San Diego Padres News & Mailbag: Merrill Madness, Bullpen is Masterful, Machado's Bounceback

on this week's mailbag episode we are finally back I am somewhat healthy and we are recapping this weekend series between the Padre's and the Rays going over some of your questions talking about the bullpen what to expect going forward the playoff push and all that stuff so without further Ado it's been a while let's get to it you are locked on Padres your daily San Diego Padres podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team Every Day greetings ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another edition of lock out Padre's podcast which is part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day for Monday September 2nd as always I'm your host was sometimes occasionally but certainly not always the most Javier Reyes as evidenced by my shortness of breath that randomly dawned upon me uh you can follow me on Twitter at haveno j a v iip p n o or follow the show at lorod for updates post of the episode updates that would tell you why I was not able to record last week um and also go check out my work at just baseball.com a fantastic website where I write about the potteries and general baseball and also have a podcast called baseball versus the world which is about General baseball funest on today's episode guys first of all today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel we love FanDuel very very much on this podcast now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3 we free TR trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit.com to get started all right so if you notice there that my intro wasn't the best that is because I am still a little bit sick and for those unaware that is why the show is on Hiatus I was genuinely very sick um I'm fine I'm fine now um if I sound a little bit nasly if you hear me cough that is why if you hear me like having trouble to get through full sentences and keep going the way at my same Breakneck Pace that I usually am um that's why um for the most part and the reason why I'm still recording even though I am still a little bit sick is cuz I could actually speak now I Had No Voice last week it was really really bad but we are back and thankfully the Padre's played pretty decently over the course of when I was sick I would have really liked it if they played amazing so then I would have been like hey guys look I'll take another day you know to to get healthy and whatnot because they keep winning without me but um we have a lot to talk about we're not going to talk about the series that we missed a lot of uh last week although we may have some point that talk about the previous series which was the Cardinal Series in which the Padre split it 22 um I did have some people reach out be like hey were there any takeways from that my big takeaway was that Suarez was due and they just had one bad game right and it was aside and they and the Suarez blown save it's like that could go either way and then they had one bad game in the fourth one so not too much from that series to look at um I do think the Padre's are currently at a point where like you kind of just like enjoy the ride um and I don't mean that in the sense of hey uh we're just doing great nothing to critique I mean in the sense of it feels like their Destiny is almost Set uh at this point in the playoff standings it looks like they would probably be playing the Arizona Dbacks round one which is not preferred that is not the ideal scenario the ideal scenario would be if they somehow won the division but unfortunately the Dodgers are still up four games despite the fact that the Padre's got hot and the Dodgers were slipping a little bit the Dodgers got some of the big players back right they got M Betts back they got Freddy Freeman back Otani is going to be the first 50/50 player probably ever so I think that that team is probably not it's not going to be like their best team I think that that's been very very clear um for a long time that this is not going to be like a 128 win team the way the Dodgers fans always act like they're going to be but I just think I don't think that they're going to collapse enough now we'll see we'll see because it's not inconceivable that the Dodgers just have like a weird sweep or anything like that it's not inconceivable but unfortunately the Padre's do not play them uh for the rest of the year until they get to late September so that series that series they play the Dodgers September 24th through the 26 and then they play the Dbacks to close out the season so that's basically what we're looking at I think we're in a point where it's kind of like who blinks first right if any you're basically just looking for slip UPS if the doers were to be oh my God they got swept then we might be in business and same thing you basically just need to be within range by the time you face them to have a chance at the division title uh same thing goes for the Diamond Backs it doesn't really matter if they're the first or second wild card as far as I'm concerned uh because they would be playing uh the Dbacks either way so that's not a big concern you're basically just hoping at this point that the Padre's um maybe don't have to play the Dbacks you'd much rather maybe they they win the division frankly just for bragging rights um and instead you you'd get to face a little bit lighter of an opponent um and it wouldn't be a wild card series best two out of three so that's basically all you could root for at this point and we're going to see I think that the bigger question right now is the surging Cubs where the Chicago Cubs are going to Surge into first place and whatnot um or into the wild card I should say their offense has been one of the hottest of baseball all of a sudden and the Mets are only one game behind the Braves so I think that there's a lot at stake but I don't know how much is currently at stake for the Padres especially because it'd be very shocking if they fell out of the playoffs although that would require like multiple sweeps so basically all you're looking for is no extremes it's basically kind of what you're looking for for the Padre's but uh yeah guys let's talk about this weekend series against the Rays starting with yesterday's game my apologies let's start with yesterday's game I'll pause the next time I'm about to cough um yesterday's game the Padre's win by a score of 4 to3 with Mr Dylan CE getting the start unfortunately Dylan CE is on one of his little bit of eh little bit of a what's what's mediocre right not bad but mediocre uh sort of stretches he goes five innings in this one gives up three earned runs on two hits three walks and fourks the walks was the most fortunate part um especially after uh you know there'll be some Innings where the Padres score some runs finally and then you started off with a leadoff walk that wasn't great um not a lot of it was crazy though in terms of at least he wasn't getting hit hard right in this game that's not the case that was happening with Dylan C which is the most exciting part which suggests maybe the next start and maybe the the ending you know these last this last month of the Season that we're going to get the on fire Dylan CE not just the average and certainly not the bad uh Dylan CE so that's really good to see and what I mean by that is the only pitches they score here or the only times they score here junior cero gets hit by a pitch and Josh low grounds into a double play F's Choice allowing around to score um that's basically it and then the bullpen does give up one run um was it earned I'm not actually sure wait where did the Third Run come from my app isn't telling me how did that happen that's weird huh whatever you guys get my point uh it's not like he was giving up that much hard contact and I know that was the Rays I'm not really concerned about that though I don't really care about the matchups I think CE is about to turn the book this is one of his whatever months um if you actually look at if I'm not mistaken his month by- Monon splits you actually can see a little bit of like an every other month thing going on April 26 261 RA in may he had a 408 and June 4.94 then July 2.35 August 4.43 so a little bit up and down he has a 5.4 in September and one start but I'm not worried I do think that this guy can match up with the best of them when he's on the question is whether or not he's going to be on um but whatever bottom line great pitcher really excited about him the Padre's offense uh was able to do enough in this game with Jackson Merill kick these off it was a boring game to start guys let's be real Luis arise doing his best you know what I mean putting together some tough at bats getting walked intentionally in a regular walk and a single in this one but let me tell you Jackson fraking Marill man look it's been a few weeks it's actually been more than a few weeks it's been like a month um I I was getting a lot of flack from my listeners about Jackson Baro versus Paul SK Jackson bar hitting a home run in this one making it two nothing jerks profar gets to sack fly bograts gets a safly as well to sum up the scoring for the Padres yesterday Bogart's going two for four by the way um here's the thing here's the thing I I really think that it's getting to the point where it it just feels like it's got to be Jackson Merill I don't want to like completely side step my points from before which is that it was you know it's been this month and it's not like Jackson Merl was on fire beforehand he was a really good player really solid player he showed a lot of promise and he was hitting for you know a little bit more power and the fact that he makes contact with basically every pitch was great like he looked like a great up incoming future star but now he looks like an upcoming future super duper Star um just to differentiate and I've been just so impressed with him he's tied the Padre's record I believe four home runs in a rookie season I know you might be thinking wow tatis really well tatis and fairness missed a lot of games his rookie year so he's not that power oriented of a bat but it's gotten to the point where I saw the other day someone texted me that like a lot of starts that Paul SK has have has actually come against the Cubs and it was against when the Cubs were one of the worst teams in baseball I I I do still think like we got to wait a little bit but I really do think that he has to at least be the front runner right now um I am worried about a media bias and I'm not talking about like an East Coast or West Coast thing I don't think that's what this is because it's Pittsburgh and it's not like Pittsburgh has is known for the most media attention it's because he's just more known he's more famous he has the famous girlfriend he's a gymnast right no hate to him and no shade to her obviously whatsoever it's just that you know it's usually pretty hard for a starting pitcher who doesn't pitch every day who doesn't perform every day to win an award like this aside from saong or pitcher of the Year wish we had that um or rookie pitcher of the year I should say when position players play every day they're just more important so we're going to see but my thing is this guy isn't just is he putting on a historic season by Rookie of the Year standards not necessarily until a month ago but what he is doing is fundamentally guys the guy is let me just check really quickly he's 21st among all position players in wins above replacement this guy is better than Steven Quan right now he's higher up than our boy jerks and profar he's higher up in wins above replacement than Freddy Freeman right now so for a rookie to be on that level I think says a lot and don't get me wrong they're has been some Jackson Cheerio of the Brewers unfortunately Jackson sherio was like Meo wasn't a like a god to start the year but he was a very good above average player Jackson cherio just couldn't hit for a while so he's not going to be in the race but overall I just think that what we're seeing here is just so much potential so much excitement and so much of the game-winning stuff every single hit that this guy has feels like it matters it doesn't feel like Jackson Merill has been an empty stats guy um in the sense that he hasn't been a guy that the Padre's drown by five and then he hits a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning you know what I mean yeah he's had that happen once I think it was last week in the was it the Cardinal series I forgot which series it was when he hit the Home Run I think it was the bad showing from Logan Gillespie or something like that and he hit a two run home run in the in the ninth inning and it didn't matter but it's like aside from that Merill has all his hits felt big this one puts them up by two you know what I mean and we've had all the game tying home runs as people have talked about like all the records he's broken in the ninth inning basically this year by rookies and in general it kind of reminds me vaguely of like the Jorge Alfaro year remember what Alfaro was like OB seedly clutch that's kind of what it reminds me of and that's why I think that Jackson M probably has to be a rookie of the year but of course we're not going to spend too much time talking about that we got to talk about the rest of the series and answer some of your questions but first let me take a second to talk to you guys about one of our sponsors today and that is the always indubitably fantastic that is FanDuel ladies and gentlemen here's the thing with FanDuel you know you've heard just talk about them plenty of times that is because they are America's number one sports book and we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all fandel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-we free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current for payment and you can cancel any time check that out do September 22nd y'all drafted your fantasy teams yet or you just big fans of football well don't worry fanduel's got your cover so go check that out guys visit fanduel.com download America's number one sports book go check it out FanDuel official sports betting partner of the NFL and many others including lockon obviously s EVP podcast go check it out and just like that we are back here on the lock out Padre's podcast your team everyday thriving and vibing of course always into segment number two where we must discuss a sad game ladies and gentlemen it is a sad one it is a very sad one and it is Saturday's game in which the Padre's got absolutely slopped uh by the Tampa Bay Rays in this one it is because of Randy Vasquez play and simple we talked about him before I think that it's been made abundantly clear that he's not really a starting pitcher caliber uh pitcher um for a while now because when you look at all of his numbers sorry for the sound there when you look at all of his numbers when you look at all of his pitches with with the exception of one or two batters are just crushing them um he doesn't really have a good go goto throwaway pitch that he can kind of just get batters to chase set them up for a good count um doesn't really have that I think he's a long inning reliever for this team uh potentially in the future and I still Stand By and I've said this for a while that I think Johnny burrito if there's going to be someone in terms of the two of them that they got in that Yankees trade that could potentially be a backend starter I think that it could be Johnny breedo and in this one you saw exactly why four and a third gave up nine runs on 11 hits four walks three hits frankly I could end the recap of that so I'm not going to talk too much about it I'm not going to talk about all the hits that the Rays got and all the nukes they were Hitting off of him other than to say that yes Randy Vasquez is really struggling he was on a little bit of an an okay streak lately um he did okay I think that he was you know he was sorry for the pause there uh he wasn't blowing games completely like every other day giv up two earn runs in six Innings before then three earn runs in five and 2/3 then one run in five inning but the problem is that a lot of Randy vasquez's good starts it's like a little bit of batting batting average on balls in play luck and just balls you know getting hit on the ground really really hard it's not like he's been pitching awesome or that just hey sometimes when you pitch against the Pirates they're not going to do much against you you know what I mean so that's kind of the situation here he's done his work you know what I mean but every time he has like a stretch of just quality starts or even almost quality starts he has a game sort of like this and that's why you just saw that he was sent down to Triple A which I think was the correct course of action especially with the hope that the potties are going to get back um some of their guys in the form of UD darish hopefully soon that should be happening and there's also rumors that fernandis Jr by the way will be back soon um so yeah nothing too much there I just think that he's not quite ready and if you're wondering they actually after optioning Randy Vasquez to Triple A 23 hours ago they uh recall Tom Cosgrove maybe he figured out whatever it was that's been wrong with him this year they also selected catch Elias Diaz to the major league roster they designated lick botar for assignment and they also reinstated wandy peralto which makes me nervous cuz Wy palala is the ultimate can't throw strikes guy doesn't give up the worst contact in the world but he does not throw strikes consistently so that should be interesting but um bottom line is you know this Padre's team has been really good in the pitching Department especially in the bullpen Department um specifically just to break it down since the All-Star break or sorry since the trade deadline the pyres have some incredible incredible numbers as a bullpen now granted it's been a month it's not the Beyond end all right like this isn't the largest sample size but let me tell you man they have been dominant in terms of strikeout rate they are first in Major League Baseball with the Cubs coming in at second place 27.1% strikeout rate and the PS are 3.5% strikeout rate in terms of erra they don't necessarily have the best but they certainly are close there they are fourth in ra 2.91 if you're curious the Rays Astros and Giants have been the best since the All-Star break but in terms of fit field independent pitching you know taking out the luck factor and whatnot the Padre's are first in Major League Baseball by a comfortable margin 2.7 compared to the Dbacks at 2.9 to God damn it Arizona you know what I mean um but they've been amazing they're not giving up nearly as many home runs um Yuki Matsui has kind of been one of the only relief pitchers that's been like hampered by the long ball every now and then um he's just had a couple of like what the heck are you doing moments um but otherwise this is what happens when you don't have to rely on you know anel DEA Santos unfortunately that guy was giving up home runs left and right so you're seeing the Home Run rate is going drastically down if the pts are going to make a run this is going to be a big part of it and it's going to be a big part of it that say you know if Musgrove you know maybe they get to the playoffs and they don't get the great musk grve it's good to know that let's say Joe goes five innings gives up three ear in runs it's good to know that you have a bullpen that might keep it that way right so that's what's so good about this team is that you're just seeing that they have the winning formula to win playoff games and games that matter in a big way even if even if the Padre's ability to drive in runs in high leverage situations with Runners and scoring position even if that weren't to go their way there are other things in the on the team that have improved right you get muskar back you get you darish Martin Perez is a little bit better than your Randy Vasquez right you have all that going you have a better Bullpen so at least there's hope that if they're unable to make comebacks it's okay we don't have to worry worry about is it sustainable for them to make five run comebacks every time it probably isn't but it probably won't be five earned runs because of the rest of the team getting better um and Elias Diaz by the way is part of it Luis cisano I saw everybody roasting him the hive folks I think it officially is dead don't get me wrong it's not like the hitting part of it wasn't dead he actually had a pretty good um you know weekend series he got a couple RBI um actually no he didn't he had some walks there we go he had actually like two two walk games which is great love that very much for guy who's that very good at drawing walks the problem is the defense is just appalling um in some of the major categories if you want to look at them blocks above average he's 61st among qualified catchers catcher framing runs he's 54th caught stealing above average he's 57th just all the framing metrics he's really really bad um and you see him make little mistakes it's really really frustrating um as someone who believed in Luis capano especially the hitting tool I thought that what would happen is that Luis cisano would be like a 105 to WRC plus guy which would be awesome by catcher standards and that his defense would improve from last year as a rookie and well basically aebly a rookie and that he would just be a solid guy um but unfortunately the defense is about just as atrocious as it was before and his offense has gotten down dramatically he just doesn't hit the ball hard enough um and he doesn't walk enough so what we're looking at it looks like is just what happens sometimes which is that prospects don't always turn out I still got love for the man and I still by the way standby My overall reason for why the bit started which is that I didn't understand why atin NOA had a monopoly on the catching time uh a year ago when he wasn't really doing anything and he was bad um but maybe the Padre's do something but I still stand by that um so we'll see but overall Elias Diaz one thing that he can do is just play defense and if we're being honest hey the poers have had some luck taking guys off the scrap peep shouts to the Rockies for being stupid and not trading him when people actually wanted him because famously the Rockies are rebuilding so I don't know why you guys are't trading your best players remember when real quick remember when the Rockies had like that daniiel Bard like magical Disney movie season where he comes back at age 36 and all that and he was great and then they were like yeah we're going to extend him at age 36 instead of trade him at the deadline and get stuff so just incredible stuff always be grateful you're a Padre's fan instead of other teams um so that was really great um overall they get absolutely creamed in Saturday's game and I think that KP was getting a lot of heat for that because of the defense he also got some heat on Sunday deservedly so Elias Diaz though at the very minimum at the very minimum he is going to be a guy that is just solid behind the plate and that's why I would not be surprised um after a little bit if that's maybe what the playoff roster looks like because that might be uh the situation we're heading towards not a great batter right I think C A is better but I think that the defense is why uh you might see Elias Diaz catch some some games going forward but we're going to have to see because a little bit late in the season to be making a change at catcher at least in my opinion uh but that's why we have higgy anyway Friday's game though that one was an absolute last 135 we're going to talk about that game a little bit and then get into some of your questions to which there were not too many this week understandably because I like you know died uh so there's that but we're going to talk about all of that and more in just one second guys but first we have to take a second to talk to you about the fine folks over at game time ladies and gentlemen here's the thing with game time I love it I love it so much I love it so very much I love it love it love it folks you know why because if you're trying to make plans and sometimes things go arai game time is actually going to make it easier for you to get tickets cheaper the closer you get to tip off to first pitch to kick off whatever it is and now game time even has a new feature called Game Time picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite Live Events even easier game time picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets and and there's a Labor Day offer today 50% off 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Padre's podcast thriving and vibing as always well not always thriving I'm still a little bit sick you might have told you might be able to tell where it's segment through at this point that I've paused the episode a lot that's because I've been coughing like crazy um but it's okay we persevere just like the Padre's 135 Victory on Friday the Padre's offense absolutely showing up Martin Perez wasn't great in this one uh five innings four ear runs on seven hits whatever the Lin sanity run for him is over I do think though that they've seen that they can turn him into a backend guy that helps them for the rest of the season again that matters right Mart Perez even if he was like okay I just never looked at that acquisition as oh we got a playoff starter unfortunately Jack flare might have been that and they didn't go that direction they decided to prioritize Bullpen which is fine um but they uh go in this one Martin Perez he's not the hero though the race score five runs but it's it's four of them are off of him and then one of them off of Jeremiah Strada who lost his control for a little bit again I still like arada I still think that his potential is really great I think he could get better as time goes along but he's not the shut down you know Ace to um Robert Suarez that I think he we thought he was which is also I think why they improved the bullpen I think that that's an underrated aspect it wasn't just the Santos and Peralta and some of these guys that you didn't trust right I think it was also that AJ per was like I think estrata is good but I don't think he's this like eighth inning lock down guy that we think he is instead that's why they get Scott and Jason Adam and Brian hoing so another thing that happens though in this game the star is Shawn Reynolds of all people and here's the thing this man has been a beast and he went nuts one and 2/3 gave up two hits whatever he walked one he struck out five batters in one and two3 innings this guy's been amazing 0.82 ra so far his strikeout his swing and Miss stuff is exciting this is what's so great about the Padres is that yes while they did have some Bullpen troubles early on what was so exciting is that they had reinforcements in the in the in the bullpen or in the farm system um with an Alec Jacob with a Shawn Reynolds with you know obviously they had Jeremiah strata come up that's been awesome and really fun to watch and I think that one of the things that I'm going to be looking into is how they address this in the offseason like are they going to just say you know what I think our bull pad's great we'll have Suarez we'll have some we won't have Tanner Scott but maybe they won't need to resign that guy maybe they'll just be like hey we got hoing we've got um Shan Reynolds maybe that's okay Adrian morah hor he goes an inning doesn't give him any hit strikes out to in this one as well uh not that it was NE though because the Padre's offense was absolutely Dynamite jerks and profar he gets a hit and four walks in this game for our guys shout out to jerks and proar upping that odd base percentage we love you very very much if you're curious on the season it's still 382 on base percentage uh he's been amazing Donovan Solano one hit in this one uh but it was a three RBI Banger Jake cworth he goes two for six in this one with an RBI as well but not as much as the boy Manny machata three for five in this one with a home run for RB's on the night Xander bogar going 1 for three with two RBI as well and a home run love to see that from Bogarts Bogarts is one of those players where like the stats almost his season is lost in a lot of ways I mean he was awful Dreadful to start the season and then was out for so long with that injury right but what you have seen is that he's just been a solid sort of contributor in the lineup um he's not amazing right but he's been a solid contributor and he's been playing some good defense as well uh Jackson Merill also gets an RBI because of course he did David perala going two for three in this one with a home run as well Luis campisano I told you he drew two walks in this one and Mason McCoy only bad thing on the night four strikeouts he it's golden sunber he was there was a point I don't know about you guys where I was like is this kid going to be okay like you know what I mean but it unfortunately doesn't look exactly like that but still I prefer them giving him bats to him trying him out a little bit more than a Bryce Johnson who just has not been able to do too much but uh hopefully they get Hassan Kim and fernan back at least by the time the playoffs come around that's what you want because we haven't seen the lineup at full strength um in a little bit um obviously they just get Bogarts back but then they have tatis and Kim gone so hopefully that turns around come playoff time but uh overall really great showing already talked a lot about the bullpen so let's talk about some of your questions didn't get too many but I did get two uh main important ones this week first of all one from at Michael Barrett 5758 question for next mail excuse me folks uh question for next mailback that was a weird pause uh to what extent have Machado and Bogarts bounced back from M slow starts of the Season how have their turnarounds contributed to the Padre's recent success well I'm glad you ask sir here's the thing when it comes to the Padres success um over these last few months it's been a Litany of things in fact that it's funny that the Padre's basically their success uh what I think is so funny about them is that they have mostly it feels like this is a team that has done well with those Bargain Bin options right like no one would have expected coming into this season that you would get as much you would get out of Jake cro not Jake croner with Jer and profar Jackson Merill Donovan Solano Kyle higashioka these type of David Peralta David Peralta has been amazing so machado's turnaround hasn't been the only reason why this Padre's offense has been so deadly and especially as of late but he's been one of the biggest reasons in fact his numbers since June he's been good for like two months basically pretty much this coming by way of Al Scott since June 19th Manny Machado has a 935 Ops and by the way they've had one of the best records in baseball over that same stretch and if you want to take it even further from Clark Fen hole Manny machado's um what's it called in the seventh inning or later with Runners scoring position or on base since the All-Star break Machado has posted a 226 WRC plus a 493 weighted on base and a 407 batting average now granted is that a little bit of a small sample size yes because seventh inning or later like is it a little Cherry Picked yes but it just shows you that he also has been a part of this late inning surge comeback thing that the pades have done he's been good for so long and he's been good to the point where it's like very clear at least in my opinion in least at least to me that the injury is exactly why he was so bad to start um the beginning of the Season like it's very very evident that that injury is exactly why uh he struggled for a lot of this year and that's okay that's fine it happens right let's be very let me be very clear it's okay it's okay um that uh I'm sorry I lost my train of thought that Machado like he's just it's I don't know like I don't really know what else to say to man about Manny Mach at this point I think that those first few months you just saw he was swinging through pitches he was chasing pitches that like it just didn't look like he had the full swing power like the power was sort of there it's down a little bit obviously and that's expected with age especially with a guy who who you know had that injury that he was recovering from but it seems like it's very evident that from the early months like all of it can be attribut to that because the hard hit rate is back in the 90th percentile average exit velocity is in the 92nd percentile all of that stuff he's been great one thing though that is down that I don't think is necessarily a product of the injury is his walk rate right like he isn't walking as much as he typically was uh in Prior Seasons especially in like 2022 when he nearly won the MVP or 2021 so he's a little bit down in terms of the Walk but that's to be expected with age so he's regressed in that area but he hasn't regressed in power which in my opinion if you're going to regress in something I'd prefer it be a little bit of the Walk rate as long as it's not egregious it's not like he's walking 1% of the time right so he's been great and I think it's all attribut to the injury however with Xander Bogarts Xander Bogarts has shown potential and a lot of good signs right ever since he came back in July in 13 games in July he had over 1,000 Ops but then this past month in August he had a 64 43 Ops he's still able to draw some walks and get some singles but he's still not hitting the ball hard so his thing isn't only just injury which is why I'm still concerned about him he's still been better right and I still have I have faith I have faith that in the playoffs he could show up he's done it before right he has two World Series rings I have some faith in him going forward when it comes to being like this Dynamic Allstar player who's worth his contract though I don't know if we're seeing that I I don't know if we've seen a turn around on that level I need more better hit hard hit data I just need more I need more to see that I will say I'm I'm happy with how he's transitioned to second base given that they didn't even like prepare him for it heading into the season he just kind of like found out right when the season started so that's been good but Bogarts unlike Machado it's not just that you can say oh yeah he got hurt and that's why he was bad no it's a bunch of different things because as we've talked about this season last year actually last season when he got hit by Spencer Strider on his wrist he was immediately Dreadful and then at the end of the year he was awesome 138 I believe WRC Plus in like the last uh in in the second half of the season so he was shown like okay he had a bad hiccup in the first half and it coincided with the wrist and then he was great at the end but then this year before all that there was no injury apparently at least designated that we know of and he was Dreadful and it's concerning that his hard hit rate has gone down by every year so don't get wrong Bogarts is turning it around I still think he could be a very useful player and a very good player maybe next year you could see a three and a half win season but that's the problem is this is a guy you were expecting to be like a five six win player so we're already in danger of that but being a productive player I still think he can be and he's shown some good signs of turning it around hitting for power this weekend that was very nice the home run against the Rays but overall that's kind of it on those two the other question that we got this past week is one that I got from multiple people I want to shout out David lamper on Twitter who responds to my tweets and is like tweeting at me like this about a lot why is Jake Kenworth in the three spot um that's a good question and frankly I don't have a full answer it was a lot at the beginning of the Season there was a lot of reasons why this made sense um there was actually like a lot of really interesting um articles and a little interesting takes of why he was hitting third cuz like why is he hitting third shouldn't you be having you know a tatis there so you could drive in more rpis there's a bunch of reasons for why I think that isn't correct but the reason why I think fundamentally is heading into the year they needed a lefty and heading into the year again into the Year this is why I said that at the beginning of the year why I was a fan of it first of all he was great to start the year let's like let's not forget Jak corner with is still a solid player he's still hitting better than previous years I think his 2020 season was clearly a little bit of a fluke but overall his expected weighted on base is still really really solid basically every single year with the exception I believe of last year although last year I think can be chocked up a little bit to um some injuries but this year freshly engaged you know what I mean Mr J cworth congratulations that happened months ago I know but still um he's been a lot better this year he's hit the ball a lot harder than usual and his walk um and and lack of any chases and all that stuff he puts together really productive at bats and like I've said his expected weight on base every year of his career 393 in 2020 which again that was a little bit of a fluke 344 303 in 2022 then 305 then 345 so it shows you that this year he has been back in a lot of major ways his expected stats all that stuff point to him actually getting a little bit unlucky he's solid the problem with him and the problem with the whole Jake CR thing in general is just that he's better suited to be a second baseman because he was a great Fielder there and that's why his War um and whatnot isn't all that high but in general this year to start the season it was correct that he was hitting third uh Ops is 735 and in April then 779 in may he was just a really solid player 720 in June lately he struggled but in August 757 Ops by the way so he's been good this month so I don't understand why we're getting this question exactly right now uh specifically now because he has been good however aside from the expected stats aside from all that aside from the fact that he was known for not being a big double play guy although he's hit into some more this year I will say the other thing with Jay korth is that they needed him because he was a lefty and heading into the year only him and Jackson Merill were the lefties in this lineup however that has changed you have not only do you know that Jackson Merill is legit very good you also have Luis arise you also have jerks and profar who's batting amazing I know you had him but he was a switch a switch hitter and then you also brought in some Dynamic options across the team with someone like a David Peralta who has been awesome for the Padres so far and then you've got that so you've got David Peralta and Merill all sort of like breaking out and now you face a situation where okay I understand at the beginning of the year why we wanted to do this because you don't want to just have all righties because then that could be exploited in pitching matchups but now with the fact that Jay korth hasn't been as awesome as usual why is he still there I think that that's a fair question the reasons that I could come up with are number one he has the best walk rate on the team outside H Kim and jerks and profar um Fernando tatis Jr is currently hurt but aside from him he has the best walk rate so while you may love Merill and some people might be saying why isn't Merill batting higher up Merill isn't good at drawing walks and you might want that towards the top of lineup and frankly I just like having Bogarts and then Merill right after Merill kicking off into a Peralta I like having a little bit of oomph as you get past like the the first four batters that's just me but I think that's what it is Merill isn't a good player at drawing walks and you want that a little bit out of your three spot but he is able to hit for power and all that stuff I'm just saying I think that's the CCH that the potties are making is that he's just solid and konorth also is not the best base runner necessarily in the world uh every now and then so I think that they're like you know there's just a lot of conflicting ideas here right I just think that maybe they face righties more often so they want to have him at the top and again I just think that Merill doesn't walk um enough at least currently and if it ain't broke don't fix it he's been so good out of the six spot then why why would you change that so that's the best answer I come up with I know I sound really jumbled again I'm still a little bit sick but um that's that's the best reason I could come up with for now for why Jak cron is still batting third so hopefully that at least somewhat addresses the question just a tiny bit um but yeah guys this is my return to the podcast I know it was a little bit of a bumpy ride again I'm still just a little bit sick but hopefully don't worry the pots will not be tomorrow's episode we are recapping this game against the Tigers we're also going to go over lockd Down's latest Power Rankings that dropped because I have some beef with them and then also this week we're also probably hopefully either I think it'll be Wednesday we're going to be talking with arum L and OB for obvious reasons because B sick wasn't able to do that last week going to do a crossover with him might talk to B casic of lock on Giants as well really good stuff really exciting week for a lot of different reasons from football to comic books that I like coming out to video games I like coming out but as always the Padres are number one so stick here of course to lock up poers we are officially back and send in your questions might even answer them throughout the rest of the week to make up for the fact that I was not here so send your com comments and questions on Twitter at haveno j a iip p n o or Lor padr or in the YouTube comments or DM me whatever you want do that it's it's it's a open mailbag you know like open relationship it's like open mailbag this week I guess but anyway guys until next time stay safe and of course stay faithful by fire faithful homies take care