The Padres have signed first baseman Kyle Martin to a minor league contract, as first announced by Martin’s now-former team, los Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League (Twitter link). Martin, a client of True Gravity Sports, will head to their Triple-A affiliate in El Paso.
A fourth-round pick of the Phillies back in 2015, Martin was cut loose by the Phils following the 2018 season and spent the 2019-21 seasons with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent American Association. He’s since gone on a tear in Mexico, first hitting .261/.387/.572 with 17 home runs in winter ball before now posting a gaudy .364/.480/.884 batting line during the regular season. The left-handed-hitting 29-year-old has belted 18 home runs and nine doubles in just 152 plate appearances with los Guerreros, all while walking at a 17.1% clip against a 21.7% strikeout rate. The Mexican League is an extremely hitter-friendly setting, but Martin nevertheless leads the league in homers, slugging percentage and OPS.
Martin has played first base exclusively in Mexico, but he does have limited corner outfield experience, mostly coming with the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate back in 2018. Baseball America listed Martin 30th among Phillies prospects in 2016, touting his plus raw power as his most appealing tool. He hit .226/.303/.401 in parts of four seasons in the Phillies organization but didn’t advance beyond the Double-A level.
Lack of upper-minors experience notwithstanding, Martin has crushed Mexican League pitching and found similar success during his three years with Winnipeg (.284/.370/.561, 61 homers in 1032 plate appearances). It’s an intriguing power profile for the Padres to add the upper levels of their system, and one would imagine that if Martin is able to continue at anywhere near this pace in his return to affiliated ball, he’ll put himself on the radar for a potential Major League debut with San Diego.
First baseman Eric Hosmer has turned in some of his best work since signing with the Padres so far in 2022 (.289/.349/.406), but his bat has been fading after a blistering first month of the season. Luke Voit, meanwhile, hasn’t produced as hoped as the primary designated hitter to this point (.227/.325/.371). Wil Myers has struggled mightily as the team’s primary right fielder and recently landed on the injured list, and the Padres haven’t received much production from bench bats like Matt Beaty (also on the injured list) and Jose Azocar (though Azocar has at least been roughly league-average in 77 plate appearances). Former Rangers prospect Nomar Mazara is now getting a look in right field after a big start in Triple-A. There’s enough uncertainty in the Padres’ first base/corner outfield/designated hitter mix that it’s not a surprise to see them take a no-risk look at the top slugger in Mexico.
Pads should call the Red Sox and pay up for JD Martinez. Clearly lacking a big bat. Tatis may help, but can’t bank on him being a top 5 hitter as soon as he comes back with all his ailments.
Voit is getting hot. They don’t need another DH with Tatis also coming back and filling that spot for some time while he gets acclimated.
Id be fine with JD in right if you want all three of Voit, Hoz, and Martinez in the lineup. Or left and push Jurickson to right. Regardless, Martinez’s bat is a huge upgrade over Myers. Plus he’s a rental which is a big plus.
I dont think the Sox are punting on the season just yet. Unless they go on another swoon before the deadline, they aren’t trading JD or anyone else from the core.
Padres have too many black holes on the roster but still playing good baseball.
Sometimes it better to be lucky than good.
It’s padres baseball pre Upton Kemp. Pitching and defense.
If padres make any upgrades it should be for defense. They could use a LH defense league average bat in RF to pair with Azocar defense league average RH bat.
Bringing in Bob Melvin was a smart move. The Jayce Tinglers and Andy Greens weren’t cutting it.
I agree, it only took Preller 3 tries and 7 seasons to make a good manager hire.
Melvin has missed half the season.
Half only if you’re talking Little League-length season
No $$$ to add big name bats. They have to keep turning over every stone looking for those ‘low cost’ diamonds in the rough…
Has anyone added big bats this early before the trade deadline? Why wouldn’t they try to find cheap options until then?
Isn’t everyone always kind of looking for diamonds in the rough? No one can afford to pay up big for everyone, pretty much every team is going to try to snag value guys and roll the dice on them
You got to understand, there is no money, lux tax will kill us.
How will the CBT threshold kill us and who said there’s no money?
Are Padres fans not paying attention? You’re maxed out up against the CBT dude. Why else do you think Robinson Cano, Mazara and now the Mexican league MVP are getting tryouts?
The Pads are the only team giving tryouts to ex-MLB/foreign players in hopes of building depth? That’s just being active, not cheap.
Seidler has made it clear not just to Preller, but to Padre fans, that there IS money, and he’s willing to go over the CBT threshold like he did last year. But yes, even the Dodgers have $ limits, but rich teams are not “killed” by CBT. In fact, rich teams are at a major advantage in MLB, not that I necessarily like that fact..
Seidler has in no way given the green light to exceed the tax, every move they have made since being up against the tax the last couple seasons has been easy to read as such. Not that there is anything wrong with it, the money Seidler has already spent is plenty. Nothing wrong with him closing up the bank of Pete at the CBT line.
In no way? See MLBTR article “Padres Willing to Exceed Luxury Tax at Trade Deadline” by Steve Adams, July 20, 2021.
Casual fans don’t seem to understand the Pads are already over the CBT threshold… but go on telling us how Seidler hasn’t greenlit the idea still.
ESPN had an article a couple weeks back about the Dodgers massive payroll that said the Padres were $600-700K under the threshold. I think it could end up going either way because it’s so close
I actually think they’ll find a way to unload a little salary to make a minor addition and stay under the tax. Someone will eat the prorated portion of Myers’ salary for a prospect, or maybe a couple of the les important bullpen pieces get dumped.
Current projection is $233.8m, or over $3.8m plus a 30% penalty attached being 2nd offenders. (Total penalty would be $1.14m, hardly going to kill the franchise.) If dipping under becomes priority concern #1, then cuts are in order. I don’t see this happening unless they go next-to-winless between now and the Trade Deadline… but I could see some trades out of the ‘Pen, perhaps for an OF. I doubt we move a prospect just to push Wil, but I’ve seen crazier things. Cheers all
Just curious, where are you pulling the $233.8 from? Roster resource over at Fangraphs has them at a projected $229,395,153 which is in line with some of the other reporting I’ve seen.
I do agree though, being slightly over won’t bankrupt the franchise. The problem with going over consecutive years though is in year 3 (next year) they would pay a 50% overage, so dipping below to reset would definitely be beneficial for 2023 spending.
As always, nice chat CNichols.
Historically, Fangraphs is low on their MiLB salary projections. I’m not sure if this explains the bulk of the discrepancy, but I would be willing to bet on it.
Good point on ’23 spending, but the Pads should be in pretty good fiscal shape for next year already. $122m committed + $50m+/- for Arbs + $23ish? for Musgrove (essentially just replacing Myers $$) + some non-tender candidates (Lamet, Beaty?) + potential player Opt-Outs (Profar, Martinez?) leaves them on solid ground against a $233m CBT line. I don’t necessarily see them going over for a 3rd straight year unless they retain No-No Joe, Clev AND Manaea AND pursue a big FA or Profar and Martinez both stay AND we re-sign the aforementioned arms. Whew!
In summary, the roster retention looks good, the team core would seem to be affordable in ’23 & the farm is ready to fill in cracks with quality options.
As we both know, we’re just one Preller trade away from throwing this entire post to the wind! Have a great day
Joe No No yes. Sunshine meh. Babygiraffe hope so. What are the odds they retain all 3?
Don’t mean to jinx the team, but this 2022 Padres team is starting to look impressive.
Absolutely, yes on Joe! I would love to retain one more Starter; flip a coin but I suppose I’d want Manaea over Clev. Odds are both are going to get big checks from another franchise though. Chances of retaining all 3? 1-2%?
The current team chemistry is top-shelf and so fun to watch. Us Friars can especially cherish these moments, it’s been a joy to watch the process! It’s like I can’t even remember when Archi Cianfrocco was our best player!! Cheers Brewski
Haven’t recalled Archi for some time…I go back to Johnny Sipin and Cito (my favorite player in kindergarten). But yeah I know they won’t keep all three, and too bad because they are meshing personalities.
Maybe this helps set up a trade involving Hosmer.
They’ve held Hosmer this long, they need to avoid fire selling him, if the shift gets banned for 2023 it’s going to heavily benefit Hosmer.
I know, let’s talk for the 1,394th time about trading Hosmer
Looking at the coming schedule is it me or the pizza delivery guy making me think the Padres could win their next 18 in a row? Wow I’m excited LETS GO PADRES!!!!!
You’re jinxing ‘em worse than I am, but yeah I hear ya!