is a minor league depth signing. Not sure why people are talking so much crud.
LOL Padres.
Very nice guy, good luck sir
If he can carry a bat to home plate, he will be an improvement over Matt Beaty.
There’s a reason the Dodgers DFAed him.