Quote from Stergios on July 13, 2023, 7:08 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on July 12, 2023, 9:26 am

I'm not sure anyone said we "can" go 7-3 just that we "need" to.

I may have read too quickly, sorry!

But I don’t think we need to go 7-3.  I mean, if we go 5-5 with over two months of ball ahead of us, there’s still plenty of time to catch up.  But I see why fans would have little faith in our ability to catch up.

 

Quote from Stergios on July 13, 2023, 7:12 am

Quote from fenn68 on July 12, 2023, 3:37 pm

Quote from BoosterSD on July 12, 2023, 3:25 pm

On Facebook, the Padres have just announced that Opening Day for the 2024 season will be in Seoul, Korea.

Does this increase or decrease any chance of Kim being traded?

No change ... Padres were not going to trade Kim baring some unrealistic offer by some team ... very, very low chance.

I do wonder what his value is though.  I’m assuming that any team watching him play has to like him.

I wonder whether the Padres are exploiting Kim’s marketing potential among the SK fan base.

 

Quote from fenn68 on July 13, 2023, 7:15 am

This weekend maybe be the most critical set of games in trying to make the Wild Card as the games remaining in the season are dwindling.

Padres are sitting with 47 losses and behind 3 teams for that last Wild Card slot … SF (41 losses), PHIL (41 losses), and MILW (42 losses). Needing 6 games to tie (7 to pass) these three teams as they continue to win is already a challenge … should expect all three will go on major losing streaks while the Padres go on a major winning streak.

First and foremost is the 4 games with a direct competition in PHIL … win all four and looking good to overtake PHIL … lose all four and 10 games behind and then not looking good … split and still not making up ground is not good.

Meanwhile, SF should have an easier weekend vs PITT and not lose ground … MILW has a challenge with CINN (who has 41 losses) but if MILW wins and take the NL Central Lead, oddly CINN drops into the Wild Card battle but is starting from a one game better position and makes the Padre chase more difficult (should hope CINN blows out MILW).

We are at the point where the Padres need to blow out their opponents (and specifically PHIL this weekend) they need the team ahead to start losing heavily to make up the 7 game gap … 70 games is a lot less when behind than most think.

Quote from fenn68 on July 13, 2023, 7:32 am

Quote from Stergios on July 13, 2023, 7:12 am

Quote from fenn68 on July 12, 2023, 3:37 pm

Quote from BoosterSD on July 12, 2023, 3:25 pm

On Facebook, the Padres have just announced that Opening Day for the 2024 season will be in Seoul, Korea.

Does this increase or decrease any chance of Kim being traded?

No change ... Padres were not going to trade Kim baring some unrealistic offer by some team ... very, very low chance.

I do wonder what his value is though.  I’m assuming that any team watching him play has to like him.

I wonder whether the Padres are exploiting Kim’s marketing potential among the SK fan base.

 

Oh yes, the Padres will market him to the hilt for that series (he still is a major hero there) plus that Padre / Kim linkage should benefit the Padres scouting (signing) of future Korean prospects.

As for other teams liking Kim … no doubt quite a few would love to add him as their SS with his resurgent offense coupled with his elite defense and he is on a very reasonable contract for 2024 given his production. The offset is that he is a FA after 2024 and not sure there are teams that would give up any major prospect / player for one year (maybe only a legit contender with a major need). On the flip side, hard to see the Padres parting with a key part of the line-up (for no immediate impact from the return piece) on the gamble that they could get more value out of the FA market for the equivalent money (about $8.5MM).

Side: did hear Siedler commenting that he values “stability” which is part of the reason he is comfortable with long term deals for players he values. Good for the team … good for fan loyalty assuming the choices of the long term deals are worthy. Maybe that is some rationale behind the extensions for Darvish / Cronenworth last winter (both seemed questionable to be at the time). So, could mean a better chance Kim gets an extension rather than getting traded … performance, age, and a growing fan favorite.

Quote from fenn68 on July 13, 2023, 12:04 pm

I know we tend to evaluate players against what we want (hope) them to perform or against some abstract standard but taking a view of how do the Padres' starters stack up against the rest of MLB by position for this season only maybe we get a different perspective ... so against the potential 30 starters by position he are the Padres ranking (by WAR):

C ... #26 Sanchez (0.5) / #40 Nola (-0.8) ... very few "qualified" catchers so expand the list

1B ... #20 Cronenworth (0.2)

2B ... #2 Kim (3.0)

SS ... #6 Bogaerts (1.9) ... ahead of some big names like Trea Turner, Correa, Baez, T. Anderson

3B ... #9 Machado (1.8)

LF ... #2 Soto (3.3)

CF ... #14 Grisham (0.8)

RF ... #4 Tatis (3.4)

Given the the very poor spells in the first half ... the ranking of Bogaerts and Machado are very encouraging for the second half ... as is the ranking of Tatis who missed 20 games. Those rankings of the five (green) upper 1/3 players SHOULD be enough to carry the three (red) more problematic performers ... hasn't but SHOULD.

Given the realities of 2023 performance across MLB maybe we have been under valuing both Kim and Bogaerts.

Of course this may highlight the difference between stats (e.g. WAR) and on field performance leading to actual wins ...

Quote from WindsorUK on July 13, 2023, 12:25 pm

Quote from fenn68 on July 13, 2023, 12:04 pm

I know we tend to evaluate players against what we want (hope) them to perform or against some abstract standard but taking a view of how do the Padres' starters stack up against the rest of MLB by position for this season only maybe we get a different perspective ... so against the potential 30 starters by position he are the Padres ranking (by WAR):

C ... #26 Sanchez (0.5) / #40 Nola (-0.8) ... very few "qualified" catchers so expand the list

1B ... #20 Cronenworth (0.2)

2B ... #2 Kim (3.0)

SS ... #6 Bogaerts (1.9) ... ahead of some big names like Trea Turner, Correa, Baez, T. Anderson

3B ... #9 Machado (1.8)

LF ... #2 Soto (3.3)

CF ... #14 Grisham (0.8)

RF ... #4 Tatis (3.4)

Given the the very poor spells in the first half ... the ranking of Bogaerts and Machado are very encouraging for the second half ... as is the ranking of Tatis who missed 20 games. Those rankings of the five (green) upper 1/3 players SHOULD be enough to carry the three (red) more problematic performers ... hasn't but SHOULD.

Given the realities of 2023 performance across MLB maybe we have been under valuing both Kim and Bogaerts.

Of course this may highlight the difference between stats (e.g. WAR) and on field performance leading to actual wins ...

No way we can have Jake at 1B next year! At this point, they'll need to convince Bogaerts that he's more beneficial to the team at 1B, or DH because while Cronenworth's number suck at 1B, he still has good numbers at 2B. And Kim is obviously the option at SS.

Same players, different positions.

Quote from sportwarrior on July 13, 2023, 12:30 pm

I wish we could "do over" the Croney deal and dish it out to Kim instead...

Quote from fenn68 on July 16, 2023, 11:39 am

As the 2023 season fades in the Padres being a non-playoff team ... it is time to turn over the catching duties to Campusano ... no matter how bad we believe his defense and the unknown on has ML offense.

Campusano is currently rehabbing in EP ... he is a career .300 MiL hitter and has the first shot of being the catcher of the next few years ... former Top 100 prospect ... young / controllable / cheap ... no immediate internal options that are better .... test him in the last 2-3 months of the season to determine how they approach catching for 2024.

The incumbents over the past 30 days:

178/286/299 (585) ... Sanchez (67 AB)

176/222/176 (398) ... Nola (17 AB) ... Padres have given up on him apparently

A bad Campusano probably could still be an upgrade.

Quote from 84padres on July 17, 2023, 6:59 am

What pisses me off the most is watching Cincy . They were a preseason after thought but I would trade teams with them if we could keep FTJ some how . They are bringing up another top prospect (Encarnacion Strand)  with no place to play him .  The big names are flashy but you need to build with young top talent .