Now that the 13 straight games against the Giants and Dodgers have ended, some musings:
As mentioned in my last post, I was expecting 3-3 for the first week. Now that the second week and all 13 games are done, going into this week I was thinking 7-6 would be good (2-2 against the Giants and 2-1 against the Dodgers or some combination of 4-3 this week) so to end up 8-5 after these 13 games is great and I would have signed up for that easily if you told me that two weeks ago before these 13 games started.
Starting pitching held up really well against the Dodgers with Nick Pivetta closing out the series with 6 innings and two runs. What was a red flag last weekend in LA (starting with Michael King going on the IL again and the early inning struggles by Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish against the Dodgers) was a bright spot this weekend and is the cyclical nature of baseball and its long season. What Yu Darvish and Nestor Cortes did the first two games of 6 innings of one hit each was impressive, especially when I saw this:
Yu Darvish and Nestor Cortes both pitched six innings of one-hit ball vs. the Dodgers. It's the first time opposing starters have pitched six or more innings with one or no hits allowed vs. the Dodgers in back-to-back games at least since the team moved to LA in 1958.
As I also mentioned in the last post, we need to do something about Arraez considering how much better Ryan O’Hearn and Gavin Sheets are playing, especially with both playing all the time the past week while Jackson Merrill was out. This weekend didn’t help matters with Arraez hitting into more double plays (2) than he had hits (1). If he can’t be a bench guy like what’s happened to Elias Diaz and how Freddy Fermin is playing 4-5 times a week (versus before with Diaz and Martin Maldonado where it was more of a 50% split), then at least move him down in the lineup as I mentioned in my last post. He’s killing the lineup between Tatis and Machado right now when we could have a much better hitter like O’Hearn there.
The decision to go to Jeremiah Estrada today in the 7th inning of a tied game with all his struggles against the Dodgers was another move by Mike Shildt that didn’t make sense except for his continued stubbornness on sticking with guys regardless of what’s happened (just like Luis Arraez in the two hole). Estrada gave up a home run last night when it was 3-0 and Kevin Acee wrote before the game today about his major struggles against the Dodgers. So considering these stats, that Estrada had pitched the night before and struggled, not sure why the move wasn’t to go to David Morgan (who hadn’t pitched either of the past two games) and then go to Mason Miller and Robert Suarez who both didn’t pitch last night either. It doesn’t help when Shildt gives the defiant response as shown in the below audio that doesn’t really give any good rationale to why he put Estrada in other than the 7th inning is his lane, which doesn’t make sense considering how he’s mixed and matched the bullpen and when guys appear in games all year.
Mike Shildt discussed his decision to use Jeremiah Estrada in the 7th, being tied atop the NL West this late in the season and another strong outing from Nick Pivetta: pic.twitter.com/mmVYoRXnO0
I do get why Shildt left Estrada in there to face the left hitting Dalton Rushing after two of the first three guys got on base versus going to Adrian Morejon since the Dodgers would have pinch hit with the righty Will Smith against the lefty Morejon. Even though I would have preferred that matchup because of how well Morejon has pitched this year and considering Estrada’s struggles, sticking with Estrada there is understandable. What isn’t, was going to Estrada in the first place.
Now it’s time for the conclusion of the Vedder Cup with the Seattle Mariners. The Marines have played the Padres tough recently (3-1 against the Padres in 2022, 2023, 2024 and swept the Padres in a three game series at Petco earlier this year) so even though the Mariners have struggled recently (3-7), I’m hoping the Padres can play well and win one or two up there in Seattle.
After this weekend’s sweep by the Dodgers, some musings on the Padres’ recent play:
Going into this 13-game stretch against the Giants and Dodgers, I was expecting 3-3 for the first 6 games so they ended where I figured (I was thinking 2-1 versus the Giants and 1-2 versus the Dodgers). Of course, after sweeping the Giants and leading the division by 1 game as the Dodgers got swept by the Angels, expectations were higher to at least win one if not two games against the Dodgers. So a big letdown with how it played out.
When Robert Suarez started warming up to possibly pitch in the bottom of the 8th inning today, I actually thought that Mike Shildt was starting to turn a new leaf and have Mason Miller close but then I realized the 2-3-4 hitters were coming up and he wanted his “best” reliever to face them. Shildt to his credit does have relievers come in different non-standard times (like Jason Adam coming in the 5th or 6th inning when the opposing team’s best hitters are coming up and that could change the game right there) but his insistence on Suarez as the “best” reliever and the closer doesn’t make sense after acquiring Miller. How many other teams do you know have a setup guy who throws harder and has a better “secondary” pitch (Miller considers his slider his best pitch) than their closer? Even though Suarez currently leads MLB with 33 saves, we’ve seen Suarez’s fastball get hit often by power hitters. So of course, Mookie Betts hits a home run today to give the Dodgers the lead right after the Padres had fought back to tie it up and it ends up being the game-winning hit to close out the sweep.
I do get the Padres go as the top of the order goes and the top of order (Tatis, Arraez and Machado) has been struggling for some time now and this series against the Dodgers showed it even more. I like the lineup of alternating righties and lefties so if we’re not going to move Manny or Tatis now, then we have to do something about Arraez who’s not providing value at the 2 hole especially if the other two guys are struggling too.
I like having Tatis first even though his slug has pretty much disappeared, he’s still getting on base at a high clip (since the All Star Break his OBP is .392), has the speed potential on the bases and will drive in the bottom of the lineup more often than other guys. As well, if we’re not going to move Manny down since he was carrying the team before, prefers hitting in the 3 spot and it would cause some friction, then Arraez is the best option to change, especially when you consider:
The Padres have gotten the 26th ranked overall offensive contribution from the 2nd spot in the batting order in the MLB.
Look at the teams at the top, and check to see how many are a top offense or in the playoffs.
And then you have a player newly acquired who was an all star this year, has an OPS of .819, can play 1st (his defensive runs saved is 4 and outs above average is 6 at 1B compared to Arraez’s DRS of 1 and OAA of -6) and whose overall numbers are just better: https://stathead.com/tiny/CLUbp
So it really doesn’t make any sense why O’Hearn isn’t playing every day and instead joins Sheets on the bench as the odd men out when a lefty is the starting pitcher. With the current team, this instead would be a better lineup:
Tatis RF (R)
O’Hearn 1B (L)
Machado 3B (R)
Sheets DH (L)
Laureano LF (R)
Merrill CF (L)
Bogaerts SS (R)
Cronenworth 2B (L)
Fermin C (R) or
Tatis RF (R)
O’Hearn 1B (L)
Machado 3B (R)
Merrill CF (L)
Laureano LF (R)
Arraez DH (L)
Bogaerts SS (R)
Cronenworth 2B (L)
Fermin C (R)
In either lineup, as we seen with Cronenworth being moved down to 8th, moving guys like Bogaerts, Merrill or Arraez lengthens the lineup and takes some of the pressure off of them so they don’t have to be in such high leverage situations so often. Whether or not Shildt actually does this is another thing as it wouldn’t be surprising for him to continue to roll out the same lineup as he’s been doing for most of the season despite the lineup’s struggles.
With AJ Preller doing what he does and making a bunch of trades at the trade deadline, some musings on all the moves:
Going into today, the only player I didn’t want to see the Padres trade was Leo De Vries as he has the potential to be a superstar. Just seeing what he’s doing in the minors at 18 makes me think he’ll be in the majors no later than at 20 years old in 2027. So when I saw in the morning that he was part of the trade to get Mason Miller and JP Sears, that was disappointing to see. I get that both Miller and Sears have a ton of control (Miller won’t be a free agent until after the 2029 season and Sears 2028) so the A’s wanted it to be worth their while but still. Every other player they traded today I didn’t have any issues with.
Trading for Freddy Fermin for Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek who both did admirable jobs taking their turns in the rotation around the #5 spot seemed a lot but I get that one. Even with how the catchers have been playing the past few games, the offensive production at catching has been pretty bad and Fermin has solid metrics for both offense and catching. As well he’s also under control through the 2029 season so another reason why I see the Padres trading for him.
I really like the trade for Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn. Both guys have high OPS and fill needs at LF and DH. Laureano at .884 would be the highest on the Padres at the time of the trade, above Manny Machado’s .872 that currently leads the Padres and O’Hearn would be third at .837, above Fernando Tatis Jr’s .818. Laureano is mixed for defense in LF as he has a 3 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) but -4 in Outs Above Average (OAA) while O’Hearn is 3 DRS and 6 OAA at 1B so he rates well there. Adding these two solid batters in the lineup just lengthens the lineup so much more and gives options for different pitching matchups. For example I would go with the following lineup on most days:
Tatis (R) RF
Arraez (L) DH
Machado (R) 3B
Merrill (L) CF
Laureano (R) LF
O’Hearn (L) 1B
Bogaerts (R) SS
Cronenworth (L) 2B
Diaz/Fermin (R) C And then you can rotate Sheets in there between DH, 1B and LF as well as move guys around since there are so many hitters in this lineup.
I’m still not sold on Dylan Cease figuring it out this year and Robert Suarez being the one to close. So when there was talk of trading them I actually saw some potential there depending on what other moves were made. For example, if they had traded Cease but kept Bergert and Kolek to continue pitching in the regular season on each turn through the rotation, I don’t think that would have been much of a drop off though I get that you wouldn’t count on them in the playoffs. But in that case, assuming Yu Darvish and Michael King are available (and that could be a big if), you have Nick Pivetta and those two and can go bullpen games like what the Dodgers did last year.
I like having Mason Miller on the team but I feel Mike Shildt will continue to have Suarez close instead of considering matchups and going with the best one to close the game or else we would have seem Jason Adam close games this year versus always going to Suarez.
It was surprising that the Padres made moves without having to shed any salaries such as trading Dylan Cease, Robert Suarez or Jake Cronenworth. All the trades sent out prospects and they did get Milwaukee to pay Nestor Cortes’ remaining salary so they’re only responsible for the league minimum but still, the Padres’ tax and payroll numbers went up and the tax number currently sits about the second tax threshold of $261 million:
I expected them to try and go below the second tax threshold (which I didn’t have a problem with considering their lack of a real TV deal, playing in a bottom third market and the fact that they’re already spending substantially more than many other teams) so it was a pleasant surprise to see them not totally restrict themselves on payroll.
Overall, AJ continues to find ways to trade prospects to try and make the current team better, regardless of people saying the Padres don’t have prospects to trade. You do have to start getting more young guys to contribute (can’t just be Jackson Merrill as the only young guy recently) especially as some of these guys getting paid a lot start to really age but AJ’s taking that as something to kick the can and worry about later and something I’m sure we’ll discuss further in the offseason. For now, this will be exciting to see what the team can do the rest of the year.
Continuing on from Washington DC, we followed the Padres on their road trip to catch a game in Miami and loanDepot park (which is named with both words starting with a lower case letter).
loanDepot park is located about 3 miles away from downtown Miami where we stayed and it’s on the way from Miami International Airport into downtown such that I thought it was the Miami Heat’s arena (Kaseya Center) when we were driving into the hotel.
After getting settled at the hotel and buying some tickets online, I received the Gameday email and I thought it was pretty cool how they encourage instruments and flags like you see at soccer matches:
It makes sense considering the large Latin influence in Miami and it would be great to see baseball games have more energy like you see at the World Baseball Classic games, including the ones that have been played at loanDepot Park in the past.
The ballpark itself is in an area that is mostly businesses and residential so there really isn’t much to do there and there isn’t really public transportation to get there so by car is the best option which means you can get stuck in traffic going to and leaving the ballpark.
Once we got to the ballpark, I noticed that the home run sculpture had been moved in front of one of the entrance gates:
The sculpture does look a little worn being in the sun all day now so I’m surprised they actually kept it versus just removing it completely.
As you walk around the ballpark, you notice the concourse area is a standard size (not small or super large) but having so many stands on both sides of the concourse along with the ropes for their lines make the concourse even smaller:
Right now, overcrowding on the concourse doesn’t seem to be an issue since the crowds aren’t large (the game I went to on Monday night only had a paid attendance of 11,128) but I do wonder if you feel like packed sardines when there’s a packed house like the World Baseball Classic.
As well, some of the food stands they set up now block some of the standing room only (SRO) areas as you can see here where they put stands right in front of the SRO rails:
So it does take away some of the standing room only areas but there are still some areas left and the field is still visible as you walk around the ballpark on the Promenade Level. And unlike other ballparks, there aren’t any suites on this main concourse level so you can pretty much see the field the whole except for the parts where food stands are partially blocking your view.
As you walk around the ballpark (and I went up the third base line going clockwise around the ballpark), the outfield area is more narrow since you’re right up against the glass panels that give the ballpark some outside light when the roof is closed.
Right when you get to the outfield coming from the left field foul pole, around section 28/29, they have The Lineup Food Hall section with some different food stands and there’s a patio area you can walk out to and get a great view of the downtown Miami skyline which I really like.
As you walk around the outfield towards the right field foul pole, you do see their well-known bobblehead museum as well as a small kids area:
In terms of food, they offer a variety of different options besides the standard ballpark fare including locally inspired food but they don’t have actual local restaurants. It seems to be all their concessionaire’s own creations but with a local flavor, similar to what ballparks first started when branching out to more than peanuts, nachos and hot dogs. So while the food is decent, it doesn’t have the high quality being many unique great testing local foods as you see at other ballparks.
For the in-game entertainment, the Rooster Race is their equivalent of the Brewers’ Sausage Race or the Nationals’ President Race where they have four people in different rooster costumes racing on the dirt track around the ballpark.
They also do try to do things in between the innings like the Simba Cam and other skits to keep fans engaged but it seemed to end pretty early, fading into music before the next half inning started. Maybe it was because of the small crowd too but the energy of the in-game entertainment was lacking a bit.
Overall views from the seat are good and what you expect from the modern ballparks with good sightlines from the respective sections. There weren’t any sections where I felt too far/high.
The one interesting spot was in right field around section 137 as there’s a standing room area with a drink rail and high top tables but the SRO area is angled so you’re facing centerfield instead of home plate. I found this odd, as though this area was left as a gap so they just made it SRO:
So overall, loanDepot Park feels very modern but like other ballparks (Chase Field and now Daikin Park in Houston come to mine), when the roof is closed, it does feel more have that warehouse feel to it with the roof so high and it being enclosed.
Also with the lack of people there, the location being by itself and not much to do in area, it’s hard to put this ballpark that high on the list. The thing is if you’re looking for a way to catch a game for cheap and be able to move around pretty easily in the ballpark (both navigating the park and moving around in your seats), then that’s one thing you can do here. Talking to some locals, they like going here when it’s a good matchup, like if the Yankees or Dodgers are in town or the Marlins are playing Pittburgh and Paul Skenes is pitching.
It’s been over 15 years since I last went to Washington DC so figured now was a good time to go to the U.S. capital and see Nationals Park as I try to see all 30 ballparks.
Nationals Park is located in the Navy Yard neighborhood of DC, right next to the Anacostia River. It’s an area that has been redeveloped with Nationals Park playing a big part in it. There are many condos and apartments in the areas along with restaurants and bars.
I actually think because of all the development in the area, the ballpark was built so that the Center Field Gate is the corridor out to the neighborhood and vice versa into the ballpark.
This gate has a really wide open concourse once you enter the ballpark:
And when you exit out the ballpark it’s wide open to exit out to the restaurants and bars:
This is also notable since as you walk around the ballpark on the outside, it looks like indescript office buildings. From far away, you might not even notice that it’s a ballpark if you were walking around going south on 1st St SE until you saw the Right Field Gate, First Base Gate or Home Plate Gate.
Which also leads to another thing that stuck out to me, which where the parking garages behind both left and right field that are part of the ballpark’s skyline. The garages are noticeable for those like me who look at the backdrop in the outfield of a ballpark (and why PNC Park in Pittsburgh is so highly rated). The Nationals have tried covering them up with banners and Garage C in right field is partially blocked by the big scoreboard but you can see the garages:
And whether on purpose or that’s how it came to be, the buildings in the skyline aren’t that tall so the parking garages block some of the view into the ballpark. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Washington DC Navy Yard across the street (it’s right across from the aforementioned Center Field Gate) that has a rooftop bar and Garage C with its solar panels blocks a good portion of the ballpark view:
With the Anacostia River being blocked by the right field seats, which is the only section in the outfield with a second level, along with the parking garages and buildings that aren’t that tall, the skyline doesn’t have that great of a view when compared to other ballparks and could have been so much better.
Once in the ballpark, the wide open concourse in center field does narrow to a typical concourse size once you get to the foul pole on either first base or third base side and start going towards home plate. The concourse doesn’t feel tight or anything but when its crowded (such as after the game when everyone’s leaving), it does take awhile to maneuver through them, similar to the problems you see at Petco Park.
It’s like other ballparks where you can see the field walking around the ballpark and on Level 1, pretty much every section has standing room only with the drink rail to stand and watch the game. The only exception, like other ballparks, is when you get behind home plate, as in this case the view is blocked both by the PNC Diamond Club and the Washington Suites.
However, because the sections behind home plate are primarily for either the Terra Club (which is their premium underground club for the lower seats right behind home plate) or the PNC Diamond Club (which are the premium seats in the sections right behind the Terra Club seats, see this map where only the back parts of 119, 120 and 126 are non-premium seats to see what I mean), it’s not as big of a deal to have to walk around to access your seats behind home plate since most of these seats are premium seating with access to these clubs. In other ballparks where they have regular seating in front of the home plate suites, you end up having to walk around several sections to access your seat.
I do like the displays they’ve done around the ballpark since being a newer franchise, you can’t just rely on all historical milestones like other ballparks, so mixing it with some history and fun is a good way to give some character:
In general when you walk around the ballpark, the view is good to see game action. I didn’t really feel any seats had a bad view and the views from each area would be what I would expect from them i.e. being in the top level has that elevated view but it didn’t feel like you were super far away.
Like Petco Park, the third base side is the shade side for day games so those who like to sit on the home side (first base) where the 100 sections are will be in the sun pretty much the whole time except for the last couple of rows.
In terms of food, they have been adding more local food options spread throughout the ballpark along with some national chains (Shake Shack and Rita’s Italian Ice & Custard) and the standard ballpark fare. I found the ballpark to have a good variety of different options and among the better food options of the ballparks that are spread out to give you a reason to go around the ballpark.
What I found interesting is they replaced the big scoreboard screen with a higher clarity screen before the 2024 season but they didn’t make it bigger.
It’s a decent size but considering how much the screen plays a part in the in-game entertainment, I’m surprised they didn’t make it larger and take up the whole area in right field (replacing the permanent ads) even if they wanted the screen to have constant ads (similar to what the Giants did where they replaced the entire area and have ads on the side of the video screen when not showing replays or hype the crowd up videos)
They have in-game entertainment during each half-inning break and most involved fan interactions, such as karaoke battle, putting challenge and seat upgrades. Of course you can’t forget the Presidents Race, doing a good amount of in-game entertainment to keep the fans engaged. I bring this up because there are some ballparks where they don’t have as much in-game entertainment and spend many innings just playing background music.
Overall Nationals Park is a solid ballpark that I would put in the middle tier. It doesn’t stand out in one area to make it super great like the top tier ballparks but at the same time doesn’t do anything bad either, making it firmly in that middle range. The standard ticket prices are pretty expensive but if you can find a deal on SeatGeek or StubHub, it’s a solid place to have a good time watching a ballgame.
With the All Star Break now and the unofficial “first” half over (since really they play more than 81 games by the time they get to the All Star Break), some musings on the current state of the Padres:
With Robert Suarez and Adrian Morejon being added as All Stars to replace other players who aren’t playing, the Padres became the first team to have three relievers make the All Star team in the same season. Pretty impressive and glad that MLB continues to value relievers not just based on saves. Adam and Morejon actually deserve it more based on their advanced pitching stats as shown below though I get that people still see saves as the “sexy” stat. Suarez does have three more saves than any other pitcher (28 saves to Carlos Estevez of KC and Josh Hader of Houston with 25 each) and seven more than the next NL pitcher (Trevor Megill with Milwaukee):
Still need a better hitting catcher and a right-handed batter who can play DH or LF. It’s becoming glaringly obvious how weak the bottom of the lineup is and getting this will really lengthen the lineup. There just isn’t much available on the trade market and I’m hoping AJ doesn’t go too crazy and trade one of our top picks. At some point we need to start replenishing the farm starting with the 2025 MLB Draft these past two days.
Nice way to end the first half with a 6-4 homestand. Going into the homestand, I was hoping for 6-4 and thought 5-5 was more realistic. Figured the Padres would win 2 out of 3 versus Texas, split 2-2 with Arizona and then win 1 out of 3 against Philadelphia considering Arizona and Philly have played the Padres tough the past few years regardless of how they were playing (Arizona had lost 8 out of 11 going into the series with the Padres and Philly lost 2 out of 3 to the Giants).
Once we got to the last series against Philly and how they had their three best pitchers lined up, I was thinking even 1 out of 3 was going to be tough. So nice way to finish winning 2 out of 3 and really could have won the last game as you can’t really ask for more from your pitching when you only give up two runs including a run in the 1st inning due to two errors and then having multiple scoring opportunities including Luis Campusano grounding into a double play with runners on 1st and 2nd.
Hopefully, the Padres can start the second half with some momentum. Would be crazy to ask them to repeat their second half last year (43-20) but if they can be something like 36-30 to end up with 88 wins, I can see that being enough to get into the playoffs where it becomes a crapshoot.
From hearing yesterday that Jason Adam and Fernando Tatis Jr. were selected to join Manny Machado as the Padres All Star selections, I wasn’t surprised that Jason Adam was selected (it’s well deserved) and that he was picked over Robert Suarez.
Even though Suarez leads the NL in saves, his underlying metrics haven’t been good (see my previous post) and Adam has been great all year. He’s had some blips here and there as you would expect with any pitcher and a long season, especially someone like Adam who is tied for second in number of appearances (44) this season (Tyler Rogers 45) which is leading to him being overused. It can’t be sustainable to have him end up appearing in 80+ games this year and even though he’s never complained about it, the current usage has to catch up to him here and there and having rough patches as a result.
Tatis being selected was a surprise, since we’ve seen him struggle for two months now. Since May 1, his slash line is .218/.328/.364 (OPS of .692) and a wRC+ of 98.
But reading more into it, my assumption is the players voted him based on overall metrics which include his hot start to the season along with what he does on the defensive side.
Even with the bad stretch, his fWAR is 3.6, his bWAR is 3.7 and both are 10th overall in all of MLB for position players. As well, he’s tied for 12th with 9 Outs Above Average, which is the highest for any right fielder.
So when you look at all the metrics including his defense, I can see why he was voted. But other players had solid cases for being selected as well so it wouldn’t have been surprising if someone like Juan Soto had been selected instead.
Hopefully this helps give Tatis a bounce in his step and he starts to rebound and play like he did earlier in the season and last night against Texas when he was driving runs and setting the table in the leadoff spot.
With an off day yesterday and a 10-game homestand starting before the all star break, some thoughts on the current state of the Padres:
The Padres have a need for another batter, ideally a right handed hitter, that can either DH or play left field. A righty would be a good complement to Gavin Sheets to play the two positions.
There’s a need for a hitting catcher though I do get also about the calling the game part. Both Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado are doing a good job of handling the pitching staff considering three young guys who were supposed to battle it out for the 5th spot (Randy Vasquez, Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert) are all being called to pitch in the rotation right now and have held up their end. But when you see stats like this, it’s hard not to see such a large hole in the lineup.
You can never have enough starting pitching so you hope that Yu Darvish and Michael King are able to come back so you then have them along with the above three young guys and Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease (who you hope will have more good days than what he’s been doing this year).
It seems like the Padres best option to deal for any hitting will be to deal one of their relievers and teams will be more interested in guys like Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon who still have some control (Morejon has one more year while Estrada still has four). Kind of like how the Padres dealt for Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing last year who both still have control. I also see this as part of why the Padres have been promoting many young relievers recently (like Eduarniel Nunez) to get a feel for how they handle the big league level if they were to deal one of the current relievers on the major league roster.
Ideally the Padres would deal Robert Suarez. Besides his peripherals not being good since June 1 (it makes me nervous when I see him come out to close), he’s most likely to opt out at the end of the year. Considering how good he was earlier in the year (which is similar to last season where he had the rut in August and early September and then bounced back and pitched fine in the playoffs), it could also be due to overuse as the more often he pitches, the more he’s just throwing hard fastballs down the middle with no movement.
It makes me think about how Milwaukee dealt Josh Hader and Devin Williams before they became free agents and that makes the most sense to me so the Padres can get something for him and then elevate Adam or Morejon or do a closer by committee.
Because realistically it’s highly unlikely AJ Preller will sell no matter where the team is in four weeks. The years where the Padres were on the outside with a small chance to make the playoff (2015 and 2023), he didn’t sell even though it made more sense to. So even if he doesn’t make any major moves (because the prospect system isn’t as good as it was in years past), I don’t see him selling either and instead making some minor moves.
With the Padres in Cincinnati this weekend, this was another city and ballpark I haven’t been to so I decided to do a quick trip over the weekend to see the Padres play on the road and see the next ballpark in my quest to see all 30 (the A’s and Rays will be interesting by the time I get to them).
As I arrived at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), I actually didn’t realize that the airport is located in Kentucky as I had assumed it was in Cincinnati. Granted the Ohio River literally separates Ohio and Kentucky so it’s still right there and ended up only being a 20-minute drive, even with some traffic due to road closures in downtown Cincinnati. I stayed at the AC Hotel, which is right across the street on the side of the ballpark where the Reds Hall of Fame & Musuem is located and I was able to get a room that had a balcony out to the street:
I like how they’ve turned this area right across the street into what they call a DORA and closed off the road so people can eat and drink before and after games, basically a small ballpark district next to Great American Ball Park (GABP):
From street level, you can see Paycor Stadium in the background as it’s four blocks down the street:
The way the ball park is built with the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum on the west side, the Ohio River on the south side (along with an underground parking garage), the Heritage Bank Center arena on the east side, and another ballpark building on the north side, GABP blends into its environment where you could easily not even notice the ballpark when driving by.
This may have been done on purpose since a ballpark or stadium is a large structure but it doesn’t provide the artistic look you see of other ballparks that blend into their environment like how PNC Park really blends into its location. I still remember seeing PNC as my Uber was pulling up and being in awe of how great it looked.
Once in the ballpark, on the Terrace level, which is the level you enter the ballpark on and gives you you access to the 100 seating sections, you don’t really have a view of much in the ballpark’s background being that it’s on the Ohio River and since Covington across the river doesn’t really have a skyline of tall buildings.
I entered the ballpark from Gate A and went left, so I was going up the third base side and wrapping around clockwise to see the sights and sounds of the entire ballpark. The concourse on the third base side felt pretty large and easy to get around even with it being crowded since there was a Big Red Machine 50th Anniversary Cap giveaway:
And like a lot of the ballparks built in the early 2000s, many parts of the Terrace Level allow you to see the field as you walk the concourse and the sections that allow you to see the field have standing room only areas in the back of the section which I like since it gives all fans access to see a great view if they want to walk around and stand.
But like many of these other ballparks, the sections around home plate have suites so you can’t see the field from the concourse. At GABP there are the World Series Suites behind sections 113-118, a gap to enter at section 119 and then the Founders Suites from 120-123. So besides not seeing the field you also have to enter around to go down to the seats in those sections.
As you walk towards center field, the walkway goes behind the batter’s eye but then after passing the batter’s eye, you get a nice standing room mist area (especially needed this weekend where it was low 90s at game time) underneath the smoke stacks:
And then from there it goes behind the right field seats which don’t give you a view of the field. They do have a cutout near section 140/141 where you can see the visiting team’s bullpen which was pretty cool:
Once I got to the foul pole and was heading back towards home plate on the first base side, I noticed that there were stairs (along with an accessible ramp) to continue:
The picture above is someone walking down the first base side and then reaching right field and wanting to continue so they would go down the stairs. In my case, since I was going from right field over to first base (walking clockwise around the ballpark), I had to go up the stairs.
I know people complain about Petco and how it can feel like a maze since you can’t just walk all the way around the ballpark without going up stairs or ramps so these stairs at GABP felt weird since you’re able to make it around the Terrace level smoothly without going up and down except for this part.
The other thing I noticed is once I walked down the first base side towards home plate, the concourse there was extremely crowded and hard to walk around. I contribute that to more people sitting on the first base side since for day games the sun hits the third base side pretty hard (the first base side has shade) and the fact that they put additional carts and stands on both sides of the concourse, making the walkway even smaller. I’ve seen this to be an issue at Petco as well with all the carts they’ve added over the years.
Food wise I noticed they had food stands for local food places like Skyline Chili, LaRosa Pizzeria, Montgomery Inn, Wings and Rings and Graeter’s Ice Cream along with Chick-fil-a.
I tried the Frybox that’s known as a GABP specialty, going with the Ballpark Favorite Frybox that had fries, chili and cheese. This one was pretty good and I would recommend trying Frybox as they have a variety of different Fryboxes including building your own. It’s located right where the stairs I mentioned before that go to right field,
In terms of views of the action, the seats have a good view of the action like most modern ballparks:
And if yo down the line in left field near the foul pole, you can see the Roebling Suspension Bridge:
As I walked around the ballpark, what I noticed is GABP tends to be more no-frills. They have the local Cincinnati food, some different alcohol options but you don’t see a lot of different group and social areas or a bunch of other attractions (or some might say distractions) around the ballpark. There is the Fioptics District on the 400 level near the left field foul pole but it’s easy to miss unless you specifically go up there like I did and walk around the entire ballpark:
People tend to look at these other amenities on the main level (in this case GABP’s Terrace level) since this is where most people enter a ballpark. The Reds have the great Hall of Fame & Museum but it is an additional cost and it’s located on its own right outside the ballpark. As well, the main team store is attached to the Hall of Fame & Museum outside (there are smaller stores and stands in the ballpark) so even going to the team store you would do that before or after the game.
So when you’re inside the ballpark, you’re really just looking to get food and drink and head to your seats to watch. There isn’t a lot to do as you can see with other ballparks whether it’s kids’ areas with rides/games, social/group areas to hang out, other attractions, etc.
Some may prefer to just watch a game but for others, all these different things that make up the ballpark and its experience play a part in how people rank their ballparks and why I can see people not ranking GABP as high. If you’re just looking to come watch a game and get some good local Cincy food, then GABP has you covered.
If you’re looking for everything the way some of these other ballparks offer (all the extra amenities, the view, many things to do in the area, etc) or there’s something really sticks out in a ballpark (like the view in PNC) then I can see why you wouldn’t rank GABP as high. I fall in the latter crowd, so I consider and value all the additional things when ranking ballparks and would put GABP in my middle tier when comparing it to other ballparks.
With the Washington Nationals in town for a three-game series and how well the former Padres players in the Juan Soto trade on the Nationals’ active MLB roster are doing, it’s fun to look back at the What If? had the Padres kept those players and not made the trade.
MacKenzie Gore: 2.8 bWAR, 3.19 ERA, 3-7 W-L, 123 SOs (leads the league)
Robert Hassell III was called up on May 20, 2025 for the first time and in 79 plate appearances has a slash line of .218/.228/.269 (.497 OPS) while Jarlin Susana is still in the minors.
Of course if the Padres don’t make the trade, there’s always the daisy chain effect as Jackson Merrill might not be here (he might have been traded instead for another player that AJ Preller felt could put the team over the top), they sign or trade differently because of who they have here and other gaps (such as not signing Xander Bogaerts with Abrams as SS), etc. But let’s for fun, assume only the trades directly affected by Juan Soto (such as the trades to get Michael King and lead to getting Dylan Cease) don’t happen, you end up with a starting lineup and pitching rotation of:
Tatis RF Arraez 1B Machado 3B Wood LF Sheets DH Merrill CF Cronenworth/Iglesias 2B Diaz/Maldonaldo C Abrams SS
Pivetta Gore Bergert Kolek Another starter with Darvish and Musgrove on the IL
The first thing that sticks out is how this lineup skews really lefty with six left-handed hitters. There’s already that challenge with Merrill, Sheets, Cronenworth in the middle of the lineup (and Arraez if you want to switch it with yesterday’s lineup where Merrill batted second and Arraez fourth) so this really makes it even more so.
The other thing is the length of this lineup as really the only glaring hole is the catcher position. But having solid players from 1-7 and 9 really goes with the Padres motto of passing the baton along the lineup and how some other teams have that length where every batter is a challenge.
Starting pitching seems to be more of an issue with this lineup; I get it’s been an issue this year with the injuries to Darvish and King but you have to give credit to Vasquez, Kolek and Bergert for how well they’ve been pitching considering being young guys at the back of the rotation.
Besides the fact that the surrounded players signed/traded would be different because of a different approach to roster construction with having these guys around as mentioned above, the other thing is if the Padres don’t make this trade, they don’t get to the NLCS in 2022 or win 93 games in 2024 (since they picked up Michael King and Dylan Cease as a result of trading Soto to the Yankees after the 2023 season).
The ultimate goal is to win the World Series but considering the lack of success in the Padres history, they had legitimate teams these past few seasons to make the playoffs and do something which is what you want as a fan.
So would I still do the trade in hindsight? Yes, because it’s still allowed the team to be competitive since then. Now if the Padres didn’t get anything for Juan Soto when they felt they couldn’t re-sign him, had their payroll/budget concerns after Peter Seidler’s passing and didn’t end up with King, Cease and Vasquez that made them competitive last year and again this year, then I’d have a different opinion.
