Padres Press Clips Thursday, April 2, 2015 Article Source Author Page Valverde opts out Padres deal UT San Diego Lin 2 Padres front office still has work to do UT San Diego Calkins 3 Shields 'ready to rock and roll' UT San Diego Lin 6 Spring recap: Solarte, Gyorko homer UT San Diego Lin 8 Which of these 5 Padres fans are you? UT San Diego Garin 9 Fowler: I didn't get into this to lose UT San Diego Lin 13 Leitner optimistic about Padres season UT San Diego Canepa 16 Shields sharp in short tuneup for Opening Day MLB.com Brock 18 Buddy system: Black leans on newcomers to help lead MLB.com Brock 20 Medica, Almonte among Padres sent to Minors camp MLB.com Brock 22 1 Valverde opts out Padres deal Veteran reliever will attempt to find another big-league opportunity By Dennis Lin9 A.M.APRIL 2, 2015 PEORIA, ARIZ. — Jose Valverde will attempt to find opportunity with another big-league roster. The veteran reliever opted out of his minor league contract after learning he will not make the Padres' Opening Day roster. At 37, he is a free agent again. The right-hander signed in January, upon the recommendation of then-Padres executive Omar Minaya. The numbers weren't favorable from the start, with former Tigers teammate Joaquin Benoit locked in as the closer and a slew of options to set him up. Valverde, who once piled up saves, had been released by the Tigers and Mets since late 2013. After auditioning in the Dominican Winter League, Valverde appeared rejuvenated this spring. His fastball sat in the mid-90s. He was back to using his signature, the splitter. In 8 2/3 Cactus League innings, he allowed five runs, four earned, while issuing a walk and recording eight strikeouts. He did surrender two home runs, a familiar problem from his last couple stints in the majors. To return there, he'll have to latch on with a different club. Even after his release, the Padres have Benoit and eight other relievers in major league camp. Odrisamer Despaigne could go into the bullpen as a long reliever if he doesn't win the No. 5 starter's job. Overall, the Padres have 33 players remaining in camp, 30 if you don't count Josh Johnson and Cory Luebke, who are making their way back from Tommy John Surgery, and Jandel Gustave, the Rule 5 pick who seems likely to return to the Astros. Sunday at noon is the deadline to set the 25-man roster. 2 Padres front office still has work to do By Matt Calkins8 A.M.APRIL 2, 2015 What you are about to read is ungratefulness in its purest form. It is an homage to greed, entitlement, and eternal dissatisfaction with the status quo. Yes, the Padres made a tsunami-sized splash this offseason. Between Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, James Shields, Wil Myers and Derek Norris, it seems GM A.J. Preller rubbed a magic lamp and got five wishes. But don't for a millisecond mistake this upgraded product for a finished one. If San Diego wants to end its near-decade-long playoff drought, then, sorry — it's going to have to do more. The Padres may look better with their shirts off than most of the National League, but that doesn't mean they're best equipped to win the fight. They acquired four former All-Stars and a recent Rookie of the Year, but left a whole lot of holes unfilled. So once everybody sobers up from the well-deserved toasts they've been giving the front office, it's time to make one more plea: Finish this product...or finish well short of expectations. It's a well-known fact that San Diego ranked last in Major League Baseball in batting average, runs, and slugging percentage last year. The team had born-and-bred Americans begging for soccer to spontaneously appear on the field just to see some scoring. The only thing worse than bad baseball is bland baseball, and the Padres were three hours of C- Span. So Preller whipped out his magic wand and poof, power returned to Petco Park. Kemp and Upton bring with them four 25-plus home run seasons apiece. Myers hit 13 dingers in 88 games two years ago, while Norris, the catcher, tallied 10 in 127 games last year. It's exciting and refreshing and contrarian to everything we've come to expect about Padres baseball. It also won't be enough. There's a reason, you see, that the sabermetrics-based website fangraphs.com forecasts just 83 wins for this team. There's a reason that ESPN's Buster Olney — who thought the Padres were a playoff team last year — left them out of his postseason predictions, as did his college David Schoenfield. 3 There is no doubt that the Padres narrowed the gap between themselves, their division rivals and the rest of the NL. But that doesn't mean there aren't still plenty of gaps on their roster. Take, for instance, the outfield's defense. According to FanGraphs, Padres right fielders had 14 defensive runs saved per 150 games last year, their center fielders had seven, and their left fielders had minus-six. On the other hand, Matt Kemp had minus-one defensive runs saved, Will Myers had minus-11, and Justin Upton had minus-8. In other words, if the projections hold up, the outfield will cost the Padres at least 35 more runs than the 2014 team did. And when you consider that most of Myers' not-so-flattering numbers came when he was in right, a less demanding position than center, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that that stat gets worse. Then, of course, there's the infield. Forget that this team lacks a legitimate leadoff hitter or true shortstop. For the moment, try and find the silver lining in a first baseman (Yonder Alonso) who hit .240 last year, a second baseman (Jedd Gyorko) who hit .210, a shortstop (Alexi Amarista) who hit .239, and a third baseman (Yangervis Solarte) who hit .260. Not easy to do, is it? So even if the forever fragile Kemp stays healthy, and even if Myers' second-year slump (he hit .222 while battling injuries last year) proves to be an anomaly, this lineup may have some looooong intermissions between show-stopping numbers. But enough with that 600-word buzzkill. What the Padres' front office did this offseason was phenomenal. Ownership doled out the money, and Preller maximized every cent without giving up a key pitcher from this formidable staff. Bravo. Still, now that winning has clearly been established as Priority 1, let's see if the Padres can't punctuate this sentence. Maybe it means handing over some prized prospects for a leadoff man. Maybe it means dipping into the overcrowded bullpen to shore up the infield. Maybe it means Preller cooking up another magical concoction that none of us could even conceive of. There just needs to be something. 4 The Padres spent the offseason moving mountains. Even so, they are still a steep hill to climb. 5 Shields 'ready to rock and roll' Opening Day starter throws three scoreless innings in preparation for Dodger Stadium By Dennis Lin5:04 P.M.APRIL 1, 2015 PHOENIX — The Padres played Wednesday at Camelback Ranch-Glendale, the spring home of both the Dodgers and the White Sox. This particular game was against the latter team, attended by fewer than 3,000 fans, a drop compared to the sea that will surround James Shields only days from now. Monday, the right-hander will start the Padres' season opener at Dodger Stadium, where he's never pitched, never even been since his youth in southern California. In Wednesday's 8-2 victory over the White Sox, Shields had an ideal final tune-up, throwing three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks and striking out two. The shortened outing was by design. Shields plans to go as deep into Monday's game as he can. "I'm healthy," he said after throwing 35 or so pitches, well under his prescribed maximum of 50. "Ready to rock and roll. "I got some good work in today. I felt really good in my delivery. Overall, my body felt really good." The spring-training numbers, even if Shields has never put much stock in them, bear that out. He posted a 2.79 ERA over 19 1/3 innings, yielded 13 hits and five walks, struck out 23. "I thought his stuff was really crisp, really liked the fact that his fastball had life to it," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He had good location, some devastating change-ups, a couple good cutters. He threw the ball extremely well. ... That was a good one to end on." Next up: Chavez Ravine. "I haven't really put too much thought into it yet, but growing up, it was always a dream of mine to be able to pitch in Dodger Stadium, let alone Opening Day," Shields said. "I'm pretty excited about it." The Padres took a 5-0 lead in the first inning, three of those runs scoring on Jedd Gyorko's second home run of the spring. Gyorko, the starting second baseman, was batting .188 a little more than a week ago. After Wednesday, he was at .283. 6 Yangervis Solarte, who started at third base, also hit his second homer, a two-run shot in the fifth.