We’ve already seen a pair of headline-grabbing moves by National League clubs this morning. We’ll round up some smaller reports from the Senior Circuit.
- The Padres aren’t prepared to hand the second base job to Luis Urías without competition, reports A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com as part of a reader mailbag. While the organization remains bullish on the 22-year-old long-term, the Pads must find alternative options in case his early-career woes persist, Cassavell opines. Despite elite minor-league numbers, Urías has gotten off to a rocky start as a big leaguer, slashing just .221/.318/.331 (79 wRC+) in his first 302 MLB plate appearances. Interestingly, Cassavell expects the Padres to at least gauge rival teams’ interest in Urías- which would surely be robust- this offseason, if for no other reason than to “learn what (he would) be worth.”
- The Rockies are likely to non-tender pitchers Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson, observes the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders in a broader look at the upcoming offseason. Both Bettis and Anderson were useful back-end starters for Colorado not too long ago, although injuries and/or underperformance made this outcome inevitable for each. Bettis slogged to a 6.08 ERA in 39 appearances (36 in relief) this season. Anderson, meanwhile, was limited to five starts before suffering a season-ending knee injury, and Saunders reiterates that he’s not expected to be fully recovered by next spring. Jettisoning Bettis (projected $3.8MM salary) and Anderson (projected $2.625MM salary) will save payroll-tight Colorado around $6-7MM.
- The Cardinals are likely to pursue another one-year deal with catcher Matt Wieters, opines Anne Rogers of MLB.com as part of a mailbag. The 33-year-old signed with St. Louis for $1.5MM last offseason and figures to command a similar salary this go-round, Rogers adds. Wieters again ranked among the worst defensive catchers in baseball this season, but he offers respectable power for a catcher (.214/.268/.435 in 183 PA in 2019). The Cardinals also value Wieters’ veteran presence and switch-hitting bat off the bench, Rogers adds.
- The Marlins are set to hire Wellington Cepeda as bullpen coach, reports Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Cepeda, 42, managed the Diamondbacks’ rookie-level Arizona League affiliate in 2019, his first season as a minor-league skipper. Cepeda has a background as a minor-league pitching coach, Frisaro adds. He’ll work with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, Jr., who is returning for a second season. Cepeda will have his work cut out for him, as Miami’s young bullpen was among MLB’s worst in 2019.
Yes, bring back Matt Wieters and Adam Wainwright. Wieters was special with a limited playing time he helped the team. Lets go Cards.
Yes, bring back more and more aging, mediocre players, because that’s the direction baseball is heading. Yes, this is sarcasm for the learning impaired Cardinals fans.
No comment about that. I cannot change your opinion. It appears that you are wise, lol.
CFAP
I’m not sure what you are looking for in a backup catcher. A .702 OPS and decent defense for $1.5M is about as good as it gets.
Wieters is horrible defensively. I’m looking for them to let one of their young catchers, formerly Kelly now Knizner, to catch 50 games and make Molina sit.
I think Knizner should sit behind Yadi next season learn from the Goat and take over the reins in 2021.
You like chicks?
I agree. It surprises me that they said he ranks near the bottom in defense. He passed the eye test for me. At Yadi’s age, it’s important to have a good backup.
I agree with you too.
I agree as well….. As a Cubs fan.
all urias needs is constant at-bats. but s.d. only wants to have more control years and that just might hinder his development. nothing new in sd.
If San Diego even believed in that… then tatis and paddack would not have made the opening day roster and effectively losing that extra year of control.
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Thank you lowtalker1, very well said.
Exactly…..anyone who says the Padres are more interested in control years than giving prospects their shot has NOT been paying attention.
Kid hit .300 to close out the season. He is going to be a star
He hit .300 in a very small sample of 80 ABs. So far in a still small, but better sample of 193 ABs, he has struggled badly against RHP, hitting .166.
I won’t say that he will or won’t be a star. He hasn’t done enough at the MLB level to know one way or the other. But he wouldn’t be the first highly regarded prospect, with great numbers in the minors, to be a disappointment in the majors.
Anyone that has watched Urias play can see the talent and the plate discipline. Those are two things the Padres are sorely lacking.
He led the team with a .341 OBP the 2nd half of last season among every day players. Tatis was slightly better, but he was on the DL for much of it. For a club that struggled to get men on base, that is exactly why you play Urias every day..
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
He hit .221 vs RHP with 31 hits in 140 AB in the 2nd half of last season vs .241 overall. It was only in a much smaller sample size in 2018 and early in 2019 when he was not playing daily that he played poorly against RHP. Its amazing what happens when you play every day.
What Urias has shown at every new level he reaches is that when he plays every day he gets better as he gets more at bats. 2019 in the majors was no exception.
You’re cherry-picking stats from selected time spans. In the larger, more illustrative sample, he still hit only .166, with a .293 OBP, in 193 ABs. Assuming he developed a little more in his second year, he still hit only .177 in 158 ABs with a .312 OBP.
It’s a lame excuse when a guy is not producing right away that the reason is lack of playing time. It’s backwards to say the lack of production is due to lack of playing time, when in reality, the lack of playing time is due to poor performance.
The facts are the facts. And the simple fact is that he has struggled early in his career. The people in the dugout are far better than you or I in knowing whether a guy is putting up good ABs. If he does, he gets more regular playing time. He may become a star. But the only thing that’s sure is his progress has been slower than what the Padres would like.
Not cherry picking at all. I am talking about when he played every day and when he didn’t.
In the 2nd half Urias played every day. The results were there. In 2018 and early in 2019 he was lucky to get 2 games in a row, let alone consistent starts.
You have to play every day to make adjustments, especially at a new level. You can’t make adjustments riding the pine. Have to be someone that has never played and never paid any attention to the game to argue against that.
Green is gone because he didn’t know when people were putting up good at bats.
it may not look possible but mike trout hit 220/281/390 in 135 pa’s in his ‘pre-rookie’ season.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree. The platoon splits are troubling. And I would suggest that Green was not the only person involved in Urias’ playing time. Also providing feedback on Urias’ ABs, are the bench coach, hitting coach, and others of the staff that are all routinely part of the discussion about what a player is doing on the field.
A lot of guys, even Willie Mays, didn’t produce right away. The difference is that Trout showed tremendous improvement in his 2nd year. Another difference is that Trout didn’t have the troubling platoon splits.
Urias’ wRC+ by month:
Mar/Apr: 14 (bad, gets sent down)
jul: 52
Aug: 83
Sep/Oct: : 115
Who knows what happens next year, but the narrative that Urias just is horrible seems unfair. Even Aug+ he looked unsteady, but even his unsteady was way better than Hosmer.
SUPERSTAR!
s.d. only wants to have more control years
——————————————–
Absolutely correct. The casual fan probably thinks it has something to do with his .083 & -0- HRs in April, but you’re here to learn them new stuffs about bb.
If that were the case they’d have held Fernando Tatis Jr down for the first 15 days
Which was stupid what’s new from Preller who should of held Tatis down
I was being sarcastic. I like Urias, but to question the fact that he was sent down after essentially not hitting at all for an entire month, is insane. This is not some automatic process where top-30 players hit the ground running. Often times, teams are better off waiting for the prospects to get into a groove in AAA.
Yup, you just lost a year of service for a handful of games in a season you finished 13th in the league. A lot of time, the distinction is meaningless, like with JBJ. And sometimes guys just blossom.
But on generational talents, like Tatis (and yes, I drafted him), teams are better off keeping in AAA for another three months. All they do now is spend two years training them, so that they can become FAs at age 26-27.
Preller and co don’t care about extra control years, unfortunately
That’s why he’s misfit GM LOSER
IF the Reds could get Urias for say Tyler Mahle I would be thrilled. Keep Senzel in CF which I think is likey the better position to keep him on the field. Mahle I think could be a solid starter, perhaps even a very good one if he can keep up his first half pace. I think the sample size is still pretty small on Urias and I thought that he started to hit as the season went along as well. So I don’t see the Padres accepting that.
Who?
Reds starter who has shown promise in minor leagues and has been a solid arm in the first half of year, but brutal in the second half. Gets around a k per inning as a starter but needs to develop a third pitch I think. Ceiling is probably a mid rotation arm. Personally I think the Padres would be foolish to deal Urias, I think he’s a great contact bat with just enough power to keep teams honest. I don’t think he’s going to be Altuve light, but a guy that will hit .300 with a .375 OB and say 10-15 homer power wll be great.
Minor leagues? Haha no
Proven from here on out.
Mahle is a major league arm. Kind of similar to Urias in that he hasn’t completely shown the same success that he has in the minors in the majors.
No thanks. Plenty of those. I’ll take Castillo for real this time and you can have urias.
Yes the guy that is a front end proven arm on a cheap contract for a guy who could be a AAAA super star. If Castillo was put out there the Reds would open with Tatis.. I like Urias a lot but his struggles really have hurt him, if not for the last month I’d be worried about him being quad A.
Nah
Tatis is better and the padres had Castillo once before and sent him back
5.14 ERA in 2019. 4.88 ERA in 52 career starts. Why would the Padres want him?
His minor league numbers are outstanding, much like Urias. His numbers in the first half of both seasons are very good
HIs numbers in first half drops his ERA to 4.24 (in GABP) with a K per inning talent is there but he tends to drop off hard in second half.
He’s still young and controled for I think four years.
Shut up burns
Padres had Castillo try again
No way that deal goes down straight up. I agree with you on Mahle being a decent starter, but he alone isn’t enough to pry away Urias at 22 years old and like 30 days of service time, especially with Abrams/Edwards still AT LEAST 2 years away, and especially with the pitching talent in the SD system.
Padres have a ton of talent and really the Reds have minimal, where the Reds have something the Padres usually have a better option already on the roster or a year or two away. I suppose they could do Mahle and Peraza who I think is better then he showed last year, but he seems to play a lot better at SS.
Padres are not taking the Reds trash for Urias.
Preller is a smart man. Urias will start the season at 2nd base
You’re funny….. you’re wrong…. but you’re funny
I’m starting to lean towards him not being a smart man. The bad moves he’s made are really starting to add up…
5 years + just coming round?
112 games under .500 smart
Was he a smart man when he traded anything for Matt Kemp? Let alone Yasmani Grandal and Zach Eflin? Was he a smart man when he traded Trea Turner? Was he a smart man when he traded Max Fried? Was he a smart man when he signed Eric Hosmer? Was he a smart man when he extended Wil Myers? Was he a smart man when he traded for Freddy Galvis? Was he a smart man when he signed Ian Kinsler? Was he a smart man when he tried to sign Pablo Sandoval and then tried to trade for him a year later? Was he a smart man when he threw guaranteed control of Fernando Tatis Jr and Chris Paddack’s 2025 seasons into the garbage?
BINGO
Urias is fine. Hit well last month of the season. Ian Kinsler being on the team messed with Urias playing time nothing left to prove in AAA. Give him a full season of at bats 500+ next season and watch what happens.
Hitting well in a month means nothing. A ton of guys have done that that weren’t anything special. Not getting playing time is an excuse for guys that aren’t earning regular playing time.
Not saying he isn’t special. He may be. But his lack of playing time reflects on his struggles, not the manager. He’s young, still learning and still developing. He’s only 22. He has to earn regular playing time.
He hit .241/.341 in the 2nd half once he got regular playing time and he got better every month. He led the team in OBP once he was recalled from the minors on July 20th.
Part of the reason Green is gone is the way he mismanaged players like Urias.
Urias won’t be “special” because he will never hit 20+ HR in the majors. What he will be is a Gold Glove candidate every year and hit around .280/.360.
Whether that is for the Padres or another team is yet to be seen, but it would be incredibly shortsighted to trade him now.
I’m not saying to trade him. Trading him now would be when his value is relatively low. He’s an intriguing prospect. But what he did over a half a season needs to be taken carefully. Half a season is, at most, a reason for hope, but it’s not anything that can be taken to mean a whole lot. Thousands of guys have been really good for half a season.
The fact is he struggles badly against RHP. I’m not saying he can’t improve in that area. but he needs to if he wants to have a decent MLB career. 2B is one of the easiest positions to fill currently, and if he can’t exceed the Mendoza line against RHP he may wind up as a utility guy and will not be getting regular ABs.
He’ll be similar to Adam Eaton, just play 2B. Thats plenty special. I’d take a team of Adam Eaton’s over a team of guys that hit the 30 homers but can’t get on base. He won’t be Altuve, but if he reaches his ceiling (that ..300/3.70) he’ll still be top 5 at the position.
It’s not happening for Mahle. If I were the RS GM, I’d be trading Betts, and if Urias was on the table, I’d be listening. He was ranked ~ top-20. He’s had issues in the pros, but is only just 22, with 5 years left. And it is possible that his time at SS might’ve hindered his progress. I think he had a fielding % of .989! at 2B, but only .927 at SS.
And his hitting issue in the pros is mostly related to strikeouts. That was not much of an issue in the minors, so I suspect he’ll get past it.
Urias for Kolten Wong? You get a better than average (great defensive) 2nd baseman under contract for several more years at a good rate. It would be a heck of a gamble for both teams. What does the peanut gallery think?
Wong is controllable through 2021 for a total of $22.75 million.
Cardinals would jump on this.
Padres would not.
Absolutely not. You kind of know what your going to get from wong at this point imo. If you look at possible future contracts urias clearly had the larger possible upside for earnings and will carry much more value alone than Wong, I could see Wong and a maybe top 20 prospect or even bader or Fowler in some salary swap though.
Wong great defensively? Whatever. He sure proved his defensive prowess in the playoffs. The back of his uniform should read, “O. Mayer” instead of “Wong”.
I mean, really, now you are going to argue that Wong isn’t good defensively? I can see where people undervalue the single the other way and bunt for a hit type offense he brings in this day and age, but DEFENSIVELY? I think your glasses are throwing a little shade over your eyes.
He spent the three weeks before the playoffs out with a leg injury and either didn’t have confidence in pushing his leg or was still feeling pain moving side to side. This is the most extreme case of small sample size I’ve ever seen.
Remember Wong came back from injury straight into the playoffs. No rehab stint in the minors. Some guys need time to knock off some rust. Wong had a great all around year
I’ll take urias over Wong any day
Plus I don’t think the padres should do any deals with the cardinals again unless it’s actually in their favor. Too many years of getting ripped off by that team in trades. Never again
Apparently still bitter about the Gary Templeton for Ozzie Smith deal.
and the Jim Edmonds for David Freese steal. And the Ryan Ludwick for Corey Kluber and Nick Greenwood robbery. And the Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley and Gene Tenace for Terry Kennedy a couple of stiffs and Seaman and Urrea.debacle. So, other than dumping the headcase Khalil Greene on the Cards for Luke Gregerson, the Cardinals have been ripping off the Padres since before the Padres’ first game in 1969.
I actually was going to post this. I wonder if the Padres would actually consider it.
I feel like the surplus values might be somewhat close.
Nope! Urias is better and has more club control
Don’t the Padres learn from their mistakes? They have moved on from too many young players that became stars elsewhere. Maybe give the 22 year old every day at bats and see what you have first.
The problem with Urias is that everyone that wants him sees his minor league numbers and is excited about what he can bring to the table…at the same time they see his major league numbers and rightfully believe that he should bring back something lesser then what his minor leauge numbers sugguest.
Urías probably better off being used in a deal to bring Corey Kluber to SD.
Why would the Padres want a 35 year old Kluber coming off an injury filled year? Even for lesser prospects I think the answer is no on that one from the Padres standpoint.
Kluber is not 35. He is 33.
I remember the hype surrounding Weiters when he was drafted “Joe Mauer with power…”
Dude’s never hit 25 homers in a season. Let alone 30. Never lived up to the hype. 🙁
Ya, he got injured at a pretty crucial point in his career and never did recover. It’s too bad, he could have had some majorly productive years.
He isn’t the first prospect that didn’t live up to the hype, but he’s been a bust. Can’t really field, and his bat isn’t anything special. IF he wasn’t a catcher he’d be out of the league.
Padres should add Buck Showalter to their list of field manager prospects. The Padres were awful in 2019 in playing good, fundamental baseball. They have the potential to be a good team in a division where they will have a hard time passing the Dodgers, however, they first need to play better baseball – better defense, fewer strikeouts, more hits with men in scoring position, etc.
Too expensive for Padres they are shopping at discount rack for managers.
Well Duh
How about the Orioles? Maybe Urias, Quantril and Ty France for Mancini?
That’s an overpay and Padres already had their own Trey Mancini named Franmil Reyes and they traded him.
Yes don’t play Urias so you can never gauge if he is capable. Players don’t grow without PLAYING. Just another move with Preller being a horrible GM.