San Diego Padres – The News Desk

MLB insiders “pretty worried” by rise in arm injuries to top young starting pitchers

8Apr

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MLB insiders “pretty worried” by rise in arm injuries to top young starting pitchers

Matt Blake texted Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber a conciliatory message over the weekend. As a member of the Cleveland player-development system in the 2010s, Blake aided Bieber’s rise from college walk-on to unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner in 2020. For a time, Bieber represented the modern model for the manufacturing of a big-league ace, a player who added strength to his frame, velocity to his fastball and spin to his offspeed pitches as he ascended the ranks.By the time Blake sent his text, though, Bieber had become part of a growing, more troubling demographic: talented young pitchers who will spend this season as spectators. Two days after the Miami Marlins announced 20-year-old phenom Eury Pérez would undergo Tommy John surgery, the Guardians disclosed Bieb...

MLB’s weirdest injuries of 2023, from a pool basketball mishap to a toilet setback

28Dec

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MLB’s weirdest injuries of 2023, from a pool basketball mishap to a toilet setback

Every year at this time, we marvel at the many creative ways baseball players find to make an appearance on the ever-popular Strange But True Injuries of the Year leaderboard.So we’d like to thank this year’s baseball population for … cooking breakfast … playing the piano … and doing their best to get in and out of their hotel bathroom safely. But you know what’s especially amazing? None of those mishaps even topped this list!Really? Yes, really. So here they come, the Strangest But Truest Injuries of 2023.First prize: Eye confess!We always award Injury of the Year bonus points to guys who manage to get hurt while they’re already hurt. So here’s to Rays relief warrior Pete Fairbanks, who couldn’t even cover up the Giannis imitation that got him into this mess.When Fairbanks met with the R...

MLB’s 20 most mind-blowing hitting, pitching feats of 2023 — with Kyle Schwarber leading off

27Dec

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MLB’s 20 most mind-blowing hitting, pitching feats of 2023 — with Kyle Schwarber leading off

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … except for one thing:It’s no longer baseball season!But that’s where we come in. It’s our not-so-solemn duty to get you through these long, chilly, baseball-free months by helping you relive the best of the Strange But True baseball season of 2023. Don’t tell us you already forgot that …An unforgettable on-base streak ended even though the man who compiled that streak was standing on first base. … And we really did see a real human being steal third base and home on the same pitch. … And a team pitched a no-hitter despite the minor hindrance of also allowing seven runs — in the same inning!We’re not making any of that up. We spend the whole year keeping track of wacky stuff like this so you don’t have to. So join us now as we relive The Strange B...

Juan Soto by the numbers: What Yankees are (and aren’t) getting plus a bold 2024 prediction

10Dec

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Juan Soto by the numbers: What Yankees are (and aren’t) getting plus a bold 2024 prediction

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Was it really only 16 months ago? How can it be possible that Juan Soto’s entire tenure as a San Diego Padre went by so fast it fit in between seasons of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”?But that’s the deal on The Deal — and not just any deal. When Soto went from the Washington Nationals to San Diego, I wrote that it was “the biggest deal in trade deadline history.” But that’s a wrap on Soto’s frustrating time as a Padre. He’s a New York Yankee now.So let’s do this. Sixteen months ago, I wrote a Soto by the Numbers column to help explain the monstrous size of that original trade to San Diego. Now that he’s dialing Allied Van Lines yet again, let’s run it back, to explain what the Yankees are (and aren’t) getting, with this edition of Soto by the Numbers 2.0.The good ...

MLB trade grades: Taking stock of the Yankees-Padres Juan Soto megadeal

7Dec

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MLB trade grades: Taking stock of the Yankees-Padres Juan Soto megadeal

By Tim Britton, Grant Brisbee and Stephen J. NesbittThe tradeYankees get: Juan Soto, OF, Trent Grisham, OFPadres get: Michael King, RHP; Drew Thorpe, RHP; Jhony Brito, RHP; Randy Vásquez, RHP; and Kyle Higashioka, CTim Britton: Every team would get better if it added Juan Soto. But maybe no team needed Soto more than the Yankees.That’s not just for narrative reasons — though countering your worst season in three decades by adding one of the sport’s finest hitters does help in that regard. But in 2023, only two teams saw worse production from their left-handed hitters than the Yankees. It perhaps follows that only one team handed fewer plate appearances to lefties than New York. What’s bad for any team is especially egregious for one that plays in a ballpark crafted to cater to southpaw sl...

Five things to watch on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot: Could Beltré be a unanimous pick?

24Nov

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Five things to watch on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot: Could Beltré be a unanimous pick?

Nine weeks from today, we’ll find out who gets to live out the weekend of a lifetime next July in magical Cooperstown, N.Y. Spoiler alert: Adrián Beltré’s friends and loved ones had better make those dinner reservations ASAP!But there were 25 other names on the 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot that was announced on Monday. And when I looked over those names, I could already see the storylines forming in my brain.So here they come — my Five Things to Watch on the latest, greatest Hall ballot.1. Can Adrián Beltré make ballot history? Adrián Beltré throws out the first pitch before Game 2 of the 2023 World Series. (Raymond Carlin III / USA Today)Could Adrián Beltré really become the first position player to get elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously? It’s a fascinating questio...

With Padres, Peter Seidler set himself apart in many ways as the ideal owner

19Nov

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With Padres, Peter Seidler set himself apart in many ways as the ideal owner

Peter Seidler, a man who often walked around cradling a baseball in his hands, who dressed more modestly than his employees and who spent unprecedented amounts of money in a smallish media market, was unlike any other owner of a major-league franchise. He set himself apart from the beginning, with the manner in which he entered that exclusive club.In an interview two years ago, Seidler recalled being “locked in my house” in late 2011. That year, he had begun undergoing chemotherapy and other in-home treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He remembered feeling physically “OK” and “terribly bored.” A baseball team down the highway from the then-Los Angeles-area resident happened to be for sale. So Seidler, a successful private equity investor and a scion of the family that moved the Dodgers ...

2023-24 MLB offseason: Bowden’s 24 predictions for signings, trades, hirings and more

9Nov

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2023-24 MLB offseason: Bowden’s 24 predictions for signings, trades, hirings and more

Free agency officially started Monday but the managers, not the players, stole the show, headlined by the Cubs’ stunning swoop to land Craig Counsell. Frankly, I’m still in shock after yesterday’s series of managerial moves, which also included hires by the Mets (Carlos Mendoza) and Guardians (Stephen Vogt).Another unpredictable MLB offseason is here and although the trades and signings haven’t started in earnest, we have seen some noteworthy transactions, including several teams exercising club options on potential free agents such as Alex Cobb (Giants), José Leclerc (Rangers) and Kyle Hendricks (Cubs). We’ve seen teams cut ties with the faces of their franchise, as the White Sox declined their option on Tim Anderson and the Reds did the same with Joey Votto. We’ve seen players such as E...

Why Diamondbacks-Rangers is worth watching, from young stars to ring-chasing old timers

27Oct

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Why Diamondbacks-Rangers is worth watching, from young stars to ring-chasing old timers

Look, we didn’t expect this either. Of all the possible World Series matchups, a tussle of the 90-win Texas Rangers against the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks wasn’t exactly at the top of our wish list. It’s being already decried as a battle of who could care less, and we get it. But we also disagree. Is this World Series custom-made for primetime? Of course not. But when asked to come up with a handful of reasons to watch, it took about two minutes for a small group of baseball writers to bat around more than a dozen storylines, personalities and raw talents that are going to be worth watching for the next however-long-this-lasts. Give us another Game 7, we say, because this might not be the series we expected, it might not even be the series we deserve, but it’s going to be a series worth ...

The Padres’ disastrous season reveals shaky foundation and ‘institutional failure’

20Sep

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The Padres’ disastrous season reveals shaky foundation and ‘institutional failure’

As the San Diego Padres play out the string in one of the most disappointing campaigns in major-league history, a club that spectacularly collapsed two years ago must again confront the shakiness of its foundation.Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller continues to prove himself to be a gifted evaluator and collector of high-end talent. His default setting of simply trying to outwork the competition, however, has not always sat well with managers, players, coaches and other team officials.Many who have worked for Preller praise him for his work ethic and eye for talent. Many also criticize him for poor communication and a lack of feel. As one former high-ranking official said, the Padres’ guiding philosophy under Preller — if there is one — might boil dow...