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You can find all of last night’s scores here (in case you can’t watch the games on TV). Also: Mike Trout might be an Angel for life after all and we look at some almost-best players. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
How the Padres plan to use another infielder
Not long after we sent out Friday’s newsletter, the Padres surprised everyone, acquiring Luis Arraez (and nearly $8 million) from the Marlins for three prospects and a minor-league reliever. On May 3!
I was curious, so I researched every trade ever made in the month of May (please don’t do this to yourself), and while the Marlins had the weirdest one two, themes began to emerge: many backup catchers, stars at the end of their careers, change-of-scenery guys and big-league talent-for-talent.
Also … football stars? The New York Giants traded Jim Thorpe to the Boston Braves in 1919, and the Reds sent Deion Sanders to the Braves in 1994.
But this is different. Arraez has won a Silver Slugger in each of the last two years as he led the AL (2022, Twins) and NL (2023, Marlins) in batting average. The closest comparison I found was in 1989, when the Mariners sent All-Star and two-time Gold Glover Mark Langston to Montreal on May 25 for three pitchers (one of whom was a 25-year-old, 6-foot-10 southpaw named Randy Johnson).
Ken has more on the Marlins (and the timing) below, but as for the Padres, you may be wondering: What the heck do they need another infielder for?
It’s not really about Arraez’s defensive position so much as his ability to get on base while hitting left-handed. In his Padres debut Saturday, he went 4-for-6 as the DH. Last night, he played second base, giving Xander Bogaerts a day off his feet at DH.
That seems to be the plan for now: fill in when guys need a day, slot in at DH otherwise and get on base at something resembling his .378 career mark.
Dennis Lin has a deeper dive on the Padres’ situation, plus we have trade grades, and analysis from Keith Law.
Ken’s Notebook: Did the Marlins explore all options in Arraez trade?
From today’s column:
Any trade in which a team lands a two-time batting champion while lowering its payroll is worthy of further examination. San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller pulled off that trick, as only he can, with his stunning acquisition of Arraez.
Perhaps no GM is as adept at collecting talent as Preller, even if that talent does not always fit together. But the Miami Marlins’ end of the deal might be even more intriguing than the Padres’, and not simply because of how quickly — and outrageously — the Marlins quit on 2024.
Marlins GM Peter Bendix was correct when he said, during a news conference, that his team is unlikely to reach the postseason. But talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Marlins ran off Kim Ng, the GM who orchestrated their first playoff appearance over a full season in 20 years. They signed only one free agent, shortstop Tim Anderson, who owns the game’s sixth-lowest OPS. They essentially agreed to part with the reigning NL Manager of the Year, Skip Schumaker, who after getting the team to remove the club option on his contract surely is counting down the days to his liberation.
Players’ careers are short. Every season is precious. Marlins owner Bruce Sherman hired Bendix from the Tampa Bay Rays, wanting to duplicate the success of Stuart Sternberg’s thrifty operation across the state. Someone tell Sherman the Rays never go into full retreat like this. Only twice since 2008 have they won fewer than 80 games in a full season.
Which brings us to Arraez for reliever Woo-Suk Go and three prospects — outfielder Dillon Head, the 25th overall pick in the 2023 draft; outfielder Jakob Marsee, the most recent MVP of the Arizona Fall League; and first baseman/outfielder Nathan Martorella. Only that wasn’t the entirety of the deal — the Marlins also included nearly $8 million, paying down Arraez’s 2024 salary to all but the prorated minimum, and took on the remainder of Go’s two-year, $4.5 million contract. The approach was rather odd for a team that always cries poor. But Bendix’s goal was to boost the quality of the return.
The trade deadline is almost three months away. Bendix said he feared the same deal might not have been available if he waited, and perhaps that is true. But did Bendix, in his first year as a head of baseball operations, fully explore his options? If he had stayed patient, he could have notified the other 29 teams of his willingness to cover virtually all of Arraez’s salary, then seen how the market reacted.
Ohtani flourishing in Los Angeles
“Life is good these days,” Shohei Ohtani thinks to himself, probably. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
When news broke about the firing of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, it was the biggest gambling scandal in the sport since Pete Rose. (Honestly, credit to baseball folks; there haven’t really been any since then.) This wasn’t my most pressing question at the time, but somewhere down the list, I did wonder how the turmoil of allegedly being betrayed by his best friend and confidante would impact Ohtani this season, on the field and off.
Well, Ohtani seems to be having the baseball equivalent of a post-breakup glow-up.
He’s always been a great player, so it’s not entirely shocking that he’s leading the league in batting average (.364), slugging (.685), OPS (1.111), home runs (10), doubles (14), runs (31) — OK, you know what? That’s a bit much, even for him.
But there’s also been a transformation off the field. With Mizuhara no longer serving as — in the words of manager Dave Roberts — “a buffer,” Ohtani has seemingly begun to open up a bit more in the clubhouse. The most recent example: a good-natured prank he played as he surpassed Roberts’ mark for most home runs in Dodgers history by a player born in Japan.
Roberts had seven.
The manager had joked that Ohtani could maybe, possibly, buy him a Porsche, given the star’s endorsement deal, and the fact that Ohtani had bestowed a similar gift to Joe Kelly’s wife when Kelly relinquished his jersey number (17).
Ohtani did bring Roberts a car … a miniature toy Porsche.
There’s more in Fabian Ardaya’s story, but for fans (and media, and probably his teammates), it’s nice to start to see a little more personality from the sport’s biggest star. The fact that he seems to be enjoying life a bit more, while still smashing the absolute goblins out of any nearby baseball, is even better.
Injuries force Giants, Phillies to adjust
It’s already bad news when your starting catcher goes down with a concussion, which is what happened to Patrick Bailey and the Giants on Friday. Bailey took a hard foul tip off the mask, and suffered blurred vision, meaning backup Tom Murphy was going to get some playing time.
Except the very next night, Murphy injured his knee blocking a ball in the dirt in rainy conditions, meaning Blake Sabol, who had just flown in from Sacramento, was the new Murphy, and the Giants already needed a new Sabol.
Cue Jakson Reetz, who had to take a red-eye flight from Sacramento to get to Philadelphia in time for Sunday’s game. Both catchers acquitted themselves well in their first big-league action of the year: Sabol went 2-for-3 on Saturday in relief of Murphy, and Reetz homered in the ninth inning of his Giants debut.
It still wasn’t enough. The Giants offense is struggling, and they were swept by the Phillies, who now have baseball’s best record at 24-11.
But Philly is dealing with an injury situation of its own. Shortstop Trea Turner is expected to miss at least six weeks with a strained hamstring. While he’s out, Edmundo Sosa, who has a career .708 OPS in 317 big-league games with the Cardinals and Phillies, will be the first option, while Bryson Stott will start taking reps as a backup plan.
Other names hitting the IL: Nathan Eovaldi and Wyatt Langford (Rangers), Byron Buxton (Twins), Joe Musgrove (Padres), Evan Phillips (Dodgers) and Pierce Johnson (Braves).
No-strikeout streak update
After five K-less plate appearances over the weekend, Steven Kwan’s streak hit 72 plate appearances, but he left Saturday’s game with hamstring tightness, and will (also) hit the 10-day IL. So we’ll put this section on hold until he’s back.
Slugging first-base prospect Kyle Manzardo (No. 66 on Keith Law’s Top 100 prospects list) will be called up to replace Kwan on the roster.
Handshakes and High Fives
I didn’t expect an article on a TikTok star to make me emotional. But Stephen Nesbitt’s story on Jordan Howlett and his baseball dreams is absolutely worth the read.
Tyler Kepner tells us a little more about Detroit’s ace Tarik Skubal.
Sometimes a new stadium build is an unnecessary way to increase a team’s net worth on the taxpayer’s dime. Other times, it’s essential. Zack Meisel relates stories from old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.
The rally sausage is “… in the trash by now — probably where it belongs,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli; the team’s win streak ended at 12 games yesterday.
Keith Law scouts some possible first-rounders.
Aaron Judge was ejected for the first time in his life (yes, his life) over the weekend. It happened as he was walking away. You probably know my sentiments by this point.
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(Top photo: Joe Camporeale / USA Today)
