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The Padres have left open the potential of bringing in veteran outfield assist properly into Spring Coaching. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Friars are nonetheless concerned within the respective markets free of charge brokers Michael A. Taylor, Adam Duvall and Tommy Pham, amongst others. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin has additionally linked the Padres to Pham on a couple of events in current weeks.
Taylor is the one viable on a regular basis middle fielder nonetheless on the open market. He stays one of many sport’s high defensive outfielders as he nears his thirty third birthday. By measure of Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Common, Taylor rated wherever between 5 to seven runs above par in almost 1000 innings of middle discipline work for the Twins a 12 months in the past. DRS has credited him with 65 runs saved on the outfield’s most vital spot over his decade within the main leagues.
That’s adequate to make Taylor a viable bottom-of-the-lineup common as long as he’s contributing something offensively. He did sufficient on the plate in Minnesota, connecting on a personal-high 21 dwelling runs and stealing 13 bases over 388 plate appearances. Taylor has some energy, though it comes with a variety of empty at-bats. He punched out greater than a 3rd of the time en path to a .220 common and really poor .278 on-base mark. Taylor has gotten on base lower than 30% of the time in three of his final 4 seasons.
The offensive inconsistency has led groups to shrink back from his asking worth. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote final week that Taylor views himself similarly to fellow glove-first middle fielders Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader, every of whom signed for one 12 months and $10.5MM earlier this offseason. Whereas he’s coming off a superior platform 12 months to Bader and doesn’t have the identical damage historical past as Kiermiaer, it’s arduous to ascertain Taylor discovering that form of wage a couple of from Opening Day.
That’s significantly true from a San Diego staff that has spent a lot of the offseason slicing payroll. From a roster perspective, although, the Padres may be essentially the most simple match. José Azocar is a .249/.292/.341 hitter in 153 large league contests. He has rated as a top quality defender in his personal proper, however he might need a good lighter bat than Taylor does.
The Padres will in all probability need to hold Azocar in a fourth outfield capability. As issues stand, that’d doubtless imply calling upon Jackson Merrill as their beginning middle fielder. Merrill, 20, hasn’t performed above Double-A. Primarily a shortstop prospect, he has labored within the outfield this spring. The lefty-hitting Merrill is without doubt one of the sport’s high minor league abilities, however counting on him as a beginning middle fielder could be of venture even for a San Diego staff that’s usually aggressive about selling its prospects.
Merrill has zero minor league innings on the place. That’s on high of his restricted expertise going through superior pitching. The previous first-round decide has held his personal on the plate this spring, hitting .286/.355/.357 in 31 journeys to the plate. He’s drawn three walks whereas hanging out twice however solely has two extra-base hits (each doubles).
Additional complicating issues, the Padres don’t have a transparent answer in left discipline. Even when the Friars really feel Merrill is able to face large league arms, they might play him in left to accommodate a Taylor signing. That’d bump Jurickson Profar to the bench. So too would signing certainly one of Duvall of Pham, each of whom are righty-hitting nook choices. They’re equally invaluable gamers, as MLBTR’s Nick Deeds explored over the weekend. Duvall brings extra energy to the desk, whereas Pham is extra constant at getting on base.
In any case, the Padres might want to make some form of outfield transaction within the subsequent few days. Azocar, Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr. are the one outfielders on the 40-man roster. Minor league signees Óscar Mercado, Tyler Wade and Brad Miller stay on the main league aspect of camp as attainable bench additions.
San Diego is confronted with these questions ahead of nearly anybody else. They start their common season with a two-game collection towards the Dodgers in South Korea on March 20-21. The Padres will fly to Seoul two days from now. Acee notes that in the event that they do signal a veteran outfielder, that participant would doubtless skip the Korea collection and stay in minor league camp to construct up for the remainder of the season.
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