Quote from Randy Manese on April 4, 2024, 1:04 pm

Padres minor league teams face some weather challenges as the teams below AAA open the season.  High gusty winds in Amarillo for the next 3 days, which is already a hitters park, will either make these high scoring games or bring everything back towards the infield, depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Ft. Wayne opens in Michigan where there won't be precipitation, but they'll be lucky to see the mid-30's at night.  Most of the best hitters on the team come from warm weather climates, so we'll see if they can adapt.

Lake Elsinore looks like it will be dodging most of the rain for its opening home series but will get unseasonably cold weather.  Maybe in the mid to low 40's, so I don't think I'm going up there just yet!

Back in AAA El Paso, they will continue to have good weather, maybe a little of those gusty winds on Saturday, but very playable for their first homestand of the year.  Don't know if we'll see Wolf in this series but may get another look at Vasquez on Sunday.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 5, 2024, 8:24 am

In reviewing the Hi A and Low A rosters, a lot of fringe organizational type players that either haven't made the leap to the next level and/or are old for their respective league.  Looks like they'll be getting a month or so to prove whether they should remain in the system since the Arizona Complex league starts on 4 May with some interesting prospects trying to push their way up to full season status.  Similarly, there are some older guys at AA that could replace the FA signed to play at EP this year.

The 165 man domestic limit will surely come into play as some of the better Dominican Summer League players from last year will also be trying to come stateside.  I see another 10-15 player cut somewhere between late April to late May.  Injuries will protect some but a limit of 15 on 60 day IL and already have 8 placed.

Quote from LynchMob on April 5, 2024, 6:33 pm

It seems like Sullivan might be building some trade value?

It is valuable for the Padres to have a C at AAA that is call-up-able ...

Quote from Randy Manese on April 5, 2024, 10:29 pm

You have to remember that both Chihuahuas series have been high altitude (Albuquerque and El Paso) but two 5 for 5 games that includes 2 doubles, 2 triples and a grand slam HR is not a bad way for Sullivan to get a little attention.  I was strongly advocating for Sullivan vice keeping 3 infielders but with Machado occupying the DH role, I can see why that way.  Shake-up will come when Machado can man 3b and we can rest Campy in the DH role.

Watched all 4 minor league games on MiLB.com.  Nice to see Mazur, Krob and Go do well in extreme hitters' park Amarillo with the wind blowing out.  Krob may be better suited for the pen in the long run, so this was a good audition.  Other prospect SPs were having difficulty finding the plate but dodged many bullets.  Valenzuela looked a lot better than Salas today, both offensively and defensively, so I'm glad Salas is getting some time to mature in Hi A vice AA.  Typical opening day for AA through Low A with only Ft. Wayne losing in extra innings on the day - let's evaluate some of these guys after a couple of weeks have gone by.  Looking forward to see Isaiah Lowe pitch tomorrow at LE - he could move fast if healthy.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 6, 2024, 10:15 am

I sometimes get confused on all the roster limits and terminology so someone please correct me if my understanding below is incorrect.

Let's start with the 40-man.  Padres currently have a full 40 man, with 26 active players, 3 on the short-term injury list (IL), 10 optioned to El Paso and 1 in San Antonio.  Unless one of the current players was seriously injured and went directly to the 60 day, if they needed a roster spot, could move one of the 3 on IL to the 60 day or release, DFA or trade one of the active, injured or optioned players currently on the 40 man.  Pitchers Otto and Patino and INF Marcano are the 3 on the IL.

We then move to the over 165 man minor league domestic player limit.  AAA and AA have a maximum of 28 active players while Hi and Lo A have a maximum of 30; the Arizona Complex league has a maximum of 35.  If you add these together, you get 151 maximum minor league active players.  HOWEVER, players optioned from the 40 man do not count against the 165 man limit (because they have major league contracts) but they do count against a team's active roster limitation.  Because the Padres filled 11 of the 151 active roster slots with optioned players, they have 140 more active minor league slots of the maximum 165 to be filled.

On the other hand, there are injured minor league players that must be accounted for, mostly pitchers who are re-habbing from surgery/arm fatigue.  There are several ways to handle these players.  The first is the full-season IL - Padres only have 1 (Seth Mayberry) on that list; actually they have 2 (Matt LaChappa is the other but he'll likely be on that list for the rest of his life) which does not count against the 165 maximum or active minor league team rosters.

They also have a maximum of 15 players they can put on the 60 day injured list (currently they have 9 designated); these do not count against the active rosters but do count against the 165.  I believe you can transfer players from the 60 day IL to the full-season IL but not the other way around.  Finally, there are internal moves that can be made by a team because of short-term injury (7 day) or being placed on the development list (minimum of 7 days) which similarly take the player off the active roster but still count against the 165.

So going back to our base of 140, I add in 9 from the 60 IL, 4 from the 7 day IL, 2 on the development list and 2 who I can't account for just yet (Collett & Kopach) for a grand total of 157 spots filled (at this moment).  The ACL is currently under its 35 man limit by 5 so expect some movement from the Dominican Summer League (DeVries for sure) to fill that void plus they need some wiggle room for any additions they have to make to fill out rosters during the year.  With the MLB draft being near the end of the ACL season, none of the 2024 draftees are likely to be rostered this year.

Bottom line is that Padres are in good shape working with the 165 man minor league domestic limit.

Quote from fenn68 on April 6, 2024, 11:00 am

Think you got it.  One wrinkle I am not sure about is the ACL players ... 35 "active roster" but though they were able to have more players under the ACL umbrella but not active ... and moved players between active and inactive as needed. Still keeping within the 165 total limit.

Not a big issue but might give a bit more flexibility (and insurance) if the IL gets overused and teams do need to maintain full active rosters. So, adding 5 DSL players gets the ACL to the 35 but the organization remains 3 under the 165. The question is can they bring 8 to the ACL and rotate the 38 to the 35 man active roster? IF the Padres need to pick up a minor league add to fill a need ... not going to be hard shed a lower end prospect ... or move a 60 day IL to season long.

 

Quote from MrPadre19 on April 6, 2024, 8:32 pm

Snelling was my prospect to champion last year….turned out well.

This year I’m going to lesser known avenue with Breadon Karpathios.

He's the Padres version of the Greek God of Walks.

Last season he had 63 walks in 62 games and finished the season with a .444 OBP and is not in the Padres top 30 prospects…..he also didn’t hit a HR last season but has hit nine already this year(tonight).

He had average power in College so it may be the power will come.

I like guys who get on base….everyone doesn’t have to hit 30+ HR’s to help a team win.

 

 

 

Quote from Randy Manese on April 6, 2024, 9:49 pm

Dillon Head with two absolutely amazing plays in CF!  If he can hit a little bit, he might be the next platinum glove.  Minors repeat yesterday with 3 of 4 teams getting wins and Tincaps losing by one run.  Snelling didn't have his control and only pitched 4, but Mission bats got 17 runs on the board.  Wolf similarly couldn't hit his spots, but Chihuahuas had another nice comeback.

For the Storm, Lowe doesn't look like a pitcher with his stocky build and ill-fitting cap but did well in his 3 innings.  Shaky relief pitching by Reyes and German allowed the Quakes to come back but Bradgley Rodriguez shut them down for the win and looks like the real deal.

Bergert and Lesko go tomorrow with Carson Montgomery making his pro debut for the Storm.

Quote from Stergios on April 7, 2024, 5:30 am

Thanks for the update Randy.

Martorella had a nice game at the plate.  Marsee with 3 SB’s.  Salas was the DH, led off and went 2 for 5.