Quote from fenn68 on April 16, 2026, 3:49 am

Still in the early / small sample size zone ... and no real minor leaguers pushing to be called up ... but from a stat perspective the first "out" may be shifting from the early consensus being France to Castellanos:

273/333/455 (788) ... 22 AB ... France (this after a cold start)

297/350/432 (782) ... 37 AB ... Andujar

241/268/481 (749) ... 54 AB ... Sheets

172/238/256 (494) ... 39 AB ... Castellanos

Then consider France is a plus defensive 1B and emergency C ... Andujar / Sheets are not worse than Castellanos in the OF ... minimal salary hit if Castellanos released. (note: did not include Johnson since he provides the one legit defensive OF option and PR value ... different category).

Without a call-up on the horizon, still a lot of time to see those stats shift. Song at some point may become a better bench alternative covering SS/2B/3B and limit the moving of Tatis, Cronenworth around and inserting an inferior defensive option in the OF.

May be setting up for an overall value comparison of Castellanos vs Song (L). No hurry while the team is winning ... but will be become more relevant unless Castellanos turns his offense around.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 16, 2026, 5:43 am

Truly a game for the ages!  I agree with your comments on Castellanos, however, when he came to bat in the bottom of the 7th inning and hit somewhat of a routine grounder to the left side, he was really busting his butt to get down the line.  He showed me he really cares about contributing to this team even though he's going through a tough spell.  He and Laureano bring that edge to the clubhouse that you need in a mix of personalities that are all pulling in the same direction.  I've been to many games where the Padres have walked it off but never to one where they are down by 4 and win it with 5 in the 9th!  All 46000+ Padres fans will remember this one for a long long time.

Quote from WindsorUK on April 16, 2026, 1:36 pm

Any update on Freddy?

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 16, 2026, 2:19 pm

Castellanos seems like he's putting decent ABs together and making solid contact. He's had a couple HRs robbed already and just missed on a few others. He has a pretty big gap between his expected numbers and actual results to this point. It's hard to judge a part time player this early in the season. I saw people ready to move on from Ty France a week ago when he had all of 12 PAs under his belt. One 3-3 game then took his OPS up almost 700 points and now those same people are singing his praises. They both look decent to me so far. I would like to see them get closer to 100 PAs before I really start to judge their stat lines good or bad.

As for Fermin I read that the initial concussion testing was negative and he was in a good mood after the game. They wanted to make sure nothing changed overnight though. Lineups are out and I haven't seen any moves announced so I'm guessing he's good to go.

Quote from fenn68 on April 16, 2026, 2:33 pm

Song came off the IL and was optioned to EP.

Agree it is too early to make calls on the individuals (especially ones with ML track records) ... however, at some point that becomes under consideration ... not going to carry an under performer IF a better option is available.

Part may be driven on how Stammen deals with the individuals if one is under performing and his competition is contributing ... will he keep giving the under performer AB at the potential cost of games? If the only current option is Song ... he actually needs to perform in AAA.

On other possibility ... with all the out of option pitchers and a number of arms coming of the IL ... is a trade of a pitcher for an upgrade bench option.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 16, 2026, 4:29 pm

Looks like Padres put EP catcher Rodolfo Duran on their "taxi squad", where he is in that odd status of not actually being on the major league roster but could be activated in an emergency.  Duran hit well in ST (much better than Campy) but overall his game is not as good (I know there are a lot of Campy doubters out there - but I've always been a believer to way back when I saw him crush the ball at Lake Elsinore - keep it up!).

Quote from Randy Manese on April 16, 2026, 9:41 pm

Canning didn't look good today which was exasperated by some poor El Paso defense.  Has maybe 3 to 4 more starts before his rehab period runs out and going to have to show a lot more to be activated during the first week of May.  If continues to flounder, may end up on 60 day until he shows more consistency and stamina.

Quote from fenn68 on April 17, 2026, 2:28 am

Quote from Randy Manese on April 16, 2026, 9:41 pm

Canning didn't look good today which was exasperated by some poor El Paso defense.  Has maybe 3 to 4 more starts before his rehab period runs out and going to have to show a lot more to be activated during the first week of May.  If continues to flounder, may end up on 60 day until he shows more consistency and stamina.

Clearly needs more starts and has to work on his command. 2.2 innings yesterday and 4 walks / 67 pitches. However, some encouragement out of yielding only 1 hit and struck out 6 batters out of the 8 outs.

He should have 3 more starts before coming off the IL.

In that time Buehler, Marquez, and Waldron should each have 3 more starts ... so time to get a good read on the best 3 out of 4 ... or another IL candidate.

Side: if I understand the rules correctly .. he cannot be put on the 60 day IL unless the 40 man is full and they want to add a non-roster player to the 40 man ... and the league has to approve. However, they could just pull him from his rehab and let him sit on the 15 day for as long as the like, likely working either with the ML club or extended ST.

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 17, 2026, 8:08 am

Just saw breaking news on The Athletic that says the team is on the verge of being sold to a group led by Jose Feliciano. It says he's a co-owner of Chelsea football who made his money in private equity. The sale price is reportedly 3.9 billion! It would seem the group has some very deep pockets. That shatters the Mets deal.