Though Padres fans are anxiously awaiting the return of Fernando Tatis Jr., it seems he’ll be down for at least another week. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Tatis is not yet even running at full speed. Yesterday was an off-day in the budding superstar’s rehab work, and there’s no definite timeline on his activation. The 20-year-old Tatis posted an outstanding .300/.360/.550 slash with six homers, five doubles, a triple and six stolen bases through his first 27 games and 111 plate appearances and helped fuel a surprisingly strong April for the upstart Padres. Since Tatis went down with his hamstring injury, San Diego has gone 6-7, though they’ve had a tough schedule that included a four-game set in Atlanta, three games hosting the Dodgers and three games at Coors Field.
More from the NL West…
- USA Today’s Bob Nightengale spoke to a number of Giants players about the likely rebuild that is on the horizon. The writing has been on the wall in San Francisco for some time now, and many in the clubhouse sound almost resigned to their fate. “It would definitely suck to leave these guys, but it’s a business,” said closer Will Smith — an obvious trade candidate given that he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. “We’ve all pretty much been traded. So, it’s not anything new to us. We’d just hate to see it happen.” Manager Bruce Bochy, who has already announced that he’ll retire after 2019, said he understands whatever path the new front office takes but also voiced that it’d be painful to see a rebuild begin when he won’t be around to see it through. “If you’re in a rebuilding situation, that can be a fun challenge if you’re there for the rebuild,” the skipper stated. “But I’m not going to be here.”
- Of course, if (or when) the Giants do indeed embark on a sell-off, Madison Bumgarner will be the top piece available. Bumgarner updated his no-trade clause over the winter, and the lefty said this weekend that he did so in order to gain more control over the process in a theoretical trade scenario (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly). While his former list included losing clubs in markets Bumgarner did not want to pitch, he updated the list to reflect eight likely contenders, giving him some leverage when the Giants begin shopping him around. Relievers Smith, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Nick Vincent all seem like clear trade candidates in addition to Bumgarner. Smith, Watson and Vincent can all become free agents this winter, while Dyson is only controlled through 2020.
- The Diamondbacks gave Zack Godley a start Sunday not long after initially pulling him from the rotation, but he only faced the Braves’ lineup one time before being pulled after two scoreless innings. Per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, manager Torey Lovullo said after the game that that pitching plan was “by design,” though it curiously sounds as if that was not communicated to Godley himself. The right-hander didn’t voice any frustration and said he wouldn’t have prepared for the game any differently had he known he’d be used more like an opener, but he also said he simply wasn’t aware of the plan. Godley, in his career, has held opponents to a .225/.298/.320 batting line during his first trip through the lineup, but those numbers soar to .281/.363/.482 on his second trip through the lineup. It’s not clear if the D-backs plan to continue that manner of usage at this time, though yesterday’s results were undoubtedly encouraging.
Bumgarner would get eviscerated in the AL East anyway.
Career ERA/WHIP against …
BAL O.OO/0.857
BOS 3.46/0.846
NYY 4.97/1.658
TBR 1.29/1.429
TOR 1.25/1.050
Small sample size. Where were all those starts?
And more importantly, when?
Thanks, meant to include that.
Very small samples
1 gm vs BAL @ SF 2016 (W 7 IP 0 ER)
2 gm vs BOS 2 SF 2010 (L 7 IP 4 ER) 2016 (ND 6 IP 1 ER)
2 gm vs NYY 1 @ SF 1 @ NY 2016 (ND 7 IP 2 ER) 2019 (L 5.2 IP 5 ER)
1 gm vs TBR @ Trop 2013 (W 7 IP 1 ER)
1 gm vs TOR @ SF 2016 (ND 62 IP 1 ER)
Although a small sample size, 7 starts against playoff or near playoff teams. TBay in 2013, Baltimore and Toronto in 2016, and the titans of the AL East Boston and New York.
Any one of the AL playoff teams could use Bumgarner. I doubt it will take a lot to get him.
The bigger issue is that Bumgarner’s stuff has ticked down a notch since those starts you’ve mentioned. His average fastball velocity is down and his pitches have less movement than before. He’s surviving for now and pitching well, but this kind of drop in velo for a 29-year-old is certainly concerning, especially going forward.
was at the game he pitched at yankee stadium…absolute duel also the last time betances miller and chapman ever appeared in the same game
Bumgarner has never been a power pitcher though. His fastball maxed out at 94 mph average and his career average is 93. His average now is 92 MPH. The fastball velo thing is overblown, especially cause he’s striking out nearly 10/9 innings.
Do you even Baseball Reference, bro ?
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Dumpster. Fire. Sale.
The Braves will be a few games above .500 and in 3rd place after the draft. First they will sign Kimbrel and then sometime around the beginning of July after they move into 2nd place they will trade for MadBum
Just hoping they’ll spend won’t make them change their tune.
And they’ll play in a wild card game and lose because they weren’t willing to use their prospect capital, or any money to improve the team in the first four months
That sounds a lot like Godley would excel as a reliever.
Time to get the ball rolling, Farhan.
It’s a little early to call Tatis a budding superstar…kid’s had 3 weeks in the majors
The other day they called Vlad Jr. a superstar.
Do you know what budding means?
adjective: budding
– (of a person) beginning and showing signs of promise in a particular career or field.
– just beginning and showing promising signs of continuing.
Oh I’m aware what budding means. However, I’d say and I’m sure many would agree that this type of verbiage is a bit presumptuous at this time
Tatis has been very impressive for a 20-year old in the majors. The list of 20-year-olds who have had a first month like Tatis is actually pretty short, and it’s almost entirely superstars. Vlad Jr., I think, will be a superstar, MVP-caliber player too, although he’s had a rough start. But the list of 19-year-olds who have hit like him in AAA is tiny, and, again, it’s basically all superstar-caliber players.
You know the Nationals need to think outside the box Bochy is retiring at end of year so make a trade for him and see what he can do with the Nationals. San Francisco could get a decent prospect for Bochy and start the rebuild. If your going to do it do it like the Brewers trade everyone in two weeks
Bum is classless. He gets tagged for a homer and cries to the press like a 9 year old brat. Could care less what he did years ago, he’s nowhere near that pitcher now. Giants will try to get something decent, but wont get near what they would have a year ago when they should have started their rebuild.
Dude it’s bumgarner and puig. This has been going on forever.
Calling it. Tatis out until August.
Nobody cares
You did enough to reply to me
I don’t understand why most openers only pitch one inning.
How does that help? Face 9 guys then leave. That makes more sense.
Question for padres fans/service time folks…. did Francisco Mejia’s prospect status run out? Was ranked #25 heading into the year. MLB just released updates version and Mejía is no longer top 100. Either his time is up due to call ups with the Indians/padres….. or the padres have handled his playing time so poorly that he has dropped entirely out of the top 100 and killed any possible trade value he had. Anyone know?
“I have too much respect for this organization to talk about contractual stuff publicly,” MadBum told reporters.
MadBum is a loyal Giants who has honored his team friendly contract. Zaidi needs to show MadBum the same loyalty and respect.
Sick