Merrill Kelly’s gem of an outing in Game 2 has made him the talk of baseball, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal took a look back at the right-hander’s unique path to the World Series stage. Beginning his career in the Rays’ farm system, Kelly signed with the KBO League’s SK Wyverns and spent four seasons pitching in South Korea, despite feeling an urge to return to North American baseball halfway through that stint. Still, pitching in the KBO League sparked Kelly’s career to the point that Diamondbacks had interest in a free agent deal during the 2018-19 offseason, and Kelly signed a two-year, $5.5MM deal with club options attached for 2021 and 2022.
This was the only multi-year offer Kelly received that winter, so he jumped at the chance at some extra security as he made his MLB debut at age 30. Between that initial contract and a subsequent extension signed prior to the 2022 season, Kelly’s time in Arizona has now included five seasons, at least $32.5MM in guaranteed salary, and now a key role in the postseason. Kelly has a 2.25 ERA over four starts and 24 innings in these playoffs, and holds an interesting distinction as the first pitcher to earn a win in both the Korean Series (helping the Wyverns capture the 2018 title) and the World Series.
Some more from around the NL West….
- Before the Diamondbacks picked up Tommy Pham from the Mets at the trade deadline, the Dodgers were known to be one of several other teams who considered acquiring the veteran outfielder. Pham told Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times that he wanted to join the Dodgers last offseason, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman twice turned down overtures from Pham’s agent, as L.A. was focused on adding a left-handed hitting outfielder instead. David Peralta ended up being that lefty swinging outfielder, and while Peralta had a subpar season, Pham hit .256/.328/.446 over 481 combined PA with the Mets and D’Backs this season. Pham has continued to contribute during Arizona’s playoff run, including a four-hit night in Game 2 of the World Series.
- A.J. Preller’s management style as the Padres’ president of baseball operations has come under increased criticism due to the team’s disappointing 2023 season, as well as the reported discord between Preller and now-former manager Bob Melvin. Preller spoke with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and other reporters about what he is looking for in hiring the Padres’ next skipper, with Acee adding details and anecdotes within the piece related to Preller’s approach, his (to some, overbearing) attention to detail, and the communication breakdown that occurred between Preller and Melvin over the last year.
Acee is on a mission to destroy the Padres. Read his piece this morning in SD UT, it spewed of bias and hate.
Specifically, to what bias and hate do you refer?
The bias and hate of truth.
Well if that’s the case acee made preller look like a diligent hard working guy always hustling working hard and Melvin like a slacker who couldn’t keep up
But more to brews point. A prime example would be acee criticizing prellers need for constant communication whether it’s 3am 630am 4pm. Midnight. For someone reason that’s bad but tried to shield Melvin saying he spent 12 hours at the ballpark. Like how long you’re at a job location matters. I know plenty of people who do 9-5s and don’t work half the time.
“It is not all that rare for someone to get a text or call from Preller at 3 a.m.. and then again at 6:30 a.m. The topic of a conversation may be a trade that is about to happen or could happen or about a certain player’s need to work on one thing or another.
Preller wants that from everyone around him, and had to accept that there were certain hours and topics that Melvin, who spent 12 hours a day at the ballpark, was not interested in engaging.”
It’s they best he can do to include passive aggressive comments that seem to some as complementary. Acee exudes child-like hate towards SD teams, he’s an entitled reporter who thinks he’s bigger than the sport itself doesn’t have a clue about the long suffering of SD fans for not winning a championship. Last thing SD needs is a sensational vulture outsider bsing and preying his way to clicks. Now he’s going after Seidler. Next up the Aztecs basketball?
@Brew Entitled sportswriter? He’s doing a good job keeping the public aware of how screwed up SDP are as an organization.
Screwed up that the GM wants constant communication between himself, coach, analytics, etc so everyone is working on the same page but coach doesnt want that making himself unavailable after a certain hour and actively refusing to listen to input? Sounds like one person is the issue in that relationship and its not preller.
Acee is doing a good job of drama-bsing for clicks. You’re right about the organization being his target though. He went after Melvin all season long, Preller too, then all the players, now Seidler. Anyone left? He went after the fans in 2021 now they’ve shut him up by selling out every game.
I wish Acee would be reassigned to the White Sox.He’d have a field day exposing that mess of an organization.
or a Kardashian assignment with Inquirer Magazine
Acee used to be the Chargers’ primary bear writer. He should have gone to LA with them.
> Acee used to be the Chargers’
> primary bear writer.
Not many bears on the Chargers. No wonder Acee’s so mad.
Hemlock: After the Chargers took apart the Bears Sunday night, the Chargers are lucky not to have any Bears on their team.
I think Ace is a very informative writer. I don’t sense any hate, let alone bias.
Which means you have never read a single article by ACEE.
Acee is a professional sports journalist who wrote a balanced, fair article
about the Padres situation, Preller, Melvin etc.
It was very insightful and helpful in understanding the situation.
As a professional, Acee did no take sides and consulted with all the parties involved to get their sides of the story to keep it fair and non biased.
Acce’s job is not to write a “puff piece” and be a cheerleader for the Padres.
If you want that, then go read Padres PR releases from the corporate PR Dept.
was waiting for your punch line that didnt come.
No, dont want puff, we get that from Cassavell. Just prefer a break from Acee’s non-stop concocted drama meant only to stir up controversy. It obviously works because AP and mlbtr link to it without pause.
Reality is a reasonable ask though.
Acee is a sports journalist.
‘
By definition, good, professional journalists are not the cheering section for any of the teams they cover.
It is their job to ask the hard questions of the teams and individuals they cover.
They use critical thinking skills
Not sure where you get your info, but “shooting the messenger” when he reports bad news and problems that come is not the answer.
That is his job to get to the truth and to report it to the public.
Not sure why that is so hard for you to understand.
He is not supposed to be a fan of the team because that is a conflict of interest.
It is not his job to hide, cover up and’/or not report things that may be embarrassing to the team etc.
You are completely missing the point,
It is not Acee’s drama.
You are created drama by complaining about a man just doing his job.
If you don’t like his reporting, then don’t read it.
Problem solved.
As usual, you are missing the point zero. Acee is the one CREATING the drama where none exists to get people to click on his articles. He is trying to create a sensational narrative to get you to read his articles regardless of whether there are any facts in them.
Often, the very next article HE writes counters his previous article, yet he will continue to push what he himself said was a false narrative. Like the “debt service ratio” issue the Padres supposedly had that backed his cutting payroll narrative. The very next article he said that the Padres were one of 23 teams that had a temporary debt service issue because of the 2020 season and had submitted a plan to MLB to correct it which did not include cutting payroll. In subsequent articles he continued with the narrative of payroll cuts even though he himself said it was not necessary. That is FAR from the only case like that.
Before the UT was sold, that was not the case. Today its all about creating drama with innuendo and unnamed sources.
When writers lie like Acee does, its our responsibility to hold them to account.
You misspelled Preller. That article spewed the truth which by the sound of things you have a hard time understanding.
And MLBTR will post a rumor link to every hatestrewn garbage article Acee writes. This isn’t baseball related, it’s sensationalism
Acee is the kind of guy who will interject drama into everything he writes. For instance, when Juan Soto was scuffling in 2022, it wasn’t just a slump that all hitters go through. Acee conflated it into a more general dissatisfaction that Soto allegedly had with the team. It should have been a story about a superstar’s struggles after joining a new club, and how he was working with coaches to correct his swing.
Great example right there. He turns everything dark and blameful.
To me, it sounds like Acee is trying to get attention. Based on these posts, he’s getting it. But that’s OK. Guys like him apparently deserve it sometimes. By the way, is he the SD beat writer or an opinion guy?
psycho beat writer
You mean when Soto said he couldn’t get any help from Pads coaching staff? How is that Acee creating drama? He’s reporting what’s being said.
Soto didn’t say that. Acee claimed he said it. Soto said that he WAS working with staff to correct his swing.
Per AJ Cassavell, not Acee:
“Everybody’s talking about what I’m doing wrong,” Soto said. “Nobody’s telling me what I’m doing to fix it. I can tell that they’ve been seeing it. I see it every day. I’m pulling myself this way. I’m trying to find a way how to fix it.”
You were saying?
It is standard practice to post a link to facts that back up your reporting.
It helps prove there is a factual basis for his reporting and article
(kind of like foot notes if you wrote papers in high school or college.
And yet you never do so.
Friedman does make bad decisions from time to time
More so lately! Overrated IMO.
What, you dare to question The Friedman?
Friedmans lost Alex Anthopolous, and Farhan Zaidi. 3 GMs all formerly working together.
I believe its more rare then the norm. I thought Pham would have been a good Dodger player to add, but Peralt wasn’t an overall bad choice either. Pham had a so so regular season who got hot in the playoffs. I wouldn’t judge this a bad decision.
Hello, Noah Syndergaard?
The OPS+ for these two in 2023:
Peralta: 81
Pham: 111
The Dodgers also came up short on RHBs during the season leading to the trades for Rosario and Hernandez. Many believe Friedman is all but infallible, and always will no matter what actually happens.
Pham was (and still is) a huge risk, simply because he’s insane. Maybe it’s just me but I view the Dodgers as a team not so desperate as to take on such a risk.
And Syndergaard wasn’t a risk? Bauer? Red flags aplenty on both of them.
Every signing is a risk. Front offices deserve to be graded on how those risks play out.
It seems like the Dodgers FO didn’t have their eyes entirely on 2023. They’ve been looking ahead to Ohtani. That’s why they saved their pennies this season by not bringing in any top talent. Then, closer to the PO, they traded for players like Hernandez and Gopher Ball Lynn. Apparently 100+ wins doesn’t get you everything.
I was thinking personality/extracurricular risk. Like Bauer yes. But true on Syndergaard from a performance standpoint, and Lynn I would add. JD (less risk I know) worked out well.
100 wins is 100 wins though, sheesh
And another postseason flop. Sheesh yourself.
162 game season matters though, I will always think of the Braves as the best team in MLB this year
Agreed on the Braves, but I don’t think many Dodgers fans would agree with you on the regular season. Like I said, front offices should be graded on how they perform, and for their postseason work this one deserves a C-minus at best.
Hard to disagree. Both the Braves and Dodgers didn’t seem to have that classic playoff winning formula 1-2 punch ace SPs, injuries didn’t help
It goes deeper than that imo. Winning in the postseason takes a different approach than the regular season, especially in the analytics era when so much game play is about planning and execution. I don’t know how you can watch the playoffs and not see which teams have figured that out versus the ones that try to play the regular season game plan and expect it to work.
yes of course!
Based on the first two games of the World Series, the Dbacks are clearly the better team. They would be leading 2 games to none, if the Rangers hadn’t stolen a Game 1 win in which they were clearly outplayed. Looks like the Dbacks will win the Series in 5 games.
It doesn’t matter which is the “better team” in a short series. Both teams have to be damned good to even get there. What matters is who steps up and takes advantage of opportunities that they’re presented with.
See the 1960 world series for reference.
> Looks like the Dbacks will win the
> Series in 5 games.
Logic breakdown:
1. IFF Diamondbacks lead
2. AND Diamondbacks lose
3. THEN Diamondbacks win every other game
❌❌❌
Who cares just bring on free agency.
This didn’t age well
Don’t have to try to guess like Acee did. Watch for yourself. mlb.com/padres/news/a-j-preller-discusses-padres-s…
A few of other things.
Melvin said he was going to be hands off in 2023. He did so to the point that he made no attempt to create relationships with players choosing simply not to talk to them.
Melvin refused to interact with anyone from the analytics department. The most successful teams have the biggest input from the analytics staff and he would not even talk to them in 2023. If he had, he would have had to be hands ON and convey that information to the players.
He did not mandate practice. Players got to choose whether or not they wanted to participate in practice. I have NEVER heard of a successful manager that did that. Preller is of the mind that you outwork your opponents and practice makes perfect. I am sure not having mandatory practice drove him nuts
Melvin seldom interacted with players during games. If you have been watching the playoffs you have seen Bochy talk to hitters and pitchers prior to important situations in the game. Not Melvin.
Acee has become the worst kind of hack. One that will not only invent things, but try to sensationalize things even after he has been shown to be wrong. He is now trying to call what insiders and both Preller and Melvin called healthy disagreements, a “civil war” between Preller and Melvin. Acee has no business being a journalist. Acee invents narratives and then once he has, he fans the flames of the fire HE started with innuendo and unnamed sources. Acee is always pushing the boundaries of truth and this year he has gone far beyond it.
None of that odd, dismissive, and uncooperative behavior you ascribe to Melvin sounds anything like the manager I saw in Seattle or watched for years in Oakland. It just doesn’t sound like BoMel. He has always garnered respect and players love playing for him. So to come out with behavior as you describe just sounds to me like that wasn’t Bob at all, that somebody kidnapped the real Bob and that one managing the Padres was an imposter. Not saying you are lying or making things up, but a professional with the reputation of BoMel just doesn’t act like that just because he’s unhappy or whatever the purported reason happened to be. Just very perplexing to me.
I’m not saying Preller doesn’t have his faults…because he definitely does…but to put all the blame on him would be kind of silly because:
I like Bomel the person…but there’s enough things that happened in SD within the last two seasons that you’d have to question some of his in-game management strategies:
– We’ll never know if Hader vs Harper would’ve changed the outcome of the do or die game in last season’s NLCS because Bomel never thought to make it happen. If it’s the last game of your season unless you survive…why would’ve it been a bad idea at least to try the matchup?
– Bomel this season was seemingly ok trotting out “rinse and repeat” lineups that were continually slumping and not working in the 1st two thirds of the season and only until the latter part of the season did he mix it up (and got better results because of it.)
– In a season where every game mattered toward the last 2 weeks of the season for SD…the many one run and extra inning losses ended up costing Padres a chance at the playoffs because BoMel’s direct in-game management skills seemingly left a lot to be desired.
– Again in a season where every game still mattered late in season…instead of calling up minor league arms that might’ve provided better outcomes…and demoting guys who continually were giving up late leads on more then one occasion…Bomel chose to keep trotting out relief pitching that was not as effective this year.
Many SD fans were crying that Padres lost the next Bruce Bochy to SF again…but other than both being managers that were former C’s in the game…there is no comparison. Bruce Bochy’s in game management skills are light years ahead of Melvin’s…the records (in season & playoffs) speak for themselves.
Preller’s making the call on the roster that he hands to Melvin. Any complaint about who was or wasn’t on it can’t be put on him.
You can be upset with his usage but not personnel.
@Brian. just Not true and that is an example of the bs flamed by Acee. Most GMs and staff provide the manager with analytics on matchups, but Melvin always set the lineups.
Bruce Bochy wanted to go back to San Diego, but would not work for AJ Preller…that speaks volumes.
Preller’s has hired and fired a lot of Managers in 10 years with the Padres
This is news IF what you’re saying is true…do you have an article or quote where Bruce Bochy ever said this? And we like it straight from the horses mouth if you can…
Inquiring minds want to truly know.
Bruce Bochy was never available for interviews at all when the Padres were interviewing, so what you said is not a fact. Its a lie.
Bruce Bochy retired after the 2019 season. He then moved to NAshville to be closer to his son and grandchildren.
In 2020 the then Chairman and majority partner in the Padres contracted Bruce Bochy and was told that he was not ready to come out of retirement.
After the 2021 season the Padres reached out to Bochy and were told the same thing. In fact, Bochy told EVERY team the same thing and did not interview for any jobs. The Padres then hired Melvin.
After the 2022 season Bochy decided he had had enough of retirement and decided to start interviewing. At the time the Padres had just went to the NLCS and were not even thinking about hiring a new manager.
Bochy signed with the Rangers. One of the reasons he gave at the time is that Dallas is so close to his own home in Nashville where his son and grandchildren also live.
At no point did Bochy even intimate that he stayed in retirement because of Preller and its incredibly stupid to try to claim that was his reason for staying in retirement.
So keep on talking out your behind SF0
‘Whispers continue about the level of interest in Bochy by the Padres before the team landed on current manager Bob Melvin. Bochy said he never spoke to them, emphasizing he still was a special assistant for the Giants at the time.
What Bochy would say: “I wasn’t ready. I was getting ready to have knee surgery. They got a great one in Melvin.” ‘
sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/…
We have already gone over this extensively in prior posts and MLB Trade Rumors articles about Bochy and the Padres looking for a new manager.
Google it.
It was all over the baseball and sports world and internet.
No you haven’t. Why do you think its ok to lie? If you could Google it, you would post links to relevant articles, but you don’t.
It was NOT all over the baseball and sports world and internet. Lots of people linked to ACEE’s article.
But you don’t get that. You are not smart enough to get that and you don’t read him consistently enough to see the pattern of behavior.
There is a reason that every single person who is a Padres fan on here is saying the same exact thing about Acee.
This dude has been bitter about Melvin, talking rubbish since Melvin left for the Giants. He doesn’t understand that players have to play and grind out wins. Just ignore Pads Fan.
Ultimately the blame falls on the players I agree. But according to Acee there’s enough blame to go around to fuel a never ending stream of false dramas. The team and fans are trying to look forward to next year, not reliving every day in mlbtr Acee’s scorched earth.
Balk, Try to counter even one thing I said with facts.
We already had that conversation Pads Fan with many different facts being pointed out. The problem is you think that ONE person is to blame for the mess of a season the Friars had. One person you’re trying to blame is not a fact, that’s an opinion. But you just keep spewing out your “FACTS” and keep letting the other people tell you how you’re off the mark. I’m done trying to reason with you
You never brought a fact to the table. Not once.
Here are the facts.
Pitching – Best ERA in baseball
Hitting – 6th best OPS+ and 7th best wRC+
Fielding – 4th best OAA and 5th best DRS
The players were very good to great. You cannot dispute that fact.
Everyone from the manager to the players to the GM himself has said Preller was not involved in lineup or in-game decisions in any way and was not as involved as in years past in communicating with the manager because he felt the veteran manager could handle it. That is a fact reported by many. So you can’t blame it on Preller being a micromanager as many on here have tried to claim.
Guess who that means the problem was? That is right, the manager. He is the one that made the lineup and in-game decisions that led to a 2-12 extra innings record, 7-23 one run record, and many others losses during the season.
Those ARE the facts. You can continue to try to spin it. You will still be wrong and you will still have continued to bring NO facts. You can’t REASON without facts and you have brought none to the table.
I’m not the one spinning, you’re the one who’s said the same thing for 7 days…Here’s the only Fact that matters. No one agrees with you! Hahaha! And just for fun, here’s another fact, 3rd place, barely and that was only possible because of a terrible collapse by the Giants.
Balk, Still not one fact from you that shows that what I said was incorrect. That says ALL I need to know about you. You cannot produce one because there are none that can refute what I have said.
So you try to spin it. It doesn’t matter that the Padres finished in 3rd place. That doesn’t refute what I have said. In fact, it reinforces the facts I posted. The REASON they finished there was not the players performance. It was the managers performance.
Now you get to talk to the air.
Balk I am through with PadsFan and his childish tantrums when some posters on this board disagree with anything he says.
I previously posted proof that Bochy was interested in the Padres gig, but he pivoted to the Rangers gig because he would not work with a micromanaging GM like Preller.
He ignored the facts and evidence and called out the professional sports journalist who repeated those facts about Bochy. The Sports journalist who wrote one of the articles that backed up the general consensus in MLB that Bochy would never work for Preller.
Told him to contact the guy and call him a liar and see how far he gets with that.
Don’t waste your time on it since only his opinions are valid and no one else on this board has valid posts unless he agrees with what you post 1000%
Very childish if you ask me.
Sportsfanoooo…the dude has issues man. He’s a broken record. He thinks it’s 100% Melvins fault for the failure of a season! Lol, everyone in that org had a hand in it. But your right, he’s not worth talking to.
And Sportsfan doesn’t have issues?
Haven’t really had a conversation with sportsfan, but I’m sure we all have controversial statements from time to time. Padsfan is a little over the top with this manager crap though.
According to the article that’s exactly what happened
“It is not all that rare for someone to get a text or call from Preller at 3 a.m.. and then again at 6:30 a.m. The topic of a conversation may be a trade that is about to happen or could happen or about a certain player’s need to work on one thing or another.
Preller wants that from everyone around him, and had to accept that there were certain hours and topics that Melvin, who spent 12 hours a day at the ballpark, was not interested in engaging.”
Right, the articles by Acee spin the narrative he wants you to believe in, day after day after day after day
i love that Acee takes one example of something that happened during the 2020 season with the manager and tries to make it seem like its common place.
The biggest problem was that Melvin was not engaging. With Players. With FO personnel about analytics information. With the GM when he called or texted while he was on the road.
As others have said, Melvin failed to make lineup changes even when players were struggling. He was especially bad when it came to in-game changes in terms of platoon advantages. Over and over he ran out pitchers based on his pre-game plan rather than the platoon advantage as the game progressed. He also almost never changed a hitter to take advantage of a platoon advantage late in a game.
There is NO baseball topic that a GM should be unable to engage with the manager about. That there were topics Melvin would not engage about is on Melvin.
Its what you find out happened in San Diego. Late in August the leaders among the players came to Preller to complain about it.
What is not being reported is that Preller has NEVER been involved in day to day decisions by the managers. He has left lineups and in-game decisions 100% up to the manager. After being at the center of communications between the FO and the managers through early 2022, in late 2022 and 2023 Preller was LESS involved with he team than in the past. He has spent more time on the road scouting and in the minors because he felt Melvin could handle it. Obviously, Melvin could not handle it.
@padsfan
“The most successful teams have the biggest input from the analytics dept…”
How do you know? How do you measure that? Does a larger dept guarantee more say? How does your list of successful teams correlate with market size? Payroll? Maybe those are the more important factors. Every team uses analytics. If a player doesn’t buy in, does that mean the analytics dept didn’t provide input?
Its not a question. it is a known factor.
Its not about payroll or market size because teams like the Rays, Brewers, and Guardians are lower payroll and higher analytics spending and they win consistently.
Its the MANAGER’s job to get buy in. To translate that information into something the player can and WILL use. If not, he is failing to do his job. Melvin refused to do so.
At least in my opinion it looked like Melvin would have either too much faith in players that were bad or he was trying to stick it to Preller by running the same crappy players out over and over. How many games did he cost us by putting Hill, Garcia, or Honeywell out there? It’s had to be 10+. We all knew when they came in the game it was a really bad thing. He had to know too, I would think more so than us fans.
Acee lost his pet when Hosmer got traded. He is still bitter about it.
Preller is really good at acquiring young talent through the draft and international signings. But he has been here almost 10 years with two seasons over .500 (2020 isn’t a real season) and one NLCS win.
Obviously the largest news outlet in SD considers Acee to be a fine journalist and pay him accordingly. Because you disagree means absolutely nothing.
Boegarts said this year that Melvin is a great communicator. I guess you missed that article.
Preller is the kind of boss that nobody wants to work for and it’s ultimately leading to a wasted window of opportunity.
Honest question for you…if Preller is as you have described…wouldn’t two guys (Schildt & Flaherty) who have been around him more then long enough to gauge what type of boss he is…not be running very far from continuing to work under him?
If anybody knows what type of boss Preller is, they would…but instead of trying to avoid him like a nasty plague because of how toxic and micromanaging he is described as…to boot, they still want a chance at managing under him? What gives?
Sharocko, you hit the nail on the head.
Shildt has worked throughout the organization the last 2 years including with the MLB team. He knows what Preller is like. Flaherty was handpicked by Preller as the bench coach. Melvin wanted Christenson in that position. He knows Preller as well as anyone. BOTH are choosing to interview for the manager positions.
Keep in mind, Shildt turned down other offers for interviews last offseason. He WANTS to stay with the Padres. That says volumes about Preller and the false narrative that Acee and unnamed former employees and players are trying to spread.
You also have to ask yourself who gains by that false narrative being spread?
The UT was bought by a Alden Global Capital. Here is what the largest news outlet in San Diego said about that sale.
“Many long-time employees of the San Diego Union-Tribune have opted to leave the paper, which was sold last week to a hedge fund, NBC 7 has learned.
The new owners of the U-T, Alden Global Capital — which has been variously called a “vulture hedge fund” and “the grim reaper of American newspapers” in coverage of it and its subsidiaries — wasted no time in its first week moving to shed staff via buyout offers, and some of the publications’ most seasoned journalistic voices have exercised that option.”
nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-union-tribune…
The Washington Post, called Alden “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism”
I can post a dozen or more articles about what they do to newspapers and truth, but this site won’t allow more than a couple of links in a post.
If a writer is still at the UT they only keep their jobs by getting the most clicks on the website. Truth has taken a backseat to creating drama by using innuendo and unnamed sources. That is what has happened. Everyone who reads the UT knows that.
Great review and insights, post this every time mlbtr links to another Acee story that we all have to debunk all over again
Anyone else notice that Pham’s performance improves the day after he’s benched? Wonder if that’s a coaching technique.
I think he’s time in LA is done. Wham Bam thank you Pham
Pham is a nasty turd. He is motivated by hate and anger. He didn’t get stabbed at a strip club during the pandemic because he’s a nice guy. He is a really cancerous, hateful person.
It’s easy to understand why when you understand his family history. His father is in prison for buggering (and other inappropriate things) children…
He is a powder keg looking for a match.
“San Diego Padres star Tommy Pham was stabbed outside of a strip club Sunday night … but, fortunately, both he and the team say he’s expected to recover fully.
S.D. police say the outfielder was slashed outside Pacers Showgirls International at around 10:35 p.m.
Two people close to the situation told the San Diego Union-Tribune … the whole incident started when Pham confronted people who were arguing near his car.
According to the report, when Pham asked the people — whom cops say it appeared he did NOT know — to get away from his vehicle … he was attacked and stabbed in the lower back.
Pham is SERIOUSLY lucky to have avoided catastrophic injuries in the attack … cops tell us the outfielder suffered a 12″ long and 5″ wide laceration in the stabbing.“
Sounds like he really had it coming….. I guess?
I was pleasantly surprised he had only one real incident during his time in Cincinnati. Knowing his reputation, I would not have brought him in. Or Puig previously, for that matter.
There is character and then there are characters. Never want the latter on my club, just the former.
He wanted to stage a fight in a club with Voit because of a hard slide
D-Backs writers have been telling the tale of Merrill Kelly for quite some years now, so it is not just sad to see a link to The Athletic posted now when there were more in the past, but also because that media outlet sacked one of the better D-Backs writers, Zach Buchanan, after relegating him to minor league work. How funny is it that The Athletic decided to get rid of Diamondbacks’ in-depth articles and now don’t have an insider to cover the team when they are making a run at the World Series.
They didn’t have a beat writer for the Rays when they made the World Series in 2022, they didn’t have a beat writer for the Astros in 2022 when they won the World Series, they fired the beat writer for the Orioles during their most successful year this season in over a decade, and now they don’t have a beat writer for the NL champions. My takeaway is fans should demand their Atlhletic beat writer be fired!
Do you think that the Athletics’ beat writer for the Athletic is athletic? Asking for a friend.
They laid-off a ton of staff in the past year or so. I’m paying $1/mo. for my sub so I’m not sure how long the NYT can keep them sustainable.
As a born and raised San Diegan, who reads the UT daily, Acee is a clown show. Disregard him and move on.
Acee’s questions in person are so weak and timid. He may write as a sensationalist, but when he has these people in sight, he fails to generate any good answers with his lame questions
Here’s an interesting Tommy Pham article:
google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38776…
Honestly if Preller expects Melvin and other people working for him to be on call 24-7 and respond quickly to texts and calls at 3am I can hardly blame Melvin for cold shouldering some of that. I’d go nuts working under those conditions. Not really reasonable expectations on preller’s part if that’s actually his day to day practice. When the heck does AJ sleep I’m wondering?
@Hatless. Those that work for Preller deny he’s demanding in that 24/7 way, only Acee seems to be obsessing on that opinion. In fact, Preller was as hands off with Melvin than he’s been with any manager, so don’t get your point. MLB managers are paid well to engage advisors and leadership, but the fans of San Diego aren’t paid to put up with false narratives from an obsessive psycho beat writer. And we shouldn’t
I think I was clear that this is my reaction IF Acee’s reports are accurate. Do you have a source for the denial of these allegations tho? Also whether or not people are well paid is irrelevant to whether their boss has reasonable expectations of availability and whether such expectations represent a healthy workplace culture imo.
Melvin said Preller didnt expect him to be available for calls at 3 am and that this was a false narrative. You can believe him, or believe Acee. This is an old story and involved an aid to Preller, who spoke fondly of Preller’s live breath baseball. Only Acee is now spinning it negatively, and now folks think that’s why Melvin left?
“It is not all that rare for someone to get a text or call from Preller at 3 a.m.. and then again at 6:30 a.m. The topic of a conversation may be a trade that is about to happen or could happen or about a certain player’s need to work on one thing or another.”
Its not reasonable for your boss to get ahold of you when a trade is about to go down or a major move is coming? seems like youd want your coach to be involved in that discussion. You’d rather a GM not involve the coach?
You do realize many things in baseball like trades are time sensitive right?
Seems like you dont understand the business of baseball all that much. I guarantee Preller isn’t the only GM in constant communication with their coach regarding time sensitive things. Days leading up to the trade deadline is probably a 14-15 hour day minimum for GMs trying to get deals done.
“Let’s not call Bob until after 9 am to let him know Tati has ringworm, Bob needs his sleep”
“Let’s not call Bob about MRIs or anything after 9pm, he has his phone set to do not disturb”
“Lets not tell Bob we traded for Soto until we wakes up tomorrow and sees him in the dugout, we don’t want to disturb him (or upset Acee by disturbing him)”
Lol hope yall have been having fun with this while I’ve been away. Let me be clear, I’m not saying there are never situations that deserve an off hours call in jobs like these. Perhaps we have different interpretations of what has been reported. It read to me as describing Preller’s routine way of operating and I felt that it implied that calling and texting people at all hours about a broader range of topics is something he regularly does. Like AJ gets a wild hare about an idea at 3am and starts calling and texting people for input regardless of urgency. At the end of the day we are all getting this info second or third hand and I was just saying that if the situation matched my interpretation I would find that unreasonable. I don’t claim to know for certain what’s been going on behind those doors and nobody else here can say they do either I bet. So chill yall.
I don’t think anyone claims to know, but Acee is clearly expounding on it to paint a (negative) narrative about Preller. Which he likes to do. Daily it seems
“It is not all that rare for someone to get a text or call from Preller at 3 a.m.. and then again at 6:30 a.m. The topic of a conversation may be a trade that is about to happen or could happen or about a certain player’s need to work on one thing or another.”
Based on Acee’s own words there seem to be a reason for the text or phone calls.
Again. Many things in baseball are time sensitive.
Trades are time sensitive.
Preparing for your next opponent is time sensitive (1 day off at best between series, sometimes its you play Sunday afternoon and Monday you have a night game).
Updating your manager on injuries or availability of players is also time sensitive. You should give them as much time to make adjustments.
Getting reports to the coaching staff about someone called up from the minors who hitters haven’t seen or pitchers haven’t faced yet. Time sensitive.
I’m sure there’s plenty of examples of the time sensitive nature of baseball. Idk how you got preller is just texting Melvin on whims and feelings.
Acee said “its not all that rare” when in actuality it was Denis Lin that reported that it happened once just before the trade deadline in 2020.
maybe to Acee it’s not all that rare for a GM to text early in the morning once every 4 years, and he decided to kindly share those feelings he has, did Acee, in his thoughtful UT article.. I’m sure he wasn’t trying to be nefarious or anything.
I love your snarky posts. Always make me laugh. Not sure why Acee totally changed his tone when the UT was sold, but its obvious to everyone that reads the paper that truth is not his priority anymore.
AJ has no life.
His entire life is baseball.
If he is that wound up, it is no wonder the team did not perform as expected.
When do they sleep?!
Work smarter,
Don’t burn out, it is a long season.
Obviously you don’t have a life because for no money you work 14-16 hours a day at being wrong in your posts on a baseball board.
GM’s get paid to have no life. That is the job. They manage a staff of 500 or more people between all minor and major league players, coaches, trainers, and other support staff plus scouts, analytics, data scientists, tech people, etc…
They communicate with agents, media, owners, assistant GMs, managers, coaches, trainers, doctors, analytics staff, scouts, and many others all over the country in different time zones and often all over the world. Often on a daily basis. They travel almost constantly 9-10 months out of the year.
If a POBO/GM is good at their job, baseball must be their life.
Exactly the way I thought it could be read @SF0000. If aj thinks a player needs to work on something that’s likely to be a process that takes ongoing and sustained effort once its agreed on. There is absolutely no way that needs to be a 3am phone call. Trades I can see being situationally time sensitive especially at the deadline but not all trades will require immediate or any input from mlb manager and not all trade targets are going to be only available for a short and competitive window of opportunity. Preller stans are really working hard in this thread lol.
The 3 am text happened once during the 2020 season. Just once. That is the problem with Acee. He turns singular events into a supposed pattern to support his false narratives.