March 12: The Padres have announced the signing.
March 11: Left-hander Sammy Solis’ foray into the free-agent market apparently proved to be extraordinarily brief; after being released by the Nationals on Saturday, Solis has agreed to a minor league contract with the Padres, according to Robert Murray and Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter links). Solis is represented by CAA Baseball.
Following Solis’ release, manager Dave Martinez told MLB.com’s Richard Justice that the Nats opted to part ways with Solis in order to give him a chance to latch on with another club while Spring Training as still underway. It’d been determined that he wouldn’t make the team in Washington, and cutting ties with Solis not only gave him a chance to join another Major League camp in pursuit of a roster spot but also saved the Nationals a bit more than $700K of his non-guaranteed $850K salary. In that sense, the move helped out all parties, as Solis will still have more than two weeks to attempt to secure a roster spot in San Diego.
As Lin points out, the interest in Solis was heightened by the recent injury to fellow lefty reliever Jose Castillo, who sustained a flexor strain that, as of March 1, was expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks. San Diego still has multiple lefties on the roster even with Castillo out — both Aaron Loup and Robbie Erlin are expected to claim roster spots — but Solis will provide a depth piece and could yet even work his way into a somewhat unsettled Opening Day bullpen role. Kirby Yates, Adam Warren, Craig Stammen, Loup and Erlin are all set for bullpen spots, but there are at least two jobs up for grabs — perhaps three, if San Diego carries eight relievers.
Solis, 30, has had a pair of rough seasons with the Nationals — most recently working to a dismal 6.41 ERA in 39 1/3 frames last year. However, he also averaged 10.1 K/9 last season and turned in strong marks in terms of swinging-strike rate (12.9 percent) and opponents’ chase rate (31.7 percent). Solis has averaged 94 mph on his fastball in his career and has generally excelled at the Triple-A level. He also still has only three years, 61 days of MLB service time, meaning that if he does find success in the Padres’ pen, the team can control him through at least the 2021 season (and potentially 2022, depending on the timing of a promotion to the Majors).
Talk about quick, at least he has a bigger chance of cracking the roster here
Not so much
One of the best bullpens of the last decade in 2018 still in tact
It’s not really in tact though, as they noted above, Castillo is out (and could be for a while). Brad Hand is gone. Matt Strahm looks like he’s destined for the rotation since this signing and the addition of Loup, plus erlin, take lefty bullpen spots. So it’s not exactly the same group. Although, I still believe the group will perform well. But Strahm/Castillo were very big parts of it
Bullpen will always be a strength as long as they have Darren Balsley
question (and this is not to knock balsley, he has been a miracle worker): but people keep saying the bullpen is thanks to balsley…. but then why was the rotation so bad the last few years? Because balsley is the pitching coach, not the bullpen coach…. so it’s hard to say “our bullpen will always be awesome because of balsley”, without saying “our rotation was very bad with balsley”….
Again, I like balsley, and do not want him replaced. Just sometimes people overlook the entire picture if it supports their beliefs. Yes, balsley helped bullpens…. but at the same token, he also has to receive some of the fault for a poor rotation performance, right? Only seems fair…
Shun the non-believer!
Pomeranz, Chacin, and Cahill would fit the description.
Actually pointed out that I AM a believer in Balsley. Just pointed out that while he was responsible for bullpen success, he has to be held to a standard for the rotation also. He’s the pitching coach. Not just bullpen coach. My comment = baseball topics and logical. Your comment to shun = 7th grader.
Shun those who don’t have actual baseball input
Totally agree. Without Castillo the bullpen won’t be near as good as last year along with Strahm being a starter probably. Wingenter could be a key piece to the pen with Castillo bring out for awhile.
Having Clayton Richard, Tyson Ross, Bryan Mitchell, Perdomo, et al is not having Maddux, Glavin, Smoltz.
Bals is good but no one is good enough to get much of the rotation during all the “rebuilding years”
The short answer to your question is that it’s easier to turn mediocre starters into great relievers. Most relievers are failed starters – Hand, for example, was a terrible starting pitcher. Smart teams, like the Padres, have figured out how to turn failed starters into useful bullpen pieces. I assume they use a lot of proprietary information about things like spin rate and such, stuff we aren’t privvy to, to determine which pitchers Balsley and his staff can work with
That same set of skills is very different for starting pitchers, and the Padres have been able to assemble the bullpen they have because most starters are flawed – they don’t have enough quality pitches or enough stamina or other flaws. The Padres have been running out guys with mediocre stuff out of the rotation for a few years now, waiting for actual possible rotation arms to get to the big leagues. It’s easier to turn bad starters into elite relievers. It’s almost impossible to turn a good reliever into a good starter.
Balsley is God. And I mean every God. All somehow rolled into one.
K
L
Not close to as good as Castillo could be, but it is good to have “an extra” left handed reliever around.
Solid
Probably signals that Strahm is destined for the rotation. Hopefully it works out… he looked very good as a lefty option out of the pen. His mix of pitches played up quite a bit there. I like Strahm a lot, just hope he can perform as a starter. We will see. But with Loup, Erlin, now Solis….. I think the writing is on the wall as far as their intent to have Strahm in the rotation.
Slammin’ Sammy signs swiftly!
2 days as a free agent is extraordinarily brief?
With the Keuchel and Kimbrel situations, it is.
Perhaps a signal that Strahm is a favorite to make it as a starter?
Lucchesi
Paddack
Lauer
Strahm
Erlin (still rooting for him to become a starter)
Pen:
Warren (long man)
Solis
Loup
Stock/McGrath/Wieck
Maton
Wingenter
Yates
Send Kennedy, Quantrill, Nix, Allen down to AAA with the expectation of getting some innings logged/being called up as a stretch starter.
DFA Mitchell, Perdomo, or trade them for a low tier prospect. Rather give innings to the youngns- On all levels not just MLB.
Very L-heavy rotation. Bodes well against the Bellingers/Seagers of our division- not so much the Arenados/Turners. Let’s hope the splits are not too drastic.
Can’t wait until Richards/Lamet get healthy- then add on Gore/Patino/Morejon next year!
Go Padres!!
I think Reyes makes it over McGrath. McGrath isn’t on the 40. Its Reyes’ spot to lose. And don’t forget Stammen. Solis starts in EP at least the first 2-4 weeks.
I hope we either DFA Mitchell and Perdomo or maybe get a lottery ticket for either of them (highly highly doubtful).
I think Nix makes the rotation and Erlin goes to the pen initially, or they start Paddack in EP for service time reasons (not ideal) and Erlin goes to the rotation.
That’s a nice roster but Stammen is missing. I don’t know that I’ve seen a rotation that lefty-heavy in a while, maybe the 90s braves with Glavine and Avery and Mercker. Of course, that team won the WS, so maybe this is a market inefficiency.
13 man staff opening day:
Lucchesi
Paddack
Lauer
Strahm
Nix
Erlin
Stock
Wingenter
Solis
Warren
Loup
Stammen
Yates
Maton starts the year AAA with G.Reyes, Enns and Carlos Torres in EP’s bullpen
L.Allen, Perdomo, Kennedy, Margevicous, Mitchell.
Those guys are likely to comprise the AAA rotation to start the season.
Stupid double post.