Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 94 | San Diego Padres | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

The San Diego Daddies got some talent over there. There will be some position battles in Spring Training. Tatis Jr. and Machado will be fun to watch for a full year. Let’s talk about the Padres.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to another episode of team profile and projection and the team we're doing today, as you saw in the title, The San Diego Padres. Jake, you know brown is the new black? Go on. Actually, in baseball, brown is the new blue for the Padres. Everyone's got red and blue and the Padres are changing their uniform color. They're bringing back the brown and yellow. I like it.

I'm a big fan. So that was the biggest thing that happened to their franchise in the last 10 years. And we celebrated it accordingly. And we're all excited about it. Nice. Okay. Now that we got that out of the way. This Padre's episode has a lot to unfold.

Yeah. One of the more active teams this off season, I'll just run you through the gambit. Is that the term of a... I think it's gamut. Gamut. I'll just run you through the gamut of what they did. I think he's from X-Men.

Wow. They agreed to a two-year contract with Pierce Johnson. They brought in Drew Pomerantz on a four-year deal. That kind of shocked people to be a bullpen piece. They traded with the Brewers to get Zach Davies and Trent Grisham early on in the off-season. Then they got... Jurekson pro far from the athletics, kind of an under the radar move that didn't get much pub. They bring in Tommy Fam, Jake Cronworth, and Emilio Pagan by trading with the raise.

And I think that's it, right? Yeah, pretty, pretty active offseason. I mean, in Padre fans, well, you know Padre fans on Twitter, they are, they are a feisty bunch. Well, we're probably got a lot of Padres fans listening to this. and Jake's right. Isn't there a term for like a pissed off animal that's like something in a box or something? Scorpion and a box. I mean,

they're just when you crack that box open, they are ready to go and I love it. And if you're one of those people, you're going to love Tommy fam because Tommy fam don't take no shit. Yeah. I just Googled it, 128 of the angriest animals ever that you wouldn't want to meet in your way. Number one, Mia the grumpy puppy, and it's just a list of people's pets.

Okay, yeah. I'm going to skip that? Yeah, I close that out for now. Padres fans have been given the reputation on social media's to be very pissy. Like, I don't get it. Like, not, like, Yankee fans on Twitter are just, like, a vast majority of Lado are kind of dumb and arrogant. For Padres fans, you can compliment them,

and they'll be like, they'll take it as an insult and then get pissy about it. Very interesting. So if we didn't lose you already, stay with us. I've got a lot of good to say about the Padres, James. And my initial reaction normally, you know, we dive into the hitting or the pitching. The depth of this organization right now is really nice.

I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm in that fan graphs page, and you've got a lot of guys that have been contributing. I mean, right now they technically have Will Myers as a, as a bench platoon guy. Austin Hedges, who is a special defensive catcher, but really hasn't hit. He's, right now they have them backing up, Mejia. And even, you know, when you go on the pitching staff and you start going in their minor leagues, you have a some names you're familiar with if you were following them recently and a couple other guys i mean Jared ikov um his projected starting triple a he threw a lot of innings for the fills last year uh guys like

uh you know cal quantquantral the big jake and john boy debate of of 09 um and just some big prospects mixed in more at home um and and we've got other guys on the big squad so i i love the depth here my question is going to be um yes they have depth but how many dudes are really going to step up um and you're i guess it starts with tatis junior and machado right yes but i was fist pumping because you said oh nine instead of 19 so i finally got you into my club oh no i was doing that as a jakey joke hmm i don't know if it counts counts okay well fuck It lands on Tatis and Machado. The offense will revolver on them.

Fernando Tatis Jr., the young 20-year-old last year, he played an 84 game streak. Yeah. And was amazing. The most exciting rookie in baseball, Pete Alonzo won the award. I thought he would anyway just because there is like an East Coast bias, and there's also a home-run derby bias and home-run dice and all that shit.

And I'm not trying to take anything away by Alonzo. What he did was awesome. But Tatis's numbers in those 80 games before he got hurt are crazy. Yeah. 969 OPS, 152 OPS plus 22 home runs in 84 games. I'm no math major, but that's like every four game. Every four games, he had a home run? Sure.

16 stolen bases Yeah Which got him second in the on the team Tied for second He only played 80 games It was cool Super young too There's no hole when you look at the stats

I mean he got on base really well for a young guy He hit for contact he hit for power And I mean yeah Number one prospect in baseball for a reason Yeah it was on pace for like a 200 hit season With 40 home runs Yeah It's tough to do because it's just like, you know, he, I'm a believer in guys need to go around the league a couple of times before we can really judge them.

But what he did in his 80 games was amazing. So also really fun glove work. Go check out Fernando Tartis if you want. Mani Machado had, I mean, a good year if your name isn't Mani Machado. If your name is Manuel Margo and you put up a 109 OPS plus and a 796 OPS, You're saying, wow, pretty good year for Manny Margo. But when your name is Manny Machado, not Manny Margo, 796 OPS and 109 OPS plus isn't great. Right.

So just so we know the scale there. And I think the two of them will be the offense. It will revolve around them. Yeah. And I'd expect Machado to get better. I can't believe last year was his age 26 season. geez um but yeah i mean he you know adjustment to a new league you and i do believe in that and uh you know the second the the minute tatis got hurt the padre season ended um you know this is another team that

was hovering a five they were at 500 around the all-star break um they end up finishing 70 and 92 so that's a really rough second half of the season um and you know hey for all the for all the trash that Machado is always going to have for when he was trying to be a bad boy. And, you know, he doesn't bust it down to first every time, which now teams are almost happy about if you're not getting hurt running out a ground ball to second. You know, Machado just played his 156 games last year for the Padres with 32 home runs. And I would, I would expect to boost in his stats because he's, he's a special player. When Fernando Tattis got hurt, it was like August 24th, Manny Machado,

had an eight-something OPS the rest of the way he and he had a 265 batting average Machado when Tatis got hurt. The rest of the way he hit 2.13 and a 760 OPS. So like you were saying, the team kind of died with Tatis there. Yeah. And I mean, it makes sense. Guys got incredible energy and he's just a special player. And Tommy Fam is, I love the addition of Tommy Fam.

He's an intense dude. He's a really good on-base player. So if he can get on base in front of Machado, Tatez can do his thing. I mean, that is a tough top of the lineup. I mean, if you want to be picky, you're saying, hey, let's throw in a lefty to mix it up. But those three are so good at what they do. You don't need to really get lost in that. And then from there, man, like I was talking about the depth is a good thing.

it's also I mean, Hosmer's going to be at first base They paid them and you're just You're gonna get a solid ball player He's probably he's definitely overpaid But that is what it is The part that's going to be odd to me Besides jerks and pro Fars breakout year

Which I'll talk about later is I mean When you go through the Grishams Corderos Ty France Greg Garcia Will Myers Well you know what you're getting from Will Myers But I mean these guys even We have dudes in Tripoli

that we've seen Josh Naylor played a lot of baseball for the Padres last year. And I am interested to see, I mean, how that sorts itself out. Are guys going to rise up, or is it just going to be this kind of revolving door of who can do it and who can't? I don't know what that really looks like from Padres land. I mean, Austin Hedges, you mentioned him. He's not going to be the catcher, right? He's right now, he's the backup to Mejia. Mejia played 79 games last year and had a 754 OPS.

Hedges played 102 games and had a 563 OPS. Yeah, I was going to say, Hedges, good-looking guy, nice defensive catcher. I mean, he-ha, hot boy of summer. He swings with an invisible bat, it seems. Yeah. So. So, yeah.

And I guess it becomes one of those things. Does this become a fun Padres team where it's like, hey, next dude up, you're getting. the call. I mean, like I said, Nailer played 94 games last year. 719 OPS. It's nothing special. He's a guy. He was 22 years old. I mean, what is he thinking and what's the vibe around this team? Are they going to keep trying dudes out until they find something that works? Because that actually becomes kind of a fun team energy. If you're hot, you're hot. If you're not, you're not. You know that song. But, you know, it feels like, I don't know. I don't know. I,

I mean, you know what you're going to get from Machado, Tatez Jr. and Tommy Fam, from the, and even Hosmer, even though it's not special, you know what you're going to get. The rest of the guys is Franchi Cordero going to be an everyday center fielder? They gave him the keys to the kingdom with letting Margo go. Markoko got me. So I don't know. I'm interested in these Padres to see how the second half of that lineup sorts itself out. Yeah, what we're not talking about is,

rotation, which I think is their true weak spot. Let's talk about it. I mean, it's Paddock, and he was awesome for the little time he was up last year or whatever. He came up, went down, came back up. It's Garrett Richards, who's 31. It's Denelson Lemette and what's Luchessey and Quantrol. They went out, they made a ton of trades for their position players.

They got Fam, they got Grisham, they got ProFar. Mahia is going to replace hedges, and they also picked up like Juan Ligaris just in case, right? Because they just traded Array Margo. They got bullpen help. They bring in Pomerantz. They bring in Paghan. They have Yates as the closer. It's all good in moving in the right direction.

Paddock's good. A lot of these other guys, I don't know how I feel about them. I don't know if I have enough information to properly feel about them. you know, but. Right. Garrett Richards, he got hurt last year, I believe. I used to really like Garrett Richards stuff. He gets hurt every year.

Yeah. Yeah. He, uh, since 2016, he started 31 games, so a season's worth of starts in his last four years. Yeah. It's like, you can't really count on him. the other guys I mean, Zach Davies had a decent season last year,

mid three ERA in 31 starts. Pretty good, actually. You'll take that. And to Nelson Lamett. Your dude. What's he doing? Dude, he punched dudes last year. He, uh,

I think in 70, what was it? 73 innings, uh, 14 starts. He had 105 punch. he's a 407 ERA. And I think what you're getting to, Jim, I think it's kind of the same thing as this lineup. I mean, they got guys that are going to throw,

but are they all fourth starters? Or can two of these young guys become top end starters? Because they really don't have that right now. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. And you got guys like Denelson Lemette. I don't know if it was injury. I don't know.

Pajor fans will know better than me. He just didn't last long in games. Yeah, been there. Was he walking a lot? Yeah. Oh, yeah. He had 30 walks in 73 innings. Yeah.

So he punched guys out. He also walked the hell of him. Cal Quantrell was out of the bullpen last year. And then towards the end, they made him a starter. When they made him a starter, what was our debate on him? When they made him a starter, he wasn't. I just said he had a decent year. He had a couple bad appearances where if you take him out,

his year looks a lot better for a young pitcher. And he was a really high draft pick. So I think like coming into camp this year, he's battling for the five start. You're going to see him pitch if you're a Padres fan. I mean, he had a lot of bad. He had three eight earn run starts. So I mean, you're butter, you're butternifing them kind of with a steak knife to take out. Those other 15 starts are pretty good.

But again, we, we don't need to do this live because it gets ugly, folks. And I don't know. I mean, someone like Joey Lucchese, that's a name a lot of people don't know probably around baseball. I mean, this is going to be almost his third full season doing it. You kind of know what you're going to get. And as a fourth starter where they have them listed, I think you love Joey Lucchese. I think there was times last year when he was their one. So it's can paddock put it together for a full season and be their one.

Does someone like Denilsen Lament put it together? And he has, you know, high-end stuff. but like you said, I mean, he could get wild on you and can he put it together. Like Zach Davies, Joey Lucchese, Garrett Richards, when he's healthy, you know what you're going to get. A lot of these other young guys, you don't. And I think that's the Padres ticking time bomb at this point because they have some big time pitching prospects on the way between McKenzie Gore, Mory Hone, Pettino, but he's a few years away. So it's, it's, do the Padre stay patient with this thing or, you know, say the Mets season does fall apart. Does something like the Noah Cindergarde rumors come to fruition?

I think if you're in Padres land, you're seeing, A, what young guys can pick it up and become kind of next level MLB players? Or does this ownership make kind of the big move that gives you either a big dude in the rotation or the lineup? Yeah. It's Paddock. What do you think about Paddock? You think he's going to be a stud? I don't know. I mean, his stuff was great, and he pitched really well.

I think you and I didn't love his demeanor too much. You and I, we watched him in New York City at a bar. Remember that? That was a good time. He's intense out there. Pitch is angry, which I like in a way, and then there's also some, like, weirdness to it. Yeah, that stuff's really cool when you're proven.

It kind of looks bad when you're young. when you see Max Scherz are doing his stuff. It's bad ass. It's similar. It is similar, but it's just like one's proven and one's not. You're right. You're right. It is very similar, though.

So I don't know. I mean, again, I think we just talked about the Texas Rangers in our last episode being a coin flip. I think the Padres, they don't have as much as this. Because, yes, you know a couple young guys are going to be good for you. But baseball is a sick sport and a couple young guys are just going to be bad for you. And that's how it goes. Last year, dude, Paddock's game log is interesting. If he faced a mediocre team, he did really well.

Giants, Diamondbacks, Reds, Marlins, Mets offense, did really well. The teams he gave up runs to, Dodgers, Yankees, where it was just Boston. Dodgers again, Boston again. It's kind of like goes like just good team, bad team, good team. Contender, not contender, contenders. So I'm interested to watch him go through some juggernauts again. Yeah, and I think, you know, kind of like we were,

or I was saying with the back end of that lineup, you've got a lot of these starting pitchers. Like it's never going to be a question of who's coming up. it's going to be a different young guy on a different day and seeing if they got it. Dude, this bullpen has a chance to be really good. Kirby Yates is proven for what he is in San Diego at this point, a one-one-nine ERA last year. Don't care how you chop that up.

That's special. If bullpen drew Pomeranz is real, that would be great for them. And Emilio Begonne, I mean, that's, he closed, what, 20 games for the raise last year. So if those guys are right, even if two of those guys are right, and then maybe another young guy steps up in the bullpen. You know, the Padres might have a fun game of, hey, let's get a couple runs. If we can get it to the bullpen with the lead,

you know, that might be their formula there. Yeah. What the Padres do have going for them is they have a lot of guys, I think baseball fans should tune in to watch. Like if there's Padres on Sunday night baseball, tune in and hopefully Paddock is pitching. Tune in to watch him. tune in to watch Tatis Jr.

And Machado, tune in to watch Tommy Fam just be angry and his contacts fall out of his eyes. So I think they have a handful of guys that you're going to want to tune in to see, which is cool. They have some star power. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I'd mention later, Jerksson Profar comes into town. This is former number one prospect contract year. I have a fake, bullish take that he's going to go nuts this year.

so some team talks himself into a giant jerks and pro far contract, and then he's just kind of bad for the rest of it. So that's a Jake take. I wouldn't take it with any substance, but you're hearing it. Hard Jake take. One of the better Jake takes we've seen in a while. Yeah.

If things go south and they want to trade off some pieces, Jake, the people on contract years are Garrett Richards. Imagine a contract year he's finally healthy. Pitches 32 games is awesome. Sure. the tug of war in GM's brains about trying to sign him for the next season, those would be fun if he did that. Doubtie does that.

Kirby Yates, if a team needs a closer, if the Padre, that's actually like likely, right? If Kirby Yates is good and the Padres go south and they're not in it, Kirby Yates will be shopped. Yeah, and I think that's a, I mean, with the season Kirby Yates had last year, and if he is anywhere near. repeating that this year. I think if you're the Padres, if you're not in it, he's got to be gone because I think you have to be real with yourself and say if Kirby Yates hits the market, that you're not going

to be the highest bidder. Yeah. And like Jake said, Jerksson ProFart, he's in a contract year. He's going to do really good and then make the most money's ever make and then not live up to that contract. And that's a Jake take. That's a Jake take. That's a Jake take.

Jake. they went 70 and 92 last year. Right. The Vegas. Little receptive. In which way? Well, Tatis got hurt in the whole season unraveling. Their projected win for 2020 per Vegas is 84 and a half.

It's an easy under. It's an easy under for me as well. I don't believe in the pitching staff that much. I mean, if they start clicking, you know, they can get to that over. But, I mean, you need a lot of young guys to do a lot of things. And baseball, I'll say this. I mean, baseball either, oh, God, I was just going to say something so dumb.

Under, just under, I'm done talking. Okay. Yeah. And the fun fact for this episode on our sheet here is that Mani Machado grew up a huge Kobe fan and named his dog after him. And then there's this frown face. So I don't know how fun the fact can be when it ends in a sad face. And that's just my opinion.

A little sad. But hey, dude, Machado doing it for Kobe this year. Yeah. Well, thank you guys very much for listening. We appreciate you. We'll be back again tomorrow with another episode. So tune in.

Come back. Tweet Jake about his Jake take.