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“PADRES-WAITING GAME”
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“Help Wanted-Pitching”
That’s what the sign outside the Padres spring training camp should read, because they are on the clock in attempts to find established front line pitching for a very thin rotation.
The rumor mill was working overtime on Tuesday, that the last name free agent pitcher on the market, Zac Gallen, was in the Padres target sights.
It makes no sense at all for a wide variety of reasons. All the Padres fans on Social Media were losing their mind that this potential deal was about to happen.
How? Not possible.
Gallen is a warrior of a starting pitcher. Rock solid reliable. A (66-52) career record with a (3.58-ERA)..despite a (13-15) record last year.
Gallen rejected a (1Y-22M) qualifying offer from Arizona, to go on the open market.
Gallen would cost any team that signed him, including the Padres, a 2nd and 5th round draft pick plus 1M-in international signing money.
Gallen is represented by super-agent Scott Boras, who seldom does creatively financed-lower priced home discount deals for any one.
And yet fans have gone wild this guy is coming to San Diego.
Really? You think Boras is letting this guy come here for 5M-or a pile of deferred money on a multi year deal?
Gallen could wind up in Baltimore or with the Cubs, who have money to spend. Or he could go back to Arizona on a 1-year deal, maybe close to the Q-offer he turned down, bet on himself, and go back on the big money market next year, without any form of compensation since he cannot be given another Q-offer.
The Padres are financially tapped out. As of this morning, they are at (224M) in payroll and have a 9M-luxury tax bill coming. So how are they going to afford a 10M or a 15M or a 20M-Zac Gallen deal? How do they afford to give up that compensation in addition to the financial check they’d have to write?
There are not many names left out there on the pitching market. Chris Bassitt-Toronto…Lucas Gialito-Red Sox..Zack Littell-Tampa Bay…aging Max Scherzer-Toronto…Walker Buehler-ex Dodgers…Jose Quintana-Milwaukee…Jon Gray-ex Rangers…German Marquez-ex Rockies…Griff Canning-ex Angels. They headline what is left, but many of those names have red-flags because of elbow-shoulder surgeries. So does ex-Dodger Julio Urias (60-25), coming off a 2-year domestic abuse suspension.
And we revert back to the original questions: do you think any of these guys are coming here for minimum contracts with incentive clauses tacked on ?
Do you think the Friars owners are going to let AJ Preller take on another big contract, with a franchise that has been bleeding money while winning and selling out Petco Park? And do you think an incoming owner would want to take on more debt since the Padres have squeezed every dollar they can out of the fans at Petco Park?
Love the passion of the fans, but maybe they need to stop drinking Red Bull or cutback on coffee and get off twitter. They have the Padres in on every free agent possible, everytime a name surfaces in the rumor mill.
The only alternative is to get a ‘yes’ from Yu Darvish, that he will give them back the (14M) owed this year since he cannot pitch due to surgery. Or they trade Jake Cronenworth and reallocate his (10M) to go get a pitcher. But if you do that-you create a huge hole in your defensive infield. How does that help the big picture?
Or maybe Preller plays Magician, does both-gets 24M-in budget space, and goes shopping and gets a Gallen-type pitcher. But that’s alot of moving parts.
But then again, which pitcher-at-what price?
The waiting game continues.
The sign out front of the property at the corner of Trevor & Tony should read..’Help Wanted-Pitching’.
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