Padres Press Clips Thursday, June 2, 2016 Article Source Author Page Padres loaded with extra picks early in Draft MLB.com Cassavell 2 Padres homer four times to rout Mariners MLB.com Cassavell/Johns 5 Padres need support at the All-Star ballot box MLB.com Cassavell 8 Padres pit Rea against Mariners’ Miley in finale MLB.com Johns 10 Blash paces El Paso; Dickerson’s streak ends Padres.com Center 11 Alexei adds 2-HR, 5-RBI night to power surge MLB.com Cassavell 13 Myers’ near cycle provides needed spark MLB.com Collazo 15 Injured Ross resumes throwing MLB.com Collazo 16 Padres chairman Fowler expects better from team MLB.com Cassavell 18 Fowler’s foul mood justified, appreciated UT San Diego Acee 20 Padres answer as Fowler blasts team UT San Diego Sanders 23 Padres turn tables on Mariners in 14-6 win UT San Diego Kenney 26 Minors: Dickerson’s hit streak comes to end UT San Diego Sanders 29 San Diego Padres exec calls his team ‘miserable failures’ FOX Sports Rosenthal 31 Padres executive calls team ‘embarrasing,’ ‘pathetic’ Associated Press AP 33 Padres’ chariman calls out team, Preller Baseball America Glaser 34 Padres offense surfaces against the Mariners NBC San Diego Rosehart 36 Padres unveil “Barkyard” seating options NBC San Diego Rosehart 37 Padres offense surfaces against the Mariners NBC San Diego Rosehart 38 Tony Gwynn’s last days: Cancer, tobacco and the death Sports Illustrated Lawrence 39 of a legend 1 Padres loaded with extra picks early in Draft By AJ Cassavell / MLB.com SAN DIEGO -- In A.J. Preller's eyes, preparation for the Draft is a year-round process, no matter where his club's selections may fall. When San Diego owned just one of the first 85 selections a year ago, the Padres' general manager treated the endeavor as a potential franchise-changer. But even Preller is ready to acknowledge that the stakes are raised this year. Among those first 85 selections in the 2016 Draft -- which begins next Thursday at 4 p.m. PT on MLB Network and MLB.com -- the Padres have six picks, the most in the Majors. In the span of a year, San Diego went from the quietest team in the Draft's early stages to its most active. A 74-88 finish to last season netted the Padres the No. 8 overall pick. Then in November, Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy declined qualifying offers, adding a pair of compensation picks at the end of the first round. Throw in a second-rounder and a pick at the top of the second competitive balance round, and the Friars will make five choices on the Draft's opening night. "Almost every tier of player is in play," said Preller. "You've got to be prepared for the guys that are high in the Draft, you've got to be prepared for the guys at the back end of the first round, the guys in the comp round and second round. "In other years, you know where you're locked in, and there's players you can eliminate pretty early. You know they're not going to be a part of your mix. This year, we can't eliminate anybody." That's what happens when you've got the eighth, 24th, 25th, 48th, 71st and 85th picks. And as a result of those early selections, scouting director Mark Conner and his staff skewed their trips slightly toward the players coming off the board early. It should make for an interesting Draft-day strategy in the Padres' war room. With an abundance of picks in the first few rounds, they could be more willing to take risks with higher-upside talent. "It gives us a little bit more flexibility with who we're going to go for," Conner said. "If somebody has a little bit more floor or ceiling, or is a high-upside type player, we can mix and match a little bit more, because we have the picks. If we go upside, then we can go conservatively." Suffice it to say, the Draft hasn't been kind to the Padres over the past dozen years, with Matt Bush (No. 1 overall in 2004) and Donavan Tate (No. 3 overall in 2009) among their high-profile misses. 2 In hindsight, it's easy to fill Justin Verlander and Mike Trout into those slots and wonder what could have been. But the nature of baseball's Draft is such that early-round whiffs occur more frequently than in any other sport. Says Conner, "Ultimately, what we do is really hard. We're identifying 17- to 22-year-olds and predicting what they're going to be when they're 25 and older." What's been more damaging for San Diego has been the lack of consistent homegrown help from the Draft. No Padres selection from the past 10 years has put forth more than five wins above replacement for the club. (Chase Headley and Will Venable -- taken in 2005 -- were the last draftees worth that much to the organization.) Most of those selections, of course, occurred under different regimes and different general managers. And thus, Preller isn't concerning himself with the past. "We know the significance of it -- when you draft well, usually you look up in a few years and your franchise is in good shape," Preller said. "There's always importance in the Draft. I don't think that has anything to do with the past, looking back, good or bad. We don't need to atone for anything." The 2016 Draft will take place from Thursday through Saturday, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB Network and MLB.com on Thursday at 3 p.m. PT. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 4 p.m., with the top 77 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. MLB.com's exclusive coverage of Day 2 begins with a live Draft show at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, with exclusive coverage of Day 3 beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday. MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 200 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of over 1,500 Draft-eligible players. Every selection will be tweeted live from @MLBDraftTracker, and you can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft. Preller spoke to the importance of giving the Draft year-round attention in terms of scouting. In doing so, the club can bring much knowledge as possible in the war room on Draft day. Conner echoed that sentiment, specifically noting how much a 365-day effort can impact the later rounds. 3 "Everybody gets focused on the top picks all the time," Conner said. "And a lot of the time, that's where your money goes, and that's where your focal point of the Draft [is]. We truly look it as a complete Draft, and we know that in the 13th round or in the 22nd round, we have a chance to change the organization." That's true every year, but specifically in 2016, when the Padres will get that chance early and often. "In a year where you don't have [as many] picks, you still add 40 new bodies, and you'll always see the impact down the road," Preller said. "I think this year, with the extra picks we have, it's just that much more significant." 4 Padres homer four times to rout Mariners By AJ Cassavell and Greg Johns / MLB.com SAN DIEGO -- Apparently eager to put a rough road trip behind them, the Padres wasted no time pouncing on Mariners spot starter James Paxton in their return to Petco Park on Wednesday night. They put six runs on the board in the first, kicked the extra point in the second and finished with a 14-6 victory over their Pacific Northwest foes. Alexei Ramirez led the way with a pair of homers -- his first two as a Padre at Petco Park -- and a career-high five RBIs. Wil Myers, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, and Adam Rosales also went deep. The 19 hits for the Padres matched a season high, and the 14 runs were the most they've scored in a home game this season. "It was a disappointing [1-7] road trip," said Padres skipper Andy Green. "You get back home, it's a welcome environment to be back in. I think what it was was a great response to the three runs we gave up in the first inning." Robinson Cano took Padres starter Christian Friedrich deep in the top of the first inning, giving the Mariners that three-run lead before an out was recorded. But Friedrich settled in nicely after that, tossing five frames while allowing only those three earned runs and another unearned run in the fourth. "We had just picked up the bullpen phone," Green said of Friedrich escaping the 37-pitch first inning. "That's right where we were. He's upper-30s in pitches, but we're trying to give him a lot more leash than you typically do, considering [the bullpen being used a lot] yesterday. You don't want to run through the bullpen in the second inning." Paxton wasn't quite as adept at limiting the damage. Filling in for Felix Hernandez -- who hit the disabled list Wednesday afternoon -- Paxton allowed eight runs (only three of them earned) on 10 hits in 3 2/3 frames.