San Diego Padres Offense AWAKENS at Coors Field | Will This SPARK a Late-Season Surge?

San Diego Padres Offense AWAKENS at Coors Field | Will This SPARK a Late-Season Surge?

On today’s show, the San Diego Padres’s get themselves a series win against those scary Rockies despite a very scary loss on Friday. They do bounce back with some good performances from the offense especially. And the question now is, are they officially back when it comes to winning the out west? [Music] You are Locked On Padres, your daily San Diego Padres’s podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another edition of Lockdown Padres’s podcast, which is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day for Monday, September 8th. As always, I’m your host with sometimes the most, Javier Reyes. and I’ve been covering this team for almost 6 years now, not just for this podcast, but also various other outlets, including justbaseball.com, chief among them. Today’s episode, guys, is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code locked MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Today’s show, guys, we got to talk about we got to talk about a whole lot of things from this weekend. recapping, giving my basic thoughts on the series against the Rockies, a series that the everydayers know if the Padres’s had lost this one, especially with Cincinnati coming to town, right? Especially one of the teams that is trying to get them in the wild card race, um then it would get a little bit scary, but nice to just see the team bounce back, have a nice weekend, and all of a sudden the momentum seems back, right? They didn’t have to do too much, but it’s still a team with a lot of questions. So, we’re going to talk about that, guys. And we’re also gonna be answering your questions uh from the YouTube comments uh mailbag questions and whatnot. Did not get as many this week and understandably because I’ve been taking a little bit of a social media break. But have no fear, we are still here. And apologies for the late upload on today’s episode. I just woke up really kind of sick. A little bit of a tummy ache. I just wasn’t feeling good. So I kind of had to do some other work first and I was like, “Okay, now I feel better.” And now I’m recording. So apologies for that. We will have it up at a much better regular time for tomorrow’s episode. But let’s get into it. We were wasting enough time everybody now that housekeeping is done. Let me first talk about the bad game. I want to actually just be a lot a lot more positive uh on today’s show. What what did I say before the weekend? Right. The Rockies series I felt especially at Coors Field is one of those that you know what Padre’s offense it’s been a mess. We’ve talked about Lisa Rise on the show a lot. We’ve talked about Jackson Merrell on the show a lot. We’ve talked about Manny Machado being in a really bad slump basically since the beginning of August. So playing against this really bad Rockies team in Kors Field is the opportunity for something that maybe won’t be backed up by stats, but just for the team to just see one go through the hoop, right? Just see the offense work a little bit, have a couple good moments and get back on track against Cincy and then you get another series against the Rockies, right? So I think that that would be important for them and they start off pretty horribly. They lose three to nothing in the first game. Kyle Freeland going ham baloney in this one, man. eight innings, no earned runs, only two hits, no walks, and 10 strikeouts. This is a guy who heading into this game, I I do not make these things up, folks. Heading into this game against the Padres’s, he one had a 5.41 ERA on the year, and two was recently ejected from a game after starting a fight with Raphael Devers and the San Francisco Giants, right? Like that’s who completely silenced the Padres’s. This is a trend we’ve been following for a while now with this offense that they have been really good at making bad pitchers look good, right? And that’s been what’s so been what’s been so frustrating about them, right? They had uh Zebie Matthews, right? Guys from the Twins in the Twins sweep, right? Just really really not great pitchers and the offense is still uh you know, still in the mud. Hey, this is baseball sometimes. Sometimes teams don’t even matter who you’re playing against and you just won’t perform uh necessarily all the time. But it was it was still concerning, you know, I mean, considering how close and you had the NL West win and edge for at least a day and then look what happened, right? You get completely shut out by Kyle Freeland and especially to waste a Nick Paveta start. This team has been dying for starting pitching. The only person who has been able to give them quality starts or even starts since August 24th that at least go five innings has been Dylan CE. Uh, I’m sorry, has been Nick Paveta. Has not been Dylan CE obviously misspeak there. Uh, has been Nick Paveta. So he goes six in this one but gives up two earned runs. Padres’s just don’t do anything. Tatis got a hit. Lauraniano got a hit. Of course he did. And then Josia Glacius got a hit but that’s it. 0 for four from Ryan O’Harn who was in the two spot actually which I thought was very interesting especially with no Arise in the lineup. But I don’t know why it has to be one or the other. I don’t know why we can’t have O’Harn and Arise in the lineup together but just move Arise down in the order. Have him bat fifth and which we talked about last week. Fifth for his career. Luis Arise actually has produced the most uh offensively in his career when he’s batting fifth. So again, I don’t know what they’re doing. They’re running out of time. I think Schill is being really stubborn here. And I think they’re just looking at batting average only. And they keep having this mythical urban legend that if T the theory is Tatis can get on base and then steal a base and arise, knock him in. Something that really hasn’t happened all that much this year. When you look at the stats, when you dive deeper, I just think he would be so much better as a five hitter. I think he’d be awesome as a five hitter. Like you go up against those scary the Machadoo and the O’Harns and then a Gavin Sheets who could hit home runs, right? And we’ll talk about him on today’s show for sure, too. Uh and then you have to deal with an Arise like that. It’s just that’s annoying, right? As an opposing pitcher. Instead, as an opposing pitcher, you’re like, “Okay, if I walk Tatis here, it’s fine.” And then Arise could come up, maybe he gets a single at worse on an outside pitch. It’s just not as scary, right? So, for me, I really hope that they commit to that more, but I don’t think they will. But that’s enough of Friday’s game. Really genuinely not much else to say, right? David Morgan comes in, Alec Jacob comes in just to fill out the couple innings. But again, very cool that at least they got six innings from Nick Paveta. Uh I cannot believe that since August 24th, the most that a starting pitcher had gone for the Padres’s had past tense had gone uh aside from Paveta was four to third from Dylan against Minnesota. It’s just insane stuff. But then we had Saturday and oh was Saturday glorious for about 27 different reasons. First of all, the Padres’s won this one uh 10-8. It got a little bit scary in the bottom of the seventh and the bottom of the ninth, right? Giving up a lot of home runs. Hunter Goodman, Jordan Beck, Mickey drives in one and also hits a home run, too. That wasn’t great. But all in all, the Padres’s offense showed the heck up. Before we talk about them, though, Randy Vasquez, this is why I use the past tense. Six innings in this one. He went deep into the game, especially against Colorado. That is not the team and not the place that I specifically not the ballpark that I feel great about Randy Vasquez. But Randy Vasquez, he is he is a pitcher that is so flawed, but he is a pitcher. That is also what is beautiful about sports, which is that sometimes the stats just can’t track everything. I think it’s that Randy Vasquez deploys his cutter at the right time. Um, I think that that’s what’s really helped him this year. He was terrible against lefties last year and adding a cutter that can bite in on those uh batters I think has been really really important for him and it’s led to an uneven season. Don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t been an ace or anything like that. But Randy Vasquez on the year, bottom line, he has a sub4 RA and a guy like Dylan CE, right? A guy like you Darvish, guys that have very much more talent than Randy Vasquez, the peripherals are a lot better. Well, they both have super inflated eras right now. Dylan Cece is nearly a five. Darvish is a five. So I I can’t like critique Randy Vasquez. I still think his long-term destiny. And maybe with Jason Adam out, you might see this more, especially next season. Is a long inning reliever, right? And let’s not forget he only went three and two/3s his last appearance, right? That wasn’t great against the Dodgers. And he got lit up for five on eight hits against the Cardinals before that, right? And he gave up seven hits against Miami, right? He still has trouble. But the fact that he can just be this guy to eat innings is really all they need for Manny Vasquez right now. six in this one. Two earned runs on eight hits. Again, eight hits wasn’t great, but did it walk anybody was the key here. And did get a couple strikeouts as well. So, great stuff for my guy Randy Vasquez. But oh boy, obviously, as evidenced by the score, we had some offense. And I know that nothing new. It’s not crazy to see uh a team hit the Rockies of course field, but I do think that there were some takeaways with the offensive performances that we could at least get a little bit excited about. But first, folks, I need to talk to you about one of our sponsors on today’s show, and that is our friends over at Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401k, uh just different properties, um different investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. And that’s why there is Bonarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. It is built for people with busy lives. If you put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you, right? It’s going to do the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in 20 seconds. 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I really try to take a break from that place right now. Especi all social media, frankly. I’m off Instagram, too. Anyway, too much of a tangent. Let’s talk about the offense for uh Saturday’s game. Again, I really just think that this was a weekend to see Padre’s hitters psychologically see some go through the hoop. And everybody had had big moments this weekend. First of all, Ferno Tatis Jr. two for six in this one with a home run. Three RBI’s by the way on the home run. Excellent stuff. This game was over basically by the top of the second inning. They get a home run from him. Freddy Fine doubles in this one allowing two more runs to score. And Jay Kronorth gets a single. He goes one for three in this game with two walks. Kronorth remains, in my opinion, the most underrated second baseman now probably in baseball, right? And don’t get me wrong, this is an incredible all-star player. I do think that second base is a little bit weak right now across Major League Baseball, but all in all, this has been a guy that is just drawing walks and getting on base at such a predigious clip that you have to respect him, right? Don’t get me wrong, he has been a little bit um a little bit slow, at least lately, just a tiny tiny bit over last week, 610 OPS in six games uh so far in September. But last month 905, he walked he has a 465 on base and this month through those six games, he at least has a 360 on base. He’s just a walking machine and he’s getting on base all the time and I love it. Really, really good stuff from Jay Kronworth. Also, three for three day for Ryan O’Harn. Love to see that with a walk as well. He was batting fourth, didn’t love that. But the guy that was batting second that I don’t love did have a good game. Three for six with two RBI’s and a stolen base by the way. Shout out to Luis Arise uh in this one. That was great for sure. Uh Manny Machado is kind of the only one that didn’t do anything in this game, but Lauriano goes two for five. Um I already mentioned Ryan O’Re Jackson goes one for three. Um, Freddy Fine, two for five with three RBI’s. Just good stuff from the Padres’s offense. It got scary late. Mentioned this before. Jeremiah Estrada just getting torched. Uh, I don’t really have much of a a read into that. I think Estrada stuff is nasty. I think it will remain to be nasty. And it stuff like this can happen at course. Although he has been a pitcher for the Padres’s this year that when he’s off or when he gets hit, it’s really, really bad. As evidenced by the fact that his RA is now 3.53 on the season. and just casual listeners and and watchers of the Padres’s probably didn’t even realize that, right? Basically, since that Dodgers series, everything went up, right? 2.48 RA heading into the Dodgers series. Then he leaves the Dodger series with a 3.19 and now it’s back up to 3.53 because he gets lit up for four earned runs on a home run, getting the Rockies back into the game. Thankfully, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez kind of shut things down, especially Mason Miller. Whatever. Get the save. Awesome stuff. Robert Suarez continues to be a guy that I have questions about and I think that they should deploy him especially if they make the playoffs in a more strategic spot. I I would think with Schill for me I’d be like that’s still our guy. But if let’s say you’re facing the Cubs and you’ve got Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow Armstrong, uh Sea Suzuki, those are the next three I might consider just using Mason Miller, you know what I mean? And use Suarez for the bottom part of the order. And this is nothing against Suarez because bottom line is he has a three RA. I still think they’re going to trust him and be like ninth inning is yours. it’s not mess up the chemistry too much at least for this year but all in all it’s just an idea just an idea uh and then the last game of the series again some positives for the Padres’s first Dylan CE goes five innings and honestly that’s great especially in Kors great we just needed him to not get killed because Kors with Dylan sees especially this year’s Dylan CE could have been a disaster bullpen completely shuts them down 10 or I’m sorry 8-1 win for the Padres’s in this one Tatis one for four with walk cool but Manny Machado thankfully two for four with a home run three RBI’s and a walk on the night. Uh, good stuff. Especially because, like I said, just nice to see guys that have been struggling see it go through the hoop. And a lot of guys did well in this one. Robo Lauriato, he hits a home run because he’s the best offensive player since the trade deadline apparently in baseball. Now that’s rocks, right? Three for five game from Jackson Merrell with a home run as well. Again, a guy that I need to see a little bit more from. Get him back with his that power stroke. Just stay in the lineup, stay healthy. That could be big for them. Jay Corron two for five. Freddy Fian two for four. Gavin Sheets two for five with a home run as well. Just good good stuff from the Padres’s. This one was over immediately aside from one RBI in the bottom of the third. Great great stuff. Again, Machado home runs, Merryill home runs, just uh even just some solid games um across the board, right? Uh Luis Arise uh had two walks in this one. I like to see that even still. Uh it’s just nice to see that especially going up against, you know, this Red’s team that is looming a potential potential threat. I don’t know if about a big one. They really haven’t been able to play all that well lately, but they’re at least there. And I’m just looking at the standings. The Giants being the other team, of course, uh that are right on the heels of the Padres’s. Not right on the heels, but six games back on the Padres’s now. Like that’s just the other team to keep an eye on. So, it feels like the crisis is averted for now. They’re second in wild card and they’re only one game back on the Dodgers. So, dare I say, by the way, I don’t know if anybody paid attention to this on Saturday, um the Padres’s, they won, right? They won that big shootout on Saturday. I didn’t know this. I was with my friend. He actually showed me uh because I had no idea. I wasn’t paying attention. He’s like, “Yo, you heard about the Dodgers game?” Yoshino Yamamoto um for the Dodgers. Had a beast of a game. Eight and two/3. They take him out after he gives up one earn run. Eight and two/3s though. He had a no hitter going into the ninth with just one out left and they blow it and Jackson Holiday homers. Colton Caser walks to bring it like bases loaded all that stuff. Rivera walk-off win for the Orioles. Now, because of the Padres’s winning two out of three, the Dodgers are only one game up. Remember, easy schedule. I know we don’t play them again, but the division race is still there. The Padres’s vibes are weird. They are a team. Jason Adam got hurt. They can’t get any further. There’s still a lot of questions and they’re not over the finish line just yet. They’re still a likely playoff team, right? But all in considered, I would really like winning that division because you know what? I wouldn’t mind not facing that Cubs offense in round one. You know what I That’s just me. I think that that would be really cool that I have to face them at least round one. So, we’ll see. It’s on the table, but we’re going to have to see how they play against Cincy a little bit better than a team, a little bit better of a team than they faced recently. And they’ve also got four against Colorado. So, it’s it’s it’s a big week for Padres’s baseball. I know the NFL is back. For those who know what my allegiances in football, you can bet your butt I had a great weekend. But all in all, still a nice They’re in the driver’s seat and things can change fast. horrid vibes before all of a sudden they’d be let’s say they went two out of three against the Reds and then they went three out of four against the Rockies. We’re back right and those are things that are very very much in play. So very excited about the Padres’s and you guys are too which is why you always send me comments that we’re going to read in just a second. But first I need to talk about another one of our sponsors and that is our new one, our new friends over at Zipix. Zipix toothpicks. In fact, whether you’re looking for nicotine satisfaction or an energy boost, Zippix has you covered with their nicotine and caffeine infused toothpicks. For nicotine user, Zipix provides a discrete way to satisfy cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit without vaping or smoking. Zipix can be a helpful tool as you work to reduce your dependence on vaping. Available in six great flavors with two milligram and 3 milligram nicotine options. And if you need energy without the crash, their caffeine toothpicks are a gamecher, folks. So, go to toothpicks.com, use locked on for 10% off your uh first order. Must be 21 or older to order. And also, warning, obviously, nicotine is an addictive chemical. That’s zipix toothpicks.com. Promo code lockdown for 10% off your first order. Zip more, smoke less with Zipix Toothpicks. And just like that everybody, we are back here thriving and vibing into the final segment of this show. We’re going to answer a couple of comments we got from over the weekend. Not too many this week. You guys, come on. My guys, come get me. Hit me up a little bit. Let’s get over the hump at the end of the season. I’m kidding. Of course. I always appreciate whatever you guys send and whatever you guys say about the podcast very, very much. But let’s talk about this um really quickly. Um a couple comments we got here about Arise because why not? Uh, but I liked one comment from my guy at Ian0903 after the postcast, which everybody could check out with my man Big Jim, especially when I’m late on uploads like today because my stomach thought it was going to crawl out of my stomach somehow like it was, you know, the thing that the John Carpenter movie. That’s what I felt like this morning. If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about. But, um, check him out after all the games. He’s going live giving you updates. And by the way, for people who say that it gets stalled and delayed when he’s like, you know, the video starts, he has a weird thing going on with his computer that we’re both working on. So ju just check it out postcast. Big Jim is the best. Uh we love you so much. We love you, Greece. Um but Ian0903 after the Friday game goes, “No baseball talk for me today.” By the way, true story. I just found out that my parents’ close friend teaches at the University of Miami. She went from a cane kickoff uh she sent me a Kane kickoff 2025 video. Looks like a lot of fun. Definitely more fun than watching the Padres’s not score. And I don’t know why this comment just killed me. Like just seeing that on a Friday. Like seeing that comment and being like, “Oh yeah, it was that kind of night. Just a really, really bad game.” Again, Padres’s though. Hopefully they’re going to get back into it. I’m hoping. Crazier things have happened, guys. This is still a team that looks like they’re really likely to make the playoffs. So, we’ll see. Uh, moving on though to the next comment that I really, really, really enjoyed um on uh a video from a while ago. Mr. Robert Greenberg4695 in regards to Tatis, right? And I talked about Tatis a couple like a month or so ago that the Padres’s fans booed him, right? And I was, you know, will this ignite his superstar potential? All that sort of stuff. Like, was it messed up? Should they have booed him? Me, I came on the side of heck no, do not boo this guy. But new comment, he said he is a 500 player. To talk about potential at this point is ridiculous. Now, I do agree with half that. I do think that to a degree talking about Tatis’s potential has gotten a little bit out there. And we’ve talked about this before that like whether it be expected stats or traditional stats. Expected stats like expected weighted on base, right? He has a 349 regular weighted weighted on base. By the way, everybody who who doesn’t know, it measures the quality of your hits and doesn’t just attribute all of them to the batting average, right? So, if you hit a bunch of doubles, that’s better than just a bunch of singles. It’s a very simplistic way of viewing it, but his waist is 349. That’s good. It’s very good, but his expected is 383. You know what it was last year? 387. You know what it was the year before that? 364. Every year he’s had at least a 20 to 30 point discrepancy as expected stats. But my thing is we’re at the point where I can’t just assume that he’s getting unlucky. He’s not right. Like he just doesn’t seem fully there. But I do like that he hit the home runs and he’s been super healthy this year. He’s got 27 steals. He’s still got 20 home runs. That’s not bad. He’s probably going to be a 2530 guy, right? Play borderline platinum glove level defense. be an amazing walk rate guy. 367 on base, the highest he’s had since 2021. And I I just think he’s I think he’s a good player. He’s runs fast. He’s super super fast. He sets the table. 5.3 wins above replacement, by the way, is also among F4. Wins above replacement, who’s an all-encompassing stat to measure the players value uh for offense, defense, speed, everything that they can do. They try to boil it down to one number. He’s ninth in wins above replacement this year among all major league players. only Aaron Judge, Cal Rowley, Bobby Whit Jr., Trey Turner. Damn you, Trey. Show Otati, Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Podomo is a little bit of a shocking one. Pete Curl Armstrong, those are the only guys ahead of him, right? So, I’m just I’m just saying Ferno Tatis Jr. is a great allround player. We have questions about the bat, but as an all-around player, he’s a star. Just maybe I don’t know if he’s a super duper duper star the way that we thought he might once be. But hey, if this is the version of Tatis you just get every year, guys, that’s a Hall of Fame player. I’m not kidding. It’s a Hall of Fame player. If this if he just plays incredible defense, walks all the time, has decent batting skills, can hit for a decent amount of power apparently, and also by the way, still be very clutch. We saw what he did in the playoffs last year, that’s a great player, and that’s a Hall of Fame player, especially still at his age. I’m I’m I really want to defend Tatis as an all-around player. The bat, I understand, but 26 years old, let’s not give up, guys. Let’s not give up. Um, but I understand what you’re saying about the potential thing. Um, what let’s see here. Uh, at uh, Alicus TX203 in regards to talking about Udarish, who I critiqued a little bit last week because I talked about I didn’t love that extension at the time. And that’s one of PLR’s, you know, it could be some of his defect is that he looks a little bit too much into the now sometimes as a plan for the future. And my belief was I still liked Darvish. I’m glad they kept him, but you probably don’t have to do six years 106 if you had just waited to see how he did in that 2023 season. He probably goes for a lot less and then maybe you have more play roll uh and just roster flexibility in general. And someone left a comment saying um the Darvish play was about Suzaki and it was a total failure. And I didn’t even think about this and you might be right. Part of the Darvish equation, we know one thing which is that AJ Pellar name dropped him at like a big parade or not a parade, I’m sorry, my apologies, was at the Peter Sidler memorial. you know, tribute, you know, Day of Honor. Uh, I forgot which exactly that they called it. My apologies. Um, but he name dropped him, right? Like they were clearly looking at this guy long term for a while. I will say looks like they dodged a bullet with him, right? Right. Rookie Suzaki is a little scary. I don’t want to use the the B- word for a player that’s not living up to expectations that everyone likes using bust. Just in case everybody thought of the other word. Um, but it’s a little scary. But I will say not a bad point. Maybe that was part of it to just take care of Darvish, right? That’s one of Roki’s inspirations or from reportedly just take care of him. Last year they let him take as much time as needed because he had a lot of mental and personal things or at least at least personal things. I don’t want to speculate on mental but he had personal family situation. Apparently they let him take his time. Yeah. So it wouldn’t shock me if part of this equation was like this might help us and show Roki Suzaki we’re ready to commit to you. Of course ended up being a failure but happens right. Happens. Um at the Kershaw at the_kershaw_curse with a K says, “Arise prides himself on being a great hitter, but he would be valued more if he walked more. His OBP and OPS would be higher. I don’t know how a player that sees the ball so well can’t get more walks. He’s doing a disservice to himself and his team.” First of all, no, this is not my burner account because he also commented, “My guy Kershaw curse on a bunch of other things which we’ll read.” Um, I think that with Arise, this is also what’s fun about him is he’s such a unique skill set. A guy that never strikes out but also swings at everything and doesn’t walk. It’s very it’s it’s just not what you’re used to, right? You’re used to guys who when they get on base a lot or they have skill sets like that. It’s just he’s a unique player and I think that that’s why sometimes people want to defend him because he is so unique, especially in today’s game that it’s fun to have players like that. How do you not want to have a player like that? It’s similar to when Ichiro first came up. Now, I’m not saying even remotely that this man is Ichiro Suzuki, and I don’t even think uh people who like Arise would say that, but when Ichro Suzuki came in, he was fun because first, one of the big, you know, first Japanese superstars in Major League Baseball, but also he was a guy that was all about contact and using his speed and being an incredible defender, right, and stealing bases. And we didn’t really see that. I mean, go look up the Age of Ichiro video by um Secret Base where they talk about like this guy was out running grounders to pitchers like grounders to the pitcher. He was outrunning them, right? Like crazy stuff like that. Not literally to the pitcher, more like to the first baseman and he he gleans off a little bit and he outruns the pitcher who has to cover at first base, right? But that was an amazing skill set. Arise is fun in that regard. It’s really fun just seeing this guy that just will never be you can’t strike him out. It’s impossible. Uh but he has a lot of defects in other areas, at least in my opinion. Um I also like this comment from Tony Sue 8860 who says, “There’s a good reason why the Padres’s have been playing Arise at first. He has played nearly if not actually gold glove defense at first for the Padres’s this year. For a player who, as far as I know, never played first before in his professional career, that’s pretty impressive.” Blah blah blah. And I’m like, Tony Sue, my guy, we have numbers on this. First of all, I’m not even part of me doesn’t even want to say them. He has negative7 outs above average at first base this year, but ignore that for a second. I like I think the comments from the Kershaw Curse at LS Allesus TX 2023 summed it up perfectly. So, I’m just going to repeat what they said. Arise from Kershaw Kur says, “Arise is not a great first baseman. There are plenty that are better. The reason he’s played well at first is not indicative of his ability, but more of the great defense San Diego has. If the Dodgers had Arise instead of Freeman at first, Arise would be horrible because the Dodgers infield can’t throw worth crap.” in San Diego. Arisa’s poor defense is overblown, but in general, it is a correct statement, and I agree. I don’t think that he’s been disastrous at first. I think he’s actually pretty remarkably good considering that he is not what you’re supposed to have at first base, like the build, the type of player he is, but he at least can sometimes make some plays. As the next commenter said, wrong, he has severely limited range compounded by his shortness. Yes, he has great hands, but the range and lack of stretch is a serious liability. It’s true. And what does that tell you Arise fans and baseball fans in general? So why is he playing first there if he’s not the prole guy? Play O’Harn there. Thank you. Yes, play Ryan O’Harn at first base. He literally ranks among the best at that position in outs above average and all the advanced defensive staff and he’s taller and bigger and he could stretch longer. But the other thing, what does that tell you about Riseze? What I think it tells you is they aside from DH obviously you put a guy who’s a bad defender if you can. If you’re gonna have a bad defender in Major League Baseball, it’s first base. That is by far the least important of all the positions. Catcher, short slap, center field, all super important. Third base is important. second base, left field, right field. But by far, what we seem to know is first base matters the least because you you cover less ground and the play isn’t as predicated on you, the player, because usually you’re catching the ball at first base, like they’re throwing it to you. So that’s more of an indictment on your infielders, corner, and middle infielders. And frankly, you know, every now and then, depending on the play, maybe if you cut off correctly, you’re mostly just a receiver, while the other guys are receivers and throwers. So that’s why first base seems to matter the least. And I think that’s why they put him at first. They’re like, he’s going to hurt us here the least. And Jay Kernworth, while has had some troubles this year, especially with the range, he has been really good there defensively before. So, I’m hoping that he can be still and I’m hoping that Arise can still bounce back. And there’s more comments that we have regarding Arise. I know Tony Sue, don’t worry, you’ll have your moment. We’re going to talk about you. And we’re going to talk about some expansion things as well after the game recap tomorrow. Everybody stay faithful. We could still do this. We could still win this division. And uh I hope everybody also, if you’re a football fan, enjoyed the weekend. Crazy. We’re already in September. It’s cooling up. I’m I’m feeling great. This is good. This is a good vibe show today. And I hope you en enjoyed it. But until that next episode tomorrow, stay safe and of course stay faithful, my firefaithful homies. Take care.

Padres get back on track with crucial series win against the Rockies. Can they ride this momentum to a deep playoff run?

Host Javier Reyes breaks down San Diego’s impressive 2-1 series victory over Colorado, highlighting key performances everywhere from Fernando Tatis Jr. to Randy Vasquez. The discussion covers the Padres’ offensive resurgence, their improved standing in the NL West race, and potential challenges in upcoming matchups against wild card contenders. Javi analyzes Tatis Jr.’s all-around value to the team, responds to listener/viewer comments, emphasizes overall optimism in the playoff race, and more! Go Padres.

0:00 Intro: Padres win series against Rockies
5:05 Friday’s disappointing panic-inducing loss
10:09 Saturday’s offensive explosion and surprise pitching performance
15:15 Padres still in NL West division race
20:19 Defending Tatis Jr. as an all-around player, responding to comments
25:24 Debating Arraez at first base

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