Chin Waggers are playing tomorrow and Saturday night at Janie’s in Chula Vista if anyone’s interested in seeing some old guys make a lot of noise and generally act like idiots. I’ll be busting out my new “I Have Gas” t-shirt. Hey, we’re all about class.

Anyway, here are a few items of potential interest:

• Loretta, Padres a perfect fit (Padres.com). Kevin Towers, on signing Mark Loretta in December 2002: “A lot of it was just good luck. We were kind of looking for a shortstop at the time, and we knew he came into pro ball as a shortstop. But we knew he could play second for us. We always knew he was a good hitter.” Indeed, the Padres were kind of looking for a shortstop and his name was Royce Clayton. Thankfully Clayton signed with Milwaukee and the Padres had to “settle” for Loretta. Good luck? Yeah, I think maybe a little bit.
• Speed coach hopes to have Padres sprinting into season (NC Times). More info on former Olympian LaTanya Sheffield, who is working with the Padres this spring in an effort to improve players’ running technique. Also, infielder Jesse Garcia is pushing hard to make the big club (presumably he’s competing against Geoff Blum for the last spot). Hey, didn’t Woody Williams play shortstop in college?

           Age   AB   BA  OBP  SLG
  Garcia    31  237 .224 .243 .300
  Blum      32 2056 .254 .316 .398
  Williams  38  381 .213 .246 .304
  

• 2005 Draft Preview (Padres RunDown). Peter Friberg, who has been covering the Padres in various formats over the years, has a new blog called Padres RunDown. Check out his thoughts on who the Padres should be looking at this June. Good stuff. And Peter, if you’re reading this, it’s great to see you back on the scene!
• John Manuel at Baseball America highlights some of the guys Peter mentions.
• Home improvement part of Padres’ plan (USA Today). Mel Antonen tackles the Padres preview over at USA Today. He doesn’t tell Padre fans much that they don’t already know but presents a nice little summary for folks who might not be as familiar with the team.

Finally, I am slowly getting all my links together over there on the right. If there’s something you like to read that I’m missing, please let me know.

I should be working on the preview, but despite your best efforts, I’m still having trouble motivating myself to write about Darrell May. The best I can say is that “more left-handed than Ismael Valdez” is gaining momentum as a catchphrase.

Speaking of May, he struggled again in Wednesday’s loss to Oakland. Everyone is downplaying it, and we should remember how miserably Brian Lawrence did in the Cactus League last spring. But still…

Meanwhile, the folks over at Baseball Analysts have put together their preview of the NL West. The discussion is lively, even if some of the assertions (e.g., “Jason Schmidt is, by far, the best pitcher in the division”, “No, just think of him [Sean Burroughs] as Jerry Royster, without Royster’s strengths: speed and versatility”) are a little baffling. David Pinto disagrees with their conclusion, preferring both the Dodgers and Padres to the Giants.

And on the prospect front, the Pads take a beating again. John Sickels uses several different methods to demonstrate how San Diego’s farm system is among the worst in baseball. There’s no need to fear, Grady Fuson is here.

Finally, LynchMob points out that Will Carroll has posted his Padres Team Health Report [subscription] over at Baseball Prospectus. On a red/yellow/green scale (think stoplights), Ryan Klesko and Woody Williams are red, while Phil Nevin, Mark Loretta, Sean Burroughs, Dave Roberts, Brian Giles, Jake Peavy, Tim Stauffer, and Trevor Hoffman are yellow. Carroll says we shouldn’t expect Klesko’s power to return and that there’s a “dropoff ahead” for Williams. He also notes that due to less playing time earlier in his career, Loretta isn’t as battered as many middle infielders his age. Carroll is another who doesn’t believe Burroughs has any power, dismissing the notion that knee and shoulder problems played a part in last year’s outage. Like many of us, Carroll is rooting for Stauffer based on the young hurler’s integrity; obviously the shoulder remains a concern, although it appears not to be giving him any trouble now.

One thing that Carroll mentions which is interesting is that due to the Padres having so many injury-prone players in the heart of the lineup (Klesko, Nevin, and potentially Giles – about whom Carroll notes that players of his body type tend to start having knee and back problems at this stage in their careers), they need to keep guys around who can play multiple positions. Players such as Xavier Nady and Eric Young take on increased significance in this environment.

Interesting stuff. Any questions? I’ll see if I can follow up with Carroll and get clarification or expansion on some of this.