Quote from BoosterSD on June 26, 2025, 12:13 pm

Quote from WindsorUK on June 25, 2025, 7:16 pm

Do todays young players play too much?

It seems there's always a baseball league in season somewhere around the globe at any given time.

Olden day players rested in the offseason, one of the reasons sighted for their better health.

Yes,  and at the same time do not play other sports anymore either.

Its good for young kids to have other motions that come from other sports to reduce wear and tear on baseball muscles. Keep the body limber and play other sports and some of those aspects will enhance their baseball skills.

Quote from Sergio Ascencio on June 27, 2025, 9:55 am

I like Lamar King a lot also but he has no business playing catcher and 1B fits him better but with his athleticism and his strong arm, I like to see him play OF. Pads need OF with power and strong arms and size.

Quote from fenn68 on June 27, 2025, 10:03 am

Quote from Sergio Ascencio on June 27, 2025, 9:55 am

I like Lamar King a lot also but he has no business playing catcher and 1B fits him better but with his athleticism and his strong arm, I like to see him play OF. Pads need OF with power and strong arms and size.

Agree a run in the OF would seem a strategic move (can always move him back to 1B if needed). Not much (if anything in the coming OF prospects (Tears?) ... although Merrill and Tatis will hold two ML slots for a long time).

1B has some other legit candidates with Sanabria, Figueroa, and Fountain.

Quote from Randy Manese on June 28, 2025, 8:34 am

King has some speed and agility and could be passable in the outfield.  I'd like to see him show more HR punch but with 21 doubles in half a season, that power may be coming.  After all, he is playing the entire 2025 season at age 21 and lost 2 years of development because of injury.  If he can keep his walk rate near 10% and his K rate in the low 20's or below, he has a chance to be among the best Padres hitting prospects in the minors.  My only concern is that he may add more bad weight as he matures, which could limit him to 1b or DH - remember his Dad was an NFL defensive end and was in the 300 pound range.  Let's hope he can stay "small' - he's already around around 215-220.

P.S. King's Dad had a history of injuries that curtailed his career.  Hopefully, Jr. is over his and will move forward without further debilitating injuries.   I can see him in Ft. Wayne to close out the '25 season.

Quote from MrPadre19 on June 28, 2025, 1:03 pm

Kash Mayfield in June:

8.2 ip

1.04 era

2 h

3 bb

19 k

 

Yes….not a misprint ….19 K’s in 8.2 ip

😳😳

 

 

 

Quote from Randy Manese on June 28, 2025, 7:42 pm

Most of these were short "rehab" starts after his injury.  I think this shows that he is very successful the first time through a line-up and is still developing to go deeper into games.  With his control and command looks like an excellent RP right now (just kidding, Padres not going there!) but Padres want to see him go 4-6 innings on a pitch limitation in his initial season and probably top out at around 75-90 IP because of his injury.  Bateman is already over 50 innings but with his strong frame and easy delivery could be allowed to hit 100 or slightly more IP this year.  Padres typically bring former HS drafted pitchers along much more slowly than college types.

Quote from Randy Manese on June 30, 2025, 10:02 pm

In a rather unusual move, the Padres promoted Dominican Summer League relief pitchers Jose Ortega and Rordy Mejia to the Arizona Complex League to complete the season, which ends on 24 July.  Padres ACL pitchers as a group have been awful, ranking last in the 15 team league in almost every category.  Some movement back and forth with Lake Elsinore staff, but huge learning curve for most of these very young inexperienced pitchers - don't expect many to move up next year if they still are with the organization.

Quote from Ryan OShea on June 30, 2025, 11:25 pm

Love Bateman’s delivery and Mayfield’s path to being a possible #1 guy. With those 2 kids as teenagers would you rather deal Nett, Mendez or Baez for LF/C help? Nett is MLB ready and if he makes a couple good starts could really increase his stock.

Quote from fenn68 on July 1, 2025, 3:37 am

Quote from Ryan OShea on June 30, 2025, 11:25 pm

Love Bateman’s delivery and Mayfield’s path to being a possible #1 guy. With those 2 kids as teenagers would you rather deal Nett, Mendez or Baez for LF/C help? Nett is MLB ready and if he makes a couple good starts could really increase his stock.

Depends on the return and the Padres' own pitching plan for 2026-27. With King and Cease FA after the season and Pivetta will opt out after 2026 coupled with some uncertainty about Darvish staying healthy (age / injury) and a pure unknown on an effective return of Musgrove (who is only controlled through 2027) ... might be reluctant to trade any SP that may be needed by the Padres in the next couple of years.

Even though we see the upside of these prospects ... not sure other teams value them as highly ... at least high enough to part with an impact ML player ... maybe a secondary type and probably short control / high cost.

Catchers ... good catchers ... are just hard to pry away from other teams (and there are very few) so expect Preller to try to work the fringe with veteran FA signings (re-sign Diaz?) and gamble on Salas / Valenzuela filling the role in the future. In 2025 ... not much choice but to stand pat.

OF/1B/DH really needs to be addressed (especially if they don't re-sign Arraez) ... could see 3 or more adds since nothing pending in the system. As with catcher likely a few mid-level / fringe FA (not going for anyone on another mega contract) and with all the Padre FA there should be some decent money to deploy.

Padres have said they plan to put a team on the field that contends year after year ... with the near term FA and a thin farm system with the best in the low minors ... can't really afford to deal for short term veterans by using the better prospects (at least the better ones in Preller's view).

Preller could start some cautious gambling starting this trade deadline and move Cease (if the IL starters return) to maybe ADD an OF prospect plus RP is always in demand by contenders ... and the Padres have a strong ML pen plus what looks like a deep set of near term RP prospects, so use ML RP to ADD near term prospects for the offense and use some of the RP prospects to maybe add a rental bat at the deadline ... note not expecting a bumper crop of players available at the deadline (at least impact players) given at this stage so many teams still legitimately believe with a hot streak they can make the playoffs.

Padres after the season may consider some bolder moves (especially if they see 2027 lost due to a work stoppage) and deal Pivetta / Adam ... with one full year of control should have good trade value ... and rely on the longer control in house pitching both deep pen and the return of Musgrove with Baez, Nett, etc.

Not going to be easy.