Padres Press Clips Tuesday, May 2, 2017
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Padres Press Clips Tuesday, May 2, 2017 Article Source Author Page Padres mailbag: Was moving on from Bud Black the right UT San Diego Lin 2 decision? Facial fractures sidelining Padres prospect Josh Naylor UT San Diego Sanders 4 Myers, Padres looking for your All-Star vote MLB.com Cassavell 6 Inbox: Which Padres prospects are on deck? MLB.com Cassavell 7 Padres happy to be home after rough start Padres.com Center 9 This Day in Padres History, 5/1 Friar Wire Center 11 Padres On Deck: Romak, Buss, Reyes Deliver in Big Innings Friar Wire Center 12 for Padres’ Affiliates Padres Myers Finishes Hot Month NBC 7 Togerson 14 Bud Black returns to San Diego as Rockies manager STATS STATS 15 1 Padres mailbag: Was moving on from Bud Black the right decision? Dennis Lin Welcome to the first installment of our Padres mailbag. San Diego’s professional baseball team made it through April with an 11-16 record that is far from surprising. The Padres are in the midst of an unabashed rebuild, had just one off-day during the month and played a majors-high 18 games on the road, going 6-12 in those contests. Yet, they are 10-10 against National League West opponents, Wil Myers is justifying his contract extension and Austin Hedges seems like he’ll be an OK big-league catcher. There have been and will continue to be things worth discussing in 2017. For future mailbags, please submit questions to my Twitter account (@sdutdennislin) or via email ([email protected]). Now, let’s get to some answers. In hindsight, was moving on from Bud Black the right move? Is Andy Green a good fit for this roster? —Elizabeth P. On Tuesday, Black, manager of the Colorado Rockies, will be an active participant at Petco Park for the first time since he was fired nearly two years ago. Since his ousting in San Diego, the Padres have gone 121-165, winning just 42.3 percent of their games. In eight-plus seasons under Black, they won 47.7 percent of their games, though they never seized a playoff berth. Such a simplistic comparison lacks context, of course. In August of 2014, the Padres hired A.J. Preller as their general manager. The directive was to build a sustainable base of homegrown talent like San Diego had never seen. But first, in a move that would flop and set back their timeline for reaching contention, the Padres went for it. They opened their ambitious 2015 season with Black, a veteran and well-liked manager, guiding a roster filled with talent, if light on cohesiveness. Fact is, the majority of skippers don’t stick around long after a front-office overhaul. Black proved an exception, as Preller was the fourth Padres GM he worked under, but it came time for new blood. Green is earning rave reviews for his baseball acumen and ability to connect with the youth the Padres are now fielding. It remains too soon to judge his tenure, however. If anything, the Padres’ primary misstep involved timing and personnel. Pat Murphy, who had never coached or managed in the majors, was promoted to the interim job in 2015. The choice didn’t work out, for Murphy or the Padres. Black or then-bench coach Dave Roberts would have been better-equipped to keep the clubhouse on an even keel throughout the rest of the season. 2 So far, Black is receiving widespread praise for his work with the talented, division-leading Rockies. He and Green are different people and managers, but the Padres’ current skipper also appears to recognize the value of never getting too high or too low. Luis Robert’s private workout with the Padres is another event scheduled for Tuesday. Some of the organization’s top scouts have tracked the 19-year-old Cuban outfielder for a while, but this will be the Padres’ opportunity for some one-on-one interaction. I’d expect Preller’s baseball-operations group to make a recommendation to ownership after the workout, but for now, the Padres are among a handful of favorites to sign Robert. Since July 2, they have paced the field in spending on international amateurs, including the top Cuban players. And starting this July, they won’t be able to offer any prospect more than $300,000 for two signing periods. That said, the Padres have to decide how much they really like Robert’s upside. Many believe he will cost the winning bidder more than $20 million, including a 100 percent overage tax. In an environment of scarcity, a prospect’s true talent can be wildly exaggerated. A recent, anonymous comment by one American League scouting director, calling Robert “the best player on the planet,” has drawn guffaws around the industry. If he cuts down on the strikeout rate, Travis Jankowski’s most valued tool — game-changing speed in the field and on the basepaths — should be a significant asset. But after a sluggish beginning to the season, he has landed on the shelf. He’s expected to miss at least four more weeks with an extensive bone bruise in his right foot. By the time Jankowski returns — and bone bruises, especially for a player who relies on his legs, can take a lot of time — another sidelined left fielder Alex Dickerson could be back and producing. Travis is indeed an extremely pleasant person and could be a weapon on any team, but his latest injury represents a huge blow to his chances of being a contributor this season. Right-handed pitching prospect Dinelson Lamet isn’t on the 40-man roster, but I suspect he will be sometime this season. Entering his Monday night start for Triple-A El Paso, he had a 0.45 ERA and a 12.6 strikeouts-per-nine rate in four outings. The 24-year-old’s fastball-slider combo should play, in some capacity, in the majors. If and when the Padres need to reach down a level for a starter this season, Lamet may very well be the first option. As athletic and versatile as Cory Spangenberg is, that’d be a tall task. Green will continue manipulating the lineup before Dickerson or Jankowski returns. Until then, Spangenberg will see more time in left, just not every day. It’s not an easy situation, albeit one Schimpf and Spangenberg have handled with class. They can impact games in different ways, but both are left-handed hitters who primarily play third base. Preller might be making some calls this summer. 3 Facial fractures sidelining Padres prospect Josh Naylor Jeff Sanders First base prospect Josh Naylor sustained non-displaced orbital/facial fractures when a pickoff throw struck him in the right cheek Saturday night, General Manager A.J. Preller said. Team physician Catherine Robertson reviewed X-rays with the 19-year-old Naylor on Monday in San Diego. He will be reevaluated in in seven to 10 days. “The kid wants to play now,” Preller said by phone Monday night. Of course he does. Ranked No. 10 in the organization by Baseball America, Naylor had hit in 15 of 16 games to raise his average from .161 to .306 when Lake Elsinore left-hander Eric Lauer’s pickoff throw with runners on first and third caught Naylor in the cheek as he was breaking toward the plate. Naylor leads the high Single-A Storm with five homers and 23 RBIs through 23 games. A year earlier, Naylor paired three homers and 21 RBIs with a .252/.264/.353 batting line in 33 games in the California League after the Padres acquired him from the Marlins in the Andrew Cashner trade. “Everything he was hitting he was hitting hard,” Storm manager Edwin Rodriguez said Monday afternoon. “He was having very good at-bats. He was not swinging at bad pitches. He might only be out a week. It might be 10 days. I think he’ll be all right.” Naylor said he was feeling good but declined to discuss the injury after Lake Elsinore’s 2-1 win. His injury is the second significant one to strike the Storm’s cache of Padres prospects. Right-hander Anderson Espinoza, ranked No. 1 in the organization by Baseball America, opened the season on the DL with forearm tightness and was moved back to extended spring training after experiencing continued discomfort upon restarting a throwing program. TRIPLE-A EL PASO (12-13) Salt Lake 9, Chihuahuas 4: RHP Dinelson Lamet (2-1, 2.52) walked a season-high five batters en route to allowing six runs in five innings, while converted RHP Christian Bethancourt (7.71) allowed two runs on a hit and a walk over 1 2/3 innings. DH Nick Buss (.438) hit his first homer and drove in two runs and 1B Jamie Romak extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a double in four at-bats. 4 DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (11-13) Missions 10, Midland 0: RHP Brett Kennedy (1-1, 6.33) struck out four over seven shutout innings of three-hit ball. 2B Jose Rondon (.226) drove in two runs on his first homer, CF Nick Schulz (.310) drove in two on his eighth and DH Alberth Martinez (.282) went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a double and his second homer. HIGH SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (11-14) Storm 2, Rancho Cucamonga 1: LHP Joey Lucchesi (0.96) – the reigning Cal League Pitcher of the Week – set a career-high with nine strikeouts while allowing one run on three hits and a walk over seven innings, also a career-high.