Padres GM Jed Hoyer is prepared to add players if his team remains in the race, reports SI's Jon Heyman. The 17-10 Padres sit atop the NL West with 83% of their season remaining. Their Pythagorean expectation suggests a 13-14 record, but those extra four wins are in the books. If the Padres play .473 ball from here on out, as their runs scored and allowed totals suggest, they'd be projected to finish right at .500.
Padres starters have the third-best ERA in the league at 3.03, and their shut-down bullpen checks in at 2.65. As a team they have a 1.79 ERA at Petco and a 4.12 mark on the road.
The Padres rank 10th in the NL with 4.44 runs scored per game, better than I expected before the season. They've managed this despite a disappointing start from Kyle Blanks and no production out of the shortstop position. Where would the Padres add a bat? The middle infield would make sense. Left field could also work, though it may be difficult to improve upon Scott Hairston without a blockbuster deal. Dan Uggla, Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Jose Guillen, Luke Scott, and Miguel Tejada are some potentially available names to toss around a month from now. One player who could be surprisingly absent from the trading block: Adrian Gonzalez.
The headline was sort of odd to read. Never thought they might be buyers.
Padres did this last year too… They wont sustain this lead.
Entirely different scenario last year. Those who actually follow know this.
Padres finished April 2009 with a 12-15 record.
Wigginton(BAL), Peralta(CLE), Nate Mclouth(ATL), David Murphy(Tex),Jose Guillen(KC), Daniel Murphy(NY), Willingham(WAS) all would look good in San Diego.
They would never take on Nate’s contract and he looks nothing like what he was in Pittsburgh. I could see them trying to trade for Murphy but only if he is able to play an acceptable second base. Then again if he can play second the Mets wouldnt need to get rid of him…
Padres have ZERO money comitted beyond 2011. I think with few trade chips (best prospect is #50 overall) they may be inclined to absorb at least a little money. I agree that Nate looks like a shell of himself. I’d love to see a OF upgrade and maybe SS.
There is plenty of room for improvement for the padres, even without a major move. SS and CF have been anemic offensively. Gwynn Jr. won’t cut it and Cabrera injured his foot (which mayhinder his running game) and is not hitting well. Eck is not hitting either, but he has been clutch, so he’s tolerable. The pitching has been excellent and the hitting hasn’t been much but boy it has been all about CLUTCH. If SD can somehow acquire a decent SS and/or CF, and the pitching staff continues to be dominant, they could be a very hard to stop team. go padres!!
Please…Please keep him away from the AL East and Boston. Its nice to see the Sox struggle right now, even though I know they won’t be where they are for long, they are too good for that. You gotta think that as Boston’s offensive troubles increase, the desparation to get AGon would drive the Sox fans into a frenzy…but then again, if they want him bad enough they could always empty their farm system, which would be ok too!
Not a whole lot left to empty at this point. Kelly is intriguing but far away, Westmoreland has no value until he comes back and proves his health, Lars isn’t needed in SD, Reddick and Kalish might interest the Padres but their not blue chip prospects by any means, Bard is a reliever (although he has the makeup of a good potential closer) and the Red Sox will probably not want to part with Buch plus he’s going to get expensive sooner than the Padres will be able to compete if they trade away Adrian. All in all, I don’t see how the Red Sox can get Adrian, unless Hoyer makes a really stupid deal.
I think you got the Padres runs scored and runs allowed wrong. They have scored 120 runs and allowed 86, giving them a Pythagorean record of … 17-10.
Preseason expectations, not current standings.
Tim makes it look like the 13 – 14 is from Pythagorean expectations
That is what he wrote. Preseason expectations should probably not be part of the conversation in May, come on guys at MLB TR….that’s really, really sloppy work.
Secondly, that list of potential upgrades is a complete joke. Petco kills power and they need good defense in left field, so clearly Dunn and others are out.
Lastly, they are in love with Cabrera. He’s hurt…Hairston isn’t the starter.
Yeah, well it’s disappointing that something that flat out wrong gets written.
As a padre fan, I like Cabrera, but if an upgrade comes, he ought to be benched. Hairston is not considered the starter, but as long as Blanks is in that funk, he will start most of the time. Petco park needs players that play good D and can make consistent solid contact with the bat, and as you said, most options above are terrible, but hey… at least they are upgrades.
Adrian Gonzalez for Bard, Ellsbury, and….oh, we’re not talking about that this time??? Finally!
Seriously though I’d love to see the Pads trade for a Nate McLouth or Lastings Milledge or even a Michael Bourn. As for up the middle, Josh Wilson or Yuneski Bettancourt might be worth taking a chance on….
Yuniesky is not a good player in any sense, he’s never posted an OBP above .310 in his entire major league career, and on top of that he isn’t much on defense either. The Padres and every other team in the league should not even think about making him their starting SS.
How about getting rid of David Eckstein at 2B?
Funny, weren’t people pissed at Hoyer for not trading Adrian with two full years left on his contract? Boy, if the Padres keep it up, he’ll look like a freaking genuis!
It sure would be nice to see a different team in the buyer’s market for a year. They can make the playoffs as crazy as that sounds. Every team in the division has injuries in their rotation aside from the Giants and with a little more offense, they might be able to take that division. They used to be a decent team a few years back then they declined and cut the budget, they can get back to where they were at before.
I think that we might be getting ahead of ourselves with saying that the Padres are going to be in the NL West Race all season long. Does anyone expect the Dodgers to continue to be this bad? Does anyone expect the Rockies to continue to under-perform? What if the D-Backs get healthy? Don’t forget about the Giants pitching staff…
I am a Giants fan, but if the Padres were in the race I do think it would be great for baseball. Seeing the way the Padres are trying to put together their team of the future, I would have to think that they would like to keep their top young prospects. This would keep them from going after big name guys that will cost a lot (in terms of prospects). I think great and realistic additions to the Padres would be a Josh Willingham, Miguel Tejada, Christian Guzman would be a good addition/trade candidate as well as Orlando Cabrera…
I like Gwynn’s speed and defense. He also hit the ball very well last night with nothing to show for it. Except he did put down the sac bunt that led to the winning run in the ninth. Please remember one solid night this early can greatly affect your BA.
I like what Gwynn brings to the team (at least at Petco). If you want to fix a spot, go to leftfield. We’re getting hurt there. I love Blanks’ potential but right now he’s K’ing a ton and not making up for it in other parts of his game.
Wouldn’t Alex Gonzalez of the Jays make sense as a short-term upgrade at SS?
Is he available? I’d say yes if he was.
Wow, I was almost positive I would come on here and see J. Dye comments all around. lol
Wandy Rodrigez and Hunter Pence for Aaron Poreda, Matt Buschman, and Cedric Hunter.
I don’t know for sure but wouldn’t the Astros demand more than that from the Padres in exchange for Pence and Wandy? I would love to get those two.
Mabye add Baxter and Putnam but Westbrook, Sizemore, Morgan, Dunn, Marquis or Lannan, Scott, Guthrie, Tejada, Uggla, Volstad, West or Miller, Ross, and others could be availible the deadline!!!!
Grady Sizemore isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Unless you meant Scott Sizemore and even still the Tigers aren’t going to move their brand new young 2B after only half a season in Detroit.
I wonder if the Nationals would be at all interested in dealing Nyjer Morgan. I think he would help in 2 areas. Obviously adding a solid bat, speed and defense to any team helps, but by batting him in the lead off spot the Padres could move Cabrera to 8th where there wouldn’t be nearly the pressure to produce. Right from the get go, I didn’t like the idea of having such a young guy batting lead off and if I remember correctly he preformed much better at the bottom of the lineup last season.
As for the rest of the club I would stay status qou.
If they make a move for a guy like Tejada or Peralta, where would they play? Back to SS?
That’s not happening. They can’t take the defensive hit those guys provide in Petco. As a reminder, Hairtson is the backup, Cabrera is the starter.
i like Josh Willingham but not sure if the Nats would be amenable to moving him.
Willimgham is a LF, he would only be fitting if Blanks continued to do just that, throw up Blanks. A mush better up grade would be at second base. Cabrera will be back at SS soon, while he will struggle because he is young the Padres are not going to slow his development by bringing another player that is seasoned.
Only I see the Padres making a move is if it is a head and shoulders obvious upgrade. Like for example if they brought in Dan Ugla. He would fit nice protecting Adrian. I wouldn’t even want to imagine who they would give up for such a player.
If Willingham can be had without exchanging any “A” prospects I’m for it. I see no harm in letting Blanks work on his plate approach in triple AAA while an experienced player gets playing time in LF.
Maybe Florida has a stud second baseman waiting in their system. I could see them dealing Uggla if that was the case.
Brian’s idea about Phillips would be great too.
As long as we’re in the race.
I have a feeling Blanks will be fine. Its pretty darn early still. If it is after Memorial day(and Blanks is still struggling) I would be all for it. However, Cunningham has been doing better in AAA and could also be called upon. He really opened eye’s in ST. Durango has also came on strong but I do not see him to be brought up in a pennant race. lol
Ugla would be legit!
I like Phillips but don’t see that happening. IMO
Call the Reds with the way Phillips has been hustling or the lack there of I’m sure they would listen to an offer
If the Angels were to fall out of playoff contention, it would be interesting to see what they would want for Maicer Izturis. He could take over at second and slide right into the number 2 as well. He could easily be a regular in the Bigs and IMO would be an upgrade over Eckstein.
I personally think that Hoyer should be keep going after guys who can succeed at Petco. Average, speed, defense and pitching wins at Petco, they don’t need to bring in a power bat.
I honestly don’t see the Padres still being in playoff contention at the trade deadline. But if they are I hope they don’t do anything stupid to mortgage their future in hopes of one playoff run. This team can probably be a perennial contender in a few years if they play their cards right, and btw I’m all for Adrian staying in SD, they guy is a fantastic hitter and could be the anchor for this club when they finally put the pieces around him.
Being a Padres fan, I doubt they want to give up any prospects even if they were in a play-off hunt. The pads haven’t had this much young talent in years, and besides they ain’t trying to pay nobody.
Being a Padres fan, I doubt they want to give up any prospects even if they were in a play-off hunt. The pads haven’t had this much young talent in years, and besides they ain’t trying to pay nobody.