Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Padres Rumors

Padres Activate Blake Snell From Injured List

By | at

TODAY: As expected, Snell was activated from the IL.  To create roster space, the Padres also announced that left-hander Ray Kerr was optioned to Triple-A.

MAY 16: The Padres have been without lefty Blake Snell all season due to an adductor strain, but the 2018 AL Cy Young winner is set to make his 2022 debut on Wednesday, acting manager Ryan Christenson told reporters yesterday (Twitter link via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). San Diego will roll out Mike Clevinger, Snell and Yu Darvish this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Snell’s return will temporarily push young lefty MacKenzie Gore into the bullpen, though it seems that’ll simply amount to skipping his turn in the rotation just once before he’s considered for another start. The Friars are lined up for a daunting stretch of 40 games in 42 days, Acee points out.

Snell’s return ought to provide a boost to a San Diego staff that’s already been among the better units in the game. Padres starters are tied with the Twins for the game’s ninth-best ERA at 3.50, which is a dead-on match for their seventh-ranked 3.50 FIP. They’re also fourth in MLB with a 25% strikeout rate and have been a respectable, albeit middle-of-the-pack group in terms of walk rate, ranking 15th with a 7.8% mark.

Snell’s first season in San Diego didn’t go as hoped. The now-29-year-old southpaw turned in a 4.20 ERA over the life of 128 2/3 innings and also had a couple of stints on the injured list — including a late-September stay for the same adductor issue that plagued him earlier this year.

However, while Snell’s composite numbers may not stand out, the lefty was back to his Cy Young-caliber form down the stretch in 2021. Snell scrapped his once-dominant changeup — which had been getting hammered last year — on Aug. 3 and ramped up his usage of sliders and four-seamers. The result was a dominant 1.83 ERA and 39.4% strikeout rate with a solid 8.5% walk rate — all marks that dwarfed his numbers through the end of July (5.44 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 14.3% walk rate). If that’s the version of Snell the Padres welcome back this week, an already-strong rotation could develop into a powerhouse.

A short-term shift to the ’pen for Gore may frustrate some fans after the former No. 3 overall pick has debuted with a 2.42 ERA, 26.4% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate through his first 26 innings, but it ostensibly appears to be little more than workload management. Gore pitched just 50 1/3 innings of actual game activity last year, struggling to the point that the Padres sent him to their Spring Training facility in mid-June to sort out his mechanics. He was out of games until the middle of August, when he returned to the Padres’ Rookie-ball affiliate and then worked his way back up to Double-A.

There’s been no issue for Gore thus far in 2022. Once lauded as the game’s top pitching prospect, the 23-year-old has made good on that billing both in Triple-A (five shutout innings, seven strikeouts, no walks) and in the Majors (2.42 ERA, 28-to-9 K/BB ratio in 26 frames). The Padres could take some steps to occasional measures such as this one to prevent too stark an innings increase, but so long as Gore continues to pitch with this level of effectiveness, it’ll be hard to keep him out of the rotation.

San Diego has been deploying a six-man rotation thus far, with Joe Musgrove, Darvish, Sean Manaea, Gore, Clevinger and offseason acquisition Nick Martinez all starting games. Acee tweeted last week that the team “tentatively” planned to continue a six-man rotation following the return of Snell, who’d effectively push Martinez to the bullpen.

That’s notable in and of itself, as Martinez signed a surprising four-year, $25.5MM contract with the Padres this winter on the heels of an outstanding run in Japan. The former Rangers righty not only landed that unexpected guarantee but secured opt-out clauses after each year of the contract. That essentially allows him to become a free agent if he’s able to approximate his NPB excellence in MLB but gives him a hearty sum on which to fall back if he struggles in his return to North American ball. Martinez tossed 378 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball in three seasons overseas, including a dominant 1.60 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate in 140 innings with the SoftBank Hawks last year.

So far in 2022, however, Martinez has had his share of tough outings. He’s pitched 30 2/3 innings with a respectable 4.40 ERA, but his 11.5% walk rate and 1.76 HR/9 mark are both well worse than the league average. He’s posted solid strikeout and ground-ball rates (23.1% and 46.4%, respectively), but he’ll need to curb the free passes and the long balls if he’s to fully establish himself.

Even if Martinez is bullpen-bound for the time being, that shouldn’t be expected to close the book on him as a starter. The Padres made a notable investment in him this winter even amid luxury-tax concerns, and it’s of course likely that other injuries on the pitching staff will pop up and give Martinez further opportunities to start some games. The number of times he takes the hill to start a game is certainly worth monitoring, though; Martinez’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 salaries would all increase by $1MM if he makes 20 starts.

Trayce Thompson Elects Free Agency

By | at

The Padres announced that outfielder Trayce Thompson has chosen to become a free agent after clearing outright waivers.  Thompson was designated for assignment four days ago, and since he had been previously outrighted during his career, Thompson could elect free agency rather than accepting the outright option.

After signing a minor league deal with San Diego in late March, Thompson got back to the big leagues in late April when the Padres selected his contract.  The 31-year-old appeared in six games with the Friars, with only one hit and two walks over 16 plate appearances.

The well-traveled Thompson will now hit the open market once more.  A second-round draft pick for the White Sox in 2009, Thompson’s tools (including excellent speed and the ability to play all three outfield spots) have gotten him plenty of looks over the years, but it has yet to manifest into regular production at the Major League level.

Appearing in six of the last eight MLB seasons, Thompson has a career .205/.280/.397 slash line over 640 plate appearances with five different teams.  Most of that time was spent with the White Sox and Dodgers, with briefer stints with the Padres, Cubs, and Athletics.  Thompson has also seen time in the minors with the Yankees, Guardians, and Diamondbacks but didn’t see any big league action with those three clubs.

Padres Option Dinelson Lamet, Finalize Deal With Robinson Cano

By | at

The Padres announced they’ve optioned right-hander Dinelson Lamet to Triple-A El Paso. The move clears an active roster spot for Robinson Canó, whose previously-reported major league contract has been made official. San Diego already had an opening on the 40-man roster.

It’s a disappointing and somewhat surprising development for Lamet, who’s only two years removed from a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young award balloting. He made 12 starts and threw 69 innings of 2.09 ERA ball that season, punching out an excellent 34.5% of batters faced along the way. That seemed to cement him as a key piece of the organization’s long-term rotation, but he dealt with arm issues during the postseason that set him off track.

Lamet wound up not appearing in a playoff game that year, and he had a pair of injured list stints due to forearm inflammation last season. The second of those stints cost him more than two months between July and September, and he didn’t have time to return to the rotation once healthy. Lamet worked in relief for the 2021 campaign’s final month, and he’s begun this season in that role as well.

The 2022 campaign has been a disaster, as Lamet has been tagged for ten runs in 8 1/3 innings across ten appearances. He has struck out ten batters and induced swinging strikes at an excellent 16% clip, but he’s also issued seven walks and coughed up a pair of home runs. As he’s struggled, Lamet has fallen towards the bottom of the bullpen depth chart and been consigned primarily to lower-leverage work. He’ll now lose his roster spot altogether and head back to the minors for the first time since he was called up in May 2017 (aside from injury rehab assignments).

If the Friars had lost faith in Lamet for the moment, however, optioning him now is a sensible decision. Players with five-plus years of big league service cannot be optioned without their consent, and the 29-year-old is very near that threshold. Lamet entered the season with four years and 130 days of service, and he’s accrued roughly 36 more days this year. Players reach a full service year at 172 days, meaning he’s about six days shy of the five-year mark. Had the Padres kept Lamet around another week or so, they would no longer have been able to make a unilateral decision to send him down.

It’s possible Lamet’s tenure in the organization could be nearing its end regardless, as the Friars have reportedly discussed him in trade talks in recent weeks. Lamet is making just shy of $5MM this season, and San Diego’s luxury tax number is underneath the base $230MM threshold by the narrowest of margins. Whether anyone would pick up the entirety of Lamet’s salary after his difficult start to the season isn’t clear, but perhaps another team would take a buy-low flier to grab an obviously talented pitcher controllable through 2023 if the Pads are desperate to move him for payroll reasons.

Padres Sign Robinson Cano

By | at

11:46am: The Padres are likely to finalize a deal with Canó tomorrow, tweets Dennis Lin of the Athletic. San Diego already has a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so they’d only need to make a corresponding 26-man transaction.

11:07am: The Padres are closing in on a deal with Robinson Canó, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Heyman’s colleague, Joel Sherman, reports (on Twitter) that San Diego is among a handful of teams that has expressed interest. According to Sherman, the eight-time All-Star is likely to sign a major league contract.

Canó was released by the Mets last week. New York had designated him for assignment on May 2, the date for teams to cut their active rosters from 28 to 26 players. Canó had started just under half the Mets’ games through the season’s first month, splitting his time roughly evenly between second base and designated hitter. He’d gotten off to a difficult start, however, hitting just .195/.233/.268 through his first 43 plate appearances.

The 17-year MLB veteran showed some worrisome statistical indicators beyond just the poor results. He made contact on a personal-low 73% of swings, a few points below this season’s league average. Canó also chased nearly half the pitches he was thrown outside the strike zone and hit more than 55% of his batted balls on the ground. At age 39 and coming off a full 2021 season lost to a second career suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, the Mets decided those early numbers were reason enough to move on.

One could also take the more optimistic view that Canó was merely shaking off some rust after the long layoff. A 12-game showing is an incredibly small sample off which to base any definitive conclusions — even regarding the elevated swing-and-miss and chase numbers. When Canó was last eligible to play before this year, he performed quite well. In 182 plate appearances during the shortened 2020 campaign, he hit .316/.352/.544 with ten home runs. That was the second of three seasons between 2018-20 in which Canó posted well above-average offensive production.

Of course, few players have matched Canó’s performance since he entered the league. He’s a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner and has finished in the top ten of MVP balloting six times in his career. Were it not for his pair of PED suspensions, he’d be a virtual lock for eventual enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. There’s little question Canó’s days as that kind of superstar are behind him, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility he could still be a useful hitter, particularly against right-handed pitching.

The Padres evidently believe that to be the case. San Diego has gotten incredible production from Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer in the season’s early going. Ha-Seong Kim, Jurickson Profar and Luke Voit each have unimpressive batting averages, but their combination of power output and (particularly in Voit’s case) huge walk numbers have propped up their overall performances. The rest of the lineup has struggled to varying degrees, and San Diego’s overall .227/.320/.364 team slash line is middle-of-the-pack.

The Friars are looking for affordable ways to bolster the offense. If they believe Canó is still an above-average hitter, there’s reason to roll the dice. The Mets remain on the hook for almost all of the $37.6MM still owed to Canó over the next two seasons under the terms of his original ten-year contract with the Mariners. If a deal were to get across the finish line, San Diego would owe him only the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary. That’s of particular import with the Friars just narrowly below the $230MM base luxury tax threshold, which they don’t appear eager to exceed.

Canó wouldn’t be a regular anywhere on the diamond for the Padres. Hosmer is a lock to hold onto first base so long as he’s hitting at this level, and Jake Cronenworth has second base accounted for. The right-handed hitting Voit is the primary designated hitter and figures to remain so, but Canó could spell him on occasion against righty starters while serving as a depth option on the right side of the infield.

Padres Option C.J. Abrams, Reinstate Wil Myers And Luke Voit, Designate Trayce Thompson For Assignment

By | at

The Padres made a flurry of moves this afternoon, optioning shortstop C.J. Abrams to Triple-A El Paso, reinstating outfielder Wil Myers and first baseman Luke Voit from the 10-day IL, and designating outfielder Trayce Thompson for assignment, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (Twitter link).

The demotion of Abrams, who’d been splitting time at shortstop with Ha-Seong Kim, will come as a disappointment to Padres fans, who’d hoped to see the consensus top-20 prospect (and, until today, youngest player in the NL) hit the ground running in the bigs. But while the 21-year-old has played solid defense in his first taste of the majors, his .182/.270/.273 batting line was simply too much of a drag on an already stagnant Padres offense to give him the playing time the organization will want to give him.

The long-term expectation in San Diego likely remains that Abrams will ultimately dislodge Fernando Tatis Jr. from shortstop, but it may not happen this year unless Abrams can find his stroke in Triple-A. Kim will likely take over primary duties there for the time being, with the recently claimed Sergio Alcántara as his understudy. It isn’t yet clear whether Tatis will reclaim the position upon his expected mid-season return from a fracture in his left wrist, though Abrams’ failure to lay his own claim to it certainly makes that scenario more likely.

Myers and Voit will likely reclaim their spots in the lineup (Myers in right, Voit at DH), though neither had gotten off to a blistering start to the season. Myers, who’s been out since late April with a thumb injury, owns a .218/.254/.273 line in 59 plate appearances, while Voit, also out since late April with a biceps tendon issue, has slashed a mere .143/315/.167 in 54 trips to the plate. Both have proven themselves capable of greater production than they’ve delivered so far, of course, and they should give a boost to a Padres lineup that’s posted a meager 65 wRC+ in May. Manger Bob Melvin has rotated DH duties in Voit’s absence, but Myers will likely take at-bats directly from rookie Jose Azocar (.222/.323/.259 in a 31 PA sample) and the DFAed Thompson.

Indeed, though he’s now appeared in six major league seasons (dating to his 2015 debut with the White Sox) and delivered better-than-replacement-level production on the whole in his big-league career (.205/.280/.397 in 640 plate appearances), Thompson’s departure from the 26-man roster marks another failure to find a permanent home for the 31-year-old former second-rounder. Though he’d hardly played for the Friars (sixteen trips to the plate across six games), his anemic .071/.188/.071 batting line made him a prime choice to fall victim to a roster crunch. As Thompson (the younger brother of NBA star Klay Thompson) has been outrighted before, he can opt to become a free agent, though he may also choose to accept an assignment if he thinks another big-league opportunity with the Padres could present itself.

Padres Claim Sergio Alcántara

By | at

The Padres have claimed infielder Sergio Alcántara off waivers from the Diamondbacks, both teams announced this afternoon. Though he’s still only 25, the Friars will be Alcántara’s fourth big-league team. Arizona had designated him for assignment on Friday to make room for the return of Josh Rojas from injury. To clear 40-man roster space, San Diego placed Pierce Johnson on the 60-day injured list.

Though Alcántara doesn’t pack a ton of punch at the plate — he’s slashed at just a .197/.280/.330 clip in 335 trips to the plate across three seasons in the majors — his defensive versatility has significant value. He’s spent most of brief career at shortstop (including 44 starts there for the Cubs in 2021), but he’s also logged significant time at both second and third. He had served as the D-backs primary third baseman prior to Rojas’ return.

Given the presence of high-end glove-man Ha-Seong Kim in San Diego, the acquisition of another versatile infielder is at least a bit curious. It could signal an as-yet unannounced injury (or player in COVID protocol) requiring time on the IL, of course, but it could also may spell the end of top prospect C.J. Abrams’ first taste of the majors. Currently the youngest player in the NL (among active players, only Wander Franco and Julio Rodriguez are younger), Abrams has struggled a bit in his first taste of The Show, playing solid defense at short but slashing only .182/.270/.273 in 65 plate appearances.

Padres Place Tim Hill On 15-Day Injured List

By | at

The Padres announced that left-hander Tim Hill has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to May 5) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Lefty Ray Kerr has been called up from Triple-A to take Hill’s place in San Diego’s bullpen.

Hill has been far from his usual effective self, posting an 11.12 ERA over his first 5 2/3 innings out of the Padres’ bullpen.  While Hill hasn’t allowed a run in six of his nine appearances, he has only one strikeout against three walks.  Always more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist, Hill has been hurt by a lack of whiffs and a lot of his allowed contact finding holes — Hill has an ungainly. 440 BABIP thus far.

Closer Taylor Rogers is the only other left-hander in the Padres relief corps, so another southpaw was needed in Hill’s absence.  Kerr is an undrafted free agent who has worked his way up the Mariners and Padres farm systems to make his MLB debut earlier this season, and after tossing a scoreless inning in his sole big league game, Kerr could now get more opportunities to impress.  San Diego acquired Kerr from the Mariners as part of the Adam Frazier trade last November.

Padres, Yusmeiro Petit Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

7:27pm: MLBTR’s Steve Adams relays the financials of the deal. If Petit is selected to the majors, he’ll have a base salary of $1.5MM with a further $500K available in incentives.

4:38 pm: The Padres are in agreement with reliever Yusmeiro Petit on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 14-year MLB veteran will try to work his way back to the big leagues with San Diego.

Padres skipper Bob Melvin is plenty familiar with Petit, having managed him with the A’s for the past four seasons. The right-hander was a durable and productive bullpen arm throughout that run, tossing 275 2/3 innings of 3.07 ERA ball. No pitcher in MLB has made more appearances or soaked up more innings of relief since the start of 2018.

Given Petit’s reliability, it’s a bit of a surprise he spent the entire offseason on the open market and didn’t receive a guaranteed roster spot. The 37-year-old doesn’t fit the typical late-innings mold, however, which apparently gave teams trepidation. Petit averaged just 87.7 MPH on his fastball last season, and his 11.3% strikeout rate was the second-lowest mark among 255 relievers with 30+ innings pitched. His 10.1% swinging strike rate was also below-average but not nearly as extreme as his strikeout tally. That offers some hope he might be able to push his strikeout rate closer to the 17.6% figure he posted from 2019-21.

Petit’s bottom line numbers have no doubt been aided by Oakland’s large home ballpark and the elite defenses that lined up behind him for most of his tenure in the Bay Area. That said, he hasn’t walked more than 6% of batters faced in a season since moving to the bullpen full-time with the Giants in 2015. He also held opponents to a meager 86.5 MPH average exit velocity and 30% hard contact rate last season, both of which were lower than the respective 88.3 MPH and 35.5% league marks. Even without swing-and-miss stuff, he’s found ways to be effective.

San Diego’s bullpen has struggled to prevent runs thus far, as their 4.12 ERA is 25th in MLB. They’ve been good from a strikeout and walk perspective but have proven vulnerable to home runs. More importantly, they’ve subtracted three righties from the season-opening group. Pierce Johnson and Austin Adams are on the injured list, while Javy Guerra was designated for assignment and then traded to the Rays. Those losses could eventually open a spot for Petit, although he’ll presumably first need some time to build into game shape after the delayed start to the season.

Padres To Start Mike Clevinger On Tuesday

By | at

Mike Clevinger is set to pitch for the first time since the 2020 season, as Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell) that Clevinger is scheduled to start on Tuesday.  Ironically, San Diego is playing the Guardians, Clevinger’s team for the first four-plus years of his Major League career.

Cleveland dealt Clevinger to the Padres in August 2020 as part of a huge nine-player trade, and Clevinger proceeded to post a 2.84 ERA in four starts down the stretch for San Diego.  However, an elbow impingement limited Clevinger to just a single postseason inning, and that elbow problem soon proved to be dire, as Clevinger had to undergo Tommy John surgery in November 2020.  After missing all of last season recovering, Clevinger then had some knee soreness during Spring Training that further delayed his return to the mound.

One of the many success stories out of the Guardians’ pitching development system in recent years, Clevinger had a 2.96 ERA, 28% strikeout rate, and nine percent walk rate over 489 1/3 innings with Cleveland from 2017-20.  His emergence as a front-of-the-rotation arm made him a major get for the Padres, even if the TJ surgery wiped out one of the two full seasons of team control that remained at the time of the trade.

It appears as though Clevinger’s return won’t result in an odd man out for San Diego’s rotation, as Melvin said that MacKenzie Gore and Nick Martinez was still lined up for Wednesday and Thursday.  That would imply the Padres are going to deploy a six-man rotation for the time being, though that plan could soon be shaken up since Blake Snell is also nearing readiness after a groin strain sent him to the IL on April 10.

Since Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea, and Joe Musgrove aren’t going anywhere in the rotation, the Padres could continue to use a six-man rotation once Snell is back, and then either end Gore to the minors or move Martinez into a relief role.  While all of the injury concerns created plenty of uncertainty, this glut of pitching gave San Diego some flexibility with their pitching depth, as evidenced by their trade of Chris Paddack to the Twins and their willingness to discuss Dinelson Lamet in trade talks with other clubs.

Padres Discussing Dinelson Lamet In Trade Talks

By | at

Dinelson Lamet’s name has been part of trade talks between the Padres and other teams, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (Twitter link).  Lin notes that payroll is a consideration, as moving Lamet’s $4.775MM salary would create some room for the Padres to pursue other needs, such as more hitting.

Much has been written about San Diego’s efforts to move at least one of Eric Hosmer or Wil Myers, but with nothing happening on either of those two trade fronts, the Padres have continued to explore other methods of reducing enough salary to get under the $230MM luxury tax threshold.  As per Roster Resource, the Padres’ tax number is approximately $228.83MM, leaving the front office without much room to maneuver as they look to avoid a second consecutive year of tax overages.

Lamet presents an interesting trade chip, as it wasn’t long ago that the right-hander was seen as one of the Padres’ most impressive young up-and-coming arms during his time in the minors.  Unfortunately, a variety of injuries (most notably a Tommy John surgery in 2018, a UCL strain in 2020, and forearm tightness last year) have limited Lamet to just 310 Major League innings since the start of the 2017 season.

While these injuries have kept Lamet from being a consistent contributor, he has shown flashes of very impressive potential.  The highlight was Lamet’s 2020 season, as he finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting by posting a 2.09 ERA over 69 innings during the shortened campaign.  However, the UCL strain prevented Lamet from participating in San Diego’s playoff run.

Lamet was moved to the bullpen last season, and he has pitched exclusively as a reliever so far in 2022.  Over the small sample size of 6 2/3 innings this year, the results have been shaky, as Lamet has a 5.40 ERA, two home runs allowed, and a 13.8% walk rate.  On the plus side, Lamet does have a 31% strikeout rate, lending to the idea that Lamet’s arsenal could eventually translate well to a relief role.

As a Super Two player, Lamet is in the third of four arbitration-eligible years, so any interested trade partners would also have him for the 2023 campaign.  A new team could further explore Lamet as a reliever, or perhaps see if he could still stay healthy enough to contribute as a starting pitcher.  Lamet turns 30 in July, so while he isn’t exactly young, other clubs could see him as a classic change-of-scenery candidate, as the righty has spent his entire pro career in San Diego’s organization.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top