Speaker 1: Kyle Blazer is dialed in on the San Diego Padres.
Speaker 1: He is the lead host of Friar Territory. Joining us
Speaker 1: right now on foul Territory. One thing while we talk
Speaker 1: to Kyle, please go to the Friar Territory YouTube channel
Speaker 1: and just press subscribe. That's all we want you to do.
Speaker 1: It is absolutely free to do that while this conversation
Speaker 1: goes on. It would mean a lot. And now, Kyle,
Speaker 1: give us your best stuff on what the Padres are
Speaker 1: going to do over the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: How you doing doing all right?
Speaker 3: Guys? Look?
Speaker 2: AJ Preller is always aggressive at the deadline. The Potters
Speaker 2: are having conversations with multiple teams about multiple different combinations.
Speaker 2: When you talk about AJ Preller and this Potters front office,
Speaker 2: nothing is off the table. Big aggressive moves are their
Speaker 2: mo that's what they like to do. There are some
Speaker 2: limiting factors this year, just in terms of they're right
Speaker 2: around the second luxury text threshold. They don't have a
Speaker 2: lot of room to add payroll and their form system
Speaker 2: it's not terrible, but it's not great. They have limited
Speaker 2: players they can deal from there too, So there are
Speaker 2: some limiting factors. But the Potters are always going to
Speaker 2: be exploring big aggress moves, and they're at least having
Speaker 2: those conversations again this year.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's dive into details. What do they need
Speaker 1: and are there any particular names that you think that
Speaker 1: they're looking for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Podterys really have multiple areas they need
Speaker 2: to upgrade in the lineup. They are bottom two in
Speaker 2: the Majors by ops at catcher, left field, and d
Speaker 2: H three different lineup spots. They're bottom two in the Majors,
Speaker 2: so acquiring bats is priority number one. Look, we've seen
Speaker 2: some of the names out there. Jared Duran, who realistically
Speaker 2: likely isn't getting traded and the Potterys don't have what
Speaker 2: it would take to acquire him. We've seen Stephen Kwan's name. Realistically,
Speaker 2: in order for the Padres to get any sort of
Speaker 2: player with multiple years of control and somewhat of a
Speaker 2: salary commitment, they're going to have to move salary off
Speaker 2: their books. And that's where you're starting to see discussions
Speaker 2: about maybe trading Dylan c somewhere and then using that
Speaker 2: payroll savings to go get two or three bats, because again,
Speaker 2: they're not one bad way. They need multiple bats, and
Speaker 2: that's tricky to do with the limited payroll room they
Speaker 2: currently have right now.
Speaker 4: Is there a move? Is there a move that gets
Speaker 4: you that baseball trade for Cease or Robert Suarez? I
Speaker 4: get it, you know they the Red Sox might not
Speaker 4: want Robert Suarez for Duran. You know, is there a
Speaker 4: move that you see out there that takes care of
Speaker 4: their need and also possibly could move Suarez or Cease.
Speaker 2: Nothing that is an easy fit. I think realistically, if
Speaker 2: the Potters chose to clear some payroll space and move
Speaker 2: Dylan sees. Robert Swarez, as you mentioned, has a player
Speaker 2: option after this year, he's likely going to opt out,
Speaker 2: So if they chose to move them, it would likely
Speaker 2: be for prospects. Then they create payroll savings and then
Speaker 2: use that savings and maybe some of the prospects they
Speaker 2: acquired to go acquire a big impact bat or two,
Speaker 2: because moreder to get the quality of hitters they need.
Speaker 2: They need the payroll space, but they also need some
Speaker 2: more prospects to deal as well.
Speaker 1: Give me the update on Michael King. It sounds like
Speaker 1: he could be back soon, and we all know how
Speaker 1: good he can be if he's feeling one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: I mean, he can be a number one starter and
Speaker 1: a dude in the playoffs for them, and maybe that's
Speaker 1: why they're feeling a little bit better about potentially trading
Speaker 1: away Cease and having him at the top of the rotation.
Speaker 2: Michael King, the last update was that Potters expect him
Speaker 2: to be back sometime in August. Now, I will caution
Speaker 2: the Padres are an organization that tends to say one
Speaker 2: thing on a timeline, and it almost always takes longer,
Speaker 2: so we'll see exactly when he returns. But realistically, part
Speaker 2: of the reason the Potters are comfortable trading Dylan ceaes
Speaker 2: he just hasn't been very good this year. You look
Speaker 2: at some of the peripherals, you like that, but his
Speaker 2: era is four point seventy nine. There's been a lot
Speaker 2: of outings where he's laboring. We just saw him. There
Speaker 2: are one hundred and two pitches to get through four
Speaker 2: and two thirds innings. There's been a lot of ninety
Speaker 2: five pitches for five innings, one hundred and three pitches
Speaker 2: to get through six and some of the people who
Speaker 2: look at the peripherals keep saying, oh, it's going to
Speaker 2: get better, it's going to get better, it's just bad luck.
Speaker 2: It's actually getting worse. Dylan Seas has one quality start
Speaker 2: in the last six weeks, and over those six weeks
Speaker 2: he has a five point seven oh ERA. His fit
Speaker 2: for people who like underlying statistics is in the mid
Speaker 2: to high fives.
Speaker 4: As well.
Speaker 2: He's giving up a lot of hard contact this year,
Speaker 2: and a lot of hard contact in the air. His
Speaker 2: command has not been very good all year and it's
Speaker 2: not getting better. So from the Potter's perspective, you look
Speaker 2: at it and say, despite the fact that U Darbish
Speaker 2: has been hurt most of the yer, Joel Musk Groves
Speaker 2: out for the year after having TJ, Dylan Sees hasn't
Speaker 2: been very effective, and Michael King is hurt. Despite that,
Speaker 2: the Potters are top five in the majors in eer
Speaker 2: whip and opponent's batting average. They feel like they have
Speaker 2: enough starting pitching to pick up the slack if they
Speaker 2: trade Dylan Cees not just for Michael King, but from
Speaker 2: some of the other arms in the rotation that have
Speaker 2: really stepped up and quietly had really good years, like
Speaker 2: Ryan Berger, Randy Vasquez and a couple guys at the back.
Speaker 3: Have there been conversations where questions asked of the padres
Speaker 3: is Dylan sees healthy because you see you see free
Speaker 3: agent seasons where pitchers are like players are like no, no,
Speaker 3: I'm playing through this and some of the peripherals just
Speaker 3: don't work out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is healthy. The issue has been command again.
Speaker 2: He is. His velocity is fine. He actually the majors
Speaker 2: and strikeouts for nine. I think a lot of people
Speaker 2: are missing that. And his command issues they're not manifesting
Speaker 2: in the walks. He's not walking a lot of batters.
Speaker 2: What's happening is he's getting into a lot of deep counts.
Speaker 2: He's falling behind and counts a lot, and then he's
Speaker 2: also just missing over the plate a lot. Look, every
Speaker 2: pitcher is going to have a mistake pitcher two or
Speaker 2: three when you throw a hundred pitches a game. Dylan
Speaker 2: Seese's problem has been he's making eight or nine mistake
Speaker 2: pitches a game. He's averaging he's allowing about a hit
Speaker 2: aen inning over the last six weeks. Again, you look
Speaker 2: at all the baseball savant metrics, you know, hard hit rate,
Speaker 2: barrel rate. He's in the bottom half of the league.
Speaker 2: So his stuff is good enough to miss bats when
Speaker 2: he's hitting his spots, But there's been too many times
Speaker 2: over the course of games he's not hitting his spots.
Speaker 2: And again it has been one or two mistakes a game,
Speaker 2: it's been eight or nine, and he's giving up a
Speaker 2: lot of hard contact.
Speaker 5: So if someoney who loves dylancies it hurts me to
Speaker 5: say he's not having a dear because I wanted him
Speaker 5: to win the cy Young this year because just I
Speaker 5: love Dylance's so But more importantly to me, is we
Speaker 5: keep hearing Suarez? Is he the only guy in the
Speaker 5: bullpen they're willing to move? Or what about a match Suey,
Speaker 5: your er, anybody else on that bullpen? I'm more a
Speaker 5: hone or anybody they would be willing to talk about.
Speaker 3: Or is it just swear as or bust?
Speaker 5: And why I don't understand why they would trade Suarez
Speaker 5: is not like he's super expensive and he's been really
Speaker 5: effective for him.
Speaker 2: The Potters bullpen is absolutely their strength, and if they
Speaker 2: don't have the trade from it, they certainly don't want to.
Speaker 2: But when you talk about again the Potters having all
Speaker 2: the needs they do offensively and the lack of payroll space,
Speaker 2: they're going to look at all potential options, and the
Speaker 2: argument for trading Suarez is he's likely going to opt
Speaker 2: out at the end of the year, and the Potters
Speaker 2: can withstand his loss better than they could withstand a
Speaker 2: loss some other parts of their team. You have Jason Adam,
Speaker 2: you have Audrin Morhon, you have Jeremiah Strata. That would
Speaker 2: be a pretty good seven, eight to nine. So again,
Speaker 2: it's just going to come down to the right package,
Speaker 2: the right player. Talk about other guys they could trade
Speaker 2: Yuki Matsuie. They would love to shed that salary, but
Speaker 2: his has been the high four to low fives. He
Speaker 2: just has not been very effective. I can't see many
Speaker 2: teams taking him on with twenty million dollars left on
Speaker 2: his contract over multiple years. Wandy Perolt is a fine lefty,
Speaker 2: but he has two player options after this year that
Speaker 2: you really don't want him to pick up if you're
Speaker 2: an acquiring team. So it's a little bit tricky. You know,
Speaker 2: more Honus, Strata ad them. They're all cheaper, but because
Speaker 2: they're cheaper is why the Podres would want to keep them.
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens, but if they're going to trade someone,
Speaker 2: considering they need to move money. Score as is the
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Speaker 5: Okay, let's actually talk about the team. Now they're playing well.
Speaker 5: They're playing really well. Right now, they're swinging the bad.
Speaker 5: Bogarts is just kind of turned a corner a little bit.
Speaker 5: What's changed. What's changed for these Padres.
Speaker 2: Their best hitters are all actually hitting at the same time,
Speaker 2: which is something that happen season. Xander Bogarts was one
Speaker 2: of the worst hitters in baseball. For the first two
Speaker 2: and a half months, he was bottom ten among all
Speaker 2: qualified hitters OPS. Over the last month and a half,
Speaker 2: he's hitting well over three hundred with an OPS over
Speaker 2: nine thirty Fantasis Junior. Over his last twenty games, he's
Speaker 2: hitting over three hundred with an OPS. So in the
Speaker 2: nine to forties, Jackson Merril was slumping. He had a
Speaker 2: two hor orn game against the Phillies. He's on a
Speaker 2: nine game hitting streak. Any Machado and looser Rise have
Speaker 2: been pretty consistent all year. So now that the Potters
Speaker 2: are getting all of their key hitters swinging the bat
Speaker 2: at the same time, we're seeing them reach levels of
Speaker 2: offense they haven't for a while. The Potters have scored
Speaker 2: seven plus runs in half of their game since the
Speaker 2: All Star break. They didn't score seven runs in a
Speaker 2: game for a full month before that. So the key
Speaker 2: guys hitting is a big, big reason why. At the
Speaker 2: same time, guys are gonna have ups and downs. They're
Speaker 2: gonna have highs and lows, as we've seen from all
Speaker 2: these guys this year. So the potters can't just count
Speaker 2: on all these guys being hot at the exact same
Speaker 2: time for two months straight, really three months straight. They
Speaker 2: need to get some other hitters to supplement to be
Speaker 2: able to pick up the slack when one of those
Speaker 2: guys gets hurt or goes through a slump, as they
Speaker 2: inevitably will because we're talking about baseball, it happens.
Speaker 5: Baseball's hard, Kyle. Just remember hitting is really hard to do.
Speaker 5: So it does feel like this, okay, And the best
Speaker 5: ones keep the low's high and the highs higher, all right,
Speaker 5: But what about the starting pitcher for tonight, you, Darvish
Speaker 5: oh and three with over nine ERA a lot of
Speaker 5: high whip, hasn't been able to go deep, has been
Speaker 5: able to miss a lot of bats. He's over forty
Speaker 5: years old. Now, like, what are we looking at here
Speaker 5: with you, Darvish? I know he's signed right for a
Speaker 5: couple more years too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Potters gave him an extension he signed through
Speaker 2: age forty two. You, Darvish is still in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways building up from his elbow inflammation that kept
Speaker 2: him out for most of the season. You have to
Speaker 2: remember he only made one rehab start, came out of
Speaker 2: that with some elbow tightness, and after that was just
Speaker 2: throwing simulated games, was throwing some sides, some bullpen sessions.
Speaker 2: He didn't really have much of a build up in
Speaker 2: terms of two or three rehab starts to get used
Speaker 2: to the adrenaline, the feel of pitching an actual game.
Speaker 2: That's what these last three starts have been. They've almost
Speaker 2: been part of his rehab process. The Padres hope is
Speaker 2: now as we move into start four or five, six,
Speaker 2: we start to see some improvements and get back to
Speaker 2: the old U darbish. They're not too worried about his
Speaker 2: last three starts just because the way his rehab went.
Speaker 2: But if this continues, yeah, it's going to be a concern.
Speaker 5: On the back of the had elbow tightness. Like I
Speaker 5: don't know, I mean, I like, you need you can't
Speaker 5: afford if you're the Padres, you can't afford to get away.
Speaker 2: Games, and again they gave him a little bit of
Speaker 2: time off after that elbow tightness, and they decided the
Speaker 2: best rehab continuation from that elbow tightness was to just
Speaker 2: keep him throwing stimulated games and off to the side.
Speaker 2: So whether that was wise or not is obviously up
Speaker 2: for debate, but that was the decision they made.
Speaker 1: He hadn't pitched for most of the season.
Speaker 5: I know that, but you would think you need to
Speaker 5: rehab to build up. I mean, this isn't This isn't
Speaker 5: Otani where you get an extra roster spot to build
Speaker 5: a guy up in the middle of the season. This
Speaker 5: is like games of Padres need. Padres are in the
Speaker 5: thick of it. That's why I don't know. That's why
Speaker 5: it's surprising to hear and listen, I played with you,
Speaker 5: I've done you for a long time, so I mean,
Speaker 5: if anyone could do it would be you.
Speaker 4: Darbish.
Speaker 5: But man, the Padres. These are important games for the Padres.
Speaker 2: No question about it. And look, the Padres. Part of
Speaker 2: the reason they're in position to be aggressive buyers at
Speaker 2: the deadline is they have been playing well. They had
Speaker 2: a losing record in June, their first losing month July
Speaker 2: got off to an uneven start, but they've won four straight,
Speaker 2: taking the last two against the Cardinals in Saint Louis,
Speaker 2: which is always tough. Taking the first two of a
Speaker 2: series against the Mets. They want a series against the Phillies.
Speaker 2: The Potters are fifty nine and forty nine. They've actually
Speaker 2: created some breathing room between them and the rest of
Speaker 2: the wild card field. They're three games up on the Reds,
Speaker 2: who are the first team out, the Potters the last
Speaker 2: team in right now. There was a point earlier this
Speaker 2: month the Potters had fallen out of playoff position and
Speaker 2: their record was creeping closer and close to five hundred.
Speaker 2: To their credit, in large part because of how good
Speaker 2: the offense has been recently and again the bullpen being
Speaker 2: lights out. The Potters are playing really well and that
Speaker 2: is what has put them in position to be aggressive
Speaker 2: and make some of these potentially big, aggressive type of moves.
Speaker 2: Three weeks ago, it wasn't clear they were going to
Speaker 2: be in a position to do this, and to the
Speaker 2: team's credit, they have put themselves in position.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if there's two or three more of these starts,
Speaker 1: for Darbish, he'll probably go back on the aisle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know they're trying to say.
Speaker 5: First two or three or you know, if it comes
Speaker 5: down to it, which at one point it will look
Speaker 5: like it was. That could be the difference between getting
Speaker 5: and not getting it. But you know, they have created
Speaker 5: some distance because some other have kind of falling apart.
Speaker 1: Gosh, the Giants, Yeah, Giants are one of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Giants really fell apart. Let's finish with that, Kyle.
Speaker 1: The NL West was looked at at this super division
Speaker 1: for the first couple months of the year.
Speaker 3: What happened.
Speaker 2: The Giants and Diamondbacks fell off. The Diamondbacks didn't get
Speaker 2: off to a great start, but there was a point
Speaker 2: where they were starting to pick it up. You saw
Speaker 2: this explosive offense, but the pitching just combination didn't stay
Speaker 2: healthy or effective enough. So they obviously fallen off. Now
Speaker 2: they're clear sellers. And look, the Giants offense has been
Speaker 2: one of the worst in baseball for the better part
Speaker 2: of three months now. It started on May fifteenth and
Speaker 2: hasn't really gotten better. They were still able to scratch
Speaker 2: out some games. They acquired Raffield Devers. You say, hey,
Speaker 2: they're in position to take off. Instead, they have the
Speaker 2: worst record in baseball since June fifteenth, when they acquired
Speaker 2: Devers and Devers has not been great. But it's not
Speaker 2: like it's been his fault. The entire offense has just
Speaker 2: not been producing. A lot of guys are not performing
Speaker 2: to levels they should, and this has kind of been
Speaker 2: a problem for the Giants year in a year out
Speaker 2: finding the right offensive mix. Once again, it just isn't happening.
Speaker 2: And to the Podgers credit, they have taken advantage. Their
Speaker 2: offense was almost as bad as the Giants for the
Speaker 2: same stretch, but they did a better job staying afloat,
Speaker 2: and then once their guys started finding their rhythm again,
Speaker 2: they've been able to create some separation.
Speaker 1: Kyle, great stuff. I'm sure we'll be chatting and we'll
Speaker 1: be hearing from you on Friar Territory when aj Preler
Speaker 1: does his thing, and we know he will.
Speaker 2: Right absolutely, we'll have a full wrap up show. We've
Speaker 2: got Heath Belt, We've got Mike Cameron, We've got all
Speaker 2: sorts of guests, so we will have you covered top
Speaker 2: to bottom for whatever the Potters do.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Kyle, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 5: Subscribe to Friar Territory.
Speaker 1: Too, that's what I wanted to say. Yeah, absolutely, there
Speaker 1: it is. There's Kyle and Heath. They'll be breaking down
Speaker 1: trades for you, so head over to Friar Territory. They're
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Speaker 1: eight so give them a little love right now. Kyle's
Speaker 1: one of the best and nicest in the biz.