Good morning from Phoenix,
It was one game. Let’s remember that today begins the rest of the season, and there are 49 games remaining.
But there is no denying that the Padres’ 5-1 loss to the Diamondbacks at the end of deadline day provided a glimpse at their doomsday scenario.
That is: What if their offense goes back into a shell?
You can read in my game story (here) how they got nothing from the top of the order last night, as Manny Machado’s bat remained on ice and Fernando Tatis Jr. made four relatively quick outs in a game in which almost every Padres batter was dominated by Brandon Pfaadt.
That came at the end of a day that was confirmation of the commitment by A.J. Preller and ownership to make necessary improvements to shore up the Padres’ roster for a playoff chase.
It can be debated whether they were wise to invest more prospect capital and add more than $6 million to the payroll to prop up a team on the outside looking in at the National League playoff picture.
It should be pointed out that the Padres fell short in their quest to bolster the offense, though not for lack of trying, according to people familiar with their talks over the past several days and multiple national reports.
But their focus on trying to enhance their chances of contending in 2026 cannot be questioned.
That was the gist of my story (here) summing up the day, with quotes from Preller and others.
You can also read about the two major trades they made — for starting pitchers Robbie Ray (here) and Casey Mize (here) — to turn their overwhelming weakness into a potential strength.
You can read about the prospects the Padres sent away in Jeff Sanders’ story (here).
Tom Krasovic voices his opinion (here) that the moves made the Padres a playoff team.
Offensive
The Padres making up ground on the Phillies or Diamondbacks and then standing that ground is almost certainly going to require better than last night’s game.
While Michael King struggled to finish off finicky and plucky Diamondbacks hitters, the real issue and the real worry was on the other side of the ball.
The Padres need more from their hitters than what was delivered last night against Pfaadt, who in two starts against them in the past month has allowed one unearned run in 11⅔ innings. (To be fair, he has a 2.19 ERA in his other five starts since being recalled from Triple-A at the end of June.)
This has been a streaky offense, one that has rarely had even two of the star players it was built around hot at the same time.
This can’t continue:
Machado was 0-for-4 last night and is 2-for-23 with a double and one walk in his past six games.
Even with a 5-for-5 night included, Tatis is batting .222 (8-for-36) with two doubles and five walks over his past nine games.
Jackson Merrill is 6-for-22 (.273) with a double and a homer over the past six games, which is entirely serviceable for a No.6 hitter but a precipitous decline from his previous nine games (16-for-35 with two doubles and five homers) and less than what the Padres probably need him to be down the stretch.
Preller conducted the Padres’ trade deadline as he did because he believed what the offense has done for nearly two months is real. He and others in the organization have said for weeks that whatever happened at the deadline, the offense had to be for real.
“I think if we want to play in October, it’s got to continue to build on what we’ve seen,” Preller said yesterday. “If we look up and we’re swinging the bats like we did in the first half of the season, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be a big challenge. There’s a lot of competition. There’s a lot of good teams. Teams aren’t going away. We believe in our offensive group. We think a lot of our offensive group. What we’ve seen here over the course of the last month, that’s what we expect to see from the team.”
Pitching plans
It is not known when Mize or Ray will make their Padres debuts.
“They’ll arrive within the next couple days, and they’ll pitch within the next week,” manager Craig Stammen said last night. “That’s about all I can tell you right now. We’ve got to figure that out and come up with some concrete plans. As soon as they get here, they’ve got to be added to the roster, and we’ve got to make corresponding moves.”
Both pitchers are rested, so it would be odd if it is more than a day or two before they start. The Padres moved King back a day to start against the Diamondbacks because this is a crucial series.
For at least one more game, however, it is back to the all-staff plan.
Sort of. Maybe.
Randy Vásquez will start tonight. And given that he threw 4⅔ scoreless innings on Thursday, how long he goes might be dependent on how effective he is and whether the Padres have a sizable lead.
“We’ll map it out and decide if we want to take him out after two innings, three innings, four innings, five innings,” Stammen said. “Maybe he goes nine. We’ll figure that out as we go. But Randy’s built up. He’s had enough rest that he could go long if he had to.”
Moves coming
Two pitchers will have to be jettisoned from the major league roster in the coming days.
Barring an injury being discovered, that will almost certainly require the Padres to cut a pitcher loose.
JP Sears, Jeremiah Estrada and Bradgley Rodriguez can be optioned to the minor leagues. But Sears, a starter who is now extraneous, is almost certainly the only one who will be sent down.
No other pitcher on the roster can be sent to the minor leagues without his permission.
“We will lose at least two guys off the roster, which is going to be a very difficult decision,” Stammen said. “It’s going to be a very difficult conversation for me, because I can’t think of one person on this roster that hasn’t put their career on the line or their physical health on the line to help our team win, which is pretty darn amazing.”
There is a possibility the Padres also call up Gage Workman, the left-handed-hitting utility player they got in the Mize trade. The corresponding move there could be Gavin Sheets, who has been dealing with plantar fasciitis, going on the IL.
The only move the Padres had to make to get the new players on the 40-man roster was transferring Jason Adam to the 60-day injured list. Adam will be eligible to come off the IL on Aug. 30, which is about the earliest the Padres expected him back from his shoulder strain.
Tidbits
Luis Campusano had two of the Padres’ six hits last night, including a double. He is 10-for-22 (.455) during a six-game hitting streak.
Between Campusano and Freddy Fermin, Padres’ catchers have hit safely in nine consecutive games and have reached base in 17 straight. The latter streak dates to Fermin’s return from the injured list on July 17. Campusano is batting .313/.421/.344 in 38 plate appearances in that span (including four as designated hitter and one as a pinch-hitter). Fermin is batting .348/.375/.522 in 25 plate appearances when in the game as a catcher.
Yuki Matsui ran his scoreless streak to 7⅓ innings by taking over for King with a runner on first base and no outs in the sixth inning and getting the next four outs.
Wandy Peralta, who went the entire month of June (14 games, 18 innings) without giving up a run, surrendered two in the ninth last night and has now allowed 14 runs in his past 13 games (12⅔ innings).
Machado served as DH last night for the second game in a row and the sixth time in 19 games. He was the DH six times in the first 94 games and has never not been absent from third base this often outside the 2023 and ‘24 seasons when he was dealing with a severe elbow injury. Said Stammen: “Trying to take care of him the best we can, so we have him for the whole stretch run.”
The Padres also made a trade yesterday involving two minor-league pitchers. They sent Andrew Moore to the Pirates in exchange for Hunter Stratton, a reliever who has made 62 major league appearances. The 29-year-old right-hander, who had been designated for assignment by the Pirates, was sent to Triple-A El Paso. Moore, 26, throws hard but struggles with command. He had been in Triple-A since mid-June.
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.