Just cleaning up the debris. Does your head still hurt? Don’t mind me, I’ll keep it down.

A few items of note:

• Hoffman gets Hutch Award (U-T). Trevor Hoffman has won MLB’s annual award given to the player who most displays “honor, courage and dedication to baseball both on and off the field” for his comeback from shoulder surgery as well as his work in the community. Congrats to a class act.
• Padres Prospect Interview: George Kottaras (Scout.com). Good look at the Padres’ top catching prospect, who seems to be focused on the right things: “Baseball is all about trusting the guy in front of you and the guy behind you. One person is not going to win the game. I have to do whatever it takes to get on base, get runners over… Walks – open doors for other guys. We have to all step it up.”
• Scouting Padres Prospect Sean Thompson (Scout.com). Lefty pitcher Thompson had a strong showing at Ft. Wayne in 2004. Denis Savage takes a closer look.
• Padres Prospect Interview: Chris Oxspring (Scout.com). And some thoughts from right-hander Oxspring, again courtesy of Savage.
• 2005 Projections: Phillies, Pirates, Padres (BTF). Dan has this year’s ZiPS projections posted for the Pads. He’s got Scott Linebrink, Aki Otsuka, and Jake Peavy all higher than 3.00. Here’s hoping that doesn’t come to pass. Also, this is interesting:

                   BA OBP SLG
    Blum,Ge       231 285 344
    Furmaniak,J.  245 303 377
    Gautreau,Ja   232 309 372
    

  Not a lot of optimism for the hitters. Minimal growth for Sean Burroughs. Slight dropoffs for and Khalil Greene, Ramon Hernandez, Ryan Klesko, Mark Loretta, and Phil Nevin. No appreciable movement for Brian Giles.

• Current Minor League Equivalent Averages (Baseball Prospectus). Follow the links at bottom to see MLEs for each league. Padre farmhands who made their league’s top 20 RAR (runs above replacement):

                   Lvl   BA OBP SLG
    Nady,Xa        AAA  279 337 505
    Knott,Jo       AAA  250 332 431
    Barfield,Jo     AA  244 311 424
    Cruz,Lu          A+ 273 317 438
    McAnulty,Pa      A+ 240 328 401
    Valenzuela,Fe    A  278 348 427
    Kottaras,Ge      A  277 363 457
    Macias,Dr        A  261 327 401
    

  Confused by all the numbers, like I was? Here’s a brief explanation of what it all means.

Okay, that’s enough for now. We’ve got all year ahead of us.

So. Was it good for you?