- Padres reliever Robert Suarez is making progress in his return to a big league mound, beginning a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League as noted by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Suarez has been on the 60-day IL all season dealing with an elbow injury, but was a key piece of the San Diego bullpen last season with a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 innings of work. Sanders adds that Suarez is expected back sometime after the All Star break. Upon his return, Suarez figures to bolster a bullpen that ranks bottom ten in the majors with a 4.26 FIP.
Padres Rumors
Yu Darvish Scratched From Sunday Start
- The Padres will be without right-hander Yu Darvish tomorrow, as the veteran hurler was scratched from his start due to a bout of the flu. Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune adds that, per manager Bob Melvin, he may not be able to pitch Monday either. Who will start in Darvish’s stead tomorrow is currently unclear, though the club did recall right-hander Pedro Avila earlier today. Avila has made 13 starts at the Triple-A level this season, posting an 8.49 ERA in 46 2/3 innings of work.
Padres Make Four Roster Moves
The Padres made four pitching moves today, including the activation of left-hander Tom Cosgrove from the 15-day injured list. San Diego also called up right-hander Pedro Avila from Triple-A, while optioning southpaw Ray Kerr to Triple-A and placing righty Drew Carlton the 15-day IL due to right elbow inflammation.
Carlton signed a minor league contract during the offseason, and was promoted to San Diego’s active roster in the middle of May. Pitching mostly in multi-inning relief situations, Carlton has a 4.35 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate over 20 2/3 frames. That ERA took a hit in yesterday’s game, as Carlton allowed three runs (two earned) in two-thirds of an inning, including a walkoff homer from the Reds’ Spencer Steer. It isn’t known whether Carlton’s elbow issue developed during the game, or if he was trying to pitch through some soreness.
Cosgrove returns from the IL after missing only the minimum 15 days with a strained left hamstring. A 12th-round pick for the Padres in the 2017 draft, the 27-year-old made his MLB debut this season and has made a very solid impression in his first 17 innings in the Show. Cosgrove has a tiny 0.53 ERA and 3.4% walk rate, as well as a solid 25.9% strikeout rate. His SIERA is naturally higher (3.00), as Cosgrove has a perfect 100% strand rate and he has benefited from a .158 BABIP. Still, it’s not a bad showing at all for a pitcher who wasn’t really on the radar for a call-up heading into 2023, but Cosgrove has pitched well enough to retain his spot in the Padres’ bullpen.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: The Angels Trade for Infielders, Indecisive NL Central Teams and Aaron Judge’s Toe
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:
- The Angels acquired Eduardo Escobar from the Mets and Mike Moustakas from the Rockies (1:25)
- The Pirates and Cubs and Cardinals are thinking about their respective trade deadline approaches (7:20)
- The Yankees’ hopes are hanging on Aaron Judge’s toe (16:05)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- How do you think the Red Sox will approach the deadline? Will they try to toe the line like last season (which did not work)? (18:50)
- I would like to know what you think the Padres are going to do? They have numerous holes in that lineup, they are selling out game after game at home? You think major trades forthcoming? Or what? (22:40)
- What do you think are the chances that the Braves trade Vaughn Grissom at the deadline? What caliber of player do you believe a package built around Grissom would bring in? (25:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- Exciting Youth Movements in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, Bad Central Divisions and the Dodgers Want Pitching – listen here
- Marcus Stroman Lobbies for Extension, Mets’ Woes and Astros Seeking Bats – listen here
- Elly De La Cruz, Alek Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for Jacob deGrom – listen here
Nabil Crismatt Elects Free Agency
Right-hander Nabil Crismatt has elected free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers, the Padres announced. San Diego had designated him for assignment on Tuesday.
Crismatt has spent the past three seasons with the Friars. He signed a minor league deal heading into the 2021 campaign and cracked the Opening Day roster. That proved to be an excellent depth addition for the San Diego front office. While he worked mostly in low-leverage relief, the Colombian-born hurler was a quality middle innings arm. He topped 65 innings in both seasons between 2021 and ’22, posting respective ERAs of 3.76 and 2.94.
Between those two years, he worked to a 3.39 mark over 148 2/3 frames. Crismatt’s 21.6% strikeout rate was a couple points below league average for a reliever, but he showed sold control and kept the ball on the ground on half the batted balls he allowed.
The 2023 season has been more challenging. Crismatt allowed multiple runs in four of his first six appearances before landing on the injured list midway through April with a left hip strain. He spent two months on the shelf and only got into one game after returning before San Diego took him off the roster. Crismatt has never been a hard thrower, but his average fastball velocity was down from the 90-91 MPH range to 88.8 MPH this year.
Crismatt has exhausted his minor league options, so a DFA was the only way for the Padres to take him off the big league roster. Because he also cleared waivers while a member of the Cardinals’ organization back in 2020, he had the right to decline this outright assignment and test the open market. He certainly did enough over the prior two seasons to draw minor league interest around the league.
Latest On Luis Campusano
Padres catcher Luis Campusano is making notable progress in his rehab from a sprained left thumb. As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, Campusano hit on the field prior to today’s game against the Nationals before catching a bullpen session for right-hander Yu Darvish. As noted by MLB.com, manager Bob Melvin considered today’s steps forward “significant” as Campusano continues his rehab process, but the club has not yet set a timeline for the catcher to begin a rehab assignment.
Campusano appeared in just seven games this season prior to going on the injured list, leaving much of the catching duties to Austin Nola, who’s struggled to a brutal .144/.263/.195 slash line this season. More recently, the Padres have learned on in-season addition Gary Sanchez behind the plate. In 80 plate appearances since arriving in San Diego, Sanchez has slashed .206/.275/.521 with a wRC+ of 114 while grading out as a roughly average defensive catcher. Still, Campusano’s eventual return figures to give the Padres insurance if Sanchez’s production takes a turn for the worse and an alternative to Nola as the second catcher on the roster.
Padres Select Matt Waldron
TODAY: The Padres have officially announced their selection of Waldron’s contract. To make room for Waldron on the active roster, left-hander Ray Kerr was optioned to Triple-A. Kerr had a 6.00 ERA and 5.77 FIP in six innings of work out of the San Diego bullpen, and now figures to serve as depth with El Paso going forward.
JUNE 23: The Padres will promote knuckleballer Matt Waldron to start tomorrow night’s game against the Nationals, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune). He’s not on the 40-man roster but San Diego has an opening after designating Nabil Crismatt for assignment on Tuesday. Michael Wacha had been slated to start the game. The Friars are skipping his outing due to some shoulder fatigue, tweets AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.
Waldron, a 26-year-old righty, entered the professional ranks as an 18th-round pick of the Indians back in 2019. Cleveland traded him to San Diego after the 2020 season as the player to be named later in the Mike Clevinger/Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill blockbuster.
The University of Nebraska product has slowly progressed up the minor league ranks over the two and a half years since then. He reached Triple-A El Paso midway through last season and has spent all of 2023 there. He has a 7.02 ERA over 66 2/3 innings this year, starting 12 of 14 appearances.
That’s obviously not a strong run prevention mark, even in the context of the brutal Pacific Coast League setting for pitchers. Waldron ranks 27th among 38 PCL hurlers (minimum 40 innings) in ERA. He’s seventh among that group in strikeout rate, however, fanning just under a quarter of opponents. He has kept his walks to a manageable 7.8% clip, with the inflated ERA largely attributable to a batting average on balls in play just shy of .400.
It’s unclear if Waldron will get more than one start in his initial MLB look. Even if it’s a one-off appearance for now, it’ll mark both a major personal achievement and a win for fans of the knuckleball.
According to Statcast, there hasn’t been a single knuckleball thrown in the major leagues (outside of a few scattered eephus pitches from position players in mop-up duty) in either of the last two seasons. Mickey Jannis made one relief appearance for the Orioles in 2021; the last knuckleballer to pitch more than twice was Steven Wright back in 2019.
Michael Wacha To Skip Start Due To Shoulder Fatigue
- Knuckleballer Matt Waldron will start today’s game for the Padres, as Michael Wacha (the original scheduled starter) will skip a turn in the rotation due to some shoulder fatigue. Manager Bob Melvin described the move as “proactive,” telling the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders and other reporters that Wacha has “got a little bit of history there with the shoulder. He’s been as good as any pitcher in the National League so this is something we don’t want to push.” Wacha has missed some time with shoulder issues in three of the last four seasons but not any truly significant time, making this seemingly more of a nagging injury than a top-tier concern. Wacha has a 2.90 ERA over 80 2/3 innings for San Diego this season, with a 1.7 fWAR that leads all Padres pitchers. Despite a below-average strikeout rate, Wacha has relied on soft contact and good control to achieve that ERA, and both his changeup and (due to some batted-ball luck) four-seamer have been premium pitches.
A’s Claim Angel Felipe
The Athletics have claimed right-hander Angel Felipe off waivers from the Padres, per a team announcement. Felipe has been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s transferred righty Zach Jackson from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Felipe, 25, joins the rebuilding Athletics as a power-armed righty reliever with questionable command. Baseball America ranked him 29th among Padres prospects just a few weeks ago, touting a four-seamer and two-seamer that could both reach triple digits, as well as a potentially plus slider and potentially above-average changeup. Felipe is still relatively new to pitching, having played shortstop in his teenage days before moving to the mound upon signing as an amateur with the Rays.
This had been Felipe’s second season with the Padres, with whom he signed a minor league deal in the 2021-22 offseason. He’s yet to make his MLB debut and has spent the entire season in Triple-A El Paso, where he’s posted an ugly 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Poor command has contributed to those ugly run-prevention numbers, evidenced by a 14.9% walk rate, a pair of hit batters and seven wild pitches in his brief time on the mound this year. However, Felipe has also fanned 32.2% of his opponents and has a history of gaudy ground-ball rates — even if this year’s 46.7% clip is “only” a few percentage points above league-average.
The Athletics have virtually no stability in their big league bullpen at the moment, and given the bleak outlook on their current rebuild, it’s only logical that they’d roll the dice on a big arm even with command issues. Flamethrowers who struggle to locate the ball aren’t exactly uncommon in today’s game, but the A’s can afford a longer leash than most clubs given that they’re not close to competing. Felipe has an option year remaining beyond the current season, so Oakland doesn’t need to make any kind of decision on the right-hander’s future in the short term.
Padres Designate Nabil Crismatt For Assignment
The Padres announced that right-hander Seth Lugo has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Nabil Crismatt designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Crismatt, 28, began his major league career with the Cardinals in 2020. He only appeared in six games that season and was outrighted off the roster at season’s end. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres prior to the 2021 season and has been with them since. He made the club’s Opening Day roster that year and has served as an up-and-down arm for the club in recent years, often throwing multiple innings out of the bullpen while also getting frequently optioned to the minors.
Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 148 2/3 innings over 95 appearances. He posted a combined 3.39 ERA over those two campaigns, striking out 21.6% of opponents while walking 7.3% and getting ground balls on 50.6% of balls in play.
He had exhausted his option years at that point and is now out of options here in 2023. This year, he made six appearances and struggled badly with a 10.80 ERA before landing on the injured list due to a hip strain. He returned from the IL a few days ago and tossed a scoreless inning on Friday. That dropped his ERA to 9.82 but he has now been squeezed off the roster.
The Padres will now have a week to trade Crismatt or pass him through waivers. His results have obviously been poor so far this year but it’s a small sample size and perhaps at least partially explained by the hip injury. He might garner interest based on his work in other seasons. Since he has a previous career outright, he would have the right reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.
