Paul Goldschmidt is headed again to the Bronx after agreeing to a one-year take care of the Yankees. The Diamondbacks had been his solely different identified suitor for a lot of the offseason, however it might have finally come all the way down to New York and San Diego.
Jon Heyman of The New York Put up loosely linked the Friars to Goldschmidt final night time. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported this night they had been certainly among the many finalists. The Padres wish to add another hitter even after agreeing to a $4MM contract with Miguel Andujar on Wednesday. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller mentioned final weekend the entrance workplace was attempting so as to add “a number of bats, that first base, DH, something off the bench” (hyperlink by way of Greg Beacham of WKYC).
Andujar initiatives as the first designated hitter. He can spell first baseman Gavin Sheets in opposition to left-handed pitching whereas splitting DH reps with Sung-mun Music. The KBO signee has multi-positional flexibility that’d permit them to accommodate one other first base/DH sort. The bench was a weak spot for the Padres final season and nonetheless appears that means. Music and backup catcher Luis Campusano mission for 2 spots. That leaves two openings with solely 4 different place gamers on the 40-man roster: Bryce Johnson, Will Wagner, Mason McCoy and Tirso Ornelas.
They’re all fringe 40-man sorts. Johnson is out of choices and hit .342 over 84 plate appearances final yr, however that was pushed by a .442 common on balls in play that isn’t near sustainable. Ornelas has been a league common hitter in Triple-A over two full seasons and hasn’t gotten a big MLB look earlier than his twenty sixth birthday. McCoy has been a below-average offensive participant within the minors, whereas Wagner fell out of the combination in Toronto and hit .225/.324/.279 over 55 MLB video games final yr.
Rhys Hoskins, Wilmer Flores, Justin Turner and outdated pal Ty France are unsigned righty-hitting first basemen. Marcell Ozuna, Mitch Garver and Andrew McCutchen can be found designated hitters. Speculative commerce prospects embrace Ryan Mountcastle, Lenyn Sosa and Ezequiel Duran.
San Diego in all probability additionally has a transfer approaching the pitching facet. Preller mentioned final week they wished so as to add one other starter. It’s possible that’ll be a less expensive back-end sort, however they kicked the tires on what would have been a a lot greater acquisition. Heyman stories that the Padres had been among the many groups concerned on Framber Valdez earlier than his three-year, $115MM settlement with the Tigers. The Padres had been in a position to wait out the market to land Nick Pivetta as a February pickup a yr in the past, however Valdez commanded a a lot bigger contract that was possible by no means within the price range.
Many of the remaining free brokers of word are beginning pitchers. Zac Gallen, Max Scherzer, Zack Littell, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and organizational favourite Nick Martinez are unsigned. Walker Buehler, Patrick Corbin, Miles Mikolas, Germán Márquez and Jose Quintana will probably be restricted to modest one-year salaries in the event that they even command main league offers.
Signing anybody from that group may push JP Sears to lengthy aid or to the Triple-A rotation. They’ll open the yr with a powerful high three of Pivetta, Michael King and Joe Musgrove. The expertise degree drops markedly after that. Randy Vásquez is out of choices and appears ticketed for one of many closing two spots. Sears, Kyle Hart and Matt Waldron are the one different starters on the 40-man roster. They’ve added Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie on minor league offers with invitations to Spring Coaching.
