Tommy Pham Recovering From Wrist Surgery
Padres outfielder Tommy Pham underwent surgery to repair a a tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex in his left wrist at some point in the past couple of months, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The specific timing of the procedure remains unclear. The Padres did not announce the surgery at the time it was performed.
Pham, according to Rosenthal, is already lifting weights but has yet to swing a bat since undergoing this latest surgery. He had surgery on the same wrist back in August after suffering a fractured hamate bone when he was hit by a pitch, and he also underwent surgery after a frightening incident in early October wherein Pham was stabbed in the lower back. The Padres announced at the time that Pham was in “good condition” following that surgery, and Pham now tells Rosenthal that this latest wrist procedure has improved his grip strength.
A third surgery and, more importantly, Pham’s recovery from said procedure are all the more noteworthy given that the 32-year-old outfielder is up for arbitration for the final time this offseason. The Padres have until tomorrow evening to determine whether they’ll tender a contract to Pham, whom they acquired alongside Jake Cronenworth last winter in a trade that sent Hunter Renfroe, top prospect Xavier Edwards and minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz to the Rays.
Pham struggled to the worst performance of his career in San Diego, slashing just .211/.312/.312 through 125 plate appearances. Of course, if the current wrist issue was bothering him during the season and impacting his grip strength, that would of course explain the downturn at the plate — at least to some extent. Pham’s track record is quite strong — evidenced by a .284/.381/.475 slash in 410 games from 2017-19 — and a healthy Pham would make for an appealing bounceback candidate.
However, that same track record calls Pham’s future with the Padres into question, as it’s also the reason that he earned $7.9MM in arbitration this past season. Pham could see a nominal uptick from that rate in the arb process, and he would at least be a candidate to simply repeat that salary in 2021. Given the uncertainty surrounding his health, however, he stands out as a potential non-tender candidate prior. If the Padres don’t plan to tender a contract to Pham, then they’ve likely already been shopping him in recent days and will continue to do so in the hours leading up to tomorrow night’s deadline.
Quick Hits: Sugano, Arihara, Padres, Varitek, Pirates
Right-handers Tomoyuki Sugano and Kohei Arihara “are on the Padres’ radar,” The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes (subscription required). The two Nippon Professional Baseball veterans will both be available on the posting market, and represent intriguing alternatives to more established Major Leaguer hurlers in free agency. As Lin notes, the Padres have worked to establish a scouting pipeline to the Asian leagues, with Pierce Johnson and Kazuhisa Makita representing San Diego’s most prominent NPB signings in recent years.
Sugano and Arihara are quite likely to each land multi-year deals but perhaps not overly long commitments, which could appeal to a Padres team Lin says is “mulling one-year deals as a way to reinforce a rotation.” The Padres will be without Mike Clevinger in 2021 due to Tommy John surgery, leaving a vacancy in the starting mix.
Some more from around baseball…
- Jason Varitek officially joined the Red Sox coaching staff earlier this month, working in the new position of game planning coordinator. This is Varitek’s first assignment as a full-time MLB coach, and the longtime former catcher tells Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that eventually managing a team is “the ultimate goal” down the road in his post-playing career. Varitek has worked as a special assistant within the Boston front office since 2012, a post that has allowed him to dabble in several different organizational facets such as scouting, player development, and (most recently) working with Red Sox catchers throughout the 2020 season. “There are no set parameters” to the game planning coordinator job, Varitek said: “I’ll work with the catchers and pitchers and be a liaison with the analytics people. Whatever comes my way, I’ll help out. It ends up being the same thing I have been doing, helping the players grow.”
- The Pirates are known to be considering all options on the trade front this winter, though The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel (subscription required) doesn’t think Josh Bell or Gregory Polanco will be dealt since the Bucs would likely be selling low on either player. “It’s more likely than not” that Joe Musgrove will be traded, though Biertempfel also thinks it’s possible Musgrove could be signed to a contract extension, with Pittsburgh either seeing him as a long-term piece or perhaps using the extension as a way of enhancing Musgrove’s trade value.
Padres Release Luis Perdomo
Right-hander Luis Perdomo has cleared release waivers and is now a free agent, the Padres announced this afternoon. He was designated for assignment when the team set its roster in advance of the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.
Perdomo, 27, is a former Rule 5 pickup himself. The Padres gave him 146 2/3 frames of work that Rule 5 season even as he was clobbered for a 5.71 ERA, as the team didn’t want to let go of a power sinker with such strong ground-ball tendencies. Things took a turn for the better in 2017 when Perdomo pitched a career-high 163 2/3 innings with a 4.67 ERA, a 4.40 FIP and a whopping 61.9 percent grounder rate out of the San Diego rotation. The Padres moved Perdomo to the bullpen in 2019 and saw him turn in 72 frames of 4.00 ERA/3.60 FIP ball with a diminished but still-strong 52.5 percent ground-ball rate.
Unfortunately for the organization and for Perdomo himself, he wasn’t able to sustain that output in 2020. The righty went down with a forearm injury in September after 17 1/3 ugly innings, and a month later the Padres announced that Perdomo had undergone Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the entire 2021 season as a result. It’s possible that the Padres bring Perdomo back on a minor league pact with an eye toward getting some value out of him in 2022, but he’ll have the opportunity to see if other clubs have similar interest.
Perdomo’s career 5.19 ERA isn’t much to look at, but he has a 4.44 FIP, 4.20 xFIP and a 57.3 percent ground-ball rate in 444 1/3 innings as Major Leaguer.
Trade Candidate: Francisco Mejia
The Padres overhauled their catching mix at the August 31 trade deadline, acquiring Austin Nola and Jason Castro in separate trades with the Mariners and Angels, while Luis Torrens went to Seattle as part of the Nola trade and Austin Hedges was sent to the Indians as part of the trade return for Mike Clevinger.
The end result was that Francisco Mejia was the only catcher who entered and exited deadline season in a Padres uniform, though he wasn’t on the active roster. Mejia was on the injured list due to a thumb contusion and, once activated, he played in only one more MLB game before being sent to the Padres’ alternate training site. As we get deeper into the offseason, it’s fair to wonder whether that one September game (a pinch-hit appearance on Sept. 16) might also mark Mejia’s final outing as a Padre.
Nola is still the projected starter, but recent reports from Yadier Molina himself have connected San Diego to Molina’s free agent market. Star catching prospect Luis Campusano also made his big league debut in 2020 and, perhaps tellingly, was included on the Padres’ postseason roster over Mejia as the third catcher. However, Campusano’s status is currently up in the air following an October arrest for felony marijuana possession.
Given the uncertainty over Campusano and the chances that Molina could sign elsewhere, it’s quite possible that the Friars could simply hang onto Mejia and use him as Nola’s backup. (If not Molina, another veteran catcher could be signed as further depth, perhaps to a minor league deal rather than the MLB contract Molina will demand.) If the Padres did sign Molina or another noted veteran catcher, however, Mejia could suddenly be expendable.
It was back in July 2018 that Mejia was a much more prominent trade chip, as he was sent from the Indians to the Padres in exchange for both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber. At the time, Mejia was widely considered one of baseball’s top minor leaguers, ranked as high as fifth in Baseball Prospectus’ top-100 prospect ranking prior to the 2018 season. Over an even 2200 career plate appearances at the minor league level, Mejia has hit .295/.349/.462 with 58 home runs and looked all the world like a player ready for the Show.
Even in 2019, Mejia performed well enough in his first extended taste of Major League action that he seemed to be living up to the prospect hype. Despite two separate IL stints due to a knee sprain and an oblique strain, Mejia still hit a respectable .265/.316/.438 over 244 PA in 2019. Unfortunately, Mejia couldn’t come close to this form last season, hitting just .077/.143/.179 in 42 PA — with Hedges posting equally dismal numbers, it isn’t surprising that San Diego chose to shake up their catching corps at the deadline.
Mejia only turned 25 last month and is still close enough to his blue-chip prospect days that he would certainly generate some interest on the trade market. Any number of teams would like to upgrade their catching situation, ranging both from rebuilding clubs to would-be contenders. The Yankees, Phillies, Nationals, Mets, Braves, Marlins, Rays, Brewers, Reds, Angels, or Cardinals are some of the names in the latter group, and the two New York teams, St. Louis, and Anaheim have also been linked to Molina.
While lots of teams need catching, one of the outstanding questions about Mejia is whether or not he’ll ultimately stick at catcher over the long term. Mejia saw some action as a corner outfielder when he was in Cleveland’s farm system, and he also played four MLB games as a left fielder for the Padres in 2019. Obviously Mejia’s bat carries more value at catcher than at any other position, though showing an ability to at least passably play on the grass might not hurt Mejia’s trade value all that much, given how multi-positional versatility is so prized by modern front offices.
The Padres’ interest in Molina shows that the club has at least some inclination to alter its catching mix yet again, so this might be the position to watch since San Diego is otherwise pretty set elsewhere around the diamond. Rather than again deal from their deep farm system, the Padres could prefer to move an MLB-ready player like Mejia who might be in need of a change of scenery.
Yadier Molina Says Five Teams Have Shown Interest
Yadier Molina has long stated that he wants to remain with the Cardinals, and he reiterated that hope in an interview with Laura A. Bonnelly V. of Mas Que Pelota (hat tip to Deportivo Z 101’s Hector Gomez). However, Molina also revealed four other teams who have shown interest in his services — the Yankees, Mets, Padres, and Angels.
The two New York clubs had already been linked to Molina’s market, and the Cards have been in talks for seemingly close to a year about another contract to keep Molina in St. Louis. The Angels and Padres are new additions to the hunt, however, and each represents an interesting possible landing spot for the nine-time Gold Glover.
At first glance, San Diego already seems set at catcher, with Austin Nola behind the plate, former top prospect Francisco Mejia slated as the backup and star prospect Luis Campusano making his MLB debut this season. Signing Molina, however, would add immeasurably more experience and some veteran leadership to a team that plans to contend for a championship in 2021. While Nola’s ability to catch makes him a particularly valuable utility asset, he can also play several other positions around the diamond; the Padres could use Nola in a somewhat normal backup catcher role to spell Molina once a week, and then otherwise deploy him at other positions.
Molina has expressed interest in a two-year contract, but even if Molina were to land such a deal, that wouldn’t be much of a roadblock to Campusano as the Padres’ eventual catcher of the future. Mejia could be the odd man out if Molina joined the team, as Mejia has yet to show much over parts of four MLB seasons with the Indians and Padres. That said, Mejia has only 362 career plate appearances, only just turned 25, and was a consensus top-35 prospect as recently as the 2018-19 offseason, so he would still be an interesting trade chip if the Padres made him expendable.
There are some obvious family ties for Molina in Anaheim, as his brother Jose is the Angels’ catching coach, and his other brother Bengie spent his first eight MLB seasons in an Angels uniform. Yadier would also be reunited with his old Cardinals teammate Albert Pujols for the final season of Pujols’ ten-year, $240MM deal with the Halos.
Beyond the personal connections, Molina would also fill a need for Los Angeles since Max Stassi could miss the start of the season after undergoing hip surgery in October. Depending on how quickly Stassi recovers, the Angels could start Molina (and use Anthony Bemboom as the backup) until Stassi is ready, and then potentially move into something closer to a timeshare, though it’s probably safe to guess Molina might end up getting the bulk of the action.
Padres Designate Luis Perdomo, Select 3 Players
The Padres announced that they have designated right-hander Luis Perdomo for assignment and selected three players – righties Reggie Lawson and Mason Thompson, and infielder Tucupita Marcano.
Perdomo is off the Padres’ roster as they prepare for this winter’s Rule 5 Draft, but he actually first joined the team as a Rule 5 selection from the Rockies before the 2015 campaign. Perdomo has since given the 444 1/3 innings of 5.19 ERA/4.44 FIP ball with 6.74 K/9, 3.26 BB/9 and an excellent 57.3 percent groundball rate. Now, if any team takes on the 27-year-old, it could get him for two seasons of arbitration control.
Lawson was the 71st pick in the 2016 draft who ranked as a top 100 prospect that year. He made his Double-A debut in 2019 and pitched to a 5.20 ERA/4.14 FIP with 11.71 K/9 and 4.23 BB/9 in 27 2/3 frames. MLB.com ranks him as the Padres’ 10th-best prospect and gives him a chance to at least turn into a stellar major league reliever.
Thompson is not among the Padres’ top 30 prospects at MLB.com, but the site is high on Marcano, whom it places at No. 8 in the team’s system. The 21-year-old middle infielder “could develop into a serious on-base threat as a bat-first middle infielder,” per MLB.com.
Offseason Outlook: San Diego Padres
The 2020 campaign represented a major step in the right direction for the Padres, who clinched their first playoff berth since 2006 and advanced in the postseason for the first time since 1998. While things are no doubt looking up for the franchise, its offseason hasn’t come without some drastic changes in the early going. The team found out earlier this week that right-hander Mike Clevinger won’t pitch in 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and then executive chairman Ron Fowler stepped down from his role. Fowler’s exit leaves the Padres with a new control person in Ron Seidler.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Manny Machado, 3B: $240MM through 2028
- Eric Hosmer, 1B: $79MM through 2025
- Wil Myers, OF: $41MM through 2022 (including $1MM buyout for 2023)
- Drew Pomeranz, LHP: $22MM through 2023
- Mike Clevinger, RHP: $11.5MM through 2022
- Craig Stammen, RHP: $5MM through 2021 (including $1MM buyout for 2022)
- Pierce Johnson, RHP: $3MM through 2021 (including $1MM buyout for 2022)
Arbitration-Eligible Players
Note on arb-eligible players: this year’s arbitration projections are more volatile than ever, given the unprecedented revenue losses felt by clubs and the shortened 2020 schedule. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, who developed our arbitration projection model, used three different methods to calculate different projection numbers. You can see the full projections and an explanation of each if you click here, but for the purposes of our Outlook series, we’ll be using Matt’s 37-percent method — extrapolating what degree of raise a player’s 2020 rate of play would have earned him in a full 162-game slate and then awarding him 37 percent of that raise.
- Dan Altavilla –$700K
- Zach Davies – $7.2MM
- Greg Garcia – $1.6MM
- Dinelson Lamet –$2.5MM
- Emilio Pagan – $1.2MM
- Luis Perdomo – $1.0MM
- Tommy Pham – $8.0MM
- Matt Strahm – $1.6MM
- Non-tender candidates: Garcia, Perdomo, Pham
Option Decisions
- Declined 1B Mitch Moreland‘s $3MM option in favor of $500K buyout
Free Agents
- Moreland, Garrett Richards, Trevor Rosenthal, Jurickson Profar, Kirby Yates, Jason Castro
The Padres are fortunate enough that they shouldn’t have to spend much time worrying about their catcher position or their infield in the coming months. In-season acquisition Austin Nola looks like the answer as the Padres’ primary backstop, though they may have to decide whether to deploy Francisco Mejia as his backup, use him as a trade chip and turn the role over to Luis Campusano, or shop for help from outside the organization. Other than that, the Padres look set with the superstar third base-shortstop tandem of Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the left side of their infield and second baseman Jake Cronenworth and first baseman Eric Hosmer occupying the other positions. The main concern in that group is Tatis’ future, as the Padres have to worry about keeping him in the fold for the long haul with a contract extension. The two sides have already expressed interest in mapping out a long-term arrangement.
There is less certainty in the outfield, though the Padres appear to have their solution in center with Trent Grisham. Right fielder Wil Myers had a tremendous bounce-back year in 2020, but if the Padres had their druthers, perhaps they would move on from the pricey three seasons left on his contract in a trade. That looks unlikely unless San Diego takes back a similarly inflated contract, so Myers figures to remain with the team. While those two positions may be spoken for going forward, left field looks like less of a sure thing. The Padres could just keep Tommy Pham, but his production cratered during an injury-shortened 2020, and non-tendering him would save the Padres about $8MM. Meanwhile, Jurickson Profar – who played more games in left than any other Padre last season – is a free agent.
If the Padres say goodbye to Pham, there’s a case that they should just re-sign Profar, who had a respectable year. Otherwise, Michael Brantley, Joc Pederson, Brett Gardner and Robbie Grossman are among those they could target in free agency. Of course, more choices will become available when teams announce which players they’re non-tendering.
With Clevinger, Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies and Chris Paddack comprising 80 percent of their starting staff, the Padres’ rotation seemed to be in enviable shape just a couple days ago. Their confidence probably took a hit Wednesday, though, with Clevinger’s out-of-nowhere TJ procedure. He won’t be a factor next year, but the Padres do still have most of their rotation settled with Lamet and Davies, who each broke out in 2020, and Paddack. They also feature MacKenzie Gore, Luis Patino, Adrian Morejon, Joey Lucchesi and Ryan Weathers as in-house options who could assume starting spots in 2021.
If the Padres don’t want to turn over spots to two members of that group, they’ll have plenty of free-agent possibilities. Southern California native Trevor Bauer is easily the cream of the crop, but signing him may require the Padres to hand out yet another nine-figure contract. More modest options include their own free agent, Garrett Richards, as well as Masahiro Tanaka, Jake Odorizzi, ex-Friar Corey Kluber, Jose Quintana and James Paxton, among others. The Padres also look like a realistic trade suitor for the Rangers’ Lance Lynn, who’s due a modest $8MM next year and whom his team seems likely to trade.
The bullpen may be an area of some emphasis in the offseason for the Padres, who could lose summer pickup Trevor Rosenthal in free agency. Former star closer Kirby Yates is also on the market, though he didn’t pitch much in 2020 because of injuries. That said, the Padres do have a lot of their 2021 bullpen already figured out with Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan, Pierce Johnson, Matt Strahm and Craig Stammen set to reprise their roles. Austin Adams and Tim Hill are along among the veterans remaining in the mix, but it still wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Padres seek bullpen help from elsewhere. The big prize could be Josh Hader, whom the Brewers are open to trading; otherwise, in no particular order, Rosenthal, Yates, former Padre Brad Hand, Liam Hendriks, Blake Treinen, Trevor May, Jake McGee, Mark Melancon and Shane Greene are some late-game hurlers who should draw their share of interest in free agency.
With the Padres in the throes of a seemingly endless playoff drought at this time last offseason, general manager A.J. Preller had his back up against the wall a winter ago. Preller and the team he built found a way to deliver, though, and now the Padres look like a club that should contend again in 2021 with another productive offseason. The Padres are short on glaring holes, but there is at least room for improvement in their pitching staff and perhaps their outfield.
Ron Fowler Steps Down As Padres’ Chairman; Peter Seidler Named Control Person
2:25pm: Major League Baseball formally announced that Seidler has been approved as the new control person in San Diego.
2:00pm: Ron Fowler has stepped down as executive chairman of the Padres and sold a majority stake of the team to general partner Peter Seidler, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Seidler, who was already part of the organization’s ownership group, has already been approved by the other 29 owners as the Padres’ new control person, according to Acee.
The 77-year-old Fowler will remain involved with the Padres as a minority shareholder and as an advisor. More notably, he’ll still have a voice in next year’s collective bargaining talks, per the report. Fowler previously served as the chairman of MLB’s labor committee in the last wave of collective bargaining talks in 2015. He figures to again be an influential voice in a contentious set of negotiations after years of frustration from players, culminating in this spring’s three-month return-to-play staredown against ownership.
Fowler has been a relatively vocal owner in recent years, weighing in with thoughts on his club’s struggles on multiple occasions and also going into a perhaps unexpected level of detail on some free-agent pursuits — Eric Hosmer most notable among them. More recently, Fowler promised that “heads will roll, beginning with my own,” barring improvement from the club in the 2020 season.
The Padres, of course, did improve substantially in 2020 — not only posting a 37-23 record in this year’s truncated slate of games but riding a second-place finish to their first postseason berth since 2006. Fowler’s Padres toppled the Cardinals in the Wild Card round of this year’s expanded playoff format, but the absence of top starters Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet loomed large as they fell to the eventual World Series Champion Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
Fowler perhaps foreshadowed some change earlier this summer when he spoke about financial uncertainties regarding the 2021 season due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and questions about what level of attendance will be possible next year.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/17/20
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Padres have agreed to a deal with right-hander Parker Markel on a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, Steve Adams of MLBTR tweets. Markel was a 30th-round pick of the Rays in 2010 who has since spent time with a few other organizations. The 30-year-old made his major league debut in 2019 and combined for a 7.77 ERA/7.30 FIP with 9.82 K/9 and 6.95 BB/9 in 22 innings between the Mariners and Pirates. Markel has a much better track record at the higher levels of the minor, though, including a stingy 2.57 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9 over 101 2/3 frames in Triple-A ball.
- The Indians have re-signed left-hander Anthony Gose and infielder Andruw Monasterio to minors deals, the team announced. Gose will be in spring training as a non-roster player. The former Tigers and Blue Jays outfielder transferred to the mound in 2017 and has since put up a 4.39 ERA with 10.0 K/9 in 65 2/3 minor league innings, owing in part to a blazing fastball, but Gose has walked more than eight batters per nine. Monasterio joined the Indians in their trade that sent catcher Yan Gomes to the Nationals in December 2018. While he’s still just 23, Monasterio got off to an inauspicious start with the Indians when he hit .217/.279/.253 with one home run in 279 Double-A plate appearances in 2019.
Mike Clevinger To Undergo Tommy John Surgery; 2-Year Deal Official
The Padres announced that right-hander Mike Clevinger will undergo Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the entire 2021 season as a result.
This is stunning news, though it won’t bring an end to Clevinger’s run with the Padres. The team announced that the two-year deal it was working on with Clevinger last week is now official, so he will remain with the organization for his final pair of seasons of club control. Clevinger will earn $11.5MM on the pact, Joel Sherman of the New York Post was among those to report. Unsurprisingly, it’s a backloaded agreement that will see Clevinger take home a $2MM salary in 2021 and $6.5MM in 2022, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. He also received a $3MM signing bonus. Clevinger will earn $250K in incentives if he starts five games in ’22 and another $250K if he starts 10, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
Now 29 years old, Clevinger has been one of the majors’ most effective starters since he broke out in Cleveland in 2017. But the Indians decided to part with Clevinger this past August when they sent him to the Padres in a mega-deal before the trade deadline. Clevinger then helped the Padres to their first playoff berth since 2006, throwing 19 innings of six-run ball with 9.0 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9, though he battled elbow issues in his brief debut with the club. He only threw one playoff inning, which came in a start against the Dodgers in the NLDS, before departing.
Little did the Padres know that Clevinger’s most recent outing on Oct. 6 would be his last until at least the start of the 2022 season. Until now, it seemed safe to assume Clevinger would rejoin Dinelson Lamet and Zach Davies near the top of the Padres’ rotation next year. In light of this news, though, it’s unclear how the Padres will fill out their starting five beyond Lamet, Davies and Chris Paddack. There are some in-house possibilities in MacKenzie Gore, Luis Patino, Adrian Morejon, Joey Lucchesi and Ryan Weathers. Otherwise, the Padres could turn to the free-agent market or look to acquire help via trade. Either way, losing Clevinger for all of next year looks like a devastating blow for the up-and-coming San Diego franchise.