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Luis Perdomo Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Padres right-hander Luis Perdomo underwent Tommy John surgery last week, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (via Twitter).  As per the usual 12-15 month recovery timeline, Perdomo will almost certainly miss the entire 2021 season.

Perdomo spent some time on the injured list in September due to forearm inflammation, though he returned to pitch one more game for San Diego on September 16 before being sent to the team’s alternate training site for most of the remainder of the season, and he didn’t pitch during the Padres’ playoff run.

Acquired via the Rule 5 draft in December 2015, Perdomo has never pitched above the high-A ball level when he made his Major League debut in 2016, though he showed some hints of rotation-level durability and potential during his first two seasons with the Padres.  Unfortunately for Perdomo, shoulder problems set him back in 2018, and he then re-emerged as more or less a full-time reliever in 2019.  He didn’t quite fit the normal relief pitcher model given his knack for generating grounders (57.3% career ground ball rate) rather than strikeouts (career 6.7 K/9), but Perdomo posted a solid 4.00 ERA over 72 frames during the 2019 season.  Between his forearm issue this season and being shuttled back and forth from the alternate training site, however, Perdomo became something of an afterthought for San Diego.

Perdomo will be eligible for arbitration for the second time this winter, and he already looked like a potential non-tender candidate even before his injury.  MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected (depending on how arbiters view 2020 statistics) a salary range of $1.1MM / $1.2MM / $1.0MM for Perdomo through the arb process.  It isn’t out of the question that the Padres could non-tender Perdomo and then re-sign him to a minor league deal as he rehabilitates, or it’s also possible that Perdomo might have to wait until the 2021-22 offseason before landing his next contract.

NL West Notes: Taylor, Padres, Myers, Giants, Luciano

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The Dodgers may not have a key player available for today’s Game 6 against the Braves, as Chris Taylor suffered an ankle injury in last night’s game.  Taylor suffered the injury while chasing down a Freddie Freeman double in the eighth inning of Game 5, and Taylor managed to finish the inning before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the ninth.  Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Taylor would undergo tests to determine the severity of the problem.

It hasn’t been a great postseason for Taylor, who has hit only .161/.257/.226 over 35 plate appearances during Los Angeles’ playoff run.  Still, Taylor’s regular-season performance and his versatility (he has been used as a second baseman and left fielder this October) make him a valuable roster asset, and it’s not like Taylor hasn’t had success in the playoffs — he was the 2017 NLCS MVP.  If Taylor can’t play in Game 6, the Dodgers could turn to Max Muncy or Enrique Hernandez to play second base.  The Dodgers would also be reduced to a three-man bench, as they used 15 of their 28 roster spots for the NLCS on pitchers.  [UPDATE: Taylor isn’t in the Game 6 lineup, but Roberts told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times and other reporters that Taylor is available off the bench and is “moving around much better today.  It’s better than he expected.”]

More from around the NL West…

  • Several Padres-related topics are addressed by The Athletic’s Dennis Lin as part of a reader mailbag piece, with a particular focus on San Diego’s offseason plans.  Lin doesn’t think the Padres will make a play for Trevor Bauer this winter, and re-signing Jurickson Profar could be difficult since his asking price may be beyond the Friars’ comfort zone.  “The team isn’t interested in paying handsomely for a secondary option,” Lin writes, though Profar ended up being essentially an everyday player in 2020.
  • Of course, more regular playing time could emerge for a player like Profar if the Padres were to trade Wil Myers.  Lin figures San Diego will again look into trades for Myers, whose once-negligible trade value has been boosted by an outstanding 2020 season (.288/.353/.606 with 15 homers in 218 PA).  The $41MM that Myers is owed through the 2022 season may still make a trade hard to complete, though naturally the Padres wouldn’t mind keeping Myers if he keeps producing as he did this year.  At the outskirts of the Padres’ roster, Lin thinks Francisco Mejia, Joey Lucchesi and Trey Wingenter could also be trade candidates.
  • In a Giants mailbag, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle believes shortstop Marco Luciano is the Giants’ only truly “untouchable” prospect in trade talks.  This doesn’t mean that other highly-touted youngsters like Joey Bart or Heliot Ramos are anywhere near being available, but rather that San Francisco perceives Luciano as “the main driver for a winning era.”  Luciano emerged as a favorite of top-100 prospect lists (ranked 14th by Fangraphs, 17th by Baseball America, 29th by MLB.com) after a big breakout in last year’s Arizona Fall League, though the 19-year-old has only one official year of pro ball under his belt.  It remains to be seen if he’ll stay at shortstop or move to third base or the outfield in the future, but the 19-year-old Luciano’s batting potential has already drawn raves.

Padres Still Deciding On Mitch Moreland’s Option

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The Padres have a relatively small decision to make on trade deadline acquisition Mitch Moreland, whose contract contains a reasonable $3MM club option for the 2021 season. San Diego can buy out that option for $500K and send Moreland back into free agency, but general manager A.J. Preller told reporters yesterday that no decision has been made (link via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). The dilemma isn’t so much a financial one, it seems, but rather a quandary as the Padres — and all other NL clubs — will still have a designated hitter slot in 2021.

“The DH question is definitely a question all the teams are asking about,” Preller said. “It does affect your team planning. … We felt that option was something we’d consider. It would help a little bit having a sense of if there is a DH or not.”

At face value, keeping Moreland at a net $2.5MM even if he’s primarily a bench bat seems perfectly defensible, although there’s some reason to be a bit bearish on his outlook. Moreland posted an outrageous .328/.430/.746 slash in 22 games with the Sox before cratering with a .203/.247/.362 line in 20 games with the Padres. Those were samples of 79 and 73 plate appearances, respectively, however — rather small sets of data from which to glean much. Moreland’s overall .265/.342/.551 slash was still terrific, and the composite .251/.329/.479 output he’s put together over the past three seasons reflects that he’s an above-average hitter when properly shielded from facing too many left-handed opponents.

At the same time, the Padres have Eric Hosmer entrenched at first base thanks to the eight-year, $144MM deal he inked three seasons ago. Hosmer had his best year with the Friars in 2020, hitting .287/.333/.517 with nine homers in just 158 plate appearances. Barring an injury, he’d stand in the way of everyday at-bats for Moreland, and the Padres may not want to commit $2.5MM right out of the gate this winter when they already have $90.5MM on next year’s books and are faced with a notable arbitration class; Tommy Pham, Zach Davies, Mike Clevinger, Matt Strahm, Dinelson Lamet and Emilio Pagan are among the club’s more notable cases, and there’s also talk of a potential Fernando Tatis extension.

Preller clearly knows Moreland well, as he was an assistant GM in Texas when Moreland was drafted, developed and broke into the Majors with the Rangers. San Diego parted with some legitimate minor league talent to acquire Moreland, so one would expect that they hoped to get more than one month of production. Whether that’ll be the case may well be tied to measures beyond their control, however.

From a broader perspective, the Padres aren’t the only club that would strongly like to have clarity on this front headed into the offseason. Each NL club’s roster construction plans would vary considerably from universal DH to conventional NL rules structure. Players and agents, similarly, would benefit from a definitive decision on next year’s DH situation being made. A player like Nelson Cruz, for instance, would surely like to know if he can plausibly market himself to NL clubs. At the moment, however, there’s no clear indication as to when anything will be set in stone. The league and MLBPA would need to agree on a change of this nature, but the previous agreement only implemented universal DH status for the 2020 eason.

Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. Interested In Discussing Extension

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San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller unsurprisingly expressed interest in signing superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to a long-term extension. Tatis has interest as well, though the two sides haven’t yet begun negotiations, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Preller did suggest that negotiations could kick off before too long, however.

There aren’t a ton of pertinent precedents for a potential Tatis extension, but there is one. Braves superstar centerfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. signed a 8-year, $100MM contract extension with the Braves after one season in the majors. Acuña was coming off a Rookie of the Year season in which he slashed .293/.366/.552 for 4.2 rWAR in his age-20 season.

Acuña’s deal is largely viewed as a bargain, and Tatis could arguably that he’s off to an even more impressive start to his MLB career. Tatis produced 4.1 rWAR over just 84 games as a 20-year-old in 2019. This year he provided an appropriate step up as he posted 2.5 rWAR, roughly the equivalent of 6.75 WAR over a full 162-game season. Through 143 career games, Tatis owns a triple slash of .301/.374/.582.

The two situations are analogous, however, as both Tatis and Acuña have led their teams back into the postseason at a young age. They’re also two of MLB’s brightest and most popular stars. Tatis now has more major league service time than Acuña did at the time of his deal, however, raising the price of any potential contract agreement. Tatis Jr. won’t be arbitration eligible until 2022, with free agency set for following the 2024 season. Both players debuted in their age-20 season, and both players field premium up-the-middle positions. Both Tatis and Acuña have also galvanized their fan bases during their short time in the majors.

There haven’t been many extensions signed this season league-wide, which is partially due to the revenue lost because of coronavirus and the uncertainty of future revenue streams. But there also hasn’t been a ton of time for these sorts of negotiations, notes Preller. As the playoffs wind to a close, teams may again have a moment to explore their internal options. The Padres would certainly love to extend Tatis Jr., but again, it would be rare for a player of his caliber to sign this early. Tatis Jr. is represented by MVP Sports Group, who also reps teammate Manny Machado.

Latest On Dinelson Lamet, Mike Clevinger

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OCT. 14: Good news for Lamet, Clevinger and the Padres: General manager A.J. Preller said Wednesday (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com) that it doesn’t seem “either situation is surgical,” so the two righties should be ready for the spring.

OCT. 13: Padres righty Dinelson Lamet has begun platelet-rich plasma therapy on his right elbow, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.  Lamet has been out of action since September 25 due to biceps tightness, though examinations of his arm revealed “no ligament issues” according to one of Acee’s sources, and Lamet is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.

Lamet was unable to pitch during the Padres’ postseason run, bringing a sour end to an otherwise dream season for the 28-year-old.  Seen as a potential breakout candidate after a promising 2019, Lamet more than lived up to expectations by posting a 2.09 ERA, 4.65 K/BB rate, and 12.1 K/9 over 69 innings for San Diego.  Armed with a 97mph fastball that sat in the 91st percentile of spin rate, Lamet’s 2.4 fWAR tied him for fifth among all Major League pitchers in 2020.

After Lamet missed all of 2018 due to Tommy John surgery, there was natural concern about another arm injury, but the issue didn’t sideline Lamet entirely.  As Acee notes, Lamet kept playing catch in order to keep his arm loose, just in case he received clearance to pitch in some capacity during the playoffs.

It’s quite possible that the Padres could still be playing had Lamet and Mike Clevinger both been healthy for October.  Clevinger is also expected to be ready for the start of the 2021 season since his elbow impingement is thought to require arthroscopic surgery at the most, though Acee adds today that Clevinger will be examined by doctors this week and “no definite plan has been established.”

Tommy Pham “In Good Condition” After Being Stabbed

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In a scary development, Padres outfielder Tommy Pham underwent surgery after being stabbed in his lower back Sunday night, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Fortunately, he is “currently in good condition,” the team announced.

Pham came upon an argument near his car between individuals whom he did not know, Acee reports. The 32-year-old was attacked after asking those involved to move away from his vehicle. Fortunately, Pham avoided organ damage, although he did require stitches, Acee adds.

“I’d like to thank the incredible medical staff at UC San Diego Health for taking such great care of me last night,” Pham said in a statement. “I truly appreciate the hard work of the (San Diego Police Department) as well as they continue their search for the suspects. While it was a very traumatic and eye-opening experience for me, I’m on the road to recovery and I know I’ll be back to my offseason training routine in no time.”

Pham came to San Diego last offseason in a trade with the Rays. There’s no indication at this point that yesterday’s incident will affect his readiness for Spring Training. We at MLBTR wish Pham well in his recovery.

Latest On Mike Clevinger

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A late-season elbow impingement forced Mike Clevinger to sit out the Padres’ wild card series with the Cardinals, and an attempt return in Game 1 of the NLCS resulted in just 24 pitches and a second-inning removal.  There is some reason for optimism, however, as “according to multiple people familiar with his injury, [Clevinger] is likely headed for nothing more invasive than arthroscopic surgery,” Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

This would put the right-hander on track to be ready to roll for the start of the 2021 season.  While arthroscopic surgery isn’t exactly routine, it would certainly be a relief to Clevinger and the Padres that his elbow problem is minor enough that it can be corrected with such a relatively straight-forward procedure (if even that step is required).

Though Clevinger couldn’t contribute much in the postseason, he posted a 2.84 ERA, 6.33 K/BB rate, and 9.0 K/9 over 19 innings for the Padres after being acquired from the Indians in a blockbuster deadline trade.  San Diego paid a significant price for Clevinger, not just because of what he could add to the 2020 team, but for his two remaining years of arbitration of control in 2021 and 2022.  While the Padres probably won’t entirely breathe easy until they see Clevinger healthy during offseason work or in Spring Training, it seems like the team can count on Clevinger being ready to anchor the rotation of what the Friars hope will be another pennant contender.

Abraham Almonte Elects Free Agency

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Outfielder Abraham Almonte has elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment from the Padres.  Almonte was designated for assignment two days ago to create space for rookie southpaw Ryan Weathers to join San Diego’s NLDS roster.

Signed to a minor league contract in the offseason, Almonte ended up appearing in seven games for the Padres, collecting a hit and two walks over 13 plate appearances as he was shuttled between the MLB roster and the alternate training site.

The 31-year-old will now head into the open market looking to catch on with another team, after playing for six different organizations during his 15 total seasons in pro baseball.  Almonte has appeared in each of the last eight Major League seasons, with a career .237/.298/.370 slash line, 18 homers, and 25 steals (from 33 chances) over 1151 plate appearances.  Almonte is known less for his switch-hitting bat and more for his ability to play all three outfield positions, which could make him attractive on another minors contract for a team looking for outfield depth in 2021.

Pitching Notes: Montas, Astros, Morejon, Rays

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The latest on a few teams’ Division Series pitching plans:

  • The Athletics are turning the ball over to right-hander Frankie Montas for this afternoon’s must-win Game 4 against the Astros, per various reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News). The 27-year-old was the best pitcher on staff in 2019 before an 80-game suspension following a positive PED test derailed his season. Montas hasn’t performed anywhere close to last year’s level in 2020, although he continues to pump high-90’s heat and strike batters out at a high rate.
  • The Astros haven’t yet named their opposing starter for Game 4. Manager Dusty Baker didn’t rule out turning the ball over to veteran Zack Greinke, who has been dealing with some arm soreness, notes Jason Beck of MLB.com. The 36-year-old ran in the outfield before yesterday’s game but did not throw, reported Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). If Greinke doesn’t go, fellow righty Cristian Javier would be the logical choice to get the ball. [UPDATE: Greinke will get the ball for this afternoon’s potential clincher, via Jake Kaplan of the Athletic and others].
  • The Padres finalized their rotation plans for what they hope will be the next two games against the Dodgers. Young southpaw Adrián Morejón will go in tonight’s Game 3, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link), with righty Chris Paddack scheduled for a potential Game 4. Of course, there’ll only be a fourth game if San Diego can stave off elimination tonight with L.A. leading the best-of-five set two games to none.
  • The Rays, meanwhile, are planning to go to an opener to kick off tonight’s Game 4 against the Yankees. Reliever Ryan Thompson will get the ball to start (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Presumably, the sidearmer will be backed up by lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who has shown he’s comfortable providing bulk innings behind openers over the past two years.

Padres Remove Mike Clevinger From NLDS Roster

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The Padres removed right-hander Mike Clevinger from their NL Division Series roster against the Dodgers, the club announced. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link) previously reported that such a move was a “virtual certainty.” By rule, removing a player mid-series also disqualifies them from the next round, so Clevinger is not eligible to participate in the NLCS. In a best case scenario, he’d return for the World Series if the Padres qualify.

Clevinger made it back from an elbow strain to start last night’s Game 1. Unfortunately, he was pulled just two pitches into the second inning after a marked dip in velocity. He’ll be reevaluated after “about a week” to allow the inflammation in his elbow to subside, Rosenthal adds. Fortunately, the belief is that Clevinger wouldn’t have done further damage had he continued pitching, hears Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). Rather, the bigger issue is whether he would’ve been capable of effectively working through the discomfort, per Acee. Given how obviously hampered Clevinger appeared to be last night, that would’ve been a real question.

Dan Altavilla is being added to the roster in a corresponding move. The 28-year-old reliever was active for San Diego’s Wild Card series against the Cardinals but scratched for the NLDS as San Diego looked for pitchers more experienced in working multiple innings.

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