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Padres Place Luke Voit On 10-Day IL, Recall Luis Campusano

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The Padres have announced that first baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a biceps tendon injury. Catcher Luis Campusano has been recalled to take his place on the roster.

After excellent campaigns with the Yankees in 2019 and 2020, injuries have been the focus of the Luke Voit story since then. Last year, he made multiple trips to the IL due to various injuries, only getting into 68 games on the year and hitting a disappointing .239/.328/.437. That still amounted to a wRC+ of 111, or 11% better than league average, but was a drop from his 126 in 2019 and 153 in the shortened 2020 season.

The Yankees seemed to give up on considering Voit their everyday first baseman, acquiring Anthony Rizzo in a deadline deal last year and then re-signing him in the offseason. That was followed by flipping Voit to San Diego. In his short time as a Padre, Voit has been dealing with this bicep issue and struggling to a line of .143/.315/.167 in 13 games. He’ll take some time off and try to heal, hopefully coming back more productive.

As for Campusano, he’s considered one of the best catching prospects in baseball. He made his MLB debut last year, struggling in a tiny sample of 11 games. The club already has Austin Nola and Jorge Alfaro available on the roster for catching duties. However, with Voit on the shelf, the DH slot could be used to spread some of the at-bats around. Campusano is off to a great start at the plate this year, hitting .359/.375/.487 in 9 Triple-A games.

Luke Voit Bothered By Biceps Injury

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  • Luke Voit has been bothered by a lingering right biceps problems, the Padres first baseman told The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Saunders and other reporters.  With only a .143/.315/.167 slash line over his first 54 PA, Voit bluntly described himself as “a waste of an at-bat right now.  I’m not doing the team any good.  I played through injuries last year and it’s really hard.”  Voit isn’t in tonight’s lineup, and while manager Bob Melvin indicated that Voit could be available to pinch-hit, a trip to the injured list might be necessary.

Padres To Place Pierce Johnson On Injured List

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7:05pm: The Padres have announced the move, with Johnson’s IL placement being retroactive to April 21.

6:20pm: Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including Dennis Lin of The Athletic, that right-hander Pierce Johnson is going on the injured list with elbow tendinitis. Lefty Ray Kerr will be recalled to take his spot on the roster.

After an excellent stint in Japan in 2019, Johnson was signed by the Padres to a two-year deal with a club option for 2022. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Johnson provided the Friars with 78 2/3 innings, with a 3.09 ERA, 32.1% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. With that quality production, it was a fairly easy decision for the Padres to pick up Johnson’s $3MM option instead of the $1MM buyout. He’s thrown six innings in the young season so far, with 11 strikeouts, four walks and three earned runs. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays word from the club that Johnson had already been battling the issue for a week and the club is hoping for a minimum 10-day absence.

Kerr was an undrafted free agent signee of the Mariners in 2017 and showed enough promise in the minors to be added to the club’s 40-man roster in November. Just over a week later, he was traded to the Padres as part of the Adam Frazier deal. He began his professional career as a two-way player but has focused more on pitching, garnering attention for his ability to reach triple-digit velocity. In 4 2/3 innings in Triple-A so far this year, he’s struck out six but also walked six, leading to four earned runs. He’ll make his major league debut as soon as he gets the call to take the hill. Taylor Rogers and Tim Hill are the other lefties in the bullpen, though Rogers has been serving as the team’s closer since coming over in a trade with the Twins. That means Kerr and Hill will be the two arms available for situations where a southpaw would be preferred.

Yankees, Padres Discussed Joey Gallo Deal In Spring Training

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Coming off a frustrating half-season in the Bronx last season, Joey Gallo was an oft-speculated trade candidate throughout the offseason. The Yankees indeed explored trade scenarios involving the 28-year-old slugger after the lockout, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, who reports this morning that the Yanks spoke to the Padres about a possible swap during Spring Training.

It’s not the first time that the Padres have inquired on Gallo. San Diego looked into Gallo at last year’s trade deadline, and Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has made a habit of acquiring players he knows well from his days as an assistant GM in Texas. That no deal came together is surely reflective of multiple complicating factors.

First and foremost, the Padres appeared to be generally hamstrung for much of the offseason, as they signaled limited payroll capacity while seeking to shed salary (e.g. Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers) in trades. Even in their trade sending Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan and a PTBNL to the Twins in exchange for Taylor Rogers, the Padres had Minnesota take on $6.6MM of Rogers’ $7.3MM salary — effectively reducing him to a league-minimum player.

Secondly, Heyman suggests that the Yankees weren’t looking to sell low on Gallo. Rather, they were seeking a return that did not discount for his recent struggles and was more commensurate with his overall ability. Gallo hit .223/.379/.490 with 25 homers in 388 plate appearances with the Rangers prior to last July’s trade but fell into a .160/.303/.404 swoon in 228 trips to the plate as a Yankee. His gaudy 19.1% walk rate dipped to a still-excellent 16.2% in New York, but Gallo’s already problematic 32.2% strikeout rate as a Ranger soared to 38.6% with his new club.

Gallo, of course, is an excellent defensive outfielder with surprising speed, an elite walk rate and perhaps as much raw power as any hitter in the game today. Those perks have been well known for some time, and they’ve tantalized scouts even as the slugger’s contact woes have led to him regularly punching out in more than a third of his plate appearances. Gallo embodies the three-true-outcome approach as much as any hitter in baseball, making him one of the game’s most polarizing talents.

We can’t know how Gallo might have fared upon moving from New York to San Diego, but the start of the 2022 season hasn’t been been a good one for the impending free agent. Gallo had a decent Spring Training, but he’s currently hitting .121/.256/.121 through his first 39 plate appearances. He’s made some hard contact — half the balls he’s put into play have been hit at 95 mph or more — but Gallo is also putting the ball on the ground more than usual and has generally mirrored the worsened K-BB profile he showed following last summer’s trade.

Obviously, we’re just 12 games into a 162-game marathon, so there’s ample time for Gallo to right the ship. When he gets hot, he’s the type of bat who can absolutely carry an offense — evidenced by the outrageous .308/.479/.813 slash he posted from early June through the All-Star break last season. A stretch like that will earn him plenty of leeway, but Gallo has yet to truly ignite in that fashion since being traded. And, given that the Yankees currently rank 25th in runs scored, there’s some extra attention on Gallo and others who are struggling (e.g. Josh Donaldson, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Kyle Higashioka).

Ultimately, past efforts to trade Gallo could be taken as little more than anecdotal. However, it’s of some note that Preller’s Padres still harbored interest as recently as a few weeks ago and, of course, that the Yankees were indeed open to moving Gallo in the run-up to the season. April or May trades involving a player of Gallo’s stature are quite rare, so it’s not especially likely that we’ll see a move involving him in the near future. That said, he could very well be a name to keep in mind again this summer as teams begin to explore the trade market more earnestly.

Gallo is playing the 2022 season on a $10.275MM salary and is slated to become a free agent at season’s end.

Twins Acquire Brayan Medina To Complete Taylor Rogers Trade

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The Twins have acquired right-handed pitching prospect Brayan Medina from the Padres, per Minnesota’s director of communications and player relations Dustin Morse. Earlier this month, the Twins traded Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker to the Padres for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan and a player to be named later, which has now been revealed as Medina.

Born in Venezuela, Medina is just 19 years old. He made 12 starts and 2 relief appearances last year between the Arizona Complex League and the Dominican Summer League. In 33 2/3 innings pitched, he had a 5.88 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate. Last year, Baseball America ranked him the #26 prospect in the Padres’ system.

After going over the first luxury tax line last year, the Padres have seemed reluctant to do so again this year, as paying the tax in consecutive years comes with escalating penalties. Their current CBT number is just under $229MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That gives them only about $1MM of wiggle room before they are over the first CBT line, which is $230MM under the new CBA. As part of the trade with Minnesota, the Twins agreed to pay almost all of Rogers’ salary, helping the Padres limbo under that line. Medina seems to be their reward for doing so, adding an intriguing young arm to their system.

Joe Musgrove Open To In-Season Extension Talks

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Padres starter Joe Musgrove is in his final season of arbitration-eligibility, setting him up to reach free agency for the first time this winter. Despite being just six months from the open market, the right-hander remains open to discussing an extension with the Friars.

Speaking with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Musgrove indicated he told the Padres in Spring Training he’d be willing to negotiate a long-term deal during the season. “I was like, ‘I prefer to not do it (during the season),” Musgrove said. “But if you guys have an enticing offer and it’s something you think I’d be interested in, send it to my agent and we’ll talk about it. We’ll find the right time to do it.’”

It’s common for players to set Opening Day as a hard deadline for extension talks, whether because they believe a self-imposed cutoff maximizes negotiating leverage or merely believe that in-season discussions could divert attention away from their performance. Musgrove, though, is a San Diego-area native who has spoken about his affinity for the city. Given those geographic ties, it’s not surprising he’d be willing to buck the common trend and consider extension figures from the Padres

Acee writes the Padres were not in touch with Musgrove’s camp about a long-term deal over the offseason. Of course, the three-plus month lockout could’ve played a role in that lack of communication, as teams were barred from interacting with players between the start of December and the second week of March. On either end of the lockout, clubs were faced with a frenzy of other activity. That didn’t completely kill the Spring Training extension market, but it’s conceivable it could’ve delayed some talks which might have taken place during a normal winter.

Musgrove is lined up as one of the top pitchers in the upcoming free agent class. Jacob deGrom has maintained he’ll trigger an opt-out clause at the end of the year. Carlos Rodón will have an opt-out opportunity if he pitches 110 innings, while Noah Syndergaard, Justin Verlander and Mike Clevinger will be in-demand arms if they perform this year as they did before undergoing 2020 Tommy John surgeries. Nathan Eovaldi and Sean Manaea are reliable mid-rotation types. Musgrove, though, offers as strong a combination of performance and relative youth as any starter who’d be on the market, as he’ll enter his age-30 campaign in 2023.

Indeed, Musgrove holds his own in comparison to Kevin Gausman and Robbie Ray, two of the top free agent arms of this past offseason. Between 2019-21, Musgrove posted a 3.79 ERA that tied Gausman’s mark and checked in a bit better than Ray’s 3.93. Musgrove has the lowest strikeout rate of that trio (25.4%, compared to 31.1% for Ray and 28.6% for Gausman), but he posted the highest ground-ball rate of the group and tied Gausman for the lowest walk percentage.

If one looks only at 2020-21, Gausman takes a slight edge over the other two hurlers. Ray had the most impressive 2021 campaign. In each window, though, Musgrove’s performance isn’t too dissimilar than that of either Gausman or Ray. The Padres righty will also be a year younger next winter than Gausman is now. It stands to reason Musgrove’s reps at Full Circle Sports Management will look at the respective terms Gausman (five years, $110MM) and Ray (five years, $115MM with an opt-out clause) landed as comparison points in any extension talks.

Of course, there’s some risk that Musgrove gets injured or underperforms in the next few months. To his credit, he hasn’t shown any worrisome signs early in the season. Musgrove has tossed 19 innings over his first three starts, allowing just four runs with 21 strikeouts and a single walk to go along with a 44.7% grounder rate that falls right in line with his career mark.

Jake Arrieta Announces Retirement

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A former Cy Young winner is stepping away from the game. In an appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast, Jake Arrieta announced he is set to retire (interview around 56:00 mark). “I haven’t signed the papers, man, but I’m done,” Arrieta said.”It’s time for me to step away from the game. At some point, the uniform goes to somebody else. It’s just my time, really. … Yeah, man, I’m done.”

Arrieta, now 36 years old, retires after a 12-season MLB career. A fifth-round pick of the Orioles out of TCU in 2007, he made it to the majors midway through the 2010 campaign. He spent three-plus seasons in Baltimore, never really clicking despite getting a few opportunities to crack the starting rotation. Arrieta made 69 appearances in black and orange, pitching to a cumulative 5.46 ERA/4.72 FIP. His strikeout and walk numbers improved later in his time with the O’s, but the results never lined up and Baltimore traded him to the Cubs in early July 2013.

That deal — which saw Arrieta and reliever Pedro Strop head to the North Siders for starter Scott Feldman and backup catcher Steve Clevenger — proved one of the most consequential trades in recent MLB history. Arrieta had decent results down the stretch with the Cubs, but his peripherals didn’t suggest he was on the verge of a breakout.

Jake Arrieta

That’s exactly what transpired, though. By 2014, Arrieta had emerged as a top-of-the-rotation starter. He tossed 156 2/3 innings of 2.53 ERA ball, earning a ninth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. That was an unexpected age-28 breakout, but rather than showing any signs of regression, Arrieta took his game to another height the next season. In 2015, the right-hander tossed a personal-high 229 innings with an incredible 1.77 ERA. He led MLB with four complete games and three shutouts, allowing a league-low 5.9 hits per nine frames.

Arrieta had a very strong first half that year, posting a 2.66 ERA in 121 2/3 innings. Yet it’s the second half of that 2015 season for which he might best be remembered, as he orchestrated one of the most overpowering runs by any pitcher in MLB history. After that year’s All-Star break, Arrieta threw 107 1/3 frames and allowed just nine earned runs (0.75 ERA). Opposing hitters posted a laughable .148/.204/.205 line in just shy of 400 plate appearances during that stretch, as the Cubs won 97 games and earned a postseason berth.

During that year’s Wild Card game, Arrieta continued his run of absolute dominance, tossing an 11-strikeout shutout in that season’s Wild Card game against the Pirates. He wasn’t as excellent during starts in the NLDS or NLCS, but he had launched himself into the upper echelon of starting pitchers. Arrieta won that season’s Cy Young award, and he’d pick up a third consecutive top ten finish the following season.

In 2016, Arrieta worked to a 3.10 ERA in 197 1/3 frames. He again allowed a league-low 6.3 hits per nine, picking up his first All-Star selection in the process. Alongside Jon Lester and a career-best season from Kyle Hendricks, Arrieta played a key role in the Cubs team that snapped their 108-year title drought. Chicago won both of his starts during the seven-game triumph over the Indians, during which he tossed 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball.

Arrieta remained in Chicago for one more season. He never recaptured his otherworldly 2014-15 form, but he still offered mid-rotation production with a 3.53 ERA in 168 1/3 innings. That offseason, he signed a three-year, $75MM guarantee with the Phillies. Arrieta’s first season in Philadelphia was solid, as he allowed just fewer than four earned runs per nine in 31 starts.

The past three seasons proved a struggle, as Arrieta’s velocity had begun trending downwards from its mid-90s peak by 2017. He posted a 4.64 ERA or higher in each of his final trio of campaigns, including a 7.39 mark in 24 starts between the Cubs and Padres last season. Arrieta returned to the place where he’d had the most success last winter, but the Cubs released him in August. He struggled in four starts with the Friars, and San Diego let him go shortly before the regular season wrapped up.

Obviously, Arrieta’s career didn’t end the way he would’ve liked. Yet there’s no question he reached a height few players in the game’s recent history have hit. From 2014-16, only future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw bested Arrieta’s 2.42 ERA among qualified starters. He played a pivotal role on the most successful teams in the past century of Cubs baseball and leaves the game with a Cy Young and a World Series title. Over his 12-year run, he won 115 games, and struck out upwards of 1400 batters in 1612 1/3 innings.

Arrieta retires with a career 3.98 ERA, although that mark is inflated by the struggles he experienced at each end. For a three-to-four year period, he was among the top few pitchers on the planet. MLBTR congratulates him on his excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Partaking In Baseball Activities

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  • Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. has progressed to participating in light on-field baseball activities, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The two-time Silver Slugger award winner simulated taking ground-balls during infield practice before tonight’s game against the Reds, throwing the ball across the diamond to first base. Tatís is still wearing a brace and has yet to progress to fielding or swinging a bat as he rehabs from the mid-March surgery he underwent to repair a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist. The Padres initially placed a three-month timetable on his return to the field, though Cassavell writes Tatís recently opined he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery. The organization won’t make any firmer timetable until he begins to swing a bat, which manager Bob Melvin says will be the final baseball activity the team allows him to take. Tatís is on the 60-day injured list and ineligible to return until the first week of June. In all likelihood, he’ll be out for a bit beyond when he’s first eligible to return, but it’s welcome news that he’s progressed to getting some pre-game work in on the field.

Padres’ Austin Adams Shut Down With Forearm Strain

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Padres reliever Austin Adams has a forearm strain and will be shut down from throwing for at least six weeks, manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). He is likely to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection.

It’s a worrisome development, since forearm strains can sometimes be a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Adams will try to avoid going under the knife with a PRP treatment and rehab, but he’s looking at an extended absence in either event. Even if he begins throwing six weeks from now, he’ll need time to build back arm strength and head out on a minor league rehab assignment before returning to the big league bullpen. Given that timetable, the Friars seem likely to place Adams on the 60-day injured list whenever the need for a 40-man roster spot arises.

Adams, 31 next month, was acquired from the Mariners at the 2020 trade deadline in the seven-player deal that also saw Austin Nola head from Seattle to San Diego. On the injured list at the time as he recovered from a September 2019 knee surgery, he only made three appearances that season.

The right-hander was called upon in 65 games last year, though, working 52 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball. Adams punched out a very strong 31.5% of batters faced on a 13.3% swinging strike rate, continuing a career-long trend of missing bats in droves. Yet he struggled mightily with his control, walking 14.5% of opponents. He also incredibly hit 24 batters, six more than any other pitcher despite throwing less than a third of the innings of many starters around the game.

After just two appearances this season, Adams landed on the 10-day IL last Thursday. Melvin will rely on offseason acquisitions Taylor Rogers and Luis García, veterans Pierce Johnson and Craig Stammen, and starter-turned-reliever Dinelson Lamet as his top high-leverage options. Rookie Steven Wilson and former NPB closer Robert Suárez are among the right-handed options he can turn to in the middle innings.

Rays Acquire Javy Guerra From Padres

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The Rays have acquired right-hander Javy Guerra from the Padres for cash considerations.  Guerra was designated for assignment by San Diego earlier this week.  The Rays moved Shane Baz to the 60-day injured list to create room on the 40-man roster, and Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz tweets that a move will be made to accommodate Guerra on the active roster when he reports.

Guerra has pitched 27 2/3 Major League innings over the last three-plus seasons, including two innings of work in the Padres’ 10-5 win over the Diamondbacks on April 10.  Not to be confused with the other Javy Guerra (a longtime veteran reliever), the Rays’ new Guerra is a former top-100 shortstop prospect who converted to pitching in 2019.  Injuries have hampered Guerra’s progress, and also some roster constrictions — since he is out of options, the Padres weren’t able to send him to the minors without putting him through DFA waivers.

San Diego finally opted to designate Guerra, and given how often the Padres and Rays have linked up on trades in recent years, it probably isn’t surprising that Tampa Bay emerged as a suitor for Guerra’s services.  Guerra’s fastball has routinely sat in the high-90s and even hit the 100mph threshold, so it will be intriguing to see if the Rays’ vaunted pitching development system can harness Guerra’s potential.

Baz underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on March 21, and was expected to be shut down from throwing for 2-3 weeks.  The move to the 60-day IL will keep Baz out of action until June, though such an absence was probably necessary for ramp-up purposes considering how much of Spring Training Baz missed.  The star prospect made his MLB debut last season, making three starts in the regular season and one more in the playoffs.

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