Friday Notes
Fri, Oct 14, 2005
by Geoff Young
Slow news day. Go nuts.
- Giles, Padres make progress on long-term deal (FOXSports). According to this report, “the difference between the sides is ’significant’ but ‘not vast.’” Thanks. That tells us absolutely nothing.
- D-Backs begin GM search (MLB.com). Kevin Towers either has or has not been interviewed. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
- Can’t remember quite how, but I stumbled onto some cool photos of Petco Park and other San Diego locales.
- Hey, who owns Scott Linebrink, anyway? That would be me.
- Baseball America ranks USD among the Top 12 Recruiting Classes this season. The U-T had a nice article on the two lefty pitchers a while back.
- Speaking of BA, they’ve got their Top 20 prospects for each league out now (okay, they’ve had them out for a while; I’m slow, what can I say). Very few Padres:
- Ben Johnson is #13 among PCL prospects (see also Jim Callis’ chat).
- George Kottaras ranks #17 in the Cal League (Kevin Goldstein mentions Cesar Carrillo in his chat).
- No Pads on the MWL list, but Jim Callis does talk about Matt Bush in his chat. Sigh.
- Northwest League has Nick Hundley at #4 and Chase Headley at #10.
- Finally, Kyle Blanks is #14 and Ernesto Frieri is #19 in the AZL
Other stuff you can do: leave your thoughts on the season, buy Ducksnorts gear, go see Serenity, tell me to stop telling you what to do.
That’s all for now. Season review begins Monday.
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October 14, 2005 at 10:23 am
A good summary at BP today … http://www.baseballprospectus......cleid=4541 …
I’m still in the “ump got it right” camp … but some friends of mine have reviewed the TiVo … and are making a good case for “the ump blew it” … it’s coming down to this … did the ump change his mind? If so, then he blew it … but I contend that since he never made a verbal out call, and his hand signal (fist pump) indicated “strike 3″ … he did not change his mind … and therefore “got it right”.
October 14, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Scout.com takes a look ahead:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....type=story
They don’t like EY’s chances of returning, which is too bad because of all the bench players we have, he’s the one guy we should retain IMO. Virtually everything positive that happened in the playoffs was started by him.
I agree with their assessment of Barfield, and wouldn’t mind seeing Loretta move to 3B if Burroughs or Nady don’t get the job. But Barfield falls into that “under 24 without experience” category that Bochy tends to avoid.
Absolutely agree about Hensley, and that seems to be a priority for the Pads, which is good.
October 14, 2005 at 1:12 pm
More on Giles:
http://www.nctimes.com/article....._13_05.txt
More on Towers:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....adres.html
October 14, 2005 at 3:51 pm
Lopes, Picciolo, DJ, and Alexander gone:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....02279.html
Also, advance scout Jeff Gardner.
October 16, 2005 at 6:08 pm
I have mixed feelings on Towers possibly leaving. On the one hand, the Pads have won three division titles under him, and he’s made some fantastic trades.
On the other, I’m not so sure that the team has been planned so well with Petco in mind. I realize that that is not all his fault. But I’m still not sure that the team has an overall direction.
October 16, 2005 at 7:31 pm
re: Towers … mixed feeling here also … enough good moves (and post-season appearances) that I was OK with him as GM … and I really enjoyed his candor at the Pizza Feed … he struck me as more of a “hard worker” than “talented” … and I have a natual appreciation for “hard worker”s … but it’s frustrating when someone more talented puts in just as much work and comes out ahead … I think the Padres can do better.