Padres Press Clips Friday, April 1, 2016 Article Source Author Page MLB scouts grade Padres, NL West UT San Diego Krasovic 2 Zinter returns home to El Paso UT San Diego Lin 11 Erlin hit hard in El Paso exhibition UT San Diego Lin 13 Roster Rankings: No. 1 Tyson Ross UT San Diego Sanders 16 Tyson’s punchout pitch among MLB’s best MLB.com Cassavell 17 Blash’s 2 HRs lead Padres’ punch parade MLB.com Chavez 20 Padres hit 6 homers in exhibition win over Triple-A El Paso Associated Press AP 22 1 MLB scouts grade Padres, NL West The Pink Pony chat covers the Padres and four rivals By Tom Krasovic | 11:38 a.m. March 31, 2016 Spring training is over, finally. And that means the Pink Pony Scouts Chat is here. What did big league scouts see in their studies of the Padres the last six weeks? You'll find their comments below. As well, the scouts sized up the other four NL West teams. Six years ago I created the Pink Pony chat in honor of the late Phil Collier, a longtime Padres beat writer for the San Diego Union. The Pink Pony steakhouse in Scottsdale was one of Phil's favorite spots to hang out and talk baseball with scouts, managers, coaches, other scribes, even players. Here's what scouts told the U-T about the 2016 Padres and their rivals. Padres In his team overview, one scout said the Padres are, for sure, improved on defense, but he expects them to finish fourth place or last, even if several plausible scenarios pan out in their favor. Newcomer Alexei Ramirez looks ready to improve the team’s defense at shortstop, if only to respectable levels. The scout forecasts Jon Jay, another veteran new to the team, to do “a pretty good job” in center and left fields. Among the team's prospects, catcher Austin Hedges is improved as a hitter. The scout regards young shortstop Javier Guerra, obtained from the Red Sox in the Craig Kimbrel trade, as a bona fide top-drawer prospect. He slow-played center fielder Manuel Margot, 21, but likes his defense. The Jabari Blash experiment doesn’t excite the scout, who sees "a lot of holes" in Blash's batting profile. Offering a prescription for the Padres, who've finished with losing records seven of the last eight years, the scout suggested a comprehensive rebuilding plan like Houston undertook a 2 few years ago and one Milwaukee is attempting now. He said it appears the Padres, perhaps to their detriment, are 'in between” trying to contend and rebuild. A lot is riding on Preller “killing it in Latin America,” he said. Here are comments from other evaluators: “I think A.J. Preller has traded them into oblivion. They made a lot of noise for big-time players last year, but it was, to me, ill-conceived, because they still didn’t have anyone for up-the-middle defense. And they had Austin Hedges in the big leagues, but they didn’t play him.” “Is there hope? I don’t see how they’re going to do it. They’ve got (Matt) Kemp for a lot of money. And he’s on the downside. The big contracts for (James) Shields and (Melvin) Upton, good luck with that.” “Preller signed some great guys for Texas. Is he a GM? I think he’d rather be out on the road watching games. I think A.J. can evaluate talent. But I really think he doesn’t know how to put a team together.” “You hear that Preller gets out and interacts with people, which is good. He probably outworks everybody in the industry, knows how to evaluate a player. Can he put a team together? I think they set themselves back last year quite a bit.” “Everyone in the business knows the Padres are rebuilding. They dug themselves a big hole last year. I think they felt like when they got there, that nothing was there. But I think they had a pretty good farm system and payroll flexibility.” “Andy Green is very bright. Good values, good people. No phoniness to him. How he interacts with the big league player, I don’t know. It won’t be because of a lack of preparation. I think that’s a real good hire.” “Javy Guerra looks like a real good player. He has a chance to be one of the better young players we’ve seen from San Diego in awhile. Good defense. His swing, bat speed, IQ at the plate – he’s a guy I’d bet on.” “(Manuel) Margot is a nice player. You wonder if this is who he is. Not a lot of upside.” 3 “Margot looked really good. He was a great piece to get.” “Margot, I love the athlete. Not sure he’s gonna hit.” “I think (Cory) Spangenberg is going to be a nice player.” “(Travis) Jankowski could be a left-handed (Chris) Denorfia for them. Good defender. Pretty good contact rate.” “(Alexei) Ramirez, his defense is OK – (but) it’s not like the White Sox had someone great to replace him.” "Ramirez is talented. He'll make all the plays. But the parts don't add to the sum like you'd want. He can make some dumb decisions." “I think (Tyson) Ross is a real good one. Slider plays vs. righties and lefties. He’s probably got better command of that than his fastball.” “(Andrew) Cashner, big arm. But if you stay close, he’ll find a way to get beat.” “Drew Pomeranz never had a breaking ball in Colorado, but that could’ve just been Colorado.” “I like Pomeranz. Has a fastball that plays up. Hitters don’t get good swings on it. I like him for their rotation.” “(Fernando) Rodney is a top-stepper. Green is going to go through a pack of Tums watching him throw." “Christian Bethancourt is a really good-looking athlete. (Derek) Norris is better on defense than he was a year ago. With Hedges too, their catching is in pretty good shape.” “Wil Myers looked pretty good at first. The talent is there.” "Wil Myers, the tools are still there. He still hits the ball hard. The approach was all over the place." 4 “I like (Yangervis) Solarte a lot. I think he’s just a good baseball player. He’s a guy that any contending team would love to have. He’ll probably be forced into being a more prominent player in San Diego than maybe he should.” “Solarte is a nice player. He’s like a really nice piece on a good club that you could move around.” “I like the Jon Jay pickup.” "Jay is a good player. Good in the clubhouse. Upgrade for them. But he gets a little heavy, and the weight can slow him a little." "Jon Jay looked athletic and strong. He's in good shape. I think he's an upgrade for them defensively." “Matt Kemp, to me, is an average player. He’s terrible defensively.” “I’d be a little concerned for the rest of the rotation after Ross.” “I think you’d want (Robbie) Erlin in long relief.” "Jemile Weeks was unbelievable. In the spring, he looked like a real nice super-utility player. Good at-bats, and moving around really well." “Last year, the atmospherics didn’t help them at Petco (the ballpark played smaller). Will it play like that again this year?” “I would be concerned about their ‘pen.” “Looks like an average NL rotation and below-average bullpen.” “It’s not a good-looking club.” “I think Kemp and Shields will be stuck. To me, the best case is they get a haul for Tyson Ross.” 5 “I think nine months from now, they’re going to have a top-3 farm system. They’ve got a lot of draft picks in June. They’re spending a lot of money in Cuba. And I think they’re going to trade Ross and Cashner and Norris (presumably for younger players). I think their message is going to change after the All-Star game.” “I don’t see the Padres winning in the next two or three years. Can they get a top-5 farm system in the next few years and translate that?” On a potential swap of Shields for Pablo Sandoval “I think if you take Sandoval, you try to shine him up and then trade him back to an American League team." “James Shields is not good in Fenway Park in his career. Some people think he’s a National League pitcher at this point of his career. But it’s one fewer year (on his contract) than Sandoval. I think Sandoval would be better off outside of Boston. I think he’s been eaten whole there.” “That trade actually would make some sense.” Dodgers “Their injuries would decimate most teams. They’ll be at least in the mix, hanging around at mid-season. Then they can get guys back or add guys.” “They have the most depth of any team in baseball.” “They can win (the West) again – but I’d take the Giants or Diamondbacks.” “I still don’t understand what the Dodgers do. It seems like they spend a lot of time trying to bottom-fill the roster. It’s like Tampa, claiming a guy from some team, sending out a guy from their team – repeatedly. Maybe you hit on a guy, but this is the Dodgers.