Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area discussed the injury situations facing the Giants earlier today, noting that right-hander Alex Cobb expects to only miss the minimum 15-days after landing on the injured list earlier today with an oblique strain. Cobb noted to reporters that he felt he could take the mound as soon as Wednesday, but the club is opting to “protect him for the long haul”, in the words of manager Gabe Kapler.
That’s phenomenal news for San Francisco, as Cobb has been among the club’s most reliable starters this season with a 3.09 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 78 2/3 innings of work. Nonetheless, it raises the question of who the club can add to the rotation alongside Logan Webb, Alex Wood, and Anthony DeSclafani while Cobb is on the shelf. One possibility, per The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, is right-hander Sean Hjelle, who was scratched from his start at the Triple-A level today. Hjelle could replace left-hander Scott Alexander on the active roster for the Giants, as both Pavlovic and Baggarly note that the lefty reliever is expected to head to the injured list after leaving today’s game against the Dodgers with a hamstring issue.
More from around the NL West…
- The Padres expect to welcome right-hander Seth Lugo back into the fold on Tuesday, when he figures to start against the Giants in San Francisco. Per MLB.com, Lugo threw a 60-pitch simulated game on Thursday, which would put the righty in line for around 80 pitches on Tuesday. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters today that the injury, while not ideal, has allowed the club to manage Lugo’s innings. While Lugo had largely pitched well in eight starts, with a 4.10 ERA and a 3.94 FIP, Lugo has never thrown more than 101 1/3 innings in a season in his career and last threw more than 65 innings back in 2019. Given that reality, Lugo’s month-long stint on the injured list has potentially allowed San Diego to avoid limiting his innings later in the season.
- Dodgers fans have new clarity on the timelines of left-hander Julio Urias and right-hander Daniel Hudson, both of whom have made notable strides in their rehab processes in recent days. Manager Dave Roberts provided a specific timetable to reporters today, as noted by J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register. Per Roberts, both pitchers are poised to be activated from the injured list during the club’s upcoming three-game set in Kansas City, which will take place from June 30 to July 2. All told, Urias will have missed six weeks while dealing with a hamstring strain if everything goes according to plan from here, while Hudson will make his 2023 debut after missing more than a calendar year while rehabbing from left knee surgery.
An epic sweep by the Giants. And 3 straignt road series sweeps!! Go G-boys!!
“I’m tired of people like Steve Adams,,,blah, blah, blah”
You’re tired alright. Must be past baby’s nap time.
Giants are looking pretty good lineup wise. Yes the lineup is hot right now. But that always ebbs and flows. A lot of strikeouts most in baseball I believe, but a lot of walks also which is Great.
I like the depth they have built. And the adjustments has to be the near the best in the league. I correlate this to how they ran their pinch hitters a few years ago winning 107. The approach was better than I’ve ever seen with usage. Here is more starters prepared via lineup. Then switches made thru the game, with the dh. But pretty similar. And a lot of luck.
I like the defense. And with Bailey they really started hitting their stride. Sets an extremely confident foundation. Which shows how much a catcher is valued, Look at the Cardinals.
Pitchers have been working for the most part. Lots of eras in the pen. And Taylor Rodgers has been one of the best in baseball after a horrendous start. Starters have been good, but with the manea and stripling signings, they knew depth and bullpen games would be a major factor. They do need another starter. Not sure who yet. Alittle early still. But August September arms get tired and fade. Lineup wise, so happy Matos is here and contributing. Bailey has to be a first half team all-star. Bart is done for good with these guys. Unless he wants to play more positions. And of course, hit.
They truly are starting to look like the Dodgers North, with A’s of the 2000s in their blood. Don’t have the young hurlers yet like those teams . But Webb could be a total huddy. And this type of team is built for the DH Game Style.
Love what Farhan and Kapler, Co. have accomplished so far turning the season around from a rough start. I think like .700 Baseball or something. Playing very well. And with a rough schedule ahead of they stay winning, Yes they are absolutely a Division Threat. And could possibly be looking to make noise in Oct. But imagine a Front Line Starter. Don’t know who yet. But a Freaking Ace. Who would it be. And you really have a ring contender, if the hitters continue to show poise thru the rest of the season. Still early. But I am hoping the hitters continue to carry. What a show, 15-0 in Dodger Stadium. Never see that again in our lifetime.
Bieber, stroman, cease come to mind!
I’d prefer to make a run at Mitch Keller. However, he’d be The Guy. He’s having a great season and has some club control, so he’d cost a LOT. I’m talking Luciano, Bart, Reggie Crawford, practically everyone that isn’t already on the MLB roster or Kyle Harrison. But unlike Bieber/Stroman/Giolito/etc, Keller is a guy that actually has 10+ K/9 and less than 3 BB/9, while have a 3.2 ERA. He’s still just 27, and he has ace/co-ace stuff, that should project well for this season and the next 2-3 years, and I believe that’s the kind of move you go for right now. The farm has delivered, and at this point there isn’t a spot for Luciano in the next 3yrs barring catastrophic injury to several guys.
Their window has just cracked open, but it won’t be open for long unless they can get the rotation to a point where that bullpen can save some for Sept/October.
Going into free agency with a Keller/Webb/Cobb/Harrison/Wood locked up, and Manaea and Stripling likely picking up their player options, they’re at a good point to make a run at a guy like Stroman/Giolito/Ohtani as the “cherry on top” luxury piece instead of being a legitimate team need, seeing as they’re playing great ball with the roster as is. It wouldn’t make sense to trade guys for 2 and a half month rentals imo, especially if you have just injected your roster with young talent. Go all in with the rest/most of the NON-Harrison/Latos/Schmitt/Bailey/MLB talent from the farm for a guy under club control for 2-3 years like Keller and signing a FA starter in November/December would theoretically start the 2024 season with Webb as your No.3 starter, followed by Harrison and Cobb, which is for the best in any playoff series. Keller looks like a top 5 Cy Young guy for the next 3yrs, and he’d be a FA at 30yo when they can go and find someone else or keep him but hopefully by then there’s already a WS banner or two.
Good analysis. The youth infusion makes this team easy to root for. Solid pen. Agree that we are short a strong starter; Harrison would be in SF if he were ready. Go Giants!
I’m guessing the Dodgers wouldn’t mind having both Dylan Floro and Jacob Amaya back. Both were somewhat gifted to the Marlins. Floro has been a key contributor to their bullpen since the trade, and Amaya was just recalled to play SS. I don’t believe the likes of Wendle Hampson or Berti will stand in Amaja’s way for everyday at bats.
Of course, LA misses the two Turners, as well. But that’s a different story.
LA should be OK going forward. I still contend Vargas is gonna hit; Outman will rebound; we’ll be looking a lot better when Urias returns and Miller and Sheehan are the real deal.
If LA does anything at the trade deadline, maybe they can pry away a LF from some team. Have zero faith in Peralta. Good guy? Yes, but Father Time has come calling for him.
Shouldn’t be too hard. The Cardinals have a 100 outfielders. My favorite among them is Dylan Carlson.
Nats are going nowhere. Perhaps Lane Thomas could be had?
The Reds are another team with a logjam in the outfield. I like Nick Senzel. Should be cheap to obtain; offers some modest pop and speed and can play 2B, 3B, CF and dabble at 1B.
For a veteran starter or bullpen help, the Reds probably make that deal for Senzel, or at least they should.
Miguel Rojas is the worst offensive shortstop in baseball, not only did Friedman trade a similar glove (perhaps not as good) in Amaya for him, he proactively extended Rojas, who you would like to receive ZERO ABs in a playoff game. Rojas offense was known to be putrid, while Amaya has some upside.
Friedman also proactively extended the absolute worst hitter in MLB in Austin Barnes too, despite the Dodgers having among the best catching depth in MLB.
Syndergaard was known to be the worst at holding runners on prior to rule changes, so to think he would not be a disaster in 2023 was foolish.
Dodgers could have just reset CBT by bypassing Syndergaard and Rojas.
Friedman most certainly deserves a very low grade over the past several months.
Friedman’s bullpen additions and extensions the last couple years
Kanhle
Treinen extension
Hudson extension
Duffy trade and extension
Alex Reyes
Jimmy Nelson
J.P. Feyereisen
When you invest like this, is is not surprising their bullpen is struggling in 2023.
Dodgers certainly didn’t expect to have to start Rojas. He was supposed to be a MI off the bench. A utility player. Losing Lux was a huge blow to their infield. Amaya is not a top prospect in the Marlins organization and he wasn’t for the Dodgers. He grades out at a 45 prospect. 50 means they have a ceiling of major league average player.
Anyone with half a brain could see the Dodgers were going to have injury issues with their pitching staff. The history of injuries was there and when the one guy that had stayed healthy went down with a hamstring problem the prognosis for the staff got worse. The only question now is when will Kershaw make his annual trip to the IL.
Austin Barnes put up a 96 OPS+ last season. That is very good for catchers. 10% above average. Why would he not extend him? Does he have a crystal ball that told him Barnes would put up a historically bad season for a Dodgers backup catcher one season after having a good year at the plate for a catcher? Oh wait! I got it. You think BA is a measure of batting performance.
The Dodgers top catching prospect is struggling mightily in AA. .675 OPS while striking out more than a third of the time. LAst season he struck out 36% of the time in A and A+ ball. Not good. He is definitely not MLB ready.
Without making any trade deadline additions, the Dodgers have a $250,476,802 CBT payroll. this season.They could not have reset it just by foregoing Rojas and Thor.
My question is why does a Padres fan know more about the Dodgers than you do?
They don’t miss Trea Turner for $300 million. Jacob Amaya has one day of MLB experience–how could the Dodgers already regret trading him
? He might turn out to be another Miguel Rojas, which is pretty much what many predict. Time will tell.
Amaya is not expected to ever be more than what Rojas is, a backup MI.
Outman is likely going to regress more. His BABip is still .345 and he is striking out 35% of the time with only a 88 mph exit velocity. He is missing the ball and when he hits it, he is not hitting it hard enough of the time. Sort for average and keep on scrolling down. You will find Outman eventually. baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast?type=b….
I think you are right that Vargas will hit better than he is now. His BABip is .245 and he is striking out less than league average and walking more. I think he will end up around .240-.250 with a .750 OPS. Not too bad for a rookie. His problem is that its likely he will end the season as the worst fielding 2B in the majors. Right now he is basically a replacement level player.
If they do anything at the deadline, it should be a trade for a functioning bat at SS, a late inning reliever, and a starting pitcher. Its been a very long time since the Dodgers starting pitching staff has been below league average. Their ERA is 16th in baseball right now. Their relief staff is 29th. Their SS rank 24th in WAR and 26th in OPS+.
The Dodgers protected four players from the R5 draft last year. Of those 4, three were considered top 100 prospects, that being Andy Pages, Michael Busch, and Diego Cayarta. Noda is a first baseman, and the first 1B to be taken in the R5 draft since 2018, iirc. Hernandez really didn’t do all that amazing last season. I’d definitely say there were better prospects available on the board when the Pirates were on the clock.
That’s not to say the Dodgers wouldn’t love those players right now, but every team has to risk one or two guys every year to the Rule 5 draft. The Pirates left Blake Sabol unprotected and hes done solid in SF. I wouldnt say they made a mistake. They took a calculated risk, given the catching depth in the minor leagues, and he was selected. The Dodgers knew the risk of leaving Hernandez, and especially Noda unprotected.
The future is looking pretty good for the Giants. Nice to see all the young faces contributing.
And the Padres took 2 out of 3 against the Rays. Series win.
It’ll be a good series to watch the next few days. Two teams hot.
Tatis is carrying the Pads, or keeping them relevant. Will be interesting to see how Giants play the bullpen starter games. I’m guessing they split this 4 game series.unless Darvish stops sucking, then Pads might take 3. Tonight’s game could also be interesting, Pads best relievers are gassed and might have to rely on Garcia or Hill to finish which could be disastrous.
Should be an interesting series.
Tatis might be carrying the Pads but I bet they handle the Giants better than people think. The Giants schedule during the 7 game win streak has been pretty soft considering how bad the Dodgers pitching is right now. Other than that they swept the Cards and beat the Cubs. Not exactly the highest caliber.
The Dodgers look to be in a pretty bad spot right now, they had some young guys producing early but it was a matter of time before the league figured some of those guys out. Their bullpen was never thought out coming into the season and their starting pitching depth is just not the same as years past.
NL West is going to be fun to watch IMO. The D Backs are not as good as their record says, eventually that team is going to crash.
Giants are 22-9 over the last 30 games or so. They are tougher than you may think. Agree on the dbacks but people said the same about the giants when they won 107. After that year it wouldn’t surprise me to see the dbacks run away with it if they keep plugging away.
Padres had it all and then gave it away.
Who exactly did they give away that is better than who they have right now?
When the Giants won 107 their pitching was stout. Right now Arizona ranks in bottom third MLB in ERA, not a good formula for winning a tough division. If the Giants keep hitting they will compete for division because their pitching, assuming no more injuries, is as good as Padres, probably deeper.
Maybe he’s talking about the Nola trade.
Well Rougned Odor is starting at DH for them tonight. Pretty easy to say they wish they had some of those other pieces back given that info.
Who exactly?
@Pads Fans signing Drury instead of Carpenter… I know they didn’t give Drury away, but they let him go somewhere else and signed a 37 year old for 5 million less over 2 years to DH.
Giving away France and Muñoz for Nola hurts just a bit too.
@Balk Dbacks have a run differential of +25 over 70 games. Safe to assume there’s some luck involved in their current place in the standings.
@Brew Padres pitching has given up the fewest hits in MLB, 4th best ERA. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the Giants staff is as good or deeper.
@scream Giants team ERA (3.88) is about the same as Pads 3.75, so of course I can say they are about as good as Pads
Good point scream_name…I didn’t even look at that stat
Maybe not deeper if/when Suarez, Lugo, Pomeranz, Morejon all return
Guess I called regarding Garcia. His career should be about done
@Brew Hill should have finished. He got 6 outs on 18 pitches, warmed up ready to go. And Melvin throws García out there who was miserable in his last outing, and has ZERO confindence. Rough loss for sure.
That was not a trade, but lets talk about it.
Carpenter hit .305/.412/.727/1.138 with a 219 OPS+ last season with league average defense at 3 positions. He is getting 1/6.5 with a $5.5 million player option
Drury hit .238/.290/.435/.724 with a 108 OPS+ with the Padres and played league average defense at 3 positions.. He is getting 2/17 guaranteed
I am guessing you have a clearer crystal ball than the Padres and nearly every single writer who touched on the subject does.
The Nola trade was a bad trade. Now here is a question for you. Where does France play this year? Or Last Year. OR the Year before?
Are you starting him over Cronenworth last season or the season befopre that? Crone had a 4.1 WAR last season and 4.8 the season before. Are you starting him over the best defensive infielder in the game this season? Kim has a 3.1 WAR so far this season and 5.0 WAR last season. France has a 1.5 WAR this season and a 3.1 last season and a 4.1 WAR the season before. Every season the Padres have had some else better. France would not have started on the Padres. Yeah, you didn’t think that through.
Carpenter had 128 AB last year. Citing those numbers as a good reason to sign him to a 2 year deal is pretty suspect. It was a horrible signing (horrible). The last time he put up legit numbers in a full season was 2018 and he is turning 38 this year. Signing guys like Carpenter as “depth” pieces is how Preller built this team. The results speak for themselves….
Everyone is blaming Melvin I get it. But Hill rarely goes more than an inning and had pitched two. With Wilson, Martinez and Hader not available, Garcia needs to get the job done with Suarez and Pomz out. He didn’t and looks like he continually won’t. Preller needs to build better quality depth, some real decisions needed to be made.
AND you don’t refer to any of the other points that TOTALLY blow your argument out of the water.
Carpenter was insanely good last year. He was signed as a DH PLATOON. ONLY in hindsight can you even attempt to say that was a bad signing. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was praising the signing when it happened.
But hey, go ahead and try to claim you didn’t think it was a good signing then too.
Padres relievers had pitched 15 innings in the 3 games leading up to last night and Hader had closed the last two. They have been one of the best staffs in baseball. At some point you need someone to step up. Garcia was unable to do that. He belongs in garbage time, not closing.
Like I said, lack of bullpen depth. 3 guys are solid, but not available every night. That’s on Preller and the guys not performing, not Melvin.
Good call. Padres bullpen has given it up the last two nights
“Who exactly did they give away that is better than who they have right now?”
Still have not seen anyone answer that question. Except me.
@Pads Carp is 37. Drury is 30. Maybe I didn’t have a crytal ball, but I’m right.
France at 1st. Crone at 2nd. Kim at SS. No X.
Maybe you didn’t think that through.
Lugo is back. He pitched well yesterday. Morejon was called up today.
READ. “Who exactly did they give away that is better than who they have right now?” Key words, RIGHT NOW.
France would have started over Cronenworth? Not likely.
Maybe YOU didn’t read my post well enough. Try again.
@Pads I stop reading posts when they reference Matt Carpenter’s scorching hot 2022 season.
If you’re going to gripe like this, at least bring up Yordan Alvarez.
Every front office makes mistakes, big ones. It’s the nature of the game, which is impossible to predict perfectly.
What exactly were the dodgers supposed to do with Alvarez? He came up 6 years before the DH came to the NL. He sure as heck can’t play 150 games at any defensive position.
The dodgers knew they were giving up a great hitter. They also knew he was only a DH in a non-DH league. That equates to trade bait
If they “knew they were giving up a great hitter,” they should have gotten more for him than 2-1/3 seasons of a reliever.
I have to make this observation. Sometimes I can’t stand all of the pinch hitting the Giants do. I’ve seen it come back to haunt many teams this year, like the Cubs. It seems that the slight improvement you get for the at-bat is not worth the change earlier in the game, but Kapler’s move to bring in Davis to pinch hit for Pederson was crazy, so I thought. Davis hits a grand slam and the Giants finish up their game with the Dodgers in am embarrassing slaughter. The Giants emphasize that it’s a team game and everybody must be available for their time to contribute. The Giants look for real to me.
I am in Culver City today and listening to AM570 as I am doing an installation for a healthcare industry client. For those of you that don’t know, AM570 is the home of the Dodgers. On the Roggin and Rodney show they asked an interesting question that I didn’t think I would hear on that radio station.
“With the Diamondbacks and Giants playing so well and the Padres surging in June, will the Dodgers be able to recover to take 2nd place in the NL West.”
Ok Dodgers fans, what do you think about that and with all the pitching injuries, where do you think the Dodgers will finish realistically?
Hey Pads fan,
That is a great question. The Dodgers are definitely going through a rough patch. The previous 30 calendar days has been the worst pitching stretch (total staff ERA) in franchise history. I do believe the worm will turn because usually MLB stats gravitate toward the mean and they have a lot of good arms on that staff. Unless they lose Freeman, Betts, or Smith for a long period of time, I do feel like they will catch those in front of them and it will be a two team race for the division……LA and SD.
Good to have Lugo back. To start the year, it wasn’t likely he would be allowed throw more than 120 innings this season and still isn’t. This injury may be a blessing in disguise as he should be able to finish the season out without being shut down to limit innings.
Lugo being out the Padres got to see how little they have in Weathers and that is also a good thing. No more second guessing on him. Weathers simply does not have it. He doesn’t have an out pitch so his strike out totals are extremely low. That means if his command is off even a tiny bit, he will get rocked. Only way he makes it back to the bigs is if he goes down and learns to throw something that can consistently fool big league hitters. A splitter? A sweeper? Something because what he is doing doesn’t work. It didn’t work the last time he was in the majors for an extended period either.
Agree on Weathers, how could I not. Given his pedigree and lofty projections, do you think he still has trade value? I think he might benefit from a fresh start somewhere else – another rework in minors followed by another promotion to Pads only to fail again might break him. SD fans wont receive him well if that happens again and it could get rough for the kid.
I don’t think Weathers is worth much at this point. He would have to go down to El Paso and excel until close to the trade deadline to have any value in trade.
I suspected as much. I guess they keep trying to develop him, maybe a sweeper to the arsenal
Tonight was an example of how the Pads lack depth in bullpen
The bullpen had been solid. I’ll admit that last night when I saw Garcia get the call, I was nervous about that. He definitely lacks control, and that was obvious last night.
Top 3 guys are solid then a big drop off. And overall the bullpen hasn’t done well in close games. But the hitting with RISP is even worse and magnifies bullpen woes. Machado needs an intervention.
In Late and Close situations opposing batters are hitting .224/.301/.359/.660 off Padres relievers. That is 3rd best in baseball. In the 7th to 9th innings opposing batters are hitting .222/.302/.345/.648 off Padres relievers. 2nd best in baseball. They have been exceptional. There ARE no bullpen woes.
Machado is hitting .288/.304/.455/.759 with 3 HRs for a 107 OPS+. Machado didn’t need an intervention, he needed to be healthy. He is still not 100%, but if he continues doing that the Padres will be just fine.
The team as a whole is hitting .197 with RISP. That is unacceptable. Machado is 20 points above team average with a .217 BA with RISP, but he is not doing what we expect fro him in those situations.
Of the regulars, only Tatis and Soto are above league average in BRS%. That is the percentage of baserunners that score during their at bat. Sanchez, Odor, and Carpenter are also above league average. Nola and Grisham are at the very bottom of the NL in BRS% of guys that have had 100 or more baserunners on when they came to the plate. Bogaerts hasn’t been much better.
These guys need to pick it up when the bags are occupied.
Like I said 3 guys are carrying the bullpen, if they had more quality depth there they would win games like last night and not be 0 for 7 in extra innings. Tonight’s game looks to be following same pattern. But bottom line is they aren’t hitting ( other than Tatis and Soto ), especially with RISP, everyone has injuries. Irresponsible for Machado to play if he drags the team down.