SHILDT SAYS: Discussing the Trades That Have Added Scott and Adams to the Bullpen … and So Much More
Padres’ manager Mike Shildt has said it before and he said it again yesterday.
“Really good teams have really good bullpens and have a balanced bullpen,” Shildt said yesterday afternoon after the Padres made a series of trade to bolster their relief corps. “We clearly have that now adding two guys who are high-leverage guys with success and experience. We’re very excited. The bullpen is the strength of a ballclub.”
Going into the trade deadline, Padres general manager A.J. Preller traded for two leading relievers and added veteran starter Martín Pérez.
— On Sunday, the Padres acquired right-handed reliever Jason Adams from Tampa Bay in exchange for right-handed pitcher Dylan Lesko (the Padres’ №3 prospect), center fielder Homer Bush Jr. (the Padres’ №8 prospect) and catcher J.D. Gonzalez (the Padres’ №12 prospect).
— Tuesday the Padres acquired left-handed National League All-Star reliever Tanner Scott (1.18 earned run average, 18 saves) and right-handed starter-reliever Bryan Hoeing from Miami for their Nos. 2 (left-handed starting pitcher Robby Snelling), 4 (right-handed starting pitcher Adam Mazur), 5 (infielder Graham Pauley) and 24 (infielder Jay Beshears) prospects.
— The Padres also acquired Pérez from Pittsburgh for pitcher Ronaldys Jimenez from the Dominican Summer League.
— And Preller added Triple-A outfielder Brandon Lockridge from the Yankees for right-handed reliever Enyel De Los Santos and minor league reliever Thomas Balboni Jr.
“Let’s start with the front office,” Shildt said during his pregame media session at Petco Park before the open of a two game series with the division-leading Dodgers.
“A.J. Preller and his staff … my respect level and admiration is off the charts for his dedication for giving us as many opportunities as he can to be great with this team,” Shildt continued. “He’s done a tremendous job. Let’s look back.
“We think about the most recent trades, but we have Luis Arraez and Dylan Cease before this and now we’re adding some really big parts to it with Jason Adams who is here today and is a phenomenal pitcher. And we’re getting Tanner Scott as well.
“Those are huge additions to our bullpen and makes us really strong and shortens the game quite a bit. Great job by the front office and A.J. The great news about a deep bullpen is that people can fill a lot of different roles.”
One role that won’t change, however, is that of closer Robert Suarez. “I expect to have Robert Suarez pitch the ninth,” said Shildt.
But Scott and Adams can also close. And the late-inning cast now numbers Scott, Adams, Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon.
“I have spoken with Jason,” said Shildt. “We talked to him loosely about roles. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Tanner yet. We’ll sort out the roles and make sure everybody is in a good spot.”
Clearly, the Padres’ bullpen is in a much better spot.
And Pérez and/or Hoeing could start until Joe Musgrove is ready to return to the rotation.
“Pérez has been in the game a long time,” said Shildt. “Any time you can add a guy who has had success like he’s had … you’re talking about a pro, a big ground ball guy. He has the chance to eat innings. He’s a real professional so he’s a really quality add for us as well.”
As for Musgrove, he pitched two innings Tuesday at the Padres’ year-round training facility in Arizona.
“I don’t remember the exact pitch total,” said Shildt. “But the velocity was good. He covered well and came out of it feeling good. He did all the things we asked. It sounds like Joe’s in a good spot after today, but we’ll see how he feels tomorrow and figure out the next steps.”
Shildt on Yu Darvish: “Yu is a private matter, so we’re not going to talk about it publicly. I’ve reached out to Yu. He’s doing better. But in respect to his wishes and his situation, we’ll continue to remain private and the Padres’ family continues to love and support him.”
Shildt then discussed Fernando Tatis Jr.
“I saw Tatis today and he looks good,” said the manager. “He’s been able to hit the last four or five days consistently and doing his routine. He’s feeling good about that. He’s starting to ramp up a little bit more with the load on his lower half.
“He still hasn’t received clearance to ramp up completely. We’re still in a holding pattern and trying to find a sweet spot when he can ramp up and make sure he’s able to come back and not be overly compromised.”
Shildt on Xander Bogaerts:
“Xander is a pro,” said Shildt. “He has a feel for what he is doing. Working with the staff, he did a real nice job of taking advantage of the opportunities even before he started rehab. I love that we brought in some relievers one day to face him so that he could get a lot of controlled at-bats, which I think was a real benefit to him. I would imagine we’ll probably do something similar with Tatis when he gets cleared.
“The point here is, Bogey really worked on his swing here and when he went out on his rehab assignment. I’m not surprised. It’s nice having him back for sure.”
Shildt then turned to facing the Dodgers while coming off a 7–2 trip coming out of the All-Star break.
“It’s good to be back home,” he said. “It was a fruitful trip, but it’s always good to get back to beautiful San Diego and wonderful Petco Park and play in front of our outstanding and exciting fans.
“I’m really pleased the way we’ve played coming out of the break. We played two really good clubs. It’s really about how we play. We say that all the time. We played good baseball. We got great starting pitching and our offense was able to execute. And we played good defense.”
Historically, clubs managed by Shildt have always had good records in the first three or four series coming out of the All-Star break.
“We’re always looking to be better as we go along,” said Shildt. “You take inventory at the All-Star break. You have some conversations and the staff has a chance to get even more clarity about where we’re going. And then we just get back and get after it.
“Focusing on today is important. It gets harder and harder to do that. The reality is, you can only focus on today. That’s really a big separator for guys who stay in this game and play this game well and put together long, successful careers. I know that’s a great trait for a team to just stay present and take care of the competition at the moment.”
