Three headlines from the baseball world, as the first round of the postseason could potentially end today…
1. AL Wild Card Series matchups
The Rays will turn to starter Zach Eflin to keep their season alive when Tampa Bay hosts the Rangers in Game 2 this afternoon. Signed to a three-year, $40MM deal this past offseason, Eflin delivered a very strong season, becoming a rock of stability within an injury-riddled Rays rotation. Texas will try to clinch the series with Nathan Eovaldi (a former Ray) on the mound, and Eovaldi will be looking to add to an impressive postseason resume. The winner of a World Series ring with the Red Sox in 2018, Eovaldi has a 3.14 ERA over 43 innings in 11 career playoff games.
In the other ALWC series, Jose Berrios and Sonny Gray are the starting pitchers for the Blue Jays and Twins. Berrios is a longtime former Twin who came to Toronto in a deal at the 2021 trade deadline, and he is now tasked with beating his ex-club in an elimination game. The Blue Jays’ inconsistent offense again surfaced in Game 1’s 3-1 loss, and things won’t get much easier for Toronto against Gray, who enjoyed arguably the best season of his 11-year career in 2023.
2. NL Wild Card Series matchups
The Diamondbacks can complete the upset over the Brewers with a victory in Game 2, with ace Zac Gallen taking the mound for his first career postseason game. Gallen and Merrill Kelly (scheduled to start a Game 3, if necessary) have carried an otherwise shaky D’Backs rotation throughout the season, and Milwaukee will now have to try to make the comeback against Arizona’s two best pitchers. The Brewers will counter with a big arm of their own in Freddy Peralta, but the lineup also needs to be better after stranding 11 baserunners in a 6-3 loss in Game 1.
Speaking of shaky offenses, the Marlins were one of the lower-scoring teams in baseball this season, and the bats weren’t there in a 4-1 loss to the Phillies in Game 1. Braxton Garrett will make his first career playoff start, looking to continue his good form after posting a 2.56 ERA over his last 11 regular-season starts (59 2/3 innings). Aaron Nola starts for the Phillies, and while Nola’s upcoming free agency will be one of the primary storylines of Philadelphia’s offseason, the Phils obviously hope their offseason is still a ways off.
3. Status quo in San Diego?
In the wake of a disappointing Padres season, there has been much speculation that either manager Bob Melvin or president of baseball operations A.J. Preller could be losing their jobs. However, team chairman Peter Seidler gave both men a vote of confidence on Monday, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a “productive” meeting took place Monday between Melvin and Preller. There has yet to be a formal announcement from the team on either man’s status for 2024, and it is possible there might not be one if both Melvin and Preller are indeed staying. Acee writes that for now, it seems like both will be keeping their jobs.
there has been much speculation that either manager Bob Melvin or president of baseball operations A.J. Preller could be losing their jobs. ….Acee writes that for now, it seems like both will be keeping their jobs.
===============================
Since Acee was the one pushing the rumor, it is comforting to see that he has confirmed the rumor to be wrong.
Keep up the good work Mr. Acee.
I saw a movie once about a newspaper where there was a slow news cycle so they came up with the bright idea of making up a story for the sole purpose of being able to drag it out while they investigated and ultimately proved that the was false.
Kind of reminds me of the last 2-3 weeks of Acee.
Reminds me of a popular internet movie idea of the CIA trying to kill Clark Kent because he’s such a great investigative reporter, but the CIA is unable to figure out why they can’t kill Superman
Im not sure who moderates the comments section for SDUT but they are pathetic.
There was an opinion piece about how Grisham was due for about 4 million and that Acee thought he wasn’t worth it. I commented a gold glover with previous history of offensive success is worth 4 million, putting up 2+war while hitting .200. Comment never made it past moderation.
I also posted that the Padres clearly struggled with clutch hitting. Doesn’t matter the run differential. Fact was for a large chunk of the season, they were on pace for the worst avg with risp in mlb history, and had one of if not the worst record for extra inning games, and runs decided by 1 game. I theorized that Preller has now has 3 epic chokes now, with numerous staff changes. No Gm in the league wins the offseason/trade deadline like he does. With all the media adoration and setting an attendance record this year, I proposed they choked due to all the pressure, and that history has proved that teams that win the offseason usually are set up to disappoint. The comment was removed once, and I called them out on it. I then posted a similar comment a couple weeks later, for it to never make it past moderation. All Acee articles. I’m not sure if the moderation filter is for all users, or just me. All I know is mlbtr and the athletic don’t censor or remove your comments for you not agreeing with the article, which is refreshing.
Kt – I’m sure there is some filtering for sure going on. For me, I don’t disagree that Grish is worth 4 mil for what he provides. I’d agree with the non-tender though because padres need an upgrade offensively which moves Grish to 4th OF in my opinion and they can always call on Azocar to be the 4th OF, pinch runner, occasional CF with strong defense for minimum.
I have defended Grish the last 2 years on sites because they don’t have anyone better but they need to get someone better. Even though he has some WAR it’s streaking and he goes weeks without a contribution.
Call me a “like him ok while I got him, but want better next year” guy.
I don’t disagree that Grisham is currently a 4th outfielder (a darn good one), with his offense the past two years. At the same time none of us will be surprised if he latches on with another team, gets aggressive with his offense, and starts posting 3-4 war for 4 million. His passiveness is his downfall, all the thinking slowing his reaction times/leading to watched strikes ending at bats.
I’d say you might be right on all points. It’s happened before with other players – look at Bellinger! What can you do.
Hitting with RISP
MLB average – .256/.337/.418/.755 with .301 BABip
Padres – .241/.325/.401/.726 and .278 BABip with above league average HH% and lower than league average chase and K rates
A bit of bad luck on hard hit balls.
That’s actually really impressive how much they have boosted their risp numbers. I remember they were hitting around .180 either a quarter of the way or a third of the way through the season, with the athletics the next worst at around .200.
Talk to anyone in the building. The Building People will tell you that the two principals indeed hate each other.
To what extent they and to what end each will carry their beef, we will see. But this deal is real and most definitely not the figment of someone’s fertile imagination.
If they can draw a line where Preller stops and allows Melvin to take over I think it can work.
Seems like everything suggest that Preller doesn’t know where to stop in letting a manager manage on the field though and seems like Melvin isn’t doing well with that approach.
Preller has always had managers that he can step on.
That my take – either Preller agrees to back off or Melvin goes (because Preller isn’t going first) and Melvin may not want to take another year of it when SF job is open.
Not only will they be keeping their jobs, but the Padres will be staying the course when it comes to payroll.
The debt service “issue”? 26 teams are in violation because of 2020 according to MLB. Padres submitted a plan to get out of violation that was accepted and its not an issue.
So the next question is what big time players will the Padres add via trade or FA to replace Snell and Hader while getting younger?
Yamamoto?
Lee?
Hicks?
Will they renegotiate deals with Lugo and Wacha?
Will they bring back Sanchez?
First I’m betting on Wacha (options or 3/39) and Lugo (2 year deal) coming back.
Sanchez – might be a luxury that the money (2/20 ish) could go toward Lee/Yamamoto which I’m highly in favor of.
If they believe in Campy’s bat and his improved defense (even Snell was high on him at the end and he would pitch to him before), then roll with Sullivan as backup or another minor league / reclamation project.
And yes we are of the same opinion that payroll will NOT drop to 200 million. They may try to shave some by non-tender Grish/Nola/Barlow/Tim Hill and not re-signing Sanchez to put the money to Wacha/Lugo/Yam/Lee but to think payroll is an issue is ridiculous.
Also, if Wacha and Lugo return they may be willing to let Martinez walk to fill those other holes.
Joe/wacha/Lugo/Yu/yam with Waldron/Avila/Morejon (they will keep trying him) and a few others (Cobb / Carlson) wouldn’t be bad at all. Better than what was projected at stet of season when Lugo was an unknown and Wacha want expected to be as good as he was or Snell and Joe on IL for a month.
Do you think Sanchez will cost that much? Estimates I have been hearing are 2/10.
I believe in Campy’s bat and glove, just not his health. Padres need a solid #2.
Grisham, Nola, Hill would save around $15 million. Barlow about $7 million. In my opinion the Padres need to keep one of Barlow or Hill around. Barlow seems to have more upside.
Talked to Martinez before the final game of the season and he is someone that for the last few years my wife and I have made it a point to talk to at spring training. He said “see you at spring training” as we were heading to our seats. Hoping that means that means he will either exercise his player option or is confident he has another deal agreed to with the Padres. I like Martinez. Obviously, that is in no way a certain thing, just hoping.
Remember when Wacha and Lugo were expected to be the #5 and #6 of the Padres rotation? Now everyone expects them to be #3 and #4. I still see them as back of the rotation starters. Add Yamamoto for 8/200 and one of those two at 3/30 and then sign another cheap back of the rotation starter to compliment Waldron/Avila. I see Morejon being moved permanently to the pen. If Preller is able to bring back both Wacha and Lugo at 3/30 that is a bonus, not a necessity.
Going to be a fun offseason.
We are pretty much on same wavelength. I’d say with Wilson being healthy, Cosgrove’s resurgence and Morejon and Avila in the pen, Iriarte on the horizon, I’m good with letting Hill and Barlow leave to save 7-10 mil. Especially if Martinez is back.
If money is no object, I don’t mind keeping Barlow for a fallback end of game option though.
I’m usually at ST at the Hampton the first week of March.
Best beds at ST. We bought a house not far from there a few years ago to have something a little more permanent for ST and AFL visits.
I’m hoping to make an AFL trip in 2024. I was on track a couple of years ago and well – COViD.
I was there for ST in 2020 when they closed – my fly out day so I got my time in. Got to go back this year after skipping 21 and 22.
I said last month: Don’t sleep on the Twins. They’re deep and rested.
More of the same next year in San Diego. Front office and field managers need to be on the same page.
Was hard watching Moreno hit a home run when my Jays lost 3-1. Might have to cheer for the DBacks…
That trade should cost Atkins his job. It’s time for the Jay’s to move on from him and Shapiro
Rogers won’t dump Shapiro midway through the renovations to the stadium. Shapiro won’t dump his trusted GM Atkins.
Atkins will somehow find a way to screw up the team more this off season.
Jays will win the next 2 anyway, moot point
Yesterdays game confirmed the fact that Counsell is beyond clueless. The fact that Winker even got an at bat, let alone a playoff spot shows that he’s got no clue how to manage. 40,000 plus booed winker as he struck out on 3 pitches for the 100th time this year. That’s how idiotic the decision to add him to the roster was
Craig makes terrible decisions every postseason run. Turang is not a big lead hitter. He has no business grabbing a bat at this point. He’s a 5th infielder and a defensive sub late in game.
Not only did you lose that game but he used Devin Williams in a non save situation where we know Devin sucks in those! Great managing.
Also, Burnes ain’t that guy. Dudes got zero pedigree and zero big game confidence. Every time we need him in a big game he’s scared of the moment. Trade him this offseason for a big package and be done with it. Our offseason will begin after todays game since the brewers are incapable of driving home runners in scoring position.
Good luck in New York Counsell because us brewer fans are tired of the mismanaging
“Also, Burnes ain’t that guy. Dudes got zero pedigree and zero big game confidence. Every time we need him in a big game he’s scared of the moment.”
B I N G O
The kid attended a arbitration hearing and got so upset that the Brewers representative pointed out some of his shortcomings that he whined to reporters afterwards that it forever damaged his relationship with the franchise. Worst of all it came on Valentines Day….he actually said that. (Hopefully he found a safe place.)
The kids already a mufti-millionaire. Unfortunately he’s still a kid trying to compete in a cut-throat business that at times has tremendous pressure. He’s a good rotisserie league player – he has nice stats.
The Brewers had like 8 winning seasons in the 45 years prior to Counsell and the front office taking over and you wanna chase him off so you can go back to the good ol days of .480 winning ball each year.
Who did you want in over Turang? What better option has the front office given him? Answer: none.
Burnes in the postseason before last night: 15 IP, 2 ER, 4 BB, 17 K
Playoffs. Short series. One game. Overreactions everywhere.
Good to hear that that the clueless duo of Preller-Melvin is being kept together. Dodgers fans are rejoicing. It’s awesome to see the Padres spend money they don’t have to miss the playoffs. Losers gonna lose.
Dodgers have outspent many teams last few decades and all they have to really show for it the last ~20 years is lower draft position. I’m just waiting for the inevitable “FIRE DAVE ROBERTS” posts once Dodgers lose yet again in the playoffs.
Is lower draft position supposed to be some kind of own? They routinely draft better players than the teams at the top
Amk – never a good look when the come back is something so undefinable / measurable as “they routinely draft better players than teams at the top”.
Are you suggesting that by drafting at the end of a round, the Dodgers somehow still draft better talent that the top 10-15 guys drafted ahead of them?
That is an unsupportable position regardless of which team you are a fan of.
Look at the last 10 drafts at the first guy picked by the Dodgers and compare to the others ahead and find me a year where the Dodgers did better than most of the teams ahead of them.
Remember, when you find 1 year that might work, you said “routinely” do it.
Is spending more than other teams and winding up with the same outcome for 20+ years suppose to be impressive?
“Routinely”
Dodgers 1st pick in the draft since 2000
Ben Diggins
Brian Plinkington
James Loney
Chad Billingsley
Scott Elbert
Luke Hochevar
Clayton Kershaw *
Chris Withrow
Ethan Martin
Aaron Miller
Zach Lee
Chad Reed
Corey Seager *
Chris Anderson
Grant Holmes
Walker Buehler *
Gavin Lux
Jeren Kendall
JT Ginn
Kody Koese
Bobby Miller
Maddux Bruns
Dalton Rushing
“Routinely”
Im sure dodgers have found some later round gems. But so have every other team in the majors in the last 23 years.
Also, spending huge amounts of money on IFAs isn’t drafting.
And for what it’s worth Kershaw was #7 as opposed to the back end years. No magic there but a dam fine result so not trying to finish thsat.
And Walker Buehler was a top 10 talent at the time of his draft that fell because he had TJS. So taking a chance on a top 10 talent isn’t exactly drafting well either.
Dodgers 1st round picks in Friedman era who are better than most players taken at the top of their draft: Buehler, Lux, Smith, Bobby Miller, Rushing. Dodgers 2016 draft class is among the best of all time
No, the Dodgers making the playoffs every season does not hurt that draft ability. Absolutely comical viewpoint from a poverty franchise that players for draft position and not actual success
You spend extra money just to wind up in exact same position as Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies do every year. Least the Giants can say they’ve won world series recently. That is the comical part. Move along homer.
Making the playoffs is a tremendous achievement and greatly increases revenue. Even teams that get bounced early deserve some credit.
I don’t recall the Rockies, Dbacks and Padres winning 3 pennants in 4 seasons. Remind me when that happened?
Celebrating runner up trophies huh. Cute. How’d that work out in the end? Remind us.
“WE WERE 2ND BEST THAT YEAR!”
Always the bridesmaid never the bride.
Not when you spend billions to do so. It’s the bare minimum expectation when you’re spending 200 mill+ a season since roughly 2011.
The 2020 World Series counts as a win according to the offical MLB record books.That holds a lot more value than random comment sections haters. Rockies and Padres would sell a decade of success for a shortened season ring. Name a single team outside of the Orioles who have drafted better than the Dodgers. I’ll wait
Oh so youre counting a season where it was limited to 60 games, divisions were realigned, teams constantly had players unavailable to play, and no fans were able to attend games home or away
Yeah sure.
Drafted better than the dodgers? Whats the time frame? Last 5 years?
Reds
Mariners
Diamondbacks
Off top of my head thinking of 1st rounders
I’d also add Brewers depending how Turang Frelick Mitchell turn out long term.
But if you wanna celebrate 2020 winning it all even though they completely changed everything go for it man.
Maybe they’ll fire Dave Roberts this year when he costs them another shot at a ws.
Lmao who’s a good player the Reds have drafted outside of McLain? Mariners are solid with pitching but nowhere close to the Dodgers drafting bats. Dbacks have nothing that stands outside of Carroll. I wouldn’t even trade Rushing for Druw Jones. It’s pretty insane anyway for you to compare where a season ends to draft position. O’s were terrible for a few years and hit on their 1OA guys. Now won’t be anywhere near the top of the draft for a while. Are they a failure if they don’t win the World Series?
The Orioles aren’t outspending people and winding up with nothing to show for it like the dodgers.
Orioles active payroll was what? 70 mill this year? 100 mill if you include dead money?
Dodgers was what? 210? So 3x that of the Orioles?
You sit here bragging about runner up trophies and a micky mouse trophy that required significant changes (60 games, realignment geographically to reduce travel, ineligible players who have the sniffles, ineligible players who don’t follow rules, teams didn’t play in home stadiums during playoffs, double headers were 7 innings, toronto had to play at its aaa stadium) that’ll never happen again in order for the dodgers to say ” we won it all!” Super duper impressive. Dodger fans gotta be pretty desperate to claim that as a championship.
For most of a generation its been a rite of passage for young Dodger players to lose in the NLDS. It took a Pandemic and playing all away games in front of no fans to break that.
Dodgers NLDS series wins since 2008: 8. Losses: 4. Double the amount off success. RiGHt oF pAsSAGe
The Dodgers have outspent the Padres by more than $1 billion on player payroll since Guggenheim bought the team.
Wow! I knew they threw around a huge amount of money but didn’t realize it was that much.
I don’t think the Rays have spent that much total over that period.
They haven’t. They have spent about $760 million in those 11 years.
How much did the Padres spend total.
Doyer fans are so damn spoiled and arrogant. I can’t wait for the inevitable postseason choke fest. Padres may suck forever, but at least we don’t have to live in LA.
Looks like The Brewers,Jays,Rays,and Marlins are all going home. Losing Woodruff has killed Milwaukee. The Jays are to inconsistent at the plate. The Rays finally ran out of gas with all the injuries and suspensions they had to endure. And the Marlins looked really flat. The pitching that carried them looks to have ran out of gas. Luzardo was a mess. Garrett didn’t look sharp his last time out. And there offense can’t carry them when they are not pitching well.
Probably still true, but know Texas stole 2 bases and walked a lot, while Tampa made 4 errors yesterday. Texas is up 1-0 btw
Eh 1 of those teams may surprise you. Backed into a corner of lose or go home I see 1 or 2 of those teams pulling a win.
Tampa and Texas is the only series I see going to 3. The other losing clubs all have inconsistent hitting and pitching being taped together.
It’s one game. Tonight, everything can change.
Nola is carry a 6.75 ERA against the marlins this year. Maybe not so fast.
I agree with the sentiment, but also, regular season stats are meaningless in the playoffs.
The Twins didn’t beat the Jays.
Royce Lewis beat the Jays
Thats not going to happen again.
His little money celebration is going to be the highlight of their year.
Barrios and Bassit aren’t letting us down like Gauseman
Perhaps Royce, Rolls may beat the Jays this time in place of his twin brother? I mean, they are the Twins after all
Chris from NJ got it totally right. Well done.
Thank you sir!
Texas is headed to Baltimore, not home.
San Diego should just run it back. Machado was hurt, and their run differential puts them in the playoffs.
The Rays wore Devil Rays uniforms and reverted to when they were so terrible. 4 errors (2 on the same play) and Tyler Glasnow’s pitching line looking like Dewon Brazletron or *insert Devil Rays prospect that never panned out here*
Multiple opportunities with RISP, bases loaded,etc for the Crew last night and couldn’t find the big hit. The lack of timely hitting in the month of October has led to the downfall of many a team in postseason play. Milwaukee will be one of them
Why did we need to put the Padres management and gm decisions in with the playoffs thread?
Yeah, the Padres missed the playoffs by 2 games. Moving on.
Since everyone gets a trophy nowadays, they should have Wild Card and Division Series MVPs. Whoever drives in 5 runs or throws 7 shutout innings over 2 to 4 game stretch gets a brand new Nissan Altima and $10,000
And the Series LVP can get a Yugo.
No one really gets a trophy though…
Watch out for the Dbacks
For Padres fans considering hari kari after one season, remember what happened in 1996 to 1998. Playoffs, losing season, World Series.
For White Sox fans considering hari kari, take solace in the fact that the Royals and A’s are worse and might continue to be worse next season.
Way to show up and support your team Rays fans. There were so many empty seats, I thought it was being played in Oakland.
And the same fans complain every time an owner moves the team. I wonder if any TB fans attended, since there were at least some Texas fans there.
Early afternoon certainly didn’t help.
Twins knock Berrios out in the first inning.
If that’s so, then Kikuchi comes in. You lose 4 LHH and the Jays mount a comeback with Biggio and Schneider being the Heros
Barrios probably goes 7 strong though
Well Kikuchi came in, even if he didn’t need to.
If Padres retain the gm, mangers and most players there will be no change over the last 8 years which is around 500.