[Stallion]

Game 162 of season, since 2008 almost 60% of games have gone under.

[Cross]

Interesting stat, well done.

[Otters27]

That's a wrap 162

[EmpireMaker]

Nationals slugger Nelson Cruz tells Jessica Camerato of MLB.com that he will undergo surgery on his left eye at the end of October due to some inflammation that is blocking his vision (Twitter links). He expects to resume baseball activities in 6-8 weeks, which should give him plenty of time to be ready for Spring Training.
“Vision is everything for hitters,” Cruz says. “But the good thing is, it can be fixed.” Going into more detail, he says: “You can only see clearly with the right eye. When I close this one, it’s not clear. I need my eyes to be sharp, to be able to see the ball, especially see spins.” Cruz then adds that he estimates the issue has been affecting him for the past year and a half, though it got worse recently.
The estimated timeline that Cruz provides is an interesting one, as that aligns with his downturn at the plate. He was an above-average hitter for 14 straight years from 2008 to 2021, though he tailed off in the second half of last year. He began the year with the Twins and hit .294/.370/.537 for a wRC+ of 142. In July, he was traded to the Rays for Joe Ryan, Drew Strotman and Calvin Faucher. Unfortunately for Tampa, Cruz’s production fell off almost immediately and he ended up hitting .226/.283/.442 as a Ray for a wRC+ of 95.
Despite that sluggish finish to the season, the rebuilding Nationals gave Cruz a one-year, $15MM deal plus a mutual option. The Nats didn’t really have designs on competing but likely hoped for Cruz to act as a mentor to younger players and then play well enough to be flipped for prospects midseason. Leading up to the trade deadline, there were some rumors that the Mets were interested, but a deal for Cruz never came together, likely due to his subpar performance this year. His batting line for the season is .234/.313/.337 for a wRC+ of 85.
Going into the offseason, Cruz is destined for the open market since mutual options are almost never picked up by both sides. This news about his eye will make his free agency an interesting case to watch. On the one hand, he is now 42 years old and has been below-average at the plate for over a year. He’s strictly a designated hitter at this point, meaning that he holds no value for teams if he can’t produce at the plate. However, if it’s true that the eye issue was holding him back, it’s possible that he could return to being a feared slugger like he was in the first few months of last season. He’ll have the next few months to find out which clubs are willing to take a chance on him.

[jrgum3]

Took a shot with the Astros and Braves in the World Series futures market. I bet those two teams because I think they have the best chance to win it all but truthfully this years playoffs is wide open and I think anybody can win so it'll be exciting. I looking forward to watching baseball all day on Friday and am especially looking forward to that Padre/Met game in primetime at 5:07 PST.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Took a shot with the Astros and Braves in the World Series futures market. I bet those two teams because I think they have the best chance to win it all but truthfully this years playoffs is wide open and I think anybody can win so it'll be exciting. I looking forward to watching baseball all day on Friday and am especially looking forward to that Padre/Met game in primetime at 5:07 PST.

I like those wagers good luck gummer

[Stallion]

Interesting stat, well done.

It didn't work so well this season. Luckily I hit 1 under in the A's game.

[JMobile]

Thanks hoping the pitching, Machado and Soto heat up for a month or so...

Padres need Soto to be clutch in the playoffs like in 2019

[EmpireMaker]

The Angels have already gotten a head start on some notable offseason business, both regarding the roster and its clubhouse leadership. In recent days, the Halos both avoided arbitration with the reigning AL MVP and finalized their managerial situation heading into 2023.
Over the weekend, the club and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani agreed to a $30MM salary for next season. The one-year pact avoided the possibility of what would’ve been the most fascinating arbitration case ever, with no clear precedent for a player of Ohtani’s talents. The sides won’t need to go anywhere near a hearing room, though, with the two-time All-Star instead agreeing to the largest salary for an arbitration-eligible player in big league history.
While the Halos are surely relieved to have Ohtani’s case settled, there are still plenty of questions about his long-term future in Orange County. The 2023 campaign is the final year in which he’s under club control, and Los Angeles heads into the winter coming off another disappointing season. General manager Perry Minasian met with reporters this afternoon (links via Sam Blum of the Athletic and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register), and while he didn’t offer any specifics about Ohtani’s situation, he unsurprisingly indicated he’d be thrilled to keep him beyond next season. “I think it’s Step 1,” Minasian said of avoiding arbitration. “Hopefully there are more steps down the road. … I’d love to have him here for a long time.”
That’s obviously not a firm declaration about Ohtani’s future, but it stands to reason Minasian and his staff will look to engage his reps at CAA at some point over the winter. They’ll surely receive calls from other teams inquiring about his availability in trade as well. The Halos obviously would’ve received ample interest in Ohtani at this past deadline, but owner Arte Moreno reportedly quashed any potential for a deal early in the process. Not long thereafter, Moreno announced he was looking into the possibility of selling the franchise.
Minasian told reporters he wasn’t aware of the status of the sales process, little surprise since he’s not involved in that decision. Asked whether it’d impact the club’s budget, the front office leader largely demurred. Minasian noted that ownership “still wants to put a good team on the field” and “is really competitive” but didn’t reveal any specifics about the franchise’s 2023 payroll outlook. The Halos opened the 2022 season with a player payroll north of $188MM, a franchise record figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. They already have roughly $133MM committed to next year’s books, in the estimation of Roster Resource. That’s before accounting for an arbitration class that includes Luis Rengifo, Jared Walsh and Super Two qualifiers Taylor Ward and Patrick Sandoval.
Working in the Halos favor, however, is that Minasian and his group aren’t faced with the losses of too many key contributors. Aside from Kurt Suzuki, who has already announced his retirement, the Halos stand to see Michael Lorenzen, Matt Duffy and Archie Bradley hit the open market. Lorenzen is the only member of that group who was relatively effective this year. Signed to a $6.75MM free agent deal, he pitched to a 4.24 ERA across 18 starts. Minasian suggested they could look to retain him via free agency, although he also noted the team wasn’t firmly committed to redeploying a six-man rotation again next season. The Halos have run with a six-man staff in recent years, in part to reduce the workload Ohtani has to shoulder on the mound. “I wouldn’t rule it out,” the GM said of a five-man rotation. “But if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. There’s a balance there. Is the risk worth the reward?”
Minasian also addressed the coaching staff, noting that the club is still evaluating whether to make changes in that area. Phil Nevin will be back as skipper after signing a one-year deal yesterday, but it’s to be determined whether his staff will remain in place. Asked about the short term of Nevin’s first permanent managerial contract, Minasian said the club will “(see) where it goes next year and (go) from there, but my hope and my expectation is that this is a long-term thing.” Of course, the long-term future of the organization will be determined in large part by the direction any incoming ownership group plans to take. Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests the franchise sale price could run as high as $2.5 billion, although the identities of the groups currently in talks with Moreno and his staff haven’t been publicly reported.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Nice slate of games today kicking off in a few hours

[Otters27]

Nice slate of games today kicking off in a few hours

Who you like in the first game?

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Who you like in the first game?

no opinion rooting for cleveland

[Stallion]

Go Jays!!

[Stallion]

Go Jays!!

Or not...

[EmpireMaker]

The Padres won 89 games, qualifying for the playoffs in a 162-game season for the first time since 2006. Even in the absence of Fernando Tatis Jr., who didn’t play this year on account of a wrist fracture and subsequent PED suspension, the Friars boast a star-studded roster. San Diego doubled down with arguably the biggest deadline blockbuster in MLB history, one they hope can help propel past a 101-win Mets team on the road.
Right-Handed Pitchers

• Yu Darvish (Game 1 starter)
• Luis Garcia
• Josh Hader
• Pierce Johnson
• Nick Martinez
• Joe Musgrove
• Robert Suarez
• Steven Wilson

Left-Handed Pitchers

• Tim Hill
• Sean Manaea
• Adrian Morejon
• Blake Snell (Game 2 starter)

Catchers

• Jorge Alfaro
• Luis Campusano
• Austin Nola

Infielders

• Josh Bell
• Jake Cronenworth
• Brandon Dixon
• Brandon Drury
• Ha-Seong Kim
• Manny Machado
• Wil Myers

Outfielders

• Jose Azocar
• Trent Grisham
• Jurickson Profar
• Juan Soto

There aren’t many surprises on the Padres roster. September call-up Dixon cracks the team as a right-handed bench bat after a monstrous season in the upper minors. The rest of San Diego’s roster decisions are fairly straightforward. There was never much doubt about the rest of the Friars position players being part of the club. Soto and Bell were brought in from the Nationals in a huge deadline swap, while San Diego also added Drury and Hader in separate deals at the start of August.
On the pitching side, San Diego will be without Mike Clevinger for the first series. The righty has been on the injured list with an illness for the past few days. While he passed a COVID-19 test yesterday and traveled to Queens, the club will keep him off the roster for this set. Darvish and Snell will get the ball for the first two games, with Musgrove seeming all but assured to start a Game 3 if that proves necessary.

[Cross]

Haha Cardinals blew it.

[Otters27]

Wild. Wild card day

[jrgum3]

Only one home team won today. Kind of a wild start to the playoffs and now all games tomorrow are elimination games so it should be another drama filled day.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Very happy to jump all over Scherzer last night...if Padres can beat Degrom tonight and send the Mets home, I'll be satisfied no matter what happens going forward.

[JMobile]

Very happy to jump all over Scherzer last night...if Padres can beat Degrom tonight and send the Mets home, I'll be satisfied no matter what happens going forward.

Keep the faith Jake. Hopefully Soto and Cronenworth send one to the Cronezone.

[EmpireMaker]

Yu Darvish is coming off his second quality season with the Padres, with his 2022 campaign representing a step beyond his solid 2021 numbers. This season, Darvish posted a 3.10 ERA, an above-average 25.6% strikeout rate and an outstanding 4.8% walk rate over 194 2/3 innings, while continuing to post one of the best fastball spin rates of any pitcher in baseball. Yesterday, the right-hander stepped up big in Game One of the NL Wild Card Series, allowing one run in seven innings in San Diego’s 7-1 win over the Mets.
Though Darvish turned 36 in August, the Padres have already seen enough to want to explore a contract extension with Darvish this offseason, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Darvish is entering the final year of his current deal — the six-year, $126MM free agent pact he signed with the Cubs prior to the 2018 season.
When triceps tendinitis limited Darvish to only 40 innings (of 4.95 ERA pitching) in 2018, there was already some concern in Wrigleyville that the signing could be a bust. However, Darvish rebounded to post a 3.98 ERA over 178 2/3 innings in 2019, and his 2.01 ERA over 76 innings in the shortened 2020 season earned the righty a second-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting. As the Cubs were entering a rebuild period, they traded Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini to the Padres for a five-player package and some significant salary relief.
Other than the hip and back problems that resulted in a pair of brief IL stints late in the 2021 season, Darvish has been pretty healthy since that abbreviated 2018 campaign. Only 10 pitchers threw more than 194 2/3 frames in 2022, and that total was also the second-highest innings count of Darvish’s 10 Major League seasons. Of course, Darvish’s career workload doesn’t just include MLB, as he tossed 1268 1/3 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball before coming to North America and tossing 1488 regular-season innings.
It’s probably safe to assume that the Padres aren’t looking for another long-term pact for Darvish, and Acee notes that Darvish hasn’t given any indication about how much longer he wishes to keep playing. However, adding another season (or even two) may fit into the club’s interest if they’re confident Darvish can keep producing into his late 30’s. Mike Clevinger, Sean Manaea, and Nick Martinez are free agents this winter, but the Padres kept one major arm off the market when they inked Joe Musgrove to a five-year, $100MM extension back in August. Musgrove, Darvish, and Blake Snell project as San Diego’s top three starters heading into 2023, though Darvish and Snell are both only under contract through next season.
Extending Darvish would give the Padres a bit more rotation security going forward, even if a new deal covered only 2024 or 2025. San Diego exceeded the luxury tax threshold in both 2021 and 2022, but quite a bit of money will be off the books after the 2023 season, which is presumably when a Darvish extension would begin. If a new deal overwrote the final year of Darvish’s current contract, that could give the Padres some more immediate luxury tax breathing room for 2023. Darvish is owed $18MM in 2023 but his tax number is $21MM, the average of $126MM divided over six seasons.

[jrgum3]

Only one MLB game tomorrow so it'll be interesting to see how many people tune in when its up against Sunday Night Football. I think people will watch since its the Mets and Padres which has been the best series of the 4 that took place in the Wild Card round but football rules the airwaves even though most primetime games have been boring this year imo. I'll be watching both though as I find both games equally interesting with the Padres/Mets being an elimination game and the Ravens/Bengals being a divisional tilt.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Wow feel bad for Toronto fans that was a gutting loss...

Musgrove on the hill today for the Padres hopefully the local kid can get it done in the Big Apple

[BigSpoon]

Pain.

[Otters27]

Guardians pitching gave up 1 run in 24 innings

[JMobile]

Wow feel bad for Toronto fans that was a gutting loss...

Musgrove on the hill today for the Padres hopefully the local kid can get it done in the Big Apple

Toronto literally fell apart on that outfield play.

Hopefully the Padres win tonight, Jake.

[Stallion]

Toronto blew it.

[jrgum3]

Great win for your Padres Jake hopefully they can ride that momentum into the series against the Dodgers. It is going to be exciting to say the least and I actually think it could go either way. San Diego is going to have to hit like they did against the Mets and it goes without saying that their pitching has to continue to be stellar. If those things happen this series will be interesting and the Padres have a shot to beat the Dodgers.

[EmpireMaker]

In the wake of the news that Aroldis Chapman will not be named to the Yankees’ ALDS roster for skipping a mandatory team workout, notes about other Yankees have helped clarify how the Bronx Bombers will prepare to take on the Guardians:

• Gerrit Cole will be getting the start in Game 1 of the ALDS in New York on Tuesday night, manager Aaron Boone announced. Cole will be followed by Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino in games 2 and 3, respectively. Boone stated that he considered different alignments for his starting rotation, but ultimately decided on Cole for the opener. Boone added that the Yankees are likely to opt for a three man rotation of Cole, Cortes, and Severino for the ALDS, considering the series’s unique schedule, which features an off day between the first and second games. The extra off day will allow Cole to pitch Game 4 on full rest.
• Clay Holmes is going to face hitters on Monday, in what he hopes will be a final tune up for the ALDS, reports Meredith Marakovits of YES (via Twitter). Holmes has battled a strain in his right shoulder since the end of September and was last used on September 26. Holmes said that his most recent bullpen felt “free and easy” and that his velocity was good. It remains to be seen whether or not Holmes will be used as a closer in the ALDS, given his second half struggles. Holmes accumulated a 4.84 ERA during the second half, a far cry from his dominant first half, during which he logged a 1.31 ERA.
• Wandy Peralta will be ready and back in the Yankees bullpen for the ALDS, Marakovits reports (via Twitter). Peralta hit the 15-day IL retroactive to September 19 with thoracic spine tightness. Peralta, a left hander, has been one of New York’s most effective relievers, posting a 2.72 ERA in 56 1/3 innings. Peralta projects to be particularly important if the Yankees are to quiet the bats of Guardians lefties, like Andres Giminez and Steven Kwan. He has held lefties to an OPS of .422 in 2022. With Chapman off the roster, Peralta and Lucas Luetge figure to be the Yankees only left-handed options out of the bullpen.
• Matt Carpenter expects to be ready to play in the ALDS, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (via Twitter). Carpenter has been hitting, running bases, and took some grounders at first base on Sunday. After a sensational 47-game summer stretch in which Carpenter slugged 15 home runs and hit .305, the veteran infielder suffered a broken left foot on a foul ball. If Carpenter plays as a designated hitter against the Guardians, it is possible that Giancarlo Stanton will spend some time in the outfield, where he has not played since July 21.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Great win for your Padres Jake hopefully they can ride that momentum into the series against the Dodgers. It is going to be exciting to say the least and I actually think it could go either way. San Diego is going to have to hit like they did against the Mets and it goes without saying that their pitching has to continue to be stellar. If those things happen this series will be interesting and the Padres have a shot to beat the Dodgers.

Thank you appreciate that gummer...Padres are playing some good baseball right now so we will see what happens it is going to be a tall order. For now, going to enjoy this series win today and I'll start worrying about the Dodgers tomorrow.

Very happy for Musgrove, Grisham and all the players that stepped up.

[Otters27]

Can the Padres beat the Dodgers?

Cleveland might surprise people

[Cross]

Peavy on cloud nine out in SD!

[Stallion]

I'm not cheering for anyone now.

[Cross]

Four games tomorrow,should be fun.

[jrgum3]

Can the Padres beat the Dodgers?

Cleveland might surprise people

I don't see why not. They have solid hitting even without Tatis and their pitching was excellent in the Mets series in their two victories. The Dodgers are the better team on paper but the game is not won and lost on paper. I think the Padres can get this series and I'm very interested to watch what happens because I think the Dodgers have their hands full. As for the Guardians I think they can beat the Yankees and even though I hold an Astros World Series ticket in my pocket I wouldn't be surprised if Cleveland won the AL.