Gwynn & Chris On Demand

Padres Roundtable: reacting to the trade deadline

The Fan crew got together less than 24 hours after the trade deadline to react to the Padres' trades to fortify their bullpen, not trading for a frontline starting pitcher, holding on to their top prospects Ethan Salas and Leo De Vries, as well as their chances to overtake the Dodgers in the NL West.

Duration:: 58m
Broadcast on:: 31 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com/rs10 today. It's that time, prior faithful, time to discuss everything going on with the Padres. We've gathered the entire 97-3, the fan crew, together to bring you the most in-depth discussion on the priors in our weekly Padres Roundtable, presented by San Diego Roundtable Pizza. Here's your host, Ben Higgins. Well, in honor of the recently concluded San Diego Comic Con and inspired by something Craig just said to me, Padres Talk Avengers Assemble for another Roundtable, presented by San Diego Roundtable Pizza. It's pizza royalty. I'm Ben Higgins, and we've got most of the crew assembled today, starting with, on my left, Chris Elo from the Elo and Gwen Afternoon program. Hello. Otherwise known as the Higgins and Wood show. Exactly. We've got Craig Elston in our middle, Annie and Elston Middays. Good day. Filling in for Woodsy today was on vacation. Really great pre and post-game show host Sam Levitt is here. Hi, Sammy. Hi, Ben. Good to be here. Tony Gwen, Jr. Off a very long East Coast road trip is back in San Diego temporarily and is here. Hello, Ben. Ann Annie. Hi, Elburn. At the end. Come on. In her spot, as always. Good morning, Ben. Good morning, everybody. Well, what about that game? Padres coming from behind against the Dodgers. What a way to start the post-trade deadline with a come from behind when just some thoughts on what the Padres were able to do last night, Annie. It definitely, a lot of good games this season, that's going to go down as one of the best. Yeah, what a thriller. They just keep doing it. I think everyone feels almost like a little hungover this morning, you know, because it was one of those where you're watching it late at night and for them to come back and the night thinning like they did and then have that terrific tent thinning. Also credit to the bullpen and the pitching staff. Like the Dodgers scored in the first inning, but then didn't score after that. Padres did a great job coming back. A lot to like about that game. Tony, you were on point last night. We played all the Jesse's calls, but I loved some of your commentary as well. Just big moments and you guys rose to the occasion. Thank you, Ben. I appreciate that. No, it's, you know, who this team has been really all year. I mean, they play, as I said it last night, they play however many outs there are in that particular game, they play that many and they, you don't see them giving up at bats at any point. And I just think that is a, that's a, that's something that you kind of ingrained early in the season when some of the ups and downs were happening and, and what you're seeing now as a team, like starting to at the right time, right time of year, I should say, starting to play, you know, some really high quality baseball. Sammy, I was listening to the post game show. It was a party last night, an all-time record crowd. Obviously a lot of them stayed for the very end and then stayed afterwards. It was definitely one for the, for the memory banks. Yeah, and really impressive on a day where the Padres race fortified their bullpen, their bullpen was outstanding, six scoreless innings, Matt Waldron settling in. I mean, they threw nine consecutive scoreless innings after giving up five in the first. So you can't tell the story of yesterday's win without mentioning what the pitching staff did yesterday and really aside from what three innings since the second half started, this pitching has been unbelievable, a big reason why they've won eight out of 10 after, after the break. Craig is a, as magic free as last year's team appeared to be this year's team, just the complete opposite it seems like. It's so true. I mean, five nothing but five one right away. And I thought five three was the real key there. You get all of a sudden right back to two runs. Everyone now is fully bought in from, you know, one to the guy at the back of Gallagher Square. Everyone knows the Padres have a great chance in this game. I thought the other real key yesterday is something that pretends for the rest of the regular season and the future of the team, which is you were able to see Adrian Moore home. You were able to see Jeremiah Estrada chase a win. That was something at the beginning of the road trip that Mike Schilt was unwilling to do in a one nothing game. He wasn't willing to risk using those high end relievers now knowing Adams here, Scott's on the way. There is a lot of depth. He was able to chase that win with those guys and it was critical to their winning the game. And Chris, obviously the, the offense have come back in the home runs and the rally in the 10th of big moments. But I know you always look through those hidden moments. It's hard to get to five, three in the ninth when you give up five in the first inning without playing really well for the next eight and a half innings to give yourself a chance. Craig brought up the two runs they scored in the fourth inning, which all came with two outs, a double and then a pro far and then Croninworth. Just like that two runs come in. That was big. I'm almost starting to expect it. And I think they're starting to expect it. You know, when they, when they fell down six, nothing at Baltimore on Sunday and they got back to six, five and then Manny got robbed in the eighth inning there. After the game, Jake Croninworth was really down and out for a bit, you know, even though they'd won seven in a row saying we really thought we were going to win that game. And Tony's talked to us on the show about the confidence that this team has right now. So yeah, five nothing. I mean, you got a record crowd. They have 27 wins at home this year, seven of them now officially are walk off wins. And it seems like more than that because it seems like they've been coming up with this stuff almost every night. I'm just glad that I didn't have to talk about really great back-to-back losses. I mean, the best back-to-back losses you've seen all season, the win makes it hit a lot better. A little better today. Well, the reason we're here on Wednesday instead of our usual Thursday roundtable time slot is that we wanted to react to what happened at the trade deadline. So let's really jump in and get started with the moves the Padres made. Why don't we start with Sammy, our guest in the middle and begin with the first trade that the Padres made acquiring Jason Adam from the Tampa Bay Rays and paying a pretty big price. Obviously, there were more moves after that. But what was kind of your initial reaction, Sam, to giving up Dylan Lesko and more for a top setup reliever, essentially? Yeah, I think, look, I think it was very similar to the Tanner Scott trade, and we'll get to that, I'm sure, in a second, where the price was very steep, but the Padres did get a reliever in Jason Adam. That is number one, really, really good. Number two is two years of control left, and this is a team whose window is right now to win. But did they give up a guy in Dylan Lesko with the Tampa Bay development track record? He could go on to be an ace one day. We don't know. With that said, he's also somebody that was struggling really mightily with command after the Tommy John surgery, and, you know, maybe the Padres didn't feel as highly about him as they once did, and maybe Tampa Bay looks at him and says, "We can fix that." And obviously, that wasn't all the Padres gave up. It was a steep price, the two years of control you really like, the impact you'll have on the bullpen you really like, but in this market, and I think with the Tanner Scott trade, I think we got a better picture of what the mindset was for AJ Preller in this front office at the deadline, a steep price, but a guy that's going to make this bullpen a lot better, not just in 2024, but for the next couple of years. Andy, I heard at the highest levels of the Padres organization, they weren't just high on Dylan Lesco, like going into this season, they were like giddy about his potential. How much do you think that changed because of his struggles? Is that what made him available, or when you see this move, do you feel like the Padres gave up too much for Jason Adam and Dylan Lesco? I don't know. I think time will tell maybe, but I thought what AJ Preller said yesterday kind of spoke to his MO that he's had this whole time, which is they're okay with giving up good talent, and they're going to see their talent that they give up, go on to be successful for other teams. They're going to show it back on the field against them at some point, but that's a credit to their scouting department, and it's kind of in line with what AJ Preller feels like is their MO, which is we're going to get something good back, something that can help us, something that can be good, big league success on the field and help us get to where we want to go. And then it's kind of like a win-win, are they all going to work out? Probably not. Like you're probably going to maybe be sitting in the press box at some point and looking down in the field and going, man, it wouldn't have been still nice to have this guy, right? But this is what you have to give up in order to get the kind of talent that they feel like can push them into a playoff position and a deep playoff position. They have three guys in that bullpen now that are Robert Suarez-esque, they have Robert Suarez, Jason Adam and Tanner Scott, and that shortens games if they're starting pitching can't quite get them to where they need to go. So I think that they made some good moves. It's a steep price. I agree with Sam. It's one that you might look back and go, man, I wish we still had that guy. But at the same time, I feel like they have a strategy that they're sticking to and that they feel a lot of comfort in terms of how they move these guys. Chris, given some comments, you've made it in the past about prospects and what exactly they may be worth in the future. AJ Proler must be your ideal general manager, completely unafraid to trade the future, to try to win in the present. There's a saying in business, and I believe it goes something like this. We don't care how much it costs. We just care how much it makes. And I believe that that is AJ Proler's theory because they obviously paid a heavy cost. But if what it makes at the end is a run to the World Series, nobody is going to care. On the flip side of that, the question that I have and I think a lot of the critics of this have is did they really need to pay this much to get Tanner Scott? When you look at some of the other trades that were made around baseball, people smarter than me that we spoke with yesterday, tell me the Padres paid quite a bit more than the Dodgers paid for Jack Flaherty. It's the only place where I think you're seeing a little criticism creep out on this. You know me. I don't mind partying with prospects, especially if it gets us where we want to go. But if they don't get where they want to go, the bill may come due, is what I would praise it. Scared money, don't make money. There's another saying there too. Craig, you've always shown a little bit more of a longer-term perspective. You don't want the Padres just to be good for the next two months. You'd like them to be good for several years to come. Absolutely. Usually requires a little more caution when it comes to trading away prospects. We're thinking initially on the Jason Adam deal. Well, something that we've learned without a doubt is that AJ Preller uses his minor league system in a way that most general managers and most owners are unwilling for their system to be used. Annie and I have talked about this a lot on our show. They don't use it as a farm system. The goal isn't always to develop talent, bring it to the major leagues affordably and have it contribute to your big league team. They use it as a battery. They use it just like the thing that you plug into your cell phone when you've got a long day out to make sure that it gets charged. It's something that you just drain in order to power what's at top that you need. And then when it's drained down, you go and plug it in and you let it fill back up and then you drain it again because you're ready to refill what you've got. And that's how he uses this system. You graduate a Jackson Merrill along the way and hopefully you'll graduate a Salas and a Devries along the way. But he's willing to put up with a very expensive team for a year that has basically no depth. He's done this multiple times. But I keep coming back to this. He stripped mine this farm system in 2014. He did it again in 2020. He did it again in 2022 and he rebuilt it every time twice within two years. So he thinks drain it, rebuild it and in 2026 we can do it again. And I think that's a really key point. You made the battery analogy. Well, with those portable batteries, you still need to charge the portable battery to charge your device, your phone. And he does that recharging the portable battery about as well as anybody in restocking the farm. So he's in a unique position where he can do it. He has the mindset to do it and we'll see how it plays out. Tony, I'd imagine players don't have that long term of a view of what the organization is doing because careers are inherently short and they want to win when they're on the team. So I'd imagine it's almost always viewed as a good sign when they make a move like that to add a player now and they don't really care what's happening in three or four years. Within the clubhouse. Yeah. For sure. And I think it's important to remember like none of these situations where these teams are all, you know, cookie cutter, right? Some teams use them as a battery. Some teams build their whole teams through them. And you can have success both ways. There isn't a certain standard that you have to have your club be this way in order to have success. I also remind people that this window has been about four years. 2020 was the first year we started to see this team come alive 2021. We had our disappointing fall, but 2022 you're right there. So this run of this organization being competitive and good, which is more than we can say that most of us have ever seen in this city is on the right path. In terms of these moves, this is this is a win now. These are when now moves and whether you are a player or you are a fan, you should be super excited that this organization is now in a place where they are consistently. We keep using the terms going for it. I in my lifetime, this is the first little run we've been able to use it in this for this long period of time. So that's right. I'm I'm elated to see this organization doing what it's doing. And if it costs you the prices that cost you, especially in the year of 2024, we're seemingly everybody's in it. So the price tags are going to be high. And if you want to get these type of players, you got to pay the cost. It's our 97 through the fan pod raise round table presented commercial free by round table pizza. It's pizza royalty and had some expressions earlier like scared money don't make money. I heard one. I think it was either from the movie. The first rule of government spending. Why buy one when you can get to at twice the price. So that's exactly what AJ Preller did. He went out and spent big again on the same thing he just bought on Sunday, a top level reliever in Tanner Scott at the trade deadline. And the price Craig was pretty much as high or higher than the one he played paid just two days before is it smart to address the same thing twice and not spread the level around a little bit on starting pitching or on another bat to join the lineup. I'm going to say yes, it is smart because the way the market developed as it turned down the price for starting pitching was ridiculous. I personally believe and I'd love to get the, you know, down the road forensic analysis of the deadline. I think the USA Kakuchi trade just screwed up the whole deadline because the price that the Astros paid for 10 starts of a very middling, you know, honestly his ERA is about the same as Martin Perez. And what they gave up was a guy go right into the starting rotation, a guy can go right into their outfield and then a middle infielder that can go into their bench. And so I think that put the price for a rental starter way above even what you had to pay to get Tanner Scott. So by getting Tanner Scott and then getting Holling as a back end guy, you have now taken your bullpen and turned it into a tournament style bullpen where you've got five now guys who are dudes who can come in and attack and shorten the game from the fifth inning all the way to the end, therefore the first four or five innings, maybe you can get away for the rest of the regular season with a Randy Vazquez and a who knows and hopefully Joe gets back. And that's how they've done the equation is instead of finding stuff that's kind of medium strength for high price at the front, they found something that was expensive but elite at the back. Any too many eggs in one basket or is that a smart strategy in baseball nowadays? I think they would have gotten a starting picture if there was one that they could make a good deal on that they felt good about. But I agree, I think the price was just too high. They didn't like how they were lining up on any of those. So I think they pivoted and did the next best thing, which actually might end up turning out to be just fine for them, especially depending on how Joe Musgrove and Eudarvish go where they are like, okay, let's just get good arms. Guys who can get people out, let's get good arms who can get people out high leverage, stress situations and we'll worry about how to use them later, you know. And I think that they'll have different options now in how to use them. I don't think AJ Puller wanted to get a rental. He likes to get guys with the control, but I think he was willing to do it for a guy who could be a difference maker for them. And he told us this morning, he likes Brian Hoeing who has a lot of his role as well. He wasn't just a throw in in the deal. He was an important piece and probably part of the reason AJ was willing to pay more. And then, you know, Chris, this is also a typical AJ Puller move as Annie kind of mentioned. He's not about roster construction. He's about throwing as much talent at his team as possible. And he saw two of the most talented players he could acquire just happen to both be relievers. So why take a less talented player? Let's get nine short stops. We'll figure it out later. Let's get the liveest arms we can get in our bullpen. We'll let Mike Schill figure out the rest on the field. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to bring up the shortstop thing. I mean, right? I mean, they have nine short stops out there and now they have nine relievers out there. So, you know, I think one thing that we have to remember, right? Tanner Scott has the best ERA of any pitcher in baseball who's thrown over a hundred innings in the last two years combined. He hasn't given up a run since June 17th. This guy is statistically elite. And again, I'll go back to, you know, for those who think they gave up too much, never mind. They got. I saw people saying that the Phillies got the best reliever at the trade deadline and Estevis, I don't think Estevis is as good as Tanner Scott, not numbers wise. And Tanner Scott's not even going to be required to pitch the ninth inning or I'm sure he'll pitch a couple of them, but again, pile up the talent and that has worked. Knowing how to speak and understand a new language can be an invaluable tool when traveling, meeting new friends, or just even a master new skill. But it's not always simple when you're bogged down by textbooks and structure classes. That's why so many people trust Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app. It truly immerses you in the language you want to learn, like Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese and more. You won't just be studying English translations. The Rosetta Stone intuitive process helps you pick up a language naturally, first with words, then phrases, then sentences. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. For a very limited time, listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com/rs10. That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com/rs10 today. And Tony, Skip Schumacher popped on for a couple of minutes with us and said, "Tanner Scott is an absolute dog. He wants the ball every single day." That seems like a really valuable trait. If you're going to get a rental, get one that you can work as much as possible before you have to give them up in free agency. For sure. Shout out to Skip, man. I feel for you, brother. We had some commiserating. Yeah. Yeah. I think we all shift commiserating form. I think it's also important to remember that it's not just the fact that you could get to elite relievers versus what you could get for starters. Those are the fact that the starters that they have right now, two of them are down. It's just multiple question marks in terms of you. You're hoping, Joe, it sounds like we're moving in the right direction with Joe, but you don't know. And so pivoting to Martine Perez, you could say what you want about his numbers. That is a get-through-the-season type move. That is an innings-eater type of guy. So whether it's Martine Perez or Vasquez or Burrito, whenever he comes back up, those guys are going to all be there to fill innings, help us get through the season because once the playoffs come around, now that tournament played, that you're talking about, less time off, you can use bowl pins a little bit more than you do during the regular season. So I don't necessarily think those moves are for now in terms of using the bowl pin like that. They may do it at times during the rest of this regular season, but those moves are for when post-season play comes around, you are best positioned to win that tournament at that. And Sammy, I think the question needs to be asked as well. Did the Padres really give up that much for Tanner Scott as writers like Heath Law have pointed out? Robbie Snelling, it may have been a top hundred prospects six months ago, but like Dylan Lensko, his stock has gone down. Grand Poly stock has gone down. AJ sold a lot of stocks that were on the fall to get pieces that can help him right now. Did they really give up as much as some people are saying that they did? Yeah, it's a really fair point that whether it's Lensko or Snelling, not only were the stocks down, but also in reality, when were these guys going to help you, Lensko and Snelling are a ways away. Grand Poly, we saw him a little bit at the major league level, but really where was he playing on an everyday basis on this team for the next five, six, seven years? There is a strong argument to be made that this was the right pivot. If there wasn't a partner to match up on with the same prospect package to go get a starting pitcher, I really like the pivot of saying, you know what, fine, we can't find the starting pitcher. That's kind of what we thought we needed. Let's go do something different and let's go fortify the bullpen and make a unit that could be so dangerous in the playoffs. I think the tough part is is still with the starting rotation, even with the addition of Paris, who I agree with you, should be a guy who at the very least can give you innings and help you get through the regular season. We all have to remember they have to get to the postseason. There are six teams riding the mix. There are starting pitching questions, but I like the pivot look, the knee jerk reaction from somebody that, you know, just looking at prospect rankings may be like, oh my goodness, they sold the farm for two relievers after what they did in the season arise trades. But I think that's looking at it without a whole lot of context on a number of different levels, including the fact that some of these minor leaguers, maybe their stock was down and maybe it was down considerably. Just to that point, I spoke of the multiple evaluators who see minor leagues all the time and they all say that the talent level is down for whatever reason this year. And the other thing to keep in mind is when you guys kind of hit on it, AJ moves when, you know, guys were coming down from off of their high marks, right? The other thing to remember is every year, somebody who's not on that on an organization's top 25 list will enter into the chat the following year because that's how development works. That's how virtually that's part of the reason why the Padres were able to fall out and then get back in, guys develop, they came into that top 25 or top 10 or whatever it is plus the draft picks. And so that's a AJ is no dummy. When AJ is giving up guys, they may be high on a lot of people's list, they may be high on his list, but he feels like there's something that is better or he could get better at some point. And you know, it's funny as well just thinking about it as we're talking, he kind of did the same thing with Gore and Abrams too. Abrams was in the major leagues, it struggled, Gore was not necessarily the, you know, number one overall prospect in baseball after dominating the California League, maybe some some warts had shown up in the major leagues a little bit. There's a bit of a history to this. Well, and I just want to build off that point because it's back to what I was saying about how this system is used. But Preller and the Padres are excellent at is creating helium, creating buzz, high developing players through double A, just getting them up high enough that you can dream on them and tantalize. It's not the actual finished product. It's not getting them to the big leagues, it's getting them into the rankings. And then when they're in the rankings, then you've got a chance to move them for things and the battery is recharged. So 97 through the fan Padres round table presented by Sandy around table pizza. It's pizza royalty. All right. It's been pretty positive. I don't know. AJ would appreciate us. Appreciate us giving up his goods like that, though. We just kind of gave us. It's been pretty positive so far. I'll tell you, I do have one concern after talking to AJ and asking about how are you going to fill the rest of those starting pitching innings because there's still 18 19 starts you need out of your fourth and fifth starters the rest of the year. Is that all? Randy Vasquez and hoping Joe Musgrove comes back and he mentioned Johnny burrito and he mentioned, you know, hoeing as possible. Is that enough, Chris? Are they going as Martin Perez? Is that enough to get them through to the end of the season? As Sammy said, you got to make the playoffs before you can make an impact in the playoffs. Time will tell. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it's definitely a risk, you know. You know, Martin Perez, through no fault of his own, comes from the pirates, comes with a high whip, comes with a rather high inflated ERA and only two wins. I don't think there's too many Padres fans that can help of think of Rick Richill and hope that Martin Perez isn't a, you know, another version of Richill because that helped cost him a playoff spot last year by turning over eight, nine starts to him. So Martin Perez, if he's going to get some starts to me, has to prove it right away. Hoeing potentially, I think he was an opener twice already this year. Maybe they go that route a little bit with all the bullpen they have now. Maybe burrito fills. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for a September Darvish appearance. Maybe the Padres know something we don't. Maybe that was what allowed them to feel like they'll be able to survive until Musgrove and hopefully Darvish come back. But based on the way you said that, 19 starts with four or five guys, you know, these guys, it's risky. And Annie, I mean, the news has been good on Joe Musgrove, but it's hard to count on knowing he's going to be Joe Musgrove when he comes back. I mean, the best case scenario, it's going to be a few starts before he even completely locks in, you think. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you love the fact that he's feeling good after his outings and that he's every step he takes, he feels like he's getting better and better in terms of his health. That's a great feeling. That's great for the Padres. It's great for Joe Musgrove. And you know how he can help this team if he comes back and he's Joe Musgrove. So I think that those are all good positive signs, but he still needs to go through all these necessary hurdles to make it back to the field and help the Padres because of that arm. It's kind of temperamental, right? You have to see how it feels after you make it all of those outings and how it's healing. I'm with Chris. I think time will tell. You know, we'll find out if it's enough. It's still a really good wildcard race. It's still bunched up, but that's all they can really do right now is just try to play at the level that they're that they've been playing at these last two weeks. I love the four five argument that Ben brings up because I'm pretty sure nobody can name any of the four fives for any of these teams that are in the playoff race. And those same four fives will be going against the Padres four fives. I think I'm willing to put our four fives up against everybody else's four fives because I'm trying to wreck my mind to think of who is a fourth and fifth in the team chasing. And I can't think of any of them. I love that. Slade. Succonia. That's the one that comes in mind for the Diamondbacks. I love that. I love that. Will Michael King will Matt Waldron. Will there be any fatigue that's a different question, right? But hopefully they're stalking up or they're there. I feel like they're thinking about that. They're trying to prevent against any of that. I think what you saw with them taking Matt Waldron out early yesterday because he he pretty much stabilized and they went to the bullpen. I think that's part of shaving a little bit off here and there they did they've done it with Michael King a couple of times too this year and they'll be able to give them an extra day once they get Martine in there and and part of the rotation and maybe Joe. I love the point from Tony. So I'm going to skip ahead because I have a question because it kind of relates to what he just said. And that is this is not done in a vacuum. You're not competing against yourself improvement is great, but you need to improve to get better than the other teams and the other teams are also trying to improve and made deals at the deadline. So Craig when you compare what the Padres did to what some of the other playoff contenders in the National League did, do these moves make a difference? Do they move up from six the fourth or fifth to third or wherever seventh to fifth, you know, because moving up is really the point of the game. Not simply just getting better. Well that's correct and I think it's important to note that a common conception that we all shared and said in previous round tables is currently proving to be untrue. We'll see how it finishes out. But I think all of us said that to get into the playoffs, sixth seed, 84 wins would probably be enough all that time when the Padres were kind of mucking about 500, but they were in the sixth spot. Well, it's okay. It's all right because that's where it is. But right now six games over 500 is below the cut line. You know, this is a classic in the majors moving day situation in the National League. People are moving up the leaderboard and right now seven games over 500, which is the Padres High Watermark, is also the very bottom of being in the playoffs. So while I do look at the others and we're going to go through this all on the next show to each of the moves, the good news is for the entire group, no one made that big move that really elevates them. I think St. Louis though moved materially bringing in Fettie and bringing in fam who started things right off with a grand slam just said, "Hello, I'm back." Yeah. And the Diamondbacks did get a little bit better. So I think, you know, the Mets improved around the edges. They got that fourth starter you're talking about, Blackburn from the A's, you know, they got one of their guys. So it's going to be a race guys all the way to the end. Sammy, you read the post game scores every night. You're seeing that, you know, these nationally teams, there's more wins than losses than there used to be. There's more consistency about out of these playoff contenders. I think this is a real six team race and I think even the teams that are sitting a couple of games out of the final spot right now, I think all six teams are really dangerous. And I think a lot of these teams did get better Padres included. You mentioned the Mets. They also got Jesse Winker. You mentioned the Pirates. They got Brian Della Cruz. They got Isaiah Kiner-Philippa. The Braves are trying to do something where they're getting the band back together, getting so there. But they're a great organization and great team. Again, we talk about the moves the Padres made. I think in a playoff scenario between their starting pitching, the star power offensively, the new bullpen arms, yeah, they're in a great position. But I would, if I'm a Padres fan, I would not sit there and say, oh, when we get in the playoffs, it's going to be great. This is going to be a real race and the one thing the Padres cannot do under any circumstance, which is something we saw quite a bit over the course of the first 100 games or so. There can be no skid. They've got to continue to play well down the final stretch. I think we've got to be careful with that because that's all contingent on what the teams around them are doing. We've seen this act before. Padres have gone as high as what, four or five games above 500 before we got to this point. And then we've seen them slid back down and also we've seen them go nowhere in the race. They right where they are. So this is, this is a Jekyll and high national league division or standings this year. I'm not sure that this pace is going to keep up from all six of these teams. True. But I am, Annie. I'm worried about the Diamondbacks and the Mets just because they're playing really well right now and they've got talent worried about the Cardinals. They got improved. I will say, I liked my call from the last round table that the Braves might not be a playoff team. They picked up so there that's not enough to overcome all the losses and injuries that they have suffered. And they've been kind of the one team that has started to give ground and started to leak air in this race. I don't know if they can keep it up. Who are the teams that you thought did the best and worst here in the national league of the trade deadline? I think just in general thinking about that, I mean, two weeks can change so much one way or another. I look at the Padres again. I know always going back to that 20, 21 year, but we're July 31st right now. On August 10th, they were 17 games or 14 games over 500 and didn't make the playoffs. So like so much can change in the course of 10 days, two weeks, it could be completely flipped, you know? So I have a hard time like knowing exactly, you know, predicting. But I think I think that they, I agree that like there were no real big superstar ones. I thought the Cardinals did get make themselves better. I think the Diamondbacks made themselves maybe a little marginally better. But I felt like every team kind of got a little incrementally better. But I don't know when I look at all those other teams too, I think to myself, will it be enough? I don't totally count up the Braves because I think the Braves have just been there before and they can sometimes turn on the gas and figure something out. Yeah, the Braves are there and they're not healthy at all. They're missing a lot of people. I don't know what Aussie albies, if he's going to return or not. It was to be a while. Yeah. It definitely would be a lot. So you're to your question, though, I think as Craig mentioned and Annie mentioned, St. Louis did a really good job. I thought of getting better. I'm not sure about the Mets. You know, they lose, they lose Sangah for the rest of the year. They got some, they got some issues and they didn't really, they brought weaker and I believe was one of the moves they made, but they didn't do much. And that to me signals that they're not sure that this is real or they would have, they would have done more diamondbacks or their problem, you know, certainly the fact that they were in a World Series last year, they started off so poorly this year and are seemingly starting to get better and better or getting healthier. That's a team you're going to have to pay attention to. But I really like where the Padres are right now there. They're the one team offensively that has been despite those lows we talked about. They're one of the best offenses in the National League. And that's because they've been pretty consistent from an overall standpoint. I just trust that offense compared to some of the other ones that they're going up against. The pitching part is obviously, it's worrisome because anytime you don't have your number one and number two guys, the fact that they are sitting where they are to me is pretty remarkable and they're going to need, they're going to need Joe to come back and be able to give him something I think in order to like put it away. I've got a lot of Mets fans in my life and a lot of them have been waiting for sort of the bottom to fall out of this really hot run. I'll tell you what, just to focus on them for a second. Well, the thing that I think is really not great with them is just look at their pitching like Manaya was awesome last night, but they've got, you know, David Peterson, some of the guys in the back end or even middle of their rotation that, you know, don't really inspire a ton of confidence for a long stretch. But with all that said, it's a true 16 race. No doubt. You know, I think one thing then we can all keep an eye on in addition to trade deadline acquisitions, there's something in returning from injury and/or regression superstars. And before you can't out the Braves, I think about a player like Matt Olson, who hit 51 homers last year and was somewhere in the mid teens, he's starting to heat up. If he heats up, it's like adding a superstar to the Atlanta Braves, you know, of Corbin Carroll in Arizona is another example of that. He's someone who can get hot and lift that team for, you know, weeks at a stretch. So you got to keep an eye on this. This is a very fluid race. And have we said Fernando taught these juniors name at all? We have that. We don't know. Yeah. But he was on the field yesterday. Yeah, hypothetically, at some point, it's a guy you get back and that would be a pretty big deal. Chris, I'm sure as you scan the online columnists and pundits, though, the Padres are once again the flavor of the moment, you know, everyone's excited about what AJ Preller has done again with the moves he's made, a good road trip and a couple of trades and all of a sudden, can the Padres win the national league and everyone goes, yes, yes they can. We've seen this before. It hasn't always worked out, but they are creating that hype again. And some people think they have done enough against the other NL contenders. I love the hype. I mean, this is what it's all about. I mean, to get to August and being playing many meaningful games, and as Tony pointed out, it's the fifth year in a row that you're playing meaningful games. The Padres have never had a stretch like this in their franchise history. The one fly in the ointment here, you know, is we asked which teams got better at the trade deadline. Yeah, we forgot. The Padres did. We forgot to talk about the Phillies and the Dodgers who both got much better at the trade deadline. Flaherty, Tommy Edmond, Kirmeyer, etcetera, Rosario, the Dodgers, yeah, Copac, thank you. The Phillies with Esteva as giving them a bullpen that is on par maybe with the Padres and adding, you know, some other pieces, Austin Hayes, maybe he bounces back the last two months he had a home run last night. Those are the two teams you're going to have to be eventually to make all of this pay off in, you know, getting to an NLCS or a World Series. So that's the biggest question to me as it was told to me yesterday, if they go to the first round of the playoffs and get knocked out the Padres, that being, this is going to be a bit of a disappointment now that they've said that all this up. So the Phillies and the Dodgers are still out there and they definitely improved. The best case scenario, obviously, and please tamp down my excitement and enthusiasm, Padres as of this round table, five and a half games behind the second seeded Dodgers. And if they win just one more against them, they have the tiebreaker in that race. Is it feasible to think that the NL West is still in play, Tony, and if the Padres play really well, that maybe even a buy in the playoffs is in play for the San Diego Padres down the stretch? I think for us, yes, it is absolutely something we can think about and listen, I've been on a team that got snatched with an eight and a half game lead before. So it is within question that they could definitely come back and win this division. But they got to play really well down the stretch, right? They got to play, I mean, the type of baseball we've seen in the second half, they would have to continue that type of pace to really challenge the Dodgers, I think, to have a chance. But again, I can't go say this enough. The Padres earned, I think they convinced this front office that they were good enough to go out and make those moves. We talked about it earlier in the year. None of that was a short thing. They had to go out and prove it. And I think that is the thing that makes this year with the hype is a little bit different because I recall some of those years of Padres had the hype, but they weren't necessarily playing good baseball. They are playing their tails off right now. I think it's warranted that people are talking about them in the way that they are. Aren't the Padres on paper as of last night's lineups? Aren't they on par with the Dodgers right now? That wasn't the Dodgers. I mean, I know. You're asking if they can catch them. It may be the Dodgers for another few weeks, I don't know how long Scab and Luck's going to have to bat 13. The Dodgers are nowhere near the Dodgers right now. Maybe they can be pit vulnerable right now. And Craig, I will say I did a little research. The schedule favors the Padres. Dodgers still have to play Phillies, Orioles, Guardians. They've got a very tough schedule. The Padres still have all their games against the White Sox, the Marlins, some of the teams that have absolutely sold. I'm not saying it's a tightrope. They could have been over if they didn't make a six run comeback. I mean, they are walking a tightrope to catch the Dodgers, but so far it's still a dream that's alive. We talked about this on yesterday's show and I'm going to say the same thing and I know some chatters and callers didn't particularly love it, but I think you got to understand. When I say, don't worry about the Dodgers. What I mean is you got to get to that level, OK, struggling now there are 18 games over 500. Right. Right. So we're seven. So get to 12 over. Get to 14 over. Now we'll start talking. Yeah, that was why I set preference that by saying for us, yes, because those guys in the log room, that's exactly the mindset that they're going to have is that we're not worried about them. We're just going to keep coming out here and playing good baseball. We're going to pick our head up and we will be 12 up. We'll be 15 up. And now that conversation becomes a real conversation. Danny, the clubhouse and you're in there a lot is undoubtedly a good place right now. Maybe among the best you've seen, you know, covering the Padres. Yeah. And like winning and winning in the fashion that they've done makes that clubhouse a great place. And I think the fact that they have been able to pick each other up, the fact that they have been able to squeak out some of these wins that are very improbable, helps them all believe in each other and helps them all kind of have each other's back. I believe that they like each other. I think that they enjoy having fun in there. But winning helps with all of that. Winning helps with having fun. I think we talked about it before, Tony, but it's the chicken and the egg is the winning that makes the clubhouse good or is it the good clubhouse that makes the team win? I think I think it starts in the clubhouse and I think it started with their manager coming in with kind of a different approach to things. And those guys bought in early and it and it was it was tough to watch at times early. We all came in here on Thursdays and everybody had their gripes about what we were watching, but there was a long term plan to it. And when you watch those guys, one thing that can really bring a team together, when guys go down and guys have to step in and fill in for them and they do it well, that brings you closer as a unit because as as Annie just said, okay, you're going to come in here and you're going to be a contributor. We got your back. No, no different than we have whoever you're filling in for. And so when those guys come back, guess what? Everybody just slides into their roles as we've seen them do yesterday. It was such a great example. Great example. With Solano. Great example. The man doesn't play a game for the first three games of the second half and he's playing his tail off and again, this is why this team I think is so much fun to watch is because we haven't had everybody in there, but guys are stepping in and it's been the right guys putting his right spots to step up. And Solano said after the game, it's been hard. It's been hard not playing, but he doesn't want to think about that. He just wants to be ready for his opportunity. Perfect example of that last night. And when you're a superstar or a bench player in there, you see the other guy doing it gets you up to. Yeah. And we've got a long way to go, but this has been the reputation of Mike Schilt teams in the past. Second half. Well, in the second half, Bob Scanlon during the pregame scrum yesterday brought up a stat. I can't remember it of how well Mike's clubs play out of the all-star break and obviously have that great run with the Cardinals towards the end of the season a few years ago. But this has been their reputation. They've got a long way to go. But yeah, I mean, early on in spring training, he kept saying, I don't want to miss quote Mike, but he said something along along the lines of better as the games go, better as he was talking about their season, he was talking about their makeup. He was like, right, we'll figure it as we go. Yeah. As we go, it'll start to feeling like that a little bit, but they got a ways to go. Mike Schilt, I believe Mike Schilt school Dave Roberts last night. I really did in that bottom of the 10th inning because I played that whole inning out in my mind. Not necessarily with a gosh, yoga, drawing a walk, but he once he walked, I think Dave Roberts expected the bunt. Then Dave Roberts said, Oh, please, bunt so that I can walk pro far and then go lefty on lefty with Croninworth. I don't think Dave Roberts was even thinking about the possibility that Schilt would send Solano up there and win that ball. You know, why that may be is because the Padres have never had somebody that they could pull off the bench in that spot and feel good about it. And so maybe, you know, I doubt Doc wasn't expecting it, but if he wasn't, that's kind of been the Padres. Emma, go ahead. Go to your bench. Well, we'll deal with whoever you got off the bench. And Croninworth, who has had success against Vessia was like, okay, that's fine. I love that. I want the team to win. That's great. So who did Croninworth get the pennant winning hit against or the series winning hit against? And they took it. This is a surprise. I mean, I have to say, you know, I've been well known to like Dave in the past, but to try to go and make a pitching change after you just sent out a pitching coach kind of tells me you didn't expect whatever was coming right there and you were caught flat footed in the ninth inning by Mike Schilt. Here's the one thing I'd like to add to that. This is now a team that, as we have all said, they have built this chemistry, they've built this confidence in one another, and it's incumbent now on the manager to be always putting his players in the right position to succeed, understanding that everyone has that shared trust. Jake has been slumping of late. Jake's numbers against lefties this year. I'm sorry. I'm going to bring it up on the round table for like the second or third time, but they are not good. They have not been good. Donovan Solano's are great. Donovan Solano needs to start tonight against Kershaw. He needs to be in the lineup against left-handers and if that requires Jake to be on the bench as a great option, I think that is fine because now we're going for it. We're going for it all. That is where we dissect here. I think there is a, I don't know, it's not a game, but you have to be aware of the mental state of your guys. You're right. That's a bad well and if it was just on a night like this for a one-time occasion or giving them an off-day cool, but you can't now mess up what he's got going on by taking him out of the lineup right now. You've rolled with him this long and if you get to a situation like you did last night late, have at it. That's a game-winning situation, but I just think you've got to tread lightly when you start to mess, you know, try to move pieces around to get the perfect fit every time. He nearly got the, the eye roll that I usually get from Tony. Not quite, but he almost got what he did. We got up, we went down the road pretty far together there. It was alright. Was anybody, can I ask one more thing about last night's game that I didn't talk about post-game or anything, was anybody else surprised that a rise bunted last night? Were you surprised by that? I was not at all. I knew because he's, first of all, he's an excellent buddy. I don't know if you guys have seen this to get a butt, but he is excellent. And I just knew in that situation he was going to pass the baton, he was going to put it in. It was, if it was Shilty that gave him that, or if it was Louise on his own, but I saw that coming because, you know, the Padres are, again, one of the better teams executed in situation baseball this year. Why not give yourself two shots right there? And by the way, when Dave Roberts came out to talk to the umpires after Pryor went out, Manny was in the on deck circle, and he was shaking his head, he was all over it. Alright, the discussion's been so good. I'm going to save my seventh inning stretch question for next week because we got still more Padres talk. I want to get to here. And it is the Padres round table presented by round table pizza, pizza royalty. Are we all happy that neither Ethan Salas nor Leo Dallas de Vries were traded? Because from what I've read and heard, they could have had Garrett Crochet for either of them. If they were willing to deal them, they could have added a starting pitcher, a good starting pitcher. Craig, are you happy that AJ didn't touch the top two? I'm thrilled. I mean, my God, he touched 12 of the other 15 since March. So he's really cleaned out the cupboard, but you can't get rid of the two top jewels. Remember, it's not just guys in the system. This was a player you spent your entire international budget on, Salas, and then another player you spent your entire international budget on in Leo de Vries. So the Padres have already invested around $10 million in these two players. It's a different situation than just a kid that you drafted out of college or something and you're trying to move up the system. The Padres need to have future solutions. There is a check coming do next year. We talked about and you're absolutely right. The windows wide open 2022, train the battery, 2021 problem, 2022, 2023 problem, 2025 is going to be set with a lot of challenges. This is an expensive roster already with a lot of arbitration players. They're almost to their luxury tax next year already without solving shortstop or resigning pro far. So there's a lot coming down the road. So I'm happy to live in the moment right now. Well, Annie, to Craig's point, you know, a farm system cannot produce everybody. You've only got nine spots in your lineup. And if you can fill three of them and, you know, Salas and DeVries, both become big leaders and you got Merrill and you're filling a third of your lineup with your own homegrown guys. That's a very successful farm system. So you're betting on big on those two. But if they come through, you're kind of getting the bat in your cake and you're eating it too. Yeah. I mean, I think that he has had such success with Jackson Merrill. They're not all going to be Jackson Merrill, but these are two guys that you feel very strongly about are going to have the potential to have good careers. So selfishly, I think it's good to continue to get to see them and see what they can do. We've heard such great reports about them. But look, if it comes down the line and he feels like it's time to move on from them for something else, maybe he sees something the rest of us don't, then I think you make that move. But for them to get out of this scenario, keeping them intact, I think sure, I think that's great. Sammy, we're all kind of prisoners of the moment, but having seen the recent highlights from Lake Elson or of DeVries, I would have been really sad if they have traded him because I started training Tony's laughing again, I ain't laughing at me again. I know it's single. I'm cold. Oh, he's just cold. He didn't roll. He's okay. So chilly. I'm so cold. I would have been sad if they have traded DeVries. Yeah, I would have been too. Look, obviously it's low A, but he is 17 and he is all of a sudden really dominating the level, which I don't think is nothing. Look, the fact that they kept Salas and DeVries obviously for the long term plans of the organization is wonderful and hopefully those two guys are superstars. Certainly they feel like they can be. Those guys are always away, right? I mean, we've seen Ethan Salas struggle quite a bit in the minors this year, maybe just things have slowed down a little bit with him as far as when he could get to the major leagues. DeVries is 17 years old. My goodness. I love that they kept him to Craig's point. What will be interesting number one, what happens over the course of the next two months, but then beyond that and heading into next year with the cupboard really bare beyond those two is how exactly they go about filling needs when they arise. But I think right now, for me, I think for a lot of us, for Padres fans, that's something I think we'll worry about in two to three months and see where they are. I was not expecting, I was expecting Craig and me and Sammy and maybe Annie to want to keep both of them. If anyone would have been willing to trade either of them, Chris or Tony, either of you would have been willing to make a deal and send one of those guys out for a picture. I think Garrett Crochet made the decision really easy not to trade either of those two. Congratulations. You played yourself. Yeah. I mean, because I think they would have been tempted to do it, I do. And I would have been tempted to do it if Crochet had only said something along the lines of whatever I go, I want to do whatever I can to help that team get to the World Series. Okay. Whatever I have. Yeah. Because as we have all, we would all agree, if by trading, DeVries and Salas, there was somewhere you could make a deal that said you get your World Series, we'd move them in a hard shirt. So that's my answer to it. I'm happy they kept them based on Crochet's stance. Yeah. No, I mean, listen, I think I'm fine with it for now. I think for me, when it comes to prospects, if you're not developing in that one to three year range, like we've seen Jackson Merrill do, I mean, what are we waiting for at that point? Unless it's like a starting picture that, you know, those take sometimes take a little bit longer to develop when you're a younger guy. Those are the type of guys that come up to the big leagues and make impacts. Those guys who develop that fast. So I think it remains to be seen, right? There he is a young kid doing well at the low A level right now. That's not nothing to sneeze about because he's what this is his first full season this year. So he's on that track right now. I think Salas, it's been a struggle for him. You know, I've talked to some guys who've seen, who've been around him a little bit maturity wise. He's there in terms of the mental aspect, but physically he's got some catching up to doing. I think it's important to remember it was 16 when he's done. So he says a second year now, third year, second year, second year. So he's got a little longer than than somebody other prospect plus he's a catcher. Those usually take a little bit longer to develop. But I find with it for now, if it would have been somebody like a crochet or a Jack Flaherty. I'm not a school. Definitely a school. Yeah. I've been like, yeah, go for it. This is this is a win now time and if you get one World Series out of it, it don't matter at that point. Fair. Yeah. There's no question. We all agree on that. But it's really important for everyone to keep in mind what Tony just said. Ethan Salas started at 16 right now. He should have just finished the senior year in high school and had that first chance at being entered into a rookie developmental league. He's playing at high A right now. Same for for Devries. He's 17 years old. He would be a high school junior if he was an American. He is in the system. So to that point to that point, Devries Salas right in the same one is I think a little a lot ahead of the other right. It's gonna be a fun final two months of the season. We'll talk to you again soon for Annie, Tony, Sam, Craig and Chris. I'm Ben. Thanks for joining us on the round table pizza pot raise round table on 97 three the fan. 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