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.
Musings halfway through the second series with the Dodgers after dropping 4 of the first 5 games to them:
Xander Bogaerts batting in the middle of the lineup continues to kill the Padres scoring opportunities. Two times he had two runners on and both times he grounded into double plays. I previously mentioned about moving Xander down and at that time Sheets hadn’t emerged the way he has, which is even another reason to move him down. I get it that Jackson Merrill is out right now but it doesn’t mean that Xander has to be the one to move up. For a while Shildt seemed to have moved Xander down to 6th in the lineup but now he’s right back in the middle of the lineup where he can do damage or is more often the case do what he did tonight.
Nice to see local guy Trenton Brooks hit a two-run home run. It’s sad but he already has contributed more in that one at bat than the other call ups this year including Luis Campusano and Connie Joe. Might as well give him some run with Merrill out and considering the major hole at left field.
The Padres can be frustrating to watch, especially considering the struggles the past week against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Nevertheless I’ll be watching against tomorrow and be at Petco Park on Friday when the team returns home.
With the Padres in Toronto this past week, now was a good time to check out Rogers Centre after they finished doing the renovations the past couple of years and since I hadn’t been to Toronto before.
The Rogers Centre is located in downtown close to Union Station, about a 10-minute walk to the UP Express which is a 25 minute train ride to/from the Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) that you can tap with your credit card to pay $9.25 CAD each way.
The Rogers Centre is near the harbour of Lake Ontario (see the white dome in the bottom left of the pic below) right next to the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and pretty close to Scotiabank Arena where the Maple Leafs and Raptors play as well as harbour terminals to do cruises around the harbor and ferry to Toronto Island. It’s in a good location downtown so you can get to many nearby attractions and also jump on the TTC subway and trains. Uber and Lyft are pretty prevalent in Toronto as well.
I arrived at 10:30pm on a Monday night and walking around near the hotel/ballpark at midnight felt safe. There wasn’t a lot of foot or car traffic but it wasn’t quiet either.
We stayed at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel, which is connected to the north end of the ballpark as it was something to experience, especially getting a room that gives you views as though you were sitting in upper level outfield seats.
The south side of the hotel has rooms that look into the ballpark from the outfield while the north side looks into the city, which is mostly looking at the train tracks that go into Union Station. The hotel has 11 floors of rooms but is 12 stories high. In the US, we think of the first floor as level 1 but at this hotel and many others I’ve seen internationally, the first level is the “Lobby” level and then level 1 starts on the next level (so that would be our level 2 in the US).
The ballpark view rooms are on levels 1-4 only while the city view rooms go from levels 1-11. It can be pretty pricey for the ballpark view rooms if you want to do the usual flexible rate booking (the one that allows you to cancel with no charge up to three days before arrival). If you really want these rooms, the best way is to do the prepay option (if you know for sure you’ll be going) as it then isn’t that much more than the flexible rate booking for a city view room.
Once you’re in the room, the view is pretty sweet:
And it’s cool to be able to see both teams’ batting practices from your room, the stadium filling up and the game itself:
Interesting about the ballpark view rooms is they only give you views into the ballpark for Blue Jays games; we stayed there until Saturday (the Padres vs Blue Jays series ended with a day game on Thursday and both teams left to play other teams on the road right after) and on Thursday night they were already setting up a stage for a concert. Doing a quick Google, I found a Post Malone concert for the following Monday and by early Friday afternoon, I saw they were draping a black cover over the entire outfield starting from right field (our room was in left field) so all the rooms wouldn’t be able to see the concert though you could still hear it.
The hotel has the Sportsnet Grill restaurant/sports bar on the Lobby level that also has views into the ballpark. To guarantee a window view, you have to make a reservation that costs $10 CAD per person and then you have to spend another $60 CAD per person in food and beverage. he food is pretty standard sports bar food with pricing to match but with things you would find in Canada (such as poutine).
For the first game of the series on Tuesday May 20, we decided to eat at the Sportsnet Grill. They have the radio broadcast on (which is pretty close to real time) but the TVs have a very noticeable delay to the action on the field. So you’re using the TVs almost like a replay system such as checking afterwards if you have a hard time seeing the ball and strike calls.
For the second game in the series, we went into the ballpark and sat on the 100 level on the first base side as the visitor’s dugout is on this side. I like that Rogers Centre has 17 different gates to enter the ballpark making it quick and easy to get into the ballpark.
The 100 level has a really large concourse where you can always see the field as you walk around and the Outfield District (the part of the 100 level in the outfield) is more of a social area with open standing areas and bars to buy drinks from like many other ballparks are now doing.
Even as you walk around the ballpark, there are a lot of standing rails so you can stand behind many sections similar to other ballparks like Petco Park regardless of what tickets you have:
They have a few local places like Mary Brown’s Chicken and Mill Street Brewery for food and beverage and then offer different options like poutine and chicken wings. The food is solid but doesn’t have the variety of many local options you see like at Petco.
I do like that the video screens are pretty large and they do show a lot of stats, including for each batted ball the exit velocity, launch angle and distance while for each pitch the speed, pitch type and break (both horizontal and vertical). One thing of note is they only show replays for the Blue Jays that are good for them, such as in the Wednesday night game when Manny Machado made errors but not when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made an error (or any other play that benefited the Padres).
The seats have a good view though the renovation caused every seat on the 100 level to now have an obstructed view. For example, where we sat on the first base side, when a ball was hit in the corner down the foul line in right field, we couldn’t see what actually happened. I know some people don’t like this but I guess I’m just used to it since Petco has similar obstructed views.
The one other thing of note is being a dome is depending on where your seats are at, the lights can cause a glare when looking into the stands. It doesn’t affect the view of the field of play, but more for example if you’re behind home plate and then look up into the upper level stands to see the crowds up there, the lights can glare making it hard to see up there.nfortunately, the dome was closed the whole series because of the weather with rain on both Wednesday and Thursday so I didn’t get a feel for how it is when the roof is opened.
Overall I liked Rogers Centre and a place I would recommend checking out now that they’ve done the renovations. The location of Rogers Centre is great being in downtown on the water and the dome blends in with the skyline as shown in my first pic above though up close the exterior architecture doesn’t look as nice as it did when it first opened.
But inside it doesn’t feel big like other domed stadiums do, like how Daikin Park for the Houston Astros and Chase Field for the Arizona Diamondbacks both feel like large stadiums. I like the renovations they’ve done as walking around the ballpark it feels really open, modern and a great place to be (has a good social aspect to it). Definitely was a fun place to watch a game even though the Padres ended up getting swept (a story for another day, hopefully they’ll get out of their offensive funk the next time I post).
Thoughts after the weekend series with the Colorado Rockies in Denver:
After beating the Rockies 21-0 yesterday, on one hand you had to feel like it was setting up for a sweep with Nick Pivetta on the mound for the Padres and German Marquez on the mound for the Rockies. Pivetta has been the Padres’ best starting pitcher this year and Marquez hadn’t won yet (he was 0-6 with a 9.90 ERA going into the game) and was roughed up the last time the Padres faced him (five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings).
But on the other hand, you saw that Pivetta had an 18.90 era in three starts in Coors Field and even this season was much better at home (1.42 ERA at home versus 3.00 ERA on the road). As well the Padres hadn’t swept a series in Colorado since 2011 and then Jackson Merrill was a last-minute scratch with an illness.
That was not to mention Bud Black getting the typical backing of the front office that usually happens right before the person is fired.
So of course, Pivetta has another tough outing, Marquez pitches lights out like he has against the Padres in past years and the Rockies win easily 9-3. And then after the game Bud Black is fired which is tough considering the team he’s been giving. I’m not sure how many other managers would have won much more with the players he had.
Considering the state of the Rockies you would have hoped for a sweep like the Padres did earlier this year but going 6-3 on this road trip is something you take any day and would have been happy before the trip started.
The one tradeoff with the more balanced schedule is these road trips seem even longer because the team has to travel to so many different cities now but I still prefer this over the previous schedule. It’s a better barometer of teams when they’ve all played each other; if there was a way to do a true balanced schedule, I’d be all for it (that’s a story for another day).
First game Dylan Cease looked dominant this season, hopefully it is an elbow cramp like he says and you tip your cap to Cody Bellinger for the home run he hit on the 0-2 high fastball.
Jason Adam has been struggling a little bit lately (has given up runs in three out of his last seven outings) but all relief pitchers have their ruts. The leadoff walk was killer (isn’t it usually?) and him going changeup to Grisham again right after Grisham hammered his previous pitch that was a changeup just foul down the line was a little surprising. You figure he would mix it up because that’s what Grisham is sitting on.
The 10th inning played out the way teams should attack the Padres in this situation. With the ghost runner on second and Fernando Tatis Jr. leading off, getting him to strike out and not move the runner (granted Brandon Lockridge would just steal third when Luis Arraez was up next so it ended up being the same thing as a sacrifice) you can then pitch around Arraez to bring up Manny Machado.
Manny is prone to hitting into double plays or striking out which in this case he struck out for the second out.
You then have Jackson Merrill up so you don’t give him anything good to hit and the Yankees pitched him inside and ended up hitting him.
Which then leads to Xander Bogaerts being up to bat, who also has a propensity for hitting ground balls or striking out and he did strike out.
Then in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees sacrificed the runner to third and the next guy hit a sacrifice fly to win the game.
It’s unfortunate but it would seem so simple to score in that case with a ghost runner on and the top of your lineup but the Padres showed why they can have scoring issues with how their lineup is and guys like Manny and Xander who tend to strike out or ground out a lot killing many scoring opportunities. Of course, Xander is getting paid to produce but at some point you have to really look at other options (I would have already moved him down) for hitting cleanup or fifth regardless of how much he’s getting paid.
The day after the great comeback, the Padres had a game unravel in the 7th inning with Adrian Morejon and Wandy Peralta combining to give up 10 runs after the Padres had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the 7th with a 2-out double by Fernando Tatis Jr.
I get why Morejon was the option here after Estrada had pitched the past two games so you’re hoping he gets through the inning to turn it over to Jason Adam and Robert Suarez since Adam didn’t pitch yesterday and Suarez could go again.
But when Morejon got in trouble by giving up a double, single and single to the first three batters to tie the game up, I don’t get why you’re not already trying to stall and pull him already. He obviously didn’t have it today so leaving him in there to get one out (which only happened because of a bunt pop up) and then walking Goldschimdt isn’t giving the next pitcher a great situation to come into with bases loaded, one out and a tied game.
And then on top of that, bringing in Wandy Peralta in such a high-leverage situation. I get it, it’s early in the season so you don’t want to keep doing the multi-inning approach with Adam or Suarez (like April 20th against the Astros when Adam went 1 2/3 innings and I was thinking that he and Suarez might each do four outs) but do we have to keep forcing the situational matchups and go lefty on lefty with Trent Grisham do up next?
Why not go to other relievers who have shown to be more reliable such as Alek Jacob who was rested and hadn’t pitched in three days? The bad thing about Mike Shildt having his players’ backs is he seems to stick with them too long even when everyone else knows it’s not a recipe for success such as using Peralta in a high-leverage situation. I’m hoping these things will start to become clearer sooner rather than later so we don’t have situations like this that seem obvious happen again.
After the third rain delay in four road games on the trip (which even for me watching at home throws off the schedule as I try watching the game and then doing other things such as going to the SDFC game on Saturday night), tonight’s game looked like one of those dog day games that gets away from you.
Lefty on the mound, two rain delays, Nick Pivetta not having his best stuff (not to mention tipping his pitches) and then being down 3-0 in the top of the 8th wasn’t looking too promising.
But after Fernando Tatis Jr and Mike Shildt were ejected (Tatis’ first career MLB ejection), Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts both came through with clutch two-out hits to each drive in two runs and give the Padres their first lead 4-3.
Ironically, the strike two call on a pitch low in the zone that Tatis and Shildt argued about was a strike but home plate umpire Adrian Johnson’s low strike call had been pretty inconsistent all night for both teams. Sometimes he was calling them a strike, other times not as on a 3-2 count to Jorbit Vivas in the 3rd inning, a pitch from Nick Pivetta at the bottom of the zone was called a ball. That lead to a walk and of course the next batter Trent Grisham hit a two-run home run.
The inconsistency of it (Robert Suarez actually benefited in the 9th on a pitch low in the zone called a strike) is what drives players and managers crazy so I get why Tatis was upset (he had several low strike calls in his four at bats) and Mike Shildt was going to defend his player no matter, that’s why his players love him and play so hard for him.
In this case Manny and Xander came through to pick the team up and lead to an impressive 4-3 comeback victory. I’ve mentioned before about not having Manny and Xander bat back to back in the 3-4 hole since it leads to too many strikeouts and double plays so credit to both players for coming through in clutch situations today.
That’s really the idea with having a top-heavy team with Tatis, Arraez, Manny, Xander, Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth, the idea being that you have enough star power that even when one or two players are in a slump (and all baseball players go through slumps with how difficult the sport is), that the other ones can pick them up.
These past two games are an example as Tatis has gone 0-9 but with Xander stepping up the past two games, the Padres have won both. Of course, in the past we’ve seen it where if Tatis is struggling, the other guys aren’t coming through or struggling themselves, especially with Manny and Xander 3-4. So to see this happening today is what we’re expecting and why Xander was brought here at $25+ million a year and something we hope to see more of the rest of the season.
After a great top of the 1st inning to take a 3-0, you had to feel this game would be different in a good way from the first two games of the series when the offense could only score a run in each game.
It was definitely different but in a wild way as things quickly unraveled in the bottom of the inning when Kyle Hart had no control, Logan Gillaspie came in and balked in two runs and then gave up a two run homer in the 2nd. This looked like one of those long getaway days already being down 7-3 heading into the top of the 3rd.
But credit to Logan Gillaspie for pitching a total of 4 innings and the rest of the bullpen (Morejon, Estrada, Adam and Suarez) all holding it down from there as the Cubs wouldn’t score again after that homer in the 2nd. The Padres were able to chip away and take the lead in the 9th, even if it was on an error by Justin Turner at 1st that should have been an inning-ending double play.
Great comeback win and reminiscent of what last year’s team did where it always battled and as Mike Shildt likes to call them the “grit squad”. It takes the pitching to hold up as it did today to make the comeback and you can’t say enough good things about what they were able to do as the offense had many chances (3 for 16 with RISP oof) and could have come back many times earlier in the game.
A couple of things:
I still don’t know what the two balks are that Gillaspie did in the 1st inning. These are the times it would be good for the ump to get on the mic to explain what they’re doing.
Regardless of a righty or lefty pitcher, seems like the top of the lineup should stay the way it was today:
Tatis
Arraez
Machado
Merrill
Cronenworth
Bogaerts
I can see switching Cronenworth and Bogaerts so it alternates right-left and I get the concerns about Cronenworth against lefties but having Machado and Bogaerts back to back has lead to many wasted scoring opportunities where guys are on 1st and 2nd and no outs and then we end up with 3 outs and no runs (strikeouts, double plays, etc).
I see having Merrill in between as a way to split up Machado and Bogaerts both because of them being righties (having Merrill in between gives the pitcher a different look from the other side), Merrill’s speed to beat out ground balls (in reality both Machado and Bogaerts aren’t quick so any ground balls have a high chance for a double plays) and Merrill has shown a big knack for being clutch in his 1+ year in the majors so far.
So I would keep them alternating regardless of who the pitcher is. Merrill has shown enough against lefties where he doesn’t need to be moved down in the lineup just because its a lefty. As far as the rest of the lineup, Sheets has been pretty productive but holding out comment to see how the others like Heyward, Gurriel and the catchers do until we get a little further into the season.
With today’s 5-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians to wrap up the first homestand of the season and a 7-0 record, the big news of the day was the Padres and Jackson Merrill announcing agreement on a 9 year $135 million extension.
There have been murmurs recently about how the Padres started discussion on an extension prior to Jackson’s rookie year (similar to what the Brewers did with Jackson Chourio) and have tried again since then.
But even though Jackson said he was looking for a fair deal, I wasn’t expecting a deal to happen this quickly. Mainly because the Padres may have missed the boat with the great year that Jackson had (when he should have been the NL Rookie of the Year) and I wouldn’t be surprised if any player after that type of rookie season would want to bet on themselves to get a larger payday when they could hit free agency after 6 full years.
Not to mention all that’s going on with the Padres ownership and questions about the team’s long-term finances (along with the many big contracts already on the books) so the chances of a Jackson Chourio team-friendly deal seemed unlikely or was going to be really expensive.
Figured they might talk again after this season, with money coming off the books (like Eric Hosmer’s last $13 million this season) and currently being over the second CBT threshold.
So it was a pleasant surprise waking up this morning and getting texts from family and friends about the news breaking of the 9-year, $135 million deal that starts next season. Even with the escalators and options to go possibly up to 10 years and $204 million, it’s still a great deal to be able to lock him up long term.
You’re getting 5 of his free agency years from 2030-2034 (if he didn’t sign an extension, he would become a free agent after the 2029 season) which would be his prime free agency years. Most teams signing players to 10-15 year contracts are basing it on getting most of the production in the first 5-7 years and then you’re just living with a large contract towards the end of the player’s career, like Albert Pujols or Justin Upton with the Angels.
So in this case, not only are you getting what you expect is great production from Jackson during the prime free agency years but also at a good deal at $15-$20.4 million per year when you think about where contracts are currently and how much you you’ll be paying in 5 years. I mean look at some of the deals other guys were getting recently. Cody Bellinger got a three-year, $80 million deal prior to 2024 and Tommy Edman got a five-year, $74 million this past offseason so you can see the salaries for veteran players who play centerfield get pretty high.
Of course, with any big contracts, even with younger players, there’s the risk that the player may not live up to it. I remember the Padres trying to do something on a much smaller scale with Nick Hundley, Corey Luebke and Cameron Maybin back in 2012 so they could buy out their arbitration years at much lower salaries if they became stars as they showed potential to. Of course, none of them became big stars so it wasn’t the bargain the team hoped for. But to me, the risk is worth it because as the baseball economies go up, even if he doesn’t pan out (which I would shocked at just seeing how he played in his rookie year), it’s not that large of a contract especially as MLB salaries keep going up (which now top on average $5 million for a season).
So all in all, really happy Jackson Merrill and the Padres were able to come to an agreement on this extension and excited that he’ll be a core part of this team until at least 2034.
With the Padres sweeping the Braves to start the season 4-0 for the second time in franchise history (1984 being the other year when the Padres went to the World Series for the first time), some thoughts from this weekend:
Luis Arraez being 0-13 to start the season was not on my Bingo card. He does have one walk so far and did start off 0-10 in his first two games last year.
Gavin Sheets continues to have good at bats as he was in Spring Training.
Xander and Jake had some nice hits this series (Jake’s HR to take the lead and ultimately be the difference is typical Jake coming up with big hits) but the strikeouts by both (Jake 6 strikeouts in 13 ABs and Xander 5 in 11 ABs) is reminiscent of last year.
Day games in April are pretty cold (only one true night game this weekend on Friday) and at least for me, preferable to summer day games when the sun is beating down on you pretty much the whole game on the first base side unless your seats are far back under the overhang. I get the Padres were on the first base side at Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium but wonder why they didn’t put the home dugout on the third base side considering that side is pretty much in the shade the whole time during day games.
For the jersey geeks like myself, during this homestand the home pinstripes and the Sunday camos are back to using the larger names on the back with the smaller arch like in 2023 and earlier after the whole 2024 jersey fiasco. If you look on the Padres Instagram, you can see this year’s camo jersey vs last year’s to see the difference. But interestingly, this year’s City Connect jersey still has the same smaller lettering and larger arch like last year. Maybe Nike doesn’t want to update the City Connect since this is the last year of using them? Which seems weird since it doesn’t seem that difficult to make the letters bigger and stitch them on like the other jerseys since they have to do them at a minimum for new players on the team.
