The Manny
On Sunday it was reported and on Tuesday it was announced: the Padres and Manny Machado have agreed to a new 11-year contract that will, one could assume, make Manny a Padre for the rest of what is very likely a Hall-of-Fame career.
Despite some of the noise surrounding the situation the last couple of weeks, this always felt like something of an inevitability. It just made too much sense for both sides. Nothing in life is that easy, of course, but now that it’s done we can all breathe a little easier and sit back and smile…widely.
At his news conference yesterday, asked about negotiations, Manny pretty much put all that as succinctly as possible: “In my mind, I was always going to be a Padre.”
It’s amazing to think how much has changed since Machado signed his first deal with the (blue) Padres during Spring Training of 2019. He was the new superstar in town and Fernando Tatis Jr. was about to burst onto the scene. Now those guys are joined by the likes of Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, and many others who have joined forces to make this team a World Series contender.
Like I keep saying, what a time.
Enjoy watching #13, everyone. Cause he’s going to be the last guy to ever wear that number here in SD.
The Many
The crowds here in Peoria this last week have been unreal. And I don’t just mean at the games themselves (which have also been very well-attended). Every morning before the workout, hundreds of people are piled up and waiting to be let in to see the team go through defensive drills and take batting practice.
It is a stark contrast to many (all?) previous seasons. And it’s not going unnoticed. I can’t tell you how many times a player, coach or staff member can be heard remarking about the fans.
This Spring turnout of course, is just the appetizer. Petco is going to be bananas this year. Gotta figure the average attendance will be somewhere around 40,000/game and that sellout record that was set last year? It’s going to be broken again. Possibly by the All-Star Break.
Pitch Timer Thoughts
Well then!
Let’s start here: this is not a subtle change. There have been some early hiccups, but overall, I think most people involved (the league, the teams, the players, the fans, and yes, the broadcasters) are pleased with how things have gone.
My most direct early observation is this: it would seem that we have regained the correlation between runs scored and time of game. Forever, right, we would say “oh that game took a long time because it was a slugfest.” It made some sense that an 11-7 game would take over 3 hours, while a 2-1 game could be played in 2:30 or whatever.
The last decade (?) or so, though, that seemed to change. Basically every game was taking over 3 hours, no matter the score. There was no longer a relationship between runs scored and time of game—at least not in the way that there had been.
Early on this Spring: things generally make sense again. The first two games the Padres played were moderate-scoring affairs and they clocked in at 2:29 and 2:32. Game three vs Arizona? An 18-6 offensive explosion that took…3:03. Wild 9th inning in the Dodger game on Monday? 3:05. And then yesterday against the Giants? 2:24.
We’ll obviously see if the trend holds, particularly in the regular season, but so far, it seems to me that the clock is doing exactly what it should be doing. That game vs the D-backs last Spring probably would have taken close to 4 hours.
Cactus League Ballparks (non-Peoria), Ranked (Part 2)
In case you missed Part 1 last time, here ya go. I have received a ton of feedback on the first rankings, which definitely made me chuckle.
This is all based on my own criteria, which I am making up and altering on the fly. These are my opinions, they don’t have to be yours. I am not ranking the Peoria Sports Complex, which is home to the Padres and Mariners. I love it and it feels like home. This is more for your road trip planning purposes. Also, there aren’t any Cactus League stadiums I don’t like—it should really go without saying that they’re all lovely places to watch baseball.
4: Hohokam Stadium (A’s): This is the Cubs’ old place, but you’d never know it. When the A’s took it over for the 2014 season, the city and the club did an incredible job of making it look like it’s always been their home. Green seats, all of it. It’s not modern but doesn’t feel aged…just a really solid place to watch a game.
3: Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (D-backs & Rockies): This is sort of most peoples’ default answer to the question of which Cactus League facility is the “nicest,” and it would be hard to argue with them. It’s beautiful. It’s well kept. Just a truly shining example of what a place like this can be. It also has all the bells and whistles. Just a really lovely, modern ballpark. Does it have a traditional Spring Training “feel?” Probably not. But that’s OK.
2: Sloan Park (Cubs): The newest of the 10 Cactus League ballparks, the Cubs’ “mini-Wrigley” opened in 2014. It’s very special. Unlike Talking Stick, it doesn’t necessarily feel brand new to me, even though it’s three years younger. But I mean that in a good way. Like a brand new house that still feels lived in. There are definitely times when you’re there that your brain is able to trick you into thinking you’re at the corner of Clark and Addison. The outfield dimensions are meant to mimic Wrigley’s (in shape, if not size) and the brick backstop behind home plate is also very evocative of the team’s home park. There’s organ music and just overall, the great feel of the North Side, but on a Spring Training scale. Chicago dogs and ice cold beer seem to abound, as well.
1: Scottsdale Stadium (Giants): Like the Angels’ place, it has a legitimate throwback feel. But in the best ways possible. To me, this place just feels like Spring Training. Part of that is having grown up attending countless Grapefruit League games in the 80’s and 90’s, but like most things baseball, when the right flavor of nostalgia hits, it can be almost transcendent. It helps that outside of the pandemic-impacted seasons, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a game there that wasn’t sold out or close to it. That obviously has a big impact. The location is also great (Old Town) if you’re looking to grab dinner afterwards or just walk around. Parking can be a bit wild west, but that’s the price ya pay.
OK, hope that was enjoyable and/or informative. If this were Twitter, I would have angry fans of all the teams getting after me. But it’s not! Point for Jesse.
Padres in Peoria
The Padres’ content team has a new short video series up on YouTube entitled Padres in Peoria that I am lightly involved in. The first one dropped this week and was a lot of fun. I walk and talk with Jake Cronenworth and you get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the cool production stuff that takes place during Spring Training, among other stuff. Check it out below if you haven’t seen it yet:
Webcast FAQ
Speaking of digital media…every year there’s a fair amount of confusion about the Spring Training webcasts that we do. As I mentioned last week, the schedule on Padres dot com lists the broadcast for each game this Spring.
Some games, like today (Weds) are just on TV. Other games are just on radio. Some games are on TV AND radio (what a treat!). For the games that are not covered by either TV or radio, though, Tony and I do a webcast—which is basically a radio broadcast that is online only.
The easiest way to access these is through the MLB app. They theoretically work on MLB dot com, as well, but most people seem to think the app is easier. For webcasts in Peoria, we will also have a simple video feed to go along with our commentary. Hope that makes sense.
Ump Show
Spring Training is obviously unique for a lot of reasons. One of my favorite quirks is the sim games. These are basically intra-squad games that have very…fluid…rules. For instance, the same guy might lead off every inning—top and bottom. Or a pitcher might have to get five outs to end an inning. Stuff like that. They exist mainly to get pitchers work and allow for some hitters to get live AB action without having to play a full game over at the stadium.
Sometimes there are umpires for these games, which are often populated by minor leaguers.
This last week, though, there was a game in which Joe Musgrove was pitching. And, as I recall, Manny was hitting. And Soto. And Bogaerts. And Tatis. And Kim.
And as I’m watching, all I could think to myself was man, this home plate umpire rolled in here at 10am and probably figured he’d be seeing a bunch of guys he’s never heard of. And now tonight he’s going to belly up to the bar with his buddies and have a hell of a story to tell1.
Too cool.
New Rules Nuance
MLB was nice enough to hold a meeting for the broadcasters at Chase Field earlier this Spring and we were able to pepper them with questions about the new rules and interesting scenarios that could arise.
Couple of notes I took that day that you may find interesting:
Last year in the minors, 81% of the pitch clock violations were on the pitchers (and 19% on the hitters)
Hitters are allowed one timeout per plate appearance. A lot of guys in the minors last year were taking them before the first pitch, which was interesting, but makes sense when you think about it: gives them a few extra moments to settle in. The great majority of the rest of timeouts were taken when the count got to two strikes.
Illegal defense (not having two guys on each side of 2b, or having an IF on the OF grass) is reviewable. And a play can be overturned because of an illegal shift, even if the result has nothing to do with the shift (for instance, a strikeout or a fly ball). So be careful where you stand on the IF.
Since it seems like there’s been some confusion about this: with the new bases, the distance between home and 1st & 3rd and home has been reduced by 3” and the distance between 1b and 2b & 2b and 3b is down 4.5”
This feels a little long this week, so we will skip the Q&A if that’s alright with everyone. Next newsletter will be out some time next week and will include some scorebook fun for you fellow nerds out there. Until then…
Zach Nelson, who is the Padres’ minor league clubhouse and equipment manager (and a really great guy), is responsible for hiring him. Neat stuff that most of us will never give enough thought to.