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Padres vs. Rangers
#51 · August 19, 2020, 9:24 am
Quote from fenn68 on August 19, 2020, 7:25 amIn the post-game yesterday, Sweeney made the comment that some in the Padres organization think Quantrill's stuff and approach is at its best as a relief pitcher. With the other SP options that are viewed SP first ... may we be seeing the start of a permeant role for Quantrill as a late inning RP and not the "long guy"? Joint closer with Pomeranz since Pagan is not taking that role in 2020. In 2021, Yates not back ... Pagan a ? ... a series of prospect question marks ... no veterans (Stammen, Johnson, Hill, Strahm, Guerra, et al) are contenders?
Could be happening before our eyes.
Wouldn't overly read into Q's 1 out save. They wanted Pagan to get it, but he was clearly beginning to falter & couldn't risk him blowing 2 games in a row. Pagan blew a game & is off to a tough start. So has Yates & most of the Pads pen. It happens. With Kirby gone, Pagan doesn't disappear from a 7th-8th inning role.
With Quantrill though, there is a clear pattern of him "starting slow" when he's the SP, but not having the same issue when he comes in as an RP. Mental? Prep? Don't know. He also clearly hit a wall late last season as a SP. His ability of being able to ping pong between short, long, and even spot start duty is pretty rare; his attitude about it has been A+, even though I agree with many that he's gotten a little bit of the short end of the stick in terms of competing for the #5 spot.
It makes your team better if a "failed" SP like Strahm can turn to the pen & excel... we'll see.
#52 · August 19, 2020, 10:02 am
Just guessing (based on some past comments) that when Quantrill starts he is setting up a gameplan to get him deep into the game not going all in with his best two pitches from the get-go. That also may have an effect on his adrenaline in starts.
If he really only has two plus pitches ... and only uses them as a starter ... could succeed with pinpoint control (which he doesn't have) but more likely would not last long in games as hitters start setting on one or the other.
A lot of "could" scenarios but at 25 and with a number of elite arms coming soon (and arguably here) with a need for late inning relief ... makes a lot of sense to capitalize on his perceived strengths in the pen ... 2 quality pitches effective over short spurts now. Good for him and the team ... hopefully. Nothing will be set in stone ... so could always reverse that move later.
Need more than one arm sitting for late inning relief and with Pagan not being effective yet ... and can't really see much to replace him other than Quantrill ... might be the best team solution.
#53 · August 19, 2020, 10:57 am
With regard to earlier comments regarding Morejon, it has never been a question of his talent (which some evaluators I have read rank along side of Gore and Patino) but the many injuries he has sustained that keeps him off the field. Seems to be shoulder/upper back area more so than elbow but fear has been surgery since he's never thrown more than 66 innings in a season since signing in 2016. Before the game, it was announced he would not go more than 40 pitchers (he went 39) and I'm sure that's because of his injury history. Whether he can continue in any meaningful role depends on if he can bounce back quickly and has no adverse affects.
With regard to Quantrill, I don't think he becomes one of the closers by committee, but he does need to pitch in more games in some role. With Perdomo gone and Patino generally unreliable in longer relief, this may be the role in earlier high leverage situations - which always seem to occur in the 6th or 7th inning. If it's the 8th or 9th as the set-up to Pomeranz or whoever is the designated closer than day, then that's fine too. If he can handle it both physically and mentally, then all for it because we need someone to step up in that role.
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#54 · August 19, 2020, 11:12 am
As we head into a tough match up today against Texas, wanted to give a shout-out to Hosmer and Myers and whoever they have been working with this season to be much better hitters than I've seen in the past 2 years. With Pham out, we really need them to continue to have good years and be the kind of players they have flashed in the past.
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#55 · August 19, 2020, 12:03 pm
Quote from Randy Manese on August 19, 2020, 11:12 amAs we head into a tough match up today against Texas, wanted to give a shout-out to Hosmer and Myers and whoever they have been working with this season to be much better hitters than I've seen in the past 2 years. With Pham out, we really need them to continue to have good years and be the kind of players they have flashed in the past.
Great point. Hosmer has clearly made an adjustment to his swing/approach. Myers is doing what Myers can do; think it REALLY helps him to just stay put at one position & lineup spot & not have to be "the guy" / face of the franchise....
... now if we only had someone to fill that role 🙂
Tonight is a really tough matchup. But I look for Chris to get back on track. Go PADRES!
#56 · August 19, 2020, 12:49 pm
Per Fangraphs, for Hosmer it's been changing that ground ball ratio on batted balls from 55-60% the past 2 years to almost 50% fly balls this year. He's also elevated his medium and hard contact rates a bit. For Myers, huge increase in hard contact percentage, almost 20%. Slow motion cameras show when he keeps that head down and follows the ball all the way in, he's a very very good hitter. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to do that all the time and still looks really bad flailing away on outside pitching and breaking pitching down and away, however, he doesn't seem to be giving up in an AB like he used to when he obviously was beat by one of those pitches he flailed at. Again, just hope these two guys keep it up and even Machado has looked good the last two days with hard hit outs among his base hits and walks.
#57 · August 19, 2020, 2:17 pm
After this series ends with Texas, I'd still like to get Todd Frazier as our DH/reserve 1b/3b. I think he could be a significant contributor down the stretch and won't cost us an arm and a leg. Hope all that nonsense about unwritten rules is put aside.
#58 · August 19, 2020, 3:40 pm
Quote from Randy Manese on August 19, 2020, 2:17 pmAfter this series ends with Texas, I'd still like to get Todd Frazier as our DH/reserve 1b/3b. I think he could be a significant contributor down the stretch and won't cost us an arm and a leg. Hope all that nonsense about unwritten rules is put aside.
Padres would probably have to beat Texas in the next two first. In this odd season, Texas is not all that far out of a Wild Card slot with a 10-12 record ... think only one game out in the loss column with 38 games to play.
Padres are only 13-12 and just holding on to the last Wild Card slot.
Probably too early for an pretender contender to pull the plug.
#59 · August 19, 2020, 3:44 pm
Quote from Brian Connelly on August 19, 2020, 12:03 pmQuote from Randy Manese on August 19, 2020, 11:12 amAs we head into a tough match up today against Texas, wanted to give a shout-out to Hosmer and Myers and whoever they have been working with this season to be much better hitters than I've seen in the past 2 years. With Pham out, we really need them to continue to have good years and be the kind of players they have flashed in the past.
Great point. Hosmer has clearly made an adjustment to his swing/approach. Myers is doing what Myers can do; think it REALLY helps him to just stay put at one position & lineup spot & not have to be "the guy" / face of the franchise....
... now if we only had someone to fill that role
Tonight is a really tough matchup. But I look for Chris to get back on track. Go PADRES!
Just a shame that Andy Green didn't realize that which was so obvious to the rest of us.
Better late than never.
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#60 · August 19, 2020, 4:17 pm
- Trent Grisham (L) CF
- Fernando Tatis Jr. (R) SS
- Manny Machado (R) 3B
- Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
- Wil Myers (R) RF
- Jake Cronenworth (L) 2B
- Josh Naylor (L) DH
- Jurickson Profar (S) LF
- Austin Hedges (R) C