Martin

Maldonado

Díaz made a second straight start today for the first time since Apr. 5-7. While probably not truly a quality starting catcher, Diaz has to be a better option than Martín Maldonado, who continues to handle Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez when they pitch. Díaz is catching Michael King and Nick Pivetta, both of whom are off to outstanding starts. Díaz also has a .652 to .506 OPS advantage on Maldonado.

The homer came in the second inning, but making the difference tonight has to help Díaz’s case for regaining some playing time. He started over Martín Maldonado in seven of San Diego’s first 11 games, but Maldonado has gotten the call in eight of the last 13. That’s been the case even though the Padres are 12-0 in Diaz’s starts, compared to 5-7 in Maldonado’s. Diaz has mostly caught Michael King and Nick Pivetta, while Maldonado has had Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez.

Maldonado was responsible for the only run of the game for the Padres with a solo blast off an otherwise-excellent Shota Imanaga. The 38-year-old has his first homer as a member of the Padres, and fantasy managers shouldn’t expect many more.

The Padres didn’t play Thursday, so this is three straight days off for Díaz, who presumably doesn’t need it. A legitimate contender going with Martín Maldonado as its starting catcher in the year 2025 seems a little crazy, but it’s not like Díaz is more than a placeholder either.

No surprises here as these moves were expected. All three veterans will open the regular season with spots on San Diego’s bench, but won’t make much of a fantasy impact, if any.

He’ll join fellow non-roster invitees Gavin Sheets, Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel to make the team’s Opening Day roster. When he’s playing regularly, Iglesias has proven to be a viable source of batting average and the occasional stolen base, just don’t expect him to be a five-category contributor if looking his way at the end of fantasy drafts.

Sullivan is off the 40-man roster to make room for Mason McCoy. Sullivan will now hit the waiver wire, and someone looking for a bench backstop could be interested in a trade or claim. This also likely means Martin Maldonado has won the backup catching role.

Maldonado has been a complete zero at the dish for over a decade at this point, but he remains a league-average defender behind the plate, which gives him some appeal for San Diego as emergency catching depth behind Luis Campusano and Brett Sullivan. The 38-year-old can be safely ignored for fantasy purposes until further notice.

Maldonado was designated for assignment and went unclaimed, and he won’t report to Triple-A Charlotte. The 37-year-old could be of interest to those teams in contention looking for a backup backstop, but it obviously won’t increase his fantasy value.

Maldonado remains one of the better defensive catchers in baseball, despite his advanced age, but that doesn’t really matter for fantasy purposes where he’s been a complete non-factor for years. The 37-year-old backstop figures to have some appeal for a contender as a backup option given his defensive prowess, but he’s not going to have any sort of impact for fantasy managers, regardless of where he winds up next. According to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, it’ll be Chuckie Robinson coming up from Triple-A Charlotte to take his roster spot following the All-Star break.