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“THINKING OUT LOUD”
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So much to comment on in sports.  Here goes:

PADRES-DODGERS….So what defines a rivalry?  Years of important games?  Have you dominated the series?  The Friars and the Blue open a huge series, with playoff implications, on Friday night.  There will be alot of Brown & Gold at Petco Park, but Blue also seeps into the stadium, those fans from LA.  So check the scoreboard and tell me, if it’s a real rivalry.

..Dodgers lead the all time series (514-416)
..Dodgers have won 14-of-last 17-series.
..Padres are (17-37) vs LA dating to 2020 in regular season
..Padres did beat Dodgers (3-1) in NL playoffs last year
..Dodgers historically draw 4M
..Dodgers have won the NL-West 8X in a decade-Padres none
..Dodgers been to 3-World Series and won one-Padres have not in decade

Fun weekend ahead.  The Padres are hitting the ball well, and have the better starting rotation and bullpen setup.  The Dodgers are hitting homers against everyone, and need to, because their starting staff is in disarray.

Good weekend ahead, yes, but is this really a rivalry, don’t think so.  And you?

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PAC 12…End of an era?  That’s what people think at his hour.  Is the Conference of Champions about to perish?  Could be.

The Big 10 has reportedly made contact with Oregon-Washington, which has led to conversation they may be about to take 4-teams from the Pac 12, bringing Stanford-Cal along with the Ducks-Huskies.

If that happens, then the Big 12 follows, by adding Arizona-Arizona State-Utah after landing Colorado.

What’s left behind, Oregon State-Washington State, winds up in the Mountain West Conference in a new-look Group of 5-Conference.

This conference began in 1915 and grew to 8-then-10-then 12-teams.  It is dying on the vine because of the drought, not hot weather, but the loss of TV money, and the horrid leadership of fired Commissioner Larry Scott.

This sure looks like an awful ending for the Conference of Champions.  What a sad weekend ahead of us in college football.

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“AZTECS BASKETBALL-SUMMER SCHOOL REPORT”
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San Diego State’s roster is complete.
The transfer portal has brought in a couple of big wing players
Two of the key starts from last year’s NCAA team are back
Replacing Nathan Mensaw and others will be a challenge
2-redshirt young players are ready to contribute.
A ton of things for Coach Brian Dutcher to talk about.
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Brian Dutcher:

Summer workouts have begun
Entire team is on campus now

Home and home with Gonzaga..been good for both programs
Discussed neutral sight..both interested in playing home and home
Come off Christmas break to play Zags before conference opener
Want competitive games to help our resume
Go to BYU-Grand Canyon-Gonzaga..atmospheres out of this world

On road alot more because of non conference…some are return games

Transfers..Jai Pal-skilled multi position-versatility…Reece Waters-Defensive player of the year in Pac 12…USC transfer..ready to make the next step…Hi level defender-competes hard…can score at 3-levels

Elijah Sanders…part of life is being patient…ready to play
Miles Byrd put on exhibition in early workouts
BJ Davis-freshman electric game
Magoon..6’11-with skill and can shoot the ball
DeMarshay Johnson-transformed his body heading to 3rd year

I have to manage expectations-recruit families-let them know how our journeys work.

Going to NCAA title game-we got behind in recruiting but I like this team

NIL is genie out of the bottle…Congress has to structure
Promises being made-not being met in some programs.
We keep our promises to our players

We have a 24-year culture in our program..how you treat people
Players want to come back to be part of the culture
Veteran players guide young players..embrace the culture

Jaedon LeDee..we won with 5th year seniors last year…having him come back ..important…it was not about the NIL for him..it was the journey…take less to get more

Pac 12…alot of moving pieces..every conference is going thru this..historic times in college and athletics…it takes months and years

We have built the Aztecs into a brand much like Gonzaga..no one cares they are in the WCC.
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“PADRES TRADE DEADLINE DAY”

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t was typical AJ Preller and his mode of operation day.

Trading young prospects, taking on money, filling holes, that he himself helped create on the roster.

It’s like a revolving door at a shopping mall.  Players come, players go, and the Padres world spins every time their unpredictable GM picks up his cellphone.

But for the first time, Preller did not overpay to make the deals with the Royals-Pirates-Marlins.

Yes they moved young players, but aside from Ryan Weathers, they did not trade the blue chips at Class A-AA.

They went out and rented setup reliever Scott Barlow of the Royals..1st baseman Garrett Cooper of Miami…and veterans Rich Hill of the Pirates and DH-Ji Man-Choi plus a minor league pitcher Sean Reynolds..

They filled needs on an underachieving team.  Hill can give them innings in the rotation.  Barlow joins the setup group of relievers.  Choi helps in the barren DH slot..and Cooper can play DH and 1st base.

Preller had lots to say on Tuesday night:
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GM-AJ Preller:

We looked at alot of different scenarios
Bullpen-lefthanded bat..a prefessional hitter were priorities
I checked alot of boxes in last few days

Rich Hill-we have a need in the rotation on the short term
Waiting for Michael Wacha to come back
Hill gives us chance to let other pitchers get proper rest
Hill has pitched in alot of pennant races

We tried to sign Scott Barlow a couple of years ago
Competes-takes ball-wants the ball
He adds alot to our setup guys

We had attractive players  people wanted..not compelled to move them
We liked this roster-wanted to add for next two months
We have given this team a chance by solidifying spots on roster

Rental players-people are conservative
We were not making moves to make moves
We need to be more consistent-we can with roster now built

Sweeping Rangers-was a message-factored in a little bit
We know our team our group-this was doing homework-getting into market
We could tell teams liked our farm system players-we kept alot of them

We understand free agency is coming-never got offers for Hader-Snell
Peter Seidler was updated all the time-he has faith in our front office team
We have very good defensive team

We needed DH-production-think we got a few bats to deliver for us
The cool part is players in our room believe in each other
They feel like we are very capable of doing what we did last year

We are always open to talk to Snell-Hader in the off season
Let’s get to the post season right now-won’t talk for 8-weeks
The loss of TV money–ownership updates us-will talk end of year talk budget

I always talk about fit-makeup-chemistry..winning does that
Rich Hill-ton of starts..Barlow-key setup guy..we got bats-skill set
We have alot of young pitchers ready to make the next step
Guys in system showing us alot of ability to move up
Ethan Salas has sent quite a message in recent weeks

Tough decision to give up Weathers-Jackson-Williams
Not easy call to trade them but we have quality pitching in system

Next step is decided who stays or goes with the 26-man roster
Not ready to decide on roster construction yet
Matt Carpenter has player option next year-not had conversation yet

Every year at deadline we find out about our players and how teams view them

So the roster is set, the money spent, and Preller has made his moves to reacquire his reputation as a Rock Star GM.  His team, his contracts, his trades.  Now we find out if they can make this come togehter.

All that depends on what his underachieving players can do heading into the weekend series with the Dodgers, that may well decide their fate.

Here comes the new look Padres roster.  Can they get there?  We find out over the next 60-days.

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“Hacksaw’s Podcast:

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Invite you to sample my Monday BONUS Podcast on my You Tube Channel:

 

Padres-Dodgers-Angels-Trades

Deadline Deals

NFL Training Camp Notes

NBA-NHL-World Cup Soccer

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Link:

 

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“PADRES–WHAT TO DO”
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What a week ahead of us.
The Padres baseball future will be decided by next weekend
Sweeping Texas, beating the daylights out of a bad Rockies team.
Then come home for a season deciding 4-game series with the Dodgers.
All that between now and next Sunday evening.

And also the trading deadline too.

Some type of debate too, should the Padres be a ‘buyer-or-seller’ heading to Tuesday’s afternoon trade deadline.

Of course there are a ton of variables you have to consider too.

What kind of message are the Padres sending to their fans, who have sold out 41-games this season in a record season of revenue.

It has also been a summer of record expenditures by owner Peter Seidler.  Heading to the deadline, the Padres payroll is at (253M) and the Padres total expenditures are now at a record (277M) that puts them over the third tier of the luxury tax, so there will be penalties next year, whether they make the playoffs or not.

And the playoff conversation would be decided by the time they finish next weekend’s series with the Dodgers.

The Friars are trying to pull themselves out of a proverbial ‘pot hole bunker’ in the wildcard race.  There are 7-teams fighting for the 3-wildcard spots, and the Padres are the 7th team in that chase with its sub-500 record.  They started the weekend 5-and-a half back of the Reds, who hold the last wildcard spot.

The next 48-hours will be the AJ Preller’s time, but there are limitations as to what he can do, from a budget standpoint and from a prospect standpoint.

He has twice cleaned out the farm system trying to build a World Series team.  He has been given a blank check by ownership and spent beyond it.  What he hasn’t done is put a consistent winner on the field.

So here we are.  Can he take on any type of big contract?  Doubtful.

Is he willing to trade any of his hottest young prospects in the lower minors?  He should not.

Aside from four top earners on the roster, and no one wants to take on the contracts , there’s not much else to move.  Unless someone thinks they can unlock the mystery of Ryan Weathers, or help get Adrian Morejon healthy, there’s not much ready made talent to be dealt.  The rest of the bottom of the roster is the reason the Friars are in a hole.  Not much talent.

And the next wave of kids are having very good years in the lower minors.  They should be untouchable if the Padres hope to have any type of future with all these extended contracts they have given out to the Fab 4 and a few starters.

And what do the Padres do?

JUAN SOTO..You traded bluechip prospects to get him and his booming bat.  He has been solid since May with power-walks.  He was a rental for 3-years before he becomes a free agent.  The wildcard is he is repped by Scott Boras, so you know he is headed to free agency.  Let him produce here.

BLAKE SNELL…Having a 2-month run that could qualify him for the Cy Young Award.  As dominant he was the year he won the Cy Young Award with Tampa Bay.  But he too is a free agent.  And he is repped by you know who?  Boras.  Think about that price tag.  But you need him in the front of the rotation.

JOSH HADER…The best closer in baseball but if you think you can play in October-you want him coming out of your bullpen.  A walk free agent too.  You cannot afford to move him.

San Diego is a great place to live.  The players are beloved in the community.  Why would you consider leaving aside from a mega contract offer in the offseason.  These players have a relationship with the GM, so that should carry clout.

The Padres built this to win, it hasn’t yet, but that does not mean it cannot forge its way into the wildcard race.  And in a 3-game series in the wildcard playoffs, would you bet against the Padres starters and potential of the batting order in a short series?

Preller should keep his roster intact.  He built it, he spent it, he should be accountable for it by the time we get to October 1st.

You have October-November to determine who to keep, who you can afford, who might be available, if you don’t get to the postseason, and how you change the bottom half of the roster.

Ride this thing out-and you can make changes in the offseason, whether that is roster, dugout or front office.

The deadline is Tuesday night.
The season gets decided next weekend with the Dodgers series.

What to do?  Stay the course and flash your Friar Faithful card.
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