The Baseball Crank is putting together his annual division previews “using Established Win Shares Levels as a jumping-off point.” He’s reached the NL West and, like most folks, he isn’t real excited about the Padres this year.
One of the things I find interesting is that, despite the fact that the Padres are mostly older than they were last season, they are younger in a few key spots that will make a difference down the line. We know about Jake Peavy and Khalil Greene, of course. But I’m liking what I’ve seen out of Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Barfield (congrats on his first big-league homer Monday night at Colorado — 431 feet to left-center, not a Coors special), and Chris Young so far, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Clay Hensley just might be a solid contributor in the rotation.
Speaking of Gonzalez and Young, I know it’s early still, but does anyone feel a little bad for the Rangers on this one? Adam Eaton is a decent enough pitcher when healthy, and Akinori Otsuka is one of my all-time favorite Padres, but I’m not sure how you deal two building blocks for those guys. Honestly, and I’m not saying this just because the guy is hurt, I don’t understand how you deal Young straight up for Eaton.
Hey, we’ll take it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel good about this team. Not great, but good — as in, .500 remains a distinct possibility and we’re finally seeing an influx of solid young talent that should help the club down the road. As I said throughout the winter, every move the Padres made this off-season suggested a 2007 target.
The beauty is that in a division as weak as the NL West looks to be this year, you don’t need to punt the present while building for the future. A return to the playoffs isn’t out of the question. If it happens, great. But if it doesn’t, the Friars are putting themselves in excellent position for next year.
But nobody’s ready to wait till then. Not just yet, anyway.
Like seeing the young guys too. Johnson hit two rockets past third last night, one was an error but who can blame the thirdbasemen when he sees Johnson taking rips like that. The young guys run the bases with abandun too. Guys like Giles and Mike are what they are, but in the young guys, there is hope and promise and fire, that you just don’t get from Giles or Mike.
Sooo, what kinda SATs do you have to have to get into Princeton?
The Rangers trade was, IMNSHO, a flat out steal. I read a bunch of Ranger blogs after the trade was announced, and their reaction was “what were the Ranger execs smoking??”.
Eaton (even if he didn’t get hurt) is gone after this year.
Gonzalez is making Klesko’s bad shoulder a non-issue.
Young is looking very good (but the year is young).
Sledge needs to stop running into other fielders, though.
“…promise and fire, that you just don’t get from Giles…”
Have you ever seen the guy play?
If Young becomes a solid #2 (looking more likely), then we are just a #3 from a very good (not great) rotation. Seems like we need to hang around until the all star break or so…any thoughts who might be available then?
Yeah, Giles is great, funny looking body but plays with fire. I guess I meant to compare known quantities like Giles and Mike and unknown guys like Johnson and AG. With the new youngs, there is so much potential. You are right though, Giles plays very hard.
I agree with the early assessments of the Rangers trade. Both Young and Gonzalez look better than anything they got. 3B and catcher are my biggest concerns. Piazza is not getting it done very well; it’s early but I do hope getting in Mirabelli and Bowen, selectively and intelligently, can squeeze as a passable OPS from the position. It seems there must be someone who can play a passable 3B that we could use to back up Castilla, not named Blum. Also, Khalil is in a bit of funk, thus far not even Coors has helped it.
IF…Young gels into a #2, and Woody can make a passable #3, the back-end with Estes, CHP and Hensley is not that bad. The pen seems solid, and defense has been OK. In a weak division, kind of makes you start hoping. For all my “analytical” bent, my mood is very driven by the last few games. The Padres after winning 2 in a row look so much better than after a few losses. Shouldn’t be that way, but it is for me.
Well, two games isn’t that much less informative than the mere 12 we’ve seen so far. You can’t really draw any conclusions this early.
I know it’s beating an old, long-dead horse … but wouldn’t it be nice to have Loretta playing 3B for the Padres right now?
Onward …
Now, LM, why would we possibly want a career 365 OBP from neutral or pitcher-friendly parks when we could have Mr. RBI Castilla playing 3b? Although in fairness to Castilla, it’s been a while since we’ve had such a smooth defender.
Corey Hart was sent to AAA by the Brewers. Yost doesn’t want him. I want him.
as far as Loretta playing 3b, its my understanding that he said he wouldn’t shift. He credited his playing 2b regularly with his increased offensive production.
Castilla is doing alright, .263 with a hr and some rbi’s. As a whole the Padres are sucking offensively. AD (.298)and Roberts(.286) are leading the team. Greene is leading in rbi(10) and Vinnie second with (6).
We need a better back up plan than Blum though.
I am starting to climb on the Leone bandwagon, even though I am trying not to. He just keeps bashing the ball.
Hart cannot play third base any more than Mark McGwire could. He is, however, a good hitter, although not as good as McGwire.
Ask Soriano what happens when you refuse to play a position. You play it or you don’t get paid. It’s not like Loretta played a lot of 3b before so he had something to compare it to. He had a nice offensive year in 2002, when he played the most 3b of his career. Not as nice as his 2003 or 2004, granted. Maybe it was the stability of the position instead of being shuffled between 2nd, short, and 3rd that helped him hit. Playing 3b for 150 games seems like stability.
The dangers with Castilla are age, injury, and 2007. He’s no solution to the 3b problem anytime after October 2006. If we have a chance to get someone who could play there next year, we should. I guess that could be Leone, but he’s no spring chicken. More of an early summer chicken.
Hey “war dragons” (from DS#2) … you out there? My condolences for Suppan’s outing today … OUCH!
You keep saying that, Geoff, but the guys at Baseball America think differently. They call him below-average but playable. Bryan Smith of Baseball Analysts said he “converted well” after watching him play thirdin the Southern League in 2003, where he won the league MVP.
He only switched to 3b in 2002 because the Brewers were lacking there. I expect that’s when you saw him, as a 20 year old learning a new position on the challenging infields of the Cal League. He’s supposed to be a very good athlete, I’d give a 23 year old who hit 308/377/536 in Nashville last season a chance.
Plus he’s got a built-in library of theme music.
That is possible. I just know that when I saw him in the Cal League, he was about as bad as it gets at third base.
The music is a definite selling point.
http://www.coreyhart.com/