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The Padres have expressed some curiosity in free agent righty Michael Lorenzen as they give the impression of being to fill out their rotation, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Community. The 32-year-old Lorenzen is among the many extra notable free agent beginning pitchers but to signal this offseason.
Lorenzen is a free agent for the third consecutive offseason. The longtime Reds setup man hit the market two winters in the past in the hunt for a possibility to maneuver again to a rotation — the position by which he broke into the majors as a rookie. That led to a one-year, $6.75MM cope with the Angels that produced strong outcomes however was lower brief at 97 2/3 innings as a result of a shoulder pressure. Lorenzen took one other one-year deal final offseason, this time touchdown a $8.5MM assure from the Tigers. The tip-of-season outcomes look strong — 4.18 ERA, 17.8% strikeout charge, 7.5% stroll charge — but additionally don’t essentially inform the entire story of his season.
A robust first half (and a typically underwhelming Tigers roster) helped to each propel Lorenzen to his first All-Star Sport and place him as a commerce candidate who was in comparatively robust demand. Lorenzen turned in a 3.80 ERA as a Tiger, absorbing 105 2/3 innings in 18 begins (5 2/3 frames per outing) whereas fanning 20% of opponents in opposition to a 6.5% stroll charge. The Phillies finally acquired him to assist stabilize the rotation down the stretch, and within the early levels of his Philadelphia tenure the commerce appeared like a masterstroke.
Lorenzen’s Phillies debut was sensational. He tossed eight innings of two-run ball in opposition to a contending Marlins membership, limiting the Fish to a pair of runs on six hits and a stroll. One-upping that sort of debut isn’t any small feat, however he did so in spades, tossing a no-hitter in opposition to the Nationals in his second begin. Lorenzen appeared like an immediate Phillies success, however issues went downhill rapidly thereafter.
Whether or not as a result of a career-high workload, some sort of minor damage or a easy run of poor efficiency, Lorenzen wilted in such substantial style that the Phils finally dropped him to the bullpen. Within the 5 begins instantly following that 124-pitch no-hitter, Lorenzen allowed 26 runs (23 earned) on 37 hits and 11 walks with simply 14 strikeouts in 26 innings. His first outing as a reliever for the Phils noticed him serve up one other 4 runs in simply one-third of an inning. He recovered with 4 shutout innings over his last three aid appearances, however what appeared like a breakout season in mid-August ended with a whimper.
Even with that wobbly end, Lorenzen is a smart goal for a Padres group in want of strong innings and rotation depth. The fitting-hander constructed as much as 153 innings in 2023, and whereas he could have pale down the stretch, that workload may also make him much less prone to cope with any late-season fatigue in 2024. San Diego’s present rotation contains Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Michael King, with a bunch of unknowns vying for the ultimate two spots. Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Pedro Avila, Matt Waldron, Glenn Otto and Jay Groome are among the many choices for the ultimate two spots.
It’s a deep assortment of arms, all of whom apart from Groome have not less than some MLB expertise, however nobody from that bunch has confirmed a lot as a starter. Even King, whom the Padres acquired from the Yankees within the Juan Soto blockbuster (alongside Vasquez and Brito) has by no means pitched a full massive league season as a starter. An damage to Musgrove and/or Darvish — each of whom have frolicked on the IL in current seasons — would render the Padres closely reliant on a forged of normal query marks. Lorenzen has some questions himself, however he’s additionally pitched 250 2/3 innings of 4.20 ERA ball over the previous two seasons. There’s little doubt he’d be a steadying presence.
The query for the Padres is considered one of payroll. San Diego was reportedly aiming to reduce payroll by as a lot as $50MM this offseason, which was the driving issue behind the Soto commerce within the first place. In addition they swapped out an skilled however comparatively costly reliever (Scott Barlow) for a less-proven and lower-cost bullpen arm (Enyel De Los Santos) and have allowed Josh Hader, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez to depart through free company (with Blake Snell prone to observe). The Friars have spent some cash, bringing in NPB reliever Yuki Matsui and KBO reliever Woo Suk Go on low-AAV multi-year offers, however the offseason has been extra targeted on subtracting massive salaries than bolstering a win-now roster.
As issues stand, the Padres’ payroll sits at a projected $156MM, with $212MM of luxurious tax obligations, per Roster Resource. That’s an enormous $100MM shy of their end-of-season 2023 payroll degree, which ought to go away the Padres with some cash to make modest additions between now and Opening Day. Lorenzen, who’s additionally drawn curiosity from the Orioles, makes as a lot sense as any match available on the market, however the Padres presumably have restricted assets with which to work and holes within the outfield, on the bench and at designated hitter.
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