Good morning from Miami,
The Padres were limping home.
And just about the time their flight was departing after a second straight loss to the Marlins that ended a 10-day road trip, they got what will certainly be a shot of adrenaline, as news broke that they had acquired a new offensive weapon.
It is difficult to imagine that Adam Frazier, who leads the NL in hits (125) and is second in batting average (.324) and doubles (28), wouldn’t help even out the Padres’ mercurial offense.
You might tell me to stop right there. What longtime Padres fan doesn’t remember Ryan Ludwick?
The right fielder was acquired at the trade deadline in 2010 while batting .281/.343/.484 for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Padres were 1½ games up in the National League West at the time.
Ludwick batted .211/.301/.330 in 50 games for the Padres, who finished two games behind the San Francisco Giants and missed the playoffs.
The 2010 Padres were among the major leagues’ worst-hitting teams. Ludwick was supposed to change that.
For all their offensive lulls this season, the Padres are a good offensive team. They rank 12th in the majors in OPS even after a horrid six games at the plate in Atlanta and Miami. In the 27 games that preceded that, there was not a more productive offense in the major leagues.
It’s understandable that any Padres fan would be wary, given the franchise’s history. And, really, the fact is none of A.J. Preller’s six moves at last year’s trade deadline yielded a difference maker — at least not yet.
But that 2010 team was by most accounts outperforming its perceived talent level. Frazier, as good a season as he is having, is meant to be merely a complement for a team that is arguably underperforming.
And he almost certainly won’t be the last piece acquired. The Padres are known to be shopping for a starting pitcher. While the extent of talks are not known, they remain in contact with the Cubs, Rangers and Rockies. Those teams’ available starting pitchers appear to be the primary targets, though one source said relievers have been heavily discussed.
Plus, Preller probably has something lined up that virtually no one else has considered.
Whatever happens in the next five days before Friday’s 1 p.m. PT trade deadline, there is recent history with the players on the current roster that suggests they will respond to this kind of spark.
The Padres were playing well at the deadline last year when Preller shocked the baseball world by acquiring nine major leaguers between Aug. 29 and 31.
From the time of the first deal, to acquire closer Trevor Rosenthal, the Padres went on a 12-2 tear and all but locked up a playoff spot before mid-September.
And it wasn’t really the new guys doing the heavy lifting. It was the players who had been there all along.
Those who were inside the clubhouse say there had been an expectation of winning before the trades. But the players’ resolve and commitment to the business at hand was further cemented when they saw what management was committing.
This move and those likely to come, along with the fact Padres players are ecstatic about the pace of their heretofore frenetic schedule greatly slowing down in the next two months, has that kind of igniting potential.
All right, that’s it for me today.
There’s not much else to talk about right now. The trade is the big thing, and we’ve wrung all we can from this exhausting trip.
The Padres are off today. Talk to you tomorrow.
I will post a story today on the offense and its difficulties remaining consistent.
Unless Preller makes another move.
"like this" - Google News
July 26, 2021 at 09:30PM
https://ift.tt/3rCn4Y7
Padres Daily: Acquisition of Frazier, others to come seems like it could ignite underperforming team - The San Diego Union-Tribune
"like this" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MWhj4t
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment