As Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team race to the finish at Padres games, let’s take a look around the NL West…
- As the Rockies make a rare visit to Tampa Bay this weekend, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the trade that sent German Marquez from the Rays to the Mile High City. This deal may be known as “the German Marquez trade” in hindsight, though back in January 2016, Marquez was a little-known minor leaguer who had yet to even reach Double-A when he and Jake McGee were sent to Colorado in exchange for Corey Dickerson and infield prospect Kevin Padlo. In 2017-18, however, Marquez developed into a stalwart member of the Rockies’ rotation, posting a 4.05 ERA, 9.5 K/9, and 3.56 K/BB rate over 358 innings. Marquez’s “abilities and the ingredients were there to have this type of impact in time…so in that way [I’m] not surprised,” Rays GM Erik Neander said. Dickerson was traded after the 2017 season and Padlo is still at high-A ball, though Neander said that Dickerson contributed some solid offensive production to help the Rays. “To make trades at the volume and frequency at which we do you have to be very comfortable knowing you’re not going to get them all right,” Neander said. “That’s something we understand and expect, and are willing to accept that because we think the total volume of the transactions we make are best for our organization…Without knowing exactly what winning a transaction even means because a lot of them are made with different goals at the time between the teams.”
- In a bit of a reversal from a statement earlier this weekend, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters that Jake Lamb will still see some action at his old third base position. Lovullo even considered using Lamb at the hot corner on Saturday to get some work in, as Lamb spent much of Spring Training learning on his new first base role, and also was briefly sidelined with a back problem. While Lamb hasn’t been much of a defender at third, it can’t hurt to keep him sharp at the position for the sake of roster flexibility.
- The Padres’ young rotation will be tested by an upcoming stretch of 11 straight games, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. There aren’t any offdays scheduled for the Padres between April 6-16, which could prove tricky for a team carrying two hurlers (Chris Paddack, Matt Strahm) on pitch limits, and southpaw Nick Margevicius, who had never pitched above A-ball before making his MLB debut on Saturday. “All options are on the table, from bullpen days to openers to protecting certain starters by pushing guys back and having guys step in front of them in the rotation. We’ll be creative,” manager Andy Green said. Cassavell also isn’t ruling out the possibility of a spot start by another minor leaguer, or perhaps even a newly-acquired pitcher joining the rotation mix.
Rays keep this up for another week or so and they’ll make the playoffs. They started 3-12 last year or they have a great shot at the playoffs. They haven’t pitched great or hit great so it’s especially nice to get these wins. Yarborough plus Stanek maybe as opener next game Kolarak to get at least two outs. Adames and Lowe still struggling bad and Pham not showing Powe plust Robertson and Wendle not hitting.
Two weeks!
Good luck getting past the Mariners and the Orioles, buddy. They’re out for blood this year
The only thing the Orioles will be competing for is last place in AL East with Toronto buddy. 2-1 start and they are out for blood lmao..
On paper, the Orioles legitimately look like a 50-win team. I’m curious to see how poorly they do. The worst team I remember in my lifetime was the 2003 Tigers, who won 43 games. I think the Orioles might challenge that.
The orioles already won 2. As an orioles fan I honestly wouldn’t care but Hyde has this team competing and running the bases. That’s the way they’re going to win games. It’s much different than last year with buck showalter. We were a horrible team last year but we didn’t play hard or adjust our style of play. It was the same live and die by the homer team with a team full of guys who just weren’t massive HR hitting guys anymore. We didn’t run the bases well or at all or really do anything we needed to do. I’d be absolutely shocked if we were that that bad despite the roster.
Hyde has also stated he’s going to use the opener throughout the season. This guy really wants to win baseball games. It’s going to be a rough year but you can tell Hyde isn’t going to let the guys roll over as they did so many times last year. He let GIVens throw 50 pitches yesterday because he didn’t trust anyone else to close the door. I’m not saying that’s a good strategy at all because we definitely don’t need to ruin our best trade chips arm but it definitely shows the kind of manager Hyde is going to be. I think it’s a 65 win team if everything goes right and if that does happen all it’s going to do is slide us down the draft board but I wouldn’t be completely surprised if that’s the case.
You’re reading a lot into a 4 game series against one of the best teams in baseball. A 4 game series where the Rays win 3 games too.
Ok sir, ok
You make the playoffs based on the first few weeks?
No, But it never hurts to get off to a hot start. Then again, the mets were like 14-1 last year..
NEWS TEAM! ASSEMBLEEEEE!
We’re right here Ron
LOUD NOISES!!!!!
Hiflew where did you get a hand grenade?
Don’t act like you’re not impressed
Aww I’m I think I ate your chocolate squirrel.
You cannot win a pennant the first few weeks of a season, however you can lose a pennant in that time.
Very good point. Take away the first few weeks of the season last year and the Reds would have been in serious playoff contention for most of the season. But they started off 3-21 and were never considered even slight contenders.
The reds won 67 games and had one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball last season. It wasn’t only the poor start. It was a pretty poor middle and end that did them in as well.
They fell apart at the end of the season. That’s why I said for most of the season. In May, June, and July combined, they were 4 games over .500. That’s half the season. Extrapolate that out and you are looking at a potential 88-90 win team. So there was no poor middle.
Regardless, my point remains the same that their poor start took away any hope that they could have had through their summer winning period.
Man, that was an awful trade by the Rays. No one ever talks about that deal, but that Marquez trade has to be one of the worst deals in the last 10 years. The Rays DFA’d Dickerson a year later too. Just terrible..
Do all of the bad trades the Rays make involve Corey Dickerson?
Because it’s hard to make a worse trade than Dickerson for Daniel Hudson, a $5 million albatross. The Pirates got a .300 hitting, Gold Glove outfielder for a guy they would have DFA’d.
Gold Glove???
Yes.
The Corey Dickerson trade still baffles me. I understand they had to make room for Cron, but you’re telling me there was nobody else you could have DFA’ed besides a soon to be 29 year old that posted 27 home runs, a .815 OPS, and wasn’t on an albatross contract, or instead traded Dickerson for something more than Daniel Hudson and a low A minor league infielder?
Obviously the Rays didn’t turn down trade proposals with multiple top prospects coming back their way. For whatever reason, no teams around MLB put much value on Corey Dickerson at that time or any of them could have stepped up and gotten Dickerson for their 35th best prospect like the Pirates did.
Look at the San Francisco Giants, 4 runs in 4 games. What a joke! They need to revamp that whole lineup, it’s terrible! I’ve been a fan for so many years and yes I’m thankful for the world series in 2010 12 + 14 but come on the past 4 years Its been nothing but a disgrace to even watch. What Zaidi has done this off season has been a complete waist. They should of received signed Mcutchen if they didn’t want to spend that much. I mean he did solid for us and he bound to bounce back. He’s still fairly young. Or they should of signed either Michael Brantley or Adam Jones on a 1 year deal. Instead he has Reed and Joe who don’t have any MLB experience, wtf is up with that? Well you see how that’s working out lol. Why not use your prospects instead of other teams has beens?
I’m not a Giants fan but what does Zaidi have to work with? A bunch of over age underperforming vets and a terrible farm system? I know Giants fans want to see a solid product now but he doesn’t seem like one to mortgage the future to win tomorrow. However it does suck to see Bochy with such a poor team in his final year. Great guy and manager. Baseball is better when he’s around in October.
You don’t want has-beens but you want them to sign Adam Jones???
On a 1 year deal he is a better option then all the other bums they signed.If he was on the team pencil in top three in all offensive categories. Having Michael Reed, Connor Joe start with absolutely no MLB experience just blows my mind. The team is pathetic, I’d be surprised if they do not get first pick and next year’s draft
Well maybe that’s the point
“I’d be surprised if they do not get first pick and next year’s draft”
The Baltimore Orioles say hold my beer…
The orioles have less talent this year but I think there were baseball teams around the league who had less talent than the O’s last year. The giants are in a similar spot in my opinion. The NL is a much tougher division to get wins in than the AL. I’d pick the O’s finishing behind the Giants but I wouldn’t be floored to see it go the other way. Particularly if/when the giants start to dismantle. The O’s are pretty much stripped down to the bolts at this point. The giants could still stand to lose contributors. But that wouldn’t be the worst thing. If you’re not competing for the playoffs it’s always better to pick #1 than 5.
That is absolutely the point. This guy clearly doesn’t get it.
Relax it’s been 4 games! Oh wait they just beat the Dodgers, is FZ now a genius?
It’s FOUR FREAKIN GAMES!!!!! Last year, the Rays went, what, 1-9 or something in the opening weeks, and won 90 games. LORDY!
Neander’s getting good at what Sherman Potter called “horse hockey”. What a bunch of bush-wah that was. Some day I’d love a GM to say:
1. “Owners told me to cut payroll”
2. “We made the Marquez-Dickerson deal in order to dump Jake McGee; no other reason. We took the best offer. Give the Rox credit; they were right about the pitcher, and we were wrong about the impact of a no defense/base-clogger/K-prone guy who hits HRs”.
3. “And then we were stuck with him, so we took Hudson’s money just to get SOMETHING for him, even if in the end it costs us 5M”.
Give Stearns in Milwaukee credit; he messed up the Schloop deal, and admitted it. Refreshing as heck.
Long enough to get Hinch fired from the Astros apparently…
“and we were wrong about the impact of a no defense/base-clogger/K-prone guy who hits HRs”.”
I have never seen a player match his “scouting report” less than Dickerson. That no defense/base-clogger/K-prone guy won a Gold Glove while hitting .300 but only 12 HR.
Oh come now. Gold Gloves are silly, sometimes hysterical (Pedroia, Carlos Pena). His defense DID improve a bit; probably better metrics in Pitt than in Tampa, and he got out of the accursed Dome.
Fewer HRs? Bigger parks. That’s all there is. His BABIP was almost identical from Tampa to Pitt.
Better average? Better lineup, and, again, bigger parks.
Dickerson’s not worth the money at this point, but he’s not terrible. A whole lot of “meh” who lost his allure when his paycheck went up. Everybody knows it, which is why the Rays had to give him away.
I watched the games. He was very good in the field. Period.
What is silly is pretending that players don’t evolve or change or improve.
I watched Tyler Glasnow for years. He couldn’t hit a hockey net, let alone the strike zone. I used to watch the metaphorical pee run down his leg every time he stepped on the mound, scared to death of MLB hitters. He was basically useless.
Would Tampa fans agree with that assessment?
Corey Dickerson was historically not a very good defensive LF. His surprisingly good D in Pittsburgh Was just that, a surprise. As was his lack of power. None of that was the Dickerson the Rays traded for. We’ll see what iteration of Dickerson shows up this year.
And the reality is that one season is a small sample size; elsewise, you start to define Brady Anderson as a 50 HR hitter.
And of course players DO change; one of the reasons why I’m not saber-crazy (not that it doesn’t have its uses). They’re young men; young men change, professionally and personally. It’s a volatile time for everyone, more so when there’s millions of dollars on the table.
Glassnow will be fascinating. I saw him several times in AAA and swore that he never repeated his delivery once; never! zip! nada! If Kyle Snyder can figure out that enigma, he replaces Searage as the pitching guru everybody wants.
But I think Snyder’s already on his way there…….