Friday Links
Fri, Mar 31, 2006
by Geoff Young
I had a dream the other night where Jake Peavy tries to bunt for a base hit to lead off an inning and is thrown out at home plate after circling the bases due to throwing errors by the third baseman and right fielder. I don’t know what it means, but I can tell you I was still pissed when I woke up.
Anyway, here are your links. Enjoy!
- Pitching decisions made (Padres.com). In a surprising development, Dewon Brazelton is named the #4 starter, with both Chan Ho Park and Woody Williams in the bullpen, giving the Padres perhaps the most expensive set of long relievers in history. Andy Ashby, trying to make a comeback, has been released, and Brian Sikorski has cleared waivers and will start the season at Portland.
- Padres’ leadoff man with an attitude (San Diego Union-Tribune). Interesting piece from Wednesday about how Dave Roberts (with the help of hitting coach Dave Magadan), changed his approach in hitters’ counts, becoming more aggressive and attacking the ball. Aside from the topic of the article, also worthy of note is that writer Tom Krasovic talks about situational stats and notes Roberts’ pitches per plate appearance. I haven’t always been thrilled with the U-T’s coverage of the Padres, but it seems to me they’re improving. Good to see.
- Padres building strong foundation (MinorLeagueBaseball.com). Big tip o’ the Ducksnorts cap to PDX Beavers for this one. Writer Kevin Czerwinski notes all the usual suspects (RHP Cesar Carrillo, 3B Chase Headley, SS Matt Bush, C George Kottaras, RHP Jared Wells — how are Bush and Wells ahead of 2B Josh Barfield?) as well as some relative unknowns (LHP Geoff Vandal, OF Yefri Carvajal, RHP Ernesto Frieri, LHP Fabian Jimenez Angulo). Among other things, the organization appears to be very high on Headley. Also be sure to click on the links within the story: there’s some good audio and video here, as well as related articles.
- Texas’ Eaton might miss two months (San Diego Union-Tribune). First Brian Lawrence, now this. Another article at MLB.com suggests Adam Eaton might be out closer to three months. I certainly don’t think the Padres did anything wrong, but you have to wonder if teams might think twice now when trading for San Diego pitchers.
- Diving In Head First (BR.com’s Sports Reference Blog). Sean Forman, creator of the invaluable Baseball-Reference.com, has started blogging again. One of the first things we learn is that he will be working on Baseball-Reference.com full time for the next year. It’s absolutely stunning what Sean has been able to accomplish “on the side,” and I’m excited to see where this takes him. Go get ‘em, Sean!
- ATM Reports. Nothing to do with banks, this is Lee Sinins’ new blog. Sinins, in case you don’t know, is the man behind the Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia.
- Gaslamp Balls: The comic strip. Wow. I want whatever they’re having.
Okay, that’s all for now. Have an excellent Friday and weekend. As a reminder, Ducksnorts2 Yahoo! fantasy baseball draft is tonight at 7 p.m. PT. And of course, Monday is the Padres’ opener against San Francisco, at the oh-so-convenient time of 4:05 p.m. PT. We’ll get the IGD going, and I hope to have photos from the game later that night. Man, I can just about taste it. I love this time of year!
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
March 31, 2006 at 10:07 am
LM - I don’t know what Geoff was thinking when he included holds as a category. My first reaction was pretty much yours… what kinda nonsense is that. But now I’ve changed my mind… it adds more randomness & thus more fun to the league. You can spend endless hours trying to play every angle and win the league, or you can relax, enjoy and say, “Aw, whatthef@@k, it’s a league that counts HOLDS, for chrissakes” and crack open another frosty. Good luck with your draft!
March 31, 2006 at 10:11 am
BTW, here was my draft…
1. (10) T. Helton
2. (15) B. Lidge
3. (34) R. Howard
4. (39) J. Schmidt
5. (58) J. Drew
6. (63) J. Hermida
7. (82) E. Encarnación
8. (87) M. Alou
9. (106) C. Barmes
10. (111) A. Kearns
11. (130) J. Willingham
12. (135) C. Burke
13. (154) A. Reyes
14. (159) M. Jacobs
15. (178) S. Williamson
16. (183) V. Zambrano
17. (202) T. Ohka
18. (207) J. Julio
I’ve since dumped Reyes and replaced him with Kyle Davies.
March 31, 2006 at 10:12 am
I like the move to go with Brazelton. He’s an athlete who should do fine if he doesn’t run into his old problems with his mechanics.
I saw Yefri Carvajal on one of the Peoria practice fields the other day and that article wasn’t kidding when they compared his build to Kirby Puckett or Bill Madlock.
March 31, 2006 at 11:24 am
Now that is a great commentary on Garvey and his number being retired. An utterly absurd, but very funny, cartoon perfectly captures the absurdity of the Padres having retired Mr. Dodger’s number. It’s so crazy, all you can do is laugh about it.
March 31, 2006 at 12:04 pm
WHAT!??! No “Top 100″ link???
March 31, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Roll yer own, Lance … http://sdpf.blogspot.com/ … no update since Mumph (#95)? We’re getting spoiled
March 31, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Anyone else out there doin’ last minute prep for Ducksnorts#2? It starts in ~40 mins … IDD? In-Draft Discussion
March 31, 2006 at 6:25 pm
It’s still letting me edit my pre-draft rankings … which is odd since it said it wouldn’t @ T-45 mins … not that it matters since I’ll be live-drafting … just fyi.
March 31, 2006 at 6:34 pm
GY - you got the 1st pick? How’d that happen???
March 31, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Cameron injured and headed for the disabled list.
Dang, we really needed that!
shit
March 31, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Say what??? hank - tell us more!
March 31, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Matty V. just gave Ducksnorts a plug on the air! You are Big Time now Mr. Young! Congrats. He and Mark were discussing the Lee trade and whether it should have been done considering Brown left after one year. Mark said, “Maybe this is one for the bloggers.” And then he proceeded to remark on how Ducksnorts had taken the Garvey question to the public. Very cool
March 31, 2006 at 8:28 pm
It’s being called an “apparent strain to his left oblique muscle”:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....onweb.html
March 31, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Here’s what I got in Ducksnorts#2 …
LynchMob
1. (4) T. Helton
2. (21) J. Schmidt
3. (28) R. Furcal
4. (45) J. Drew
5. (52) R. Weeks
6. (69) R. Winn
7. (76) J. Hermida
8. (93) M. González
9. (100) E. Encarnación
10. (117) D. Báez
11. (124) B. Penny
12. (141) B. McCann
13. (148) J. Vargas
14. (165) C. Sullivan
15. (172) D. Bush
16. (189) J. Rauch
17. (196) B. Hawpe
18. (213) M. Jacobs
… a good/fun draft … THANKS all!
March 31, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Pat, I just heard that and was blown away. And it came in the fifth inning, no less. Very cool. Matt, Mark, Ed, et al. — if you’re reading, thanks a bunch!
March 31, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Here’s my draft:
1. (1) D. Wright
2. (24) J. Rollins
3. (25) M. Giles
4. (48) C. Cordero
5. (49) E. Gagne
6. (72) M. Barrett
7. (73) D. Turnbow
8. (96) S. Casey
9. (97) S. Green
10. (120) J. Guillén
11. (121) P. Wilson
12. (144) C. Biggio
13. (145) M. Wuertz
14. (168) J. Thomson
15. (169) I. Snell
16. (192) J. Cruz
17. (193) A. González
18. (216) S. Drew
And the first round:
1. D. Wright Clairemont C…
2. A. Pujols [edited for …
3. D. Lee Balboa Park …
4. T. Helton LynchMob
5. J. Peavy BottomFeeders
6. Mi. Cabrera Sea Breaze
7. B. Sheets The Slumpbus…
8. R. Oswalt Old Man Rivers
9. B. Abreu Tijuana Tequ…
10. J. Bay war dragons
11. P. Martínez Sharon Inbre…
12. C. Beltrán Rick is Cool
March 31, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Matt, Mark, Ed, et al. — if you’re reading … LET’S DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!
March 31, 2006 at 9:21 pm
GY - take a look at this box score … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=260331121 … and then tell me how/why you picked Wright #1
March 31, 2006 at 9:23 pm
MLB.com is reporting this will be Mets lineup …
Batting order:
1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Paul Lo Duca, C
3. Carlos Beltran, CF
4. Carlos Delgado, 1B
5. David Wright, 3B
6. Cliff Floyd, LF
7. Xavier Nady, RF
8. Anderson Hernandez, 2B
… good for X!
March 31, 2006 at 11:42 pm
Why bat two of your worst hitters 1-2? So odd.
April 1, 2006 at 8:40 am
Come on, Richard. Reyes is a classic leadoff hitter and basestealer, and LoDuca is a great contact hitter perfectly suited to the 2 spot because he can take a lot of pitches and hit behind the runner.
April 1, 2006 at 9:05 am
As a good contact hitter who doesn’t run particularly well, LoDuca is well-suited to the role of grounding into lots of double plays.
Isn’t that the best way to start out a game?
April 1, 2006 at 9:51 am
LM - since we ended up with 6 players in common in our drafts, I’m gonna guess you were also relying heavily on the BP PFM?
April 1, 2006 at 5:18 pm
dprat - yesiree! we shall see, huh? not nearly enough time to do much else …