The Padres announced they’ve designated reliever Kyle Tyler for assignment. San Diego also sent righty Pedro Avila — whom the club hadn’t previously indicated was in DFA limbo — outright to Triple-A after he went unclaimed on waivers. The moves clear a pair of 40-man roster vacancies for Adrian Morejón and Michel Báez, each of whom have been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to the minor leagues.
Tyler is no stranger to the DFA process, as he was something of the 41st man for a few teams earlier this season. The righty was successively designated for assignment and waived by the Angels, Red Sox, Padres and Angels a second time before being claimed off waivers by the Friars (for the second time in as many months) on April 12. At that point, he finally stuck on a 40-man roster for a couple months, but he’ll lose his spot yet again after a rough start to the season at Triple-A El Paso.
The 25-year-old has tossed 16 2/3 innings across 11 outings with the Chihuahuas, posting a 5.51 ERA. Tyler has punched out a solid 26.8% of batters faced but walked an untenable 19.7% of opponents. That marked a rather surprising turn of events for the former 20th-round pick, who had filled up the strike zone for essentially his entire minor league career prior to this season. That track record earned him his first five big league outings with the Halos last season and caught the attention of a few organizations during the first few weeks of this year. Tyler will now be traded or waived yet again in the coming week.
Avila has gotten to the big leagues in three of the past four years, but he’s made just four cumulative appearances. A well-regarded prospect early in his pro career, he’s seen his stock dip since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2019. He didn’t pitch in 2020 and spent almost all of last season in the upper minors after being non-tendered and re-signed to a minor league deal. San Diego selected him to make a start during last season’s final weekend after falling out of playoff contention, and he’d been on the 40-man roster since then.
He’s spent the bulk of this season as a member of the Chihuahuas, only making two MLB appearances. Avila has a disappointing 8.10 ERA in El Paso, where he’s allowed five homers in 23 1/3 frames and walked 15.6% of batters faced. That rough stretch cost the 25-year-old his roster spot. Avila has never been outrighted in his career and has barely any MLB service time, so he can’t refuse the assignment. He’ll remain in El Paso and try to earn another MLB crack.
Morejón will also be on that roster for the time being, as San Diego has optioned him to Triple-A. A one-time top pitching prospect, the southpaw opened last season in the Friars’ rotation. He required Tommy John surgery after just two starts, though, and the procedure obviously ended his campaign before it really got going. Morejón opened this year on the IL as he continued his recovery, but he’s spent the past few weeks in the minors on a rehab appearance. The 23-year-old has thus far topped out at three innings in a game as the team gradually builds his arm strength back.
Pitchers are allotted up to 30 days for rehab stints (although that can be extended for pitchers recovering from TJS with commissioner’s office approval). Whether the club applied for a lengthier rehab leash or not is unclear, but Morejón will now reassume a 40-man roster spot while the optional assignment provides him something of an unofficial rehab opportunity. The Padres already have a rotation logjam, so they can afford to take their time bringing along a young pitcher who is no doubt still viewed as a key piece of the organizational future.
It’s a nearly identical situation for Báez, who has been optioned to Double-A San Antonio. The 26-year-old reliever saw some MLB action between 2019-20, but he underwent a Tommy John procedure late last spring. He’s been on the IL since then but has made nine minor league appearances as he builds his arm back up.
Kyle Tyler has two first names. Maybe he has a future as a MLBTR writer?
Nice. Bullpen reinforcements on the way.
Steven Wilson should be replaced by Michael Baez
They need another lefty in the pen and Morejon fits the bill perfectly.
Musgrove, Gore, Manaea, Darvish with Snell and Clevinger getting piggybacked. Clevinger to help his workload. Morejon looks like an obvious candidate for that.
Snell cause the dude throws too many pitches. Nick Martinez is a good piggyback option for Snell. Some days start Snell some days start Martinez
All good points. It will be interesting to see what the team does with Morejon, who is probably still a month or more away from being called up. The SPs seem to be happy/accepting with the 6-man rotation with Clevinger/Martinez piggyback. Snell wants to go more than 5 innings though, but can he? Probably not too often. So Morejon might be the guy to bring in on Snell days.
They also need a long reliever for games where the SP gets knocked early (which hasn’t happened much, but it will). Crismatt can eat up innings so I’m guessing they’ll keep him on the roster. But then when the bullpen gets reinforcements in Pomz, Baez, P. Johnson and Adams, who’s goes? Not Garcia, not Suarez, probably not Hill. Stammen and Wilson? Some tough decisions coming. I don’t see a path for Lamet and Weathers to get back to Pads anytime soon.
All good points everywhere! Snell is Snell’s worst enemy; if he can control his B:S ratio and keep his pitch count semi-better then he’ll go deeper. Off your proposed list I’d cut Stammen and Hill but that’s just me. Lamet is a serious Non-Tender candidate. His noodle is cooked.
Agree with your take on Lamet. And Stammen, he’s a shadow of his past. He gave a lot though when he was good!
Snell’s problem is not going more than 5, its getting out of the 1st. He has the highest average number of pitches in the 1st inning of any starter that is still in a MLB uniform.
Snell is a headcase that said he gets less than 4 hours of sleep a night. That is a huge issue. If you go more than 18 hours without sleep you have the same cognitive dysfunction as a person that is twice the legal limit of alcohol. That cannot do good things for your pitching performance. Sleep deprivation also contributes to an increase in inflammation in the body. That means more injuries.
Its time to move him. He still has enough cache from that Cy Young 5 years ago that someone will give up a valuable prospect for him.
Weathers is getting absolutely destroyed in El Paso. He may never see the majors again if he doesn’t figure it out and soon.
I’m happy morejon is back! Twas a shame to see him go down with the TJ
Trade Snell. He is a headcase and will never again be an effective pitcher. Doesn’t matter if you piggyback Snell, because the first inning is his problem. Just get rid of him.
Let Morejon do piggyback starts with Sunshine.
I can see Morejon and Hill as well as Lamet (40 man) being packaged along with a prospect for an upgrade in the OF..or at Catcher…
Don’t forget Castillo at AAA who maybe the best arm in the BP ..not on the 40 so not an immediate problem but he has been perfect at AAA all season… with Suarez being absolutely dominant vs lefties (I think they were hitting like .057 BA against him.. Hill can move.. BUT Hill himself has been untouchable as in 0 allowed since coming back from the IL and retooling his delivery…Good problem to have too many SP and too many BP arms teams will be looking for BP arms and AJP can get some solid Lotto tickets (prospects) and replenish (as well as with Draft and international signings) our Farm system to have some extra assets to develop or turn into mlb ready player/s returns…
I forgot (briefly) about Castillo. If he keeps pitching like he’s been the past few weeks and does that for the Pads, what a story that will be. But we’ve had our hopes with him dashed so many times that I remain reserved. Agree with your assessment of Hill, he’s valuable as a lefty, and the time on IL seems to have done him good.
I feel bad for Weathers right now – just no room for him and he’s pitching poorly – he might also be a guy to package in a trade but that could backfire mightily.
Weathers is pitching like he’s hurt but is afraid to admit it.
Being injured might save his spot in the organization during 40-man crunch time.
The Padres have one of the top catching prospects still in the minors. They don’t need catching. They need an OF.
Morejon is not a prospect I would trade. Way too young, talented, and valuable if he comes back well from TJ surgery. Hill got crushed yesterday.
Agree with you on both Snell and Weathers. They need Hill with his lefty arm but if Castillo can rise up then they won’t.
Back to the Angels?
You can really see all the pieces of a mega trade coming..at some point, the Pads will have to thin out the pitching at least a little to get an OF..If I were AJ, I’d be shooting for Benintendi and possibly Merrifield..who seems like a prime change of scenery candidate..
Changes will be needed as the bull pen has been rocky They also have Pomeranz also working his way back .
Pretty sure a Stammen is signed through next season.AJ needs to find a way to trade him…and maybe one other arm(Wilson?) and at least get something in return.
Stammen will be free agent after this year .
AJ has to admit to himself he was overly optimistic when he traded for Snell. Can never go deep in a game. Trade him to team that falls for his former Cy Young memory. Sorry we don’t have seven legit starters. Need to clear out the dead wood for a hitter
AJ has to admit to himself he was overly optimistic when he traded for Snell. Can never go deep in a game. Trade him to team that falls for his former Cy Young memory. Sorry we don’t have seven legit starters. Need to clear out the dead wood for a hitter
12 teams in the playoffs, going to be a lot of GMs looking for pitching before the trade deadline. Would be amazed if AJ didn’t pull something off.
Snell is a head case. And teams are hitting .400 against his curve ball. He had multiple 0-2 counts last night and lost most of them. When he was pulled he stormed through the dugout and into the clubhouse. He’s immature. I would package him with Hill, and Stammen for a power bat/of. I like the way Voit has hung in there. He’s producing well. Hosmer is doing his typical fade. Expected.
I decided after his last start that I am not watching Snell’s starts. He’s an idiot. I did watch and heard on his last start and heard Scanlan say “I don’t know what he is doing and half the time I don’t think he does either.” This is coming from a former ML pitcher. Martinez deserves Snell’s starts.
The thing about Snell from my perspective is his stuff is still good, but there’s a variety of other factors holding him back. So even though he has some very effective pitches, like his slider for example, there are other parts of his game negating his raw ability and limiting his results.
The biggest few in my mind are:
1. He doesn’t pitch to contact. This is part of why he can’t go deep into games.
2. He wastes a ton of pitches. When it’s 0-2 and 1-2, it’s okay to be out of the zone and try to get the hitter to chase, but he’s throwing balls that are so out of the zone that they don’t even tempt the hitters. Also part of why he can’t go deep in games.
3. He’s a slow worker and wears his emotions on his sleeve. I think this hurts him defensively and with the umpires.
I think there’s a good pitcher still in there, it’s just not someone they can depend on in his current state