Padres catcher Luis Campusano is making notable progress in his rehab from a sprained left thumb. As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, Campusano hit on the field prior to today’s game against the Nationals before catching a bullpen session for right-hander Yu Darvish. As noted by MLB.com, manager Bob Melvin considered today’s steps forward “significant” as Campusano continues his rehab process, but the club has not yet set a timeline for the catcher to begin a rehab assignment.
Campusano appeared in just seven games this season prior to going on the injured list, leaving much of the catching duties to Austin Nola, who’s struggled to a brutal .144/.263/.195 slash line this season. More recently, the Padres have learned on in-season addition Gary Sanchez behind the plate. In 80 plate appearances since arriving in San Diego, Sanchez has slashed .206/.275/.521 with a wRC+ of 114 while grading out as a roughly average defensive catcher. Still, Campusano’s eventual return figures to give the Padres insurance if Sanchez’s production takes a turn for the worse and an alternative to Nola as the second catcher on the roster.
More from around MLB’s western divisions…
- As reported by John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose mayor Matt Mahan and four previous mayors of the city have issued a letter to commissioner Rob Manfred pleading the city’s case for an MLB expansion or relocation team. In the letter, the mayors argue that San Jose presents a unique opportunity for MLB considering its population, annual GDP, and its relationship with major tech companies. As Shea notes, the Giants currently have territorial rights over San Jose following an agreement between San Francisco and Oakland in 1990. That agreement was a major factor in the failure of a bid by the Athletics to move to San Jose back in 2013. While the idea of San Jose as a potential expansion team location farfetched considering MLB’s decision to support the Giants in their dispute with the A’s over territorial rights a decade ago, the situation is nonetheless worth noting as groups around the country such as those in Nashville and Salt Lake City prepare for the possibility of expansion in the coming decade.
- Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy threw a bullpen session today and told reporters, including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle, that he was sitting 88-89 with his fastball, down from his typical velocity of 93-94. That’s not much of a cause for concern at the moment, however, considering how early it is in Urquidy’s rehab from shoulder woes that have kept him on the injured list since the beginning of May. Urquidy, who has long been expected to return sometime in July, told reporters that the current plan is for him to throw two more bullpen sessions before advancing to facing live hitters. It seems reasonable to expect a rehab assignment to be in the near future for Urquidy once he begins facing live batters, assuming everything goes well up to that point.
- Angels lefty Matt Moore is making progress in his rehab from an oblique injury that has left his sidelined for nearly a month, though he told reporters, including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, that today’s bullpen didn’t go well enough for him to be activated from the injured list on Monday. While how Moore feels tomorrow will decide a lot of the process, the Halos reliever indicated that he expects to throw at least one more bullpen before he’s activated from the IL. Moore has been stellar for the Angels this season when healthy, with a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings, though the club has managed to maintain a solid bullpen in his absence thanks to the efforts of players like Carlos Estevez, Jaime Barria, and Chris Devenski.
GO1962
Manfred would be wise to engage the San Jose mayor in discussion. San Jose and Santa Clara County are more populated than San Francisco, and therefore have more political clout nationally and in the State of California.
Astrosfn1979
The Giants “own” the rights to San Jose
Neither Manfred nor any MLB rep can go to them without Giants ownership permission.
And no way they give it.
SportsFan0000
Not according to Bud Selig and he was there when the events transpired.
Tampa/SF Giants had the moving vans loaded and were ready to drive all the Giants equipment to Tampa in 1992.
Former A’s Owner Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) who ran a successful A’s franchise, paid his on field talent, fielded a competitive ballclub that the fans supported with a high level of attendance in Oakland.
Former A’s Owner saved the Giants for SF Bay Area..
He gifted the A’s 50% of Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley to the Giants
ONLY with understanding that the Giants new stadium would be built in San Jose(Capital of Silicon Valley)..
Guess what?! New Giants stadium was built in downtown San Francisco 90 minutes north of San Jose.
Bud Selig says Walter Haas acted in the best interests of baseball to save the Giants for SF Bay Area. Selig was also quoted as saying that A’s Owner Haas said the gift of Santa Clara County to the Giants WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE A PERMANENT SITUATION. Haas and the A’s expected their 50% of Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley to be RESTORED/RETURNED TO THE A’S ONCE THE GIANTS BUILT THEIR STADIUM.
The Giants backstabbed the A’s. In other words the situation is like that popular song “THE SNAKE”
where the women finds a dying snake and brings it back to life
then the snake bites the woman who saved his life and the woman dies.
The Giants are playing the role of the snake of that song in this situation.
The New SF Giants Team theme song : “The Snake”
youtube.com/watch?v=ULx9k2QkL94
SportsFan0000
MLB Owners and the Commissioners Office make the Rules in MLB
and can change it at any time.
Revenue sharing applies only to small market MLB team.
The Oakland A’s are ARE NOT A SMALL MARKET CLUB AND DID NOT QUALIFY FOR REVENUE SHARING UNDER TERRIBLE OWNER JOHN FISHER.
MLBCommissioner’s Office and Owners changed the rule to let John Fisher’s A’s draw revenue sharing along with much smaller market teams.
MLB’s General Rule is when 2 Teams share a market,
then All Territories are split 50/50 between the 2 teams:
Dodgers/Angels, NYY/Mets, Cubs/White Sox etc.
Giants are way out of line.
They are the only team demanding a MONOLOPY of one of the largest
sports markets in the country.
NFL Owners would not let just one team in LA.
They insisted on 2 teams in that large market.
A Vote of the MLB Owners could easily restore
the A’s 50% share of Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley territory.
And, the Giants do not have a leg to stand on to block it.
Giants have only 1 Vote.
Clubs can easily out vote the Giants who are only one franchise out of 30.
Brew’88
Will take more than Luis to save them
stymeedone
“Roughly” is the perfect way to describe Sanchez as a catcher. He’s hitting .206 and they are worried that his production could take a “turn for the worse.” So this is good for him?!!! When your .206 average has people thinking you are overperforming, maybe you need a new career.
solaris602
And once again reality raises its ugly head. Sanchez went unsigned last winter for a reason. I’m not sure why SD thought he was gonna be any more than he is now, but to leave considerable wiggle room for his current numbers to crater (!!!!!) is a sad commentary. If they’d simply re-signed Alfaro they wouldn’t be in this prolonged state of catching emergency.
JoeBrady
If they’d simply re-signed Alfaro they wouldn’t be in this prolonged state of catching emergency.
=======================
Alfaro has a -0.4 bWAR this year.
Sanchez has a 0.7 bWAR this year.
SportsFan0000
That is the Padres fault for favoring a veteran catcher that cannot hit
and burying Luis Campusano on the bench behind him.
Any young player is not going to get acclimated to MLB pitching sitting on the bench getting blisters in his butt,
closetball
Prellers team-building prowess on display yet again.
Angelic Visitations
It’s not political, it’s just an observation. Right now, California doesn’t seem like a place where leagues are looking to expand. And I can completely understand why.
Manfred’s playing with the balls
Not really. The Rams left the Midwest for LA. Clippers, Lakers, Kings and Warriors seem happy in CA. Padres, Angels, Dodgers, and Giants are thriving. It’s Oakland that teams are leaving. Chargers and 49ers don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. I don’t think San Jose should get a team but the whole narrative that teams are leaving CA because Oakland won’t give enough tax payer money to billionaires is just silly.
Sacramento would be a better option over SJ if CA gets another baseball team but I think Portland and Nashville are next in line. Charlotte, Salt Lake, and Sacramento would be the next best 3 to me. I could see arguments for putting another Canadian team (Vancouver or Montreal) into the mix with Sac too.
gehrig619
I understand that Portland has been trying for years for an MLB team. But why would anyone want to be part of the hell hole wasteland that is Portland? I don’t see it ever happening.
avenger65
And would a team in Portland be stepping on the toes of the Mariner’s broadcast rights?
SportsFan0000
You don’t know what you are talking about.
:Portland is a beautiful, dynamic, thriving city.
SportsFan0000
Well, Soto is finally hitting.
However, Padres made a bone headed trade.
One of the guys the Padres gave up is 24 year old starting pitcher McKenzie Gore who just shut down his old team the Padres in his latest start.
One top of the rotation starter plus a young starting SS,
plus two impact starting OFs in ’24 or ’25.
that is a lot of guys who will be impact players in MLB
long after Soto is playing in NYC or LA
Soto cannot play 3 or 4 positions and pitch all in the same game etc.
With the Soto deal, the Padres have destroyed their depth and right now do not look like a playoffs team.
SportsFan0000
And, the Padres have been short on reliable starters this year.
So, the Padres give up another, young top of the rotation starter in another deal(Soto) and load up on declining veterans starters?!
It is going to get “ugly” when all their old guys in the rotation start their inevitable decline cycles.
Smart teams hang onto their top young starting pitchers.
closetball
Preller strikes again. I think Bogaerts was the big blow. His offensive stats are the same as Kim. Take X’s salary and get another real SP and a real 1B and maybe even a reliever for that 25 mil/yr. But I agree, So far, the Soto deal is meh.
JoeBrady
I think Bogaerts was the big blow. His offensive stats are the same as Kim.
==================================
IMHO, Kim is a better all-around SS. I’ve been saying exactly what you’ve been saying since pre-season. Signing Bogaerts, while a fine player, doesn’t do much to make them better since it forces both Kim and Cronenworth off of their natural positions. Now you have a 1B with a .663 OPS.
It was a classic subtraction by addition.
JoeBrady
It is going to get “ugly” when all their old guys in the rotation start their inevitable decline cycles.
============================
It gets marginally more ugly every season. SD throws money at every problem. OTOH, how would you like to be the Mets? It feels almost impossible to spend $377M and be this far below .500.
SportsFan0000
Golden State Warriors didn’t leave the SFBay Area.
The built their new arena with private money only 15 miles away in SF.
They started out as the SF Warriors, then changed to the Golden St Warriors.
The Raiders are a nomad franchise: Oakland, LA, back to Oakland
then to LV.
The Raiders ruined Oakland A’s stadium when they added all those extra seats for NFL football.
A’s are trying to move because of completely incompetent owner
John Fisher who has gutted the team and is relying on revenue sharing and TV shared national revenues.
Fisher is certainly not relying on his business skills
which appear to be lacking as an MLB Owner.
Fisher is a poor man’s version of Frank McCourt.
(see divorce papers to document McCourt’s looting of the Dodgers.
Angelic Visitations
That argument stands up, until you look under the hood. The Kings have been in turmoil they’re entire existence and have suffered from very low attendance. The Angels have an old cookie cutter stadium that’s rotting from the inside out and a local government that’s corrupt and unwilling to fund improvements, or work with the owner who can’t decide if he wants to buy or sell, so they might leave as well. And in football, the Chargers and Rams are continuously out-attended by visitor games at their own home games.
It’s California in general. Highest taxes and cost of living in the entire nation, people leaving in droves. And in order to fund upgrades to professional sports franchises, they would need to raise taxes even further, which they’re already at the breaking point.
So speaking out of context or in generalities might make your point semi-accurate, but in reality, in actuality, it’s completely false.
SportsFan0000
California bashing IS NOT A VALID ARGUMENT~
California is passing Germany as the 4TH LARGEST AND RICHES ECONOMY IN THE WORLD when compared to countries.
California has 40 million people,
Everyone is not leaving CA.
That is a myth.
Just as many young, educated, highly skilled, highly motivated people and families are moving to California as
are the lower salaried, less skilled, less educated persons and families on the bottom of the economy leaving CA.
California will not miss the burger flippers, janitors, waiters and waitresses who leave for cheaper housing.
CA wishes them well and welcomes the highly
skilled families moving into to take their places without missing a beat.
Hawaii, New York, California, Washington DC, Washington State, Mass.
are all expensive areas to live(capitalism supply and demand factors).
Those who cannot afford CA, move.
Those who can afford CA stay there and new people moving in all the time.
Read, investigate, learn, do not buy a fake right wing political agenda
that is false, misleading and used to advance a political agenda.
California is leading the movement for new privately funded stadiums and arenas that do not use taxpayer funds.
Attendance for California pro sports teams has been very high.
Dodgers and Padres are top tier draws for fans.
If a team has well funded Ownership who are very good businesspersons, then it will succeed in CA.
Steinbrenner2728
“It’s not political, it’s just an observation….”
It has to do more with TV Market sizes and team owner decision-making, but $$$ and Politics is what sports needs all the time.
SportsFan0000
MLB is about dollars and sense.
California is passing Germany as the 4th largest and richest economy in the entire World
when compared to countries that is TRILLIONS in wealth and some of the richest tech companies in the entire World.
Las Vegas has one desert strip that relies heavily on tourism?
And what happened to that during Covid?
(Tourism went through the floorboards).
What happens to the gambling mecca during the next recession?@
People do not visit Vegas during recessions.
So, a bad deal is going to look even worse when the inevitable “rainy days” come to Las Vegas.
Kershaw's Lesser Known Right Arm
No need to rush Moore back. Need him 100% right more than anything
Jesse Chavez enthusiast
I’m happy it seems that Matt Moore has been able to reinvent himself as a very good reliever the past two seasons.