Quote from Randy Manese on July 28, 2023, 2:51 pm

In my opinion, believe the Padres want to keep this young corps of position players (Salas, Zavala, Verdugo and Linares) together and see if they can win another league championship.  They may have just enough pitching, although they could use a college type SP, to make it happen.  You might see Doersching go up to make room for Romeo Sanabria but I don't think they want to separate Zavala and Salas.  Both need to further hone their skills and get that competitive edge for starting 2024 in the cold at High A.   Robertson may also be a promotion to Ft. Wayne if they move up Marsee and/or Martorella to make room for Bush, Jr.

Quote from Stergios on July 28, 2023, 6:26 pm

Quote from Randy Manese on July 28, 2023, 2:51 pm

In my opinion, believe the Padres want to keep this young corps of position players (Salas, Zavala, Verdugo and Linares) together and see if they can win another league championship.  They may have just enough pitching, although they could use a college type SP, to make it happen.  You might see Doersching go up to make room for Romeo Sanabria but I don't think they want to separate Zavala and Salas.  Both need to further hone their skills and get that competitive edge for starting 2024 in the cold at High A.   Robertson may also be a promotion to Ft. Wayne if they move up Marsee and/or Martorella to make room for Bush, Jr.

Interesting analysis.  Are Verdugo and Linares legit prospects?

Quote from WindsorUK on July 28, 2023, 9:49 pm

Quote from WindsorUK on July 7, 2023, 5:52 am

With his hitting skills, does he move off C to 1B, to preserve his knees...hands, body in general?

Also, does anyone see the Padres trying to keep Salas and Zavala together, given their ages and backgrounds? Does anyone know if they've become buddies in their short time in LE?

Was thinking the same a while back. Would be cool to keep these kids together. Certainly having someone to share the experience would be helpful?

Quote from Randy Manese on July 28, 2023, 10:03 pm

Rosman Verdugo is playing the entire Low A 2023 season at age 18.  I don't think he can stay at ss, but looks to be a power-first second baseman that may hit around 250 but can crank out 20+ HRs at maturity while playing a steady second base.  A lot of people wrote him off after a horrible May, which plunged his BA below 200, however, a .276 June and .280+ July show his growth at the plate doing all of this while reducing his K rate to the low 20's.  He showed that power last year with 7 HRs in the ACL but also K'd around 35%.  Having hit his 26th double today as well as having 2 triples and 2 HRs, one can easily envision many of those doubles turning into HRs.  Verdugo still is chasing some pitches out of the zone and still has a little trouble recognizing breaking stuff early but watching many Lake Elsinore games this season on MiLB I have seen him get better and better.  Yes, expect him to emerge as one of the Padres Top 10-15 prospects by the beginning of next season.

Linares is an interesting guy but has a longer way to go.  After 2 years in the DSL, he was skipped over the ACL and debuted at LE, where he was overwhelmed.  Pushed back to the ACL, he hit a solid .325 with twice as many walks as K's and an OPS of 1157 (albeit only 13 games).  Once he returned to LE, he's been hitting over .300 but still needs to command the strike zone better.  Like him defensively, flashing a Caught Stealing Rate of over 43% in his second year in the DSL with only 5 PBs.  Only 20 years old, I can see him as a solid contributor in the Padres system over the next 3-4 years although he might not ever rise to uber prospect status.  How his bat continues to develop will determine his future success; rank him behind Salas and Valenzuela as the 3rd best combo catcher (King might have a bigger bat, but needs a lot of work behind the plate).

Quote from Jeremy Hill on July 30, 2023, 10:55 am

I've seen it suggested in the daily here and now this morning in the UT that Iriarte and Mazur could be the contingency plan if the bullpen needs more arms this season. It could be something to monitor depending on what happens with the trade deadline.

Quote from Randy Manese on July 31, 2023, 1:07 am

The Dominican Summer League played its mid-season All star game today with the players from AL teams versus NL teams.  As far as I could discern, Padres had only 1 representative, Yoiber Ocopio, an 18 year old catcher they signed in January 2023.  There are probably other players who are better than Ocopio on their two Dominican teams - Oliver Carrillo, Hugo Sanchez, Ismael Javier, Adrian Perez - but the DSL has many teams and other players on those teams who were better at the positions played by Carrillo, et al.  Not much to get excited about with these very young players but I would like to see some of the older ones (20+) get a chance to show what they could do in the ACL.  For the most part, a very developmental league and others I haven't mentioned like OF Jose Cordero and pitchers like Yovannki Pascual and Johan Moreno that are showing growth to possibly surface stateside in a year or two.

Quote from brent wolff on July 31, 2023, 8:40 am

In order for the Padres to be financially stable at the major league level, the minor league system has to start producing younger, inexpensive players.  With the monetary amounts already committed to Manny, Nando, Bogaerts, Darvish & Musgrove presently, plus Soto possibly in the future.

Who has to be untradeable at this year's trade deadline?

Here is my list which includes at least the Top 6, but it would be nice to keep #7-9 also:

1. E. Salas C
2. J. Merrill SS/2B
3. R. Snelling LHSP
4. D. Lesko RHSP
5. A. Mazur RHSP
6. D. Head CF
7. S. Zavala OF
8. J. Iriarte RHSP/RHRP
9. V. Lizarraga RHSP

Plus we add one of the top 2 International prospects in switch-hitting SS Leo De Vries in next year's International Class.  Not a bad Top 10 Prospect list when you include De Vries!  Go Pads!

Quote from BoosterSD on July 31, 2023, 8:51 am

I would agree with most of that post, with the exception being Merrill.

While I would love to see him make the ML as a Padre, the fact is, he is in the same spot that Abrams was in last season. He is a SS, and unless you see him moving to a different fielding position, there is really no spot on the ML roster for the next 3-5 years, by that time, DeVries should be ready.

So same as my position last trade deadline, Merrill best value to SD is trade bait for a player that plays a position of need in SD, such as 1B/DH, CF, or C.

Quote from fenn68 on July 31, 2023, 10:20 am

Quote from BoosterSD on July 31, 2023, 8:51 am

I would agree with most of that post, with the exception being Merrill.

While I would love to see him make the ML as a Padre, the fact is, he is in the same spot that Abrams was in last season. He is a SS, and unless you see him moving to a different fielding position, there is really no spot on the ML roster for the next 3-5 years, by that time, DeVries should be ready.

So same as my position last trade deadline, Merrill best value to SD is trade bait for a player that plays a position of need in SD, such as 1B/DH, CF, or C.

Merrill is on track to replace Kim after next season (sooner if they trade Kim). Alternatively, given how well Merrill is doing in AA he may just take the Tatis path and make the Padres in 2024 and serve as a DH/rotational INF eliminating the need to add an expensive FA (or trade for an expensive player) to cover one of the holes ... spend to fill all the other holes (think SP).

Soto is leaving after 2024 and probably want to move on from Grisham at some point ... Padres seemed to have hit gold with Tatis to RF ... Merrill to LF (or CF) given his bat and 6 year low cost control would be critical to building an impact long term roster given the burden of the big deals.

If the Padres make moves ... needs to be more pitching oriented in 2024 than offense ... and if Machado, Tatis, Soto, Bogaerts, Kim, Cronenworth, and Campusano can't provide the needed offense ... Padres have a bigger problem than one additional bat will solve. Sure add on the fringe but nothing that would cost a top prospect.