SAN DIEGO — Imagine if a team traded for Mike Clevinger, Blake Snell, Fernando Tatis Jr. and a handful of quality relief pitchers in the next several weeks.
“Tati,” Drew Pomeranz said with a laugh. “That’s a franchise player. You can’t even trade for a guy like that.”
Well, that is essentially the equivalent of what the Padres anticipate doing between now and the end of June.
Clevinger on Wednesday made his first start since November 2020 Tommy John surgery, a return delayed at the start of this season by a right knee sprain. A half-dozen other players are due to come off the injured list, bolstering all parts of the team by the All-Star break.
Whatever moves the Padres make before the trade deadline in early August, they figure to have already improved just by virtue of becoming themselves.
It has been talked about around the clubhouse for months. Bob Melvin is the one who planted the seed in spring training.
“We’re fully aware of that,” Eric Hosmer said. “That definitely was a big message Bob preached to us in spring — that last year we came out of the gates pretty hot and kind of progressively got worse as the season went on, and we’re trying to flip that script. We think we’re gonna get stronger and stronger throughout the year.”
The idea that the Padres are but a fragment of themselves right now is inherent in so much Melvin talks about.
It’s almost like, yes, how the team plays now is important as a setup for when the team is what it will be.
“With Tatis (and) you look at some of the reinforcements we might have on the pitching end as we go along,” Melvin said earlier this month, “I think we’re gonna get better as the season goes along. I really do. Everybody looks to get off to a good start. But I think we have a lot of weapons to get better as the season goes along. I think that’s what you hope you’re able to do.”
Clevinger is the first of what the Padres expect will be many players creating a reversal of the swelling of their injured list in 2021. And they certainly hope that will have the opposite effect from the plummet in the standings that occurred late last summer.
If you set aside their respective .482 and .527 OPS, it would be considered a boon to add designated hitter Luke Voit and right fielder Wil Myers. Voit, working back from biceps tendonitis, is expected back at the beginning of next week. Myers, out with a thumb contusion, should follow later next week.
Moreover, there are a bunch of good players who have yet to even play for the Padres this season.
Snell, working back from an adductor strain, is expected to make his third rehab start this week for Triple-A El Paso and could return at the beginning of the next road trip.
Tatis, sidelined since March 16 surgery to repair a left wrist fracture, is targeted for a return in mid- or late June.
“Those two will provide a spark to the rotation and then Tati will provide a spark to the lineup,” Jake Cronenworth said. “It’s exciting. It’s really exciting.”
Left-handed reliever José Castillo, who had Tommy John surgery a little more than 13 months ago, could be available as soon as this month.
June is expected to be a bring a further influx of relievers.
Pierce Johnson, out with forearm tendonitis, is not expected to throw for a couple weeks but could be back shortly thereafter.
Michel Bàez has begun a rehab assignment as he builds up following March 2021 Tommy John surgery and is eligible to come off the injured list June 7.
Left-handers Adrian Morejón and Drew Pomeranz are also eligible to return June 7. Morejón has a rehab start Tuesday for low-A Lake Elsinore. Pomeranz is playing catch and could be up to speed in the next month.
“Hopefully every couple of weeks we’ll have another infusion,” Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller said. “… It will be like, ‘Oh, we’ve got that guy.’ Whereas last year they were getting picked off left and right one after another as the year went on, hopefully this year we continue to add guys.”
