Season Previews
- Christian has posted the NL West Preview at All-Baseball. My contribution is weaker than I’d have liked, but I stand firmly behind what I said about Gary Bennett, Donaldo Mendez, and Eddie Oropesa.
- Two guys named Neil living on the other side of the Atlantic make their picks. One of ‘em likes the Dodgers first, the Padres second; the other has the order reversed. They acknowledge that Jake Peavy is a legit Cy Young candidate and see Dave Roberts as lighting a spark. Good blog, gents, but that name is a bit unwieldy: “3,079 Miles to Fenway, 3,448 miles to Yankee Stadium.”
- TBOM’s 2005 NL Predictions. He likes the Padres in the West.
Local Coverage of the Humberto Quintero/Tim Redding Deal
- Padres get Redding to plug hole in rotation (NC Times). Quoth Kevin Towers: “Redding is somebody we’ve always liked… He has above-average stuff — above-average fastball, above-average life, above-average breaking ball. He struggled a little bit last year with his command. We think a change of scenery might be good for him.” Michel Hernandez, who has played well this spring, will start behind the dish at Portland and be ready if needed. There is also talk that George Kottaras could jump to Double-A Mobile. I hope they mean during the season and not right away.
- Trade for Astros fastballer could fill big need at No. 5 (U-T). Covers a lot of the same ground as the NC Times article. They need to get over Ismael Valdez, though. Even when he was here and winning games, he wasn’t very good.
- Redding dealt to Padres (Houston Chronicle). And from the other side, sounds like a change of scenery was definitely in order. From the article: “Only a year ago, the Astros could have received top prospects or a proven major leaguer for Redding. His value dropped each month, and the Astros couldn’t find any takers for him at the winter meetings.” Buy low, right?
Geoff-
New question for you: Many people have posited that by trading Humberto Quintero, the Padres are indicating that they’re committed to signing Ramon Hernandez to that long-term contract he’s going to want at the end of this season. (1) What do you think he’s going to want (years and dollars), (2) If he asks for what you think he’s going to ask for, will the Padres sign him and (3) Is that a deal you would make if you were GM?
Assume no “San Diego discount”.
Excellent questions, B. Let me do some research tonight and see what I can come up with for you.
Off the top of my head, the only other large contract to (potentially) walk after this season is Brian Giles (and there’s another interesting ‘will they re-sign him’ question). Klesko and Nevin are signed through 2006. Loretta’s goes through 2007. I can’t recall if Roberts is signed beyond this season but I don’t believe he is. No idea about Hoffman but I think he’s signed beyond this year.
Greene, Burroughs, Nady, Eaton, Peavy and Lawrence all get bumped up after 2005. And I’m pretty sure they’ve rid themselves of the Long/Cirillo/Wiki/Jarvis type of obligations (that is, Eric Young, Sweeney and the reserves are all one-year or smallish obligations, no?).
So, while about $10MM drops off with Giles and Hernandez, a lot of that is going to get eaten up by the young guys’ increases. Obviously, trades are unforseeable. Assume Klesko stays. If they insist on keeping payroll between $60-65MM, I advise you sharpen your pencil!
As always, thanks for your dedication and hard work!
Okay, total WAG before I start digging:
1) 3yrs/$15M
2) probably
3) probably
I’ll work on this tonight and have some comps together in the morning.