Eric Hosmer

Injury Notes: J. Ramirez, Hosmer, Stanton, A. Dickerson

By Connor Byrne | September 7, 2020 at 10:02pm CDT

Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez exited their win over the Royals on Monday with left thumb discomfort, Mandy Bell of MLB.com relays. The Indians replaced Ramirez, who Bell notes has been dealing with the issue for weeks, with Mike Freeman. Whether Ramirez will miss any more time remains to be seen, but the Indians can only hope he won’t, as he has played an important role in their 26-15 start. The 27-year-old Ramirez has followed up a so-so 2019 (by his standards) with a .248/.350/.478 start and nine home runs in 183 plate appearances this season.

Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer departed their game Monday against the Rockies with a left finger injury, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. San Diego plugged in the just-acquired Mitch Moreland in place of Hosmer, who’s in the third season of an eight-year, $144MM contract and has easily enjoyed his best campaign as a Padre. Thanks in part to an increase in fly balls, Hosmer has slashed .291/.346/.547 (a career-high 138 wRC+) with eight home runs in 127 plate appearances. Hosmer’s rebound from a couple of mediocre seasons has contributed to the Padres’ 25-17 start.
Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton “ran bases, hit off a machine and threw today,” Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets, but it remains unclear when or if he’ll return in 2020. Even if Stanton does play again this year, it will go in the books as the second straight injury-ruined season for the ex-NL MVP, as he missed almost all of 2019 with health issues and has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a left hamstring strain. The Stanton-less Yankees have struggled over the past few weeks and are now fighting for their playoff lives.
Giants outfielder Alex Dickerson had to leave their game against the Diamondbacks on Monday after fouling a ball off his right leg (video via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The Giants called on Darin Ruf to take over for Dickerson. There’s no word on Dickerson’s status, but he’s someone the Giants can ill afford to go without for an extended stretch. They’re surprisingly in playoff contention, and Dickerson has followed up last season’s solid showing with a .264/.342/.528 line and seven home runs this year, making him one of the Giants’ most valuable players [UPDATE: Dickerson’s X-Rays came back negative. He has a knee contusion, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic relays].

West Notes: Hosmer, Rangers, Rockies, Giants

By Connor Byrne | August 7, 2020 at 8:53pm CDT

There’s a “very good chance” the Padres will activate first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list Saturday, manager Jayce Tingler told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters. Hosmer has been out since July 28 with gastritis, which cut off an encouraging start to the season in which he was hitting more fly balls than ever and getting tremendous results. The Padres have mostly turned to Jake Cronenworth at first in Hosmer’s absence, and the rookie has been excellent in the early going.

The Rangers announced that they’ve activated righty Rafael Montero and placed lefty Joe Palumbo on the IL with an ulcerative colitis flareup. Montero hasn’t pitched this season, but as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in April, he has been a real find for the club. The former standout Mets prospect amassed 29 innings of 2.48 ERA pitching with 10.55 K/9 against 1.55 BB/9 in his first year with the Rangers last season.
The Rockies placed RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez on the IL on Friday with right biceps tendinitis and recalled fellow righty Ryan Castellani, per a team announcement. Gonzalez has made one start for the club this year, but he yielded three earned runs during that three-inning performance. Castellani, meanwhile, ranks as Colorado’s 18th overall prospect at MLB.com. He’s finally in line to make his Rockies debut six years after the team selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft. Castellani struggled to an 8.31 ERA with 9.76 K/9 and 6.23 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings in his first Triple-A action last year.
Righty Reyes Moronta and outfielder Hunter Bishop have reported to the Giants’ alternate site, the club announced. Moronta’s continuing to work back from right shoulder surgery, while Bishop has been down since late June because of a positive coronavirus test. Bishop is now a part of the Giants’ 60-man player pool. There’s a chance Moronta will get into the Giants’ bullpen this season, manager Gabe Kapler said (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Moronta has been highly effective since he debuted in 2017, having recorded a 2.66 ERA/3.38 FIP with 11.22 K/9 and 5.12 BB/9 across 128 1/3 innings.

Padres Place Eric Hosmer On 10-Day Injured List; Select Jerad Eickhoff’s Contract

By Mark Polishuk | August 2, 2020 at 11:52am CDT

The Padres placed first baseman Eric Hosmer on the 10-day injured list Saturday due to gastritis. Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff will take Hosmer’s spot on the active roster, as the club announced today that Eickhoff’s contract had been selected.

Hosmer has only played in three games this season, though the good news is that team doctors have said that his stomach issues aren’t related to COVID-19. Such stomach problems are hard to gauge in terms of a timeline, so the Padres clearly felt an IL placement was necessary to give Hosmer proper time to fully recover.

Eickhoff signed a minor league contract with San Diego in January, and he is now in line for his first MLB appearance in anything besides a Phillies uniform. Eickhoff posted a 4.15 ERA over 440 innings with Philadelphia from 2015-19, though the bulk of that good production came during a 2016 season that saw him deliver a 3.65 ERA over 197 1/3 innings.

Multiple injuries curtailed his performance over the past three years, however, and the Phils outrighted Eickhoff from their 40-man roster last November. He’ll now get a crack at reviving his career in a relief role for San Diego.

This Date In Transactions History: Hoz To Pads

By Connor Byrne | February 19, 2020 at 1:02am CDT

Two years ago today, a struggling San Diego club doled out what was then the largest contract in franchise history. The Padres added free-agent first baseman Eric Hosmer on an eight-year, $144MM deal, no doubt hoping he’d help legitimize a team that was then stuck in an 11-year playoff drought. That skid has continued since the Padres picked up Hosmer, however.

The Royals made Hosmer the third overall pick in 2008, and he remained among the game’s most prized prospects during his time in their farm system. Hosmer further upped his stock with a quality rookie season in the majors in 2011, the beginning of an up-and-down career. He wound up turning in two sub-replacement-level seasons as a Royal, yet the highs were high when they came. Hosmer took home four Gold Gloves in KC, earned an All-Star nod in 2016 and was an important part of the franchise’s first World Series-winning season (2015) since 1985.

The Royals’ descent in the standings began in 2016, the year after their title-winning campaign, as Hosmer was again closer to replacement level than truly valuable. But Hosmer rebounded in a big way the next season, batting a personal-best .318/.385/.498 with career highs in home runs (25) and fWAR (4.0). Thanks in part to his production that year and his well-regarded clubhouse presence, the Royals – despite being at the start of a rebuild – wanted to keep Hosmer when he became a free agent. In the end, though, they couldn’t keep him from heading to San Diego, which hauled in Hosmer after he remained on the open market for much longer than expected.

At least during the initial stages of his contract, the Padres were banking on 2017-esque production from Hosmer. Unfortunately for them, Hosmer has been more Hyde than Jekyll in their uniform. He accounted for negative fWARs in each of his first two seasons as a Padre, totaling minus-0.5 over a team-leading 1,344 trips to the plate. His .259/.316/.412 line as a Padre has been 7 percent worse than the league-average offensive output, according to wRC+.

Based on his numbers as a Padre, it’s fair to say the Hosmer signing has been regrettable for the Padres. And it has caused other complications, including with Wil Myers. While Myers was the Padres’ first baseman when they signed Hosmer, he then had to shift to the outfield and hasn’t offered much production since. Consequently, Myers has been the subject of trade rumors for multiple years, including at this very moment. He’s a poor fit on a team that’s committed to Hosmer for the foreseeable future, and general manager A.J. Preller has worked to get rid of Myers as a result.

The fact that the Padres also have quite a bit of payroll tied up in Hosmer only adds to their problems. Their combined $444MM guarantees to Hosmer and third baseman Manny Machado – whose $300MM pact trumps Hosmer’s – might say otherwise, but they’ve never ranked among the freest spenders in the game (though they are on track for a franchise-high payroll in 2020). Every dollar counts in the Padres’ situation, so squandering nine figures on a player who has had so much trouble producing in their uniform could have negative ramifications for years.

Although they can’t be pleased with what Hosmer has given them thus far, he’s unlikely to go anywhere. Agent Scott Boras included full no-trade rights in the first three seasons of Hosmer’s deal when he negotiated it, for one. The contract also has an opt-out clause after the fifth year, though the way things have gone lately, it’s hard to imagine Hosmer walking away from the Padres. He’ll certainly be in San Diego in 2020, when the club will hope his age-30 campaign goes far better than his previous couple seasons.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Chairman Ron Fowler On “Embarrassing” Season

By Connor Byrne | September 30, 2019 at 10:22pm CDT

Neither a gargantuan investment in Manny Machado nor the marvelous rookie introduction of Fernando Tatis Jr. helped the Padres escape from the majors’ basement this season. With a 70-92 mark in 2019, the club’s now mired in a 13-year playoff drought and stuck on nine seasons without at least a .500 finish. Executive chairman Ron Fowler has seen just about enough. As Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes, Fowler apologized to Padres fans Monday for an “embarrassing” season, particularly a 25-47 second-half unraveling that undid the promising 45-45 mark San Diego mustered before the All-Star break.

Fowler also assured fans that “heads will roll, beginning with mine” if the Padres don’t make legitimate progress in 2020. Manager Andy Green already paid the price for this year’s failings, as the club ousted him Sept. 21 and is now seeking someone it believes will be more capable of orchestrating a much-needed 180.

With the Padres having scapegoated the manager for their dismal 2019 showing, GM A.J. Preller could become a realistic candidate to lose his job sometime next year if the tide doesn’t start turning. Preller has helped amass an impressive collection of young talent since his hiring in August 2014, but even when he made a serious effort to build a winner early in his tenure, the roster fell well shy of expectations.

Considering Preller has led the franchise on an extensive rebuild in recent seasons, it’s more understandable that the Padres have continued to wallowed at the bottom of the standings. However, the organization’s attempts to leave its rebuild behind have also come up short so far, thanks in part to multiple questionable signings. The eight-year, $144MM contract the Padres handed Eric Hosmer prior to 2018 has been a disaster. The six-year, $83MM extension the team gave Wil Myers entering 2017 hasn’t worked out much better. And even Machado, whom the Padres inked to a 10-year, $300MM contract in free agency last offseason, wasn’t his typically spectacular self in 2019.

Fowler hasn’t voiced any dissatisfaction in regards to Machado (at least not publicly), whereas the other two big-money Padres have drawn his ire. He “addressed his disappointment” in Hosmer’s defense and Myers’ offense, per Acee, who reports it’s “likely” the Padres would eat half of the money left on the latter’s contract in order to trade him. Myers, who’s cognizant a move could occur, is still owed $60MM for the next three years on his heavily backloaded deal. It remains to be seen whether another franchise would want the 28-year-old for even half of his remaining money, though, as Myers’ offense has only hovered around league average over the past few seasons. Committing $30MM to a corner outfielder/first baseman who’s coming off one of his worst seasons at the plate doesn’t seem like an especially appealing proposition.

While shopping Myers will be on the Padres’ agenda this offseason, they may also be in for an aggressive winter of additions if we’re to take Fowler’s frustration at face value. The Padres’ offense finished this year near the bottom of the majors in runs (27th), wRC+ (24th) and position player fWAR (19th), all of which shows there’s vast room for improvement there. San Diego’s pitching staff was similarly subpar, placing 18th in team ERA and 23rd in FIP, and also figures to be a key area of focus in the coming months.

For now, Fowler told Acee he’s on the heels of his “worst 2½ months of ownership” – a span in which, “There were some days, quite honestly, I didn’t want to get out of bed.”

Eric Hosmer’s 2019: More Of The Same

By Connor Byrne | September 25, 2019 at 9:35pm CDT

Clearly dissatisfied with yet another season well below the .500 mark, the Padres fired manager Andy Green last weekend. It didn’t come off as an unreasonable decision by the Padres, who didn’t make real progress in the standings in four years under Green (albeit during a rebuild) and who’d surely like to turn around their fortunes in 2020.

Green may have deserved his fate, but it’s difficult to lay all the blame at his feet when the club’s highest-paid players haven’t pulled their weight over the past couple years. Third baseman/shortstop Manny Machado, whom general manager A.J. Preller and the Padres stunningly reeled in for $300MM, has been good but not great in the first season of his 10-year contract. Outfielder Wil Myers received a six-year, $83MM extension after a career season in 2016, but his production has declined to a noticeable extent since. And then there’s first baseman Eric Hosmer, whose contract looks like the most regrettable of the three.

Even though they obviously weren’t going to contend in 2018, and even though there weren’t a lot of clear suitors for him, the Padres handed Hosmer an eight-year, $144MM guarantee prior to that season. At the time, it seemed you either loved the Padres’ bold choice or you hated it. To be sure, Hosmer had his high points as a Royal from 2011-17 – a span in which he helped the team to a pair of AL pennants, won a World Series, picked up an All-Star nod and took home four Gold Gloves. Along the way, the well-regarded Hosmer became one of the faces of baseball for the many who place a great deal of value on intangibles.

On the other hand, Hosmer was far from a consistent producer as a Royal. While Hosmer put up two seasons of 3.5 fWAR or better with the Royals, the other campaigns weren’t nearly as successful. Hosmer posted two years in the negatives in that category while a member of the Royals, and unfortunately for the Padres, that’s the version they’ve gotten since awarding him his payday.

Hosmer began his Padres career with a whimper in 2018, hitting .253/.322/.398 in 677 plate appearances. He managed minus-0.1 fWAR in the process, thanks in large part to his subpar batting line. Hosmer’s wRC+ (95) fell a good distance below the league average of 105 for his position.

This season has been more of the same for Hosmer. With less than a week to go, the soon-to-be 30-year-old has accounted for minus-0.2 fWAR and hit .271/.317/.430 in 649 trips to the plate. Hosmer’s OPS is better than it was a year ago, but his wRC+ (95) hasn’t improved (league average for first basemen in 2019 is 106). That isn’t where the similarities in output end, though, as you’ll see below…

Home runs – 2018: 18; 2019: 21
Isolated power – 2018: .145; 2019: .159
Weighted-on base average – 2018: .309; 2019: .315
Expected wOBA – 2018 – .310; 2019: .318

Hosmer has taken a somewhat different path in arriving at his near-identical production in 2019. He’s swinging a bit more, striking out more, walking less and making less contact. When Hosmer has made contact, he has hit more liners and fly balls, though his launch angle (minus-1.2 in 2018, plus-2.4 this year) remains extraordinarily low. In an era where more and more hitters have focused on elevating the ball (and in what many suspect is a juiced ball era), grounders continue to win the day for Hosmer. While his GB rate (55.9) has fallen by almost 5 percent since 2018, it’s nonetheless the second-highest figure among all qualified hitters.

Hosmer’s struggles putting the ball in the air have somewhat offset the gains he has made in the hard-contact department. He ranks in the league’s 78th percentile in average exit velocity (90.6) and its 87th percentile in hard-hit percentage (45.9), according to Statcast. But a well-struck grounder still typically leads to an out, and it doesn’t help matters that Hosmer’s lacking speed (this could be his first zero-steal season).

A quarter of the way into his expensive union with the Padres, it would be difficult to classify Hosmer’s San Diego tenure as anything other than a disappointment. Hosmer will still be entrenched in the club’s lineup going into 2020, but the Padres are likely going to need far more from their big-money first baseman if they’re going to make a noticeable jump in the standings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Carlson, Hader, Hosmer, Ahmed

By Jeff Todd | August 15, 2019 at 1:05pm CDT

The Cardinals have promoted top outfield prospect Dylan Carlson to Triple-A, per an announcement from the club’s top affiliate. That puts the 20-year-old switch-hitter right on the doorstep of the big leagues. Carlson turned in a strong .281/.364/.518 batting line with 21 long balls and 18 steals over 483 Double-A plate appearances. It’s not clear whether the club has any thought of a late-2019 MLB promotion for the talented youngster.

Progress Report: The Eric Hosmer Contract

By Connor Byrne | July 4, 2019 at 9:19pm CDT

In February 2018, with the Padres amid a rebuild and attempting to move closer to relevance, the club made the polarizing decision to sign free-agent first baseman Eric Hosmer to a franchise-record contract. Although there seemingly wasn’t a wide market for the longtime Royal’s services, the Padres gave Hosmer an eight-year deal worth $144MM.

Hosmer stood out at times in Kansas City, including during a World Series-winning campaign in 2015, but fell on his face in other seasons. As a result of Hosmer’s inconsistency as a Royal, there were plenty who either loved or hated the Padres’ choice to hand him a headline-stealing payday. Those who opposed it gained the upper hand in its first year, in which Hosmer hit a meek .253/.322/.398 in 677 plate appearances. He was a below-average offensive player by wRC+ (95) and less than a replacement-level performer by fWAR (minus-0.1).

Considering the beginning of a long-term contract is when a player is supposed to be providing the most value, Hosmer’s woeful 2018 production was downright alarming. The Padres needed a rebound from Hosmer coming into this season, and while he has gotten better, the respected veteran still hasn’t given the Friars much bang for their buck on the field.

The best thing you can say about Hosmer the Padre is that he has been available more than most players. He piled up 157 appearances a year ago and has participated in 86 of the Padres’ 87 games in 2019. Along the way this season, Hosmer has slashed .293/.343/.45 with 13 home runs – just five fewer than last year – over 364 trips to the plate. He has also upped his weighted on-base average/expected wOBA from matching .310s last season to .341/.334 this year. Likewise, the 29-year-old’s 111 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR count as vast improvements over what he offered in those categories in 2018. They’re still far from great, however. In fact, the average major league first baseman has posted a 110 wRC+ this season. Of course, the average major league first baseman isn’t on a $20MM salary this year or locked into a big-money deal into his 30s.

While FanGraphs credits Hosmer with making more hard contact and less soft contact than he did last season, he continues to amass too many ground balls and too few fly balls. The typical batter hits grounders at an approximately 43 percent rate and flies 36 percent of the time. Hosmer’s at 57.3 and 21.0 in those areas in 2019. It’s hard to muster much in the power department with that combination, as Hosmer’s lifetime ISO (.155) and current ISO (.164) help prove. And Hosmer’s one of the majors’ slowest runners, making his grounder-heavy skill set even less conducive to success. The ongoing grounder overload hasn’t enabled Hosmer to take advantage of a 2019 hard-hit rate which Statcast places in the majors’ 87th percentile or an exit velocity that betters 71 percent of his peers.

Because Hosmer’s also still not walking much (6.9 percent this year, 8.2 lifetime), he continues to rely on a high batting average on balls in play to help buoy his numbers. That has paid off at times – including this season to an extent, as Hosmer’s .337 BABIP represents a 35-point increase over 2018’s. However, during seasons in which Hosmer’s BABIP has sat around average or worse, his production has typically fallen well short of expectations.

In further inauspicious news, the lefty-hitting Hosmer’s amid his second straight abysmal season against same-handed pitchers. Southpaws limited him to an unsightly .179/.240/.287 line in his first year as a Padre. Hosmer has bumped that slash to .250/.320/.324 this season, yet wRC+ indicates it’s still 24 percent worse than average. Struggles versus lefties aren’t anything new for Hosmer, who has stumbled to a .668 OPS and an 81 wRC+ against them over the course of his career.

A season and a half into his contract, the Padres’ choice to pay a premium for an inconsistent platoon first baseman continues to look like a head-scratcher. That’s all the more true when considering they already had well-compensated first baseman Wil Myers on the roster. Myers is now limited to the outfield, where he hasn’t garnered consistent playing time of late because he’s an ill fit in center and the Padres have superior hitters Hunter Renfroe and Franmil Reyes manning the corners.

This has been a positive overall season for long-suffering San Diego, which is hovering around .500 and finds itself in playoff contention. The team still hasn’t benefited as hoped from the Hosmer signing, though, and there aren’t clear signs that’s going to change.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Reportedly Willing To Trade Most Position Players

By Connor Byrne | June 14, 2019 at 1:36am CDT

Padres outfielder Hunter Renfroe has come up in trade rumors this week, and the club is indeed willing to deal the 27-year-old slugger, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. However, Renfroe’s not the only Padre who could end up on the move before the July 31 trade deadline. The team’s willing to give up “virtually” any of its position players except for shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., third baseman Manny Machado and first baseman Eric Hosmer, according to Acee.

The Padres’ goal in dealing from its current position player cast would be to upgrade offensively at two spots – catcher and center field – and add “young arms,” per Acee. Their desire to pick up controllable pitching has long been known, though it’s interesting they want a better offensive backstop.

Major leaguers Austin Hedges and Austin Allen haven’t hit, but Triple-A catcher Francisco Mejia rode his potential at the plate into high rankings on prospect lists not long ago. As recently as last summer, when the Padres acquired Mejia from the Indians for relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber, Keith Law of ESPN regarded Mejia as one of the game’s top five farmhands. While Mejia has struggled mightily in the majors since then, he’s still just 23 and has tallied a mere 134 plate appearances in the bigs. It’s unclear from Acee’s report whether the Padres would be open to parting with Mejia, who has raked since they optioned him to the minors last month, or if they just don’t think he’s ready to make an offensive impact at the game’s highest level yet.

The 26-year-old Hedges has made an MLB impact, meanwhile, but almost solely behind the plate. Hedges rates as an elite defender, and though he was a respectable offensive player just last season, he otherwise hasn’t hit much since his 2015 debut.

Likewise, center fielder Manuel Margot has seldom hit since the Padres first promoted him in 2015. There has been talk of San Diego demoting him to the minors to help alleviate its outfield logjam. But as a 24-year-old speedster who has excelled in the field and won’t reach arbitration until the offseason, he’d likely draw interest on the trade market.

Perhaps aside from Renfroe, right fielder Franmil Reyes stands out as the Padres’ most valuable trade chip among position players. They offer similar offensive skill sets, and Renfroe’s a much better defender, though Reyes is three-plus years younger. Set to turn 24 in July, Reyes has slashed .263/.320/.520 (123 wRC+) with 35 home runs in 516 PA since he first came up last season. Further increasing Reyes’ appeal, he’s earning a minimal salary and isn’t scheduled to reach arbitration until after the 2021 season.

If the Padres keep Renfroe and Reyes, perhaps they’d consider trading fellow corner outfielder Josh Naylor. The 21-year-old Naylor hasn’t gotten off to a strong start since the Padres promoted him May 24, but he’s a top 100 prospect or close to it. Franchy Cordero, yet another of their young corner outfielders, seems likely to stay put when considering his recent injury issues. Cordero, 24, has missed most of the past season-plus with right elbow issues, and he suffered a mild quad injury while rehabbing this week.

As for the rest of San Diego’s roster, outfielder Wil Myers and second baseman Ian Kinsler jump to the fore as players the team would probably like to move. The trade value is minimal in both cases, though.

Myers, 28, hasn’t lived up to the six-year, $83MM contract the Padres gave him in January 2017. They backloaded the deal, meaning he’s owed almost $63MM through 2022 (including a $1MM buyout in ’23). Although Myers was a 30-home run hitter as recently as 2017, he’s still just a .242/.324/.450 batter (106 wRC+) dating back to then.

Kinsler, 36, joined the Padres on a two-year, $8MM contract in the offseason. While Kinsler has long been a quality major leaguer, the Padres haven’t gotten much return on their investment so far. Kinsler has hit .204/.264/.387 (72 wRC+) with minus-0.3 fWAR in 201 PA., though he has fared much better following an ice-cold April (.262/.309/.505 since May 1). Regardless of whether the Padres find a taker for Kinsler, it seems like only a matter of time before he loses his starting spot to standout prospect Luis Urias.

After a surprisingly competitive start to the season, San Diego has begun fading from the National League playoff race. Losers of five straight, the Padres sit 33-36 and 5 1/2 games out of wild-card position. However, with the talent already on hand and the high-potential players baking in the minors, the club may not be far away from contending on an annual basis. It seems general manager A.J. Preller will operate aggressively over the next month-plus in an effort to better position his roster to accomplish that. With that in mind, the Padres should be a compelling team to watch leading up to the deadline.

Players Lobbied Ownership For Tatis Jr. To Make Padres Opening Day Roster

By TC Zencka | March 30, 2019 at 11:48am CDT

In two straight offseasons, the Padres have acted out of character with the splashy free agent signings of Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado. Those same players took it upon themselves this Spring to back one of their own. Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Hosmer and Machado met with Padres owner Ron Fowler over dinner, lobbying for the promotion of young star Fernando Tatis Jr. Fowler was apparently amenable to the idea as Tatis Jr., 20, made the Opening Day roster, as did top pitching prospect Chris Paddack, 23.

In what’s become more-or-less boilerplate around the league, teams have taken to holding presumably-ML-ready prospects in the upper minors for the first few weeks of the season, thereby gaining an extra year of team control. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the most obvious current example, while the White Sox finagled a workaround by signing Eloy Jimenez to an extension, prompting concerns over the use of this practice as negotiating leverage. The Padres decision to go against the grain was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise fiscally conservative marketplace.

After all, they aren’t considered favorites for postseason play. But there is a certain harmony to kicking off this era of Padres baseball with Machado and Tatis Jr. together on the left side of the infield, and after spending big on Hosmer and Machado, there’s an argument to be made that now is the time to maximize their odds of competing. The move costs the Padres the possibility of a seventh season of team control down the line, but there’s baseball being played today in San Diego, and it certainly make for a better show with Tatis Jr. in the lineup.

Through two games, Tatis Jr. has three hits in six at-bats while batting sixth in the order. Paddack, 23, is expected to make his debut on Sunday, getting the start at home against the Giants.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Eric Hosmer

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect