San Diego Padres Team Analysis: Buehler and Machado

But I think the Atlanta Braves and the Padres are two very interesting teams right now. And I thought that game yesterday with Walker Bueller on the mound for Padres, I thought he did a pretty good job. A lot of people are automatically fading them because of, you know, Walker Bueller's troubles over the month of July, but he did good yesterday and the Braves, one of the better teams at home in the national league. And you know this, Greg, uh, Martine Perez, they're rolling off the IL. This is how bad the starting pitching has gotten for the brain. Like they're praying for guys to come off the IL just so they can throw them in a spot like this. Michael King better at Petco than on the road. The Braves have averaged, I think five runs a game at home. Nine of the last 10, they've scored at least five or more runs. I don't know. Is King the guy? It feels like a bounce back for the Braves bats in this one. What do you think? And again, what are you going to get from Perez? And you mentioned how good the Padres, some of these hitters Machado and Ortiz, you know, are the bats finally starting to get it for the Padres here? Well, last night they came alive Machado Homer twice and Tatis at a 470 foot home run. Now I don't know if that means anything for the future. They've been waiting for that all season long, Machado has been able to hit home runs. He just hasn't been able to hit his weight basically this season. He's batting, I think, under 180 or he has been for the majority of the season. I still don't like the Padres, but if you buy the bats stay hot, then maybe an over tonight between these two teams, Atlanta and San Diego, maybe that's a direction potentially to go for Atlanta. You know, what's interesting is that in that market, some of the scuttle is, and it's not the team scuttle, but it's some of the social media scuttle, is that would the Braves bring back Strider as a bullpen guy? Would the Braves bring him back as a guy that comes in 2-3 days a week and pitches a couple of innings as opposed to going 5-6-7 innings in a game, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. Strider, two years ago you could make the case he was one of, if not the very best pitcher in the National League too, and then of course the injury last year we didn't see him. But yeah, I'm not really worried about them because the Braves are in it to win it. I know that this time next week, or soon after, they're going to end up having three new players on their team, Joe. I can take that to the bank, they're going to have a new guy in the rotation, Ronald Acuna is going to be back, you know, and they're going to get right. But look, they're a little vulnerable right now, I think your assessment is right, it's fair to say. I just have to see the Padres a little bit more consistent in order to back them. So I don't know that I would, but maybe playing an over tonight and banking on Manny and Tatis staying hot. But certainly if those guys start hitting like we know they have, remember Tatis didn't even hit a home run in April. So if those guys start hitting the way that we know they have, it could get San Diego back in the mix. But I'm not necessarily buying that at this point. But in a one-game scenario tonight, sure, maybe some runs in store. Yeah, I mean, listen, Perez, last time we saw him was against the Mets before he hit the I.L. there, four earned runs in that one. And yeah, I, he did pitch against the Padres, I believe back in June, June 24th. And he didn't four innings, three earned walks for, which is kind of what you expect with, you know, Martine Perez at this particular point, left-handed hitting a left-handed pitching has given the Padres some fits here this season, but you've got Santa Bogart's hitting eight, Greg. You know, that's how bad it has gotten. What happened? That guy in particular is a great question. I don't know. 200 million, I think for him, Joe. And it's like the second he signed the contract, he just, and he was really good in Boston. It's not like he was an average player. He was well above average, but look, the Padres gave out hundreds of millions of dollars, Joe, to a lot of guys. And I kind of feel like when you look back now, Joe, does it feel a little bit like the owner who, you know, Peter Seidler passed away? Does it kind of feel like he was doing that knowing maybe what was coming to say, Hey, let me, let me take my last gasp at this. And unfortunately, uh, you know, he left the bill for a lot of folks that are going to have to pay that off Padres being sold. Um, you know, so, uh, guys like Bogart's Machado making 250 million Tatis making a lot of money. You Darvish, I think is getting, uh, I think he got a hundred or 150. I don't, I think Darvish gave away his money this year, if I'm not mistaken. And I think he said, I believe he was done and he may come back in the future. So they, they have some key decisions to make here. They have some really big decisions to make the sense. I get knowing the way the Padres play Joe this time next week, they're at least a hold. I don't know that they're a seller. Like, does it really make sense for them to be three games out of the wild card and giving up with Tatis and Machado and Mason Miller and some of these other players doesn't make sense to me. So I would guess Padres just kind of stand pat.