Are the San Diego Padres real contenders? All early signs point to yes
Here are five reasons the Padres armed with a 30-18 record through Monday's games, are serious playoff contenders this year.
Manager Bob Melvin: The 60-year-old veteran is in his first year in San Diego. His Oakland team had a winning record the past four seasons.
Manny Machado: Leads the National League in hitting at .357.
Eric Hosmer: Surprise with a .321 average.
Taylor Rogers: Leads league with 17 saves with a 1.69 ERA.
Joe Musgrove: Undefeated (5-0) with a 1.86 ERA.
Takeaway: The Padres are doing it without their best player – Fernando Tatis Jr., who has missed the entire season because of a motorcycle injury. Tatis hit 42 homers and stole 25 bases last year, finishing third in the NL MVP race. He could be back in July.
Updates on 5 coveted shortstops this past offseason
Corey Seager (signed with Texas for$325 million). Hitting .237 with 10 homers.
Marcus Semien (Texas, $175 million). Hitting .196 with one home run after hitting 45 last year in Toronto.
Javier Baez (Detroit, $140 million). Hitting .194 with 38 strikeouts and 6 walks.
Carlos Correa (Minnesota, $105 million). Hitting .279 with 3 homers.
Trevor Story (Boston, $140 million). Hitting .237 with 9 home runs and 37 RBI. He has 56 strikeouts.
Takeaway: All busts at this point.
5 Active managers with the most career wins
Dusty Baker. 2,015 wins, 10th all-time.
Terry Francona, 1,800 wins, 17th.
Buck Showalter, 1,580 wins, 23rd.
Joe Maddon. 1,382 wins, 31st all-time,
Bob Melvin, 1,374 wins, 32nd all-time.
Takeaway: Former Angel manager Mike Scioscia has more career wins (1,650) than Showalter, Maddon and Melvin.
5 Former Angels on Hall of Fame ballot this year for first time
Francisco Rodriguez: His 437 saves are fourth most of all-time. The three relievers in front of him – Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith – are all in the Hall of Fame. He had 208 of his saves during his Angel career.
John Lackey: 188 career wins; won 3 games in 2002 playoffs when Angels won their only World Series.
Erick Aybar: .271 career average; one Gold Glove; one All-Star appearance.
Mike Napoli: 267 home runs.
Jered Weaver. 150-98 with Angels; 3-time All-Star, pitched a no-hitter at Big A.
Takeaway: F-Rod will get the most votes, but none will make it to Cooperstown anytime soon.
5 Hall of Fame starting pitchers who never won a Cy Young Award
Nolan Ryan
Don Sutton
Juan Marichal
Bert Blyleven
Phil Niekro
5 More: Robin Roberts, Jack Morris, Red Ruffing, Bob Lemon, Mike Mussina
And, of course, Cy Young himself since the award was not given until 1951.
Takeaway: Ryan was a dominant strikeout pitcher; Marichal pitched in the same era as Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax; Sutton, Blyleven and Niekro made the Hall based mostly on longevity.
Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Are the San Diego Padres real contenders? All signs point to yes
