caulfield12

This from a month ago... Nineteen of the 30 teams have seen their average fall from a similar point last year, with the largest drops in Toronto (6,963), San Francisco (6,463), Baltimore (3,839) and Detroit (3,686). Large rises have taken place for Philadelphia (10,383), Oakland (4,027), San Diego (3,465) and the Chicago White Sox (2,311). The Phillies signed Bryce Harper and the Padres added Manny Machado.

Plantar fasciitis is terrible too...one of the many injuries that derailed Carlos Quentin's care. That and oblique tears, they really suck because they are so easy to retweak. Or back problems...explaining them to someone who has never experienced back spasms or the kind of pain where you can’t sit for long in a chair or straighten yourself out again when trying to stand up. Literally would feel like almost dragging or willing your leg to move forward on it’s own...while pain is radiating down the nerves for 7-10 days. Or kidney stones, lol.

I’ll just say this much, Greg, and then I’m done with Tatis commentary for the year. He’s a true SS even though he’s now 6’3” 1/2 and closing in on 6’4”. That’s why there are comparisons being made to Carlos Correa, A-Rod, Corey Seager and Cal Ripken, Jr. I think Javy Baez with a better, more instinctive feel for situational hitting is closer. Having watched quite a few Padres’ games this year...he’s already the one player that ignites the club in terms of enthusiasm and the sheer joy of playing the game. You could feel it when he was out for five weeks with the hamstring injury. He can be a showboat at times, but you love him if he’s your teammate and maybe despise him in other dugouts because of his age and how easily things seem to come to him. He’s striking out a lot, but around 30% isn’t bad at all for a 21 year old who is getting his opponent’s best stuff every at-bat. He has easy power to all fields...the ball jumps off his bat like Moncada, but he’s more fast twitchy in terms of his upper body not being so bulked up. In that sense, he’s a bigger and faster Alexei Ramirez. He gets so much leverage at that height when he can get his arms out and extended. Defensively, he has been timed this season at 94 mph throwing from SS...he whips the ball over to first so hard, the best comparison that immediately comes to mind is Shawon Dunston. For the amount of acrobatic, highlight reel plays he makes...his error total per game is pretty darned impressive for a rookie. Playing next to Machado and sharing the same agent and support system has really helped him to feel completely comfortable from Day 1 at the big league level. He’s got an unreal batting average with balls put in play because of his speed and exit velocity off the bat. That will normalize...he’s probably not a high 900’s ops guy, I would assume closer to 850-875 but he is getting a respectable number of walks and pitch arounds. He struck out the most on breaking pitches and high fastballs at max velocity up in the zone, but he’s actually gotten quite a few extra base hits on sliders...so it’s going to be a series of adjustments for him as the league tries to exploit his weaknesses. In the final summary, the main risk factor is injuries...the reckless abandon he displays on the basepaths and doing things that most other players wouldn’t even try (the full splits on an errant throw from the pitcher to second base)...he believes there’s nothing he can’t do, which could easily be his undoing if he doesn’t learn how to better protect himself.

https://theathletic.com/884960/2019/03/25/everybody-was-surprised-but-here-we-are-an-oral-history-of-how-the-padres-acquired-fernando-tatis-jr/?fbclid=IwAR06UYbnb7anXASq9MBN4-brCO1FYhOQKPPXYOshn4T7RgyXMB27NftqcbI Tatis Sr.: Marco Paddy, he was one of the best in the business, I believe. And the first time that he saw my son, he said, “He’s going to be a big-leaguer, there’s no doubt. And I’m going to sign him. Let everybody see him, but I’m going to be the one to sign him.” That’s what he told me: “No matter what he does, no matter what everybody does, what kind of offer they’ve got, I’m going to be the one to sign him, because this kid is going to be something special.” I told Marco, “Right now, he doesn’t look the same height as all these kids. They get to sign for a lot of money, because they’re tall, they’re big, they’re strong.” He was one of the skinny guys, and I’m talking about 40 kids, 40 kids who were doing tryouts for the DPL in that moment. He was one of the small ones, and I told Marco Paddy, “Look, our family, we have the potential to grow a little bit late. When we start turning around 17, 18, that’s when we start growing. Watch.” And Bebo, Junior, he started to grow one inch every year. ... Fernando Tatis, Sr.: I was shocked in that moment, because how in the world do you trade a kid without seeing him play one game? So, they didn’t even know how good he’s going to be or exactly what kind of player you have. You never expect that at that age. It’s something where you want to be with your team, you want to be with the team that you signed with. And when you get traded, it’s something where you feel weird and you think, “Now I’m going to miss all my friends. I’ve got to make a lot of friends on another team. I’m going to go to another team that I don’t know.” Tatis Jr.: I was thinking about (making it to) Chicago all the way around. It was the main goal, the main focus. It took a couple days. When I got (to the Padres’ complex in Arizona) and I started practicing with the boys, it was like, this is really happening. Tatis made his professional debut on June 22, 2016, and went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts for the Padres’ Arizona Rookie League club. Five days later, he went 3 for 4 and hit his first home run. The opposing team: the AZL White Sox. Tatis Sr.: It was very exciting at that moment to hit it. He called me right away. He was very happy. DeYoung: Any time you get traded, I’m sure there’s some motivation on the player’s part to go to a new place and show what you can do. Tatis Jr.: When you’re just underrated like that, you’ve just got to keep going, keep working hard, keep showing what you’ve got.

The problem with that is it will be even more of an “indentured servitude” issue for the NBA and NFL...look at all the stories over the last five years or so about the minimum wage or below salaries in the low minors and minuscule per diems that barely cover McDonalds. Of course, there’s also that anti-trust exemption to protect the owners, unique to the sport.

https://theathletic.com/1039856/2019/06/21/is-fernando-tatis-jr-already-the-most-impressive-athlete-in-padres-history/ Tatis is hitting .333/.392/.600, the team leader in both average and on-base percentage. Meanwhile, he has benefited from a .433 batting average on balls in play, second-highest among players with at least 150 plate appearances. Regression appears inevitable. Yet that number is elevated largely due to Tatis’ speed and awareness. Already this season he has logged a 4.15-second time to first base, exceptional for a right-handed batter. His average sprint speed, at 29.2 feet per second, places him on par with Mike Trout and Trevor Story, two of the sports’ most formidable athletes. At 20, Tatis also wields a critical separator. “You see guys with that speed, but you never really see guys with the speed and the instincts he has,” said Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer. ... Tatis has yet to encounter an extended slump, an unavoidable rite of major-league passage. When he does, his speed figures to serve him well. So does continued experience. In the meantime, his combination of tools and smarts already belongs among the elite. One veteran National League West scout, asked where Tatis’ athleticism ranks among Padres players he has seen, did not need even a handful of seconds to scan his memory. “Tops,” the scout texted in response. Tatis Sr., speaking earlier this season, predicted his son would grow at least another half-inch. Myers, the owner of one of two cycles in Padres history, believes Tatis Jr. could achieve the feat more than once. “Every time he comes to the ballpark, he does something that I haven’t seen before, does something that’s special, does something that only he can do,” Myers said. “I know Mike Trout’s the best player in baseball, but this guy right here can definitely rival him.”

Probably the wise thing to do is DL him for a couple of weeks to let him recover 100%.

Mendick is the type of player who does everything fairly well but doesn’t have loud tools and who almost never gets a shot in the big leagues...we’ll just have to wait and see.

Or Alcides Escobar...whatever they do, they can’t let Engel come back to take Leury’s spot. Hopefully Cordell gets another extended run of playing time in CF.

Maybe it was bad timing to be listening to Adley Rutschman and his father talking about signing with the Orioles at precisely the same time I found out about the Anderson injury...

Do we get to extend the rebuild all the way to 2021 if Anderson is out for a long period of time...with rehab theoretically extending into next season?

That’s even MORE bad luck considering how they ended up after getting outed as frauds.

For a long time, Jimenez was in negative territory. Of course, he got the biggest contract in team history. He probably will turn out to be a lot like Carlos Lee...with more homers. A really really nice player to have, but not a superstar in the modern game where you need to be able to run and throw or hit like JD Martinez.

So I guess we get Leury at SS? I guess that can show off his positional flexibility to play the position capably for 7-10 days. Hope they don’t try to use Rondon there...of course, this probably means more Adam Engel in CF, haha. Or Alcides Escobar.

Just shocked to come back 45 minutes later to see the back of the bullpen up to its normal tricks...

Narvaez for Colome was 100x more controversial...

At first the name that came to mind was Shields with our pitching problems. A hit, realllllly?

NOT being they key missing word...instead of the double negative, what’s the worst thing that could possibly happen?

Jerry Krause, lol? He already gave up the baseball scouting gig, didn’t he?

He’s heading for a 30+ error season again...with his talent, that’s unacceptable. 20-25, fine.

Didn’t Hostetler claim that Walker was the most polished college hitter after Madrigal in that draft class?

Rule? Unless they need him to pitch out of the pen with Davidson and Leury gone...

Uh-oh. Collins looks to be headed for a Ventura rookie year hitless run...at least he got that homer out of the way early. 0/10 since then with oodles of K’s.

Moncada with six game hit streak, 879 ops. Who’s the one who was saying how Rondon was going to be so good all offseason?

Jimenez had yet another ball an average MLB left fielder gets to? Watching Avi, Palka and now Jimenez...at least we’re setting a baseline for terrible outfield defense, so there’s that.