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Padres Among Teams Interested In Matt Olson

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Whenever transactions are again permitted to take place, A’s first baseman Matt Olson is among the most prominent names who’ll be discussed on the trade market. The 2021 All-Star and two-time Gold Glover has already been linked to the Yankees, Rangers and Braves, among others, and Dennis Lin of The Athletic suggests in his latest mailbag column that the Padres figure to be “in the mix” on Olson as well. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller has already at least touched base with the Oakland front office as part of a broader sweep of exploratory trade talks throughout the league, per Lin.

Interest notwithstanding, the Padres seem like a long shot to actually pull off a deal involving Olson for myriad reasons. San Diego already has Eric Hosmer installed at first base and signed for another four seasons at a total of $59MM. The Friars have reportedly pursued various trade scenarios involving Hosmer in an attempt to create payroll flexibility and reduce their luxury-tax ledger, but those efforts have unsurprisingly come up short.

Hosmer’s eight-year, $144MM deal with the Padres was widely panned from the start, and the first baseman’s tepid .264/.323/.415 batting line (99 wRC+) since signing hasn’t made the final four years of the contract any more appealing (though it should be noted that the contract is frontloaded, with Hosmer earning $20MM in 2022 and $13MM annually from 2023-25).

The universal designated hitter is viewed as something of a foregone conclusion by now, so one can imagine a scenario where Hosmer spends more time at DH and Olson plays first base. However, that’d still move the Padres’ payroll north by a good margin. Olson is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $12MM in 2022 before commanding one more raise in his final arbitration season in 2023. San Diego already has about $199MM on the books for the 2022 season, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, in addition to about $215MM worth of luxury-tax obligations. The Padres narrowly exceeded the luxury tax in 2021, but it’s unclear whether they’d be willing to do so again in 2022 — particularly if it’s by a larger margin. Lin notes that owner Peter Seidler has “steadfastly declined” to discuss payroll and luxury tax to this point.

That $215MM figure is a substantial factor in the Padres’ reported efforts to move Hosmer and/or right fielder Wil Myers (who’s owed $21MM in the final season of a six-year, $83MM extension himself). Perhaps if the Padres could find a way to shed one or both salaries, the subsequent luxury breathing room could then be make a potential Olson acquisition more feasible. That, however, would require time to be on the Padres’ side — which is not the case. Post-lockout transactions are expected to be frenetic, and it doesn’t figure to be easy for Preller & Co. to find a trade involving Hosmer or Myers. The San Diego front office has been investigating trades involving the pair for at least the past year, after all — and longer than that with regard to Myers. If an Olson acquisition is predicated on moving Hosmer and/or Myers, it’s hard to imagine there’d be time to complete that deal then circle back to the A’s.

Some might suggest that the Padres simply try to send Hosmer back to Oakland as part of a deal, offering better prospects in return to push a deal across the finish line. That scenario appears decidedly unlikely, though. The cost on Olson figures to be sky-high in the first place, and the driving factor behind Oakland’s ostensibly looming sell-off is a desire to pare payroll. Taking on Hosmer’s deal runs counter to that. Lin speculates that the Padres could try to engineer a three-team swap that places Hosmer with a third team and Olson in San Diego, but that’s obviously an even more ambitious undertaking than simply finding a taker for Olson in a more straightforward two-team deal.

One wild card in all of this is the uncertainty surrounding the status of the luxury tax/competitive balance tax itself. The tax thresholds are a key talking point in collective bargaining talks between the league and the Players Association. The MLBPA is seeking major increases to the tax thresholds, beginning with a jump all the way to $245MM this coming season and cresting with a $273MM threshold in 2026. The league, meanwhile, has only been willing to offer far more marginal increases: $214MM in 2022-23 and incremental increases up to $222MM in 2026. MLB is also seeking to greatly increase the penalties for crossing the threshold, which the MLBPA considers a nonstarter.

[Related: Latest Collective Bargaining Positions For MLB, MLBPA]

It’s possible that whatever middle ground is reached will come with enough of an uptick in the first threshold that the Padres could technically squeeze Olson into the fray without needing to pay the tax. However, the Padres are also facing needs elsewhere on the roster — namely in one corner outfield spot. If the hope is to add an outfielder and/or deepen the pitching staff or bench at all, then San Diego would be looking at shoehorning more than just Olson’s salary into the puzzle.

All of that is based on a theoretical stance that Padres ownership is deterred by the luxury tax alone, but we can’t know that for certain. Last year’s bottom-line payroll of nearly $174MM shattered the former franchise-record payroll by more than $60MM. The current $199MM projection further trounces that number, and adding Olson and any others to the mix would bring the Padres well north of $200MM in actual 2022 salaries (and quite a bit higher in terms of AAV-based luxury calculations). It would require an unprecedented level of spending for the Padres, and we can’t know at what point ownership will simply be uncomfortable with further expenditures. It’s possible they’ve already reached that juncture.

To sum up a bit, there’s good reason to expect the Padres will indeed try to make something happen on the Olson front. Preller has shown time and again that he’ll always explore creative options when marquee talents are available. San Diego hired manager Bob Melvin away from the A’s earlier this offseason, and Melvin would surely love to have his former franchise first baseman follow him down I-5. If the Padres were to somehow move Hosmer, they’d have an opening at first base. It all makes sense on paper, and various permutations of Olson-to-San Diego deals or three-team blockbusters involving Olson, Hosmer, Myers and top prospects make for fun hypotheticals with Major League transactions approaching a three-month standstill.

At the end of the day, however, there are so many moving parts involved even in these theoretical exercises that it’s hard to see the Padres finding a way to make the pieces work. Still, even a tangential Padres involvement in the Olson market is of some note. Their lurking presence could carry implications on the asking price Oakland can put forth to other clubs, and if trade talks with other suitors drag on long enough post-lockout, it’d only give the Padres more time to pull off their latest trade-market stunner.

Padres Notes: Payroll, Campusano, Prospects

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The Padres were relatively quiet during the pre-lockout portion of the offseason, at least by A.J. Preller’s usual aggressive standards.  The club’s trade of Adam Frazier to the Mariners stands as San Diego’s biggest move of the winter, and that deal was surely motivated at least in part by the $7.2MM Frazier is projected to earn in salary arbitration.

Though the next collective bargaining agreement could change the luxury tax rules, for now the Padres’ hefty salary commitments (roughly $214.7MM for 2022, as per Roster Resource) continues to influence the front office’s activities.  The Padres already exceeded the $210MM luxury tax threshold in 2021, and would face a repeater penalty of a 30% surcharge on the overage if they surpassed whatever the threshold is in 2022.  It isn’t clear what San Diego’s salary ceiling might actually be, though The Athletic’s Dennis Lin (multiple links) notes that another “major hike” would require owner Peter Seidler to get a green light from the franchise’s minority owners.

As such, the Padres’ spending will probably be limited to some extent, as Lin has “a hard time seeing the Padres taking on another contract approaching nine figures” while the contracts of Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers are still on San Diego’s payroll.  Both Hosmer and Myers have been mentioned in trade rumors for well over a year, as the Friars have looked for creative ways of unloading either player’s hefty salary.  Hosmer is the more expensive of the duo, owed $59MM through the 2025 season while Myers is owed $21MM in 2022 ($20MM in salary and a $1MM buyout of a $20MM club option for 2023).

As Lin simply puts it, “there are a lot of moving parts to this offseason.”  Getting at least one of Hosmer or Myers off the books could unlock a lot of possibilities for the Padres, who have already been linked to such notable free agents as Nick Castellanos and Kris Bryant.  While this interest could have just been due diligence, it does indicate that San Diego is at least checking in to see what it would to add another pricey, top-tier name to the roster.

There has been much speculation that the Padres could try to trade Hosmer or Myers by including a top prospect in the deal, as a rebuilding team with payroll space might be willing to eat some salary in order to essentially buy a blue chip minor leaguer.  The Padres discussed Hosmer with the Rangers and Cubs at the trade deadline, with Robert Hassell III reportedly part of the negotiations with Texas, and Lin writes that catching prospect Luis Campusano was part of the Hosmer talks with Chicago.

The catch of such a trade, however, is that while the Padres would be lightening their salary load, they would also be losing a controllable young player that is all the more valuable to a team with such a luxury tax burden.  The club has already dipped into its prospect depth for other trades, to the point that Lin reports that rival teams now focus their asks only on San Diego’s top minor leaguers, with Hassell and CJ Abrams receiving most of the attention.  With this in mind, Lin is doubtful if the Padres would deal any of their best prospects, or the likes of Trent Grisham or Jake Cronenworth on the MLB roster.

Cubs, Padres Discussed Eric Hosmer Trade Last Summer

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The Padres and Cubs were in talks last summer about a trade that would have sent first baseman Eric Hosmer “and a highly regarded prospect” to Chicago, The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma reports.  The return on the Cubs’ end wasn’t mentioned, yet it likely could have been pretty minimal (i.e. a low-level prospect or a player to be named later), since the chief goal of the trade for San Diego would have been to get Hosmer’s contract off the books.  However, since Anthony Rizzo also reportedly on the Padres’ trade radar, it is possible the two teams might have been discussing a swap of first basemen.

Hosmer was known to be available prior to the trade deadline, as the Padres were exploring ways to both lessen their luxury tax burdens in 2021 and in the future, and also create payroll space for some bigger-ticket additions.  As it turned out, San Diego didn’t find a taker for Hosmer, and they also fell short of landing such targets as Rizzo, Max Scherzer and Jose Berrios prior to the deadline.  While the Padres did acquire the likes of Adam Frazier and Daniel Hudson, that wasn’t enough to hold off a late-season collapse, as the Friars plummeted to a 79-83 record.

As well, the Padres also ended up exceeding the luxury tax threshold for the first time in club history.  While final figures haven’t yet been released (and estimates from both Cot’s Baseball Contracts and Roster Resource actually had the Padres falling a bit short of the tax line), the expectation is that San Diego’s Competitive Balance Tax number did indeed top the $210MM mark.  The penalty for a first-time payor is only a 20 percent surcharge on the overage, so since the Padres didn’t exceed the threshold by too much, their financial cost will be quite minimal.  For instance, if they exceeded the CBT line by $2MM, the team would have a $400K tax bill.

Since the Padres are already projected to sit very close to the $210MM mark for their 2022 expenditures, a further penalty could be difficult to avoid, with the obvious caveat that the CBT system could be altered under the new collective bargaining agreement.  In the short term, however, exceeding the luxury tax line has already caused some difficulties for the Padres’ offseason business.  They would have to give up two 2022 draft picks (their second-highest and fifth-highest selections) and $1MM of international draft pool money in order to sign a free agent who rejected a qualifying offer, and San Diego has already reportedly shown interest in one such QO free agent in Nick Castellanos.

Assuming some form of the luxury tax continues to exist in the next CBA, even at a much higher threshold, the Padres would probably prefer to rid themselves of Hosmer’s contract just to lessen their chances of a repeater penalty.  Hosmer has a tax number of $18MM per season (the average annual value of his eight-year, $144MM deal), even though his actual salary figures will drop on the back end of his deal.  Hosmer has $59MM owed to him through the 2025 campaign, breaking down as $20MM in 2022, and then $13MM salaries in each of the 2023-25 seasons.

This contract wouldn’t be a problem if Hosmer was still hitting, and yet the veteran has batted only .264/.323/.415 (99 wRC+, 102 OPS+) over his four seasons in San Diego.  Other than a strong performance over 156 plate appearances in the shortened 2020 season, Hosmer has been barely a replacement-level player with the Padres, and he may not even be a regular starting option going forward considering that his playing time was reduced amidst his struggles.

The Cubs were primarily focused on selling back in July, unloading such veteran talents as Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel, Joc Pederson, and others.  Plus, the Cubs got a jump on the salary cuts almost a year ago in another major deal with the Padres, as Yu Darvish was dealt to San Diego.  All of these moves greatly reduced Chicago’s future salary commitments, and yet the recent acquisitions of Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley indicate that the Cubs aren’t planning a full rebuild.  Despite Hosmer’s lack of recent production, the Cubs could see him as a change-of-scenery candidate, or possibly as a left-handed complement to Frank Schwindel for first base (and maybe DH) duties.

The real prize for Chicago would still be whatever prospect or prospects the Padres were to include in a Hosmer trade.  While San Diego still has a strong farm system, their minor league depth has been sapped to some extent due to other deals, and some prospects that have now graduated to larger roles on the big league roster.  In talks with the Rangers about a trade involving Hosmer and Joey Gallo last July, Padres outfield prospect Robert Hassell III was reportedly floated as a candidate to change teams, though it isn’t known if the Cubs would also be targeting Hassell.

It is worth noting that Hosmer himself also has some leverage in the form of a ten-team no-trade clause.  The Cubs weren’t one of the ten teams on Hosmer’s 2021 list, and yet since he can change that list every year, he could very well adjust his no-trade protection to include the Cubs, Rangers, or any other club Hosmer suspects could be a potential trade partner.  This doesn’t mean that Hosmer wouldn’t necessarily welcome a move away from the Padres, but he would at least give himself some measure of control over his future.  Hosmer also gains full no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player following the 2022 season, so this is the last year for the Padres to move Hosmer even somewhat freely.

Padres Reportedly Hoping To Include Eric Hosmer In Potential Joey Gallo Trade

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It’s no secret the Padres have been interested in Rangers star Joey Gallo for at least the past few weeks. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News sheds some light on the teams’ conversations, reporting that San Diego has inquired about Texas’ willingness to acquire Eric Hosmer as part of the deal. If Texas were willing to take on some of Hosmer’s contract, the Friars could potentially make top outfield prospect Robert Hassell III available, according to Grant.

Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of the Athletic reported earlier this week that the Padres were discussing potential Hosmer trades. The goal, of course, would be to clear some of the first baseman’s remaining contract from the books. Hosmer signed an eight-year, $144MM deal during the 2017-18 offseason. He’s playing this season on a $20MM salary (of which around $7.2MM remains through the end of the year), and he’ll make the same amount next season. He’ll make $13MM each season from 2023-25, unless he triggers an opt-out clause after the 2022 campaign.

Rosenthal and Lin reported that San Diego currently sits a couple million dollars north of the $210MM luxury tax threshold. While ownership is reportedly willing to exceed that mark, the Padres have also explored ways to duck back underneath, with a potential Hosmer deal part of that equation.

Unsurprisingly, Grant writes that the Friars would have to include some amount of cash to facilitate a swap involving Hosmer and Gallo. Hosmer’s hitting an average .265/.329/.378 through 363 plate appearances this season, hardly enough to hold much appeal to other teams given his significant price tag.

The Rangers’ long-term books are relatively open, which could make Texas more receptive to taking on some of Hosmer’s contract in order to add one of the game’s most dynamic prospects to the farm system. Hassell was the eighth overall pick in last year’s draft, and he’s hitting .307/.403/.455 across 325 plate appearances in Low-A this season. Baseball America ranked the 19-year-old the game’s #50 overall prospect in their midseason top 100 update.

Of course, doing so would require parting with Gallo, who is hitting a fantastic .223/.379/.490 with 25 home runs through 388 trips to the plate this year. With Gallo only controllable through 2022 and Texas looking unlikely to contend as soon as next season, he’s a sensible trade candidate. It doesn’t seem a lock he’ll be moved, as Texas has attempted to broker an extension with the slugger. However, Grant writes the sides have apparently “made little in the way of progress” on a long-term deal in recent days.

Failure to work out an extension wouldn’t make a Gallo trade a foregone conclusion, but it would make a deal seem likely. In addition to the Padres, the Yankees and Blue Jays have previously been tied to Gallo, and Grant adds that the Braves have “inquired” about his availability as well.

Gallo’s athletic enough to handle the outfield or first base, broadening his appeal to potential suitors. If a deal involving Hosmer, cash and prospects sent Gallo to San Diego, the two-time All-Star would likely step in as the Friars regular first baseman. Atlanta already has franchise icon Freddie Freeman entrenched at first and is surely looking at Gallo as a potential outfield option.

Padres Discussing Eric Hosmer Trades

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TODAY: Hosmer’s contract had a full no-trade clause for the 2018-20 seasons, but he now has only partial protection.  Hosmer has a 10-team no-trade clause, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports, adding another difficulty to the Padres’ attempt to deal him.  According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the 10 teams on Hosmer’s list are the Athletics, Blue Jays, Brewers, Cardinals, Giants, Indians, Mariners, Orioles, Pirates, and Tigers.  Hosmer also automatically gains full no-trade protection following the 2022 season due to 10-and-5 rights.

JULY 26: Eric Hosmer “has surfaced in recent trade discussions,” according to Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The motivation for such discussions seems to be at least partly connected to the Padres’ luxury tax situation, as Rosenthal notes,”The most recent calculation, provided by MLB around the All-Star break, has the Padres over the CBT threshold by roughly $2 million.”  On a related note, the Padres had the Pirates pick up much of the tab for recent acquisition Adam Frazier.

After going 71-91 in the 2017 season, the Padres signed Hosmer to a huge eight-year, $144MM deal, sending a signal they were ready to compete. Since that time, the Padres have only gotten more aggressive, handing out even bigger contracts to Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., along with a number of high profile trades for marquee names such as Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. This has succeeded at pushing the Friars into contention. They got as far as the NLCS in 2020 and currently hold down a wild card spot in 2021. Hosmer’s contribution to the club, however, has been mercurial. In 2018 and 2019, his wRC+ tallies were 95 and 91, producing negative fWAR numbers in the process. The shortened 2020 season seemed to be a bounceback, with a wRC+ of 127 and an fWAR of 0.9. But 2021 has seen him trail off again, with his wRC+ down to 96 and his fWAR in negative territory again.  Hosmer’s contract still has four years remaining on it after 2021.

It’s unclear what the next collective bargaining agreement will look like, but the current one has a base tax threshold of $210MM for 2021.  As a potential first-time payor, the 20% tax on the overage seems like it should be a very mild deterrent.  For example, a team spending $225MM would incur a $3MM penalty.  So going over the base tax threshold in 2021 shouldn’t necessarily be a big concern, especially if the thresholds go up significantly in the next CBA.  One reason to attempt to avoid becoming a tax payor, at least in the current CBA: a CBT payor signing a free agent who turned down a qualifying offer forfeits its second and fifth-highest available draft picks and has its international bonus pool reduced by $1MM – as opposed to losing their second-highest pick and $500K of the international pool if they’re not a payor.  In other words, if the Padres exceed $210MM this year and the current draft pick compensation rules remain in place, then the club will face a slightly worse penalty if they sign a major free agent who turned down a qualifying offer.

Although Rosenthal adds that the team could conceivably increase their CBT figure “for the right acquisition,” they seem to also be considering the alternate route of ducking back beneath the line by season’s end. Moving Hosmer’s deal, with its $18MM AAV, would get the team below the line and potentially leave room for further additions. Since the team seemingly needs to pick a side and commit to it, “it could help explain why Preller continues to discuss a seemingly endless array of scenarios — including potential trades involving Hosmer,” according to Rosenthal.

There’s no indication that any deal is imminent, nor are any trading partners mentioned. But the appeal of acquiring Hosmer wouldn’t be so much about Hosmer himself. “The Padres likely would have to attach significant prospect value” to trade Hosmer, says Rosenthal. So, any team acquiring Hosmer would need to have enough payroll space to pay him, but with an eye towards the future production the prospects would provide. Speculatively speaking, the Cubs could be a fit. They’ve seemingly already started a sell-off, trading Joc Pederson to Atlanta earlier this month. First baseman and impending free agent Anthony Rizzo seems destined to be traded, unless the team can work out an extension. Javier Baez and Kris Bryant are also coming off the books at year’s end, or even sooner, creating more payroll space.

A return to the Royals is another intriguing possibility. They’ve been in rebuild mode since Hosmer left but tried to re-emerge as contenders with some aggressive moves in the most recent offseason. But that hasn’t gone as planned, as they are currently 42-55 and definite sellers as Friday’s 4pm trade deadline approaches. Acquiring Hosmer and some prospects could be a way to improve for future seasons while re-acquiring a fan favorite who was part of a World Series winner to help open the next competitive window.  The Orioles and Tigers could also consider taking on Hosmer’s contract as a way of bolstering their prospect inventory.

Padres Reinstate Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer From COVID-19 Injured List

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The Padres reinstated Fernando Tatis Jr. and Eric Hosmer from the COVID-19 injured list prior to tonight’s game, per the team. In corresponding moves, John Andreoli was returned to Triple-A and Tucupita Marcano was optioned.

Tatis Jr. last appeared in a game on May 9th. Hosmer didn’t miss quite as much time, having last played on May 11th. Both are back in the lineup for tonight’s game. While they were out, Andreoli was appearing in the Majors for the first time since 2018. He had appeared in every game since the 11th before sitting out last night’s contest, mostly serving as a defensive replacement in the outfield. Though he only stepped to the plate seven times, the 30-year-old managed a double, a walk, and a couple of runs scored.

Marcano, just 21-years-old, is a promising infield prospect for the Padres, pushed into action this year due to the myriad injuries to Tatis. He has seen game action 18 times, slashing .207/.303/.241 in 33 plate appearances. The Padres hope that Tatis can settle in for good now after a start-and-stop first part of the season. Tatis has appeared in just 26 of the Padres first 43 games, though he’s been his usual alectric self when active. Tatis has posted a 135 wRC+ with nine home runs and a .313 ISO.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Wil Myers Test Positive For Covid-19

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May 12: Wil Myers, who actually started last night’s game, exited after three innings when the team learned of a positive Covid-19 test, manager Jayce Tingler revealed after the game (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Eric Hosmer, meanwhile, departed for contact-tracing purposes and has been placed on the injured list as a result. The league’s health-and-safety protocols stipulate that a player who tests positive will be away from the team for at least 10 days.

The Padres selected outfielder Patrick Kivlehan to take Myers’ roster spot. Kivlehan, whom the Padres signed to a minor league deal over the winter, has hit .208/.302/.401 with 10 home runs in 242 PA in the bigs.

May 11, 4:34pm: Tatis tested positive for COVID-19 and is asymptomatic, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. Profar and Mateo are in contact tracing. To fill their open roster spots, the Padres selected the contract of outfielder John Andreoli and recalled a pair of players – infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano and righty Nabil Crismatt – per a club announcement.

3:34pm: The Padres announced that they have placed shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and utilitymen Jurickson Profar and Jorge Mateo on the injured list because of Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols. They’ll decide on corresponding moves before their game against the Rockies on Tuesday.

As is typically the case in COVID-related situations, there isn’t any word on how much time any of these players will miss. Regardless, it’s a blow to the Padres’ offensive depth. Tatis has gotten off to an effective start, albeit with much less on-base ability than he flashed in his first two seasons, having batted .240/.315/.552 with nine home runs and seven stolen bases in 108 plate appearances. Profar owns a far less imposing .234/.333/.308 line with a home run and five steals over 128 PA, though he has shown off defensive versatility by lining up at first base, second base and both corner outfield spots. And Mateo has hit a useful .250/.325/.417 through his first 40 trips to the plate this year.

This is the second time this year the Padres will have to go some time without Tatis, who was on the 10-day IL for part of April on account of a shoulder injury. They used Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim at short in Tatis’ absence then. Profar, meanwhile, has been the Padres’ primary starter in left field, but Tommy Pham hasn’t been far behind. He figures to get the lion’s share of action there with Profar out.

Padres Activate Eric Hosmer From Injured List

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The Padres announced they’ve activated first baseman Eric Hosmer from the 10-day injured list. He’s been on the shelf since September 8 due to a fractured finger. Additionally, San Diego recalled rookie right-hander Luis Patiño from the alternate training site. Righty Luis Perdomo and catcher Francisco Mejía were optioned out in corresponding roster moves.

Hosmer has been fantastic through 128 plate appearances this season, hitting .288/.344/.552 with eight home runs. That’s a notable step up from the roughly average offensive production the big ticket free agent acquisition managed his first two seasons in Southern California. The 33-19 Padres are essentially locked in as the fourth seed in the National League, but Hosmer will have a little more than a week to ramp back up before the start of the postseason.

Patiño has scuffled in his first 14.2 MLB innings, but he’s one of the game’s brightest young pitching talents. He’ll make his first MLB start tonight against the Mariners. Patiño and Perdomo could each be options for the Friars out of the bullpen come playoff time. Mejía is San Diego’s third catcher following the deadline acquisitions of Austin Nola and Jason Castro.

Latest On Tommy Pham

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Padres left fielder/designated hitter Tommy Pham suffered a broken hamate bone in his hand less than a month ago, but it doesn’t appear that will bring an end to his season. Rather, the Padres could bring back Pham from the IL “any day,” Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Pham is even closer to returning than first baseman Eric Hosmer, who landed on the IL on Sept. 8 with a fractured left index finger, according to Acee.

It had been several years since the Padres contended, but they’re in the thick of the race this season with the NL’s second-best record (31-17). The only problem is that they’re stuck in a division with the Dodgers, owners of the NL’s top win-loss mark at 33-14. A division title may be not be in the cards for the Padres, then, but they’re nonetheless a formidable team who should be able to earn a playoff spot in the next couple weeks.

Pham, whenever he returns, could be a key piece of the puzzle for San Diego as it aims for its first-ever World Series. The 32-year-old hit a subpar .207/.316/.293 in 95 plate appearances this season before going on the IL, but the Padres acquired him from the Rays last winter because of his excellent track record. Pham was quietly one of the majors’ most valuable outfielders from 2017-19, during which he slashed .284/.381/.475 with 65 homers and 65 steals over 1,754 trips to the plate between the Cardinals and Rays. If Pham’s able to come back this year, the Padres will hope he revisits his St. Louis/Tampa Bay production from the past.

Padres Place Eric Hosmer On 10-Day Injured List

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4:52pm: Hosmer’s now on the 10-day injured list, San Diego announced. The team recalled outfielder Abraham Almonte to fill Hosmer’s roster spot.

3:14pm: Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer suffered a fractured left index finger on a bunt attempt against the Rockies on Monday, disrupting what has been his best season in San Diego. Fortunately for him and the Padres, though, there’s hope Hosmer will be able to return by the last week of the regular season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

When the Padres signed Hosmer to an eight-year, $144MM contract entering 2018, their hope was that the former Royal would be a consistently valuable contributor on a perennial playoff team. Both Hosmer and the Padres fell flat in the first two years of the contract, but their fortunes have turned around this season. With the 30-year-old Hosmer riding a newfound fly ball-oriented approach to a line of .288/.344/.542 (good for a career-high 137 wRC+) with eight home runs in 128 plate appearances, the Padres are 26-17 and in possession of the National League’s No. 1 wild-card spot.

While losing this version of Hosmer is less than ideal for the Padres, they did make contingency plans at first base before the Aug. 31 trade deadline, acquiring Mitch Moreland from the Red Sox. Moreland looks as if he’ll see the bulk of the work at the position until Hosmer’s back. Although Moreland has also seen time as a DH since joining the Padres, it appears they’ll have to shuffle multiple players into that spot for at least the next couple weeks.

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