Tag: San Diego Padres

PEORIA, Ariz. Greetings from the last weekend of spring training. Opening day is just around the corner. Meanwhile, a number of expected appearances remain a long way off. For the Padres, starting the season with unprecedented stakes will double as an exercise in delayed gratification. Fortunately for San Diego, the season isn’t set in April, though wins and losses are still important. A brief summary of the team’s notable postponements: • World Baseball Classic U-Darvish is finally at Padres camp on Saturday, pitching four innings in a Double-A game. He…

BOREA, AZ – On February 21, Joe Musgrove removed all four of his teeth. He returned to the pile the next morning, a little sore but still determined to complete his previously scheduled bullpen session. (He did) Then, on the following Monday, Musgrove dropped a 35-pound kettlebell on the tip of his left big toe. After only 12 days, he returned to the mound, and threw a squash with a broken toe. It is in Musgrove’s nature to test his limits. It’s in the Padres’ best interest, before a long…

BOREA, AZ – Drew Pomeranz last pitched in a major league game on August 10, 2021. He subsequently underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left forearm. It was not a new injury. “I had a lot of history with her,” Pomeranz said. Pomeranz said he was traded from San Diego to Boston in 2016 with a torn flexor tendon, though he didn’t know it at the time. (Padres general manager AJ Preller was later suspended for failing to disclose medical information on that trade.) The left-hander received…

BOREA, Ariz. — When Steve Cohen spoke with reporters Monday in Florida, it was eventful. No baseball owner is under more scrutiny than other teams. The Mets, under Cohen’s leadership, have angered competitors by collecting a fancy tax paycheck of about $375 million. The league created an economic reform committee that did not include the richest person in sports. About 24 hours later in Arizona, there was another event. Padres president Peter Seidler debated his aggressive leadership, and his comments sparked a wave of backlash of their own. If Cohen…

SAN DIEGO — Two months ago, Xander Bogaerts sat in an upstairs hall at Petco Park and expressed amazement at his new security. He said that had he known weeks earlier that he would be offered an 11-year contract, he would have accepted his agent. On Friday, Yu Darvish sat in the same room and confessed a similar sense of awe. Minutes ago, he said he never thought he’d get another six-year deal. “I still can’t believe this, if it’s true or not,” Darwish quipped. “Maybe it’s a joke.” Once…

Two summers ago, the Padres tried to trade Nelson Cruz with the idea that they could do something unprecedented: play the then 41-year-old designated hitter at first base in a major league game. All-around DH was implemented temporarily during the previous season, which was shortened for the pandemic, but now it’s gone again. Despite the unusual proportion, the Padres were earnest — and later unsuccessful — looking for Cruz’s power-producing and driving skills. On Wednesday, my many years of joint interest finally paid off. Sources confirmed that Cruz and Padres…