Quote from ultratvfan on July 27, 2025, 12:39 pm

Quote from MrPadre19 on July 27, 2025, 6:40 am

August presents a tough schedule…..quite a few games in Division against SF & LA

As I’ve said….just stay in,or just behind,the 3rd WC spot by end of August and we’ll be fine.

Love having an “easier” schedule in September.

Now go get a couple “Big Bats” ,AJ!

 

OK,OK…..”Medium Bats”.

 

 

The Padres also play 19 of their last 25 games in September at home, where they have played alot better than on the road.

Quote from MrPadre19 on July 27, 2025, 5:35 pm

Marinazzio has kind of been the forgotten man. With as good as our BP has been, 2–3 really good arms in the minors, he’s barely been mentioned. His stats says this year  aren’t good… But that’s what El Paso will do to you.

He’s dominated every other year in the minors.

He has pitched 116 major league innings and only allowed 75 hits & 140 K’s…..…..and he’s been DFA’d twice?

A bit wild with 62 BB’s but…

How good is he?

 

Quote from Randy Manese on July 29, 2025, 9:57 pm

Padres are in a good position with SP and RP they can rotate depending upon the needs of the team and the health of the pitchers.  I see this happening for the rest of the season as they ease King back into the rotation and try to get Darvish back on track.  Let's see if Padres add a bat at the expense of one or more of these pitchers.

Marinaccio was terrible for most of the season down in El Paso, but just started to turn it around when he was called up.  Now, looking very good but talent-wise below Nunez, Reynolds, Morgan and Rodriguez.

Quote from fenn68 on July 30, 2025, 1:56 am

Iglesias is turning out to be a really good signing ($3MM) for his role on the bench. Enough offense but ability to handle 2B/3B/SS effectively defensively allowing the INF to get off their feet regularly and rotate through DH keeping them fresh in the heat of the summer. He still can play the game with enthusiasm ... hustles ... baseball smarts ... and a positive clubhouse presence.

At 35 not going to be a regular with anyone but his team value over a season off the bench is well worth the contract. Given the current Padre INF situation heading into 2026, would consider re-signing Iglesias (at about the same money).

 

Quote from fenn68 on July 30, 2025, 2:13 am

Shildt has a reputation of having his teams play better late in the season ... that may be a result on how he handles the roster / games in the early going.

Iglesias may give a clue ... at 35 not going to be at peak for a full season ... so Shildt uses him sparingly early (Wade got a lot of early work) then in mid-season Iglesias gets the work ... displaces Wade ... and really has a shorter season to perform and is "fresher".

Tie that with rotating position players out of field starts into DH effectively does the same of them ... fresher down the stretch. A plan from early in the season before they wear down.

Maybe the same long term view on SP (has the luxury of a solid pen) but he is not pushing SP to go deep into games ... again should have them fresher down the stretch.

Looks as though Shildt is managing to win with a season in mind from the beginning ... and to some that may make some of his early season game to game moves surprising. His history says this approach works ... so let us hope 2025 is not exception.

Quote from fenn68 on July 31, 2025, 3:08 am

With 53 games to go and coming off 5 straight wins ... Padres may be positioned for the playoffs as well as they have been all season.

First, with 49 losses they are 3 fewer than their closest pursuer for that last WC slot ... CINN. 6 fewer losses than the next down. So, achieving the WC is really in SD control with a normal record the rest of the way.

However, time to really roll in the chances of a much better playoff slot. They only have 2 more losses than PHIL for the 2nd WC and 4 more losses than the Cubs for the 1st WC slot (and that gets the 1st playoff round at HOME vs AWAY for 2nd and 3rd). Padres would have to play well with some help from those teams losing but well within range.

Maybe more appealing is that they are only 3 losses behind the LAD (with a bunch of head to head coming) for the NL West title ... and maybe even the 1st or 2nd best NL record ... a bye in round one and home advantage in the playoffs (Padres are good at HOME).

All of that is realistic with a "softer" SEPT schedule ... the potential return of a top arm in King, the return of Darvish (strong performance vs the Mets), the offense heating up. This does motivate Preller to push hard (very hard) for trade deadline upgrades and would expect him to use as much of the prospect capital he needs to to get that done ... or at least put them on the table.

Quote from MrPadre19 on August 1, 2025, 6:26 pm

So I guess we can tell by the trade deadline results that AJ had no intention of giving Perlaza a chance in LF

Quote from MrPadre19 on August 2, 2025, 2:16 pm

So what is our 2026 payroll looking like right now if all the free agents leave?

Suarez/Arraez/Cease/King

With increases and arb. etc along with the Hoz $

 

 

 

Quote from fenn68 on August 2, 2025, 2:47 pm

Quote from MrPadre19 on August 2, 2025, 2:16 pm

So what is our 2026 payroll looking like right now if all the free agents leave?

Suarez/Arraez/Cease/King

With increases and arb. etc along with the Hoz $

 

 

 

Sort of depends on CASH or AAV for CBT purposes and what the management's limits.

AAV looks to be just under the CBT first level and guessing they do not want to exceed two times in a row and get worse dollar and draft penalties. A lot dropped but a signifiant rises in AAV for Merrill's new contract and what should be sizable AAV for ARB increases for Miller, Adam, Estrada, Morejon and Sheets. I have them down in AAV at about $26MM net.

CASH might be more a push ... big cash increases built into the contracts for Machado, Tatis, and Pivetta plus the ARB increases basically offsets the cash to the departing FA.

Padres might push the CASH up given how this season is going but the tougher call would be to cross the CBT threshold again.

Have the feeling the organization will have some difficult strategic calls balancing putting together another winning season ... still wanting to have sustained success ... and potentially damaging the draft strategy to gain the next wave of prospects (trade chips).

The "simple" plan is to just do some adds on the fringe (bench) at low cost ... they will have a quality offense and pitching returning (remember Musgrove is back).

The more "complex" plan is to shuffle the pieces again moving higher AAV for lower AAV in a buy and sell strategy. Moving Cronenworth and Pivetta (who is a FA after next season and will earn $20MM cash in 2026) would open AAV space (and cash) and might get some either quality directly for 2026 or prospects that may be used to add some ... or just open payroll for strategic FA signings.

Preller is good at the complex stuff ... so his strategy will be interesting to follow.