Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond - Page 2

Sundance · 06-29-2021, 05:35 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 16-13
Overall Record: 64-41
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 4

Transactions

To Toronto Blue Jays - RF Jorge Ona, minor league LHP Tom Cosgrove, minor league RHP Frank Lopez
To San Diego Padres - LHP Tim Mayza, minor league SS Orelvis Martinez, minor league 2B Otto Lopez

Thanks to a few injuries, Ona got to spend some time with the big league club this season. Unfortunately, I just don’t see a spot for him on this roster in the future. He’s just not good enough to beat out our current starters and we have more useful options for the bench. It was time to move him along. Mayza will start off in the minor for us, but he’s a veteran arm that we can plug into our staff. He’s some much needed insurance for a staff that seems to get injured quite often. I'm very excited about acquiring Martinez and Lopez. With having such a young core up the middle of the infield, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever see time as starters, but there’s a lot to like about their approaches at the plate. If they develop, they should be nice additions to our bench.

To Los Angeles Dodgers - LF Brian O’Grady
To San Diego Padres - minor league RF Andy Pages

Making a deal with the devil is never fun, but sometimes it pays off. O’Grady has spent quite a bit of time with the big league club over the last couple of seasons, but he’s never really done enough to stick around. He has fantastic speed and a knack for snatching bases, so he’s a great option coming off of the bench. I think that’s what makes him attractive to the Dodgers, so we took advantage of that. Pages isn’t going to see the majors any time soon, but if he develops, he should be a decent hitter with above average power.

To St. Louis Cardinals - LF Jurickson Profar, RHP Nabil Crismatt
To San Diego Padres - RHP Pierce Johnson

Unfortunately for Profar, the development of Miller comes at the expense of his starting position. He lost his starting spot and he makes too much money to be a bench player, so we needed to ship him out. Trading Crismatt was a harder decision. He’s talented enough to be a big league pitcher, but when I look at our staff and how well everyone is doing, I just can’t find a spot for someone of his quality. Johnson, on the other hand, is a legitimate upgrade to our pen that we can justify. Our inability to keep the ball in the yard was one of our downfalls last year, and he should help in that department. As opposed to the acquisition of Pages, this was much more a “win now” move.

The Good

Despite slipping a little bit in our pursuit of our NL West rivals, I really can’t complain about the team’s record. Our 64 wins this season would lead any other division. Let’s take a look at who has swung a hot stick this month.

First up is our pair of catchers, Luis Campusano and Cam Gallagher. The pair combined for a .346 average with 5 doubles and 5 HR. Campusano was the hotter of the two. However, despite the fact that his development is coming along nicely, he’s still not ready to take over the starting role. He needs to show more consistency in his game before we hand the reins over to him.

Fernando Tatis Jr. might as well have a permanent spot in this list. The 23 year old had another hot month, posting a .318/.407/.682 line and led the team in doubles (8), HR (9), and RBI (22). He also added 5 SB to his tally.

Ian Miller bounced back with a great month. He went .292/.333/.425 with 6 doubles, 2 HR, and led the team with 6 SB. We honestly weren’t expecting Miller to be anything other than a backup player, so seeing his development and the way he has forced himself into the starting lineup has been incredible.

On the other side of the ball, James Paxton is living up to his contract. Our ace went 3-1 with 39 K, 3.8525 ERA, and 1.09 WHIP over 6 starts this month. Our bullpen has also looked great this past month. Mychal Givens and Will Vest both posted sub-1 WHIPs at 0.84 and 0.51, respectively.

The team now ranked in the top 4 in the NL in every major offensive, pitching, and defensive category with the exceptions of walks (14th), and walks allowed (9th).

The Bad

A hot month for some was a very cold month for others. Ha-Seong Kim, Manny Machado, and Corey Dickerson all had months to forget. The three combined for just a .227 average in July. Also, our running game did not look as sharp this month. We got caught stealing 9 times this month, with 3 coming from Tatis Jr. and 3 coming from Miller.

The Ugly

Despite our bullpen improving as a whole, there were still a couple of concerning performances. Keone Kela had a 7.94 ERA and 1.68 WHIP and Drew Pomeranz had a 5.27 ERA and 1.98 WHIP while also blowing 2 saves. Not quite what we want to see from what should be two very reliable arms in our pen.

The biggest issue, once again, is injuries. SP Ryan Weathers, who we called up to replace Snell, is out for 3 weeks with a bone spur in his elbow. And in even worse news, Mackenzie Gore is officially done for the season. He’s having surgery to remove bone chips found in his elbow and is out for at least 5 months. Prior to going onto the IL, Gore was 9-7 with 118.0 IP, 144 K, 4.04 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 2.4 WAR.

Sundance · 06-30-2021, 03:01 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 19-10
Overall Record: 83-51
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 8

The Good

With the dog days of summer in our rear view, we’re starting to see a separation between the good and the elite. Despite maintaining the second best record in the league, the Dodgers have now managed to pull 8 games ahead of us. They seem to always be just out of reach, but even so, I can’t be upset with how the team is playing.

Gallagher continues to swing a hot stick, hitting .333 for the month. Jose Abreu went .287/.331/.537 and led the teams in RBI (29) and co-led in HR (8). Ha-Seong Kim bounced back from a disappointing July with a .320/.364/.612 line, 7 doubles, and 7 HR. Machado matched Kim in doubles and HR and went .305/.383/.571 for the month. Dickerson went .314/.366/.500 and led the team with 13 doubles in August.

Tatis Jr. continues his run of excellence by posting a .296/.367/.556 line with a team leading 8 HR. In the NL, he now ranks 4th in average (.316), 1st in HR (40), 2nd in RBI (103), 3rd in OBP, 1st in slugging, 1st in WAR, 1st in hits, 1st in extra base hits, and 1st in runs.

The Bad

I mentioned it above, but it has to be the fact that we cannot keep pace with the Dodgers. I mean, I can’t complain about how the team is playing because we are doing great. It’s just super disheartening to see the gap between us and our rivals grow, despite how well we’re playing.

The Ugly

Mike Clevinger had an awful month. He started things off by being suspended for his participation in a brawl. Then he came back and just could not perform up on the hill. He went 0-1, throwing just 21 innings with 28 K, 7.11 ERA, and 1.78 WHIP over his 5 starts this month.

Sundance · 06-30-2021, 07:16 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 16-11
Overall Record: 99-62
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 13

The Good

Another month, another winning record. Manny Machado led the way at the plate this month with a .323/.391/.677 line. He also led the team in hits (30), doubles (9), HR (8), RBI (20), and runs (20). Corey Dickerson also had a fine month with a .322/.380/.556 line with 4 doubles, 5 HR, and 19 RBI.

Out on the mound, James Paxton continues to look every part our ace. He went 3-0 with 31.2 IP, 34 K, 2.56 ERA, and 1.14 WHIP. We also got some solid performances out of our pen. Tim Hill posted a 0.00 ERA with 1.00 WHIP over 8 games, Keone Kela had a 0.73 ERA and 0.49 WHIP over 8 games as well, and Will Vest had a 0.00 ERA and 0.75 WHIP over the course of 9 outings.

The Bad

Imagine having the third best record in all of baseball, your club’s best ever regular season, and yet you’re still 13 games back. That’s the situation we find ourselves in at the end of September. We have a chance at winning 100 games this season, and we’ll still end up as a wild card. We picked one hell of a time to put together some of the best teams that this club has ever had.

To speak on individual performances, Tatis Jr. finally cooled off. He went just ..224/.304/.337 for the month. We need him to find his form in a hurry since the playoffs aren’t literally right around the corner.

The Ugly

What in the world has happened to Drew Pomeranz? He entered this season looking like one of the premiere closers in the league, but he has had a couple of just plain awful months. A WHIP over 2.00 and 2 blown saves this month. I’m honestly not sure if I can trust him to close out games as we head into the playoffs. It’s difficult to switch things around when the team is playing so well, but I may have no choice.

Sundance · 07-02-2021, 12:46 AM

NL Wild Card

San Diego Padres vs Atlanta Braves
Michel Baez (6-1) vs Chris Bassitt (12-6)

We certainly know how to make things entertaining! We started off our half of the 1st with a lead off single by Alex Verdugo, an 0-1 single by Ian Miller, and a 3-run bomb by Fernando Tatis Jr. Not a bad start! The Braves would get one back in the 3rd with a solo shot from pinch hitter Braden Shewmake, but we would answer back in the 4th with 4 runs of our own.

The inexperience of Baez finally showed in the 5th when he was knocked around for 3 runs as the Braves closed the gap 7-4. Drew Pomeranz, recently demoted from the role of closer, came in to start the 7th and promptly gave up a pair of runs. He may have the yips. I’m not sure that we can trust him this postseason. With our lead now shrunk to a single run, our bullpen found a way to stop the bleeding and close the game out.

We advance!

Final Score: 7-6
Player of the Game: Christian Pache - 3 for 5, 3 doubles (Ties NL record), 2 RBI, 2 runs

NL Division Series

Game 1
San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
James Paxton (16-5) vs Walker Buehler (12-5)

Hit them early and hit them hard. That was our mentality going into the first game of the NLDS. And we followed through on it. We started off the game with a single by Verdugo, an error that allowed Miller to get on base, and a single from Tatis Jr. to load the bases. Machado followed up with a 2-run double to start the scoring. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Cam Gallagher took an inside pitch off the body and brought another run home. 3 runs to start the game ain’t too shabby! Unfortunately, long balls would once again come back to haunt us. Paxton would give up runs in the 1st and 2nd, and then a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 6th would give the Dodgers the lead. He struck out 12 in six innings of work, but also gave up 4 runs. Cody Bellinger would add another home run in the bottom of the 8th. Sadly, we weren’t able to keep up our early flurry of offense. First game, L.A.

Final Score: 3-5
Player of the Game: Walker Buehler - 5.0 IP, 3 R, 7 K

Game 2
San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
Dinelson Lamet (13-8) vs Julio Urias (11-7)

Unfortunately, our streak of getting off to hot starts couldn’t continue as we faced one of the stingiest pitchers in the league. Urias shut us down to start the game. Sadly, Lament was not able to keep pace with him. It’s hard to win when your pitcher doesn’t have his best stuff. Lamet got himself into trouble in the bottom of the 1st and gave up an early 1-run lead to L.A. He got tagged for an RBI triple in the 4th, and then for 3 more runs in the 5th.

For our part, Corey Dickerson put Urias under a little bit of duress in the top of the 5th when he turned on a pitch and drove a 2-run home run out of the yard. Unfortunately, every time we chipped away at the lead, they seemed to answer back and grow it again. We tried to mount a comeback in the 7th and put 2 runs on the board, but it was too little, too late at that point.

Final Score: 4-7
Player of the Game: Julio Urias - 6.0 IP, 2 R, 6 K

Game 3
San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers
Chris Paddack (6-5) vs Clayton Kershaw (11-9)

Remember last season how I mentioned that one of the issues with having such a young team was that sometimes the moment got too big for them to handle? Well, it seems like we aren’t quite over those issues yet. It’s really tough to win a game when you can’t trust your defense.

Back in the starting lineup after rehabbing in the minors, Chris Paddack took the hill and pitched wonderfully. 7.2 innings, 1 ER, 7 K, and just 1 walk. Backed by a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, we headed into the 7th inning with a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, thanks to a couple costly errors by our defense, that 1 earned run that Paddack gave up in the 1st. turned into a total of 4 runs surrendered by the time his day was done.

Late inning dramatics from both teams would see the game locked at 4 runs a piece as we wrapped up 9 innings of play. In the top of the 10th, Manny Machado would commit his second error of the game and let their lead off hitter reach base. This would prove costly, as just two batters later, the Dodgers would bring that runner around to score on a double.

The bottom of the 10th did not start off well. Ha-Seong Kim struck out to lead things off. Pinch hitter Ivan Castillo grounded out to first for the second out. Backup outfield Greg Allen worked the count and got on base with a walk. Alex Verdugo followed that up with a single to right that moved Allen to third. With 2 outs and runners on the corner in the bottom of the 10th, we found ourselves out of options. Our bench was empty. There was no one else left. So we had to send up our pitcher, Pierce Johnson. He tried. He really did try. He worked the count to 2-2 and was fouling pitches off. Unfortunately, he’s a pitcher. And he did what pitchers so very often do. He struck out. To end the game.

A costly error that ended up costing us the game against the Dodgers in the playoffs. That sounds like a familiar story, doesn’t it?

Final Score: 4-5 (10)
Player of the Game: Clayton Kershaw - 5.0 IP, 3 R, 5 K

NL Championship Series

Los Angeles Dodgers 4 vs Philadelphia Phillies 3

AL Championship Series

Cleveland Indians 4 - Tampa Bay Rays 2

World Series

Los Angeles Dodgers 4 vs Cleveland Indians 2

Sundance · 07-02-2021, 04:01 PM

Recap

Overall Record: 100-62
Position: 2nd (Wildcard)
Games Back: 13 (+9 in Wildcard)

Once again, I find myself looking back at the season and feeling conflicted. There's so much to be happy with. It was the best regular season in the club’s history. Once again, we were a playoff team. But I can’t help but feel disappointed in the way things ended. At this point, the Dodgers have won three straight World Series, and have been in five of the last six.

Is this the pain that our 1998 team endured? To be so close, yet so far away? To put together a championship caliber team, only to have it crushed by a dynasty?

And it’s not just that they are an all-time great team. It’s that we have to take their best shot in the playoffs. They get that extra rest. They get to throw out the top of their rotation against us. And we took that shot this year. Our offense showed up. But we couldn’t do anything to slow down their offense.

We won 100 games this season, and still finished 13 games behind them. We actually won the season series, 6-3 against them. But in a short format, with their best matched up against ours, it just wasn’t enough.

Where do we go from here? How do I improve the team and reach them? What do I give up in order to best our rivals?

Let’s take a look at some standout performances this past season.

C Cam Gallagher & C Luis Campusano
Gallagher - .297/.345/.386, 15 doubles, 6 HR, 50 RBI, 52 R, 2.4 WAR
Campusano - .282/.354/.463, 15 doubles, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 31 R, 1.9 WAR

Our platoon behind the plate really seemed to pay off this year. It would be nice to keep both of them, but both players are up for arbitration this off season. Depending on how much they are awarded, we may be forced to make a decision to keep one over the other. Their production was so similar this season, that just keeping one may not actually make much of a difference.

1B Jose Abreu
.267/.319/.494, 27 doubles, 35 HR, 107 RBI, 93 R, 3.0 WAR

2022 saw Abreu develop into much more of a stereotypical power hitter. His .267 average was the second lowest of his career, but he set a career best in home runs. He ranked 10th in the NL in total bases, 6th in HR, and 9th in RBI. He’s a free agent after this season and will be turning 36 next year. He’s going to come with a high price tag. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of options out there to replace him, so we might just have to bite the bullet and pay him.

2B Ha-Seong Kim
.266/.324/.498, 31 doubles, 4 triples, 26 HR, 69 RBI, 78 R, 10 SB, 4.8 WAR

2022 was a breakout year for the 27 year old international import. The second year man was awarded with his first All-Star selection, as well as his first Golden Glove! We’re still waiting on his contact ability to develop more. The skills to hit for a high average are there, he just hasn’t quite been able to get where we expect him to be. Still, I can’t complain much when he puts up a WAR number like that.

3B Manny Machado
.298/.365/.556, 42 doubles, 37 HR, 111 RBI, 98 R, 7 SB, 7.3 WAR

When we signed Machado to that massive contract, this is the player that we dreamed about getting. Machado finished 5th in the NL in hits, 2nd in total bases, 5th in doubles, 4th in HR, 2nd in RBI, 8th in average, 6th in OPS, and 2nd in WAR. He was selected to his 6th All-Star game, won his 2nd Silver Slugger, and finished 2nd in MVP voting. It was an absolutely monster year for Manny.

SS Fernando Tatis Jr.
.301/.381/.582, 33 doubles, 5 triples. 42 HR, 114 RBI, 113 R. 25 SB, 9.7 WAR

Of course El Nino was going to get a mention here. Tatis Jr. was simply ridiculous in his fourth year in the league. The 23 year old ranked 3rd in the NL in hits, 1st in total bases, 2nd in HR, 10th in steals, 1st in RBI, 2nd in runs, 6th in average, 3rd in OPS, and 1st in WAR. He was elected to his 2nd All-Star game, won his 2nd Silver Slugger, and was the unanimous winner of the MVP.

LF Corey Dickerson, CF Ian Miller, & RF Alex Verdugo
Dickerson - .308/.349/.514, 40 doubles, 6 triples, 19 HR, 77 RBI, 70 R, 3.9 WAR
Miller - .281/.334/.401, 38 doubles, 5 triples, 8 HR, 64 RBI, 93 R, 43 SB, 3.1 WAR
Verdugo - .301/.366/.440, 31 doubles, 2 triples, 11 HR, 63 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB, 3.0 WAR

Our outfield was so incredibly consistent this season. Their presence is a big reason for our success. Special mention needs to be given to Miller, who forced his way into the starting lineup and ended up leading the NL in stolen bases.

SP James Paxton
16-5, 201.2 IP, 234 K, 3.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.7 WAR

In his first full season as our ace, Paxton certainly lived up to the hype. He finished 2nd in the NL in wins, 2nd in winning percentage, 4th in IP, 2nd in K, 9th in ERA, 6th in WHIP, 1st in quality starts, and 5th in WAR. He finished 5th in Cy Young voting.

RP Seth Elledge
66.1 IP, 91 K, 2.17 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 2.2 WAR

I remember that when I traded for Elledge last season, I wrote that he would be a project and that he might not even make it back to the big leagues. Well, I was wrong. Not only did he make it onto our roster, but he was by far our best reliever this season. It’s a shame that he didn't receive more votes for the Reliever of the year award. I feel like he should have finished higher up. He still has hopes about being a starter, but he might just be too good to move from his current role.

Prospects Follow Up

SP MacKenzie Gore - MLB
2B Ha-Seong Kim - MLB
2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB
C Luis Campusano - MLB
SP Seth Elledge - AAA -> MLB
SP Ryan Weathers - AAA -> MLB -> AAA
CL Adrian Morejon - AAA
SS CJ Abrams - AAA
RF Jorge Ona - AAA -> Traded
LF Robert Hassell III - A+ -> AA

Sundance · 07-03-2021, 07:22 PM

Extensions

1B Jose Abreu - 3 years, $72,000,000
RP Emilio Pagan - 3 year, $15,000,000

Transactions

To Atlanta Braves - Minor league RHP Dauris Valdez
To San Diego Padres - RHP Nivaldo Rodriguez

The driving force behind this trade was that Valdez was just outside of the players we wanted to include on our 40-man roster. He’s good enough that I was afraid of losing him in the Rule 5 draft, so I took the preemptive step of trading him and getting some value back. He’s a 6’8 power pitcher who hits 100 mph with ease. There should be plenty of demand for an arm like that.

Rodriguez doesn’t have the ceiling that Valdez has, but he is a more developed prospect in my opinion. He has a three-quarters delivery and throws in the low 90s, but his off-speed pitches are much more developed. He also has some big league experience, having pitched with the Braves last season. Over 40.2 innings of work he had a 3.98 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 40 K.

To Minnesota Twins - Minor league RHP Nick Burdi
To San Diego Padres - RHP Archie Bradley

Burdi is another player who was just outside of our 40-man roster. He has explosive stuff that leaves you fantasizing about what could be. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t put together all the pieces yet.

Bradley is a veteran arm that should help strengthen our pen. He has overwhelming stuff that can overpower hitters. But every once in a while his control lets him down and he’ll get tagged.

To New York Mets - Minor league RHP Jordan Humphreys
To San Diego Padres - CF Jake Mangum

One of the things that ultimately came back to bite us last season was our lack of positional player depth. I wanted to address that this offseason by adding to our bench. We give up a very competent, but ultimately average, pitcher and get a solid outfield option to add to our roster. Mangum has a great approach at the plate and should be able to hit for average at the big league level. He is also a huge threat on the base paths and should be able to come off of our bench and act as a sparkplug when we need something special. He played just 14 games for the Mets last year, but had some decent success in his small sample size - .339/.422/.464 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 stolen bases.

To Chicago Cubs - LHP Drew Pomeranz, minor league RHP Nick Thwaits
To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Aaron Sabato

Despite having a league leading 40 saves last season, the fact of the matter is that at the end of the year, when we needed him most, we couldn’t count on Pomeranz. We needed to offload him before he suffered a complete collapse as a pitcher.

Sabato can play either of the corners, and while not a blue chip prospect, should be good enough to play in the high minors, with occasional appearances at the big league level. He’s a pretty stereotypical power hitter. He’s going to strike out a ton, he’s not going to hit for average, but when he connects, he’s going to send balls to the moon. He’ll probably be stuck in the minors for most of his career with us, but if we can maintain a solid lineup, having a player that’s only going to hit .240, but can wallop 30-40 home runs might be plausible.

To Boston Red Sox - Minor league RHP Kyle Finnegan, minor league LF Grant Little, minor league RHP Miguel Diaz, minor league LHP Ramon Perez
To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Blaze Jordan

When I was taking a look at our organization this season, one of the things I wanted to do was to move along a few players that were bubble players, but who were never going to break into our team. All four of these guys fall into that category. The pair of pitchers were definitely the best looking prospects, but when taking a look at our current staff and pen, I just don’t see them ever breaking into the staff. Now that I say that, we’ll probably be disseminated by injuries again and will miss having those arms around.

Jordan is a solid prospect at first base and might be our long-term answer at the position. That being said, he’s still got a long way to go in his development. If he meets his potential, he should hit around .260 with 30-40 home runs and a lot of strikeouts every year. I’m very excited about his future, but it’s probably going to be a while before we see him in action.

To Portland Sycamores - RHP Taylor Williams, RHP Mychal Givens
To San Diego Padres - C Grayson Greiner

With the acquisition of some additional arms for our pen this offseason, a few guys had to be moved. This trade, and the ones that follow, all happened in April, right at the end of spring training. It was time to finalize our roster and some moves needed to be made. Some players were out of options, others refused to be demoted. So trades were necessary. Williams and Givens were both guys that could easily be on our roster, but when I made the final decision one who I wanted on our staff, they ended up as surplus to requirements.

Greiner is more organizational depth than anything. There were a couple of minor league catchers that I opted not to re-sign, so we needed some bodies down there. He’s a good presence in the clubhouse and should be serviceable as a backup if we ever need to call him up.

To Los Angeles Angels - LHP Zack Britton, LHP Tim Mayza, RHP Nivaldo Rodriguez, minor league RHP Aidan Maldonado, minor league LHP Erik Sabrowski
To San Diego Padres - Minor league RHP Camilo Doval, minor league SS Livan Soto

Wait, didn’t we just add Britton and Rodriguez to our roster this offseason? Yes, yes we did. But as I said above, this is now 4 months after we originally acquired them. As it came time to put our final roster together, there just weren’t enough spots to go around.

Doval is an exciting prospect. He could probably pitch at the big league level if we really needed him to, but we would definitely prefer him to spend some time in the minor and continue his development. He’s a two pitch reliever that should feature at the back end of our pen at some point. He has a live arm that struggles with control at times. But his stuff has such high potential and his pitches move so much that it’s worth the risk to stick him back there in high leverage situations. Definitely a high risk, high reward type of arm. Soto, on the other hand, is far from an exciting player. He’ll be a solid minor league player that could offer some potential as a backup infielder at some point. Nothing more, nothing less.

Additions

RP Nick Sandlin - Rule 5 Draft, Los Angeles Angels

I didn't go into this draft with any intention of picking anyone up, but when I saw Sandlin, I couldn’t help myself. He’s near his full potential, but there’s still a little bit of room for him to grow. He should have some of the nastiest stuff in the league with above average control. The one thing that is going to hold him back is that he is prone to the longball, but hey, who isn’t on our staff? The Angels had him playing at A+ level last season which seems crazy to me. He’s definitely someone that should have been in AAA at least, and picking him up feels like a steal.

CF Jesus Sanchez - Free agent, minor league contract

He was originally picked up by the Rays as an international free agent in 2014, and has spent the last couple of seasons bouncing back and forth between AAA and the pros. There’s not a huge amount of holes in his game. He does everything competently, while not really excelling at any one thing at this point in his career. However, it looks like there’s still some room for him to grow. With the proper coaching, he should develop his contact ability a bit further, which I think will really push him to the next level. Right now, he’s a bubble guy, but if he makes that last step in his development, he should find his way onto our roster.

RP Chad Green - Free agent, 2 years, $11,000,000

I feel like lady luck might have smiled on us with this opportunity. Green is coming off of his worst year as a professional since his rookie year in 2016. It looks like this caused the Braves to be reluctant to re-sign him. But their loss is our gain. Green has some of the best stuff in the game, with a nasty fastball in the high 90s, a plus splitter, and one of the best sliders around. I think he’s going to be a huge addition to the back end of our bullpen. If he bounces back from last year’s dip in form, then he should be one of the best relievers in baseball.

RP Zack Britton - Free agent, 2 years, $8,500,000

Another arm to bolster our ranks. Despite being on the back end of his career, Britton has proven to be a very reliable arm coming out of the bullpen. The biggest draw for me was the fact that he’s very good at limiting homeruns. He might not have the best stuff, but he can keep the ball in the park, which is something our staff desperately needs.

Departures

SP Mike Clevinger - Free agent, Mets

Even though letting Clevinger go wasn’t a popular choice among our fanbase, we had to let Clevinger walk. He simply wanted too much money. When I look at our current starting rotation, I see someone like Michel Baez, who we called up last season and is probably going to give us similar production for way less money. And I see a prospect like Ryan Weathers, who I think is ready for the big show and has a much more exciting future. And in the back of my mind, there’s also the thought that if neither of these youngsters works out, we always have Snell returning to the lineup midway through the season. Ultimately, I think a lot of teams held similar opinions about him, as he signed just a 1 year contract with the Mets for $4,320,000 in March.

SP Dinelson Lamet - Free agent, Cardinals

This one was a much harder decision. One of the goals I was given this offseason was to cut our payroll. Unfortunately, that means making some tough decisions, and Lamet was the first one I had to sacrifice. Would he have strengthened our staff? Absolutely, without a question. We would be stronger with him. But given this goal from the owner, could I justify spending the $18-$22 million it would take to re-sign him? Well, maybe if it would guarantee a championship. But sadly, with the Dodgers still in our way, keeping Lamet doesn’t guarantee anything. As much as I didn’t want to, I simply had to let him leave. He signed with the Cardinals in December for $97,000,000 over 5 years.

Owner Goals

2023 - Play close to .500 ball
2023 - Cut payroll from $160,856,000 to $150,000,000
2025 - Bring more of our drafted players into the team
2026 - Build a championship team

Outlook

With three straight second place finishes and three straight playoff appearances, we enter the 2023 season once again looking at October. There’s pressure from the owner to retool our lineup. To make some cuts and perhaps make another push in a year or two. But with a team that’s predicted to win close to 100 games once again, can we really afford that? At some point, the Dodgers dynasty is going to fall. When that happens, we need to be ready. We can’t afford to take a year off at this point. The front office went all in on winning now, and that’s just what we’re going to try to do. Payroll cuts be damned.

Sundance · 07-05-2021, 10:53 PM

Jose Abreu - 1B - 36

How much is left in the tank? That’s the question I’ll be asking myself every year when it comes to Abreu. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a very good player. He won the AL MVP in the shortened 2020 season, he posted a combined 4.6 WAR between the White Sox and us in 2021, and a 3.5 WAR last season. And to be honest, there really aren’t very many better first baseman in the league than him. But he’s 36. At what point do we see the drop-off in his ability? His performance is going to play a huge role in our success. If he can perform like we hope, we should do well. If he does start to experience that drop off, then we might be in a bit of trouble.

Ha-Seong Kim - 2B - 27

2022 was an absolutely monster year for Kim. The question now is, can he maintain that level of production? .260-.270, 30+ doubles, and 25 HR is probably what we’re expecting out of the third year man. If he can reach those numbers, then we’ll probably see him make consecutive All-Star games and continue to feature as a cornerstone of our offense.

Manny Machado - 3B - 30

As a 6-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winner, and 2-time Silver Slugger, Machado enters 2023 as our club’s most decorated player. He has improved steadily over the last three seasons, and there’s no reason to expect that progress to stall. 2022 was arguably his best season as a hitter and we saw him finish second in MVP voting. There’s no reason not to think that he should be in that conversation once again this season.

Fernando Tatis Jr. - SS - 24

What more can I possibly say about Tatis Jr.? To call 2022 a ridiculous year for Tatis Jr. is to undersell what he accomplished. He led the league in RBI and WAR on his way to his first MVP award. The first of what should be many more, I might add. El Nino is an absolute freak. Everything he does is much watch. The best part, and what should strike terror in the heart of the rest of the league is that he’s still just 24 and he still has room to grow.

Corey Dickerson - LF - 33, Ian Miller - CF - 31, Alex Verdugo - RF - 26

I hate to keep lumping these guys together, but it’s just easier to talk about them this way. If Abreu, Kim, Machado, and Tatis Jr. make up the high-powered engine of our lineup, then these three guys are the oil that keeps everything running smooth. Our big guns are going to win us plenty of games, but it’s the consistency of these three that are going to let us grind out wins. Their success is going to be vital to the team’s success.

James Paxton - SP - 34

2022 saw Paxton assume the role of our ace, and he lived up to that title. He throws four of the nastiest pitches in the league and should once again be among the best starters in the league. As long as he stays healthy, he should once again set the tone for the squad as we push towards another playoff appearance

Chris Paddack - SP - 27

Entering his fifth season, Paddack might be the biggest wild card in our starting rotation. We thought he had taken a major step forward in his career in 2021, but then 2022 saw him post very average numbers, and a partially torn labrum would force him to miss about half the season. At his best, we’ve seen him shut down and be an All-Star caliber starter. But at his worst, he’s very average. Which Paddack shows up this year will play a big role in how our season goes.

MacKenzie Gore - SP - 24

Gore was on his way to delivering an All-Star caliber season last year when the discovery of bone chips in his elbow shut him down for the year. Now healthy, Gore enters 2023 with a world of expectations thrust upon him. The bottom line is that with the absence of Snell and the departure of Lamet, we need someone on our staff to step up. We expect Gore will be that player.

Seth Elledge - RP - 26

Moving Elledge from potential starter to strictly bullpen appeared to be the right move as he was by far our most valuable arm coming out in relief last season. He posted a sub-1.00 WHIP with a 2.17 ERA and 2.1 WAR last year. He had premium stuff that will feature at the back end of our bullpen. He’s still developing his control, and if he can maximize his potential, he will have all the makings of a premiere closer.

Pierce Johnson - CL - 31

We made the decision to move away from Pomeranz as our closer at the end of last season, and Johnson was the beneficiary of that move. 2023 will be his first season where he will fully assume that role, so there will be plenty of pressure on the 31 year old. We need a solid presence at the back end of our staff. It was something that cost us late last year. If Johnson can perform as expected, it’ll bring us one step closer to catching our rivals to the north.

Prospect Watch 2023

SP Mackenzie Gore - MLB
SP Ryan Weathers - MLB
RP Nick Sandlin - MLB
C Luis Campusano - MLB
2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB
SS CJ Abrams - AAA
LF Robert Hassell III - AA
RF Andy Pages - A+
SP David Harrison - AA
SS Orelvis Martinez - R
SP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA
1B Blaze Jordan - A
2B Livan Soto - AA

Sundance · 07-06-2021, 05:37 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 13-11
Overall Record: 13-11
Position: 3rd
Games Back: 1

The Good

It’s not the hottest start to the season, but we’re still in striking distance. The Dodgers (13-11) and ROckies (14-10) are off to similar starts, so a rather pedestrian month doesn’t put us too far behind. We’re 7-3 in our last ten games, making us the hottest team in the division at the moment. Hopefully we can carry that moment into next month.

Tatis Jr. is off to a hot start this season. He batted .341/.442/.727 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 8 home runs, and 25 RBI. A strong start to what should hopefully be another MVP worthy season. Machado is also off to a good start himself with a .322/.410/.529 line with 5 home runs and 19 RBI. Dickerson and Marcano also started off the season well. Marcano is hitting .409/.487/.591 and Dickerson is hitting .348/.402/.573.

On the mound, James Paxton looks every bit our ace. Through 5 starts he’s posted a 0.81 ERA with 0.75 WHIP and 9.2 K/9. Two new additions to our bullpen have also helped hold down the fort. Archie Bradley has a 1.54 ERA and 0.94 WHIP over 11.2 innings of work, and Chad Green has a 1.50 ERA and 0.75 WHIP over 12.0 innings.

The Bad

We continue to be plagued by injuries. This time it was Ha-Seong Kim that got hit. He played just 6 games before suffering from a herniated disc in his back. He’s expected to miss 2-3 months. Tucupita Marcano will take over starting duties and we’ve called up 2B Alex Goicochea for depth.

While most of our key hitters have gotten off to hot starts, a few are lagging behind. Jose Abreu is off to a slow start, hitting just .244/.306/.333 with just a total of two extra base hits. Ian Miller is also struggling at the plate, with a .250/.312/.330 line. His saving grace is that he has stolen 7 bases so far, so at least when he’s getting on base, he’s still a threat. We just need him to get on more often.

The Ugly

Our pitching staff is not at all where we want it to be at this point. Hopefully it’s just some early season kinks that need to be worked out, but there have been some rough outings. Gore has looked completely average and his control has gotten away from him a bit. Baez and Weathers have both shown their inexperience and haven’t looked great, And there’s a number of concerning performances from our bullpen. Hopefully our pitchers will settle down now that the first month is in the books because we aren’t going to win anything if they keep throwing like this.

Sundance · 07-08-2021, 04:11 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 14-14
Overall Record: 27-25
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 5

The Good

Machado continues to be a threat every time he steps up to the plate. He hit .296/.339/.519 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI this month. Jose Abreu seems to have figured things out as well. He bounced back in May with a .3221/.348/.481 line. Marcano continues to swing a hot stick. The 23 year old had a .303/.356/.450 slash with 5 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 home runs. We thankfully aren’t losing any production with Kim out of the lineup. And the youngster CJ Abrams got the call up and adjusted immediately. He went .362/.463./652 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 home runs in his first month in the big leagues.

Paxton continues to dominate on the hill. He went 3-1 this month with a 3.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 53 K over 37.1 innings. Obviously the season is a marathon, not a sprint, but if he can maintain the level of performance that he’s displayed over the first two months of the season, then he should be in the conversation for some awards at the end. Archie Bradley might end up being the signing of the season for us. The 30 year old had a 0.59 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, and held opposing batters to just a .138 average. Seth Elledge had a terrific month as well. He had a 0.60 ERA, 0.60 WHIP and kept batters at a .064 average. The move to the pen continues to suit him.

The Bad

Outside of Paxton, our starters have looked very average. I expected that there would be some ups and downs with Baez and Weathers, given their lack of experience. What has really been disappointing is the performances of Gore and Paddack. They aren’t pitching poorly, it’s more that I was hoping to see them take the next step this year from being average starters to being great ones. They’re both young and still haven’t reached their potential yet, so hopefully we’ll see some growth out of them as the season progresses.

The Ugly

Another month, another injury. This time it was Fernando Tatis Jr. that fell victim to the injury bug. The face of the franchise fractured a rib while sliding into second base. He’s expected to miss a minimum of 6 weeks and his absence explains why Abrams was called up. As well as Abrams has played this past month, there’s just no replacing a player of Tatis’ quality and presence.

Sundance · 07-12-2021, 09:05 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 14-11
Overall Record: 41-36
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 4

The Good

We’ve been struggling to get production out of the catcher position, so headed into June I made the decision to hand over the starting job to Luis Campusano. He’s repaid my faith in him by posting a .338/.419/.585 line with 7 doubles and 3 home runs. Tucupita Marcano continues to swing a hot stick since taking over for the injured Kim - .333/.439/.456 with 5 doubles 2 home runs and 5 steals. Machado, Abrams, and Tatis Jr. are also all staying hot -

Machado - .323/.353/.594, 2 doubles, 8 home runs, 19 RBI
Abrams - .309/.367/.418
Tatis Jr. - .356/.400/.746, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs

One the mound, Paxton just keeps cruising. Another month, another sub-1.00 WHIP. He went 4-0 this month with a 2.21 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 12.4 K/9. In the pen, Seth Elledge looked untouchable - 1.93 ERAA, 0.91 WHIP, and 17.8 K/9 in June. Overall, our bullpen was much improved this month with several pitchers posting sub-1.00 WHIP. Hopefully we can keep this up.

Here’s a look at the Padres who were named All-Stars this year:

2B Tucupita Marcano - .340/.419/.487, 16 doubles, 7 home runs, 26 RBI, 10 SB, 3.2 WAR
3B Manny Machado - .313/.366/.546, 20 HR, 61 RBI, 3.1 WAR (Won HR Derby)
SS Fernando Tatis Jr. - .346/.425/.718, 11 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HR, 34 RBI, 8 SB, 4.0 WAR (Received most votes)
SP James Paxton - 9-2, 111.1 IP, 143 K, 2.34 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 4.0 WAR
RP Seth Elledge - 43.2 IP, 71 K, 2.27 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 1.5 WAR

Honorable Mention: LF Corey Dickerson - .307/.364/.498, 16 doubles, 123 HR, 1.8 WAR (Finished 2nd in voting among left fielders, but didn’t make the cut)

The Bad

Going into this season, we were worried about the longevity of Jose Abreu. It seems like we were right to be worried. Despite having a solid outing last month, Abrue is once again struggling. At his current rate, he’ll be posting career lows across the board. There’s still plenty of time left in the season, so hopefully he can right the ship here soon.

There was also a power struggle to start the month. For whatever reason, control over the lineups and rotation got switched over to being under manager Luis Caballero’s control. Thankfully I caught this after only a couple of days had passed. Forced myself back into control. We must not forget, this is my team. He just manages it.

The Ugly

Injuries are killing us. Gore is currently suffering from rotator cuff tendinitis. He was expected to miss 3-4 weeks, but we just received word that he’ll miss an additional week, at least. Ian Miller fell victim to a freak accident in the dugout and managed to fracture his tibia. He’ll be out at least 6 weeks. Alex Verdugo also finds himself on the IL after straining his ACL while running to second on a double. He’ll also be out an expected 6 weeks.

Sundance · 07-13-2021, 01:53 AM

Recap

Monthly Record: 19-10
Overall Record: 60-46
Position: 1st
Games Back: +0

The Draft

Our top pick this year was 23 year old SP Jacob Maton out of Coastal Carolina University. Maton is a pretty well developed prospect, but there’s still a bit of growing to do. He has plus stuff with above average control. His repertoire features a power fastball in the high 90s, a knee-buckling slider, and a changeup that should develop into a plus out pitch.

Trading Deadline

To New York Yankees - 1B Jose Abreu
To San Diego Padres - RHP Shohei Ohtani

What do you do when you have four middle infielders - one won the MVP last season, one was an All-Star last season, one was an All-Star this season, and one is going to be in talks for Rookie of the Year? You make room for them all.

That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with this deal. Abreu has had a down year, there’s no doubt about that. However, he started to get into a little bit of a grove this month - his average was creeping up and the power numbers were starting to return to normal. We rode that momentum and shopped him around. The Yankees came calling.

Ohtani is a player who hasn’t lived up to the hype. He was supposed to change the game, be the new evolution of player, a legit two-way star. Unfortunately, he’s kind of fizzled out. He’s been very average on both sides of the ball. We’ll be adding him to our bullpen with the hopes that he might rediscover that spark that once captivated the baseball world.

Tucupita Marcano will assume duties at first.

To Kansas City Royal - RHP Will Vest, minor league 2B Nick Tanielu, minor league RHP Jason Blanchard
To San Diego Padres - Minor league 2B Kevin Merrell, minor league MJ Melendez

With the arrival of Ohtani, a spot needed to be opened in the pen. Vest has been an incredibly consistent option for us coming out of the pen, but he’s seemed to lose some of his touch this season. He’s not pitching poorly, but he doesn’t look like the dominant reliever of the last couple of seasons. Moving from Vest to Ohtani is probably a downgrade if I’m being honest, but I think we can handle it.

Merrell will be organization depth. He’s putting together a solid career in the minor leagues, and probably has enough about his game to make a big league roster at some point. Given our log jam in middle infield, it probably won’t be with us. But since injuries seem to love finding us, he’s a player I feel like we can trust if we need to call him up. Melendez is also very much organizational depth. He’s a fantastic defensive catcher and a natural born leader, but he doesn’t offer much at the plate.

The Good

Well, the Dodgers tried to make their move to take hold of the division, but we caught them. Our teams currently sit atop the division with equal records, with the tie breaker falling to us. Machado definitely carried our offense this month. .373/.419/.764 with 5 doubles, 12 home runs, and 29 RBI. He won back-to-back Player of the Week honors and homered in four straight games. He’s on fire right now.

Paddack looked unhittable in July - 2-0, 1.33 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 10. K/9 over 27.00 innings of work. Archie Bradley, Seth Elldge, and Chad Green all continued their dominant runs coming out of our bullpen.

Black Snell finally rejoins the team. He’s back from injury and rehab in the minors. We’re not sure what to expect out of him, but he’ll be rejoining our starting rotation.

The Bad

There actually isn’t too much to complain about this month from a performance standpoint. Most everyone has had a solid month. If I really want to nitpick I can say that Paxton finally looked human. But even then, it wasn’t like he pitched poorly. So overall, a nice month for us on the field.

The Ugly

You might notice that I mentioned that I didn’t have anything to complain about performance-wise up above. That’s because there is definitely one thing worth venting about. In the very first game of the month, Tatis Jr. got on first with a walk. He proceeded to steal second. While sliding into the base, his head crashed into the fielder’s knee. It was a scary moment as he initially laid motionless on the ground. Thankfully, there’s no serious muscle or bone injury. Unfortunately, he did suffer a major concussion and is expected to miss a minimum of 4 months as he recovers from it.

Sundance · 07-13-2021, 06:29 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 12-17
Overall Record: 72-63
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 6

The Good

We had a number of hot hitters this month. Luis Campusano went .341/.391/.541 with 7 doubles. Ha-Seong Kim hit .384/.441/.545. Machado continues his push into the MVP discussion with another solid month - .305/.383/.543, 5 doubles, 6 home runs, 23 RBI. Corey Dickerson has looked as solid as ever, this month going .321/.351/.406. And the big surprise has been CF Carlos Tocci who we called up from AAA. Much like Miller did previously, Tocci has forced himself into our starting lineup. He posted a .318/.357/.421 line this month with 9 doubles. Ironically, Miller is the one that he has replaced.

Elledge and Green continue to be studs coming out of the pen. And RP Carlos Belen who was recently called up has adjusted well - 3.07 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over 14. Innings.

The Bad

You have to go back to June of 2021 to find the last time that we had a losing record for the month. WIth so many hitters having a solid month, what happened? Well, our pitching has fallen apart. Poor performances mixed with players rotating in and out of the staff has left much to be desired. Snell has not looked the same since returning from injury. Weathers hasn’t looked great and was sent down to the minors for a little bit. Sandlin struggled once again in the pen. At times he looks untouchable. At other times he looks lost.

The Ugly

Injuries continue to hamper us. Snell ended up back on the IL for 2 weeks with forearm inflammation. Keone Kela was out for 2 weeks with a herniated disc in his back. Tucupita Marcano missed 3 weeks with an intercostal strain. Jeff Mangum missed 3 weeks with a sprained thumb, then suffered a setback with his recovery and is expected to miss another 2 weeks. The worst one of the bunch was Mackenzie Gore, who is done for the season. He suffered a torn flexor tendon in his elbow and will be about for a minimum of 7 months.

Sundance · 07-14-2021, 12:12 AM

Note: I forgot to do an update for the last month of the season. Oops!

NL Wild Card
San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants
Blake Snell (3-1) vs Logan Webb (8-5)

Snell finally started looking like himself over the course of the last month of the season, so when it came down to deciding who would start this game, my options were to hand over the ball to the veteran, or give it to one of our youngsters. I opted to go with Snell, and he repaid my trust in him.

A lead off double to start the game put Snell in a bit of a bind. The runner would advance to third ground out, then eventually score on a strike 3 passed ball. But after that initial blow, Snell would collect himself and shut the Giants’ lineup down. He pitched six innings, giving up that lone first inning run, and striking out 7.

We got our offense going in the bottom of the fourth with singles from Machado, Abrams, and Verdugo, giving us a 2-1 lead. We would score every inning after that, including a 3-run bomb by Machado in the 6th that would put the game out of reach.

Unfortunately, we didn’t quite close out the game the way I would have liked. The Giants attempted a comeback and knock around Kela (4 runs in 1.1 innings) and Belen (1 run in .2 innings). Thankfully Elledge and Johnson would come in and put an end to things.

Final Score: 10-5
Player of the Game: Manny Machado (4-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI)

AL Wild Card

Houston Astros (1) vs Cleveland Indians (0)

NL Division Series

San Diego Padres vs Milwaukee Brewers

Game 1 in Milwaukee
James Paxton (16-7) vs Brandon Woodruff (12-11)

It’s difficult to win when you’re playing from behind, even more so in the playoffs. But that’s the situation we found ourselves in the opening game of our series against the Brewers. James Paxton took the hill and looked pretty average. He labored through 6 innings of work with 102 pitches, 9 K, 3 BB, and 3 R. We got to the opposing starter early and often, but we just couldn’t seem to bring our runners across the plate to score. We struck for 10 hits off of Woodruff, but managed just 1 run. By the time both starters were pulled, the score was 1-3.

Our offense found a bit of life in the 7th and 8th innings. Miller hit a 2-out triple and was knocked in by a Marcano single. Four singles in our half of the 8th would bring in another two runs, giving us the lead, 4-3. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to close things out as the Brewers answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game.

At the end of nine innings, the score was all tied up at four a piece, so off to extra innings we went. Things would remain deadlocked at 4 until the 12th. Marcano got things started with a lead off walk and was followed up with a single by Machado, putting runners on the corner. Marcano would score on a sacrifice fly from Dickerson. Abrams singled to put two runners on, and Verdugo brought in Machado with a single. Runners now on second and third with one out. A double from Kim would bring in both runners to score, and a two-out single by Gallagher would bring in Kim. We ended the innings by bringing across 5 runs.

Ohtani took the hill to see the game out, and he made things interesting to say the least. He gave up a lead off single, and a 2-out, 2-run home run to Keston Hiura. Thankfully for us, that was all the offense the Brewers could muster. It took extra innings, but Game 1 goes to us!

Final Score: 9-6 (12)
Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (3-5, 2 doubles, 2 R, 2 RBI)

Game 2 in Milwaukee
Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Freddy Peralta (9-7)

Giving up 1st inning leads is really a trend I would prefer not to see. The Brewers made the first strike with a little small ball. A lead off single, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI double would give them an early lead. However, Paddack would quickly settle down after that. In fact, that early one aside, both offenses seemed pretty anemic following the previously night’s flurry of offense. Both starters would have excellent outings, with Paddack giving up 1 run over 6 innings, and Peralta giving up 1 run over 7. It would come down to the bullpens to decide this one.

In the top of the 8th, Manny Machado would step up and hit a solo shot off of Brent Suter. Nothing like adding a little October heroics to your potential MVP resume. That run proved to be the difference as Green and Elledge would close out the game for us and hold the lead.

Final Score: 2-1
Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (6.0 IP, 6 K, 2 BB, 1 R)

Game 3 in San Diego
Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Tarik Skubal (4-9)

With a chance to close out the series in front of the home fans, our boys were ready for this one. We came out of the gates flying, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from Machado and a 3-run home run by Verdugo. Weather took the hill and looked like an old veteran, not a 23 year old in his first full season with the club. The youngster tossed 6.1 innings, racking up 10 K and giving up 2 runs.

By the end of the third, it was 5-2. That score would hold for most of the game. The Brewers tried to make things interesting in their half of the 9th. Johnson would give up a solo home run to Joey Gallo, but the Brewers couldn’t build any momentum off of it. We’re finally advancing to the next round!

Final Score: 5-3
Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, Series MVP)

Los Angeles Dodgers (2) vs Atlanta Braves (3)

AL Division Series

Tampa Bay Rays (1) vs Houston Astros (3)

Seattle Mariners (2) vs Minnesota Twins (3)

NL Championship Series

San Diego Padres vs Atlanta Braves

Game 1 in Atlanta
James Paxton (16-7) vs Mike Soroka (12-7)

Picking up right where we left off, we came out of the gates swinging against the Braves. 1 lead off single from Miller, and RBI triple from Marcano, and an RBI single from Machado would give us an early 2-0 lead. The Braves would get one back in the 3rd, but we would tack on another 3 in the 4th to extend our lead.

We would keep adding to our lead with runs scored in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. Paxton wasn’t at his best, but he did more than enough to limit the Braves’ offense.

Final Score: 10-3
Player of the Game: Ian Miller (4-6, 2 R, 3 RBI)

Game 2 in Atlanta
Blake Snell (3-1) vs Eduardo Rodriguez (12-8)

Today’s game was a perfect example as to why I’ve spent the last couple of seasons building, and building, and building up our bullpen. Snell was bad. In fact, he was down right awful - 6 runs in just 2.2 innings of work. Normally, an outing like that would doom a team. But the number one pen in the league had something to say about that. 8 different relievers would combine to see the rest of the game out, and they would surrender just 2 runs in the process.

And our bats had a few thoughts of their own to add. We scored four runs of our own through the first four innings to keep ourselves within touching distance. A 4-run eighth would finally close the gap and tie things up. As previously mentioned, our bullpen would hold strong and we would push this game into extra innings.

In the top of the 11th, Marcano would get on base with a 2-out single. Machado would follow that up with a 2-run bomb to give us the lead. Dare I say, do we have a new Mr. October on our hands?

Final Score: 10-8 (11)
Player of the Game: Ha-Seong Kim (3-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI)

Game 3 in San Diego
Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Max Fried (16-7)

After the offensive explosion of Game 1, this one must have seemed like a bore. Both pitchers started off strong, but it was us that struck first. In the bottom of the fourth we got things started with a lead off single from Marcano. Dickerson would add a 2-run double from Dickerson and a sacrifice fly from Abrams would give us a 3-0 lead.

Paddack looked dominant on the hill. He gave up just 1 unearned run and struck out 12. Our relievers would come in and shut them down for the rest of the game. Should we get our brooms ready?

Final Score: 4-1
Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (6.1 IP, 1 R, 1 B, 12 K)

Game 4 in San Diego
Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Chris Bassitt (12-3)

You always want to be prepared for the unexpected, but losing your starting pitcher to injury in the first inning is something you’re never really prepared for. Unfortunately, that’s the position the Braves found themselves in. Bassitt was removed from the game after giving up a single to Marcano. Former Padres reliever Craig Stammen came in and did not fare well. We scored four runs off of the reliever, which was capped off by a 2-run home run by Verdugo.

The Braves tried to rally with a pair of runs in the top of the second, but we crushed any hopes of a comeback by adding on three more runs in the second in response. We had an absolute field day with their relievers, the highlight of which was a grand slam from Machado in the fifth. The brooms were out and we celebrated with a blow out. We’re going to the World Series!

Final Score: 16-3
Player of the Game: Manny Machado (2-4. 1 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, Series MVP)

AL Championship Series

Houston Astros (2) vs Minnesota Twins (4)

World Series

San Diego Padres vs Minnesota Twins

Game 1 in Minnesota
James Paxton (16-7) vs Luis Castillo (12-7)

Despite having a terrific regular season, Paxton has not looked the same in the playoffs. Our ace struggled today, giving up 4 runs and 5 walks in 6.2 innings of work. We were able to get to their starter, but playing from behind was always going to make this tough.

Our boys gave it one heck of a shot though. We scrapped our way back to tie things up at 4 a piece with a pair of runs scored over the last two innings of the game. Headed into the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, we handed the ball over to our closer, Pierce Johnson, to take the game into extra innings for us. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Kyle Schwarber would hit a game winning, 2-run walkoff to give Minnesota the first game.

Final Score: 4-6
Player of the Game: Jake Cave (2-3, 1 R, 2 RBI)

Game 2 in Minnesota
Blake Snell (3-1) vs Kenta Maeda (9-5)

There’s a very concerning trend developing that we’ll get into in a second. This game was a dream for the batters, and a nightmare for the pitchers. Both teams came out swinging, and our every attempt to take the lead was immediately answered by their lineup. With all these callbacks, I wasn’t sure if I was at a ball game or at the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Headed into the 9th, the game was all tied up at 6. We started off our half of the inning with a pair of lead off walks from Marcano and Machado, and a 2-run double from Abrams. With the knowledge that we have one of the best bullpens in the league, we headed into the bottom of the 9th confident that we were going to shut the door and tie up the series.

The Twins had other plans. Remember that concerning trend I mentioned? Well, it seems that once again, we have a closer that has developed the yips. Johnson came in to close this one out and promptly blew the lead on a 2-run double. He followed that up by blowing the game by giving up a 2-run walkoff home run.

Two games, two walk off home runs. I’m not sure what to do about Johnson at this point.

Final Score: 8-10
Player of the Game: Jake Cave (4-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI)

Game 3 in San Diego
Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Noah Syndergaard (10-7)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - it’s hard to win when you’re playing from behind. Oh, you’ve heard that one? Well, the great thing about this year’s team is that playing from behind doesn’t seem to matter. This year’s squad never seems to give up. Despite going down 0-1 to start the game, Paddack quickly settled down, and the lineup went to work reclaiming that lead.

After giving up that early run, Paddack found his groove and threw a gem. We would tie things up with a solo shot from Marcano in the third, take the lead with an RBI single in the 4th, and then extend our lead with another solo shot from Marcano in the 5th.

And that’s all it took. Paddack led the way and our bullpen took care of the rest. I did drop Johnson from the closer role. Elledge has taken over and nabbed his first save in his first attempt.

Final Score: 3-1
Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (7.2 IP, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K)

Game 4 in San Diego
Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Riley O’Brien

It’s amazing what some home cooking can do. The boys came alive at the plate in front of the home crowd. We racked up two runs on three singles to start the game. Weathers gave up a pair of runs, but we retook the lead in the third with a pair of runs of our own. In the 4th, we extended our lead backed by a 2-run home run from Marcano. That makes three dingers in two games for our first baseman.

Our bullpen would surrender one more additional run, but in the end, it didn’t matter much. The series is all tied up as we look to pull ahead in our final game in San Diego.

Final Score: 8-3
Player of the Game: Tucupita Marcano (2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)

Game 5 in San Diego
Jacob Nix (4-8) vs Luis Castillo (12-7)

Going into the final game in San Diego, the Twins decided to throw out Castillo on short rest to try and stop our momentum. It was a gamble that paid off. Both offenses were stalled as both Nix and Castillo threw the ball pretty well.

The Twins were able to get a run in the second with a solo shot from Schwarber. However, other than that, the inexperienced Nix was able to keep the Minnesota batters at bay. Unfortunately, it was our bullpen that let us down this time. Kela came in to start the 6th and gave up a quick two runs. He has not looked good this postseason. His ERA is up at 9.64. Verdugo would close the gap with a 2-run homerun in the 7th, but that’s all we could muster.

The series goes back to Minnesota with the momentum in the Twins’ favor.

Final Score: 2-3
Player of the Game: Jacob Nix (5.0 IP, 1 R, 6 K)

Game 6 in Minnesota
James Paxton (16-7) vs Kenta Maeda (9-5)

Despite not being at his best, with the series on the line there was no other arm we could turn to other than our ace’s. And once again, despite still not being at his best, Paxton found a way to get the job done. Thankfully, he didn’t need to pitch like an ace because our offense decided to show up today.

We got things started with a solo shot from Machado in the first. He now has 7 HR this postseason. We added two more runs in the 2nd with a 2-run single from Gallagher, and another two runs in the 3rd from a 2-run homer from Verdugo. He leads the team with 23 RBI in the postseason.

The Twins would get a couple back, but our offense was not letting them back into this game. We would tack on an additional six runs over the rest of the game to seal the deal.

Final Score: 11-3
Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (5-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, tied NL playoff game record with 5 hits)

Game 7 in Minnesota
Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Noah Syndergaard (10-7)

Now it was our turn to take a risk. Rather than go with the schedule Snell, I opted to go with the hot hand for this game - Chris Paddack. Paddack had just a 0.90 ERA headed into this game, so with the series on the line, I threw my faith behind him.

It wasn’t a pretty outing by the 27 year old, but he grinding things out and kept us in a position where we could compete. We struck first with runs in the top of the 2nd and top of the 3rd. Jake Cave, who has had a heck of a series for the Twins, got things started for them with a solo shot in their half of the 3rd. They would tack on two more runs that inning, taking the lead 2-3.

But Padres never say die! We took back the lead with 2 runs in the 4th, another in the 5th, and capped things off with a 2-run homer from Machado in the 6th. After giving up his fourth and final run in the 7th, our new set up of Johnson - Green - Elledge came in and sealed the deal.

We’ve finally done it! We’re bringing the trophy home to San Diego!

Final Score: 7-4
Player of the Game: Luis Campusano (3-4, 1 R, 2 RBI)

Series MVP: Alex Verdugo (13-27, 2 HR, 12 RBI)

Sundance · 07-14-2021, 04:13 PM

Overall Record: 88-74
Position: 2nd (Wildcard)
Games Back: 1 (+1 in Wildcard)

Life is strange, isn’t it? 2023 was the worst regular season the club has had since I took charge, and yet we walked away with the World Series trophy. Just goes to show that you just need to be invited to the big dance because once you’re in, anything can happen.

Let’s start off with the highlights.

2B/1B Tucupita Marcano
.335/.404/.448, 27 doubles, 2 triples, 10 HR, 60 RBI, 94 R, 23 SB, 5.0 WAR

It’s safe to say that Marcano was the biggest surprise of the year. He wasn’t even expected to be a starter this season, but thanks to some unfortunate injuries and a down year for Abreu, Marcano found his way into a starter role. He finished the season ranked 7th in the NL in hits (182), 7th in steals, 2nd in average, and 5th in OBP. He also earned his first All-Star appearance and even made it on the shortlist for MVP voting.

3B Manny Machado
.315/.377/.573, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 112 R, 7 SB, 7.3 WAR

In the absence of Tatis Jr., Machado put the team on his back and carried us through the season and into the playoffs. He finished 2nd in the NL in hits (189), 1st in total bases (344), 3rd in HR, 2nd in RBI, 5th in runs, 5th in average, 2nd in slugging, and 3rd in WAR. He was selected for his 7th All-Star game, won his 3rd Silver Slugger, and finished 2nd in MVP voting for the second year in a row.

LF Corey Dickerson
.312/.357/.482, 37 doubles, 1 triple, 21 HR, 90 RBI, 85 R, 3 SB, 3.8 WAR

We didn’t quite get the year out of our outfielders that we expected, but Dickerson was a constant performer throughout the season. He finished 6th in the NL in average. He helped to pick up some of the slack from the injured Tatis as he also set a career high in RBI this season. We were hoping that all three of our outfielders could replicate their productions from last season, but it was Dickerson who came through for us.

RF Alex Verdugo
.284/.348/.451, 39 doubles, 1 triple, 13 HR, 61 RBI, 67 R, 5 SB, 3.3 WAR

Verdugo had a solid season, but he gets a special mention for his postseason play. He was named the NLDS MVP and the World Series MVP. He hit .441/.470/.729 with 5 doubles, 4 HR, and 23 RBI in the playoffs.

SP James Paxton
16-7, 220.2 IP, 268 K, 3.02 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 6.5 WAR

Paxton was an absolute stud this year and was clearly our ace, even despite some questionable performances in the playoffs. He finished the season ranked 1st in the NL in wins, 1st in IP, 1st in strikeouts, 3rd in ERA, 2nd in WHIP, 5th in K/BB (4.87), and 1st in WAR. His WAR is the 4th best by a Padres’ pitcher in history, and his 268 K set a club record. He was selected to his 3rd straight All-Star game and ended up finishing 2nd in the NL Cy Young vote.

RP Seth Elledge
9-2, 79.2 IP, 122 K, 1.92 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 2.5 WAR
The 27 year old righty was by far our best reliever this season. He has steadily improved every year so far and looks like he might be our answer at closer. He got absolutely robbed in the Reliever of the Year award, finishing 5th in voting. Robbed I say!

The Bullpen as a Whole

Lots of honorable mentions coming from our pen.

Archie Bradley - 5-1, 83.2 IP, 80 K, 2.37 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 0.5 WAR
Chad Green - 6-5, 66.2 IP, 74 K, 2.43 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 1.6 WAR
Pierce Johnson - 4-7, 36 saves, 59.2 IP, 69 K, 2.72 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 1.0 WAR

Prospect Follow Up

SP Mackenzie Gore - MLB
SP Ryan Weathers - MLB
RP Nick Sandlin - MLB
C Luis Campusano - MLB
2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB
SS CJ Abrams - AAA -> MLB
LF Robert Hassell III - AA -> AAA
RF Andy Pages - A+ -> AA
SP David Harrison - AA
SS Orelvis Martinez - R -> A+
SP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA -> MLB -> AAA
1B Blaze Jordan - A
2B Livan Soto - AA -> AAA

Sundance · 07-15-2021, 12:45 AM

Extensions

3B Manny Machado - Opted out, re-signed for 6 years, $210,000,000
SP James Paxton - Opted out, re-signed for 5 years, $110,000,000
SP Blake Snell - 4 years, $65,000,000
SP Chris Paddack - 5 years, $60,000,000
1B Tucupita Marcano - 4 years, $41,000,000
RP Tim Hill - 2 years, $6,200,000
RP Seth Elledge - 1 year, $3,000,000
SP MacKenzie Gore - 1 year, $1,000,000
SP Jacob Nix - 1 year, $900,000

Transactions

To Pittsburgh Pirates - RP Keone Kela, minor league RHP Michel Baez
To San Diego Padres - RHP Blake Cederlind

If I had to name my philosophy when running a club, it would be this - I may not always have the best teams, but I will have the hardest working ones. Unfortunately, Kela doesn’t fit that philosophy. He’s served as well, but I think there are better options out there. Michel Baez spent some time with the big league club last year, but unfortunately, I just don’t see a spot for him on our roster going forward.

Cederlind is the 2023 NL Reliever of the Year (I still maintain that Elledge was robbed). He led the league in saves with 41. I had thought about giving the closer role to Elledge, but I think it makes more sense to have him in a position where he will see more game time. Cederlind will start as a closer and gives us the option to move Elledge around as needed.

To Boston Red Sox - LF Greg Allen, minor league C Grayson Geiner, minor league LHP Aaron Leasher, minor league CF Jawuan Harris, $10,000 in cash
To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Dante Bichette Jr.

The driving force behind this move was that I wanted to clear some room off of our 40-man roster. Did we give up a lot for a 31 year old minor league who will never see time with our big league team? Yea probably. But Bichette Jr. brings some solid leadership to our organization and should serve as a role model for our prospects moving through the minors.

To Toronto Blue Jays - RHP Jacob Nix, RHP Shohei Ohtani (Retain 40%)
To San Diego Padres - RHP Elvis Luciano

A new arrival to our starting rotation meant one less spot for everyone else. Unfortunately, Nix was the odd man out. The Ohtani experiment was fun while it lasted, but the simple fact is that he’s just not that good right now. We had to eat a big chunk of his contract, but we needed to deal him. We don’t have to worry about him anymore, and the Jays get a player they can market like crazy.

Luciano is a 24 year old righty that worked out of the pen last season. He had a pretty average season last year. He falls in that gray area where he could be a back end starter, or he could come out of the pen. We’re going to utilize him as a reliever, but if we’re hit with injuries again, he might get a few spot starts. He has a power fastball, a devastating changeup, and a plus slider.

To San Francisco Giants - CF Ian Miller
To San Diego Padres - Minor league RHP Ryan Conroy

Miller broke into our team in 2022 and was the biggest surprise of the year. Unfortunately, he couldn’t replicate his success in 2023. His line dropped to .248/.299/.322 and he stopped being a threat on the base paths. In 2022, he stole a base once every 14 at-bats with a 75% success rate. In 2023, those numbers dropped to 1 steal per 23 at-bats at a 65% success rate. Ironically, just like he forced his way into the lineup in 2022, another outfielder forced their way into it in 2023 and claimed Miller’s spot.

Conroy is a pretty average pitcher who still has a little bit of room to grow. If he maximizes his potential, he should be a slightly above average starter. For now, he’ll be stuck in AAA and will probably only see time at the big league level this season if we are once again hit with injuries.

To Houston Astros - Minor league 2B Kevin Merrell, minor league CF Jake Mangum
To San Diego Padres - RF Chas McCormick

Oh Jake Mangum, what a player you could have been. All of the potential in the world to be a top contact hitter. Good contact, good eye, great speed, and one of the toughest batters to strike out. He found success in the Mets organization, but unfortunately, the move to the Padres just didn’t seem to suit him. We needed to explore other options.

Chas McCormick will assume Mangum’s place on the bench as a backup outfielder. Mangum is probably the better player, but he just wasn’t cutting it. McCormick might develop above average contact ability, he has more power, a better eye, and the same toughness at the plate. He’s got above average speed, although nowhere near as fast as Mangum, and he’s also a bit worse defensively. But we needed another option on the bench, so we’re going to give him a chance.

To Jacksonville Warhawks - RHP Carlos Belen, minor league CF Jose Azocar, minor league 2B Otto Lopez, minor league RHP Reiss Knehr
To San Diego Padres - Minor league LF Brayan Buelvas

When it came time to settle on my final roster, I found Belen surplus to requirements. He’s a good reliever in my opinion, but I felt that I simply had better options to go with. The rest are middle of the road prospects that we can do without.

Buelvas is a 21 year old outfield prospect. His ceiling is pretty average, but I see a lot about his game that I like. He should be a good contact hitter that can work line drives gap to gap. His speed is ok and he’s a slightly above average defender. If he hits his potential, he has the type of skill set I wouldn’t mind seeing in our 2 spot.

To Los Angeles Dodgers - SP MacKenzie Gore
To San Diego Padres - Minor league C Diego Cartaya

I really was hoping that Gore would work out, but he’s simply too injury prone. Even worse, because of the surgery on his throwing arm to remove bone chips from his elbow, our scouts don’t believe that he’ll ever reach the potential that he once showed. Dealing him to the Dodgers was like rubbing salt in our wound, but there weren’t many willing to take a risk on Gore.

All I can say about the 22 year old Cartaya is that he’s average. Average in every way. But that isn’t always a bad thing, and with a lack of decent catching prospects in our organization, he’s a nice addition.

Additions

SP Shane Bieber - 7 years, $161,000,000

Going into this off season, I didn’t have plans to sign a big free agent. We needed some small improvements to our roster, but I thought our squad was in a pretty good position. But the owner gave me the green light to spend this off season, and I’m taking advantage of it.

A pitcher of Bieber’s quality doesn’t come around too often. He’s won three of the last four AL Cy Young Awards. With money in the bank, I had to go after him. We’ll now have a one-two-three punch of Bieber, Paxton, and Snell at the front of our rotation. Opposing teams are going to dread our rotation.

RP Robby Butron - 5 years, $26,400,000

Butron is a 26 year old reliever out of Cuba. He has a power fastball and a nasty splitter. He should be able to rack up the strikeouts with his nasty stuff and decent control. What can I say, I can never have enough arms at my disposal.

RF Franmil Reyes - 5 years, $58,500,000

La Mole returns to San Diego. We needed an outfielder and Reyes was on the market. He led the AL last season with 126 RBI for the Royals. Consistency has been an issue for Reyes. In a good year, he’ll hit .270-.280 with 35+ HR. In a bad one, he’ll hit .250 with 20 HR. I think we have enough dangerous batters around him that he should be productive in our lineup.

Departures

C Cam Gallagher - Free agent, unemployed

That was a simple one. As much as I value his leadership, he simply wanted more money than I was willing to pay for a backup catcher. After hitting .297/.345/.386 for us in 2022, his numbers dropped to .189/.265/.255. Aside from his leadership, there really isn’t any reason for him to be in our lineup at this point. We can get his offensive production from anyone, and he’s not particularly useful as a defensive sub either.

Minor League SS Nick Gordon - Rule 5 Draft, Cincinnati Reds

I’m not sure what the Reds see in Gordon that we don’t. They picked him in the Rule 5 draft just 7 days after we signed him to a minor league contract. He’s a below average hitter, but above average on the base paths and in the field. The reason why we gave him a contract was for his mental makeup. Gordon is a natural leader. But there’s not enough there to keep him on a MLB roster for a full season.

RF Alex Verdugo - Free agent, St. Louis Cardinals - 8 years, $142,600,000

How can you let the man who was the MVP in two of your playoff series walk away from the team? Well, you can do it when he wants a King’s ransom. I was actually willing to pay him close to the yearly salary that he demanded. What I wasn’t willing to do was give him an 8-year contract. Ultimately, that was the divide we couldn’t close. To be honest, I just couldn’t bring myself to sign a player with questionable work ethic and be stuck with him for years on end.

Owner Goals

2024 - Upgrade at Center Field this season
2024 - Extend Blake Snell’s contract (Completed)
2025 - Win the Championship
2025 - Bring more drafted players into the team
2028 - Build a team that can bring a championship home

Outlook

Having been crowned the 2023 world champions, all eyes will be on us this upcoming season. Our goal is simple, to defend our title. The bookies have us as the best team in the league, predicting us to finally topple the Dodgers during the regular season. With Bieber, Paxton, and Snell leading our rotation, few teams will relish seeing us on the schedule. Surprisingly, the odds makers see Weathers, and not Paxton, joining Bieber and Snell as one of the top 10 pitchers in the league.

With a series of big money moves to both re-sign players and to bring in a few new faces, can we live up to the hype? Can we repeat as champions? Has the Slam Diego dynasty finally arrived?

Sundance · 07-16-2021, 12:19 PM

Fernando Tatis Jr. - SS - 25

Injuries ruined what could have been another MVP-worthy season for El Nino in 2023. In 40 games he hit .346/.428/.718 with 11 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HR, and 4.0 WAR. Tatis will look to get back on track in what will hopefully be a healthy 2024. There is one area of concern however. It looks like he’s lost a step or two for some reason. Neither of his major injuries last season affected his legs, but perhaps the overall toll they took on his body has caused the dip in speed. We’ll have to keep an eye on his baserunner this season.

Manny Machado - 3B - 31

Machado has put together back to back MVP-worthy seasons and will look to continue his dominance. The star third baseman put the team on his back last season, but Tatis Jr. now healthy, there should be less pressure on our star. We’re hoping for another season of .300+ average, .900+ OPS, 35+ HR, and 7+ WAR.

Ha-Seong Kim - 2B - 28

Another player who is looking to bounce back with a healthy season. The jury is still out on who Kim is. We know he’s good, but we don’t really know how he’s good. Is he a guy that’s going to hit .260 with 25+ HR like in 2022? Or is he a guy that’s going to hit .330 with 10-15 HR like he might have done had he stayed healthy in 2023? Whatever the case, we know that he's going to produce. He should be a main cog in our lineup.

Tucupita Marcano - 1B - 24

Marcano has been impressive since making it to the big league roster in 2021. So impressive, in fact, that I’ve had to find a way to keep him in the lineup. 2023 will be his first season as our full-time first baseman. He performed well in the role in limited action last season, so I’m hoping that the transition shouldn’t be too difficult for the youngster. He’ll look to build on his All-Star-worthy 2023 season.

Shane Bieber - SP - 28

Our big free agent grab. Bieber will enter 2023 as our team’s ace, and deservedly so - He’s won three of the last four AL Cy Young awards. With wicked stuff and five devastating pitches, he’ll spearhead what should be a very dominant starting rotation.

James Paxton - SP - 35

Paxton has lost his spot at the head of our rotation, but remains no less important to our team. The NL Cy Young runner up should once again be in the conversation for some awards come season’s end. He has some of the nastiest stuff in the game and will be a dominant arm. He finished three seasons in a row with 200+ innings and 200+ strikeouts. We expect him to once again be a work horse for us.

Blake Snell - SP - 31

Snell was the 2021 NL Cy Young runner up. Unfortunately, he followed that performance up by missing half of the 2022 season, and most of the 2023 season as he recovered from a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament. Snell showed what kind of pitcher he can be in a dominant NL Wild Card performance. Unfortunately, he followed that up with two more outings in the playoffs that were absolutely horrendous. Our scouts don’t rate him as highly as they used to, but the bookies still think he’ll end up as a top 10 pitcher this season. We’ll need another good season out of him if we wish to defend our title.

Seth Elledge - RP - 27

Elledge has been one of the most dominant relievers over the past two seasons. I still maintain, to this day, that he was absolutely robbed in the Reliever of the Year voting last season. Sure, you can argue against him winning it, but to finish as low as he did is a crime. His dominance and consistency coming out of the pen will be key to our success this season.

Blake Cederlind - CL - 28

Another year, another closer. We need someone who isn’t going to crack under the pressure of a playoff run. Cederlind is the reigning NL Reliever of the Year. He led the NL in saves last season with 41. We’re hoping that he’s the answer we’ve been searching for.

Prospects 2024

SS CJ Abrams - MLB
SP Ryan Weathers - MLB
RP Elvis Luciano - MLB
SP Will Bednar - AAA
SP David Harrison - AAA
RP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA
SP Tommy Sheehan - AAA
3B Aaron Sabato - AAA
2B Livan Soto - AAA
LF Robert Hassell III - AA
C Diego Cartaya - AA
RF Tirso Ornelas - AA
RF Andy Pages - A+
SP Jagger Haynes - A+
SS Orelvis Martinez - A+
CL Michell Miliano - A+
SP Ian Murphy - R
C Jesus Galiz - R
1B Blaze Jordan - R
LF Brayan Buelvas - R
CF Zayed Salinas - R

Sundance · 07-16-2021, 04:01 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 15-10
Overall Record: 15-10
Position: 2nd
Games Back: 0

The Good

We’re 0 games back, so that’s good. The pitching staff, as expected, is looking tough to beat. It’s early on, so we have to take all of these numbers with a grain of salt, but we’re 2nd in the NL in ERA, 1st in WAR, 4th in walks allowed, and 1st in strikeouts.

Chris Paddack is off to a hot start. He went 4-0 with a 1.97 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and led the staff in strikeouts (45) and WAR (2.1) over 5 starts. Shane Bieber is also looking good - 2-1, 3.38 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 38 K over 5 starts. Archie Bradley continues to look like a reliable arm coming out of the pen. He tossed 10.1 innings with a 0.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 14 K.

Offensive there are a few moments to be pleased about. Machado launched 8 home runs in the opening month. Tatis Jr. is looking decent to start the year - Not great, but decent.

The Bad

There’s 3 teams sitting atop the NL West with the same exact record. The D-Backs, us, and the Dodgers, in that order.

Elledge had an uncharastically bad month. He got knocked around for a 6.48 ERA and 1.92 WHIP. Hopefully he can smooth things out because we are going to need his arm in the long run.

We also lost Franmil Reyes for a couple of weeks with an oblique strain. LF Alek Thomas has been called up from AAA.

The Ugly

The offense. It’s nonexistent to start the season. Luis Campusano is hitting .164, Ha-Seong Kim is hitting .232, and Corey Dickerson is hitting .193. We’re down near the bottom of the NL in most categories except runs and homeruns, where we are middle of the pack, strikeouts (2ns), and base running (tied for 1st in steals and 2nd in base running). We really need our bats to come alive soon.

Sundance · 07-16-2021, 05:55 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 21-8
Overall Record: 36-18
Position: 1st
Games Back: +4

The Good

We managed to separate ourselves from the pack this month and finished in first place. Can’t complain about that!

The bats also started waking up a bit. Tatis Jr. looked better in May with a .316/.368/.561 line with 7 HR and 21 RBI. Corey Dickerson finally looked like himself with a .311/.357/.500, 5 HR, 23 RBI month. And I know our owner wants us to upgrade in center and replace Carlos Tocci, but when he hits .349/.410/.431 with 7 doubles, I kind of can’t.

On the mound, Chris Paddack added another 4 wins to his tally, although he didn’t look quite as dominant as he did in the first month of the season. Shane Bieber continues pitching like an ace, despite not getting results - he went 1-0 over 6 starts with a 3.38 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 49 K. Ryan Weathers now leads the club in losses with a 1-3 record in May, despite the fact that he’s pitching exceptionally well. In 6 starts he posted a 3.52 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP.

The bullpen also looked very strong this month. Seth Elledge bounced back with a 1.69 ERA, 0.38 WHIP, and 20 K in 10.2 innings of work. Blake Cederlind racked up 12 saves with a 1.84 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. He converted 30 straight save opportunities, dating back to last season, before blowing his last attempt of the month.

The Bad

Archie Bradley and Chad Green both had months to forget coming out of the pen. Ha-Seong Kim improved this month, but that doesn’t mean that he’s hitting well. Hopefully he can figure things out. Manny Machado had a disappointing month as well. The only silver lining being that he added another 6 HR to his tally.

The Ugly

Injuries. Again. Luis Campusano fractured his ankle trying to advance to second on a fielder’s choice in the 9th inning of a game against the Dodgers. He’ll be out 2-3 months. We don’t have any real options to take his place, so Diego Cartaya is getting the call. He’ll start the majority of games with MJ Melendez rotating in. Blake Snell is once again on the IL, this time with a rotator cuff strain. He’s out 6-7 weeks. Pierce Johnson is suffering from shoulder tendinitis, and he’s out 5-6 weeks.

Our 2021 first round draft pick, SP Will Bednar, will replace Snell and RP Nick Sandlin will rejoin the team to replace Johnson.

Sundance · 07-18-2021, 01:54 AM

Recap

Monthly Record: 15-10
Overall Record: 51-28
Position: 1st
Games Back: +4

The Good

The lead is holding! We’re still 4 games up on the Dodgers, and the D-Backs have fallen to 11 back. We currently have the second best record in baseball, only trailing the Tigers who are 54-25.

Tatis Jr. keeps plugging along and producing, although not quite at the same pace as his MVP season. He hit .292/.346/.510 with 7 doubles and 4 HR in this short month. It’s hard to say he’s having a down year when he’s already posted 4.3 WAR on the season. Carlos Tocci continues to impress and even the owner is starting to ease up on the pressure to improve in center field. He hit .364/.382/.465 and tied Tatis Jr. for the most doubles this month with 7 of his own. He also had a 24 game hit streak this month.

Shane Bieber had another fantastic month. He went 2-1 with a 2.51 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 28 K in 4 starts. Ryan Weathers is also coming along nicely. In 5 starts the youngster went 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.69 WHIP. Will Bednar, who we recently had to call up, also looked great. He went 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 12.5 K/9 in 5 starts, good enough to earn him NL Rookie of the Month honors. Seth Elledge also seemed to right the ship coming out of the pen and looked like his dominant self - 1.35 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 10.8 K/9 for the month.

Here’s a look at the Padres who made the All-Star team this year:

SP Shane Bieber - 5-2, 3.12 ERA, 98.0 IP, 0.94 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 3.0 WAR
SP Blake Snell - 4-2, 3.34 ERA, 56.2 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 1.8 WAR (Injured)
SP Ryan Weathers - 4-5, 2.47 ERA, 91.0 IP, 0.92 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 2.2 WAR
RP Seth Elledge - 1-1, 3.38 ERA, 24 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 14.6 K/9, 1.1 WAR
CL Blake Cedderlind - 2-4, 20 SV, 2.62 ERA, 34.1 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 1.1 WAR
1B Tucupita Marcano - .286/.366/.415, 7 HR, 12 SB, 114 wRC+, 1.7 WAR
3B Manny Machado - .243/.319/.485, 17 HR, 4 SB, 114 wRC+. 2.0 WAR
SS Fernando Tatis Jr. - .300/.353/.526, 14 HR, 6 SB, 139 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
CF Carlos Tocci - .336/.379/.417, 2 HR, 3 SB, 123 wRC+, 2.5 WAR

Former Padres’ 1B Jose Abreu (.322/.381/.625, 20 HR, 171 wRC+, 3.2 WAR) and RF Wil Myers (.256/.301/.520, 17 HR, 3 SB, 117 wRC+, 1.3 WAR) also made the All-Star game for the AL.

The Bad

Ha-Seong Kim has really fallen off the pace this season. He hit just .185/.284/.198 for the month with just one extra base hit. Franmil Reyes is also struggling. He hit .253/.301/.387 with just 2 home runs, bringing his season total to a whopping 3.

The Ugly

Once again, the story here is injuries. Chas McCormick went down with a fractured finger. It’ll take him at least 6 weeks to be back. Alek Thomas will be called up to replace him. Corey Dickerson strained an oblique and was originally expected to miss 3 weeks. His return now is uncertain as he isn’t bouncing back from it like we had hoped. Robert Hassell III will join the team to help us out in the outfield.

Sundance · 07-18-2021, 07:21 PM

Recap

Monthly Record: 17-12
Overall Record: 68-40
Position: 1st
Games Back: +5

The Draft

Our top pick this year went to 21 year old SS Max Muncy out of the University of Arkansas. If he reaches his potential, he should be a pretty average MLB player. But what really drew me to him is his personality. This kid lives for the big moments. When the game is on the line, he is the type that wants to be right in the thick of it. He’s a natural leader that won’t back down from anything.

The Good

We managed to extend our lead over the Dodgers by just a little. We had started to pull away, but we dropped two games to end the month. Tucupita Marcano had a great month for us hitting .331/.419/.441. Ha-Seong Kim finally showed signs of life and hit a ridiculous 16 doubles in July with a .299/.409/.464 line. Tatis Jr. just continues to plug along and be productive. He hit .281/.333/.544 with a team leading 8 HR and 23 RBI.

Another month, another dominant showing from Shane Bieber. Our ace went 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, and 44 K over 6 starts. Ryan Weathers continues to make impressive strides with a 2-0 record and 0.94 WHIP in 5 starts this month. Our bullpen was also impressive with several stand out performances from the likes of Robby Butron, Chad Green, Tyler Johnson, and Elvis Luciano. Our pitching staff now leads the NL in every major category.

The Bad

Corey Dickerson has not looked like himself this season. July was another disappointing month as he hit just .173/.220/.267. Carlos Tocci finally looked human this month. July was the first month that the 28 year old has hit under .300 this season (.243).

The Ugly

Should I just rename this the injury section? Because that’s all I seem to be complaining about every month. For whatever reason, we are just being plagued by strained obliques this season. This time it was Seth Elledge who got hit. He should be out for a minimum of 7 weeks. RP Shuichiro Hotta will be called up from AAA to replace him.

06-29-2021, 05:35 PM	#21
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	July 2022 Recap Monthly Record: 16-13 Overall Record: 64-41 Position: 2nd Games Back: 4 Transactions To Toronto Blue Jays - RF Jorge Ona, minor league LHP Tom Cosgrove, minor league RHP Frank Lopez To San Diego Padres - LHP Tim Mayza, minor league SS Orelvis Martinez, minor league 2B Otto Lopez Thanks to a few injuries, Ona got to spend some time with the big league club this season. Unfortunately, I just don’t see a spot for him on this roster in the future. He’s just not good enough to beat out our current starters and we have more useful options for the bench. It was time to move him along. Mayza will start off in the minor for us, but he’s a veteran arm that we can plug into our staff. He’s some much needed insurance for a staff that seems to get injured quite often. I'm very excited about acquiring Martinez and Lopez. With having such a young core up the middle of the infield, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever see time as starters, but there’s a lot to like about their approaches at the plate. If they develop, they should be nice additions to our bench. To Los Angeles Dodgers - LF Brian O’Grady To San Diego Padres - minor league RF Andy Pages Making a deal with the devil is never fun, but sometimes it pays off. O’Grady has spent quite a bit of time with the big league club over the last couple of seasons, but he’s never really done enough to stick around. He has fantastic speed and a knack for snatching bases, so he’s a great option coming off of the bench. I think that’s what makes him attractive to the Dodgers, so we took advantage of that. Pages isn’t going to see the majors any time soon, but if he develops, he should be a decent hitter with above average power. To St. Louis Cardinals - LF Jurickson Profar, RHP Nabil Crismatt To San Diego Padres - RHP Pierce Johnson Unfortunately for Profar, the development of Miller comes at the expense of his starting position. He lost his starting spot and he makes too much money to be a bench player, so we needed to ship him out. Trading Crismatt was a harder decision. He’s talented enough to be a big league pitcher, but when I look at our staff and how well everyone is doing, I just can’t find a spot for someone of his quality. Johnson, on the other hand, is a legitimate upgrade to our pen that we can justify. Our inability to keep the ball in the yard was one of our downfalls last year, and he should help in that department. As opposed to the acquisition of Pages, this was much more a “win now” move. The Good Despite slipping a little bit in our pursuit of our NL West rivals, I really can’t complain about the team’s record. Our 64 wins this season would lead any other division. Let’s take a look at who has swung a hot stick this month. First up is our pair of catchers, Luis Campusano and Cam Gallagher. The pair combined for a .346 average with 5 doubles and 5 HR. Campusano was the hotter of the two. However, despite the fact that his development is coming along nicely, he’s still not ready to take over the starting role. He needs to show more consistency in his game before we hand the reins over to him. Fernando Tatis Jr. might as well have a permanent spot in this list. The 23 year old had another hot month, posting a .318/.407/.682 line and led the team in doubles (8), HR (9), and RBI (22). He also added 5 SB to his tally. Ian Miller bounced back with a great month. He went .292/.333/.425 with 6 doubles, 2 HR, and led the team with 6 SB. We honestly weren’t expecting Miller to be anything other than a backup player, so seeing his development and the way he has forced himself into the starting lineup has been incredible. On the other side of the ball, James Paxton is living up to his contract. Our ace went 3-1 with 39 K, 3.8525 ERA, and 1.09 WHIP over 6 starts this month. Our bullpen has also looked great this past month. Mychal Givens and Will Vest both posted sub-1 WHIPs at 0.84 and 0.51, respectively. The team now ranked in the top 4 in the NL in every major offensive, pitching, and defensive category with the exceptions of walks (14th), and walks allowed (9th). The Bad A hot month for some was a very cold month for others. Ha-Seong Kim, Manny Machado, and Corey Dickerson all had months to forget. The three combined for just a .227 average in July. Also, our running game did not look as sharp this month. We got caught stealing 9 times this month, with 3 coming from Tatis Jr. and 3 coming from Miller. The Ugly Despite our bullpen improving as a whole, there were still a couple of concerning performances. Keone Kela had a 7.94 ERA and 1.68 WHIP and Drew Pomeranz had a 5.27 ERA and 1.98 WHIP while also blowing 2 saves. Not quite what we want to see from what should be two very reliable arms in our pen. The biggest issue, once again, is injuries. SP Ryan Weathers, who we called up to replace Snell, is out for 3 weeks with a bone spur in his elbow. And in even worse news, Mackenzie Gore is officially done for the season. He’s having surgery to remove bone chips found in his elbow and is out for at least 5 months. Prior to going onto the IL, Gore was 9-7 with 118.0 IP, 144 K, 4.04 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 2.4 WAR. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

06-30-2021, 03:01 PM	#22
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	August 2022 Recap Monthly Record: 19-10 Overall Record: 83-51 Position: 2nd Games Back: 8 The Good With the dog days of summer in our rear view, we’re starting to see a separation between the good and the elite. Despite maintaining the second best record in the league, the Dodgers have now managed to pull 8 games ahead of us. They seem to always be just out of reach, but even so, I can’t be upset with how the team is playing. Gallagher continues to swing a hot stick, hitting .333 for the month. Jose Abreu went .287/.331/.537 and led the teams in RBI (29) and co-led in HR (8). Ha-Seong Kim bounced back from a disappointing July with a .320/.364/.612 line, 7 doubles, and 7 HR. Machado matched Kim in doubles and HR and went .305/.383/.571 for the month. Dickerson went .314/.366/.500 and led the team with 13 doubles in August. Tatis Jr. continues his run of excellence by posting a .296/.367/.556 line with a team leading 8 HR. In the NL, he now ranks 4th in average (.316), 1st in HR (40), 2nd in RBI (103), 3rd in OBP, 1st in slugging, 1st in WAR, 1st in hits, 1st in extra base hits, and 1st in runs. The Bad I mentioned it above, but it has to be the fact that we cannot keep pace with the Dodgers. I mean, I can’t complain about how the team is playing because we are doing great. It’s just super disheartening to see the gap between us and our rivals grow, despite how well we’re playing. The Ugly Mike Clevinger had an awful month. He started things off by being suspended for his participation in a brawl. Then he came back and just could not perform up on the hill. He went 0-1, throwing just 21 innings with 28 K, 7.11 ERA, and 1.78 WHIP over his 5 starts this month. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

06-30-2021, 07:16 PM	#23
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	September 2022 Recap Monthly Record: 16-11 Overall Record: 99-62 Position: 2nd Games Back: 13 The Good Another month, another winning record. Manny Machado led the way at the plate this month with a .323/.391/.677 line. He also led the team in hits (30), doubles (9), HR (8), RBI (20), and runs (20). Corey Dickerson also had a fine month with a .322/.380/.556 line with 4 doubles, 5 HR, and 19 RBI. Out on the mound, James Paxton continues to look every part our ace. He went 3-0 with 31.2 IP, 34 K, 2.56 ERA, and 1.14 WHIP. We also got some solid performances out of our pen. Tim Hill posted a 0.00 ERA with 1.00 WHIP over 8 games, Keone Kela had a 0.73 ERA and 0.49 WHIP over 8 games as well, and Will Vest had a 0.00 ERA and 0.75 WHIP over the course of 9 outings. The Bad Imagine having the third best record in all of baseball, your club’s best ever regular season, and yet you’re still 13 games back. That’s the situation we find ourselves in at the end of September. We have a chance at winning 100 games this season, and we’ll still end up as a wild card. We picked one hell of a time to put together some of the best teams that this club has ever had. To speak on individual performances, Tatis Jr. finally cooled off. He went just ..224/.304/.337 for the month. We need him to find his form in a hurry since the playoffs aren’t literally right around the corner. The Ugly What in the world has happened to Drew Pomeranz? He entered this season looking like one of the premiere closers in the league, but he has had a couple of just plain awful months. A WHIP over 2.00 and 2 blown saves this month. I’m honestly not sure if I can trust him to close out games as we head into the playoffs. It’s difficult to switch things around when the team is playing so well, but I may have no choice. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-02-2021, 12:46 AM	#24
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Playoffs 2022 NL Wild Card San Diego Padres vs Atlanta Braves Michel Baez (6-1) vs Chris Bassitt (12-6) We certainly know how to make things entertaining! We started off our half of the 1st with a lead off single by Alex Verdugo, an 0-1 single by Ian Miller, and a 3-run bomb by Fernando Tatis Jr. Not a bad start! The Braves would get one back in the 3rd with a solo shot from pinch hitter Braden Shewmake, but we would answer back in the 4th with 4 runs of our own. The inexperience of Baez finally showed in the 5th when he was knocked around for 3 runs as the Braves closed the gap 7-4. Drew Pomeranz, recently demoted from the role of closer, came in to start the 7th and promptly gave up a pair of runs. He may have the yips. I’m not sure that we can trust him this postseason. With our lead now shrunk to a single run, our bullpen found a way to stop the bleeding and close the game out. We advance! Final Score: 7-6 Player of the Game: Christian Pache - 3 for 5, 3 doubles (Ties NL record), 2 RBI, 2 runs NL Division Series Game 1 San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers James Paxton (16-5) vs Walker Buehler (12-5) Hit them early and hit them hard. That was our mentality going into the first game of the NLDS. And we followed through on it. We started off the game with a single by Verdugo, an error that allowed Miller to get on base, and a single from Tatis Jr. to load the bases. Machado followed up with a 2-run double to start the scoring. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Cam Gallagher took an inside pitch off the body and brought another run home. 3 runs to start the game ain’t too shabby! Unfortunately, long balls would once again come back to haunt us. Paxton would give up runs in the 1st and 2nd, and then a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 6th would give the Dodgers the lead. He struck out 12 in six innings of work, but also gave up 4 runs. Cody Bellinger would add another home run in the bottom of the 8th. Sadly, we weren’t able to keep up our early flurry of offense. First game, L.A. Final Score: 3-5 Player of the Game: Walker Buehler - 5.0 IP, 3 R, 7 K Game 2 San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers Dinelson Lamet (13-8) vs Julio Urias (11-7) Unfortunately, our streak of getting off to hot starts couldn’t continue as we faced one of the stingiest pitchers in the league. Urias shut us down to start the game. Sadly, Lament was not able to keep pace with him. It’s hard to win when your pitcher doesn’t have his best stuff. Lamet got himself into trouble in the bottom of the 1st and gave up an early 1-run lead to L.A. He got tagged for an RBI triple in the 4th, and then for 3 more runs in the 5th. For our part, Corey Dickerson put Urias under a little bit of duress in the top of the 5th when he turned on a pitch and drove a 2-run home run out of the yard. Unfortunately, every time we chipped away at the lead, they seemed to answer back and grow it again. We tried to mount a comeback in the 7th and put 2 runs on the board, but it was too little, too late at that point. Final Score: 4-7 Player of the Game: Julio Urias - 6.0 IP, 2 R, 6 K Game 3 San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers Chris Paddack (6-5) vs Clayton Kershaw (11-9) Remember last season how I mentioned that one of the issues with having such a young team was that sometimes the moment got too big for them to handle? Well, it seems like we aren’t quite over those issues yet. It’s really tough to win a game when you can’t trust your defense. Back in the starting lineup after rehabbing in the minors, Chris Paddack took the hill and pitched wonderfully. 7.2 innings, 1 ER, 7 K, and just 1 walk. Backed by a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, we headed into the 7th inning with a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, thanks to a couple costly errors by our defense, that 1 earned run that Paddack gave up in the 1st. turned into a total of 4 runs surrendered by the time his day was done. Late inning dramatics from both teams would see the game locked at 4 runs a piece as we wrapped up 9 innings of play. In the top of the 10th, Manny Machado would commit his second error of the game and let their lead off hitter reach base. This would prove costly, as just two batters later, the Dodgers would bring that runner around to score on a double. The bottom of the 10th did not start off well. Ha-Seong Kim struck out to lead things off. Pinch hitter Ivan Castillo grounded out to first for the second out. Backup outfield Greg Allen worked the count and got on base with a walk. Alex Verdugo followed that up with a single to right that moved Allen to third. With 2 outs and runners on the corner in the bottom of the 10th, we found ourselves out of options. Our bench was empty. There was no one else left. So we had to send up our pitcher, Pierce Johnson. He tried. He really did try. He worked the count to 2-2 and was fouling pitches off. Unfortunately, he’s a pitcher. And he did what pitchers so very often do. He struck out. To end the game. A costly error that ended up costing us the game against the Dodgers in the playoffs. That sounds like a familiar story, doesn’t it? Final Score: 4-5 (10) Player of the Game: Clayton Kershaw - 5.0 IP, 3 R, 5 K NL Championship Series Los Angeles Dodgers 4 vs Philadelphia Phillies 3 AL Championship Series Cleveland Indians 4 - Tampa Bay Rays 2 World Series Los Angeles Dodgers 4 vs Cleveland Indians 2 __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-02-2021, 04:01 PM	#25
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Season Recap 2022 Recap Overall Record: 100-62 Position: 2nd (Wildcard) Games Back: 13 (+9 in Wildcard) Once again, I find myself looking back at the season and feeling conflicted. There's so much to be happy with. It was the best regular season in the club’s history. Once again, we were a playoff team. But I can’t help but feel disappointed in the way things ended. At this point, the Dodgers have won three straight World Series, and have been in five of the last six. Is this the pain that our 1998 team endured? To be so close, yet so far away? To put together a championship caliber team, only to have it crushed by a dynasty? And it’s not just that they are an all-time great team. It’s that we have to take their best shot in the playoffs. They get that extra rest. They get to throw out the top of their rotation against us. And we took that shot this year. Our offense showed up. But we couldn’t do anything to slow down their offense. We won 100 games this season, and still finished 13 games behind them. We actually won the season series, 6-3 against them. But in a short format, with their best matched up against ours, it just wasn’t enough. Where do we go from here? How do I improve the team and reach them? What do I give up in order to best our rivals? Let’s take a look at some standout performances this past season. C Cam Gallagher & C Luis Campusano Gallagher - .297/.345/.386, 15 doubles, 6 HR, 50 RBI, 52 R, 2.4 WAR Campusano - .282/.354/.463, 15 doubles, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 31 R, 1.9 WAR Our platoon behind the plate really seemed to pay off this year. It would be nice to keep both of them, but both players are up for arbitration this off season. Depending on how much they are awarded, we may be forced to make a decision to keep one over the other. Their production was so similar this season, that just keeping one may not actually make much of a difference. 1B Jose Abreu .267/.319/.494, 27 doubles, 35 HR, 107 RBI, 93 R, 3.0 WAR 2022 saw Abreu develop into much more of a stereotypical power hitter. His .267 average was the second lowest of his career, but he set a career best in home runs. He ranked 10th in the NL in total bases, 6th in HR, and 9th in RBI. He’s a free agent after this season and will be turning 36 next year. He’s going to come with a high price tag. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of options out there to replace him, so we might just have to bite the bullet and pay him. 2B Ha-Seong Kim .266/.324/.498, 31 doubles, 4 triples, 26 HR, 69 RBI, 78 R, 10 SB, 4.8 WAR 2022 was a breakout year for the 27 year old international import. The second year man was awarded with his first All-Star selection, as well as his first Golden Glove! We’re still waiting on his contact ability to develop more. The skills to hit for a high average are there, he just hasn’t quite been able to get where we expect him to be. Still, I can’t complain much when he puts up a WAR number like that. 3B Manny Machado .298/.365/.556, 42 doubles, 37 HR, 111 RBI, 98 R, 7 SB, 7.3 WAR When we signed Machado to that massive contract, this is the player that we dreamed about getting. Machado finished 5th in the NL in hits, 2nd in total bases, 5th in doubles, 4th in HR, 2nd in RBI, 8th in average, 6th in OPS, and 2nd in WAR. He was selected to his 6th All-Star game, won his 2nd Silver Slugger, and finished 2nd in MVP voting. It was an absolutely monster year for Manny. SS Fernando Tatis Jr. .301/.381/.582, 33 doubles, 5 triples. 42 HR, 114 RBI, 113 R. 25 SB, 9.7 WAR Of course El Nino was going to get a mention here. Tatis Jr. was simply ridiculous in his fourth year in the league. The 23 year old ranked 3rd in the NL in hits, 1st in total bases, 2nd in HR, 10th in steals, 1st in RBI, 2nd in runs, 6th in average, 3rd in OPS, and 1st in WAR. He was elected to his 2nd All-Star game, won his 2nd Silver Slugger, and was the unanimous winner of the MVP. LF Corey Dickerson, CF Ian Miller, & RF Alex Verdugo Dickerson - .308/.349/.514, 40 doubles, 6 triples, 19 HR, 77 RBI, 70 R, 3.9 WAR Miller - .281/.334/.401, 38 doubles, 5 triples, 8 HR, 64 RBI, 93 R, 43 SB, 3.1 WAR Verdugo - .301/.366/.440, 31 doubles, 2 triples, 11 HR, 63 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB, 3.0 WAR Our outfield was so incredibly consistent this season. Their presence is a big reason for our success. Special mention needs to be given to Miller, who forced his way into the starting lineup and ended up leading the NL in stolen bases. SP James Paxton 16-5, 201.2 IP, 234 K, 3.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.7 WAR In his first full season as our ace, Paxton certainly lived up to the hype. He finished 2nd in the NL in wins, 2nd in winning percentage, 4th in IP, 2nd in K, 9th in ERA, 6th in WHIP, 1st in quality starts, and 5th in WAR. He finished 5th in Cy Young voting. RP Seth Elledge 66.1 IP, 91 K, 2.17 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 2.2 WAR I remember that when I traded for Elledge last season, I wrote that he would be a project and that he might not even make it back to the big leagues. Well, I was wrong. Not only did he make it onto our roster, but he was by far our best reliever this season. It’s a shame that he didn't receive more votes for the Reliever of the year award. I feel like he should have finished higher up. He still has hopes about being a starter, but he might just be too good to move from his current role. Prospects Follow Up SP MacKenzie Gore - MLB 2B Ha-Seong Kim - MLB 2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB C Luis Campusano - MLB SP Seth Elledge - AAA -> MLB SP Ryan Weathers - AAA -> MLB -> AAA CL Adrian Morejon - AAA SS CJ Abrams - AAA RF Jorge Ona - AAA -> Traded LF Robert Hassell III - A+ -> AA __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond Last edited by Sundance; 07-02-2021 at 04:03 PM.

07-03-2021, 07:22 PM	#26
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Season Outlook 2023 Extensions 1B Jose Abreu - 3 years, $72,000,000 RP Emilio Pagan - 3 year, $15,000,000 Transactions To Atlanta Braves - Minor league RHP Dauris Valdez To San Diego Padres - RHP Nivaldo Rodriguez The driving force behind this trade was that Valdez was just outside of the players we wanted to include on our 40-man roster. He’s good enough that I was afraid of losing him in the Rule 5 draft, so I took the preemptive step of trading him and getting some value back. He’s a 6’8 power pitcher who hits 100 mph with ease. There should be plenty of demand for an arm like that. Rodriguez doesn’t have the ceiling that Valdez has, but he is a more developed prospect in my opinion. He has a three-quarters delivery and throws in the low 90s, but his off-speed pitches are much more developed. He also has some big league experience, having pitched with the Braves last season. Over 40.2 innings of work he had a 3.98 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 40 K. To Minnesota Twins - Minor league RHP Nick Burdi To San Diego Padres - RHP Archie Bradley Burdi is another player who was just outside of our 40-man roster. He has explosive stuff that leaves you fantasizing about what could be. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t put together all the pieces yet. Bradley is a veteran arm that should help strengthen our pen. He has overwhelming stuff that can overpower hitters. But every once in a while his control lets him down and he’ll get tagged. To New York Mets - Minor league RHP Jordan Humphreys To San Diego Padres - CF Jake Mangum One of the things that ultimately came back to bite us last season was our lack of positional player depth. I wanted to address that this offseason by adding to our bench. We give up a very competent, but ultimately average, pitcher and get a solid outfield option to add to our roster. Mangum has a great approach at the plate and should be able to hit for average at the big league level. He is also a huge threat on the base paths and should be able to come off of our bench and act as a sparkplug when we need something special. He played just 14 games for the Mets last year, but had some decent success in his small sample size - .339/.422/.464 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 stolen bases. To Chicago Cubs - LHP Drew Pomeranz, minor league RHP Nick Thwaits To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Aaron Sabato Despite having a league leading 40 saves last season, the fact of the matter is that at the end of the year, when we needed him most, we couldn’t count on Pomeranz. We needed to offload him before he suffered a complete collapse as a pitcher. Sabato can play either of the corners, and while not a blue chip prospect, should be good enough to play in the high minors, with occasional appearances at the big league level. He’s a pretty stereotypical power hitter. He’s going to strike out a ton, he’s not going to hit for average, but when he connects, he’s going to send balls to the moon. He’ll probably be stuck in the minors for most of his career with us, but if we can maintain a solid lineup, having a player that’s only going to hit .240, but can wallop 30-40 home runs might be plausible. To Boston Red Sox - Minor league RHP Kyle Finnegan, minor league LF Grant Little, minor league RHP Miguel Diaz, minor league LHP Ramon Perez To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Blaze Jordan When I was taking a look at our organization this season, one of the things I wanted to do was to move along a few players that were bubble players, but who were never going to break into our team. All four of these guys fall into that category. The pair of pitchers were definitely the best looking prospects, but when taking a look at our current staff and pen, I just don’t see them ever breaking into the staff. Now that I say that, we’ll probably be disseminated by injuries again and will miss having those arms around. Jordan is a solid prospect at first base and might be our long-term answer at the position. That being said, he’s still got a long way to go in his development. If he meets his potential, he should hit around .260 with 30-40 home runs and a lot of strikeouts every year. I’m very excited about his future, but it’s probably going to be a while before we see him in action. To Portland Sycamores - RHP Taylor Williams, RHP Mychal Givens To San Diego Padres - C Grayson Greiner With the acquisition of some additional arms for our pen this offseason, a few guys had to be moved. This trade, and the ones that follow, all happened in April, right at the end of spring training. It was time to finalize our roster and some moves needed to be made. Some players were out of options, others refused to be demoted. So trades were necessary. Williams and Givens were both guys that could easily be on our roster, but when I made the final decision one who I wanted on our staff, they ended up as surplus to requirements. Greiner is more organizational depth than anything. There were a couple of minor league catchers that I opted not to re-sign, so we needed some bodies down there. He’s a good presence in the clubhouse and should be serviceable as a backup if we ever need to call him up. To Los Angeles Angels - LHP Zack Britton, LHP Tim Mayza, RHP Nivaldo Rodriguez, minor league RHP Aidan Maldonado, minor league LHP Erik Sabrowski To San Diego Padres - Minor league RHP Camilo Doval, minor league SS Livan Soto Wait, didn’t we just add Britton and Rodriguez to our roster this offseason? Yes, yes we did. But as I said above, this is now 4 months after we originally acquired them. As it came time to put our final roster together, there just weren’t enough spots to go around. Doval is an exciting prospect. He could probably pitch at the big league level if we really needed him to, but we would definitely prefer him to spend some time in the minor and continue his development. He’s a two pitch reliever that should feature at the back end of our pen at some point. He has a live arm that struggles with control at times. But his stuff has such high potential and his pitches move so much that it’s worth the risk to stick him back there in high leverage situations. Definitely a high risk, high reward type of arm. Soto, on the other hand, is far from an exciting player. He’ll be a solid minor league player that could offer some potential as a backup infielder at some point. Nothing more, nothing less. Additions RP Nick Sandlin - Rule 5 Draft, Los Angeles Angels I didn't go into this draft with any intention of picking anyone up, but when I saw Sandlin, I couldn’t help myself. He’s near his full potential, but there’s still a little bit of room for him to grow. He should have some of the nastiest stuff in the league with above average control. The one thing that is going to hold him back is that he is prone to the longball, but hey, who isn’t on our staff? The Angels had him playing at A+ level last season which seems crazy to me. He’s definitely someone that should have been in AAA at least, and picking him up feels like a steal. CF Jesus Sanchez - Free agent, minor league contract He was originally picked up by the Rays as an international free agent in 2014, and has spent the last couple of seasons bouncing back and forth between AAA and the pros. There’s not a huge amount of holes in his game. He does everything competently, while not really excelling at any one thing at this point in his career. However, it looks like there’s still some room for him to grow. With the proper coaching, he should develop his contact ability a bit further, which I think will really push him to the next level. Right now, he’s a bubble guy, but if he makes that last step in his development, he should find his way onto our roster. RP Chad Green - Free agent, 2 years, $11,000,000 I feel like lady luck might have smiled on us with this opportunity. Green is coming off of his worst year as a professional since his rookie year in 2016. It looks like this caused the Braves to be reluctant to re-sign him. But their loss is our gain. Green has some of the best stuff in the game, with a nasty fastball in the high 90s, a plus splitter, and one of the best sliders around. I think he’s going to be a huge addition to the back end of our bullpen. If he bounces back from last year’s dip in form, then he should be one of the best relievers in baseball. RP Zack Britton - Free agent, 2 years, $8,500,000 Another arm to bolster our ranks. Despite being on the back end of his career, Britton has proven to be a very reliable arm coming out of the bullpen. The biggest draw for me was the fact that he’s very good at limiting homeruns. He might not have the best stuff, but he can keep the ball in the park, which is something our staff desperately needs. Departures SP Mike Clevinger - Free agent, Mets Even though letting Clevinger go wasn’t a popular choice among our fanbase, we had to let Clevinger walk. He simply wanted too much money. When I look at our current starting rotation, I see someone like Michel Baez, who we called up last season and is probably going to give us similar production for way less money. And I see a prospect like Ryan Weathers, who I think is ready for the big show and has a much more exciting future. And in the back of my mind, there’s also the thought that if neither of these youngsters works out, we always have Snell returning to the lineup midway through the season. Ultimately, I think a lot of teams held similar opinions about him, as he signed just a 1 year contract with the Mets for $4,320,000 in March. SP Dinelson Lamet - Free agent, Cardinals This one was a much harder decision. One of the goals I was given this offseason was to cut our payroll. Unfortunately, that means making some tough decisions, and Lamet was the first one I had to sacrifice. Would he have strengthened our staff? Absolutely, without a question. We would be stronger with him. But given this goal from the owner, could I justify spending the $18-$22 million it would take to re-sign him? Well, maybe if it would guarantee a championship. But sadly, with the Dodgers still in our way, keeping Lamet doesn’t guarantee anything. As much as I didn’t want to, I simply had to let him leave. He signed with the Cardinals in December for $97,000,000 over 5 years. Owner Goals 2023 - Play close to .500 ball 2023 - Cut payroll from $160,856,000 to $150,000,000 2025 - Bring more of our drafted players into the team 2026 - Build a championship team Outlook With three straight second place finishes and three straight playoff appearances, we enter the 2023 season once again looking at October. There’s pressure from the owner to retool our lineup. To make some cuts and perhaps make another push in a year or two. But with a team that’s predicted to win close to 100 games once again, can we really afford that? At some point, the Dodgers dynasty is going to fall. When that happens, we need to be ready. We can’t afford to take a year off at this point. The front office went all in on winning now, and that’s just what we’re going to try to do. Payroll cuts be damned. Attached Images __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond Last edited by Sundance; 07-03-2021 at 07:24 PM.

07-05-2021, 10:53 PM	#27
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Key Players 2023 Jose Abreu - 1B - 36 How much is left in the tank? That’s the question I’ll be asking myself every year when it comes to Abreu. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a very good player. He won the AL MVP in the shortened 2020 season, he posted a combined 4.6 WAR between the White Sox and us in 2021, and a 3.5 WAR last season. And to be honest, there really aren’t very many better first baseman in the league than him. But he’s 36. At what point do we see the drop-off in his ability? His performance is going to play a huge role in our success. If he can perform like we hope, we should do well. If he does start to experience that drop off, then we might be in a bit of trouble. Ha-Seong Kim - 2B - 27 2022 was an absolutely monster year for Kim. The question now is, can he maintain that level of production? .260-.270, 30+ doubles, and 25 HR is probably what we’re expecting out of the third year man. If he can reach those numbers, then we’ll probably see him make consecutive All-Star games and continue to feature as a cornerstone of our offense. Manny Machado - 3B - 30 As a 6-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winner, and 2-time Silver Slugger, Machado enters 2023 as our club’s most decorated player. He has improved steadily over the last three seasons, and there’s no reason to expect that progress to stall. 2022 was arguably his best season as a hitter and we saw him finish second in MVP voting. There’s no reason not to think that he should be in that conversation once again this season. Fernando Tatis Jr. - SS - 24 What more can I possibly say about Tatis Jr.? To call 2022 a ridiculous year for Tatis Jr. is to undersell what he accomplished. He led the league in RBI and WAR on his way to his first MVP award. The first of what should be many more, I might add. El Nino is an absolute freak. Everything he does is much watch. The best part, and what should strike terror in the heart of the rest of the league is that he’s still just 24 and he still has room to grow. Corey Dickerson - LF - 33, Ian Miller - CF - 31, Alex Verdugo - RF - 26 I hate to keep lumping these guys together, but it’s just easier to talk about them this way. If Abreu, Kim, Machado, and Tatis Jr. make up the high-powered engine of our lineup, then these three guys are the oil that keeps everything running smooth. Our big guns are going to win us plenty of games, but it’s the consistency of these three that are going to let us grind out wins. Their success is going to be vital to the team’s success. James Paxton - SP - 34 2022 saw Paxton assume the role of our ace, and he lived up to that title. He throws four of the nastiest pitches in the league and should once again be among the best starters in the league. As long as he stays healthy, he should once again set the tone for the squad as we push towards another playoff appearance Chris Paddack - SP - 27 Entering his fifth season, Paddack might be the biggest wild card in our starting rotation. We thought he had taken a major step forward in his career in 2021, but then 2022 saw him post very average numbers, and a partially torn labrum would force him to miss about half the season. At his best, we’ve seen him shut down and be an All-Star caliber starter. But at his worst, he’s very average. Which Paddack shows up this year will play a big role in how our season goes. MacKenzie Gore - SP - 24 Gore was on his way to delivering an All-Star caliber season last year when the discovery of bone chips in his elbow shut him down for the year. Now healthy, Gore enters 2023 with a world of expectations thrust upon him. The bottom line is that with the absence of Snell and the departure of Lamet, we need someone on our staff to step up. We expect Gore will be that player. Seth Elledge - RP - 26 Moving Elledge from potential starter to strictly bullpen appeared to be the right move as he was by far our most valuable arm coming out in relief last season. He posted a sub-1.00 WHIP with a 2.17 ERA and 2.1 WAR last year. He had premium stuff that will feature at the back end of our bullpen. He’s still developing his control, and if he can maximize his potential, he will have all the makings of a premiere closer. Pierce Johnson - CL - 31 We made the decision to move away from Pomeranz as our closer at the end of last season, and Johnson was the beneficiary of that move. 2023 will be his first season where he will fully assume that role, so there will be plenty of pressure on the 31 year old. We need a solid presence at the back end of our staff. It was something that cost us late last year. If Johnson can perform as expected, it’ll bring us one step closer to catching our rivals to the north. Prospect Watch 2023 SP Mackenzie Gore - MLB SP Ryan Weathers - MLB RP Nick Sandlin - MLB C Luis Campusano - MLB 2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB SS CJ Abrams - AAA LF Robert Hassell III - AA RF Andy Pages - A+ SP David Harrison - AA SS Orelvis Martinez - R SP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA 1B Blaze Jordan - A 2B Livan Soto - AA Attached Images __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-06-2021, 05:37 PM	#28
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	April 2023 Recap Monthly Record: 13-11 Overall Record: 13-11 Position: 3rd Games Back: 1 The Good It’s not the hottest start to the season, but we’re still in striking distance. The Dodgers (13-11) and ROckies (14-10) are off to similar starts, so a rather pedestrian month doesn’t put us too far behind. We’re 7-3 in our last ten games, making us the hottest team in the division at the moment. Hopefully we can carry that moment into next month. Tatis Jr. is off to a hot start this season. He batted .341/.442/.727 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 8 home runs, and 25 RBI. A strong start to what should hopefully be another MVP worthy season. Machado is also off to a good start himself with a .322/.410/.529 line with 5 home runs and 19 RBI. Dickerson and Marcano also started off the season well. Marcano is hitting .409/.487/.591 and Dickerson is hitting .348/.402/.573. On the mound, James Paxton looks every bit our ace. Through 5 starts he’s posted a 0.81 ERA with 0.75 WHIP and 9.2 K/9. Two new additions to our bullpen have also helped hold down the fort. Archie Bradley has a 1.54 ERA and 0.94 WHIP over 11.2 innings of work, and Chad Green has a 1.50 ERA and 0.75 WHIP over 12.0 innings. The Bad We continue to be plagued by injuries. This time it was Ha-Seong Kim that got hit. He played just 6 games before suffering from a herniated disc in his back. He’s expected to miss 2-3 months. Tucupita Marcano will take over starting duties and we’ve called up 2B Alex Goicochea for depth. While most of our key hitters have gotten off to hot starts, a few are lagging behind. Jose Abreu is off to a slow start, hitting just .244/.306/.333 with just a total of two extra base hits. Ian Miller is also struggling at the plate, with a .250/.312/.330 line. His saving grace is that he has stolen 7 bases so far, so at least when he’s getting on base, he’s still a threat. We just need him to get on more often. The Ugly Our pitching staff is not at all where we want it to be at this point. Hopefully it’s just some early season kinks that need to be worked out, but there have been some rough outings. Gore has looked completely average and his control has gotten away from him a bit. Baez and Weathers have both shown their inexperience and haven’t looked great, And there’s a number of concerning performances from our bullpen. Hopefully our pitchers will settle down now that the first month is in the books because we aren’t going to win anything if they keep throwing like this. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-08-2021, 04:11 PM	#29
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	May 2023 Recap Monthly Record: 14-14 Overall Record: 27-25 Position: 2nd Games Back: 5 The Good Machado continues to be a threat every time he steps up to the plate. He hit .296/.339/.519 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI this month. Jose Abreu seems to have figured things out as well. He bounced back in May with a .3221/.348/.481 line. Marcano continues to swing a hot stick. The 23 year old had a .303/.356/.450 slash with 5 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 home runs. We thankfully aren’t losing any production with Kim out of the lineup. And the youngster CJ Abrams got the call up and adjusted immediately. He went .362/.463./652 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 home runs in his first month in the big leagues. Paxton continues to dominate on the hill. He went 3-1 this month with a 3.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 53 K over 37.1 innings. Obviously the season is a marathon, not a sprint, but if he can maintain the level of performance that he’s displayed over the first two months of the season, then he should be in the conversation for some awards at the end. Archie Bradley might end up being the signing of the season for us. The 30 year old had a 0.59 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, and held opposing batters to just a .138 average. Seth Elledge had a terrific month as well. He had a 0.60 ERA, 0.60 WHIP and kept batters at a .064 average. The move to the pen continues to suit him. The Bad Outside of Paxton, our starters have looked very average. I expected that there would be some ups and downs with Baez and Weathers, given their lack of experience. What has really been disappointing is the performances of Gore and Paddack. They aren’t pitching poorly, it’s more that I was hoping to see them take the next step this year from being average starters to being great ones. They’re both young and still haven’t reached their potential yet, so hopefully we’ll see some growth out of them as the season progresses. The Ugly Another month, another injury. This time it was Fernando Tatis Jr. that fell victim to the injury bug. The face of the franchise fractured a rib while sliding into second base. He’s expected to miss a minimum of 6 weeks and his absence explains why Abrams was called up. As well as Abrams has played this past month, there’s just no replacing a player of Tatis’ quality and presence. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-12-2021, 09:05 PM	#30
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	June 2023 Recap Monthly Record: 14-11 Overall Record: 41-36 Position: 2nd Games Back: 4 The Good We’ve been struggling to get production out of the catcher position, so headed into June I made the decision to hand over the starting job to Luis Campusano. He’s repaid my faith in him by posting a .338/.419/.585 line with 7 doubles and 3 home runs. Tucupita Marcano continues to swing a hot stick since taking over for the injured Kim - .333/.439/.456 with 5 doubles 2 home runs and 5 steals. Machado, Abrams, and Tatis Jr. are also all staying hot - Machado - .323/.353/.594, 2 doubles, 8 home runs, 19 RBI Abrams - .309/.367/.418 Tatis Jr. - .356/.400/.746, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs One the mound, Paxton just keeps cruising. Another month, another sub-1.00 WHIP. He went 4-0 this month with a 2.21 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 12.4 K/9. In the pen, Seth Elledge looked untouchable - 1.93 ERAA, 0.91 WHIP, and 17.8 K/9 in June. Overall, our bullpen was much improved this month with several pitchers posting sub-1.00 WHIP. Hopefully we can keep this up. Here’s a look at the Padres who were named All-Stars this year: 2B Tucupita Marcano - .340/.419/.487, 16 doubles, 7 home runs, 26 RBI, 10 SB, 3.2 WAR 3B Manny Machado - .313/.366/.546, 20 HR, 61 RBI, 3.1 WAR (Won HR Derby) SS Fernando Tatis Jr. - .346/.425/.718, 11 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HR, 34 RBI, 8 SB, 4.0 WAR (Received most votes) SP James Paxton - 9-2, 111.1 IP, 143 K, 2.34 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 4.0 WAR RP Seth Elledge - 43.2 IP, 71 K, 2.27 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 1.5 WAR Honorable Mention: LF Corey Dickerson - .307/.364/.498, 16 doubles, 123 HR, 1.8 WAR (Finished 2nd in voting among left fielders, but didn’t make the cut) The Bad Going into this season, we were worried about the longevity of Jose Abreu. It seems like we were right to be worried. Despite having a solid outing last month, Abrue is once again struggling. At his current rate, he’ll be posting career lows across the board. There’s still plenty of time left in the season, so hopefully he can right the ship here soon. There was also a power struggle to start the month. For whatever reason, control over the lineups and rotation got switched over to being under manager Luis Caballero’s control. Thankfully I caught this after only a couple of days had passed. Forced myself back into control. We must not forget, this is my team. He just manages it. The Ugly Injuries are killing us. Gore is currently suffering from rotator cuff tendinitis. He was expected to miss 3-4 weeks, but we just received word that he’ll miss an additional week, at least. Ian Miller fell victim to a freak accident in the dugout and managed to fracture his tibia. He’ll be out at least 6 weeks. Alex Verdugo also finds himself on the IL after straining his ACL while running to second on a double. He’ll also be out an expected 6 weeks. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-13-2021, 01:53 AM	#31
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	July 2023 Recap Monthly Record: 19-10 Overall Record: 60-46 Position: 1st Games Back: +0 The Draft Our top pick this year was 23 year old SP Jacob Maton out of Coastal Carolina University. Maton is a pretty well developed prospect, but there’s still a bit of growing to do. He has plus stuff with above average control. His repertoire features a power fastball in the high 90s, a knee-buckling slider, and a changeup that should develop into a plus out pitch. Trading Deadline To New York Yankees - 1B Jose Abreu To San Diego Padres - RHP Shohei Ohtani What do you do when you have four middle infielders - one won the MVP last season, one was an All-Star last season, one was an All-Star this season, and one is going to be in talks for Rookie of the Year? You make room for them all. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with this deal. Abreu has had a down year, there’s no doubt about that. However, he started to get into a little bit of a grove this month - his average was creeping up and the power numbers were starting to return to normal. We rode that momentum and shopped him around. The Yankees came calling. Ohtani is a player who hasn’t lived up to the hype. He was supposed to change the game, be the new evolution of player, a legit two-way star. Unfortunately, he’s kind of fizzled out. He’s been very average on both sides of the ball. We’ll be adding him to our bullpen with the hopes that he might rediscover that spark that once captivated the baseball world. Tucupita Marcano will assume duties at first. To Kansas City Royal - RHP Will Vest, minor league 2B Nick Tanielu, minor league RHP Jason Blanchard To San Diego Padres - Minor league 2B Kevin Merrell, minor league MJ Melendez With the arrival of Ohtani, a spot needed to be opened in the pen. Vest has been an incredibly consistent option for us coming out of the pen, but he’s seemed to lose some of his touch this season. He’s not pitching poorly, but he doesn’t look like the dominant reliever of the last couple of seasons. Moving from Vest to Ohtani is probably a downgrade if I’m being honest, but I think we can handle it. Merrell will be organization depth. He’s putting together a solid career in the minor leagues, and probably has enough about his game to make a big league roster at some point. Given our log jam in middle infield, it probably won’t be with us. But since injuries seem to love finding us, he’s a player I feel like we can trust if we need to call him up. Melendez is also very much organizational depth. He’s a fantastic defensive catcher and a natural born leader, but he doesn’t offer much at the plate. The Good Well, the Dodgers tried to make their move to take hold of the division, but we caught them. Our teams currently sit atop the division with equal records, with the tie breaker falling to us. Machado definitely carried our offense this month. .373/.419/.764 with 5 doubles, 12 home runs, and 29 RBI. He won back-to-back Player of the Week honors and homered in four straight games. He’s on fire right now. Paddack looked unhittable in July - 2-0, 1.33 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 10. K/9 over 27.00 innings of work. Archie Bradley, Seth Elldge, and Chad Green all continued their dominant runs coming out of our bullpen. Black Snell finally rejoins the team. He’s back from injury and rehab in the minors. We’re not sure what to expect out of him, but he’ll be rejoining our starting rotation. The Bad There actually isn’t too much to complain about this month from a performance standpoint. Most everyone has had a solid month. If I really want to nitpick I can say that Paxton finally looked human. But even then, it wasn’t like he pitched poorly. So overall, a nice month for us on the field. The Ugly You might notice that I mentioned that I didn’t have anything to complain about performance-wise up above. That’s because there is definitely one thing worth venting about. In the very first game of the month, Tatis Jr. got on first with a walk. He proceeded to steal second. While sliding into the base, his head crashed into the fielder’s knee. It was a scary moment as he initially laid motionless on the ground. Thankfully, there’s no serious muscle or bone injury. Unfortunately, he did suffer a major concussion and is expected to miss a minimum of 4 months as he recovers from it. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-13-2021, 06:29 PM	#32
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	August 2023 Recap Monthly Record: 12-17 Overall Record: 72-63 Position: 2nd Games Back: 6 The Good We had a number of hot hitters this month. Luis Campusano went .341/.391/.541 with 7 doubles. Ha-Seong Kim hit .384/.441/.545. Machado continues his push into the MVP discussion with another solid month - .305/.383/.543, 5 doubles, 6 home runs, 23 RBI. Corey Dickerson has looked as solid as ever, this month going .321/.351/.406. And the big surprise has been CF Carlos Tocci who we called up from AAA. Much like Miller did previously, Tocci has forced himself into our starting lineup. He posted a .318/.357/.421 line this month with 9 doubles. Ironically, Miller is the one that he has replaced. Elledge and Green continue to be studs coming out of the pen. And RP Carlos Belen who was recently called up has adjusted well - 3.07 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over 14. Innings. The Bad You have to go back to June of 2021 to find the last time that we had a losing record for the month. WIth so many hitters having a solid month, what happened? Well, our pitching has fallen apart. Poor performances mixed with players rotating in and out of the staff has left much to be desired. Snell has not looked the same since returning from injury. Weathers hasn’t looked great and was sent down to the minors for a little bit. Sandlin struggled once again in the pen. At times he looks untouchable. At other times he looks lost. The Ugly Injuries continue to hamper us. Snell ended up back on the IL for 2 weeks with forearm inflammation. Keone Kela was out for 2 weeks with a herniated disc in his back. Tucupita Marcano missed 3 weeks with an intercostal strain. Jeff Mangum missed 3 weeks with a sprained thumb, then suffered a setback with his recovery and is expected to miss another 2 weeks. The worst one of the bunch was Mackenzie Gore, who is done for the season. He suffered a torn flexor tendon in his elbow and will be about for a minimum of 7 months. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-14-2021, 12:12 AM	#33
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Playoffs 2023 Note: I forgot to do an update for the last month of the season. Oops! NL Wild Card San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants Blake Snell (3-1) vs Logan Webb (8-5) Snell finally started looking like himself over the course of the last month of the season, so when it came down to deciding who would start this game, my options were to hand over the ball to the veteran, or give it to one of our youngsters. I opted to go with Snell, and he repaid my trust in him. A lead off double to start the game put Snell in a bit of a bind. The runner would advance to third ground out, then eventually score on a strike 3 passed ball. But after that initial blow, Snell would collect himself and shut the Giants’ lineup down. He pitched six innings, giving up that lone first inning run, and striking out 7. We got our offense going in the bottom of the fourth with singles from Machado, Abrams, and Verdugo, giving us a 2-1 lead. We would score every inning after that, including a 3-run bomb by Machado in the 6th that would put the game out of reach. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite close out the game the way I would have liked. The Giants attempted a comeback and knock around Kela (4 runs in 1.1 innings) and Belen (1 run in .2 innings). Thankfully Elledge and Johnson would come in and put an end to things. Final Score: 10-5 Player of the Game: Manny Machado (4-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI) AL Wild Card Houston Astros (1) vs Cleveland Indians (0) NL Division Series San Diego Padres vs Milwaukee Brewers Game 1 in Milwaukee James Paxton (16-7) vs Brandon Woodruff (12-11) It’s difficult to win when you’re playing from behind, even more so in the playoffs. But that’s the situation we found ourselves in the opening game of our series against the Brewers. James Paxton took the hill and looked pretty average. He labored through 6 innings of work with 102 pitches, 9 K, 3 BB, and 3 R. We got to the opposing starter early and often, but we just couldn’t seem to bring our runners across the plate to score. We struck for 10 hits off of Woodruff, but managed just 1 run. By the time both starters were pulled, the score was 1-3. Our offense found a bit of life in the 7th and 8th innings. Miller hit a 2-out triple and was knocked in by a Marcano single. Four singles in our half of the 8th would bring in another two runs, giving us the lead, 4-3. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to close things out as the Brewers answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game. At the end of nine innings, the score was all tied up at four a piece, so off to extra innings we went. Things would remain deadlocked at 4 until the 12th. Marcano got things started with a lead off walk and was followed up with a single by Machado, putting runners on the corner. Marcano would score on a sacrifice fly from Dickerson. Abrams singled to put two runners on, and Verdugo brought in Machado with a single. Runners now on second and third with one out. A double from Kim would bring in both runners to score, and a two-out single by Gallagher would bring in Kim. We ended the innings by bringing across 5 runs. Ohtani took the hill to see the game out, and he made things interesting to say the least. He gave up a lead off single, and a 2-out, 2-run home run to Keston Hiura. Thankfully for us, that was all the offense the Brewers could muster. It took extra innings, but Game 1 goes to us! Final Score: 9-6 (12) Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (3-5, 2 doubles, 2 R, 2 RBI) Game 2 in Milwaukee Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Freddy Peralta (9-7) Giving up 1st inning leads is really a trend I would prefer not to see. The Brewers made the first strike with a little small ball. A lead off single, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI double would give them an early lead. However, Paddack would quickly settle down after that. In fact, that early one aside, both offenses seemed pretty anemic following the previously night’s flurry of offense. Both starters would have excellent outings, with Paddack giving up 1 run over 6 innings, and Peralta giving up 1 run over 7. It would come down to the bullpens to decide this one. In the top of the 8th, Manny Machado would step up and hit a solo shot off of Brent Suter. Nothing like adding a little October heroics to your potential MVP resume. That run proved to be the difference as Green and Elledge would close out the game for us and hold the lead. Final Score: 2-1 Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (6.0 IP, 6 K, 2 BB, 1 R) Game 3 in San Diego Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Tarik Skubal (4-9) With a chance to close out the series in front of the home fans, our boys were ready for this one. We came out of the gates flying, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from Machado and a 3-run home run by Verdugo. Weather took the hill and looked like an old veteran, not a 23 year old in his first full season with the club. The youngster tossed 6.1 innings, racking up 10 K and giving up 2 runs. By the end of the third, it was 5-2. That score would hold for most of the game. The Brewers tried to make things interesting in their half of the 9th. Johnson would give up a solo home run to Joey Gallo, but the Brewers couldn’t build any momentum off of it. We’re finally advancing to the next round! Final Score: 5-3 Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, Series MVP) Los Angeles Dodgers (2) vs Atlanta Braves (3) AL Division Series Tampa Bay Rays (1) vs Houston Astros (3) Seattle Mariners (2) vs Minnesota Twins (3) NL Championship Series San Diego Padres vs Atlanta Braves Game 1 in Atlanta James Paxton (16-7) vs Mike Soroka (12-7) Picking up right where we left off, we came out of the gates swinging against the Braves. 1 lead off single from Miller, and RBI triple from Marcano, and an RBI single from Machado would give us an early 2-0 lead. The Braves would get one back in the 3rd, but we would tack on another 3 in the 4th to extend our lead. We would keep adding to our lead with runs scored in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. Paxton wasn’t at his best, but he did more than enough to limit the Braves’ offense. Final Score: 10-3 Player of the Game: Ian Miller (4-6, 2 R, 3 RBI) Game 2 in Atlanta Blake Snell (3-1) vs Eduardo Rodriguez (12-8) Today’s game was a perfect example as to why I’ve spent the last couple of seasons building, and building, and building up our bullpen. Snell was bad. In fact, he was down right awful - 6 runs in just 2.2 innings of work. Normally, an outing like that would doom a team. But the number one pen in the league had something to say about that. 8 different relievers would combine to see the rest of the game out, and they would surrender just 2 runs in the process. And our bats had a few thoughts of their own to add. We scored four runs of our own through the first four innings to keep ourselves within touching distance. A 4-run eighth would finally close the gap and tie things up. As previously mentioned, our bullpen would hold strong and we would push this game into extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Marcano would get on base with a 2-out single. Machado would follow that up with a 2-run bomb to give us the lead. Dare I say, do we have a new Mr. October on our hands? Final Score: 10-8 (11) Player of the Game: Ha-Seong Kim (3-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI) Game 3 in San Diego Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Max Fried (16-7) After the offensive explosion of Game 1, this one must have seemed like a bore. Both pitchers started off strong, but it was us that struck first. In the bottom of the fourth we got things started with a lead off single from Marcano. Dickerson would add a 2-run double from Dickerson and a sacrifice fly from Abrams would give us a 3-0 lead. Paddack looked dominant on the hill. He gave up just 1 unearned run and struck out 12. Our relievers would come in and shut them down for the rest of the game. Should we get our brooms ready? Final Score: 4-1 Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (6.1 IP, 1 R, 1 B, 12 K) Game 4 in San Diego Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Chris Bassitt (12-3) You always want to be prepared for the unexpected, but losing your starting pitcher to injury in the first inning is something you’re never really prepared for. Unfortunately, that’s the position the Braves found themselves in. Bassitt was removed from the game after giving up a single to Marcano. Former Padres reliever Craig Stammen came in and did not fare well. We scored four runs off of the reliever, which was capped off by a 2-run home run by Verdugo. The Braves tried to rally with a pair of runs in the top of the second, but we crushed any hopes of a comeback by adding on three more runs in the second in response. We had an absolute field day with their relievers, the highlight of which was a grand slam from Machado in the fifth. The brooms were out and we celebrated with a blow out. We’re going to the World Series! Final Score: 16-3 Player of the Game: Manny Machado (2-4. 1 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, Series MVP) AL Championship Series Houston Astros (2) vs Minnesota Twins (4) World Series San Diego Padres vs Minnesota Twins Game 1 in Minnesota James Paxton (16-7) vs Luis Castillo (12-7) Despite having a terrific regular season, Paxton has not looked the same in the playoffs. Our ace struggled today, giving up 4 runs and 5 walks in 6.2 innings of work. We were able to get to their starter, but playing from behind was always going to make this tough. Our boys gave it one heck of a shot though. We scrapped our way back to tie things up at 4 a piece with a pair of runs scored over the last two innings of the game. Headed into the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, we handed the ball over to our closer, Pierce Johnson, to take the game into extra innings for us. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Kyle Schwarber would hit a game winning, 2-run walkoff to give Minnesota the first game. Final Score: 4-6 Player of the Game: Jake Cave (2-3, 1 R, 2 RBI) Game 2 in Minnesota Blake Snell (3-1) vs Kenta Maeda (9-5) There’s a very concerning trend developing that we’ll get into in a second. This game was a dream for the batters, and a nightmare for the pitchers. Both teams came out swinging, and our every attempt to take the lead was immediately answered by their lineup. With all these callbacks, I wasn’t sure if I was at a ball game or at the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Headed into the 9th, the game was all tied up at 6. We started off our half of the inning with a pair of lead off walks from Marcano and Machado, and a 2-run double from Abrams. With the knowledge that we have one of the best bullpens in the league, we headed into the bottom of the 9th confident that we were going to shut the door and tie up the series. The Twins had other plans. Remember that concerning trend I mentioned? Well, it seems that once again, we have a closer that has developed the yips. Johnson came in to close this one out and promptly blew the lead on a 2-run double. He followed that up by blowing the game by giving up a 2-run walkoff home run. Two games, two walk off home runs. I’m not sure what to do about Johnson at this point. Final Score: 8-10 Player of the Game: Jake Cave (4-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI) Game 3 in San Diego Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Noah Syndergaard (10-7) Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - it’s hard to win when you’re playing from behind. Oh, you’ve heard that one? Well, the great thing about this year’s team is that playing from behind doesn’t seem to matter. This year’s squad never seems to give up. Despite going down 0-1 to start the game, Paddack quickly settled down, and the lineup went to work reclaiming that lead. After giving up that early run, Paddack found his groove and threw a gem. We would tie things up with a solo shot from Marcano in the third, take the lead with an RBI single in the 4th, and then extend our lead with another solo shot from Marcano in the 5th. And that’s all it took. Paddack led the way and our bullpen took care of the rest. I did drop Johnson from the closer role. Elledge has taken over and nabbed his first save in his first attempt. Final Score: 3-1 Player of the Game: Chris Paddack (7.2 IP, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) Game 4 in San Diego Ryan Weathers (7-8) vs Riley O’Brien It’s amazing what some home cooking can do. The boys came alive at the plate in front of the home crowd. We racked up two runs on three singles to start the game. Weathers gave up a pair of runs, but we retook the lead in the third with a pair of runs of our own. In the 4th, we extended our lead backed by a 2-run home run from Marcano. That makes three dingers in two games for our first baseman. Our bullpen would surrender one more additional run, but in the end, it didn’t matter much. The series is all tied up as we look to pull ahead in our final game in San Diego. Final Score: 8-3 Player of the Game: Tucupita Marcano (2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) Game 5 in San Diego Jacob Nix (4-8) vs Luis Castillo (12-7) Going into the final game in San Diego, the Twins decided to throw out Castillo on short rest to try and stop our momentum. It was a gamble that paid off. Both offenses were stalled as both Nix and Castillo threw the ball pretty well. The Twins were able to get a run in the second with a solo shot from Schwarber. However, other than that, the inexperienced Nix was able to keep the Minnesota batters at bay. Unfortunately, it was our bullpen that let us down this time. Kela came in to start the 6th and gave up a quick two runs. He has not looked good this postseason. His ERA is up at 9.64. Verdugo would close the gap with a 2-run homerun in the 7th, but that’s all we could muster. The series goes back to Minnesota with the momentum in the Twins’ favor. Final Score: 2-3 Player of the Game: Jacob Nix (5.0 IP, 1 R, 6 K) Game 6 in Minnesota James Paxton (16-7) vs Kenta Maeda (9-5) Despite not being at his best, with the series on the line there was no other arm we could turn to other than our ace’s. And once again, despite still not being at his best, Paxton found a way to get the job done. Thankfully, he didn’t need to pitch like an ace because our offense decided to show up today. We got things started with a solo shot from Machado in the first. He now has 7 HR this postseason. We added two more runs in the 2nd with a 2-run single from Gallagher, and another two runs in the 3rd from a 2-run homer from Verdugo. He leads the team with 23 RBI in the postseason. The Twins would get a couple back, but our offense was not letting them back into this game. We would tack on an additional six runs over the rest of the game to seal the deal. Final Score: 11-3 Player of the Game: Alex Verdugo (5-5, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, tied NL playoff game record with 5 hits) Game 7 in Minnesota Chris Paddack (11-8) vs Noah Syndergaard (10-7) Now it was our turn to take a risk. Rather than go with the schedule Snell, I opted to go with the hot hand for this game - Chris Paddack. Paddack had just a 0.90 ERA headed into this game, so with the series on the line, I threw my faith behind him. It wasn’t a pretty outing by the 27 year old, but he grinding things out and kept us in a position where we could compete. We struck first with runs in the top of the 2nd and top of the 3rd. Jake Cave, who has had a heck of a series for the Twins, got things started for them with a solo shot in their half of the 3rd. They would tack on two more runs that inning, taking the lead 2-3. But Padres never say die! We took back the lead with 2 runs in the 4th, another in the 5th, and capped things off with a 2-run homer from Machado in the 6th. After giving up his fourth and final run in the 7th, our new set up of Johnson - Green - Elledge came in and sealed the deal. We’ve finally done it! We’re bringing the trophy home to San Diego! Final Score: 7-4 Player of the Game: Luis Campusano (3-4, 1 R, 2 RBI) Series MVP: Alex Verdugo (13-27, 2 HR, 12 RBI) __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-14-2021, 04:13 PM	#34
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Season Recap 2023 Overall Record: 88-74 Position: 2nd (Wildcard) Games Back: 1 (+1 in Wildcard) Life is strange, isn’t it? 2023 was the worst regular season the club has had since I took charge, and yet we walked away with the World Series trophy. Just goes to show that you just need to be invited to the big dance because once you’re in, anything can happen. Let’s start off with the highlights. 2B/1B Tucupita Marcano .335/.404/.448, 27 doubles, 2 triples, 10 HR, 60 RBI, 94 R, 23 SB, 5.0 WAR It’s safe to say that Marcano was the biggest surprise of the year. He wasn’t even expected to be a starter this season, but thanks to some unfortunate injuries and a down year for Abreu, Marcano found his way into a starter role. He finished the season ranked 7th in the NL in hits (182), 7th in steals, 2nd in average, and 5th in OBP. He also earned his first All-Star appearance and even made it on the shortlist for MVP voting. 3B Manny Machado .315/.377/.573, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 112 R, 7 SB, 7.3 WAR In the absence of Tatis Jr., Machado put the team on his back and carried us through the season and into the playoffs. He finished 2nd in the NL in hits (189), 1st in total bases (344), 3rd in HR, 2nd in RBI, 5th in runs, 5th in average, 2nd in slugging, and 3rd in WAR. He was selected for his 7th All-Star game, won his 3rd Silver Slugger, and finished 2nd in MVP voting for the second year in a row. LF Corey Dickerson .312/.357/.482, 37 doubles, 1 triple, 21 HR, 90 RBI, 85 R, 3 SB, 3.8 WAR We didn’t quite get the year out of our outfielders that we expected, but Dickerson was a constant performer throughout the season. He finished 6th in the NL in average. He helped to pick up some of the slack from the injured Tatis as he also set a career high in RBI this season. We were hoping that all three of our outfielders could replicate their productions from last season, but it was Dickerson who came through for us. RF Alex Verdugo .284/.348/.451, 39 doubles, 1 triple, 13 HR, 61 RBI, 67 R, 5 SB, 3.3 WAR Verdugo had a solid season, but he gets a special mention for his postseason play. He was named the NLDS MVP and the World Series MVP. He hit .441/.470/.729 with 5 doubles, 4 HR, and 23 RBI in the playoffs. SP James Paxton 16-7, 220.2 IP, 268 K, 3.02 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 6.5 WAR Paxton was an absolute stud this year and was clearly our ace, even despite some questionable performances in the playoffs. He finished the season ranked 1st in the NL in wins, 1st in IP, 1st in strikeouts, 3rd in ERA, 2nd in WHIP, 5th in K/BB (4.87), and 1st in WAR. His WAR is the 4th best by a Padres’ pitcher in history, and his 268 K set a club record. He was selected to his 3rd straight All-Star game and ended up finishing 2nd in the NL Cy Young vote. RP Seth Elledge 9-2, 79.2 IP, 122 K, 1.92 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 2.5 WAR The 27 year old righty was by far our best reliever this season. He has steadily improved every year so far and looks like he might be our answer at closer. He got absolutely robbed in the Reliever of the Year award, finishing 5th in voting. Robbed I say! The Bullpen as a Whole Lots of honorable mentions coming from our pen. Archie Bradley - 5-1, 83.2 IP, 80 K, 2.37 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 0.5 WAR Chad Green - 6-5, 66.2 IP, 74 K, 2.43 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 1.6 WAR Pierce Johnson - 4-7, 36 saves, 59.2 IP, 69 K, 2.72 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 1.0 WAR Prospect Follow Up SP Mackenzie Gore - MLB SP Ryan Weathers - MLB RP Nick Sandlin - MLB C Luis Campusano - MLB 2B Tucupita Marcano - MLB SS CJ Abrams - AAA -> MLB LF Robert Hassell III - AA -> AAA RF Andy Pages - A+ -> AA SP David Harrison - AA SS Orelvis Martinez - R -> A+ SP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA -> MLB -> AAA 1B Blaze Jordan - A 2B Livan Soto - AA -> AAA __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-15-2021, 12:45 AM	#35
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Season Outlook 2024 Extensions 3B Manny Machado - Opted out, re-signed for 6 years, $210,000,000 SP James Paxton - Opted out, re-signed for 5 years, $110,000,000 SP Blake Snell - 4 years, $65,000,000 SP Chris Paddack - 5 years, $60,000,000 1B Tucupita Marcano - 4 years, $41,000,000 RP Tim Hill - 2 years, $6,200,000 RP Seth Elledge - 1 year, $3,000,000 SP MacKenzie Gore - 1 year, $1,000,000 SP Jacob Nix - 1 year, $900,000 Transactions To Pittsburgh Pirates - RP Keone Kela, minor league RHP Michel Baez To San Diego Padres - RHP Blake Cederlind If I had to name my philosophy when running a club, it would be this - I may not always have the best teams, but I will have the hardest working ones. Unfortunately, Kela doesn’t fit that philosophy. He’s served as well, but I think there are better options out there. Michel Baez spent some time with the big league club last year, but unfortunately, I just don’t see a spot for him on our roster going forward. Cederlind is the 2023 NL Reliever of the Year (I still maintain that Elledge was robbed). He led the league in saves with 41. I had thought about giving the closer role to Elledge, but I think it makes more sense to have him in a position where he will see more game time. Cederlind will start as a closer and gives us the option to move Elledge around as needed. To Boston Red Sox - LF Greg Allen, minor league C Grayson Geiner, minor league LHP Aaron Leasher, minor league CF Jawuan Harris, $10,000 in cash To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Dante Bichette Jr. The driving force behind this move was that I wanted to clear some room off of our 40-man roster. Did we give up a lot for a 31 year old minor league who will never see time with our big league team? Yea probably. But Bichette Jr. brings some solid leadership to our organization and should serve as a role model for our prospects moving through the minors. To Toronto Blue Jays - RHP Jacob Nix, RHP Shohei Ohtani (Retain 40%) To San Diego Padres - RHP Elvis Luciano A new arrival to our starting rotation meant one less spot for everyone else. Unfortunately, Nix was the odd man out. The Ohtani experiment was fun while it lasted, but the simple fact is that he’s just not that good right now. We had to eat a big chunk of his contract, but we needed to deal him. We don’t have to worry about him anymore, and the Jays get a player they can market like crazy. Luciano is a 24 year old righty that worked out of the pen last season. He had a pretty average season last year. He falls in that gray area where he could be a back end starter, or he could come out of the pen. We’re going to utilize him as a reliever, but if we’re hit with injuries again, he might get a few spot starts. He has a power fastball, a devastating changeup, and a plus slider. To San Francisco Giants - CF Ian Miller To San Diego Padres - Minor league RHP Ryan Conroy Miller broke into our team in 2022 and was the biggest surprise of the year. Unfortunately, he couldn’t replicate his success in 2023. His line dropped to .248/.299/.322 and he stopped being a threat on the base paths. In 2022, he stole a base once every 14 at-bats with a 75% success rate. In 2023, those numbers dropped to 1 steal per 23 at-bats at a 65% success rate. Ironically, just like he forced his way into the lineup in 2022, another outfielder forced their way into it in 2023 and claimed Miller’s spot. Conroy is a pretty average pitcher who still has a little bit of room to grow. If he maximizes his potential, he should be a slightly above average starter. For now, he’ll be stuck in AAA and will probably only see time at the big league level this season if we are once again hit with injuries. To Houston Astros - Minor league 2B Kevin Merrell, minor league CF Jake Mangum To San Diego Padres - RF Chas McCormick Oh Jake Mangum, what a player you could have been. All of the potential in the world to be a top contact hitter. Good contact, good eye, great speed, and one of the toughest batters to strike out. He found success in the Mets organization, but unfortunately, the move to the Padres just didn’t seem to suit him. We needed to explore other options. Chas McCormick will assume Mangum’s place on the bench as a backup outfielder. Mangum is probably the better player, but he just wasn’t cutting it. McCormick might develop above average contact ability, he has more power, a better eye, and the same toughness at the plate. He’s got above average speed, although nowhere near as fast as Mangum, and he’s also a bit worse defensively. But we needed another option on the bench, so we’re going to give him a chance. To Jacksonville Warhawks - RHP Carlos Belen, minor league CF Jose Azocar, minor league 2B Otto Lopez, minor league RHP Reiss Knehr To San Diego Padres - Minor league LF Brayan Buelvas When it came time to settle on my final roster, I found Belen surplus to requirements. He’s a good reliever in my opinion, but I felt that I simply had better options to go with. The rest are middle of the road prospects that we can do without. Buelvas is a 21 year old outfield prospect. His ceiling is pretty average, but I see a lot about his game that I like. He should be a good contact hitter that can work line drives gap to gap. His speed is ok and he’s a slightly above average defender. If he hits his potential, he has the type of skill set I wouldn’t mind seeing in our 2 spot. To Los Angeles Dodgers - SP MacKenzie Gore To San Diego Padres - Minor league C Diego Cartaya I really was hoping that Gore would work out, but he’s simply too injury prone. Even worse, because of the surgery on his throwing arm to remove bone chips from his elbow, our scouts don’t believe that he’ll ever reach the potential that he once showed. Dealing him to the Dodgers was like rubbing salt in our wound, but there weren’t many willing to take a risk on Gore. All I can say about the 22 year old Cartaya is that he’s average. Average in every way. But that isn’t always a bad thing, and with a lack of decent catching prospects in our organization, he’s a nice addition. Additions SP Shane Bieber - 7 years, $161,000,000 Going into this off season, I didn’t have plans to sign a big free agent. We needed some small improvements to our roster, but I thought our squad was in a pretty good position. But the owner gave me the green light to spend this off season, and I’m taking advantage of it. A pitcher of Bieber’s quality doesn’t come around too often. He’s won three of the last four AL Cy Young Awards. With money in the bank, I had to go after him. We’ll now have a one-two-three punch of Bieber, Paxton, and Snell at the front of our rotation. Opposing teams are going to dread our rotation. RP Robby Butron - 5 years, $26,400,000 Butron is a 26 year old reliever out of Cuba. He has a power fastball and a nasty splitter. He should be able to rack up the strikeouts with his nasty stuff and decent control. What can I say, I can never have enough arms at my disposal. RF Franmil Reyes - 5 years, $58,500,000 La Mole returns to San Diego. We needed an outfielder and Reyes was on the market. He led the AL last season with 126 RBI for the Royals. Consistency has been an issue for Reyes. In a good year, he’ll hit .270-.280 with 35+ HR. In a bad one, he’ll hit .250 with 20 HR. I think we have enough dangerous batters around him that he should be productive in our lineup. Departures C Cam Gallagher - Free agent, unemployed That was a simple one. As much as I value his leadership, he simply wanted more money than I was willing to pay for a backup catcher. After hitting .297/.345/.386 for us in 2022, his numbers dropped to .189/.265/.255. Aside from his leadership, there really isn’t any reason for him to be in our lineup at this point. We can get his offensive production from anyone, and he’s not particularly useful as a defensive sub either. Minor League SS Nick Gordon - Rule 5 Draft, Cincinnati Reds I’m not sure what the Reds see in Gordon that we don’t. They picked him in the Rule 5 draft just 7 days after we signed him to a minor league contract. He’s a below average hitter, but above average on the base paths and in the field. The reason why we gave him a contract was for his mental makeup. Gordon is a natural leader. But there’s not enough there to keep him on a MLB roster for a full season. RF Alex Verdugo - Free agent, St. Louis Cardinals - 8 years, $142,600,000 How can you let the man who was the MVP in two of your playoff series walk away from the team? Well, you can do it when he wants a King’s ransom. I was actually willing to pay him close to the yearly salary that he demanded. What I wasn’t willing to do was give him an 8-year contract. Ultimately, that was the divide we couldn’t close. To be honest, I just couldn’t bring myself to sign a player with questionable work ethic and be stuck with him for years on end. Owner Goals 2024 - Upgrade at Center Field this season 2024 - Extend Blake Snell’s contract (Completed) 2025 - Win the Championship 2025 - Bring more drafted players into the team 2028 - Build a team that can bring a championship home Outlook Having been crowned the 2023 world champions, all eyes will be on us this upcoming season. Our goal is simple, to defend our title. The bookies have us as the best team in the league, predicting us to finally topple the Dodgers during the regular season. With Bieber, Paxton, and Snell leading our rotation, few teams will relish seeing us on the schedule. Surprisingly, the odds makers see Weathers, and not Paxton, joining Bieber and Snell as one of the top 10 pitchers in the league. With a series of big money moves to both re-sign players and to bring in a few new faces, can we live up to the hype? Can we repeat as champions? Has the Slam Diego dynasty finally arrived? Attached Images __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond Last edited by Sundance; 07-16-2021 at 12:20 PM.

07-16-2021, 12:19 PM	#36
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	Key Players 2024 Fernando Tatis Jr. - SS - 25 Injuries ruined what could have been another MVP-worthy season for El Nino in 2023. In 40 games he hit .346/.428/.718 with 11 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HR, and 4.0 WAR. Tatis will look to get back on track in what will hopefully be a healthy 2024. There is one area of concern however. It looks like he’s lost a step or two for some reason. Neither of his major injuries last season affected his legs, but perhaps the overall toll they took on his body has caused the dip in speed. We’ll have to keep an eye on his baserunner this season. Manny Machado - 3B - 31 Machado has put together back to back MVP-worthy seasons and will look to continue his dominance. The star third baseman put the team on his back last season, but Tatis Jr. now healthy, there should be less pressure on our star. We’re hoping for another season of .300+ average, .900+ OPS, 35+ HR, and 7+ WAR. Ha-Seong Kim - 2B - 28 Another player who is looking to bounce back with a healthy season. The jury is still out on who Kim is. We know he’s good, but we don’t really know how he’s good. Is he a guy that’s going to hit .260 with 25+ HR like in 2022? Or is he a guy that’s going to hit .330 with 10-15 HR like he might have done had he stayed healthy in 2023? Whatever the case, we know that he's going to produce. He should be a main cog in our lineup. Tucupita Marcano - 1B - 24 Marcano has been impressive since making it to the big league roster in 2021. So impressive, in fact, that I’ve had to find a way to keep him in the lineup. 2023 will be his first season as our full-time first baseman. He performed well in the role in limited action last season, so I’m hoping that the transition shouldn’t be too difficult for the youngster. He’ll look to build on his All-Star-worthy 2023 season. Shane Bieber - SP - 28 Our big free agent grab. Bieber will enter 2023 as our team’s ace, and deservedly so - He’s won three of the last four AL Cy Young awards. With wicked stuff and five devastating pitches, he’ll spearhead what should be a very dominant starting rotation. James Paxton - SP - 35 Paxton has lost his spot at the head of our rotation, but remains no less important to our team. The NL Cy Young runner up should once again be in the conversation for some awards come season’s end. He has some of the nastiest stuff in the game and will be a dominant arm. He finished three seasons in a row with 200+ innings and 200+ strikeouts. We expect him to once again be a work horse for us. Blake Snell - SP - 31 Snell was the 2021 NL Cy Young runner up. Unfortunately, he followed that performance up by missing half of the 2022 season, and most of the 2023 season as he recovered from a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament. Snell showed what kind of pitcher he can be in a dominant NL Wild Card performance. Unfortunately, he followed that up with two more outings in the playoffs that were absolutely horrendous. Our scouts don’t rate him as highly as they used to, but the bookies still think he’ll end up as a top 10 pitcher this season. We’ll need another good season out of him if we wish to defend our title. Seth Elledge - RP - 27 Elledge has been one of the most dominant relievers over the past two seasons. I still maintain, to this day, that he was absolutely robbed in the Reliever of the Year voting last season. Sure, you can argue against him winning it, but to finish as low as he did is a crime. His dominance and consistency coming out of the pen will be key to our success this season. Blake Cederlind - CL - 28 Another year, another closer. We need someone who isn’t going to crack under the pressure of a playoff run. Cederlind is the reigning NL Reliever of the Year. He led the NL in saves last season with 41. We’re hoping that he’s the answer we’ve been searching for. Prospects 2024 SS CJ Abrams - MLB SP Ryan Weathers - MLB RP Elvis Luciano - MLB SP Will Bednar - AAA SP David Harrison - AAA RP Shuichiro Hotta - AAA SP Tommy Sheehan - AAA 3B Aaron Sabato - AAA 2B Livan Soto - AAA LF Robert Hassell III - AA C Diego Cartaya - AA RF Tirso Ornelas - AA RF Andy Pages - A+ SP Jagger Haynes - A+ SS Orelvis Martinez - A+ CL Michell Miliano - A+ SP Ian Murphy - R C Jesus Galiz - R 1B Blaze Jordan - R LF Brayan Buelvas - R CF Zayed Salinas - R Attached Images __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond Last edited by Sundance; 07-16-2021 at 12:20 PM.

07-16-2021, 04:01 PM	#37
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	April 2024 Recap Monthly Record: 15-10 Overall Record: 15-10 Position: 2nd Games Back: 0 The Good We’re 0 games back, so that’s good. The pitching staff, as expected, is looking tough to beat. It’s early on, so we have to take all of these numbers with a grain of salt, but we’re 2nd in the NL in ERA, 1st in WAR, 4th in walks allowed, and 1st in strikeouts. Chris Paddack is off to a hot start. He went 4-0 with a 1.97 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and led the staff in strikeouts (45) and WAR (2.1) over 5 starts. Shane Bieber is also looking good - 2-1, 3.38 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 38 K over 5 starts. Archie Bradley continues to look like a reliable arm coming out of the pen. He tossed 10.1 innings with a 0.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 14 K. Offensive there are a few moments to be pleased about. Machado launched 8 home runs in the opening month. Tatis Jr. is looking decent to start the year - Not great, but decent. The Bad There’s 3 teams sitting atop the NL West with the same exact record. The D-Backs, us, and the Dodgers, in that order. Elledge had an uncharastically bad month. He got knocked around for a 6.48 ERA and 1.92 WHIP. Hopefully he can smooth things out because we are going to need his arm in the long run. We also lost Franmil Reyes for a couple of weeks with an oblique strain. LF Alek Thomas has been called up from AAA. The Ugly The offense. It’s nonexistent to start the season. Luis Campusano is hitting .164, Ha-Seong Kim is hitting .232, and Corey Dickerson is hitting .193. We’re down near the bottom of the NL in most categories except runs and homeruns, where we are middle of the pack, strikeouts (2ns), and base running (tied for 1st in steals and 2nd in base running). We really need our bats to come alive soon. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-16-2021, 05:55 PM	#38
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	May 2024 Recap Monthly Record: 21-8 Overall Record: 36-18 Position: 1st Games Back: +4 The Good We managed to separate ourselves from the pack this month and finished in first place. Can’t complain about that! The bats also started waking up a bit. Tatis Jr. looked better in May with a .316/.368/.561 line with 7 HR and 21 RBI. Corey Dickerson finally looked like himself with a .311/.357/.500, 5 HR, 23 RBI month. And I know our owner wants us to upgrade in center and replace Carlos Tocci, but when he hits .349/.410/.431 with 7 doubles, I kind of can’t. On the mound, Chris Paddack added another 4 wins to his tally, although he didn’t look quite as dominant as he did in the first month of the season. Shane Bieber continues pitching like an ace, despite not getting results - he went 1-0 over 6 starts with a 3.38 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 49 K. Ryan Weathers now leads the club in losses with a 1-3 record in May, despite the fact that he’s pitching exceptionally well. In 6 starts he posted a 3.52 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP. The bullpen also looked very strong this month. Seth Elledge bounced back with a 1.69 ERA, 0.38 WHIP, and 20 K in 10.2 innings of work. Blake Cederlind racked up 12 saves with a 1.84 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. He converted 30 straight save opportunities, dating back to last season, before blowing his last attempt of the month. The Bad Archie Bradley and Chad Green both had months to forget coming out of the pen. Ha-Seong Kim improved this month, but that doesn’t mean that he’s hitting well. Hopefully he can figure things out. Manny Machado had a disappointing month as well. The only silver lining being that he added another 6 HR to his tally. The Ugly Injuries. Again. Luis Campusano fractured his ankle trying to advance to second on a fielder’s choice in the 9th inning of a game against the Dodgers. He’ll be out 2-3 months. We don’t have any real options to take his place, so Diego Cartaya is getting the call. He’ll start the majority of games with MJ Melendez rotating in. Blake Snell is once again on the IL, this time with a rotator cuff strain. He’s out 6-7 weeks. Pierce Johnson is suffering from shoulder tendinitis, and he’s out 5-6 weeks. Our 2021 first round draft pick, SP Will Bednar, will replace Snell and RP Nick Sandlin will rejoin the team to replace Johnson. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-18-2021, 01:54 AM	#39
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	June 2024 Recap Monthly Record: 15-10 Overall Record: 51-28 Position: 1st Games Back: +4 The Good The lead is holding! We’re still 4 games up on the Dodgers, and the D-Backs have fallen to 11 back. We currently have the second best record in baseball, only trailing the Tigers who are 54-25. Tatis Jr. keeps plugging along and producing, although not quite at the same pace as his MVP season. He hit .292/.346/.510 with 7 doubles and 4 HR in this short month. It’s hard to say he’s having a down year when he’s already posted 4.3 WAR on the season. Carlos Tocci continues to impress and even the owner is starting to ease up on the pressure to improve in center field. He hit .364/.382/.465 and tied Tatis Jr. for the most doubles this month with 7 of his own. He also had a 24 game hit streak this month. Shane Bieber had another fantastic month. He went 2-1 with a 2.51 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 28 K in 4 starts. Ryan Weathers is also coming along nicely. In 5 starts the youngster went 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.69 WHIP. Will Bednar, who we recently had to call up, also looked great. He went 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 12.5 K/9 in 5 starts, good enough to earn him NL Rookie of the Month honors. Seth Elledge also seemed to right the ship coming out of the pen and looked like his dominant self - 1.35 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 10.8 K/9 for the month. Here’s a look at the Padres who made the All-Star team this year: SP Shane Bieber - 5-2, 3.12 ERA, 98.0 IP, 0.94 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 3.0 WAR SP Blake Snell - 4-2, 3.34 ERA, 56.2 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 1.8 WAR (Injured) SP Ryan Weathers - 4-5, 2.47 ERA, 91.0 IP, 0.92 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 2.2 WAR RP Seth Elledge - 1-1, 3.38 ERA, 24 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 14.6 K/9, 1.1 WAR CL Blake Cedderlind - 2-4, 20 SV, 2.62 ERA, 34.1 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 1.1 WAR 1B Tucupita Marcano - .286/.366/.415, 7 HR, 12 SB, 114 wRC+, 1.7 WAR 3B Manny Machado - .243/.319/.485, 17 HR, 4 SB, 114 wRC+. 2.0 WAR SS Fernando Tatis Jr. - .300/.353/.526, 14 HR, 6 SB, 139 wRC+, 4.3 WAR CF Carlos Tocci - .336/.379/.417, 2 HR, 3 SB, 123 wRC+, 2.5 WAR Former Padres’ 1B Jose Abreu (.322/.381/.625, 20 HR, 171 wRC+, 3.2 WAR) and RF Wil Myers (.256/.301/.520, 17 HR, 3 SB, 117 wRC+, 1.3 WAR) also made the All-Star game for the AL. The Bad Ha-Seong Kim has really fallen off the pace this season. He hit just .185/.284/.198 for the month with just one extra base hit. Franmil Reyes is also struggling. He hit .253/.301/.387 with just 2 home runs, bringing his season total to a whopping 3. The Ugly Once again, the story here is injuries. Chas McCormick went down with a fractured finger. It’ll take him at least 6 weeks to be back. Alek Thomas will be called up to replace him. Corey Dickerson strained an oblique and was originally expected to miss 3 weeks. His return now is uncertain as he isn’t bouncing back from it like we had hoped. Robert Hassell III will join the team to help us out in the outfield. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond

07-18-2021, 07:21 PM	#40
Sundance Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 350	July 2024 Recap Monthly Record: 17-12 Overall Record: 68-40 Position: 1st Games Back: +5 The Draft Our top pick this year went to 21 year old SS Max Muncy out of the University of Arkansas. If he reaches his potential, he should be a pretty average MLB player. But what really drew me to him is his personality. This kid lives for the big moments. When the game is on the line, he is the type that wants to be right in the thick of it. He’s a natural leader that won’t back down from anything. The Good We managed to extend our lead over the Dodgers by just a little. We had started to pull away, but we dropped two games to end the month. Tucupita Marcano had a great month for us hitting .331/.419/.441. Ha-Seong Kim finally showed signs of life and hit a ridiculous 16 doubles in July with a .299/.409/.464 line. Tatis Jr. just continues to plug along and be productive. He hit .281/.333/.544 with a team leading 8 HR and 23 RBI. Another month, another dominant showing from Shane Bieber. Our ace went 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, and 44 K over 6 starts. Ryan Weathers continues to make impressive strides with a 2-0 record and 0.94 WHIP in 5 starts this month. Our bullpen was also impressive with several stand out performances from the likes of Robby Butron, Chad Green, Tyler Johnson, and Elvis Luciano. Our pitching staff now leads the NL in every major category. The Bad Corey Dickerson has not looked like himself this season. July was another disappointing month as he hit just .173/.220/.267. Carlos Tocci finally looked human this month. July was the first month that the 28 year old has hit under .300 this season (.243). The Ugly Should I just rename this the injury section? Because that’s all I seem to be complaining about every month. For whatever reason, we are just being plagued by strained obliques this season. This time it was Seth Elledge who got hit. He should be out for a minimum of 7 weeks. RP Shuichiro Hotta will be called up from AAA to replace him. __________________ Be sure to check out my dynasties! Slam Diego 2021 and Beyond The San Diego Padres - 2025 and Beyond