Today we announced another seven spring training roster moves along with the signing of RHP Shawn Hill.
Of the roster moves we made today, five of the seven players - Josh Geer, Scott Patterson, Matt Antonelli, Will Venable, and Joe Thatcher - spent part of the 2008 season in the big leagues, and I suspect that many of them will be in a position to appear again at some point in 2009. The other two players were first year 40-man roster catcher Jose Lobaton, and non-roster invite Chad Huffman, who had a terrific spring in his first Major League camp.
One thing to remember here is that even though the Opening Day roster carries some prestige, it is really just one out of 183 days in the season. We can change the roster the very next day, so it's not as though we're not setting a playoff roster that is locked for a period of time. We often forget how much our rosters change between March and September, but the reality is that any team's 25-man roster is usually composed of around 32-35 players who cycle in and out based on injuries and performance. Many of today's cuts will be among that group of 32-35.
Additionally, today we signed former Washington Nationals starter Shawn Hill to a minor league contract and invited him to big league camp. Shawn made his Major League debut in 2004, but he really established himself in 2007 going 97 innings over 16 starts with a 3.42 ERA. Having battled through some arm problems, Shawn has made 37 ML starts and compiled a 4.93 ERA.
6 comments:
I was surprised the Nats released Hill. He seems at least league average which is important for a long season. If he makes the team maybe Petco's environment will do him good and he can get some of that shiny prospect luster back
Shawn Hill is a great pickup. I was amazed when the Nationals cut ties with him. He has a lot of upside (as he showed a few years ago) and just needs to move on from his injuries. A classic Padres pickup.
Paul,
More of a general question - when do clubs start to DL players who will be there to start the regular season? Do clubs intentionally keep 'injured' players off of their disabled list for some reason?
Sort of similarly (and I understand if you can't answer) but a player like Ben Sheets who has no club currently and is 'injured' is there a way for him to get healthy (use professional facilities, trainers, etc...) without being signed my an MLB club?
Thanks,
Hill had elbow surgery last year to try and eliviate pain he was having in his elbow/forearm & he met with Dr.James Andrews earlier this month after experiencing some additional discomfort.
When he's been on the mound so far this spring his numbers have looked pretty good. How much we get out of him remains to be seen.
Paul,
Speaking of pitchers coming off injuries, any updates on Mark Prior? I read somewhere in late Feb that he had better velocity than last spring. I don't see any spring training stats for him so I assume if he's playing it's with the minor league players right now. Any hints as to how he looks and if we'll see him at all in a Padre uniform this year?
Steve24,
Prior has not thrown in any games yet, which was expected. He continues to throw bullpens at this point.
John,
Clubs can start putting players on the 60-Day DL already (players who have had surgery, for instance). The regular 15-Day DL doesn't start until one week before the regular season begins.
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