So are you itching for the regular season to begin, or is that just me? Quick reminder that my Padres Preview is up over at Baseball Think Factory. Check it out, leave some comments.

A few items of note:

• San Diego Padres ace Peavy feels he’ll be ready for home opener (Canadian Press). From trainer Todd Hutcheson: “Let’s say we’re cautiously optimistic.” This would be great, but there’s no hurry. The main goal is to make sure Peavy makes 30+ starts.
• Padres send Neal to Red Sox for Hyzdu (NC Times). Blaine Neal‘s departure leaves Steve Sparks and Randy Williams as the final contestants in “Who Wants to Be in a Big-League Bullpen?” Neal had a 6.43 ERA in camp. Sparks and Williams have ERAs over 7.00, and Williams injured his hip in Sunday’s game at Yuma. Adam Hyzdu, now 33 years old, broke Ken Griffey Jr.’s home run record in high school. In 318 big-league at-bats, he’s hit .233/.314/.462. He’s mainly a corner outfielder, although Kevin Towers calls him “experienced insurance at Triple-A” in case something should happen to Dave Roberts, so presumably he can play a passable center.
• Outfielder Hyzdu traded to San Diego for RHP Neal (Lakeland Ledger). A look from Boston’s perspective. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein says of Hyzdu: “His skill set is somewhat redundant with Jay Payton‘s at this point so it was going to be difficult for him to make the club or have a real role on this club until we had an injury.” This one also notes that Neal is out of options. It also shaves two years off of Neal’s age, but that’s another story.
• San Francisco 5, San Diego 3 (ESPN). Three hits from Brian Giles, two from Geoff Blum. Game was televised on Channel 4. Didn’t notice a huge difference in Adam Eaton‘s style but I wasn’t paying real close attention. Got my first look at Chris Hammond, and his change-up is as good as everyone says. He is not a lefty specialist.
• Nady may be Padres’ guy at hot corner (U-T). This one showed up a few days ago and folks got excited at the headline. If you read the article, though, you discover that they’re talking about Opening Day, when left-hander Joe Kennedy takes the mound for the Rockies. There’s also an article in today’s print version that talks about Sean Burroughs‘ search for more power. Writer Tim Sullivan notes that Burroughs is younger than last year’s ROYs, Jason Bay and Bobby Crosby. He also mentions Adrian Beltre as someone who blossomed after several years of holding pattern (although it should be noted that Beltre at least hit 20+ homers three times in his career before last year’s explosion). Burroughs, who didn’t want to tinker with his swing during the season last year, is working with hitting coach Dave Magadan to “eliminate some of the extraneous motion that has extended the length of his swing and expanded its arc.” Great quote from Towers: “I don’t care if he hits no home runs. If he ends up leading the league in doubles, I’ll be very happy.”
• Surgery leaves frustrated Bonds at ‘square one’ (ESPN). As you probably know by now, Barry Bonds may miss much or all of the 2005 season. As a Padres fan, I’m ecstatic. As a baseball fan, I’m a bit disappointed. Bonds sure looks and sounds like a guy who needs to be out of the spotlight for a while. Yeah, you kinda wish maybe he’d handle himself a little better (is 703 homers not enough to remove the chip from one’s shoulder?), but I also think he’s got some valid gripes about his portrayal by the media. It’s one thing for a guy like Ryan Leaf, who has accomplished absolutely nothing, to pull attitude. But let’s not forget that Bonds is one of the greatest ever to play the game of baseball. I hope he comes back and breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record. But maybe he can wait until the Giants are out of the race, right?