Padres Press Clips Saturday, March 23, 2013

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1 Padres Press Clips Saturday, March 23, 2013 Article Source Author Page Quentin plays 6 innings in minor league game UT San Diego Center 2 LHP Thatcher made shrewd decision in choosing baseball UT San Diego Center ` 4 Acee: Fighting to believe in Padres UT San Diego Acee 6 Hundley, Blanks homer as Padres drop slugfest MLB.com Harding 8 Quentin encouraged after testing knee for six innings MLB.com Brock 9 Boxberger sent to Triple-A in latest round of cuts MLB.com Brock 10 Luebke to resume throwing after camp breaks MLB.com Brock 11 Rockies hit 3 HRs off Garcia, beat Padres 10-4 AP Staff 12 1

2 Quentin plays 6 innings in minor league game By Bill Center9 p.m.march 23, 2013Updated10:03 p.m. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Carlos Quentin had his most strenuous outing of the spring Saturday when he played six innings in left field in a minor league game. That was very encouraging, said Padres manager Bud Black. I thought Carlos did fine. Today was a very positive test. He ran without much effort. Quentin has played in only one of the Padres 30 major league exhibitions this spring due to discomfort in his twice surgically-repaired right knee. But he has played in four minor league games over the past six days. Most of Quentin s running Saturday was on and off the field. He didn t make a play in left. He was 0-3 with a deep fly to left. But he ran the bases after a ground out and slid. It got better as the game went along, said Quentin. It felt the best it has. It s still not where I want it to be, but we re getting there. However, time is running out on the Padres, who have to soon decide whether or not Quentin is ready to start the regular season on April 1 or go on the disabled list. The Padres have only five more exhibitions in Arizona before breaking camp. They will play two exhibitions against the Texas Rangers at the Alamodome in San Antonio before flying to New York for the season opener against the Mets. It is unlikely that the Padres would risk Quentin s knees on the hard surface of the Alamodome, which will be hosting its first baseball games. That means Quentin probably has to play a major league exhibition by Tuesday or Wednesday for the Padres to make a decision about his availability. Meanwhile, infielder Logan Forsythe is scheduled to test his right foot Sunday by taking at-bats in a minor league game. Black said he is also close to playing in the field. Forsythe has been sidelined since March 7 with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Garcia, defense struggle Freddy Garcia s bid to make the Padres might have reached a dead end Saturday night. The veteran right-hander allowed seven runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks with one strikeout Saturday night against the Colorado Rockies. Three of the five hits allowed by Garcia were homers by Todd Helton (a three run-shot in the first), Willin Rosario (who went back-to-back with Helton) and Josh Rutledge -- although a stiff wind blowing out to center could have been a factor. The two other hits were doubles. Garcia has a 9.14 earned run average over 20 2/3 innings this spring. Eight of the 26 hits he has allowed went for homers. 2

3 "I tried to do the job the best I can," said Garcia. "If I do not make the team, it is all my fault." The Rockies hit a total of four homers Saturday night to defeat the Padres The Padres hit three homers a two-run shot by Nick Hundley and solo homers by Kyle Blanks and Cody Ransom. Padres moves The Padres made four moves Saturday reducing the number of players in the major league camp to 41. Right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger was optioned to Triple-A Tucson. Shortstop Jeudy Valdez, second baseman Jonathan Valdez and right-handed reliever were re-assigned to the minor league camp. Lopez will likely be returned to the Mexico City Reds of the Mexican League. The Padres also released six players from their minor league camp. Included on that last were outfielders Kyung-Min Na and Anthony Renteria and right-handed pitcher Mark Pope. Na came to the Padres with right-handed pitcher Andrew Cashner in the 2012 trade that sent first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the Cubs. Renteria is the son of Padres bench coach Rick Renteria. Pope was a fifthround pick in Padres Notes --Left-handed starter Clayton Richard threw 92 pitches in a minor league game Saturday. --Minor league second baseman Cory Spangenberg made a leaping catch of a line drive in the sixth. 3

4 LHP Thatcher made shrewd decision in choosing baseball By Bill Center4:44 p.m.march 23, 2013 PEORIA, Ariz. While growing up in Indiana, Joe Thatcher came from a divided home. His mom, Sara, was a basketball fan. Dad Phil was into baseball. Since the entire state of Indiana is into basketball, Phil was in the minority when he counseled his son about his athletic future. While at Kokomo High, Joe Thatcher was an all-region basketball selection and out-scored Clayton Richard of Lafayette McCutcheon when they met head-to-head as preps (it should be noted that Richard s first high school homer came off Thatcher). But it was Phil who sat Joe down at the kitchen table and explained the realities of basketball and baseball. He said, Joe, you are a left-handed pitcher... there are a lot of opportunities in baseball for left-handed pitchers. But a large chunk of Joe Thatcher s life is still basketball. He loves March. Actually, he loves the entire basketball season. I lived basketball as a kid, he says. That wasn t hard, given Sara s influence. We were a basketball family, said Thatcher. But almost every family in Indiana is a basketball family. It is a basketball state. We d watch college basketball every night of the week. You had Indiana University, Purdue, Notre Dame and Butler on television plus the Pacers. My mom set up the television schedule. When she wasn t watching games, she d rebound for my brother, two sisters and myself when we d practice in the backyard. She feed us passes so we learned to shoot off the feed. Thatcher s parents were in Arizona and recently sat down with their son and Padres bullpen catcher Griffin Benedict to watch a basketball game on television. Griffin was amazed about how much my mom knew about basketball, said Joe Thatcher. But Phil knew baseball and the special need for left-handed pitchers. Although Anne Thatcher played on a basketball scholarship at Indiana State after being named an Indiana All-Star in high school, Joe opted for baseball. But his career plan took a detour when he wasn t drafted after four seasons of college baseball. 4

5 He spent two seasons in the independent leagues before being signed as a free agent by Milwaukee. The Brewers traded Thatcher and pitching prospects Steve Garrison and Will Inman to the Padres in July of 2007 for reliever Scott Linebrink. In parts of six seasons with the Padres, Thatcher has developed a double role as a left-handed specialist as well as a reliever who can pitch into a second inning if needed. Left-handed hitters batted.175 against Thatcher last season and are under.200 against him during his career. Thatcher s 2012 season, however was interrupted by a month spent on the disabled list with a sore right knee. His landing knee was surgically repaired in October. They had to open it all the way up, said Thatcher. One of the tears in the patellar tendon took a piece of the bone off the kneecap. The knee had been achy for a couple years, but last year there was sharp pain. Thatcher spent a month in a knee brace and rehabbed all winter which in Indiana means watching basketball Thatcher has two favorites in the NCAA tourney Louisville and Ohio State. He has them meeting in the semifinals with the winner winning the championship. Thatcher hasn t always been right when it comes to basketball, however. At the age of five, Thatcher was crushed when the Pacers made UCLA s Reggie Miller the first pick of the NBA draft over home state hero Steve Alford. I had an Alford jersey, joked Thatcher. When you are the best player in Indiana, you are the best player in the world where I m from. I ve got to admit, Reggie turned out to be pretty good. 5

6 Acee: Fighting to believe in Padres By Kevin Acee1:28 p.m.march 23, 2013 PEORIA, Ariz. The easiest thing to do is project pessimistically. Especially as it concerns sports. One team wins the championship in whatever league in any given year. Of the 34 postseason spots available in Major League Baseball over the past four years, just 16 different teams have earned those spots. Losing is easy, predicting losing is easier. Especially in San Diego. But if you can t believe in your baseball team in March, what can you believe in? For those of us who want to believe in the team that wears blue and white and sand and brown and yellow and desert camouflage, it s more difficult to feel the tingling of optimism than in some baseball burghs. It s times like this we generally shrug and revert to our standby: At least we have the beach. But I won t do it. I won t predict gloom before April s first dawn. Opening Day is a week from Monday, and I invite you to believe. Let us not fret over the bad fortune of 2012 seeming to leak into Let us not be broken by the fact that the Padres don t have a true No. 1 starting pitcher, for sure, and might not have what a championship team would consider a No. 2. Let us vow to not be bowed by Chase Headley (the team s best player) having a broken thumb that is going to keep him out at least the season s first two weeks and perhaps as long as the first month. Let us not lose faith because Logan Forsythe (the former third baseman who was going to be a super utility player and would start the season at third base because the aforementioned best player is the regular third baseman) remains sidelined by plantar fasciitis. Let us not become dejected over the projected portion of the lineup being in disarray. Let us not cry over the No.3 hitter (Headley) being out for at least two weeks, the No.4 (Carlos Quentin) hoping to be ready for Opening Day but possibly starting the season on the disabled list and the No.5 (Yasmani Grandal) being suspended the first 50 games. Let us not get too far ahead of ourselves worrying what it means that pitcher Casey Kelly will have Tommy John surgery, as the organization s top minor-league prospect, right fielder Rymer Liriano, just did. Both are considered central to the Padres not-too-distant future, which might have meant contributing as soon as this season. And, most certainly, let us not lose heart simply by comparing Tyson Ross to the improvements made by most of the rest of the National League West. Let me serve as your example in this pursuit of balance, the desire for a sort of wait-and-see optimism. 6

7 Being amateur psychologist and semipro mind reader and all-pro reader-between-the-lines, I won t get worked up about the manager of this crew being unable to muster many tangible reasons when I asked this week what gives him hope the Padres can overcome the setbacks that have already befallen them considering that didn't go so well early last season. If we keep the pitching healthy, and they pitch like they are capable, we can hang in there, Bud Black said. And then we wait for Chase s return and Q being back to normal and Logan getting back in there to the team we project to have. And then you wait for Yasmani s return and if he s playing well, if he s doing well and ready to go after 50, that would be nice to get him back if he s playing at the rate he played at last year too. The man is a hell of a manager. He has squeezed every ounce of potential out of a pretty-much-juiceless team the past several seasons. And as a diplomat, Black could have taught Kissinger some things. Yet, you notice, through no fault of his own, Black s projections are rife with if and conjoined by some and then. Y'know, come to think of it, the ifs and and thens haven t exactly worked out for the Padres. Oh, Good God, at least we have the beach. 7

8 Hundley, Blanks homer as Padres drop slugfest By Thomas Harding / MLB.com 3/24/2013 1:00 A.M. ET SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario homered in his third straight game as Colorado beat the Padres, 10-4, Saturday night at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Veteran first baseman Todd Helton launched a two-run shot to center in the first inning off Padres starter Freddy Garcia for his second homer of Cactus League play. Then Rosario, who homered off the Giants' Matt Cain on Thursday and the Rangers' Ben Rowen on Friday, took Garcia deep to left field on Saturday night. Garcia, on the fringe of the competition for the Padres' rotation, didn't help his cause by giving up seven runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks in five innings. "They were aggressive early in the count, especially when he elevated some pitches," Padres manager Bud Black said of Garcia. "They made solid contact and we didn't help Freddy defensively [two errors]." Rockies second baseman Josh Rutledge led off the second inning with a homer off Garcia. The Rockies scratched scheduled starter Jorge De La Rosa on Saturday afternoon because of left forearm tightness. Right-hander Jeff Manship started, pitched three innings, struck out three and gave up two runs on two hits -- Kyle Blanks' single, followed by Nick Hundley's homer in the second. Righty Jhoulys Chacin, who was supposed to start Friday but was pushed back because of back spasms, made a two-inning appearance and gave up two solo shots. The first was in the fourth to Blanks -- who could break camp with the Padres if outfielder Carlos Quentin's knee injury forces him to the disabled list -- and the other was to non-roster invitee Cody Ransom in the fifth. Reserve catcher Gustavo Molina added a fourth homer for the Rockies, connecting for a three-run shot off Brad Brach in the seventh. Up Next: The Padres return to Peoria on Sunday for a 1:05 p.m. PT start to face the Brewers with coverage on MLB.TV. Left-hander Eric Stults, who will be the No. 4 starter in the rotation, is scheduled to start. He'll go between five or six innings. Closer Huston Street is also scheduled to throw. Hundley is scheduled to be in the starting lineup. He's had a big spring, hitting.429 and ranking second on the team in hits (18) in Cactus League play. 8

9 Quentin encouraged after testing knee for six innings By Corey Brock / MLB.com 03/23/2013 9:33 PM ET PEORIA, Ariz. -- Left fielder Carlos Quentin is still waiting for a fly ball to head his way this spring, though he was satisfied nonetheless with the six innings he played Saturday in a Minor League game. Quentin tested his sore right knee again, this time by playing six innings in the outfield. And while he did not get any action, he ran the bases without issue and even slid into second base attempting to break up a double play. "It was a good way to stop," he said, smiling. The game, watched by general manager Josh Byrnes and manager Bud Black, was deemed a success by those present. "That was very encouraging," Black said. "Today was a very positive test." Quentin has now played in four Minor League games in the past seven days. There's still a chance that he could appear in an exhibition game. The stickler there is if he doesn't, the Padres could backdate a stint on the disabled list -- if needed -- to March 22. If he plays in a Cactus League game or even in one of two games next weekend in San Antonio, the clock restarts. At this point, though, Quentin sounds determined to play on Opening Day on April 1 against the Mets at Citi Field. "I was encouraged, even more so in that it didn't feel great this morning but then it got better as I went along," said Quentin, who hasn't had a fly ball hit at him in any of his four Minor League games. "As I ran on it, it started to loosen up." 9

10 Boxberger sent to Triple-A in latest round of cuts By Corey Brock / MLB.com 03/23/2013 9:33 PM ET PEORIA, Ariz. -- The Padres trimmed their roster again on Saturday, moving three players to the Minor League side. The Padres optioned right-handed pitcher Brad Boxberger to Triple-A Tucson and reassigned infielders Jeudy Valdez and Jonathan Galvez to Minor League camp. Left-handed pitcher Arturo Lopez also was reassigned. Boxberger, who is on the 40-man roster, had a 4.50 ERA in eight appearances this spring. He allowed four runs on seven hits in eight innings with three walks and nine strikeouts. Valdez hit.206 with one home run and seven RBIs in 34 at-bats. Galvez hit.375 with a home run and eight RBIs in 40 at-bats. Lopez had a 1.13 ERA in eight appearances. He allowed one run on five hits in eight innings with four walks and two strikeouts. Lopez is property of the Mexico City Red Devils and likely will return to play for them at some point. The Padres now have 41 players in big league camp. The team breaks camp Thursday and heads to San Antonio for two exhibition games against the Rangers before moving on to Opening Day on April 1 in New York against the Mets. 10

11 Luebke to resume throwing after camp breaks By Corey Brock / MLB.com 03/23/2013 9:33 PM ET PEORIA, Ariz. -- When the Padres break camp next week and head to New York to open the season against the Mets, pitcher Cory Luebke will head back to San Diego. Luebke, who had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow in May, hasn't played catch in about three weeks, though the left-hander isn't viewing it as much of a setback. "I think we're going to start again next week when I get back to San Diego, I think they're going to revise my throwing program," Luebke said. Luebke said he'll likely visit team physician Dr. Heinz Hoenecke first to make sure he is clear to resume his throwing program. "We're giving it a little rest," Luebke said. "It feels good but I've been throwing since November, three times a week. So we're giving it a little time to cool off." Luebke said that his recent inactivity shouldn't affect his bottom line in terms of when he will be able to pitch in a game again. "When you look at the protocol, the first 10 1/2 months are pretty set, but after that... in some cases, it takes guys 12 months and some guys it takes 14 or 16 months." Until he's told otherwise, Luebke is working under the assumption that he'll be able to pitch sometime this season -- whether that be June or possibly later. "I would be pretty upset if I didn't," Luebke said. "But that hasn't even crossed my mind yet." Worth noting Still no game action for infielder Logan Forsythe, who was originally set to play in games this weekend. Forsythe has been sidelined by plantar fasciitis in his right foot and hasn't played in a game since March 7. Forsythe went through a workout Saturday afternoon and manager Bud Black said he could get some at-bats in a Minor League game Sunday and possibly play a few innings in the field. The Padres released six players from their Minor League camp Saturday: Right-handed pitchers Mike Broadway, Chris Haney and Mark Pope. Infielder Goose Kallunki and outfielders Anthony Renteria and Kyung-Min Na also were released. Pope was a fifth-round Draft pick in 2011 out of Georgia Tech. He compiled a 5.67 ERA in two seasons. Left-hander Clayton Richard threw 92 pitches in a Triple-A game on Sunday. No statistics were made available. Richard will likely pitch the second game of the regular season on April 3 in New York against the Mets. 11

12 Rockies hit 3 HRs off Garcia, beat Padres 10-4 By The Associated Press 10 p.m.march 23, 2013 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Hoping for a future in San Diego, Freddy Garcia got no help from the Arizona wind. Todd Helton, Wilin Rosario and Josh Rutledge all homered off Garcia as the Colorado Rockies beat the Padres 10-4 on a blustery Saturday night. A non-roster invitee to camp, the 36-year-old Garcia gave up seven runs - three earned - in five innings. His spring ERA dropped to 8.71, but the outing likely did little to help him gain ground on impressive youngster Tyson Ross in the competition for the final spot in the rotation. There were seven home runs in the game - six in the first five innings when the wind was blowing straight out at Salt River Fields. "That's great. I'm pitching and competing for a spot and the ball is just flying," Garcia said. "I guess they will make their decision in a couple of days. I don't know what's going to happen, man." A job in the bullpen is also a possibility, but Garcia isn't interested in a minor league assignment. "I'll either go north or I'll go home," he said. "I tried to do my job the best I can. If I don't make the team, it's my fault. I'll get my release and see what happens. It's only spring training, but I know I have to pitch better than that." Gustavo Molina added a three-run shot for Colorado. Rosario's home run was his fourth of the spring and third in three days. For the second straight day, a Rockies starter was scratched due to injury. Jorge De La Rosa did not pitch Saturday because of tightness in his left forearm. He is expected to throw in a minor league game Sunday. Jeff Manship got the start and allowed two hits in three innings, including a two-run homer to Nick Hundley in the first. "(Manship) is a guy who could fall into either a starter role or that middle guy," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. "He's got a nice breaking ball, which I think is a swing-and-a-miss pitch. He's gotten more impressive each time out." Jhoulys Chacin, the team's opening-day starter, was scratched Friday due to back spasms. He pitched two innings against San Diego and allowed two hits, solo home runs to Kyle Banks and Cody Ransom. "I'm not too concerned about him. It was a little different for him coming into the middle of a game," Weiss said. "He got a ball over the plate to a large man (Blanks), but I'm not worried about him finding his way through lineups. He knows how to pitch." NOTES: Weiss is more and more impressed with right-hander Rob Scahill, who lowered his spring ERA to 1.35 with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts. "He's another power arm and I think he's gotten some things in order the last two or three times out," Weiss said. "He starting to conquer some things as 12

13 far as command of the ball and slowing things down when he needs to. He's executing the things he's been working on."... Blanks had a single to go with his third homer of the spring and is hitting.357 in Cactus League play.... Weiss said Helton is locked in and ready for the season, despite getting only 19 at-bats to this point. "A guy like him doesn't need 60 at-bats to get right, he probably needs 20," Weiss said. 13