Happy Wednesday. We’ll start looking back at the 2005 season in excruciating detail next week. Meantime, have some links:
- Blogdom’s Best: San Diego Padres (Deadspin, via Gaslamp Ball). The folks at Deadspin cited Ducksnorts as the #2 Padres blog. Much obliged.
- With season over, how drastic will Padres’ overhaul be? (NC Times). Padres eligible for free agency include Brian Giles, Ramon Hernandez, Joe Randa, Robert Fick, Trevor Hoffman, Pedro Astacio, Rudy Seanez, Mark Sweeney, Eric Young (Padres hold an option), Damian Jackson, and Chris Hammond.
- Playoffs ended before ballclub got started (U-T). Speculation on where some of the above might end up next year.
- Padres aim to acquire more offense (Padres.com). I’m not sure I entirely agree with Kevin Towers’ assessment that bringing in hitters is the #1 priority. I have more concerns about the rotation. One encouraging note on that front: “Clay Hensley, who made a tremendous impression in middle relief and with one start, will be given every opportunity to nail down a starting job in Spring Training.”
- Towers will now try to add key parts, retain others (NC Times). Here Towers mentions the need for speed and defense. Absolutely agree about the defense. As for speed, inasmuch as it helps the defense, I’m all for it. I’m even more in favor of better baserunning.
- Klesko is pivotal figure for Padres (U-T). Ryan Klesko has indicated that he’s not inclined to waive his full no-trade clause (he likes San Diego). He is scheduled to make $10.5 million next year, roughly 15% of the projected payroll. Radical suggestion: Have Ryno forget about homers and concentrate on hitting line drives. He was a better hitter in 2004, when he hit just 9 bombs but finished with an OBP just a shade under .400. Lose the uppercut, drive the ball to the gaps, and keep working counts. There’s nothing anyone can do about his defense but if he can get that OBP back up, Klesko could be a useful #2 hitter. Yeah, other options would be nice, but sometimes you have to pull a MacGyver and make use of what you’ve got.
- Conversation with Beavers Manager Craig Colbert – 2005 (PDX Beavers). Just what it says. As always, good stuff from Jonathan.
- The Sabermetrically-Challenged L.A. Angels Are All About Numbers (Management by Baseball). Jeff Angus’ stuff is better read first-hand than summarized. This time he provides insights into the way the Angels plan and execute to gain a competitive advantage.
- Shining (Transbuddha, with a tip o’ the cap to my buddy Alan). Nothing to do with baseball but this cracks me up.
There you go. Rough off-season schedule Thursday or Friday, followed by insanely detailed deconstruction of 2005 season starting next week.
Enjoy!
excellent i can spend all day on this post checking it all out..thanks!
Here’s some fun facts, courtesy of ESPN …
When Roger Clemens came stalking out of the bullpen Sunday for the first time in 21 years, and started his day by facing a hitter older than he was (Julio Franco), one of our most loyal useless-info-holics, Doug Greenwald, wondered about the first time those two guys met. So he looked it up at the increasingly indispensable retrosheet.org site. And guess what he found: When Clemens made the very first start of his career — 21 years and 5 months earlier — the No. 6 hitter in the opposing lineup in Cleveland just happened to be (yup) Julio Franco.
- Not one National League team played a game all year that lasted more than 14 innings or even five hours. So how could the Astros and Braves not go 18 innings and play for 5 hours, 50 minutes in Game 4 of their playoff series?
• The Astros didn’t win a game all season in which they trailed by five runs or more at any point. And they didn’t win a game all season in which they trailed by more than one run in the eighth inning or beyond. So what happened when they found themselves down by five in the eighth inning of Game 4 of this postseason? They came back and won. What else?
• The Braves, meanwhile, didn’t lose a game all season in which they led by five or more at any point. And they didn’t lose a game in which they held a lead of more than three runs in the eighth inning or beyond. But if you read the paragraph before this one, you know what happened to their 6-1 lead in the eighth inning of Game 4. We’ll say no more.
• There were 2,431 games played during the regular season. According to Elias, not one of them featured a player who drove in five runs without at least one extra-base hit. But how many RBI did Houston RBI machine Morgan Ensberg have in his first game of the postseason? Five. And how many extra-base hits did he get that night? Zero, naturally.
The Angus article is terrific, as is his interview with Sciosia. It shows that at least one team that’s not following the holy sabermetric dogma actually knows what they are doing and has very good reasons for doing so. It’s clear they have a strong organizational philosophy and are implementing it at all levels. Do the Padres have some kind of philosophy? Are they trying to build the team around a core set of skills? It does seem like they emphasize patience at the plate but unlike the Red Sox for instance they don’t seem to follow up by crushing the ball when ahead in the count. The lack of power isn’t entirely Petco, this team wouldn’t have had a 30 homer guy even if they played in Colorado.
Can anyone enlighten me as to how the Padres are trying to structure the offense?
Anthony, that is a very good question and I’m not sure I have an answer for you. The bit about not crushing the ball when ahead in the count is something we’ll talk about in the 2005 review. Here’s an alarming stat to ponder: On 2-1 counts, Padres hit .285/.284/.385, while opponents hit .371/.369/.620 (both in 300+ AB).
That stat pretty much sums up the whole season. That’s not Petco Park, that’s a combination of the coaching and the type of players on the team. I obviously have no insight into what Magadan is teaching these guys but it hasn’t worked at all. If his goal was to turn this team into a bunch of powerless slap hitters like he was then he’s certainly succeeded.