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OFFSEASON 2023-24
#1531 · January 26, 2024, 10:55 am
Trade market, here the Pads come to try to fill up their OF. Possibilities: Carlson from St. Loo; Seattle has a trio of young LHH OF Marlowe, Canzone/DeLoach. I do like Morel from the Cubs, even though he is a RHH. Varsho could be a possibility if they sign Bellinger.
I just hope AJP doesn't overpay to fill the spots. I could live with Wilson or DeLosSantos for Carlson. Hopefully, one of the Seattle trio would not cost too much. Morel will likely cost a higher quality prospect.
Untouchables in the system are: Salas, DeVries, Merrill, Snelling, Leasko, Head. I'd have to get a quality player to give up a Mazur, Iriarte or Bergerts. Maybe someone will bite on Morejon's potential.
Maybe AJP just resigns Profar then rotates the minor-league FA OFs until our own prospects prove they are ready: Merrill, Marsee & Pauley.
The waiting is killing me, as is seeing all of these guys fly off the market plus we have the early trip to South Korea. Ugh!
#1532 · January 26, 2024, 11:28 am
Quote from fenn68 on January 26, 2024, 10:50 am
My reference to Bellinger was TOR or CUBS signing him freeing up Varsho or Crow-Armstrong. Padres will not sign Bellinger.
Even if CHC signs Bellinger, I could see them putting at Bellinger 1B and keeping Crow-Armstrong. Then Morel could become even more available. Just dont see CHC letting Crow-Armstrong go, or SD paying the price CHC would want for Crow-Armstrong.
#1533 · January 26, 2024, 11:59 am
Quote from BoosterSD on January 26, 2024, 11:28 amQuote from fenn68 on January 26, 2024, 10:50 am
My reference to Bellinger was TOR or CUBS signing him freeing up Varsho or Crow-Armstrong. Padres will not sign Bellinger.
Even if CHC signs Bellinger, I could see them putting at Bellinger 1B and keeping Crow-Armstrong. Then Morel could become even more available. Just dont see CHC letting Crow-Armstrong go, or SD paying the price CHC would want for Crow-Armstrong.
Agree.
#1534 · January 26, 2024, 1:18 pm
We live in times of "instant gratification", where patience is no longer a virtue but a frustration. Unfortunately, when you have to live within a budget, you have to get the most value out of your limited resources. To me, in baseball this means wait out the FA market for drops in asking price or go into Spring training with the very likely scenario developing that one or more teams will decide they no longer want to pay their 4th or 5th OF (or an OF w/no minor league options) millions of dollars and will settle for a prospect or a RP (of which we have probably may have 1 or more available).
I would not sign Joc Pederson for 12M nor would I even sign Joey Gallo for 5M. Further, I would not trade for young (most of the guys available are several years older than the Padres OF prospects) but still unproven OF who may or may not be equal in production to our internal options. Between now and our home opener against the Giants, I'm sure we'll be able to put some decent players in the OF and 1b - I mean early last year, we were going with Dahl, Engel and even Rougned Odor in the OF for 9 games! The bar is not that high and we should have plenty of opportunities to get someone better to align with Tatis in the OF than Azocar and the departed Grisham (who we gave ample time to show he was going to be better than a .200 hitter).
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#1535 · January 26, 2024, 5:47 pm
Jank's deal with TEX, $1.7M with unspecified bonuses.
Hmmmmm
#1537 · January 26, 2024, 6:37 pm
For his career Azocar has hit .277/.336/.365 in 151 PAs against RHP. Jankowski hit .269/.365/.333 against RHP last year. That was the 2nd best offensive season of Jankowski's career. Neither of them have had much success against LHP. Jankowski went 19/20 stealing bases. Azocar went 8/10 in significantly less playing time. Jankowski is probably a little bit better defensively. Overall I would give him a slight edge, but I'm not convinced he really would have moved the needle much.
#1538 · January 26, 2024, 8:01 pm
Unless there’s a trade I don’t see anyone available we could acquire that will move the needle much.
But we need major league bodies.
Freddie at $1.7 seems the bargain.
#1539 · January 27, 2024, 5:41 am
Yeah, I don't get that.
Unless Preller thinks Fernandito can cover the entire outfield by himself, we're going to need at least warm bodies.
#1540 · January 27, 2024, 6:21 am
I am getting very confused on the plan Preller has.
Padres need THREE ML quality hitters (preferably all OF) … Jankowski may only be a back-up / platoon option but he is a veteran coming off a good season who can fill in defensively all three OF slots and PR as needed. Signs for only $1MM over league minimum (they will pay minimum for someone). He did not have to be better than Azocar or Marsee … just better than one of the empty roster slots.
Add to my confusion … in a market that is paying up for almost every FA … why Jankowski could only get a $1.7MM deal … seems that multiple teams could have used him as the 4th OF.
Time for speculation on Preller’s lack of action (or very unusual lack of reported “interest” in almost anyone). Is it possible the rumored money left to spend yet stay under the tax threshold is not the real payroll target (speculation by the media but not a statement by the Padres). Maybe until some of the pending financial issues are resolved (like TV) Preller has been told NOT to add to the payroll (or at least has a much lower bogey)? That might tie to the rumor that no movement until February … does something change on Jan 31?
FA are dwindling (and for the most part still overpriced) … some budget limit remains … although a trade may happen it is hard to see filling all three voids at this date via trade plus are any other teams really waiting on the Padres to make a deal.
So, are getting to the point were some (if not all) of the open slots are filled with an early arrival of the prospects (Merrill, Marsee, Pauley) or pure interim fill plucked off the waiver wire (or FA after release) or the non-roster invitees who are more AAAA players (Mitchell, Mercado, Johnson, Wade, et al).
On the positive side … could have a lot of budget space for trade deadline trades for rentals.
Unlikely but one other option that may crimp the budget (especially if also considering 2025) is negotiation on an extension with Kim … his AAV will jump maybe $10MM over his current AAV into the high teens at a minimum while no one with any major salary is a FA after 2024.
Confused and randomly speculating.