The Padres stay one of many league’s most fascinating edge instances going into deadline day. After tonight’s loss to the Rockies, San Diego sits 5 video games out within the Wild Card image.
Buster Olney of ESPN tweeted Monday afternoon the Friars are evaluating the marketplace for assist in the outfield/designated hitter combine and the bullpen. In the meantime, Jon Heyman of the New York Submit relayed (on Twitter) the Padres’ asking value in talks on Josh Hader is so excessive that different golf equipment consider they’re more likely to maintain him previous the deadline.
San Diego brass has been clear they most well-liked so as to add for a playoff push relatively than tear issues down after one other aggressive offseason. Evidently stays the case, with final weekend’s sweep of the AL West-leading Rangers maybe giving the entrance workplace the ammunition to purchase.
In that case, including place participant depth is a smart goal. The Friars have gotten glorious seasons from Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ha-Seong Kim, whereas Manny Machado has been on a tear since a gradual begin. The underside half of the lineup has struggled, nevertheless. Catcher was a serious query mark for some time, though Gary Sánchez has supplied a powerful energy menace there since San Diego nabbed him off waivers.
Jake Cronenworth has had a poor season at first base, whereas the veteran assortment of Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz and Rougned Odor off the bench didn’t work. Cruz and Odor have already been launched; Carpenter is hitting .166/.296/.302 over 207 journeys to the plate.
The bullpen has been strong, despite the fact that tonight’s loss dropped them to a staggering 0-10 in extra-inning contests. San Diego relievers entered play Monday ranked ninth in ERA (3.78) and fourth in ground-ball share (48.1%). They’re twenty first in strikeout price (23.2%) and nineteenth in swinging strikes (11.4%), although, so including some swing-and-miss might be welcome. Getting Robert Suarez again after he missed the primary half of the season helps. He and Hader would type a superb high-leverage duo — assuming the Friars certainly maintain onto the latter — however Steven Wilson is the one different San Diego reliever with 10+ innings who’s placing out over 1 / 4 of opponents.
