Padres Surging Ahead: Analysis Ahead of Trade Deadline
Joe Raineri and Craig Mish discuss the Padres' potential trade tactics with a 22% playoff shot as the deadline nears. They weigh options and potential moves.
Video Transcript
One of the, intriguing, teams to me is over the next at least, couple of days until we get to Monday and the trade deadline is the Padres, who have finally You wanna talk about a team that woefully underperformed, a team with the, no front end starter.
And if this was the ownership group prior, they probably would already would've went out and bought Scubal if they could've.
Right.
But they are, they've turned it around, and I, I gotta give them credit here.
I mean, Machado finally figuring out, Tatis, they've got some guys in there.
The back end of that bullpen is as good as any, with Mason Miller, closing it.
Now, they did just handle business again, I think it was the, Rockies.
They ended up, do- you saw them firsthand against the Marlins at home last week.
Now they're at home.
They got the Giants.
They won, one yesterday, I believe 3-1.
So now what is, what do we do with this Padres team who is rolling out King, Walker Buehler?
I don't know how But there are some, a guy like Seth Lugo who was already with the Padres.
Does it not make sense if the Padres went out and got somebody like that, Greg, to help them make a stretch run?
Right.
So the Padres right now, as it stands on FanGraphs, their odds are 22%.
So they're- Right sort of on the outside looking in on, on some of the other teams.
But Joe, to your point, they were less than 10% a week ago.
Yeah.
So they've really jumped up- in terms of the odds.
And so when their front office looks at it, they probably say, "Okay, we got a tough decision to make here.
Are we, we good enough to win the World Series?
No.
Are we good enough to get to the NLCS?
Eh, probably not.
So do we play for the wild card here?"
'Cause that's their, their only shot.
In the years past, Joe, with this record, and you mentioned the previous ownership, they would probably look and say, "Okay, we're five games behind LA.
We're not gonna win the division, but we still are alive in it."
That's the difference this year, Joe.
Right.
They have no chance of winning the division.
So it's only for the wild card.
How aggressive are they gonna get when you're only playing to potentially go on the road for three games?
I don't know the answer.
I still don't think they have enough starting pitching.
So if they do plan- on trying to make a run at this, they're gonna have to go out and, and get somebody, because it is bullpen day every day almost for the Padres, to me at least.
So I, I, I don't, I don't know the answer, Joe.
I really don't know.
I know that Manny Machado came out the other day and he said that this is the same team we've had all season, it's just we're starting to play well.
It's probably a fair statement.
I think their hitting is definitely good enough, one through six, one through seven.
They're deep enough.
And if they decided to go out and make a move, they're gonna have to go back into that farm system again, it feels like they always do, a- and trade guys if they still have it, to be able to get not just one, I think two starting pitchers, Joe.
I, I don't think they have enough starters, not just- Right to win in the postseason, I don't even think they have enough guys to get through the regular season right now, at least that's my view on it.
Yeah.
They have, and ag- look, JP Sears, I think is a fantastic find.
He's on the mound for them here tonight, going up against the Giants.
And, you know, quietly, i- he has been money.
The team can't score and he runs the Giants, but boy oh boy, did Robbie Ray turn it around and figure it out- Finally over the last five to six weeks.
I mean, 'cause it, early on it was not good with the Giants.
But his last six starts, I mean, no runs, one run, one run.
His worst start was against Colorado in Colorado, and he only gave up three runs, Greg.
But outside of that, no runs to Atlanta, no runs to the Athletics.
I mean, you go down the list, it, it's, they have been, he's been really, really good.
Giants aren't gonna be unloading anybody, at least not, that doesn't have an expiring contract here.
You wanna talk about a guy that absolutely could help some teams here.
But, kudos to Robbie Ray, flying under the radar.
I don't see any runs being I just don't know where the runs are coming tonight.
And I like what I've seen from JP Sears.
Me too.
You saw him in person.
Pretty impressive stuff, right?
Yeah.
And, and not throwing 97, 98, just getting outs.
And he's lefty, so I, I think you're probably looking at, first five under, I would say, in, in, in- At least the way that that could play.
And then if that happens, you jump back on and you probably take the Padres at that point because you know they're gonna get to that nasty bullpen, and that bullpen with Miller- Yeah and Morejon and some of those others, they just don't give up any runs.
So, yeah, it, it'll, it'll Look, the, the, i- it's, it's kind of weird seeing the Padres being two games over 500 but only 20% on FanGraphs, and that sort of tells you they still have a lot of games with LA, and they have a tough schedule left.
So it's not gonna be easy.
Yep.
And then the other part of it too is that in the past, AJ Preller, Joe, all he had to do was call, and then Peter Seidler, who passed away, or call Seidler family and say, "Hey, this is what I'm doing," and they just give him the keys, you know?
And now they're gone.
Yep.
So I, I don't know.
Yeah.
Like, this is the first deadline with sort of this new ownership group in place.
How, what will they do?
Will they say, "Okay, yeah, do whatever you want," or will it have to be more measured?
I, I, sh- we're all gonna find out together on Monday because there's never been a deadline that Preller hasn't gone all in.
This would be the first one that he i- that he isn't.
So, I mean, this is a guy- Yep that got Juan Soto, you know?
So, yeah, we'll, we'll see.
