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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
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“PADRES QUESTIONS”
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Spring Training is just around the corner, and there are unanswered questions everywhere around Petco Park this hour.
Questions pertaining to the budget, this year’s payroll, the status of the GM, the need for more trustworthy starting pitching, and the Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove situations.
Questions here-with my answers:
THE PADRES PAYROLL…Ownership has said it would be at last year’s level and it is close to being at that level, which means the franchise has at least an 8M-tax bill due this year before the first pitch is ever thrown. And that’s without filling some spots on the roster they still need to fill. How do you create budget space? Trade a veteran, but then you create another hole in your lineup if you move salary.
AJ-THE-GM…They keep saying they will get a deal done for an extension. That talk started in October and we are on the brink of February. Maybe they have decided he serves out this final year and see what kind of season they have? Maybe they let the new owners decide whom they want to run the franchise? If he does not get a deal done, then to me it is a Vote of No Confidence to all the things Prellar has done to make the Padres relevant in what has become a hot baseball market.
BASEBALL LOCKOUT…The big topic of conversation in every part of the baseball map. It is complicated with the loss ot TV revenue in more than half of the markets by the collapse of regional sports networks. Owners may want a salary cap. They won’t get it. But what I want is a floor to spending, which allows each team to get better talent on the roster. Just think if the floor was (140M) this year, more money to go to veteran free agents, that make alot of mid market teams better. If they are all in wildcard pennant races next summer that helps the overall health of all franchises. The floor works in the NFL-NBA-NHL.
THE UNION…It has to be collectively bargained. Everyone is making money right now, but Tony Clark must realize he represents not just Juan Soto or Kyle Tucker, but the 25th man on every roster in baseball. That’s why the tax and the floor have to be part of growth in a ‘Partnership’ not a ‘Dictatorship’.
YU DARVISH…An emotionally touching decision coming. Great career-two countries-but the reality this is maybe the end of the road of that career. The (3Y-43M) remaining on the deal cannot remain on the books. Simple solution, restructure down the deal. Pay him a smaller amount this year as a consultant. If he returns to play in 2027, give him the rest of his 2026 salary. Take the other two years owed and make it deferred based on what he can contribute on the mound, if he ever gets back on the mound. The Padres let him keep his entire salary in 2024-when he had health issues and was away with a family crisis. He is an honorable man, a 1st class person. Find a common ground despite the Union wanting to put its nose into protecting the full value of his deal.
JOE MUSGROVE..Heart is willing, mind is ready, but will he be the pitcher next year, he used to be years gone by. He has done everything he can do in rehab. Some pitchers bounce back quickly. Some take longer than a year. Sometimes it is two years out. Some don’t ever return to form. Only time tells on this.
MICHAEL KING..A fluke year of injuries, but from all indications he is back at 100% to be the number two behind Nick Pivetta.
THE ROTATION..Where are the rest of the starters going to come from? Trust Preller that they have stockpiled arms they believe in, whether that is from within the system (Brad Rodriguez) , return from injury (Brian Hoeing), or last year’s find (Randy Vasquez) or from somewhere else (Tristan McKenzie-Daison Acosta). Of course Preller has a history of last minute-early season-deadline deals too, so an acquisition can come anytime from any part of the world.
MISSING PIECES..Goodbye to Dylan Cease, a fiercely combative pitcher; Robert Suarez, what a find from Japan; Luis Arraez-popular, overpaid, but limited. Wish there was something they could have gotten in return, but not possible. And with ownership ‘capping’ Preller’s budget, no way to keep them.
TRADE CHIPS…If you wanted to move do-everything veteran Jake Cronenworth-you create another hole on the roster. Oh you could shop the long awaited arrival of Luis Campusano, but probably everyone knows where the holes are in his game, with glove and bat.
FARM SYSTEM…What’s left to trade, Ethan Salas or the youngest wave of Class A-pitchers? The GM has cleaned out the system 4X in 11-years and the Padres have not gotten to the World Series, and that was the premise of all this. Is it worth trying again?
SUMMARY…Fans will be excited with the words ‘Pitchers & Catchers Report’ but they need to evaluate the components of the roster, the shortcomings, the money issues, and the longterm leadership considering what the owners have yet to do with the GM. Padres baseball, not so much known, with alot of unknowns.
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