Quote from dvmin98 on July 19, 2018, 1:59 pm

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Quote from Booster SD on July 19, 2018, 1:05 pm

Is it possible that SD and WAS could deal straight up and take MIA out of the picture. Perhaps a change of scenery and being on a better ball club could help Hedges bat. Yates/Hedges/Nix to WAS for Kieboom?

I'd rather trade Quantril than Nix.

Quote from Fred on July 19, 2018, 2:14 pm

Isn't this where we trade Mejia and Urias for Joe Carter and then Tatis and Carter for Fernandez and McGriff?

Seems like I've been on this island before! Really hoping we don't trade off Mejia - who I can't believe we got for a relief pitcher- or Urias or Tatis. This is our second chance at a very talented middle infield for years. Mejia at catcher would be fine by me.

Quote from Fred on July 19, 2018, 2:17 pm

Quote from sportwarrior on July 19, 2018, 10:00 am

What a trade! A top 20 prospect and the best catching prospect in all of baseball for a couple relievers. I take that every single time.

Beyond that, Mejia himself is super exciting. A switch hitter with sneaky power, a 50 game hitting streak a couple years ago, 297/346/490 as a 21 year old in AA, and 391/421/594 since the start of June this year as a 22 year old in AAA. He's got an 80 arm and capable/improving defense behind the plate.

I'm friggin thrilled with this.

It's awesome! I can't believe it happened to the Padres. I'm still kinda stunned. Great trade.

Quote from fenn68 on July 19, 2018, 4:09 pm

Mejia is a hitter and the Padres are one of the worst (and have been) for a few years with not much beyond Tatis / Urias (maybe Reed) in the next couple of years arriving. Need a longer line-up of hitters (especially if Hedges remains catching) to be a winning team ... a couple of bats is not enough. I guess this is where they just find a role(s) where his bat is in the line-up ... not as though the Padres defense beyond Hedges is all that compelling at 3B or corner OF.

Also consider that there has been increase rumblings at the MLB level of the DH coming to the NL sooner than we think. A C/DH rotation for Mejia and when he catches someone other than Hedges is the DH? (note: that could be a strategy for Naylor DH/LF or Allen DH/C ... basically work to get bats in the line-up). When you are a consistently poor offensive team ... need to accumulate as may offensive options as possible since it appears that the pitching is coming from within.

Quote from Fred on July 19, 2018, 4:50 pm

I don't want to see Hedges hitting any more. If Mejia is a halfway decent Catcher defensively then give him the starting job so he can develop. But also play Mejia in the outfield so he doesn't wear himself out.

Quote from Cptjack on July 20, 2018, 1:00 am

Hedges has a 968 OPS in AAA. While some of that's due to ELP and the PCL, not all of it is. There's enough bat there to hope on. It's just a matter of getting it to show up in the majors. Which is a failure of the player development guys in regards to literally everyone that's been brought up.

Quote from hoffy51 on July 20, 2018, 5:58 am

Or it could be that the majors are harder than AAA. Or drafting the wrong guys.

Quote from fenn68 on July 20, 2018, 6:38 am

The concern from the day he was drafted was his ability to hit. He was drafted out of HS with that label but with the upside of "being good enough to catch (defensively) in the ML immediately (bit of an overstatement but made a point)". In the years in the minors prior to AAA he showed little hitting skills. Basically throw out the stats in AAA (Renfroe dominated with his bat in AAA).

Basically the draft gamble was to get elite defense with the hope he could develop as a hitter ... and that is a long shot with any player drafted without basic hitting projection. When he was coming up I likened him to Jeff Mathis who about 10 years earlier was drafted with the same profile and had a very similar rise through the minors. He is still around with a long career as a defensive first back-up ... his hitting never developed either.

Sort a paraphrase of the old BAF commercials ... coaches don't make good hitters they make good hitters better. Hedges was not a good hitter to start.

Quote from fenn68 on July 20, 2018, 6:51 am

As the various reports begin to reflect on this acquisition ... it appears Mejia will get his run as a catcher (starting in AAA for the initial team in-depth assessment) but up later this season to split time with Hedges. The apparent plan (for now) is split duty with Hedges going forward and some insertion in the OF when Hedges catches. Apparently he looked bad as a 3B in his brief audition with Cleveland's system.

Hopefully we don't get a pitchers' rebellion of wanting to pitch to Hedges only and not Mejia ... that is never good for the team and makes a argument for moving on from Hedges (at some point).

As an aside, in this era with most catchers not catching anywhere near the number of games catchers used to ... an initial platoon could help Hedges by giving him more recovery time / rest plus with Mejia a switch-hitter the rotation could be strategic to keep Hedges from facing the pitchers that give him the most difficulty (which might raise his offensive production at least statistically and in turn raise his trade value).