The Padres have signed outfielder Alex Verdugo to a minor league contract, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee reports. Verdugo has been a free agent since he was released by the Braves last July.
Last offseason, Verdugo didn’t land his Atlanta contract (a one-year, $1.5MM guaranteed deal) until just a week before Opening Day. He’ll get a little more Spring Training prep time this year, and a chance to try and win himself a job on San Diego’s roster as a backup outfielder.
Verdugo must also be viewing this as an opportunity to turn around his career as he enters his age-30 season. Formerly an everyday player with the Red Sox and a key piece of the trade package Boston received from the Dodgers in the Mookie Betts deal, Verdugo posted okay but unspectacular numbers (.281/.338/.424 with 43 home runs in 2071 plate appearances, for a 105 wRC+) over five seasons in a Sox uniform.
Over the last two seasons with the Yankees and Braves, however, Verdugo’s production has sharply dropped. Since Opening Day 2024, Verdugo has a modest 80 wRC+, while hitting .234/.292/.339 with 13 home runs over 834 PA. In each of those seasons, Verdugo got off to a hot start before badly tailing off.
Those struggles in the Bronx led to Verdugo’s extended stay in free agency last winter, and it took some injuries within the Braves’ outfield mix to allow him to land a Major League contract. Jurickson Profar‘s PED suspension came a little over a week after Verdugo’s signing, which suddenly created the possibility of an everyday role as Atlanta’s left fielder. Verdugo voluntarily spent the first few weeks of the regular season at extended Spring Training and in the minors to get himself in proper game condition, but once called up to the Show, he hit .239/.296/.289 over 213 PA.
Once Profar was eligible for reinstatement, the Braves designated Verdugo for assignment and then released him. No other minor league offers emerged over the remainder of the 2025 season, and there hasn’t been any buzz about Verdugo on the offseason rumor mill until today’s signing. However, the Padres have apparently long had Verdugo on their radar — Acee writes that San Diego had some trade talks involving Verdugo in the past, and explored signing him last winter.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, and Ramon Laureano are set as the Padres’ starting outfield. Miguel Andujar will also get some time in the corners, and Gavin Sheets and Nick Castellanos are technically also outfield options but the Padres will likely deploy both at first base and at DH. Bryce Johnson is a fourth-outfielder type who hasn’t shown much at the plate over parts of four MLB seasons, and the Padres plan to give Sung Mun Song some time in the outfield as they experiment with turning Song into a super-utility type in the majors.
The left-handed hitting Verdugo could spell Laureano (a righty swinger) against some right-handed pitchers, and he has more of a career track record as a hitter than Johnson, though Verdugo is best suited defensively as a corner outfielder. Since the Padres don’t have a set designated hitter, the team can rotate any number of players through the DH spot in order to give partial rest days to regulars and to help get at-bats for the bench crew.
There’s no risk for the Padres in seeing what Verdugo can do in camp, and the team has been stockpiling a lot of experienced MLB players as they evaluate their bench options. Ty France, Pablo Reyes, Jose Miranda, Nick Solak, and more are in camp on minor league deals battling it out for 26-man roster spots.
Oh how the mighty have fallen
He’s really not that cool of a guy.
Sean – Actually Verdugo reminds me a lot of Max Clark. Same attitude, same bling, same lack of maturity.
There is one cool thing about Dugie though, he is known to have long conversations with fans. Most players barely say anything to fans.
I can appreciate that.
Instead of wasting everyone’s time he should be practicing for his new career, “Exact change only please” 🤣
But is he still a ‘key piece’?
Bart:
You wondering if he’s a ‘key piece’? Very much so, why do you need a valet?
Your point is well taken, and I must admit to a failure of imagination. He can help in numerous ways; i.e., organizing and securing keys, vehicle handling, assisting with luggage, traffic control, etc.
Key cards are a thing these days
Agreed! I’ve recently moved on from a fob to a card and phone app.
Never hurts to have a little depth. He showed a few slashes of brilliance in ATL, hopefully he can pick it up for SD.
Braves fan here …very very very few slashes of brilliance.
In April 2025, Verdugo had a pair of 4 for 4 games.
He hit 0.341 for the month of April 2025 with an OPS of 0.850.
So, one very good month, but that was it last year.
Take away those two games and he was 7 for 35 with 2 doubles, with a slash line of .200/.263/.257 for the rest of the month of April.
So really, he had a couple good games and was otherwise unplayable.
How do you quantify a flash? Especially a few flashes? Twice, which is correct.
Padres signing every fringe DH, 1B, OF, and SP this year. Throw enough at the wall and see what sticks! Throw what you ask? Top Ramen. It sticks when it’s done.
They call it The Preller Cellar.
Verdugo is a jerk, so he will fit in well in the clubhouse.
I liked him during his time in NY. Just another guy who wears his emotions on his sleeves.
Yea me too, I really didn’t want to either. Pretty good out there in left. I’m rooting for him to turn it around n
The Padres have one of the tightest clubhouses in baseball. Musgrove holds a get together and workout in the offseason every year and 25-40 major and minor league players attend. Manny has hosted as many as 40 players at The San Diego FC in the MLS of which he is a partner in the team. Every offseason a half dozen Dominican players work out with Tatis and his father in the DR.
Verdugo has very little shot at making the Padres or any MLB roster. Johnson is a much better fit here because he can play all 3 OF positions. If Verdugo is unwilling to start the season in El Paso, he will go away before his attitude is a problem. If he sticks around, its pretty good evidence that his attitude has shifted.
He was once traded for Richard Fitts. If the Dick Fitts……well…you know the rest.
Now they‘ll have 3 Primadonnas.
@ Elysian, you have zero clue about how that clubhouse is……
Too bad they missed out on Marte. Sterling and him could have platooned, wasting two roster spots.
Yankeeography
Might as well
Profar worked out for them 2 years ago
Sheets worked out for them last year
Might as well see if Castellanos Verdugo Andujar France can provide some offense.
If you can get Verdugo on the same ‘juice’ Profar was on 2 years ago…maybe.
When did he test positive for steroids 2 years ago?
Fun fact: the substance Profar was busted for wasn’t steroids. It was a supplement used in conjunction with steroids to help guys recover lost testosterone. A post steroid cycle drug
Steroid cycles usually last 6-9 weeks and his ban came in March. Teams and players are generally aware of incoming suspensions, cause a player tested positive for something, well before the tests and suspension hit the news cycle.
Which means him testing positive came shortly after Braves already signed him to 3 years 42 mill in January, cause why sign a guy to a lucrative contract with an incoming suspension? 6-9 weeks would be right about March when he was busted.
I thought he tested positive before they signed him but the league doesn’t let teams know. I remember being pretty shocked. Thought I read that here.
Dude has a career year at age 31….a bit obvious don’t you think?? Below average MLB hitter before age 31…to an All Star at 31????
Could be I still think he took steroids after padres were eliminated maybe November December to “stay in shape” and got busted in the off season thinking nobody would be watching
31? No not really lmao
Brent Rooker didn’t become good until 29.
Edwin Encarnacion
Jose Bautista
JD Martinez
Justin Turner
Brian Giles
Ben Zobrist
Jeff Kent earned 45 of his 55 war after turning 29
David Ortiz
MLB has a plethora of guys who became better hitters late 20s, early 30s than in their younger years.
And it’s not like Profar was some random who finally found success.
Dude was the #1 prospect in all of baseball at one point.
2020 he hit 115 OPS+
2022 he hit 114 OPS+
post suspension in 80 games he hit 121 OPS+ last year.
So his career 134 OPS+ in 2024 isn’t that big of a stretch compared to previous years
Players are tested when they arrive at spring training. Profar arrived along with pitchers and catchers on February 12th, 2025. The suspension was announced on March 31st, 6 weeks later.
Salt, In Tatis’ situation we know what happened. It was during the lockout by the owners, he had no contact with the team’s medical staff, and he used a cream that is legal in the DR and regularly used for the treatment of ringworms there at the behest of his grandmother. A steroid that is terrible at muscle recovery or building. He was stupid because he didn’t check it out further and it cost him. He deserves the benefit of the doubt going forward in my opinion.
In Profar’s case he got busted for a substance that is used to mask the use of steroids. Not sure of his motivation, but there is no justification for that being in his system at all. The players were not locked out and he had access to the team medical staffs. It was not an honest mistake or tainted supplements. He purposely and knowingly used a banned substance. He also paid the price and now he will be tested much more than he was prior to getting suspended.
Profar hit for similar power in 2018 and 2019. In 2018 he was in a much weaker lineup with little protection. 2022 was a pretty good year and shortened 2020 was the best season of his career. As for 2024 he saw a huge spike in WAR not due to a some crazy spike in offensive production but do to him not being as much of a burden with his glove compared to prior seasons.
Not sure what being named an All Star proves, it is in no way a statistical measure of one’s production.
Guys take them for two reasons. Faster recovery time and to hit more home runs which leads to bigger paychecks.
This whole Profar thread within a thread is more entertaining with today’s news of Profar getting suspended another 162 games.
Yeah it really adds both context and hilarity to the argument. He doesn’t NEED the drug to be better.
France and Verdugo are on minor league deals. They cost the Padres nothing if they don’t make the major league squad. Castellanos costs the Padres the major league minimum. The Phillies are paying the rest of his salary and if he doesn’t do well in spring training cutting him costs them nothing. Only Andujar has a deal that costs the Padres anything over the minimum and that is only $4 million.
put him in a package deal for Mookie!
2019-22 he was great. Since BOS traded him it’s been all downhill for him
WTH. Starting pitching AJ. Starting pitching.
Verdugo has a pretty strong arm…
Why? Padres have 11 guys competing for 5 spots.
Pivetta, King, and Musgrove have spots locked up. Vasquez also has a spot locked up and we will see it its the #4 or the #5.
Then there is Marquez, Sears, Hart, Waldron all on the 40 man and fighting for the #5 spot.
Buehler, McKenzie, and Gonzalez have MLB experience and are NRI on minor league deals with a shot.
Then there are the 6 others on NRI spots that could factor in if there is a spring training injury or disastrous performance including 2 with MLB cups of coffee.
Moaning and complaining about the wrong things seem to be your M.O.
And you didn’t mention the most likely of all SP even if delayed a few weeks – Canning.
You are right. Forgot about him since he won’t be ready until late April or early May. 9 guys on the 40 man roster and a 9 not on the 40 man competing for 5 spots.
Did anyone notice McKenzie’s 98 mph fastball in his first Spring outing a week ago? Very interesting.
He is throwing harder than he ever did before. He just hasn’t been able to find the plate consistently this spring which was his problem before.
Sears has never been good. His underlying numbers are awful. Hart is a reliever at best. Waldron is out of options. Players run out of options because they can never make it in the bigs and keep getting sent down. Buehler, Marquez, McKenzie and Gonzalez are well established roadkill. Canning is a part time player. And Vasquez is a number 5 at best. And we have King and Musgrove are trying to comeback from serious injuries. You will never convince anyone that knows anything about baseball that this is a postseason capable rotation. Getting to the 6 WC spot will be a struggle.
Verdugo has really strong opinions too. Mostly wrong but repeated frequently.
Are the Padres trying to put the 2014 all star team back together??
Because that was the year Verdugo was drafted out of high school or because they have 1 guy on their 40-man roster (Darvish) who participated in that particular all star game?
Would rather have had another pitcher…
They’re not gonna sign any options better than the several SPs they got on camp.
You can propose a trade if you want. Will cost something to get something.
You don’t think Giolito or Littell are better than Sears, Gonzalez, McKenzie, Buehler, Marquez, Waldron or Vasquez?
Giolito was probably hoping for multiple years at 20m a pop. Teams understandably seem skeptical he’ll hold up, plus he hasn’t been that good of late.
Sears bWAR is 60% higher than Giolito’s over the past three years. Woof.
sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/8IuE2
WAR is an accumulation stat so this is a silly observation
If a pitcher gets enough IP to accumulate more WAR even though they have a higher ERA then that says volumes.
Giolito has 59 starts and 329 IP in 3 seasons and a below league average ERA. That extra 160 IP by Sears is significant. Much more significant than a .38 difference in ERA or .23 difference in FIP.
Giolito would only be competing for a #5 spot in San Diego. What is most important attribute for a pitcher in the #5 slot? Eating innings.
All that being said, I don’t think Sears breaks camp as the #5 unless he picks it up a great deal in his next 4 starts before the Padres have to make that decision. He has an option left, so unless one of the NRI guys breaks through, Marquez probably has that slot. He was humping it up to 96 today and even though his results in his first official start of spring training weren’t good, his uptick in velocity was very encouraging.
Hard disagree on you Giolito take
The Padres have roughly a million pitchers who can give them innings. Covering the innings isn’t the problem. Good pitching beyond the top 3 is the problem.
Giolito has a much better chance of pitching above average innings than the other options.
For a team on the fringe, like the Padres, they don’t need to lock in a bunch of mediocre innings. They need to take a shot at good innings.
Please don’t start drooling over Giolito like Danfan. Giolito has little chance of pitching better than average innings because over the last 3 seasons he has not been better than average. His 4.24 ERA and 4.78 FIP were both worse than league average. He also missed more than a full year to injuries out of those 3. Can’t throw better than average innings if you are on the IL and that has been Giolito.
Padres top 4 are all better than league average with 2 being TOR starters and that is all you need to get you to the playoffs.
To catch on in the #5 slot, someone is going to have to take a huge step up. If you saw Marquez pitch today, you saw him have his best velocity in 5 years. It was his first start of the spring, so results are not the goal, getting through healthy while throwing your prescribed number of pitches is. If he can keep throwing with that velo he will be the pitcher we saw pre-2022. 116 ERA+, 3.84 FIP groundball specialist that still struck out 9.1 per 9 IP and only walked 2.6 per 9 IP.
Canning showed great promise until the injury last season. Even 15 starts of him in 2026 is better than mediocre innings.
Now you are moving into the #6 starter with the rest. That is almost always mediocre innings or they would be a #3 or better, not a #6.
Web
“Please don’t start drooling over Giolito like Danfan”
Please don’t engage with me at this pathetic level of discourse.
“[Marquez] will be the pitcher we saw pre-2022. 116 ERA+, 3.84 FIP groundball specialist that still struck out 9.1 per 9 IP and only walked 2.6 per 9 IP.”
Quit drooling over Marquez.
See how dumb that is?
Stop
In 2019-2021 Giolito was striking out batters north of 30%, similar to Skenes and Skubal in 2025. Last year Giolito was down to 19.7%, which is below league average (22.4%). Not to mention the other things that come in to play when a guy has that kind of drastic change, they’re hitting the ball harder off him and more frequently too, both now also worse than league average.
Then you add that he had elbow soreness in September and missed the playoffs. Kind of a scary package since we know he probably was over value the dollar figure he thought he had coming.
If Preller thought Giolito could be his next cheap reclamation project then I think he would have been a Padre on one of his multi year deals with an opt-out after year one like Wacha, Lugo, Martinez and Canning got.
pp
“Giolito was striking out batters north of 30%”
Right. And the fact that he was once able to do that, makes him more likely to do it than any of these players who have never done it.
“If Preller thought Giolito could be his next cheap reclamation project ”
I like Preller. He’s not always right.
At some point so many years go by and it doesn’t really matter what they were if the chances of them returning to that point are slim to none.
2023 – he gives up 41 HR’s
2024 – hurt doesn’t pitch
2025 – returns and strikes out 50% less than his previous ceiling 5 years prior. Season ends with elbow issue, misses playoffs.
Nothing about that sequence of events screams missed opportunity or missing piece.
I’d rather have Randy Vasquez and Griffin Canning in the 4/5 spots over the current version of Lucas Giolito.
I’d take Walker Buehler who ended the season pitching pretty well (32 IP, 24 h, 2.53 era) on a non-guaranteed deal over Giolito and whatever he’s wanting.
Heck Triston McKenzie was better more recently than Giolito with his nice 2022 season (2.96 era, 191 IP, 190 k’s) and is still 28. I’d take him on a non-guaranteed deal over Giolito too.
I’d put German Marquez as just as likely as Giolito to get back to where he was.
J.P. Sears will likely be more valuable than Giolito since the number #1 priority of a starting pitcher is to be able to make a start.
pp
“At some point so many years go by and it doesn’t really matter what they were if the chances of them returning to that point are slim to none.”
Agreed
“I’d rather have Randy Vasquez and Griffin Canning in the 4/5 spots over the current version of Lucas Giolito.”
Disagreed
“J.P. Sears will likely be more valuable than Giolito”
Disagreed
“I’d put German Marquez as just as likely as Giolito to get back to where he was.”
I liked German Marquez. He was last good in 2021. He was much worse than Giolito last year. So, I disagree.
“Heck Triston McKenzie was better more recently than Giolito with his nice 2022 season (2.96 era, 191 IP, 190 k’s) ”
2022 TM: 95 xFIP
2022 LG: 93 xFIP
They were basically the same in 2022. And Gio has the longer track record.
“I’d take Walker Buehler who ended the season pitching pretty well (32 IP, 24 h, 2.53 era”
Strongest of disagrees. ERA sucks as a measure of pitcher performance
Buehler was terrible at the end of the season
138 batters faced, 17 BB (12.3%), 21 K’s (15.2%). 4.92 FIP, 5.62 xFIP
Here’s the list of all the starters in baseball who had similar BB (10.8% to 13.8%) and K numbers (hell, 14% to less than 20%)
Eric Fedde
Chase Dollander
Jack Kochanowicz
Carson Palmquist
Jackson Jobe
Nestor Cortes
Spence Arrighetti
Luis Gil
Only two of them pitched more than 100 innings (it’s hard to get outs when you pitch that poorly).
Thier combined performance: 11.8 BB%, 16.2 K%
So…these guys were BETTER than Buehler’s good stretch at avoiding walks and getting K’s.
5.78 ERA
5.69 FIP
5.33 xFIP
Pitchers who pitch that poorly just
1) don’t get much time in the majors
2) aren’t successful, outside of some flukey BABIP and strand rates
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&lg…
That’s the beauty of baseball, especially pitchers. One day they’re washed the next they’re legit.
Some solid arms don’t even get to that point until they’re around the same age as alot of these guys. Chris Bassitt comes to mind.
That said when a big strikeout arm forgets how to strike players out I don’t feel particularly confident in their chances of success.
Lastly, I bet Giolito expected more money guaranteed in 2026 then all those guys listed will make combined if they were to each make the team and get every potential dollar available.
Going on the IL with an elbow issue in September is scary for any potential buyer especially after his past several seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if Preller offered him a super cheap deal that he felt wasn’t fair.
Regardless, hope he finds success in the bigs again and some health too!
Regarding Buehler being terrible at the end of the season.
Over those last 32 innings pitched from 8/8 on:
30.9% hard hit rate (15th out of 251 pitchers who threw at least 20 IP)
85.3 average exit velocity (6th out of 251)
He walked too many and didn’t strike out batters like before but those 138 batters he faced sure didn’t hit him hard.
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&st…
pp
the question, which no one ever answers, is how much of that is good pitching and how much is bad hitting?
Everything else looks like bad pitching.
Why do you think that either are better than the dozen options the Padres have for the #5 slot?
Don’t comment pathetically and then you won’t get treated like Dan Fan.
If you are going to quote me, don’t cut off the most important part of the sentence. “If he can keep throwing with that velo he will be the pitcher we saw pre-2022.”
That pitcher was better than Giolito or Littell have been the past 3 seasons. The major reason that Marquez’s other pitches have not been effective has been a large drop in velocity of his 4 seam and sinker. He couldn’t play off those pitches to induce soft contact and swing and misses. Well, the velocity is back.
Preller is right most of the time. No one is right 100% of the time as you have proven you aren’t in this thread.
@hired
how does 1 reduce the chance of the other?
You guys wanna hear a neat story about Alex Verdugo?
Yes
I know where this is going…
Him and Buehler can reminisce now about that last out of the 2024 World Series.
One of the more fascinating and stark examples of a major league quality baseball capable player just flat out forgetting how to play.
Turns out being allergic to his batting gloves might’ve actually helped him somehow
white – I think he was allergic to baserunning practice too.
A fascinating theory. How does someone forget how to play?
Or to put it another way, it’s a weird idea. But it sure feels good to pretend it means something.
Gotta love the authors. .281 average can either unworldly or pedestrian.
It can be either depending on OBP and SLG.
That’s why it always shows all 3.
LGM
“281 average can either unworldly or pedestrian”
Because batting average by itself doesn’t mean a damn thing
“Gotta love the authors. .281 average can either unworldly or pedestrian.”
Gotta love people who don’t know how to read?
The authors didn’t say that a .281 batting average was unworldly or pedestrian.
This is what they said:
“Verdugo posted okay but unspectacular numbers (.281/.338/.424 with 43 home runs in 2071 plate appearances, for a 105 wRC+)”
You might notice that there are more numbers there than just batting average. That’s because there is more to hitting than just the rate of hits to plate appearances minus walks, times hit by pitch, sacrifices, etc
That number actually hardly matters at all.
The number there that means the most is 105. That means when you take everything Verdugo did while at bat, outs, singles, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, times hit by pitch…he was 5% better than the league average. Okay, but unspectacular.
Someone’s parents didn’t the instructions on the pack of Trojans.
You forgetting the word read in your reply is just perfect
LGM
Muted, troll
Hes good. Poor man’s Mookie one reckons.
I hope he likes El Paso.
Or even Old El Paso.
“What’s the difference?” Cookie, Pace Picante sauce is made in San Antonio with fresh vegetables and spices by people who know what Picante sauce is supposed to taste like
Get ready for lots of weak contact and no effort running out balls. I don’t necessarily see a clear path to the Padres but a semi-decent showing in camp could entice another team to give him a shot (remember, the Astros wanted a LH hitting Outfielder)
I actually love this signing for the Friars. A left handed contact bat with a decent glove is exactly what they needed.
Verdugo once commented on how he believes winning the 2020 World Series doesn’t count because “anyone can ball out for 60 games.” Well, it looks like in the dismal 58 games he played last year he didn’t get the message.
Desperate calls for desperate measures. Looked terrible today. Pitching looks even worse.
What happened?
Lineup – 7 guys that won’t make the roster started the game. The two that will make the roster are both bench players.
Pitching – other than Marquez, no one else will make the roster. Marquez didn’t have the results anyone would have liked, but it was his first start of the spring and his velocity was over 96 on a half dozen pitches. All in all it was an encouraging start for him.
The Friars want so desperately to be like the Dodgers that they keep signing former Dodgers thinking that they will help turn the Friars into the Dodgers
The Dodgers spent 30m last year on two former Padre relievers in Yates and Scott who both stunk the joint up. Another 30m on former Padre CY winner, Blake Snell and his 11 regular season starts. They won the World Series in spite of him as he took two of the losses giving up 5 er’s in each of his WS starts.
Also the Padres manager does not choose to live in LA nor was the Padres GM a Dodger prospect.
Looking at each teams current 40 man roster you have 4 former Padres on LA’s roster and 2 former Dodgers on SD’s.
But sure, let’s focus on non-roster invitees.
Both battled Injuries & 1 is now gone & the other will be in a role more suited for him & I said last year that Scott wasn’t a lockdown closer.
I’m not expecting to see Diaz be anything more than what he Averaged with the Mets which is 24 Saves a Season instead of the 36 Save average with the Mariners
Andujar, Verdudo, France, Castellanos, Marquez, Buehler, Canning… The Padres are taking a page out of the Halo playbook and trying to out slegnA the slegnA.
Any ABs Verdugo gets in ST games would be better put to use on others.
Gotta have enough name players to fill split squad lineups.
Dugie! Hope he turns it around. Some people like to hate on him but he was always stayed late after games to take selfies with fans and talk about the game. I liked that about him. When he’s on his game he can be a solid contact hitter who plays ok defense in rightfield. But his game has been way off for some time now
Verdugo had a walk off hr in his last yr with the Red Sox and was interviewed by Nesn reporter Jamal Webster right after it.In the live interview Verdugo dropped an fbomb.The classy Webster kindly reminded him that they were on live tv and Verdugo should watch the profanity.Verdugo promises that he would do so but then proceeds to drop 2 more fbombs.Nick Francona was right about this guy.He is an immature punk who should have been banned by mlb and charged for his conduct with the Dodgers.Not a good guy.A real creep.
Interesting how no such comment from Francona can be found anywhere.
Try sports illustrated.Gabe kapler covered the incident up.If you have a daughter you would want this creep locked up .
Everyone who follows baseball closely is aware of the accusation and the controversy, but the supposed quote from Francona is not findable.
Not a good guy because he doesn’t care about swearing on tv after a huge moment? Is it 1947? Get over yourself.
I am often irritated at the way f-bombs are dropped so casually now, but it is less surprising to hear them coming from athletes who probably normally talk in f-streaks in the clubhouse. I hear plenty of them in the coverage of the beer and champagne celebrations, mostly in the background. A funny one: Walker Buehler was interviewed in the clubhouse after the 2024 World Series about what it felt like to throw the last pitch, and said (on national TV!), “honestly earlier in the season I thought I was going to be f—–g cut.” He was not roasted alive for this. In fact, nobody even mentioned it. Just shows to go you, I guess.
This guy has always played with an arrogance like he has accomplished something and he never really did. The game will humble those that think they’re too good
Will the Padres wind up with two players that have struck out to end a World Series?
He’ll fit in perfectly with some of the me first characters in their locker room.