By Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal
7h ago
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If you aren’t rooting for the Cardinals’ newest call-up, I think we’re going to change that today. Also: Ken on Preller and the Padres, we got record-breaking homers, and Sacramento: don’t say you weren’t warned. I’mLevi Weaver, here withKen Rosenthal— welcome to The Windup!
Introductions: Thomas Saggese’s incredible story
Thomas Saggese debuted last night with the Cardinals. Acquired from the Rangers in the Jordan Montgomery trade last year, the 22-year-old sat at No. 4 on Keith Law’sCardinals prospects list, but … why are we leading the newsletter with it?
Well, there’s more to his story.
I spoke with Saggese during spring training in 2022, and he mentioned battling anxiety as a kid in Carlsbad, Calif. — and for an understandable reason:
“Yeah, I went through a shooting when I was in third grade,” he said. “A shooting at my school. So that kinda triggered (the anxiety).”
Everyone survived, though multiple childrenwere shot. Thomas said his parents, Tom and Wendi Saggese, were essential to his recovery, enrolling him in a program withauthor Byron Katie(whose work Saggese said he still used in learning to deal with tough days early in his career).
All the while, he was playing baseball, and said his mom was his biggest supporter, constantly helping him find ways to improve. She also worked as a speaker, coach and consultant, with a focus on finding new perspectives to work through tough situations. And then, her videos began to cover a new topic:living with stage 4 cancer.
She passed away when Thomas was 17.
“A very good mom, honestly,” Saggese told me in 2022. “A good person. We were really close. She kinda tied our family together. Definitely my favorite person ever.”
As a result of his mom’s illness and passing, Saggese missed a lot of baseball showcases during his senior year.More than one person with the Rangers suggested that if he had showcased, he wouldn’t have been available in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
Talk to baseball folks about Saggese, and a few phrases start to become themes:“throwback,” “old school,” “plays the right way,” “old soul,” “that’s my guy”and“glue guy” are some I heard on repeat from front office members and former teammates.
Well, now there’s a new one they can use: “big leaguer.”
Ken’s Notebook: 2024 Padres are Preller’s most impressive team yet
Frommy latest column:
Tell A.J. Preller this is his best team, his best job as general manager, and he probably would demur. The 2024 San Diego Padres, at 82-64, are good. The 2023 Padres, at least on paper, were better.
Ah, but the game is not played on paper, or even the precious laptop of your favorite analytically obsessed executive. The failure of the ‘23 Padres, who finished 82-80 and didn’t make the playoffs, will endure as one of baseball’s great mysteries. The success of the ‘24 club, without Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, also contains its share of the unknowable.
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This much is clear: Preller, making trades at his usual breakneck pace, built a deeper roster and more functional offense, despite opening the season with a payroll nearly $85 million lower than it was a year ago. The 2024 Padres are not simply a collection of stars. They are a team, dotted with complementary parts. And Preller seems far more at peace with this year’s manager, Mike Shildt, than he did with last year’s, Bob Melvin.
It’s too soon to celebrate the Padres, who were 50-49 at the All-Star break and are 12-11 since a 19-4 run that elevated their season. But they entered Tuesday holding the top wild card in the NL, with playoff odds of better than 90 percent. In the postseason, an offense again including Fernando Tatis Jr., a rotation reinforced by the returns of Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish and a bullpen bolstered by the trades for Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing at the deadline would make the team a legitimate World Series threat.
Preller’s management style has been an issue in the past, but his aggressiveness in the trade market is perhaps the Padres’ biggest competitive advantage, and his work in putting this group together was a particular tour de force. The five-player return from the New York Yankees for Soto and Trent Grisham provided a foundation, yielding Michael King, one of the game’s top starters since early May; Kyle Higashioka, a catcher enjoying a career-best offensive season; and top-100 prospect Drew Thorpe, a pitcher who became the centerpiece of a deal in March for another top starter, Dylan Cease.
Next came the acquisition of Luis Arraez at the start of May, a transformative moment for an offense that already was making greater contact with the arrival of Rookie of the Year candidate Jackson Merrill, the rare prospect Preller declined to trade, and return of Jurickson Profar, a $1 million bargain in free agency. Arraez, because of his defensive shortcomings on the right side of the infield, might be only slightly above replacement level from an analytical perspective. But batting leadoff, he sets a tone with his energy and approach. Merrill and Profar also bring energy, and Merrill, arguably the team’s MVP, is a major upgrade over Grisham in center.
Read morehere.
Bill Streicher / USA Today
Record Setters: Schwarber, Machado hit HR marks
We had two record-setting homers last night!
Kyle Schwarber was first, hitting his 14th leadoff home run of the year as the Phillies beat the Rays 9-4 (on a night whenbenches clearedin Philadelphia). That setan MLB single-season record(previously owned by Alfonso Soriano: 13 in 2003). Schwarber later left the game with a hyperextended elbow, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson indicated that he expects his slugger back in the lineup tomorrow.
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Later, Manny Machado went deep in the Padres’ 7-3 win over Seattle. It was his 164th homer with the Padres —a franchise record, surpassing none other than (did you know it?) Nate Colbert. If that sounds low for a franchise record, you’re not wrong. It’s the lowest in baseball. Here are the next three lowest totals — and two of these teams didn’t join the league until 1998:
29. Arizona Diamondbacks: Luis Gonzalez (224)
28. New York Mets: Darryl Strawberry (252)
27. Tampa Bay Rays: Evan Longoria (261)
The top three, which are much easier to guess, are as follows:
1. Atlanta Braves: Henry Aaron (733)
2. New York Yankees: Babe Ruth (659)
3. San Francisco Giants: Willie Mays (646)
Red Flags: A’s already snubbing Sacramento?
As anyone in Oakland can tell you, A’s owner John Fisher is not particularly sentimental about his team’s fans, nor the city in which they live. After theembarrassing multiyear debaclethat resulted in the team leaving for (eventually, we’re pretty sure) Las Vegas, the plan currently involves playing home games in Sacramento until the new stadium is ready. But wait …
- The first clue that Sacramento would be treated with no more deference than Oakland (where the team has played since 1968) came when it was announced that the team would not be temporarily known as the “Sacramento Athletics.” They’ll just be “The Athletics” or “The A’s.”
If the city of Sacramento was my friend and the A’s were someone they were dating, this is where the term “red flags” would make an appearance.
- Another went up the flagpole yesterday withthis reportfrom Jason Burke at Sports Illustrated thatthe A’s have reserved the right to play any potential playoff games somewhere other than Sacramento,if it comes to that.
In other words, if there’s a proverbial wedding, Sacramento might not be the plus-one.
On paper, it makes sense. Would the A’s want to limit the gate to 14,000 fans for a playoff game? Probably not. And as Evan Drellichpoints out here, an alternate site might make sense for all three involved entities — the league, the team and the players — since the playoff gate affects the bonus pool for the team, too.
Sacramento: If you both know what you’re signing up for … just don’t get attached, I guess.
More Oakland Coliseum: Melissa Lockard tells uswhat’s next for the Coliseum, including hosting soccer games.
More A’s: They beat the Astros in 12 innings last night onthree straight bunts!
Luis Arraez No-K Streak👀
Five plate appearances, zero strikeouts. The streak is up to 120 plate appearances.
Handshakes and High Fives
Tim Britton tells us how Ryne Stanekovercame the “Doubt Monster”and made a mechanical adjustment to become a linchpin for the Mets’ bullpen.
Scott Borasspeaks on Cody Bellinger’s season, and references the Farmer’s Almanac on multiple occasions in reference to Wrigley Field.
Brooks Peck took a look at theMLB player-themed Garbage Pail Kids trading cardsin the new Bowman Chrome set.
Steve Buckley waxed eloquent on the recently departed James Earl Jones, whose voice marked the time,in baseball and beyond.
The White Soxlost their 113th game. With 16 games remaining, they’re seven losses short of tying the single-season record.
AL wild card: All three wild-card teams —Orioles, Royalsand Twins— won. So did the Tigers, who gota “Maddux” from rookie Keider Monteroto stay three games out of a playoff spot.
NL wild card: The Braves smoked the Nats 12-0, while the Mets lost 6-2 to the Blue Jays. So they’re tied (again) for the third NL wild-card position. It wasn’t all good news for Atlanta, though. Reynaldo López becamethe latest injury concernfor the Braves.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Our latestPower Rankings, which included a pick for each team’s MVP.
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(Top photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
