First, a correction. The other day when I was talking about the Chris Hammond signing, I referred to Antonio Alfonseca as an example of a guy getting around $2.5 to put up worse numbers. I’d missed that Alfonseca restructured his deal due to a herniated disc in his back.

Anyway, here’s a quick statistical comparison between the new Padres and the players they replace from last year’s squad. Numbers are cumulative for years 2002-2004, ages are as of July 1, 2005:

             Age    IP  ERA  WHIP
Wells,Da      42 614.0 3.88 1.205
Williams,Wo   38 513.7 3.71 1.236

Valdez,Is     31 481.0 5.00 1.391
May,Da        33 527.3 4.81 1.390

Witasick,Ja   32 175.7 3.23 1.304
Hammond,Ch    39 192.7 2.06 1.189

Osuna,An      32 155.0 3.48 1.374
Seanez,Ru     36  87.7 4.52 1.449

Hitchcock,St  34 148.3 5.16 1.517
Reyes,De      28 203.3 5.36 1.633

        H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 WS
Wells  9.60 1.00 1.25 4.97 39
Wllms  8.71 0.88 2.42 6.31 31

Vldz  10.18 1.53 2.34 4.04 18
May    9.81 1.66 2.70 5.63 27

Wtsck  8.04 0.87 3.69 7.84 11
Hmmnd  8.13 0.47 2.57 6.63 26

Osuna  8.94 0.41 3.43 8.65 15
Seanz  8.01 1.03 5.03 9.75  6

Hitch 10.31 1.40 3.34 6.86  4
Reyes 10.05 1.06 4.65 7.35  9

Here’s the cumulative stat line from 2002 to 2004 for the above guys (age is averaged):

           Age     IP  ERA  WHIP
Outgoing  34.2 1574.0 4.23 1.319
Incoming  34.8 1524.7 4.15 1.348

      H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 WS
Out  9.61 1.13 2.26 5.55 87
In   9.16 1.13 2.98 6.45 99

Generally got guys who put the ball past hitters a little better but who don’t throw quite as many strikes. Slight downgrade from Wells/Valdez to Williams/May in the rotation, slight upgrade from Witasick/Osuna to Hammond/Seanez in the bullpen. If Seanez is healthy, he could match Osuna. As Hitchcock was the wild card last year, so will Reyes be this year.

And the hitters:

            Age   AB   BA  OBP  SLG BB/K  WS
Payton,Ja    32 1503 .289 .344 .460 0.61  45
Roberts,Da   33 1129 .261 .341 .349 0.93  39

Long,Te      29 1361 .253 .304 .395 0.46  29
Sweeney,Ma   35  339 .245 .333 .434 0.46   8

Vazquez,Ra   28  960 .264 .338 .348 0.57  25
Blum,Ge      32 1127 .255 .311 .390 0.52  23

Robinson,Ke  31  481 .262 .298 .339 0.38   9
Young,Er     38 1315 .271 .348 .380 1.26  27

Outgoing   30.0 4305 .269 .325 .401 0.53 108
Incoming   34.5 3910 .261 .334 .379 0.78  97

Got older at four spots. Except for Roberts, none of these guys should get more than 250-300 PA so that’s probably not a big deal. Slightly lower batting average and slugging, better on base. Big drop from Payton to Roberts in center, potential drop from Vazquez to Blum on the infield, upgrades from Long to Sweeney and from Robinson to Young in the outfield.

Still wish there was a way the Padres could’ve done all that without losing Payton. Or Vazquez. Or David Pauley. Or a big wad of cash.