San Diego Padres AM Talk: A Scary Moment, But Everything Is Ok

In today’s San Diego Padres AM Talk, all was pretty quiet over the weekend, minus one heart-stopping moment.

Happy Monday morning, San Diego Padres fans. Grab an extra cup of coffee this morning as you drag yourself back to the office after a long holiday weekend because today could be a long one. There should be plenty to keep you occupied at your desk, with Cyber Monday underway and a potentially busy day across Major League Baseball.

I don’t actually know if today will be a busy day across the league but we can dream, right? With heightened anticipation of a Sonny Gray move and a number of discussions on-going for weeks now, someone is bound to make a big move pretty soon.

As for news out of San Diego, don’t worry but everything is ok….we hope. Immediately after we published this piece taking a look at the blazing hot performances from Fernando Tatis Jr.and Franmil Reyes down in the Dominican Republic, Tatis left last night’s game with Estrellas Orientales with a shoulder injury suffered after being tagged on the basepaths.

Per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune, his removal from the game was “very precautionary” as quoted by a San Diego Padres official. Take a deep breath and go back to your Cyber Monday shopping, Tatis Jr seems to be fine.

Sleeper free agents to watch

Earlier this morning, Andrew Simon of MLB.com posted this piece taking a look at nine sleeper free agents to keep an eye on this offseason, listing a few different options that could be appealing to the San Diego Padres.

Sitting at the top of his list is infielder Jed Lowrie (.267 average, .353 OBP, 23 HR in Oakland) and starting pitcher Trevor Cahill. When discussing Lowrie, Simon points out that “his 8.5 wins above replacement (WAR) over that time, per FanGraphs, put him 26th among MLB position players, just ahead of (Bryce) Harper.” He is approaching 35 and does have injury concerns, however, he is coming off two solid seasons where he has shown the ability to get on base at a high clip.

Cahill is another name that provides intrigue and is someone we looked at a few weeks ago as a potential target of the Padres, if he is willing to return. Per Simon, “in 2018, he was one of five pitchers — out of 140 with 100-plus innings — who posted both a strikeout rate of at least 20 percent and a ground-ball rate of at least 50 percent.” He will be 31 coming Opening Day, meaning he could be a rotation piece for San Diego until many of these teenage Padres arms are ready to break into the major leagues.

On this day in MLB history.

More from Friars on Base

• Padres fighting with hated rival to sign quality veteran relief pitcher
• Jurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunion
• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher

To wrap up our Monday AM Talk, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at a moment from this date in MLB history, including a notable trade made by the Padres.

On this date in 2003, the San Diego Padres sent outfielder Mark Kotsay to the Oakland A’s for outfielder Terrence Long and catcher Ramon Hernandez. Kotsay would go one to put up back-to-back seasons with  35+ doubles and 15 home runs (including a few MVP votes in 2004) before finishing his career with five different teams in five seasons, including a return to San Diego in 2012.

Long played for one season in SD, hitting a career-high .295 with a .335 OBP in 136 games. San Diego traded him to Kansas City that offseason. Hernandez appeared in 210 games across two seasons with the Padres, hitting .283 with 30 home runs and striking out just 85 times in 753 at-bats.

Happy shopping, everyone! Hopefully, we return later today with some Padres news.