Quote from Randy Manese on October 28, 2023, 8:53 pm

And yet another big day today!  After striking out in his first AB, he proceeded to walk, steal two bases, and then hit doubles in his next 2 AB's - the first to LF and the second to RF.  In the process, he scored 2 more runs and all this in a 7 inning game.  Marsee's certainly got people's attention, that's for sure!

On the other hand, Martorella seems to be swinging a very slow bat.  He has a compact swing, so this shouldn't be happening unless he's just plain worn down.  Unlike Marsee, Pauley and even Merrill, he was already on the downswing when promoted to San Antonio so I'm guessing he just needs to rest and get in better shape for next year.  If Doersching can look chiseled after a winter off, then Martorella can also do it.  Look forward to him regaining his stroke in the spring.

Quote from Randy Manese on October 31, 2023, 11:20 am

A couple of good articles today in Baseball America, one of Marsee and the other on RHP Braden Nett.  The Marsee article is interesting in that they go through his batting skill set and arrive at the conclusion that he is not in the Top 100 prospects because he doesn't have the power (mostly exit velocity) of others on the list.  However, he is elite with regard to on-base skills and plate discipline and for what the Padres need, I'm okay with what I've seen of that skill set.

Nett, an undrafted FA pitcher, is said to have nasty stuff but not quite there yet with his control.  Seems he has all the tools that Niebla and our minor league pitching coaches can work with to make him a viable rotation candidate down the line.  As I've said before, pitchers can come out of nowhere and just a tweak here and there in their arm angle, delivery, etc. can turn them from suspect to prospect.   Padres seem to find a lot of these pitchers with raw skills that need to be coached up into prospects - hope they continue to do so.

Quote from MrPadre19 on October 31, 2023, 11:52 am

Considering his age do you think Nett will start at LE or Ft Wayne next year?

I'm guessing this is the question they were trying to answer by having him play in the AFL.

Do you believe they did?

Quote from Randy Manese on October 31, 2023, 1:16 pm

Nett's probably on the fence, but may start out at LE since he'll only be 21 when the 2024 season begins.  If he begins there, likely to be an early promotion to Hi A, when someone in the rotation is promoted or, hopefully not, injured.

Both the Hi A and Lo A SP rotations are projected to be very strong in 2024.  For Hi A, I have Lesko and Henry Baez ( who debuted in 2023 with FtWayne); Lizarraga, who likely will repeat to begin the season but once he shows he's healthy will be an early promotion to SA; and two SP coming back from injury, Hawkins and Rascon.  Nett could be in the mix along with Jagger Haynes, Enmanuel Pinales and Noel Vela (if healthy), or possibly  a drafted college pitcher who didn't pitch last year, Carson Montgomery.

For Lo A, start with Lowe, Mendez and Martinez add who every doesn't make the Hi A roster and add one or more of the high school pitchers drafted last year, Kemp, Dickerson or Lais may be the most advanced.  Also a couple of prospects from the ACL, Leija, Braian Salazar or Bradgley Rodriguez (if healthy) could compete.

Quote from fenn68 on November 7, 2023, 12:40 pm

Saw this the other day ... should be at the very least "interesting".

Padres named assistant farm director Mike Daly as the AAA manager in EP.

Daly as I understand he has never played, coached, or managed ... but has been associated with Preller since their time in Texas. I could be wrong but that show I heard it.

Managing in AAA ... with a bunch of guys on the fringe of ML (but not most good enough) and usually frustrated ... is just flat out hard. Will he have the interpersonal skills to hold the clubhouse ... probably not all that important on his game management skills in AAA except most of the player will "know" they are more suited to manage than Daly.

Now if I am the Padres ... would not send any real prospect to AAA next season in that potential unpleasant environment.

Quote from WindsorUK on November 7, 2023, 2:20 pm

https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/amp/padres_make_shocking_new_managerial_hire_in_aaa/s1_17189_39488117

Not a good look.

Quote from Randy Manese on November 7, 2023, 7:29 pm

With the revealing of the names of the Padres' minor league players who elected free agency on 11/06/23, I currently have their minor league count at 146, which is 29 below the max winter ceiling of 175; once spring training starts, they have to get down to 165 and maintain that number throughout the season (minus players put on full season/60 day IL status due to severe injuries) for all stateside teams.

The current breakdown is 85 pitchers and 61 position players.  The current rosters of all 5 of their stateside teams will likely change dramatically as minor league free agents are signed, players are released, promotions from the ACL or international signings with placement in the ACL vice DSL (like DeVries!), and placement on the 40 man roster.  Rule 5 might come into play, but SP Iriarte and RP Loewen may be the only two of interest to other MLB teams; I agree with Fenn that Valenzuela's poor showing after promotion to AA likely makes him a nonselect in Rule 5 despite his very good defensive play at catcher.

As usual, virtually all the EP roster went free agency, but this year I feel they'll fill more of those holes from within than signing a ton of minor league free agents.  Also, some of those that elected free agency might actually re-sign.

Quote from fenn68 on November 8, 2023, 4:52 am

Wonder if the Padres' cash flow issue will trickle down to the minors ... every dollar counts and even signing some of the better MiL FA costs plus just maintaining the number of players to the max costs.

Now of course they need to fill rosters and have some coverage for injuries, players who choose to retire so some signings have to occur but

1. if they go with internal promotions (as best they can) ... will some promotions be with players that cannot handle the higher level resulting in some truly bad teams?
2. If they go with internal promotions ... and since EP is almost empty of players ... will the major prospects (Pauley, Marsee, et. al) be dragged up to AAA too soon and sit in the sub-optimal EP environment for development?
3. will they avoid signing some of the more costly MiL FA (e.g. fringe ML or ML rebound candidates).

Now they really are not paying or make the final roster decisions until ST ... so could see the normal level of signings but will we see a more aggressive release plan before the season begins?

Probably an irrelevant train of thought, and "business as usual" will happen ... except if the Padres' loose focus on the purpose of he minor leagues for development of the few prime prospects and get trapped into mis-assigning them.

Quote from fenn68 on November 8, 2023, 8:37 am

After the recent departures ... looked at the current rosters (I know these will dramatically change for 2024 season) but, theoretically from AA and down they have the players rostered to fill out all the positions with some pitching to spare. As some ACL players move up bumping others up those teams should be OK.

EP does look as though it needs those MiL FA adds. Probably could survive with the pitching adding in the Padres' rostered players who are optioned and a few SA arms getting added. However, C - INF - OF (especially) needs some bodies ... right now just incomplete (and not good) unless some SA position players get promoted but that does cause a ripple effect in shortfalls in those position downstream.