Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 74 feat. Danny Barrand - Padres Off-season Recap, Padres Expectations, Top 5 Padres Prospects

Transcript

Episode 74 feat. Danny Barrand - Padres Off-season Recap, Padres Expectations, Top 5 Padres Prospects · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:25
  Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
• 0:27
  Twisted podcast. We have a guest in here.
• 0:31
  It was through a friend of ours who who's a known Padres guy and
• 0:37
  he's a pro evaluator for Prospects Live.
• 0:40
  Danny Baron, welcome, man. It's awesome to have you on
• 0:44
  because we heard a lot of good things about you.
• 0:47
  We're curious to see what you think about the Padres and the
• 0:49
  prospects and and the organization a whole.
• 0:51
  So welcome. Hi, good to be here.
• 0:56
  It's it is Baron, to be clear, but.
• 0:58
  Baron OK. Baron OK.
• 0:59
  Baron, Baron. Baron OK.
• 1:02
  Baron OK. Baron, Yeah.
• 1:04
  I'm not good. I'm not good at pronouncing.
• 1:07
  Any my politics, it's no worries.
• 1:12
  But yeah, man, just looking forward to hearing your insight
• 1:16
  on the team and we're excited to have you.
• 1:18
  So thanks. Thanks for talking.
• 1:20
  For. Coming.
• 1:22
  Let's let's just get this thing started here, right?
• 1:25
  We talk about the Padres. We look at the way the season
• 1:28
  ended for them last year. They went in the wild card
• 1:30
  against the Cubs, unfortunately, and, and talk about the way the
• 1:36
  season's gone so far. So far, they're what, 2:00 and
• 1:39
  4:00 to start the scene. So they're kind of off to a slow
• 1:41
  started. Knowing the Padres, they're
• 1:43
  always competitive year in a year out.
• 1:45
  And we know that the LA Dodgers are always in that division and
• 1:49
  they're winning. Yeah, every year, basically.
• 1:52
  So what are your expectations for the Padres this year?
• 1:56
  Like are they competitive enough to compete for to to be a
• 2:01
  playoff team and beyond? And what are your thoughts about
• 2:04
  that? I mean, I think when you have
• 2:07
  the payroll, you know, kind of as high as it is, it's still top
• 2:11
  10 baseball, I believe. And you have Fernando Tortiz,
• 2:15
  Junior and a child, you're going to be expected to compete for
• 2:18
  World Series. But then you got the Dodgers in
• 2:21
  the same division. It's kind of hard to hold the
• 2:23
  same expectations of winning the NLS or winning the World Series
• 2:28
  for that matter. Expectations for this year, it's
• 2:33
  obviously high because past years expectations have been set
• 2:37
  high. The goals been to win a World
• 2:39
  Series and that's that's what the ultimate goal is for every
• 2:44
  team. But expectations this year?
• 2:50
  When there's not a lot of payroll.
• 2:52
  Added It's kind of hard to be all in on this is a World Series
• 2:56
  team. But I mean, you have the core of
• 2:59
  Machado tattoos, Xander Bogarts, you've got arguably the best
• 3:05
  bullpen in the sport. I mean, you gotta think there is
• 3:09
  a path to World Series. But the slow.
• 3:13
  Start it. It tempers expectations, but you
• 3:16
  can't really overreact six games end of the season.
• 3:22
  Yeah, absolutely. You know, they they made a a
• 3:26
  plethora of moves in the offseason.
• 3:29
  They bring in Air Bond Marquez, former pitcher with the Rockies,
• 3:33
  Griffin Canning, former pitcher of the Angels and Walker Buehler
• 3:38
  added him to a minor league deal.
• 3:40
  He's in their rotation. They also bring in Nick Casianos
• 3:44
  on a one year deal after the Phillies cut him, released him
• 3:50
  and and Miguel Andujar. You know, a couple guys did
• 3:54
  leave and and Luis arise and Dylan sees to to sign that
• 3:59
  massive contract with the Blue Jays.
• 4:01
  So talk a little bit about just just how this roster looks right
• 4:07
  now and some of the guys that they brought in this offseason
• 4:11
  to help bolster this team a bit. I mean, the rotation as of now
• 4:17
  is it's laughing behind top contenders for sure.
• 4:23
  The emergence of Randy Vasquez, that in our velocity, you know,
• 4:27
  I think he'd struck out eight in his first start of the season
• 4:30
  against the Tigers. That's massive for the rotation.
• 4:35
  But Bueller and Marquez, it's going to be very limited
• 4:41
  production from them. I would think.
• 4:43
  Joe Musgrove, more elbow problems already coming off
• 4:48
  Tommy John surgery makes it kind of hard to sort out.
• 4:52
  And then Canning still recovering from his injury from
• 4:55
  last season. So I think as of now, it's kind
• 5:00
  of just get to like July, wait for Musgrove and Canning to be
• 5:04
  full, go though Canning should be a little earlier than
• 5:07
  Musgrove and then go from there because I think the rotation of
• 5:11
  Pavetta King, Vasquez, Musgrove and Canning is fit to make a
• 5:17
  playoff one of the least because then you're probably not
• 5:21
  worrying about Canon in the postseason.
• 5:23
  Musgrove stuff still look good in his one start back.
• 5:28
  Pavetta obviously great, King obviously great.
• 5:33
  The rotation when healthy is good, but how long are you going
• 5:37
  to have to watch Bueller and Marquez start?
• 5:40
  Yeah, it's not going to be the most enjoyable thing in the
• 5:43
  world to watch. Did you expect a guy like Nick
• 5:48
  Castillanos to sign with the Padres?
• 5:51
  Because we knew what was going on with him with Philadelphia
• 5:55
  last year, you saw the whole charade with him and his
• 5:59
  situation. Now he's with the Padres.
• 6:01
  Do you think it's a thing? It's like you have a guy like
• 6:04
  him who spat was good for many years.
• 6:07
  I don't know what his stance is right now.
• 6:09
  Like what are your thoughts about a guy like him?
• 6:13
  It, it's been it. It's interesting.
• 6:16
  I wasn't the biggest fan of signing him, but you know,
• 6:20
  Machado likes him. They're both from the Miami
• 6:22
  area, which now makes it kind of hard.
• 6:25
  If Cassiano doesn't perform, can you let him go?
• 6:28
  Because him and Machado kind of have a bond and he seems a
• 6:33
  little more sobered up literally and figuratively from last year
• 6:40
  in Philadelphia. Definitely media this spring
• 6:45
  seems a little more humbled, I guess.
• 6:48
  But that happens when you get released usually.
• 6:52
  Performance so far this year. It's a small sample size, but
• 6:57
  hit a double last. No, I think it was Tuesday
• 7:01
  night. I want to say it's kind of
• 7:03
  encouraging, but it's been interesting watching him play
• 7:06
  the field because definitely not the most natural thing of all
• 7:10
  time for him. So.
• 7:13
  This is the interesting question for me.
• 7:15
  And he was an integral part of the rotation for many, many
• 7:20
  years. And that's you, Darvish.
• 7:22
  And right now he's on the restricted list.
• 7:24
  Like there was rumors about him saying that he was considering
• 7:29
  retirement, then he got retired, then his age agent said no, he
• 7:33
  did not get retired And and now he's in the restrictive list.
• 7:37
  And I ask you this because I don't even know what to think
• 7:41
  about this overall. Like what do you think about the
• 7:44
  whole You Darvis situation where it stands as a whole?
• 7:51
  Behind the scenes, I'm, I'm aware of how it's transpired.
• 7:58
  I've, I've got the, I've got more knowledge than the public
• 8:02
  does, I guess on this front. But it's pretty much been sorted
• 8:09
  out since November really. I mean, Jarvis doesn't want to
• 8:15
  retire. He still wants to pitch.
• 8:17
  I believe that's public information, but restricted list
• 8:24
  seems like a way to avoid retirement and his money is not
• 8:28
  on the books. He still gets to rehab I think
• 8:32
  under team insurance and all that stuff.
• 8:35
  So from what I believe in, my understanding of how the whole
• 8:40
  restricted list system works is it's a win win for both sides.
• 8:47
  Does it does it reflect the money like does it does it save
• 8:51
  the Padres money from like from their tax situation or if they
• 8:55
  want to go add does it help their way?
• 8:58
  That money was all reallocated to Michael Caine.
• 9:04
  OK, OK. That's kind of some of the
• 9:08
  sourced up information I have here.
• 9:10
  Oh, OK, it was. It was figured out.
• 9:14
  Around Thanksgiving ish and that kind of gave them the room to go
• 9:19
  chase a big, a solid starter, not like a super big name, but
• 9:26
  they had the room on top of their you know, what ownership
• 9:30
  allocated, which was to my knowledge about 10 to $15
• 9:36
  million in payroll, which with the guys leaving wasn't a lot of
• 9:39
  money. So Darvis kind of had to retire,
• 9:43
  make something happen. So Darvis is 18,000,000 payroll
• 9:48
  added on. They were originally the target
• 9:53
  was Meryl Kelly, I believe that's out there.
• 9:55
  They offered him, you know, pretty much as Darvish's salary,
• 9:59
  straight up. Like, it was almost exactly
• 10:02
  Darvish's remaining contract. But Kelly wanted to remain in
• 10:07
  Arizona, took more money on an average annual value standpoint
• 10:12
  to return to the Diamondbacks. And after that, the Padres
• 10:18
  turned to King. They knew him.
• 10:20
  They pursued him. That was, yeah, the focus after
• 10:26
  Kelly. So they kind of knew they wanted
• 10:31
  to go out and get a more frontline guy.
• 10:35
  And if you were paying attention to the rumor mill at that time,
• 10:40
  King wasn't really a There's a lot of buzz between him going
• 10:44
  back to the Northeast and really the Padres weren't mentioned as
• 10:48
  involved at all. So it's kind of shocking to most
• 10:51
  people when he resigned. But that was really the Darvish
• 10:54
  money coming into play. So I think a lot of people see
• 11:01
  kind of how it's played out over the course of the spring now and
• 11:06
  think that there might be more money available than there is.
• 11:08
  But that that's really where the money to reassign Michael King
• 11:13
  came from. And then?
• 11:16
  After. That it was I think some man
• 11:18
  song the next day that was 4 million.
• 11:22
  Stop putting them because King was 375.
• 11:26
  So then after that only about $8 million left to spend and that
• 11:31
  kind of got allocated into hard Marquez, Canning, Cassiano, us
• 11:36
  all on cheaper deals. So I do know later in I think it
• 11:45
  was February, they were chasing down from the Valdez.
• 11:52
  They made an offer there that was more money than I thought
• 11:56
  they had to spend. But ownership was not happy
• 12:01
  about that. And I'm not sure if it would
• 12:03
  have ever really gotten past the ownership.
• 12:07
  You mentioned Merrill Kelly and and Forever Valdez, those guys
• 12:11
  that the Padres went after in the offseason.
• 12:15
  Were there any other names that you heard over the course of the
• 12:18
  offseason that you guys were linked to?
• 12:22
  I know Paul Goldschmidt was a top target of theirs.
• 12:26
  That was a guy they really valued.
• 12:29
  Miguel Andahar was another guy. They obviously signed him.
• 12:32
  It was really as they came down to couple days before players
• 12:37
  were board to camp. They wanted a platoon guy off of
• 12:42
  Sheets and there was really Goldschmidt was the preference,
• 12:47
  but Yankees resigned him. So they pivoted to end her, I
• 12:52
  want to say about the same night.
• 12:56
  Yeah. That was really where they were
• 12:58
  at. They they're all over the
• 13:01
  market. I mean they searched everywhere
• 13:04
  trade market, the rumors of public rumors.
• 13:09
  To be clear, none of this to my knowledge was anything of
• 13:13
  substance. But Mex Padres talks for almost
• 13:17
  all of December. It felt like Mex and thinking
• 13:20
  they'd trade for Mason Miller or something of that effect.
• 13:26
  And then the idea was there really was no money to make
• 13:30
  slash signings. So many thought they'd have to
• 13:33
  move Pavetta or Cronin where to go out and get an impact player.
• 13:39
  But Darvis retiring opened that money up.
• 13:42
  Well, Italy's going on the restricted list.
• 13:44
  I'm not sure what the exact agreement is, but.
• 13:48
  So, so let me ask you this because like you mentioned about
• 13:52
  Mason Miller potentially being dealt right, like we knew that
• 13:56
  he made a blockbuster deal last summer.
• 13:58
  We'll we'll we'll get into that later in the episode.
• 14:00
  But you mentioned about looking for a guy like Noah McClain or,
• 14:07
  or or I've which of the Jays with Trey Savage, you could the
• 14:11
  Jays were looking for a closer. Like was there the targets like
• 14:15
  to go get like a young top starting pitcher who had years
• 14:19
  of control. That was that the plan at the
• 14:21
  time before it just never happened with trading Mason
• 14:25
  Miller. I would think if they were to
• 14:29
  trade Miller, you'd have to be a McClain type of name coming
• 14:33
  back. I think we're at the point AJ
• 14:37
  Peller does not like to sell and it is hard to get him to sell
• 14:45
  off an asset of his. I've got some stories from past
• 14:50
  years where he's just. I know spring 2025 when Dylan
• 14:59
  Cease was available his ass from the Cubs was so wild.
• 15:03
  They said he needs to get off the video games and like he has
• 15:06
  to get real with himself if he ever wants to deal with them
• 15:09
  again. I mean his asks are just I I
• 15:15
  assume he went to the Mets asking for McClain plus more for
• 15:20
  Mason Miller. If that was ever really a thing,
• 15:23
  I'm not sure they really cherish Jeremiah Estrada.
• 15:29
  The Padres do, but I think he would be much more likely to go
• 15:33
  than Miller in any trade. But I doubt that happens at this
• 15:37
  point. I mean, you'd think they'd move
• 15:40
  a Morgan Rodriguez, Estrada, Adam Morgan.
• 15:46
  I already said Morgan more at home before they ever turn to
• 15:50
  trade in Mason Miller 'cause they cherish him heavily even
• 15:54
  though they probably don't view him as a starter at any point.
• 15:59
  They gave up a lot for him so that would I kind of can't blame
• 16:04
  him for for one day. Yeah, it would have been a
• 16:08
  unique whipping situation to see it pretty much turn from Devries
• 16:12
  and prospects into like a McClain Plus.
• 16:15
  Yeah. So that that.
• 16:18
  Was really the main rumor I heard this winter.
• 16:22
  That's interesting. Craig Stadman became the manager
• 16:26
  of the of the Padres this past offseason.
• 16:29
  Man, much show was was a manager prior to all that.
• 16:32
  But were you a bit surprised about the hiring?
• 16:35
  Because I was surprised knowing that there was names out there.
• 16:38
  That's, you know, popular names are out there, right?
• 16:44
  That was a really surprising one to me.
• 16:47
  I mean, it sounded like they were enamoured by.
• 16:50
  Poo holes and. Stammen apparently in the
• 16:55
  interview he was helping with the interviews with other
• 16:58
  managerial candidates and one of the situations where Trailer
• 17:02
  goes rogue and interviews Stammen.
• 17:05
  They're impressed by him, and I know some on the outside think
• 17:11
  he might be kind of a puppet. For.
• 17:14
  AJ to get a little more control, but he's well respected in the
• 17:19
  clubhouse. I mean, he was well respected in
• 17:21
  the clubhouse in his playing days and it's definitely a newer
• 17:28
  style, probably compared to Mike Shield, but we haven't really
• 17:34
  seen enough sample size to know how he's going to be managing
• 17:37
  stuff. You know, he's not doing a lot
• 17:40
  different. Let me ask you this, because
• 17:44
  this this is this is thing and looking at the last six years
• 17:48
  and you had Jay Stingler, Bob Melvin, Mike Show and now Craig
• 17:55
  Stammen, like, like do you see any patterns to all that?
• 17:59
  Or you think like is, is there a situation?
• 18:02
  It's like they're just trying to get the right guy to get it
• 18:04
  done? Is there is there like a culture
• 18:06
  issue or clubhouse issue? Like what are your thoughts
• 18:08
  about that? There could, there's.
• 18:13
  Kind of been a comic nominated with AJ Chandler the 2021
• 18:21
  collapse. Usually a manager is going to
• 18:24
  get himself fired after that. Melvin has years of great
• 18:35
  managerial work, but also just didn't work here and not doing
• 18:42
  anything with that 2023 team. You have to tease Bogart, Soto,
• 18:47
  Machado in the same lineup for most of the year and you're not
• 18:52
  able to sniff the postseason usually also going to get you
• 18:58
  fired on the way out. Melvin is pretty not happy with
• 19:03
  the organization. It was rather clear.
• 19:08
  You go to seal. Another guy with a track record
• 19:11
  of being a manager, kind of a more hard nosed guy.
• 19:14
  He probably got in the Padres the most success out of any of
• 19:22
  those four guys. Even though Melvin LED them to
• 19:25
  the NLCS in 2022. It sure felt like the 2024
• 19:30
  iteration of the Padres could have won a World Series had they
• 19:34
  gotten past LA in the NLDS. And that 2025 team was also
• 19:40
  talented. But there was disconnect between
• 19:44
  Preller and Shield. Shield really likes to be hands
• 19:48
  on and also so does AJ. Kind of a clash of heads there.
• 19:53
  So it it's rather easy to see why someone thinks Stammen might
• 19:57
  just kind of be a puppet that does what AJ wants.
• 20:00
  But. It's.
• 20:03
  It's been an interesting KSL to see, and it's been a topic, you
• 20:07
  know that. A lot of peller out.
• 20:11
  People have been mentioning 'cause.
• 20:15
  There's a lot of. People in the fan base, it's not
• 20:18
  most of them. I, it's probably like 1520% I'd
• 20:21
  say who don't think Peller should be running the operations
• 20:26
  here. And that's a common thing of how
• 20:30
  many managers are we going to go through before we look at maybe
• 20:34
  it's the guy at the top. I'm a massive AJ fan so it's
• 20:38
  it's an interesting discussion to have.
• 20:41
  You talked briefly earlier about, about the starting
• 20:46
  rotation and, and some of the guys that, that were brought in
• 20:50
  and, and some of the some of the names that are injured and
• 20:54
  stuff. And, but where, where, if you
• 20:56
  had to look at it now, where do you guys stand?
• 20:58
  How is your depth for starting pitching in the minor leagues in
• 21:03
  case like the worst happens and and more injuries occur?
• 21:08
  And yeah, just just talk a little bit about, and do you
• 21:14
  feel like there's a need that you might need to go after a
• 21:16
  starting pitcher for the long term or is that guy in the
• 21:20
  minors? Or just talk a little bit about
• 21:22
  where you guys stand going forward with regards to your
• 21:25
  starting rotation? Yeah I'm not sure.
• 21:29
  They have a guy in the minors who looks like a guarantee even
• 21:35
  back end started. I guess there are some guys deep
• 21:40
  down who could be closer to ready, but probably Next up
• 21:46
  would be like. JP Sears, who?
• 21:48
  Pitched for them last year in the big leagues.
• 21:53
  Tristan McKenzie hasn't been able to get in zone at all.
• 21:56
  He seems just complete yips. Matt Waldron might be at some
• 22:03
  point available soon. Worse comes to worse, there's
• 22:08
  Marco Gonzalez, maybe like Logan Gillespie as well, but those
• 22:16
  probably aren't guys you want starting.
• 22:18
  But really when it comes down to prospect depth in the upper
• 22:22
  minors, it's it's not great. There is Miguel Mendez, but he
• 22:29
  might be more likely reliever than a.
• 22:33
  Starter SO. Next question is, OK, the
• 22:41
  bullpen. Bullpen bullpen's been a
• 22:45
  strength for the Padres over the last few years, and it's
• 22:49
  probably considered one of the best, if not the best bullpen in
• 22:53
  baseball. And talk a bit about their
• 22:54
  bullpen and how it stands. And I know there's two rookies
• 22:58
  there's a out there that that made the rosters, David Morgan
• 23:01
  and Bradley, Bradley Rodriguez, like talk about the bullpen,
• 23:06
  word said then you said that there's a possibility that they
• 23:10
  could trade one of those guys potentially to upgrade and other
• 23:14
  needs in the roster. Like talk a bit about that.
• 23:18
  Bradley, yeah, he's going to be, you think, a future core part of
• 23:23
  the organization, Relievers for starters, was definitely more of
• 23:28
  a winter talk. I guess it's still possible,
• 23:34
  especially if like Jason Adam, Adam comes back.
• 23:38
  I mean, he could. He's not going to net you and
• 23:41
  Nolan McLean or anything to that effect.
• 23:44
  He's only going to have about he only has this season left to
• 23:48
  control. But maybe him or more at home
• 23:52
  possibly, even though he's one of the best relievers in
• 23:54
  baseball, could fish him around the deadline depending on how
• 24:00
  good the team is and if they think they can win a World
• 24:02
  Series, try to recoup some assets.
• 24:06
  But to my knowledge, I was more aware of discussion and they
• 24:12
  seem reasonably content. Where the rosters at the state
• 24:18
  of the bullpen? Yeah, I mean, it's it's an elite
• 24:21
  bullpen headline. Mason Miller, Adrian Moorhone
• 24:25
  could probably close for about 1520 teams in the league, I'd
• 24:29
  say. And then on top of that,
• 24:33
  Jeremiah started, had a rough start to the season, velocities
• 24:39
  down. But the debt for the bullpen
• 24:43
  really is what helps. I mean, Kyle Hart, David Morgan,
• 24:48
  Bradley Rodriguez there, there's so much talent.
• 24:54
  What are your expectations with this offense this season as
• 24:58
  they've gotten off to a bit of a slow start, but I mean, it's
• 25:00
  only three or four games and you know, they lose a rise.
• 25:04
  There's was a lead off hitter last year.
• 25:07
  And just talk about what they need to do in your opinion, to
• 25:11
  get this offense headed the right direction to what we know
• 25:15
  that they are, that they can. Because I mean, you look down,
• 25:18
  up and down their lineup, they got guys that can hit.
• 25:20
  So just what do you think they should do going forward and what
• 25:25
  are your expectations? Expectations are it should be
• 25:31
  like a top ten offense and like WSU plus OPS.
• 25:37
  It hasn't seemed that way so far.
• 25:40
  They Machado is kind of a notoriously.
• 25:43
  Slow starter, but the teams usually.
• 25:46
  Starts pretty hot. So it's it's not the best, but
• 25:50
  you wonder how the World Baseball Classic, you know,
• 25:53
  might be weighing on it a little bit.
• 25:57
  You're playing highly competitive baseball or you're
• 25:59
  cooling down a little more and then you're back to highly
• 26:01
  competitive baseball. I think almost every hitter in
• 26:07
  the World baseball Classics kind of started slow like Wit has
• 26:13
  Judge Gunner. That's just Team USA.
• 26:19
  Even guys like Econia I believe Soto also not hottest hitter
• 26:25
  right now. So yeah, it's.
• 26:30
  It's interesting. You'd think at some point it
• 26:32
  balances. Out.
• 26:33
  And they are one of the better offenses in baseball.
• 26:40
  Do you think with the offense, like you said, like Ramon
• 26:45
  Lariano, like he needs to play every day, right?
• 26:47
  For example, like Jackson Marrow, I know he was injured
• 26:50
  like like and, and, and the thing about Bogarts is like, you
• 26:54
  know, with that contract and stuff, do you still have any
• 26:57
  expectations that like him and Cronen Worth and, and and where
• 27:01
  they stand offensively overall? Bogarts has had a slow start to
• 27:06
  the year, but he's still for my I has the raw talent he still
• 27:14
  had before he had a good end to last season.
• 27:18
  You know July through September was one of the better hitters on
• 27:22
  the Padres, as he should be based on his contract toy wins.
• 27:28
  Also kind of surprising looking back how much he got in base
• 27:33
  last season, but he's been the lead off guy, a little verse
• 27:39
  right-handed pitcher so far this season, which has been
• 27:42
  interesting to watch. Expectations are still there for
• 27:47
  Bogarts and Corona Ware, but definitely a little more for
• 27:51
  Bogarts since you're paying him like $25 million a year and he's
• 27:56
  not producing him at that level even though he's still giving
• 28:01
  great defense, which from a surplus value standpoint makes
• 28:06
  it OK, but you kind of need him to be.
• 28:11
  At least 8. 20 OPS guy when you're trying to compete for a
• 28:15
  World Series along with Tatis and then Loriana as well, who's
• 28:21
  been their best city so far and was one of their best sitters
• 28:25
  last year in the Southern. So talk about some of the guys
• 28:29
  in AAA who had the potential to be called up at some point later
• 28:34
  this year. I know you mentioned some gay
• 28:36
  guys who are injured right now and they're going to rehab and
• 28:39
  they're going to be back at some point, like you mentioned about
• 28:42
  trips McKenzie and Jason Adams and potentially Jose Leclerc as
• 28:47
  well and Mount Waldra. But if you have to say in your
• 28:50
  eyes, if you have to look for yourself and you have to say
• 28:52
  like that guys who have yet to get called up and there's always
• 28:57
  opportunities with these guys without question.
• 28:59
  Like who would you say would be the first cut that like like a
• 29:02
  guy like so some mung you song, right?
• 29:04
  You guys signed in the office or or Mark Marco Castagnon.
• 29:09
  I guess that's how you say it. But like, yeah.
• 29:12
  So how so? Who would you say would be first
• 29:15
  guy to be called up for triple? A Probably depends on the
• 29:19
  position, but I would say, you know, Cassignon deserves a look.
• 29:27
  He's one of the better offensive profiles in the minors.
• 29:31
  Those on the older side, he's always been able to hit left
• 29:34
  knee drivers. Well I mean there's solid
• 29:38
  platoon guy there slung Mun Song, you know he's injured but
• 29:44
  should be back soon enough. I'd assume he'd be back on the
• 29:47
  roster or maybe Ty France or Brez Johnson at some point.
• 29:55
  Pitching wise it'd probably be JP series coming back up.
• 30:00
  There's not a lot of young talent in El Paso bullpen
• 30:06
  though. I would look towards like
• 30:09
  Garrett Hawkins most likely. He's like an actual prospect.
• 30:16
  Like with Garrett Hopkins, Preller does so well finding
• 30:20
  prospects like, what's his profile like?
• 30:22
  What's his stuff like? What can you expect for a guy
• 30:24
  like him to be up? A.
• 30:27
  Canadian kid out of like I want to say big R It might be bigger.
• 30:32
  I don't know how it is Saskatchewan.
• 30:35
  I hope that's pronounced correctly.
• 30:37
  Yeah, that's right. That's right.
• 30:39
  Alright, yeah, that's right. Very high slot righty like it's
• 30:47
  super vertical slot, like a 6.8 foot release height, 65° arm
• 30:54
  angle, just ball coming right at you like super over the top.
• 31:03
  Really a ton of fast walls gets elite.
• 31:06
  Ride 20 inches and do his vertical break.
• 31:10
  It's his best pitch by far. Verse mindedly kidders.
• 31:14
  He was just spamming it constantly because guys couldn't
• 31:18
  catch up. It's 9496, calming down at 98
• 31:22
  with that ride and that unique slot kind of makes it super
• 31:27
  challenging for lower level guys to pick up, then change up and
• 31:32
  slider on top of it. Change up.
• 31:35
  Not the best shape profile, but the slot helps both that and the
• 31:41
  change up and slider. Sliders more 8486.
• 31:47
  Tighter type of pitch change UPS 8587.
• 31:52
  Kind of. Floaty command isn't great, but.
• 31:57
  He might be able to be more of a control over command guy.
• 32:02
  He is also on the older side. He's 26 years old, but he's
• 32:08
  probably the closest to the majors relief.
• 32:11
  Prospect they have. Ethan Salas, he was the top
• 32:15
  prospect with where in in the Padres system and and still is
• 32:20
  regarded. I believe in top three and most,
• 32:24
  most outlets. So just talk about him a little
• 32:29
  bit and where does he stand? I know he's just some injuries
• 32:32
  to derail his career that have really hurt him in his
• 32:36
  development, but just talk about him a little bit and and you
• 32:42
  know where he stands. I personally still have him as
• 32:48
  my #1 prospect. In the system.
• 32:52
  He. Had him back.
• 32:54
  Injury last year which kept him out for the entire season and
• 33:00
  that was definitely something for him to navigate.
• 33:02
  But there was swing changes mixed in during that.
• 33:07
  Now operating with a toe tap swing looks really smooth.
• 33:12
  Kind of adjusted that attack angle, getting more vertical on
• 33:17
  it, hopefully trying to lift the ball a little better, which he,
• 33:24
  you know, he hit a Homer in the spring breakout game, hit a
• 33:26
  Homer on the backfields. It's a good look for him so far,
• 33:30
  but we've seen flashes before. Obviously was most notable when
• 33:36
  he was 16 years old playing in low.
• 33:40
  A but now. I don't want to say the
• 33:43
  pressure's off, but the eyes have kind of shifted off of him
• 33:46
  for now, but the defense is still there.
• 33:51
  He's probably one of the better defenders in the minor leagues,
• 33:55
  would be one of the better ones in the major leagues, you know,
• 33:59
  so 1.85 pop time, pretty just fluent athlete, not the best
• 34:07
  runner, but he has good contact skills and he could definitely
• 34:13
  emerge back in the top 100 prospect list this year with his
• 34:17
  defense and just ability to hit the ball consistently.
• 34:20
  But it's just about tapping into that game power with him.
• 34:25
  We know that with Easton Salas, there was a rumor that he could
• 34:28
  have been called up at the age of 18.
• 34:30
  But like you said, the injuries happen.
• 34:32
  And right now, as the catcher stands, it's Luke, Luis
• 34:35
  Camposano and Freddie for me. And I think he was acquired from
• 34:39
  the Royals last year. Yeah.
• 34:41
  And do you think that's a catcher tandem or do you think
• 34:45
  there's going to be a situation where the Padres need to
• 34:47
  continue to find a guy outside the organization before Ethan
• 34:51
  Saw is called like it's Ethan Saw is like the future catcher
• 34:55
  because knowing your brother, no prospect is guaranteed with that
• 34:59
  organization. So is he a lot?
• 35:01
  Is he a long term guy? His value overall around the
• 35:06
  league's kind of down right now, so I think barring A breakout
• 35:10
  would be kind of hard to move him without.
• 35:13
  It. Feeling like they're selling
• 35:15
  low. I don't know.
• 35:15
  The organization first meaning is incredibly high.
• 35:19
  Still, when they were in those similar trade talks, they valued
• 35:26
  solace almost the same as Leo degrees, which for the public
• 35:35
  would be rather shocking. But they view them as pretty
• 35:38
  much equal prospects and almost cherish Solace more in a package
• 35:44
  than they did Degrees. That's interesting.
• 35:49
  That's very interesting to say the least.
• 35:51
  But let's go into your your side of things is your prospect list.
• 35:57
  And look, I looked at the prospect live list and you said
• 36:02
  it was a different list compared to what's your list.
• 36:03
  But we would love to hear your list and what's your thoughts
• 36:06
  like who's the top top five prospects?
• 36:10
  Why did you rank them and what's your reasoning to that?
• 36:14
  Yeah, I've got Ethan Salas, number one, I still think
• 36:18
  highest upside. He can be one of the top
• 36:22
  defensive catchers in baseball while hitting an above average
• 36:25
  level. That is a premier player in
• 36:29
  baseball if he can reach his upside, which he hasn't done
• 36:33
  yet. But hard for me to completely
• 36:35
  check out because the tools are all there under the surface.
• 36:42
  Number two, I've got Crew Schoolcraft first round pick
• 36:45
  last year, Big lefty 68200 and 30 lbs.
• 36:51
  Still looks like he might be able to tack on a little more
• 36:54
  math. Topped out 99 on the backfields.
• 37:01
  Was more around 94 in the spring breakout game.
• 37:05
  He's a developmental project for sure.
• 37:10
  There's you know, you got to get him in zone enough, change up
• 37:15
  already advanced field for it. He has feel for body control.
• 37:20
  Not always common with 6-8 lefties in the velocities in
• 37:25
  there, but fastball shape concerns are going to be a
• 37:28
  thing. But mostly the breaking ball.
• 37:32
  He kind of struggles to spin it and struggles to get around a
• 37:37
  breaking ball, which makes it interesting to evaluate because
• 37:43
  it's rather slow when he's throwing 95 or 9495.
• 37:50
  His current iteration of his sweepers like 7475, which is
• 37:56
  rather slow off of the four seam and kind of easier to pick up
• 38:01
  even though it might have solid sweeping life.
• 38:04
  So he's an odd 1 to evaluate, but you're kind of just trusting
• 38:10
  tools there. 6-8, athletic, he knows how to move his body, has
• 38:16
  velocity. Advanced field for a change up
• 38:20
  #3 I've got Jorge King Tan and he's not too popular on most
• 38:24
  lists to my knowledge. But I know.
• 38:29
  Padres internally value him as a top guy in the system.
• 38:35
  I was told by senior evaluator he thinks he'd be a first round
• 38:39
  pick this year if he was playing in Georgia or Florida.
• 38:46
  Tools out of the world. You know, I won't, I won't say
• 38:50
  out of the world, but he's just a tool shed. 18 years old still
• 38:55
  I believe switch hitting shortstop.
• 38:59
  He's plus defender at shortstop, so he he might be too physical
• 39:04
  to play it at some point. He's adding mass at a pretty
• 39:10
  consistent rate. He came to spring much bigger
• 39:14
  than he was last year. He was already a solid 6 to 200,
• 39:22
  but it was kind of a lengthy build.
• 39:23
  Now he's very physical looking and under the surface.
• 39:28
  Last year numbers were pretty good.
• 39:30
  Low A didn't do well on the surface, neither did he in the
• 39:33
  complex, but contact rates were good for an 18 year old.
• 39:39
  He had a feel for recognizing breaking balls, laying off with
• 39:43
  them. Had advanced bats.
• 39:45
  Kind of like a Leo Devries but with more power.
• 39:49
  He just couldn't get to the results.
• 39:51
  Raw power, really good. He had plus plus bat seed times,
• 39:57
  like a 75 mile an hour average bat speed, which would be near
• 40:03
  elite in Major League Baseball, and then 110 mile an hour Max
• 40:09
  exit velocity. At 18 years old, that's already
• 40:12
  average at the MLB level. So when you're doing stuff the
• 40:16
  average MLB player is just able to do at 18, you kind of got to
• 40:24
  pay attention. All the power stuff is above
• 40:27
  average, but there are some struggles to lift the ball.
• 40:30
  Ran a really uncomfortable ground ball rate.
• 40:36
  I'm in low A and I'm going to buy on the tools.
• 40:40
  I mean, the feeling is tremendous.
• 40:42
  He's super rangy, strong arm, good runner.
• 40:48
  It's five tool upside as a switch hitting shortstop.
• 40:53
  And. I can't shy away from that #4
• 40:58
  I've got Tucker Musgrove, he's older, righty.
• 41:02
  They want to work him as a starter.
• 41:04
  He wants to work as a starter. It is possibly 370 pitches.
• 41:11
  I mean, he's the fastball is plus plus.
• 41:16
  It is what plus plus looks like 9698 topping out of the hundred
• 41:26
  a lot of ride for his arm slot. It's it looks like it's rising
• 41:31
  even though gravity it can't spins it well.
• 41:35
  Just a tremendous pitch. I mean low a hitters can't touch
• 41:39
  it in the Arizona full league it couldn't be touched picked up a
• 41:43
  new sinker also thrown it. 9799 has great arm side run and then
• 41:51
  there's a sweeper mixed in which is 8587 miles an hour with glove
• 41:57
  side break. It's unreal profile to watch.
• 42:02
  His fastball compares closest to Jacob degrom and it's sweeper
• 42:06
  compares closest to Griffin Jacks.
• 42:10
  That is not an easy mix to find especially if he can start.
• 42:15
  And now he's mixed in a new change up, which is getting up
• 42:19
  to 20 inches of vertical separation from his fastball
• 42:23
  with 10 miles an hour velocity difference.
• 42:26
  Just a crazy pitch. And if he can command, it going
• 42:31
  to be very hard for high hitters to hit him this year.
• 42:35
  But that's going to be, you know, if he can start or relieve
• 42:42
  Padres internally as a reliever. Think he could pitch in the big
• 42:46
  leagues by August to this season, but he wants to start.
• 42:50
  So they're kind of honoring his wish there because the ceiling
• 42:53
  is a starter is unbelievable. He could be a frontline guy, but
• 42:59
  that's going to be hard for him to do.
• 43:02
  He's off of a Tommy John surgery, inconsistent with
• 43:07
  injuries and staying on the mound.
• 43:10
  But the ceiling here is just sky high.
• 43:13
  There's really there is no ceiling, but he could also flame
• 43:18
  out and not be able to stay in the zone enough or start.
• 43:22
  And yeah, it's a risky ranking. No outlets are really close to
• 43:28
  me when it comes to where I am on King Tana and Musgrove.
• 43:33
  So it's going to be interesting to see, you know, whether I beat
• 43:38
  out the pipelines and stuff in the world or I end up correct on
• 43:43
  this. Well, if they end up correct on
• 43:45
  this #5 I've got Kale Fountain News Fifth round pick, 2025
• 43:51
  draft, No 2024 draft. Tooled up athlete.
• 43:59
  Raw bat speed, good raw power. Hit better than expected last
• 44:05
  year, though on the surface not great.
• 44:07
  Couldn't elevate the ball, but he hit a ball 450 feet in the
• 44:12
  spring breakout game and there's just so much raw, bad speed in
• 44:16
  there. Freaky athlete.
• 44:20
  He's 65. It might be 64, like 220 lbs.
• 44:26
  He looks like he could be playing linebacker in the NFL,
• 44:29
  but he also has sixty grade runtimes and he has feel on the
• 44:36
  base pass, not just a straight straight line sprinter making
• 44:42
  good swing decisions lifting the ball.
• 44:45
  He could be one of the better hitting prospects in baseball,
• 44:52
  but positionally might be best at first base.
• 44:56
  But the Padres want to try them out in right field.
• 44:59
  And see what happens. He also has a 60 maybe 70 great
• 45:05
  arm so most of my list is toolsy guys over anything.
• 45:14
  So is there anyone else on your list or even just in the system
• 45:19
  as a whole that you're kind of keeping an eye on that you think
• 45:23
  that could have an impact on the road?
• 45:28
  There's. Plenty of guys down the road.
• 45:30
  I think there could be impacts this season.
• 45:32
  It's really only could be Garrett Hawkins or Miguel Mendez
• 45:37
  who I'll get into here. Mendez is a very lanky, skinny
• 45:44
  starter. He looks, he looks like not
• 45:51
  filled out at all. He hasn't his whole career in
• 45:55
  the Padre system. Very hard to find that type of
• 46:00
  velocity in his build. He's topped out just a little
• 46:03
  above 100 miles an hour, most often 95 to 98 in starts.
• 46:11
  He holds the loss at the end of games, which is kind of shocking
• 46:15
  given his build. You watch him on the mound,
• 46:18
  could probably pass him off as a high schooler, but he's I think
• 46:24
  22 some years old and been in the system for a while.
• 46:30
  Brings a slider that ran a with rate over 50% last year, but the
• 46:36
  shape is iffy. It's kind of it's pretty slow
• 46:40
  relative to his fastball and there's not a lot of visible
• 46:44
  movement on it, but he it's really tunneling off of his
• 46:48
  fastball that helps him. Looks like a fastball for most
• 46:52
  of the process and just kind of disappears, loses that velocity.
• 46:57
  So then there's a change up mixed in.
• 47:02
  Absolutely rips it. 9092 miles an hour.
• 47:06
  Not a great shape. He doesn't really have any feel
• 47:09
  for it. Mostly 2 pitches at this time.
• 47:14
  Got walks under control, low a high A won the pipeline pitcher
• 47:19
  of the year award. Kind of lost it like command
• 47:23
  wise and AA San Antonio. That's where he's starting this
• 47:27
  year as a reliever. He could end up playing for the
• 47:33
  Padres this year, but I am unsure.
• 47:38
  Talk about talk about some of the past trades they've made.
• 47:42
  And Nolan Preller, he's a menace.
• 47:45
  Like he, he goes maniacal at the trade deadline year in year.
• 47:50
  He basically headlines every trade line line.
• 47:52
  If you think about it over the last five or six years, like the
• 47:56
  prospects they gave up like in your mind, because you were a
• 47:59
  prospect savvy guy in your mind, did you ever see yourselves
• 48:03
  like, no, I don't want to trade that prospect, But at the same
• 48:06
  time knowing probably it's like he he doesn't, he doesn't care
• 48:09
  at this point. He's about winning, right?
• 48:10
  So like, was there any prospects that you think that they should
• 48:13
  have traded? It's.
• 48:18
  Very easy to hindsight most of it.
• 48:20
  I really did like James Wood before they traded him, but
• 48:23
  you're getting one photo in that.
• 48:25
  What can you do? Last deadline?
• 48:30
  I don't think anybody wanted to trade degrees.
• 48:34
  Yeah. But they might be a little lower
• 48:37
  on them than the public is, which is interesting.
• 48:44
  Random little story off topic about that.
• 48:47
  He got traded while he was asleep, like it happened the
• 48:51
  night before. It got out probably about 10:00
• 48:55
  Eastern Time, and the Breeze was just asleep in his apartment.
• 49:01
  They couldn't contact him or wake him up, so that trick
• 49:05
  couldn't go through until he woke up and got the news, which
• 49:10
  was something for sure. So yeah, I really didn't want to
• 49:19
  trade the Breeze, nor did I really want to trade Bradenette,
• 49:23
  but he was also in that Mason Miller deal.
• 49:26
  But he might end up being a reliever as he is a finished
• 49:31
  product. The trade for for me, I didn't
• 49:38
  want to move off Ryan Berger. He could be a crucial part to
• 49:43
  our rotation right now. But instead he's in Kansas City.
• 49:47
  But for me, and you got control of him there.
• 49:51
  So I guess it's not the worst deal in the world.
• 49:57
  O'hearn and Loriana from the Orioles.
• 49:59
  They sent 6 player package. Want to see if I can remember
• 50:03
  this all. Tanner Smith, Brandon
• 50:06
  Buttersworth, Cobb Hightower, Boston Bateman, Tyson Neighbors
• 50:14
  and Victor Figueroa in that deal.
• 50:20
  I liked really all of them. Hightower not really figure out
• 50:26
  what mashes the ball. JUCO guy.
• 50:29
  I don't know if you want me to get an Orioles prospects right
• 50:33
  now, but last deadline was an uncomfortable one for sure as a
• 50:40
  prospect guy to watch unfold. But Leo hurt for sure.
• 50:48
  James Wood is hurt. Dylan Lesko, when we traded him
• 50:53
  hurt. He's not worked out at all.
• 50:56
  So. What about Robbie Snelling from
• 51:00
  the Rays when you guys did that trade?
• 51:01
  Brian Hoeing and Tanner Scott. Yeah, Snelling to the Marlins
• 51:09
  was a I was not too high on Snelling at the time.
• 51:15
  His velocity was down severely. He was more 9192 and starts and
• 51:23
  still I'm kind of unsure what to think of him.
• 51:27
  He doesn't. He he's he strikes me more as a
• 51:32
  middle rotation starter than a frontline guy.
• 51:35
  He doesn't throw the breaking balls super hard.
• 51:42
  I think actually he doesn't really spin him that well.
• 51:46
  And Arsenal just kind of bland to me velocities there.
• 51:51
  He's he's a competitor on the mound.
• 51:54
  He has attitude. He's going to go get it, but he
• 52:00
  doesn't hurt me too bad. I'd say.
• 52:03
  Like it's not ideal. If hypothetically you held on to
• 52:06
  him and you could have developed him into what he is now, you
• 52:09
  probably could have got a better piece and a rental Tanner Scott.
• 52:14
  But I think some of that might be more Marlins pitching
• 52:18
  development being better than Potter.
• 52:19
  Pitching development. Yeah, I remember we were talking
• 52:24
  about that debris story and you said that he got traded like
• 52:27
  overnight. And I remember Dallas Braden, I
• 52:30
  think he's a color commentator for the Athletics.
• 52:33
  He said something very devastating.
• 52:34
  He's like, I don't believe this happened.
• 52:36
  And everybody was in shock. And we were presumed that Mason
• 52:39
  Miller was traded. And one team that always would
• 52:44
  do such like crazy business would be the Padres.
• 52:48
  And I was putting it together. I just had a feeling it sure it
• 52:51
  happened like right next day in the morning and and the trade
• 52:56
  deadline just exploded. It's I still remember that.
• 52:58
  It's crazy to think about that man.
• 53:00
  Like that trade still went down. Yeah, I mean, I was in a space
• 53:05
  with people that night. It was, it was crazy night
• 53:09
  because I think I got about 600 people in that space at like
• 53:14
  most points. We were consistently 600 people
• 53:18
  tuned in. Wow.
• 53:20
  Just, you know, source sharing. And that's not the craziest move
• 53:25
  AJ tried doing at the deadline. He loves going big mess.
• 53:32
  Go big or go home. Yeah, some of the Yeah, he yeah.
• 53:41
  Well, talk about he's Speaking of AJ Prowler, talk about his
• 53:44
  extension and you know, just just whether or not you feel
• 53:48
  like he's the guy that you that you need that can take this team
• 53:54
  to ultimately win a World Series.
• 53:56
  What are your thoughts on AJ Prowler as a whole and the
• 53:59
  extension he got? I mean, I I love AJ.
• 54:03
  He's he's been the, you know, main guy here so long.
• 54:08
  Just definitely a guy I admire. Sounds weird maybe, but his
• 54:16
  style of being a general manager is something so interesting.
• 54:23
  It's really not seen in any sport at all.
• 54:27
  What he does consistently, you know, baseball's not the same as
• 54:32
  the NFL or anything. You can't reload prospects in
• 54:37
  the NFL and trade them and then repeat the process.
• 54:41
  But that's what he's been doing. Just build a farm system, trade
• 54:47
  him for big league assets. Everybody thinks, oh, well, they
• 54:51
  didn't win a World Series. This is bad.
• 54:54
  Oh, just rebuild. The farm system.
• 54:57
  Going to go trade it again, rebuild the farm system.
• 55:01
  Going to go trade it again. He's one of the best talent
• 55:06
  evaluating general managers in baseball.
• 55:09
  Scouting process for the Padres is incredible.
• 55:11
  They do one of the best jobs in baseball identifying amateur
• 55:15
  prospects. I mean they had Jackson,
• 55:18
  Marilyn, James Wood in the same draft class that is
• 55:22
  back-to-back. Not easy to do.
• 55:29
  The process is great. I love AJ, the GM, the
• 55:32
  extension. I'm glad it happened.
• 55:34
  It was it. Yeah, I, he was, yeah.
• 55:42
  I don't want to share too much, but I did wonder if he was going
• 55:47
  to take that deal 'cause there was some animosity towards the.
• 55:53
  Yeah, yeah, there was some stuff going on that ownership.
• 56:01
  Yeah. I don't want to name names but.
• 56:04
  Some organization wasn't too. Happy with, yeah.
• 56:10
  That's so. There was, there was, yeah.
• 56:13
  I mean, a team with AGM opening last fall.
• 56:20
  I think this got out, maybe I don't know, tried to pursue AJ
• 56:27
  to it was the Colorado Rockies. They try very hard to poach AJ
• 56:35
  out of San Diego and there was consideration there like AJ
• 56:42
  weighed it and it messed up some stuff in the organization.
• 56:46
  After the playoff exit, AJ was considering it and my favorite
• 56:59
  part of this, AJ turned it down. Obviously I was told it was
• 57:10
  because of the basketball scene in Denver.
• 57:13
  Oh. Wow, he didn't like the pickup
• 57:15
  hoops they had there. He, he couldn't adjust to it.
• 57:20
  And that I'm. I'm dead.
• 57:21
  Seriously, if you know, he loves basketball.
• 57:25
  He plays, he plays basketball probably about five times a
• 57:30
  week. Just going to pick up courts and
• 57:32
  just playing. Yeah.
• 57:37
  Rocky's pursued him heavily. They offered him pretty much
• 57:40
  full control of everything in the organization.
• 57:45
  Said he could bring the guys he wants, do what he wants, really.
• 57:51
  And he? Ended up turning it down.
• 57:54
  There were some rumors over the spring and winter that he'd have
• 58:01
  interest in the Dallas Mavericks opening, like going to the NBA,
• 58:07
  which is just like that one. I couldn't get verified, but it
• 58:13
  was from a trustworthy person. So it was an interesting crazy.
• 58:22
  It's an interesting, it was an interesting cycle this winter
• 58:25
  because AJ was open to new opportunities and but eventually
• 58:31
  they agreed on an extension. I mean, I might get yelled at
• 58:36
  after this if, if source of mine hears this, but yeah, I mean,
• 58:42
  it, it was chaotic. And I'm glad they got an
• 58:47
  extension done for sure, because I they offered it about mid
• 58:52
  February and it took until about the end of March, I believe.
• 58:59
  And AJ was just kind of letting it sit there.
• 59:03
  So yeah, it was it Very interesting stuff.
• 59:11
  Don't. Worry if that source goes after,
• 59:14
  we'll go after a back. How about that?
• 59:16
  So we'll make sure, we'll make sure.
• 59:20
  So we talk about Peter Seidler being aggressive, spending all
• 59:26
  the money, did whatever it took to try to compete in compete for
• 59:30
  not just for potential World Series.
• 59:32
  And unfortunately he passed away and his brother now is the
• 59:35
  owner. And you know, The thing is like,
• 59:38
  I know that his wife wanted to be owner of the Padres that she
• 59:42
  would have done. And the rumors when I was told I
• 59:44
  was talking to some Padres people, is that she would have
• 59:47
  done what her husband did rather than just just be pedestrian,
• 59:51
  just get some random guides and stuff.
• 59:54
  But it seems like there's new ownership in the horizon.
• 59:56
  Like there's a potential sale on that.
• 59:59
  Like, talk a bit about that because, like, it's interesting
• 1:00:01
  to see the names are out there. Like the owner of the Pistons,
• 1:00:06
  Tom Gores, David Friedkin is the owner of the Friedkin Group.
• 1:00:12
  Joe Lakeup, the Warriors owner, there's her name, like Dew Brees
• 1:00:16
  has been mentioned of a Hall of Fame quarterback for many years.
• 1:00:21
  I mean, talk about some of these guys.
• 1:00:23
  What, what can those guys bring to the table?
• 1:00:26
  And look at where the ownership is and obviously is right now.
• 1:00:30
  The owner, I think it was John Siler's thing is the engineer
• 1:00:34
  and, and The thing is he doesn't really know like any, any, any
• 1:00:39
  sports at all like with those guys.
• 1:00:41
  Could that help the franchise, let's just say, to spend money,
• 1:00:44
  allocate money and do things that they need to do to compete?
• 1:00:49
  Yeah, it would definitely help if you could be Dodgers.
• 1:00:52
  Well, not Dodgers level payroll because that's who can really do
• 1:00:57
  that. Yeah, but even if you could be
• 1:01:00
  maps level, you know, you'd think if they were competing for
• 1:01:03
  like Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber this offseason, maybe you'd be
• 1:01:08
  looking at the line up a little differently or even a frontline
• 1:01:11
  guy like next officers. And if they could chase down
• 1:01:14
  Terex, Google, they're a new ownership group or maybe a new
• 1:01:24
  owner would do wonders for this team, most likely.
• 1:01:27
  But also Trailer and Peter Seiler were a bit of a reckless
• 1:01:34
  duo and it's you give a crazy GMA crazy owner with infinite
• 1:01:43
  money. Not infinite, but he was going
• 1:01:46
  to do what it took and he, Peter, deserves credit for the
• 1:01:54
  evaluation of the team. Now, so does AJ, because it's
• 1:01:58
  likely going to sell for about maybe 4 million dollars, $4
• 1:02:02
  billion, which is crazy for a team that was kind of considered
• 1:02:10
  as the poverty franchise for decades.
• 1:02:14
  Yeah. And it's going to be one of the
• 1:02:17
  more highest sold teams price wise ever.
• 1:02:23
  In the MLB. Where do you see the Padres long
• 1:02:28
  term and how do you how do you feel like they're set up for the
• 1:02:31
  future going forward at? The time I would.
• 1:02:39
  Say that. I don't know if it's a tough
• 1:02:44
  question, it's just my answer feels pessimistic.
• 1:02:49
  It really does depend on the owner.
• 1:02:51
  If you have an owner coming in willing to spend, you can
• 1:02:56
  probably keep the window open. But at some point Machado and
• 1:03:01
  Bogarts are going to be 37 plus, making combined like $65 million
• 1:03:10
  a year. That might just be black hole of
• 1:03:15
  money and really no production so it's going to be hard to
• 1:03:20
  navigate that. And neither of them are tradable
• 1:03:26
  most likely, so there's going to have to be money spent to build
• 1:03:32
  around that. But I would bet most Padres fans
• 1:03:35
  would sacrifice four years or whatever watching horrific
• 1:03:42
  Xander Bogart's and Manny Machado for one World Series all
• 1:03:47
  day. Yeah.
• 1:03:49
  But yeah, it's kind of hard to take a look at the future right
• 1:03:54
  now 'cause prospects are limited.
• 1:03:57
  But you do have Meryl and Tatis, and you'd hope, maybe solace.
• 1:04:03
  And if you have money to spend, you could go get maybe another
• 1:04:09
  core player. But there's so many ifs on the
• 1:04:15
  future because if you don't get the right owner, you might just
• 1:04:20
  be stuck in purgatory for a long time until you can get the money
• 1:04:28
  off the books and get a clean slate.
• 1:04:32
  Dodgers might end up being the same spot at some point when all
• 1:04:35
  that core is kind of old. But you can't really look too
• 1:04:39
  much at that when you might be in the same spot as well.
• 1:04:43
  So it's going to be interesting to see.
• 1:04:48
  There's people who say like they might trade Tatis in the
• 1:04:52
  offseason or whatever. That's not sourced or anything.
• 1:04:55
  That's all you know, other fan bases, whatever.
• 1:05:00
  Because people think he could be on the move for years now.
• 1:05:04
  Financially it doesn't make sense.
• 1:05:05
  Fan interest wise, it doesn't make sense.
• 1:05:09
  I highly doubt something like that happens.
• 1:05:13
  Which yeah, I I'm unsure on the future because you only have so
• 1:05:22
  much time on the window. Right, right.
• 1:05:24
  And let me ask you this because you know, you mentioned about
• 1:05:26
  Ted TS. I think that's that's been like
• 1:05:29
  the topic of the offseason and the question is what's that?
• 1:05:35
  T said. I think Kevin AC was on foul
• 1:05:37
  territory a couple months ago and he said that they're not
• 1:05:41
  going to trade him for right now.
• 1:05:42
  But I think it's his no trade clause gets remote removed, I
• 1:05:49
  think after 28, I believe. So is there a way?
• 1:05:52
  So it's like if there's like a King's ransom package out there,
• 1:05:57
  because we know that there's going to be big market team that
• 1:05:59
  want to because was there any rumors about like him and the
• 1:06:02
  Yankees? Because I know the Yankees,
• 1:06:04
  there was there was a couple of offseasons ago about Tetis and
• 1:06:10
  the Yankees. They were they were kind of
• 1:06:11
  linked to. Was there any truth to that?
• 1:06:12
  And I also heard Boston too. Was there any truth to any of
• 1:06:15
  those teams or any other big market team that passed?
• 1:06:17
  But even though the Padres have no desire to trade them.
• 1:06:21
  I mean I I didn't hear explicit, I would assume the interest is
• 1:06:25
  real. OK.
• 1:06:27
  But I would say, and that's an assumption I'm mostly whenever
• 1:06:32
  I'd ask someone about it, the response would be he's not being
• 1:06:36
  trained. It doesn't matter.
• 1:06:39
  So I'd assume kings called, kings always call.
• 1:06:43
  The probably called on Ronald Acuna junior at the deadline
• 1:06:46
  just to say. So I would assume there was
• 1:06:52
  interest all across league calling, offering maybe.
• 1:06:58
  I don't think it got at all to a point where the Yankees might
• 1:07:03
  have been like, wait, we had a shot here or anything to that
• 1:07:05
  effect. I know you were asking about
• 1:07:07
  interest. I guarantee there was phone
• 1:07:10
  calls made and it probably is possible in the future.
• 1:07:16
  I but hypothetically the new ownership group or whoever you
• 1:07:26
  think is going to want to say you can't trade him right now,
• 1:07:29
  like if we're going to come in, you cannot trade the face of the
• 1:07:32
  franchise. And then that same ownership
• 1:07:35
  group when they come in their first impression probably is not
• 1:07:39
  going to be trade in the face of the franchise.
• 1:07:42
  So that adds an extra layer to it.
• 1:07:47
  Even if AJ made-up his mind and said we have to do what's best
• 1:07:51
  for the team, we're getting this offer, we have to do this.
• 1:07:55
  I don't know if ownership would let that happen.
• 1:07:57
  And then also just there's no trade clause.
• 1:08:01
  He seems happy in San Diego. So.
• 1:08:06
  I I don't know, I, I wouldn't think something like that
• 1:08:09
  happens. But if you do get a guy that
• 1:08:14
  resets everything, I'm maybe you have to consider it.
• 1:08:22
  I'm going to say like Boston, right?
• 1:08:24
  I think AJ would ask for Roman Anthony and more, which every
• 1:08:29
  Red Sox fan would be like hell no, like that's our guy.
• 1:08:34
  But Tatis would require not just like A7 player package of maybe
• 1:08:42
  impact players. It has to be 1 star player,
• 1:08:47
  maybe multiple, along with additional players most likely.
• 1:08:55
  Yankees fans are known as delusional.
• 1:08:58
  I'd say Blue Jays fans. You guys might know that they
• 1:09:05
  they're, they seem to think it might be like Spencer Jones,
• 1:09:08
  George Lombard Junior. It'd probably be like a Slitler
• 1:09:14
  Rice plus more type of haul. And that's super light, I'd
• 1:09:19
  assume to AJ Prowler. So yeah, it's it's so unlikely,
• 1:09:30
  but at some point it could garner consideration and teams
• 1:09:34
  are going to continue to call even though AJ is going to say
• 1:09:37
  it's untouchable. Well, we appreciate you doing
• 1:09:43
  this, man. I know that it was so funny that
• 1:09:47
  the way the scheduling is happening, it's like it's
• 1:09:49
  incredible that that we got it done.
• 1:09:52
  And we appreciate you once again for coming on and talk about the
• 1:09:57
  yeah, for sure. And we would love to have you
• 1:09:59
  back at some point. And if there's any, yeah, like
• 1:10:02
  if there's any other like prospects, we can, we can even
• 1:10:04
  have a prospect heavy, heavy topic, right?
• 1:10:10
  Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
• 1:10:12
  But but we appreciate you doing this.
• 1:10:15
  Where can we find you in social media and everywhere else?
• 1:10:19
  I'm really mostly just on Twitter or I guess some people
• 1:10:22
  say X at Danny Brand under score prospects live can find my word
• 1:10:30
  behind the pay a wall on there. Literally just full name Daniel
• 1:10:35
  Brand, Medium for freelance stuff, Padres prospects content,
• 1:10:43
  medium.com/danny B under score. I believe that's really all
• 1:10:49
  where I am. So my Twitter is going to be
• 1:10:53
  where you could find, I guess, really everything.
• 1:10:59
  Getting to, you know, dive deep into your system and the
• 1:11:03
  prospects. And I love that idea of doing a
• 1:11:06
  full prospects episode one day. That'd be awesome.
• 1:11:09
  So thanks for joining us tonight.
• 1:11:12
  Yeah, I'm definitely down for something like that.
• 1:11:16
  Especially think you guys have had some other cool prospect
• 1:11:18
  people on. Yeah, some really fun stuff
• 1:11:22
  there. And we would love to have you
• 1:11:24
  back on later in the season. Yeah.
• 1:11:27
  And talk about some from, you know, how prospects are.
• 1:11:29
  Like we saw today that Conor Griffin got called, called up,
• 1:11:32
  and he got that fat extension, right?
• 1:11:34
  And I feel like that we're going to see more of that before the
• 1:11:37
  CBA. Pulled Emberson the other day,
• 1:11:38
  got one. Yeah.
• 1:11:41
  Yeah, Cole Anderson got one the other day.
• 1:11:43
  Well. That too, which was super
• 1:11:45
  shocking because he's not a consensus but the Brewers are
• 1:11:50
  beyond knowledgeable so if they like him that much I'll I'll
• 1:11:55
  take their word for it I guess. Or I just take their money for
• 1:11:59
  it since they paid him a ton of money.
• 1:12:04
  I'll take 51 million all day every day, Ben.
• 1:12:06
  But we will place the description below where you can
• 1:12:10
  find Danny Brand on social media and everywhere else.
• 1:12:13
  But till next time, till next time, take care, be kind to each
• 1:12:18
  other. Signing up the Sports Ave.
• 1:12:20
  Twisted podcast on Thursday, April 2nd, 2026.