Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 7:54 am

Taxi squad during a full season with Minors play will be interesting.  Think the entire premise is to minimize "typical" Minors to MLB travel up/downs from random cities; instead funnel that travel through only the team's home cities.   But it does seem like these guys would HAVE to rotate in/out of the taxi squad from Minors teams during the season or not really be getting work as players, esp P's.

Random thoughts:

• Seems like teams might telegraph upcoming 6th SP to roster by carrying them on taxi squad to start a road trip
• Obviously if a player on active roster gets hurt or sick, he would remain on active roster MLB pay wise, with a taxi guy coming up to backfill.  But wonder if can voluntarily option a player "down" to the taxi squad on a road trip (or really even at home).  Like a RP heavily used?
• We are SO short upper levels C's, it's problematic at that position.  Webster Rivas the obvious majority taxi squad candidate, but just going to have to bump young guys up multiple levels to fill out C on the full season teams.
• Could "roll" a DH type  up/down for an AL road trip via taxi squad.

Quote from fenn68 on February 10, 2021, 8:03 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on February 10, 2021, 7:50 am

I look at Cooper as a Pham replacement after 2021.

Can rotate with Profar in LF and play some 1b against Lefties.

Solid bench option for this year....depending on the cost.

 

I could see Cooper getting the inside track on the 2022 DH (outside chance still in 2021 .... but low odds). Cooper is not good defensively so would expect Profar (unless he opts out ... not likely) to take over LF from Pham.

His hitting combined with a very team friendly salary does make Cooper appealing.

No idea what works for Miami ... guessing O’Grady (they do want some OF coverage, CF) plus a prospect or maybe one of the RP options at league minimum cost.

Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 8:14 am

With the "extra" out of options RP...  they are "trade currency" that are there to compete, but also for injury depth.

2020 (Tim Hill trade) & 2019 (Adam Warren & Aaron Loup as late FA $ spent) Pads had to make moves in ST due to inadequate bullpen depth.  Think determined not to make that mistake again.

Highest likelihood outcome is 1-2 guys IL on Opening Day from the 11 on roster.   Castillo or Tim Hill optioned assuming healthy.  Hold onto the depth.

If we make it through ST with no injuries and no blatantly bad clearly not MLB caliber guys in pen, wait till the very end of ST to deal guys as needed for probably non-roster prospects... someone else will have injury issues.  So Taylor Williams value to Pads will be > the deep minors prospect we traded for him last August; either he'll make team (possibly due to injuries) or we'll trade him for  > trade cost to acquire him.

Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 8:22 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on February 10, 2021, 7:50 am

I look at Cooper as a Pham replacement after 2021.

Can rotate with Profar in LF and play some 1b against Lefties.

Solid bench option for this year....depending on the cost.

 

???   Ummm isn't this exactly Profar's role we just committed 3/21 for?

There must be something there if both LAD & we want him.   But I theoretically like the LH O'Grady backing up the corner OF's at minimum $ over an older RH in arb; even though he is way more MLB proven.  I don't see the "fit" on a 4 position player bench?  5 man bench, definitely.  Preller must be more confident about a "what if" scenario in CF than I am if he's considering TRADING for a non-CF.

Quote from fenn68 on February 10, 2021, 8:36 am

Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 8:14 am

With the "extra" out of options RP...  they are "trade currency" that are there to compete, but also for injury depth.

2020 (Tim Hill trade) & 2019 (Adam Warren & Aaron Loup as late FA $ spent) Pads had to make moves in ST due to inadequate bullpen depth.  Think determined not to make that mistake again.

Highest likelihood outcome is 1-2 guys IL on Opening Day from the 11 on roster.   Castillo or Tim Hill optioned assuming healthy.  Hold onto the depth.

If we make it through ST with no injuries and no blatantly bad clearly not MLB caliber guys in pen, wait till the very end of ST to deal guys as needed for probably non-roster prospects... someone else will have injury issues.  So Taylor Williams value to Pads will be > the deep minors prospect we traded for him last August; either he'll make team (possibly due to injuries) or we'll trade him for  > trade cost to acquire him.

The “insurance” of the extra RP has value .. so would ride with that unless a current deal is viewed as better for the success in 2021 .. pure judgement on Preller’s part.

So, not likely to deal for a deep prospect now ... but if Preller really sees current (and 3 year) value in Cooper (or similar) ... make the deal. I would not underestimate the need for a ML quality bat beyond Profar / Kim now and going forward with little near term in the minors. A defensive 1st CF or SS would be easy to find if a crisis ... Mateo / O’Grady really have minimal track record as hitters.

What is very hard to judge is how Preller sees the ML upside of any of those backend pen options (Altavilla, Williams, Guerra) vs. the under the radar internal prospects such as Thompson, Knehr, Wilson, et al. Maybe he sees little difference in their potential 2021 ML value making them all trade chips while maintaining some measure of “insurance”.

Quote from Randy Manese on February 10, 2021, 9:35 am

Dodgers interest in Cooper probably is fallback position for a RH hitter with a little pop if they don't re-sign Turner.  Mets seem very interested in Turner, especially if they view the Dodgers as the team they have to go through to get to the World Series.  Subtracting Turner from the Dodgers lineup (as well as Hernandez and Pederson) may have some adverse consequences for LA.   As for O'Grady, I hope he surprises us in ST and brings a solid bat off the bench in 2021 and beyond.

 

Quote from MrPadre19 on February 10, 2021, 9:37 am

Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 8:22 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on February 10, 2021, 7:50 am

I look at Cooper as a Pham replacement after 2021.

Can rotate with Profar in LF and play some 1b against Lefties.

Solid bench option for this year....depending on the cost.

 

???   Ummm isn't this exactly Profar's role we just committed 3/21 for?

There must be something there if both LAD & we want him.   But I theoretically like the LH O'Grady backing up the corner OF's at minimum $ over an older RH in arb; even though he is way more MLB proven.  I don't see the "fit" on a 4 position player bench?  5 man bench, definitely.  Preller must be more confident about a "what if" scenario in CF than I am if he's considering TRADING for a non-CF.

While we assume that’s why AJ signed Profar he may want him to play all over the field and not every day in LF.

His interest in Cooper(if true) may be as future DH or platoon with Hoz or an every day job.

Profars versatility just adds a lot of value so I don’t know if AJ would even want him playing 150 games in LF.

Unless O’Grady goes back in the deal I just don’t see the interest in Cooper for simply a 5th OF bench guy for three years.

 

Quote from fenn68 on February 10, 2021, 10:13 am

I am convincing myself that an add of Cooper is a good thing for winning in 2021 by providing offensive depth (plus value in 2022-23) and a team friendly price tag.

Looking at the options past Profar and Kim ... career stats:

Cooper (30) .... 637 PA ... 114 wRC+ ,,, vLHP 114 ... vRHP 114 .... now that is "balanced" over a lot of PA

O'Grady (28) ... 53 PA ... 92 wRC+ ... vLHP 114 ... vRHP 90

Mateo (25) ... 28 PA ... 20 wRC+ ... vLHP 39 ... vRHP -19 .... guy just can't hit

Padres are serious contenders with LAD ... having the proven better hitter to PH, sub for Hosmer, provide depth for injuries in the corner OF is value added.

Note that Hosmer's wRC+ vs LHP is a lowly 67 so some immediate use for Cooper's bat. Plus he can PH against both LHP and RHP with better than average results.

O'Grady has options ... so he could go to AAA for emergency call-up if they keep Mateo. If they opt to drop Mateo, SS is still covered Tatis - Kim - Cronenworth - Profar and CF is Grisham - O'Grady - Profar - Myers ... all in all better depth chart than almost all other teams for SS and CF.

The versatility of Profar, Kim, Cronenworth ... of course Myers, Machado, Nola gives excellent coverage for a major injury no matter who that hits in the field.

 

Quote from Brian Connelly on February 10, 2021, 10:29 am

stat SPLITS on Mateo's 28 career PA... come on!   I remember he started a game against Kershaw... this is a meaningless sample.