News Now: Mike Shildt reveals what role Michael King will play for the Padres.

He will be a key member of the club next season.

On Friday, Padres manager Mike Shildt spoke with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. In the interview, he discussed his overall expectations for next year as well as those of specific players.

He discussed pitcher Michael King’s role next year after being acquired from the New York Yankees as the centerpiece of the Juan Soto transaction.

You start with King. He has made 19 career starts. He had previously pitched in the bullpen, although he began his career at Boston College and has performed admirably in his Major League Baseball starts. He’s joining us as a starter, and we’re quite happy about him. His reputation as a true professional, with a high care factor, a strong work ethic, and all of the positive intangibles one could want, is spot on. This dude is really put together. So he’ll undoubtedly have the opportunity.

Mike Shildt to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune.

The Yankees utilized King, 28, both in the bullpen and as a starter. He has had success as a relief pitcher, resulting in a lifetime ERA of 3.38. Last year, he made great progress, particularly as a starter, resulting in his best year by far.

In six starts in 2023, the right-hander posted a 2.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 31.3 strikeout %.

These improvements will benefit him as the Padres’ third starter next season, trailing only Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish. He’ll get some genuine runway in San Diego to show why the Yankees didn’t want to trade him, even for Juan Soto.

News Now: Tampa Bay Rays ZiPS forecasts.

The ZiPS Projections for all 30 MLB teams are now available, so we decided to look at each AL East team to see what we might learn and what intriguing insights might emerge. Our Yankees recap is up, and we’ve also covered the Red Sox and Blue Jays; the defending AL East champion Orioles will appear tomorrow.

The Tampa Bay Rays have earned a career, and indeed built their entire culture, on identifying value when the rest of the league does not. As a result, they’ve routinely outperformed their forecasts, and they’ve made the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. Apart from Houston, no one in the American League has a longer active streak.

Nonetheless, even the best organizations can only get so much out of the “unknown,” so it doesn’t hurt to see what ZiPS has to say.

Why has Isaac Paredes been a speculated trade candidate?

Perhaps no team has as an exciting bunch of infield (non-1B) prospects as the Tampa Bay Rays, and a few names are knocking on the door, demanding opportunities.

At this time, we know who Isaac Paredes is, and his skill set of pulling any fly ball he can is effective. However, the Rays aren’t bashful about moving core players on their roster if they sense an opportunity.

Paredes is a key component of that offensive, but two names, both with intriguing projections, underscore why a trade for the former Tiger is worth considering. Curtis Mead and Jonathan Aranda, two young stars, are expected to have strong hitting lines if given the opportunity in 2024. Aranda in particular is regarded as a potential 111 wRC+ bat.

In 2023, the pair each made about 80 plate appearances and never had a steady opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. Both players are flexible, but lack defensive skills. With Paredes, Brandon Lowe, and Yandy Díaz as infield starters, they face limited playing time.

MLB Next Game – New York Yankees

Without a full-time DH, Tampa can just keep all of these players and try to distribute playing time among them. It’s possible that Aranda or Mead may acquire the majority of the work, in which case ZiPS will favor Aranda in 2024. After all, Paredes is unlikely to become more costly in the near future. The third baseman is under contract for the next four seasons.

The Rays version of Eflin is here to stay.

Zach Eflin received a fair amount of compensation for his services from the Tampa Bay Rays. The three-year, $40 million contract was the richest in team history for a free agent. The right-hander had a career year in his debut season at South Florida.

Now that Glasnow has left for California, Shane McClanahan is gone for the season, and Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen are set to lose time, the Rays need Eflin to be the workhorse at the top of the rotation.

ZiPS estimates a 124 ERA+ based on his performance last season. The projected WAR (3.1) is lower than the previous 4.1 mark he set in 2023, but part of that is due to duration, with 146.2 IP as the outcome on hand, which is significantly lower than the 177.2 he recently had.

Even with a pessimistic forecast, Eflin is expected to have an ERA below 4.00 and be worth more than 2.0 WAR this season.

Uncertainty regarding Junior Caminero.

Whether he takes off on Opening Day or suffers early on, Caminero is the Rays’ most intriguing choice in terms of prospective to be their daily shortstop following Wander Franco’s self-inflicted implosion. Taylor Walls is capable of a hot streak here and there, but he mainly plays because of his defense, whereas Caminero has established himself as one of the sport’s top prospects in 2023.

Caminero skipped Triple-A last season and advanced to the majors following just 81 games in Double-A. The sample size in the majors was insufficient to conduct meaningful evaluations. Taking all of this into account, it’s understandable that ZiPS would be optimistic about Caminero’s chance to be a key player in 2024.

The former Cleveland farmhand is expected by ZiPS to have a 98 OPS+, with an 80th-percentile outcome of 120 OPS+. Caminero should have every shot to win the position in spring training, given that he already saw playing time in the MLB last year.