The Padres have at least held some internal chats about the possibility of pursuing first baseman Eric Hosmer, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. That mostly serves to illustrate how wide open things are at this stage of the offseason, Rosenthal suggests, and there’s little reason at present to view the Pads as a serious suitor. Nevertheless, it seems reasonably notable to hear of the connection. For one thing, it suggests that San Diego GM A.J. Preller is amenable to moving Wil Myers back to the outfield in some circumstances; for another, it hints that the club may be willing to lay out some real cash if an appealing opportunity arises.
Here’s more from out west:
- Perhaps another former K.C. standout would be a more achievable target for the Padres. According to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, the team is looking for a “stopgap” at short, with Alcides Escobar among the possibilities. While short would appear to be the natural area for the team to make a more significant investment, Heyman says there’s a belief that top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. could make it to the majors as soon as late 2018. It does seem fair to consider, though, that a few factors might conceivably leave San Diego looking to make a more significant acquisition up the middle. For one thing, Tatis barely reached the Double-A level last year and won’t turn 19 until January. For another, the Friars could still consider adding a quality shortstop that could be moved elsewhere on the diamond if and when Tatis forces his way up.
- Rockies GM Jeff Bridich discussed his team’s offseason plans yesterday with reporters including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding and AJ Cassavell. Understandably enough, the focus was on the bullpen. While Bridich said the club is hoping its young relievers can “either retain roles or step up into new roles,” he acknowledged that outside acquisitions will be needed. Outgoing closer Greg Holland is certainly one possibility, says Bridich, but he says that his front office staff is “keeping our eyes and earns open to just about everything.”
- Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times discusses the Dodgers’ potential pitch for Japanese star Shohei Ohtani. While Ohtani’s two-way aspirations may seemingly make him a better fit for a smaller-market team in the American League — an organization, that is, that’s more willing and better situated to allow him to attempt the difficult task of both pitching and hitting at the game’s highest level — Hernandez posits that the Dodgers can offer as much and more. The Los Angeles front office will no doubt cook up some interesting possibilities for maximizing Ohtani’s abilities, suggests Hernandez, with the club’s immense rotation depth helping to make it possible.
Caseys Partner
“Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times discusses the Dodgers’ potential pitch for Japanese star Shohei Ohtani. “”
How come there are exactly zero articles by Philadelphia “writers”discussing the Phillies pitch for Shohei Ohtani?
Rhys Hoskins 24 years old
Shohei Otani 23 years old
Crawford, Kingery……
Dark_Knight
Because they can’t offer as much money based on their bonus pool as the Dodgers, Yankees, and Rangers can…?
biasisrelitive
I bet they can offer more than the dodgers they are capped right
pustule bosey
as far as I know dodgers, giants, red sox, yankees – all the teams with money are capped – he is probably going to have to choose between small market and small money
Sky14
The Yankees, Rangers and Twins have over $3 million to spend on IFA. The next highest is Pit with a little over $2 mil. Philly is at $900k and I believe the Dodgers are capped at 300k.
bronxbombers
The Dodgers are limited to 900,000 I believe the Yankees 3.2 MM, rangers 3.4 twins 3.1 mariners 1.2
Cat Mando
Twelve teams are capped at $300,000 Atlanta, the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington. Rangers $3,535,000 Yankees $3.25 million Twins $3,245,000 Seattle $1,570,500
usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/11/08/texas-can….
gorav114
It’s not a conspiracy. Just like my Orioles,they don’t have the bonus pool money that some of the other teams do. The Os have had success signing guys from the Asian market (admittedly very few Japanese players) but still give away all their international pool and the local writers don’t seem to even know who Ohtani is. Both the Philly and Bmore market has the size and resources but is always going to struggle to compete with the big boys for the very top talent.
Caseys Partner
“Both the Philly and Bmore market has the size and resources but is always going to struggle to compete with the big boys for the very top talent.””
Why should they struggle if they have the money and resources?
The Phillies are the third wealthiest team in MLB and last year they were the most profitable. The question is why are these facts deliberately suppressed by the MLB media?
The Phillies were officially rebuilding when Yoan Moncada became available but the Phillies had zero interest in paying him. Ruben Amaro was asked by a Philly dot com writer about Moncada and Amaro absolutely raved about Moncada’s talent.
Yet there was no interest whatsoever in signing Moncada.
jdgoat
Please, please stop. This little bit you do is getting old
frankiegxiii
Lol
rocky7
This is getting pretty old man!
mlb1225
Do you literally have nothing else to discuss? It could be an article about The A’s offense, and you’d still bring this up.
Caseys Partner
The A’s don’t have any offense and never do. Billy Beane is absolutely clueless when it comes to position talent. I began pointing that out over a dozen years back.
puigpower
Sure – because only three years ago the 2014 A’s were the best offensive team in baseball. Just stop sir.
Caseys Partner
No, that is false, but Josh Donaldson was very good and Billy Beane got rid of him quick.
sfg415sfc
Beane is terrible. Soooo overrated.
vtadave
A’s were 4th in the league in runs scored in 2013 and 2014.
JKB 2
Casey you do not know what you are talking about
mlb1225
My point isn’t about The A’s offense, it’s about how an article can be so off topic to a discussion about Ontani, but you would still bring it up. And you’re proving my point, by rambling on about The A’s offense, even though it was never mentioned in the article.
cards81
I think maybe this is why the Dodger aren’t in on Stanton….just a hunch…but they want Ohtani….hopefully it doesn’t slow things up on the Stanton trade
JKB 2
Ohtani chase is not going to stop the Dodgers on Stanton. Ohtani is not costing much. They can do both if they choose
drm166
Ohtani will get a massive extension in a year or two. Having Stanton locked in for a long time absolutely impacts the Ohtani chase.
s2alliot
I know this is unrelated to the article but hear me out:
Below is the translation of the column Ryoichi Fukushima, Japanese Baseball Analyst wrote for the Nikkan Sports in Japan (Original Link below):
“I am advocating for the Padres (in regards to whom should Otani sign). First of all, AJ Preller is such an important figure. He used to be a classmate to current Rangers GM John Daniels at Cornell University, and Preller used to serve as a senior director of player personnel at the Rangers. He is skilled at developing young talent as well as scounting; Preller is the person who can provide Otani the environment to “grow as a ballplayer”. Since 2011, Padres had a losing season 7 years in a row. Payroll at the beginning of the 2017 season also ranked 28th out of 30 teams; but at the same time, there are opportunities. Additionally, in 2017, team had experimented with Christian Bethancourt to play as a two-way player. Though he became pitcher only, Padres proved that they were an innovative team for trying out the two-way player ahead of every other team, Hiring of Seiichiro Nakagaki (ex. trainer at Nippon Ham) in last Feburary should also be a plus at sigining Otani.
Padres2019ha
link?
jsaldi
Yep we (dodgers) really need another starter. Get rid of McCarthy Kazmir and Don’t resign Darvish. We still have enough
BlueSkyLA
Actually, we (Dodgers) kind of do need another starter. Everybody after Kershaw and Hill is a question mark, but especially #3. Could be Wood, but who knows? This is exactly where the Dodgers found themselves last July.
sufferforsnakes
I believe Ohtani will sign in a market where there is a large Japanese/Oriental population. After all, he will be a kid in a strange, new country, and will need to feel comfortable in his surroundings. Plus, the marketability factor should play large in his decision, too.
My guesses are LA and Seattle.
Caseys Partner
There is a very large population as you describe in Philadelphia, right in the city and all around the suburbs.
The fact that this is unknown outside of the area is due to the near blackout of this population in Philly media.
Go to Philadelphia and drive around, walk around. This population is not new either.
mcdusty31
You need to start writing these messages to Matt Klentak, I don’t think the MLBTR readers are giving your Phillies complaint comments rave reviews
seamaholic 2
“Oriental”? Really? I think that term went out of style in like the 1970’s! “Asian” works just fine.
BlueSkyLA
Yeah, that was a real blast from the past.
outinleftfield
Don’t know how accurate this is, its just the 1st thing that came up on Google.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_large_Japanese-American_populations
NuckBobFutting
Margot CF, Solarte 2B, Myers LF, Homer 1B, Renfroe RF, Cozart SS, Hedges C, Spangenberg 3B. Not a bad lineup. Imagine if they had Rizzo, and maybe spent money on needs instead of Hosmer.
mcdusty31
Too bad none of those guys can pitch
all in ad
Myers need to go back to outfield. In fact, he needs to go away. Vastly over paid…he guesses as a hitter…makes awful decisions as a base runner…he is dumb. If he is ” face of the franchise ” Padres have no future. There wasn’t a need to sign him early….another AJ screw up.
seamaholic 2
He was worth about 2 bWAR last year and 110 OPS+. And signed long term on a cheap contract (average AAV only about $14m. That’s a useful player, and one you don’t throw away.
SixFlagsMagicPadres
Myers is alright and his contract is not really that bad. However, I think the team would be better suited to wait until the 2018 free agency class before making a big signing.
padreforlife
Couldn’t agree more Myers complete flop
Padres2019ha
His contract is backloaded so if he doesn’t live up to his potential we will eat half of his remaining salary and move him. Signing Hosmer now, at only 28, would be a good move potentially, considering he will be 30 by 2019 when we should be contending. Most if these free agents are in their early 30’s by the time they get their first big contract and want 5-6+ years. Hosmer could get 5 years 100mil and still be in line for another nice payday at 33. Problem is we have Naylor playing well and he can only play 1B, but maybe by then NL will have DH.
padreforlife
Padres don’t have dough for that and Preller will be basically saying his significant extension is utter disaster along with most of all his moves
padreforlife
Myers hit .200 and lower4 out of 6 months. Had what 27 runs driven in at Petco with 79 whiffs along with weak defense that’s useful?
Padres2019ha
He has had no protection in the lineup, doesn’t play meaningful games, and was a finalist for gold glove in 2016. I’ll give him one more year before saying he’s not useful. Granted, I think the extension was pre-mature, and he’s not a leader by any means, but I think he will be an above average player and at $14mil avg per year, it’s about market price.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Lineup protection has already been proven to be a farce
padreforlife
No protection that’s why he’s strike out machine no he’s just not good and now owed 66 mil and no team will go near him. He’s weak defensively, poor base runner
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
hurrrr da durrrr
*fart noises*
padreforlife
Child^
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
^ brain dead
thegreatcerealfamine
I really want the Dodgers to trade for Stanton over the next Year or so to make them even more powerful. I also want the Yankees to stay this course and next winter sign Harper. The cover of the spring 2019 SI issue can have Yankees players Harper,Judge,Bird,Adams,and Sanchez on one cover and on the other cover Dodgers players Stanton,Bellinger,Seager,Kershaw,and Jansen…With the titles of covers Yanks flex muscles again and The Sun Shines Blue in LA…
mcdusty31
Your forgetting Turner, his beard alone deserves the cover
mcdusty31
*you’re…I haven’t had enough coffee yet this morning
thegreatcerealfamine
Yea I debated on Animal…
SixFlagsMagicPadres
I come in here to hoping to discuss Padres-related stuff with other fans, and yet the majority of the comments are all related to that polarizing figure know as “Casey’s Partner.”
It’s like the movie “Groundhog Day” with this guy: same story, different day. We’re seeing him everywhere now and it’s getting old.
Cat Mando
@SixFlags…Very Old….I almost didn’t create an account because of him and a few others who cannot dicuss politely. He was banned from Twitter, ESPN, MLB…hopefully MLBTR will look into this. We can only hope.
gocincy
Casey’s Partner is a venereal disease. He always pops up at inopportune times and he takes all the fun out of something that should be a blast.
Cat Mando
He operates several very vitriolic blogs as FreeAEC…it appears he took the screen name Casey’s Partner because Middleton’s son (the picture he uses here) is Casey Affleck’s business partner. He has a 2014 rant about it on a site called Phillies Owners: Where They Live. All of his sites are obsessive. Under the headline banner it says this… “This blog is dedicated to informing the public about the ownership of the Phillies MLB team and opposing the rigid and oppressive censorship imposed by ESPN in their discussion forums.”
LADreamin
But we need him to repeat ad naseum how the Phillies hate foreign players because he saw it in a movie once. Where would MLBTR be without his commentary?!
seamaholic 2
It would be nice if the comments on this site actually referred to the article they appear under. I dunno, maybe I’m old fashioned.
charles stevens
I could see a team like the Dodgers going to a 6 man rotation. They have the talent/depth to pull it off. They could then give Ohtani 2-3 starts a week in the outfield and pinch hit.
Would help keep the pitching staff fresh which is a concern after the amount of innings thrown this year.