{"id":423611,"date":"2026-08-04T14:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423611\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:56:08","slug":"padres-daily-offensive-thoughts-uncertainty-about-new-guys-starts-roster-moves-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423611\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres Daily: Offensive thoughts; uncertainty about new guys’ starts; roster moves ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning from Phoenix,<\/p>\n

It was one game. Let\u2019s remember that today begins the rest of the season, and there are 49 games remaining.<\/p>\n

But there is no denying that the Padres\u2019 5-1 loss to the Diamondbacks at the end of deadline day provided a glimpse at their doomsday scenario.<\/p>\n

That is: What if their offense goes back into a shell?<\/p>\n

You can read in my game story (here<\/a>) how they got nothing from the top of the order last night, as Manny Machado\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 roster for a playoff chase.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But their focus on trying to enhance their chances of contending in 2026 cannot be questioned.<\/p>\n

That was the gist of my story (here<\/a>) summing up the day, with quotes from Preller and others.<\/p>\n

You can also read about the two major trades they made \u2014 for starting pitchers Robbie Ray (here<\/a>) and Casey Mize (here<\/a>) \u2014 to turn their overwhelming weakness into a potential strength.<\/p>\n

You can read about the prospects the Padres sent away in Jeff Sanders\u2019 story (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Tom Krasovic voices his opinion (here<\/a>) that the moves made the Padres a playoff team.<\/p>\n

Offensive<\/p>\n

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\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 11\u2154 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.)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This can\u2019t continue:<\/p>\n

Machado was 0-for-4 last night and is 2-for-23 with a double and one walk in his past six games.
\nEven 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.
\nJackson 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.<\/p>\n

Preller conducted the Padres\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we want to play in October, it\u2019s got to continue to build on what we\u2019ve seen,\u201d Preller said yesterday. \u201cIf we look up and we\u2019re swinging the bats like we did in the first half of the season, it\u2019s going to be hard. It\u2019s going to be a big challenge. There\u2019s a lot of competition. There\u2019s a lot of good teams. Teams aren\u2019t going away. We believe in our offensive group. We think a lot of our offensive group. What we\u2019ve seen here over the course of the last month, that\u2019s what we expect to see from the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pitching plans<\/p>\n

It is not known when Mize or Ray will make their Padres debuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll arrive within the next couple days, and they\u2019ll pitch within the next week,\u201d manager Craig Stammen said last night. \u201cThat\u2019s about all I can tell you right now. We\u2019ve got to figure that out and come up with some concrete plans. As soon as they get here, they\u2019ve got to be added to the roster, and we\u2019ve got to make corresponding moves.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For at least one more game, however, it is back to the all-staff plan.<\/p>\n

Sort of. Maybe.<\/p>\n

Randy V\u00e1squez will start tonight. And given that he threw 4\u2154 scoreless innings on Thursday, how long he goes might be dependent on how effective he is and whether the Padres have a sizable lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll map it out and decide if we want to take him out after two innings, three innings, four innings, five innings,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cMaybe he goes nine. We\u2019ll figure that out as we go. But Randy\u2019s built up. He\u2019s had enough rest that he could go long if he had to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moves coming<\/p>\n

Two pitchers will have to be jettisoned from the major league roster in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Barring an injury being discovered, that will almost certainly require the Padres to cut a pitcher loose.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

No other pitcher on the roster can be sent to the minor leagues without his permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will lose at least two guys off the roster, which is going to be a very difficult decision,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very difficult conversation for me, because I can\u2019t think of one person on this roster that hasn\u2019t put their career on the line or their physical health on the line to help our team win, which is pretty darn amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Tidbits<\/p>\n

Luis Campusano had two of the Padres\u2019 six hits last night, including a double. He is 10-for-22 (.455) during a six-game hitting streak.
\nBetween Campusano and Freddy Fermin, Padres\u2019 catchers have hit safely in nine consecutive games and have reached base in 17 straight. The latter streak dates to Fermin\u2019s 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.
\nYuki Matsui ran his scoreless streak to 7\u2153 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.
\nWandy 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\u00a0 13 games (12\u2154 innings).
\nMachado 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 \u201824 seasons when he was dealing with a severe elbow injury. Said Stammen: \u201cTrying to take care of him the best we can, so we have him for the whole stretch run.\u201d
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n

All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n

Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning from Phoenix, It was one game. Let\u2019s remember that today begins the rest of the season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-423611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}