adambr2

That 2-2 ball call to Shaw had to be one of the worst non-strike calls of the season. That was awful.

I'm convinced that Thames is a better right fielder than Domingo Santana. Not that that is saying anything.

I saw this same post on a Cubs board. I don't doubt it.

It would be great if the offense feels like participating in, you know, the biggest series of the season.

I thought the same, that's not a hit. When did official scorers start ruling it a hit every time a play isn't made on a ball that is somewhat sharply hit or in some other way was not a completely routine play?

You're not good enough to swing 3-0, Bote.

3 balls at or near the warning track in the 2nd and nothing to show for it. Frustrating.

I am weirdly disappointed with this as I think it means Supak isn't coming up to MLB.

OPS’ing 1.021 in the last 7 days, 1.009 in the last 14 days, .881 in the last 28 days and .839 in the last calendar year. On top of that, he’s OPS’ing .907 at home and over 1.000 in the second half so far. I think we have to start accepting that Braun isn’t nearly as bad as some want to make him out to being around here. He’s heating up only to be cooled down by a manager that has pushed a lot of wrong buttons this season. He got an off day yesterday and didn’t start Monday. He’s had enough rest. Play the man if you’re looking to make a push before the deadline. Ok, and Thames has a .871 OPS versus righties and. 862 for the year. It's a virtual wash. No one thinks Braun is bad, he's fine. He will have some good and bad stretches and probably finish exactly around the .800 OPS he's at right now. He's been playing well. Him continuing to play well will likely depend on plenty of rest. Thames is at. 862. He has hit well this season. It's just not that big of a deal if Braun doesn't get a start over Thames. It's not like Yelich sitting or even Hiura, and it's not like they're giving Saladino the start over Braun.

Braun has been perfectly solid lately, but just isn't a must start guy at this point in his career, and like most guys his age (Thames included), his workload needs to be managed. With Braun almost certainly starting the next two games and guys like Thames and Shaw almost certainly on the bench, it makes sense to get them a start today and have Braun come off the bench. Plus Counsell often likes to combine a team off day with a player off day to get them a 2 day breather. I do agree Shaw is likely the best defensive 1B we have and not a concern there. That is his natural position and if I'm not mistaken he has been a late defensive substitute there for both Thames and Aguilar in the past.

Go nuts, stick Shaw right back in there at SS.

+1. Woodruff is 26, Davies is 26, Houser is 26, Burnes is 24, and Peralta is 23, and the last two are far from a finished product. Hell, Peralta has had eight starts of 6IP or more with 1 ER or less. Eight. Not time to give up on him as a starter. So did Taylor Jungmann, or thereabouts. I mean that's just kind of a very arbitrary stat to use. Peralta also has about the same number of really, really bad starts. The upside is definitely there but the inconsistency is probably something they just can't afford right now. Counsell has already pretty much said he prefers Peralta in the role he's in right now and the pen could definitely use him there. If it gets revisited in the offseason, which it likely will, that's great. But not this year.

Gentleman's agreement in the NL Central, we all sell and restock for the future and someone still gets to make the playoffs.

Yeah Paddack would immediately slot in as the 1A to Woodruff's 1B when he (Woodruff) returns and give us years of those two at the top of our rotation and Tatis and Hiura would be the best middle infield bat combination in MLB and in franchise history and give us an insane 1-2-3 punch in the order of Yelich-Hiura-Tatis. Losing Hader would suck but it's something that you can afford to go out and fix now that you've got the top of your rotation and middle infield cost controlled for the next 6 years -- this would be an insanely lopsided trade in our favor and the Padres would never even be so foolish as to offer it, much less as we would be foolish to turn it down.

These kinds of things do go in ebbs and flows a bit when you're coming out of a rebuild. In 2016 following the Lucroy trade we had one of the better systems and used the top of it in the Yelich deal. We do have a weak system, but the last wave of higher end prospects in our pipeline produced the Yelich trade (Brinson, Diaz, Harrison, Yamamoto), and Keston Hiura, two elite bats in our MLB lineup right now. (Yelich is already elite, Hiura you could argue is on his way there). I think you make that trade every time. I can't imagine what our lineup would look like now without those two. A lot of our regression, I think, is guys like Lutz, Brown, and Erceg not taking the next step like we had hoped so far. Grisham, however, has taken that step, and I think he's still criminally underrated. If you were to ask someone, without knowing who they were, where they would rank a top 15 pick from 2015, a high school draftee who is now a 22 year out outfielder carving up AAA with an OPS over 1.100 in the PCL and .950 overall in 2019 between the PCL and Southern League, with 23 HR in 353 ABs, I think they would almost unanimously have the guy in their top 50 prospects. Yet Grisham still gets very little recognition. There's other guys with upside, but as we see with many of our young guys, it's not always a sure thing. Still, to me, Grisham and Turang are our blue chip prospects and IMO Grisham at the very least should be a top 100 guy. If the national sports media doesn't recognize him as such, that's fine. I guess I have a different definition of a blue chip prospect than you because to me, no one is untouchable.

Yes..I said that..go ahead and think its dumb all you want..Im just not selling ANY major contributor to the major league club until Yelich's control is up..just my philosophy..im doing whatever I can to capitalize on that window now..Hader is a big part of that..heck im trying to resign Moose and Grandal as well and make a HUGE offer to Geritt Cole or another top FA pitcher. And besides..how much have those players helped the Padres this year? What's their record again? Tatis? He has helped the Padres an awful lot. He has a .992 OPS and is extremely good and would be a ridiculous upgrade at shortstop. Paddack is an ace like ...now. He has also helped the Padres a lot. These guys have 12 years control remaining between the two before you even look at the 'prospects'. I mean...I can't with this. Any GM who did not trade Hader for these four would be immediately fired for gross negligence.

I like Olson, but no way.

That would indeed be a very stupid thing. I'd rather see the Brewers win over anything related to people's reactions.

Agreed with this. If they're going big, it's Hiura...and I don't see that. Probably a pen arm or two, maybe a middle of the rotation arm or rental shortstop.

Your disdain for prospects is getting really over the top. These players were all "prospects" in the last 3 years: Cody Bellinger, Ronald Acuna, Rafael Devers, Keston Hiura, Walker Buehler...I could go on and on. Sometimes "proven" talent doesn't always pan out either -- age, regression, etc. can easily end a veteran's career while the "prospect" goes on to have a very successful career. A small market team can't operate the way you want them to. You'd be perennially rebuilding from a gutted farm system and veteran contracts you can't afford.

You rather have Saladino coming off the bench as a pinch hitter? Maybe there is a move to be made but it doesn’t make sense to wait two games to make this move. They have a roster spot to fill. No, but Saladino is a RH hitter...Shaw is a LH hitter. They used to sit Shaw against lefties before, so assuming they would do that again, he wouldn't play against the LH starters(Aguilar would), which then means when a RH came in from the bullpen, you would also have the LH hitting Thames to use as a PH, as well as the LH Ben Gamel. Sure, he would strengthen the bench against RH relievers I suppose, but the timing of this just seems odd. Why call him up just to use him as a PH?? Yeah you have an open roster spot, but my instincts tell me this is being done for more than just a couple of PH appearances against the Cubs. maybe I'm wrong, but I also find Stearns's(no comment) VERY interesting. It's not like there is any competitive advantage in baseball by withholding comment on this stuff until the last possible minute. The NFL, yes, baseball?? not so much. Hiura isn't going back to the bench for Shaw at this point anyway against RH or LH, so I don't see what it matters if Shaw is right or left handed. The timing of this is simply due to the timing of the injuries and the lack of need for a 5th starter for the next few days.

You rather have Saladino coming off the bench as a pinch hitter? Maybe there is a move to be made but it doesn’t make sense to wait two games to make this move. They have a roster spot to fill. This. Shaw is probably the best non-starting bat on the 40 to possibly have for this pivotal series. You lose nothing by having that option, there's zero to be gained by bringing a starter up before his start date, so taking the extra bench depth makes sense. It's not impossible that there is a move forthcoming but it's also entirely possible that it's just basic roster management. My real question is when the next move comes due if they dare option Saladino to keep the vastly superior bat, planning to start Arcia daily for now and just figure it out on the fly in an emergency situation if Arcia were needed to be pulled.

I like Syndergaard as much as the next guy but Hiura isn't getting traded at this point IMO. Just no way no how when he's just scratching the surface of how valuable he's going to be the next 6+ years.

Actually no they likely would not, because the Cardinals are now in 1st as well. With that said the weekend series definitely means a lot. As you said sweep and it changes everything. Get swept and you're 5 back and may as well sell. Really need to at least get 2 of 3 to really make a strong case to buy.

Counsell all but indicated yesterday he prefers Freddy in the pen and he won't be transitioning back to the rotation.