Padres Press Clips Saturday, March 18, 2017 Article Source Author Page Padres walk off against Dodgers UT San Diego Lin 2 Alex Dickerson back in camp, expected to make UT San Diego Lin 3 full recovery Minus NFL & Bolts, SD sports scene sees more global spin UT San Diego Lin 5 Despite Spring Hiccups, Anderson Espinoza Shows Baseball America Cooper 7 His Heady Potential Wallace delivers as Padres walk-off vs. Dodgers MLB.com Schlegel 8 Capps thrilled with back-field return to mound MLB.com Schlegel 9 Dickerson at peace with taking time to rehab MLB.com Schlegel 10 Chacin's gem vs. DR a case for SD's rotation MLB.com Kelly 11 . 1 Padres walk off against Dodgers BY: DENNIS LIN San Diego Union Tribune March 17, 2017 Padres pitching prospect Walker Lockett and rotation candidate Christian Friedrich each threw three innings in a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Lockett, the youngest starter left in camp, surrendered a Joc Pederson home run on his second pitch of the game, yielded another run later in the inning and held the Dodgers scoreless thereafter. In his three innings, he yielded three hits and a walk, striking out four. “I thought he settled in nice,” manager Andy Green said. “I love that he came in to lefties, thought he did that very well.” Lockett pitched at four minor league levels last season, ending up at Triple-A El Paso. While it’s unlikely he will break camp with the big-league club, his debut could arrive sometime this year. “It’s a long shot for him to start the season with us, but he’s done a nice job,” Green said. Following Lockett on the mound, Friedrich recorded his cleanest outing of the spring. The left- hander allowed one hit, didn’t allow a run or a walk and struck out three batters. Over his first two Cactus League appearances, he had permitted eight earned runs. “His stuff’s kind of picking up a little bit, and hopefully he’s starting to feel the flow a little bit,” Green said. “Kind of been a slow progression through spring for him. I don’t think he’s felt great. He hasn’t necessarily been hurting, but he hasn’t felt like himself. I think he looked a little bit sharper today.” Padres right fielder Hunter Renfroe went 2-for-4 with his second double in as many days. Center fielder Travis Jankowski also had a double, his third in fourth games. Relievers Logan Bawcom, Carlos Fisher and Jose Torres each threw a perfect inning. Through six scoreless innings this spring, Torres, who struck out the side, has allowed one hit and one walk, striking out nine. The Padres walked off in the bottom of the ninth when pinch-runner Peter Van Gansen, called up from the minors for the game, scored on a throwing error. 2 Alex Dickerson back in camp, expected to make full recovery BY: DENNIS LIN San Diego Union Tribune March 17, 2017 After being diagnosed with a disc protrusion this week, Alex Dickerson will miss opening day and an unknown period of time beyond that. Doctors have prescribed three to four weeks of rest before the Padres left fielder is re-evaluated. For Dickerson, the news was maddening and, to some extent, reassuring. “It’s a little bit of a relief,” Dickerson said of learning the cause of his back trouble. “Obviously, not happy with the start I got to the season this year, but it’s a good to have a guideline and go off that. The doctor’s very optimistic that I’m going to make a 100 percent recovery after this thing. It just needs rest.” Due to lower back stiffness, Dickerson, whom the Padres hope will be a prominent part of their outfield, did not make his Cactus League debut until last weekend. On Sunday night, his back flared up again, prompting a visit to a spine specialist in San Diego. Dickerson on Thursday returned to the Peoria Sports Complex, where he will be on full rest for a couple weeks before he begins core-strengthening exercises. “It’s just been irritating me now for probably a month, and I basically just never gave it the full time to rest,” Dickerson said. “I was pretty active because I was trying to come back, and just didn’t really give it that chance to heal. Right now, being told ‘hey, you need to heal this’ I think makes it a little easier on me.” Dr. Neel Anand, an orthopedic spine surgeon and director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said disc protrusion is fairly common, even for people in the same age range as the 26-year-old Dickerson. “It’s not uncommon for young people to have back problems or flare-ups,” Anand said. “Sometimes it’s really not an injury. It’s just a flare-up.” According to the Laser Spine Institute, a disc protrusion, also known as a bulging disc, is a degenerative spine condition that occurs when one of the discs between the vertebrae “has been compressed and, as a result, protrudes out of the natural alignment of the spine.” Some people, Anand said, may have a disc protrusion without knowing it. Symptoms manifest when the protrusion impinges on a nerve, causing the discomfort most patients feel. 3 “I had a similar issue in high school,” Dickerson said. “It cleared up eventually and was perfectly fine for 11 years. This is the first incidence I’ve had since. ... From the looks of it, it’s not a huge bulging disc. Just enough that it’s got a little bit of inflammation.” Anand agreed with the course of action the Padres are taking with Dickerson. “The right thing to do is to give it some rest, let it calm down,” Anand said. “The recovery rate is very good. It’s very rare that it becomes persistent. … Ninety-five percent of the time it goes away. That’s the good news.” Said Dickerson: “Surgery isn’t even on the docket for it. To me, that tells me it’s an issue that’s going to be resolved.” Long-shot option According to a report by the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Diamondbacks have demonstrated a willingness to listen to offers on shortstop Nick Ahmed. The Padres, sources say, previously have expressed interest in Ahmed, but it seems unlikely that the D-backs would trade him within the National League West, especially to a team now managed by Green, Arizona’s former third base coach. One source said that the Padres made inquiries regarding Ahmed in 2015. Veteran outfielder Matt Kemp’s name was brought up in conversation, but those talks never developed into anything of significance. Last July, the Padres jettisoned Kemp to Atlanta in what was essentially a salary dump. Sources indicate that the Padres, who also moved most of their other veterans, are in no rush to thin out their recently reloaded farm system. Still, their search for a long-term solution at shortstop continues. San Diego has looked at other trade possibilities this offseason, including Detroit’s Jose Iglesias and, according to FanRag Sports, Cincinnati’s Zack Cozart. So far, however, no match has materialized. Sources say Travis Jankowski has been discussed as a potential trade chip, but with Dickerson out indefinitely and Manuel Margot also less than 100 percent, the Padres are likely to hang on to the young center fielder for now. Jankowski won’t become arbitration-eligible until 2019, and the club likes his upside. 4 Minus NFL & Bolts, SD sports scene sees more global spin BY: TOM KRASOVIC San Diego Union Tribune March 17, 2017 Good morning. Buenos dias. Bonjour. Buongiorno. Guten Morgen. The time to leave San Diego is drawing near for the NFL cartel and Dean Spanos, the overly enabled team owner who will move his club out of Chargers Park by July 31st. San Diego will be without Chargers football for the first time in 57 years. Who’s kidding who? An NFL season sans the Bolts looms as a Seau Wow-level, decleater hit to many locals. What the sports vortex will pull into San Diego, who knows exactly, but aspirations are brewing. What stands out most is the flavor. It’s international. Unusually so. Title this still-fictional chapter, “From Hostile to Hostel.” Padres architects foresee a transformative youth movement that draws upon not only American talent but Padres signees from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Japan and other countries. The United Nations secretary-general, one imagines, will throw out a first pitch at Petco Park. “Cuban Cigar Night” will set back Padres ownership a hefty sum in 2021. A shame Jerry Coleman won’t be around to pronounce so many exotic names, although the idea is they’ll become the norm. Truly, on any given night several years downstream, Padres bosses envision players from an array of countries will take the field in the East Village. Meantime, in east Mission Valley and a few miles north, a global movement even more robust is planned to unfold starting in 2020. The “SoccerCity” vision, it’s dicier, hinging as it does on a complicated real-estate play involving two Chargers sites. By leveraging San Diego public land, local hedge-fund sharps will in effect gain a subsidy to buy a soccer team. That’s a clever play to gain a sports franchise, yet one that not even the NFL or 5 MLB tried in San Diego.