Ugh, what an irritating way for the Padres to end their winning streak. Milwaukee’s got a good ballclub, but how does a guy throw 54 pitches over the first two innings and allow just one run? Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Time to start a new one.
On another note, Justin Leone is hitting .316/.410/.576 at Portland, while Vinny Castilla is hitting .243/.289/.301 with the Pads. Just sayin’…
How does Trevor allow two doubles with two outs? The key now is to keep the swagger. Thank god we hit the raod Fri;o)
It’s hard to get a read on if this team is in a hurry, but if we remain competitive, the front office is going to have to address the serious lack of production from our infield corners. I have confidence that AGon will slowly build solid numbers, but I am more willing to overlook his offensive stuggles in light of his defense.
Vinny at third is a whole ‘nother matter. I think this is the Vinny we were all expecting when the trade was made, and there is no way we can stick with him if he is still hitting sub .700 OPS at the end of the month. I am all in favor of bringing up Leone to take his place, even if it means a platoon situation with Bellhorn. I might even be OK with Bellhorn getting the job full-time. I guess I am one of the few people that thinks his defensive reputation is currently overrated, largely built on his former self. It’s one thing to have an all-defense/no-hit first baseman, but it’s quite another to have two of those players at vital hitting positions. For the time being, it would be an improvement if we could simply get Bochy from batting him so high in the lineup.
Finally, if the Padres wanted to get creative, as long as Ben Johnson is rotting away on the bench, we might as well trade him to the Angels for Dallas MacPherson as was rumored a while ago.
Is it just my imagination or does it seem like the Padres always have trouble with the pitchers who rely on slop? Maddux doesn’t throw hard either but he’s more of a control pitcher than a junkballer.
Vinny has to go. It’s not just the lack of production but the continued hacking at the first pitch is killing the team. Gonzalez at least shows patience and the ability to foul off pitches like he did last night, plus he has at least the possibility of improving. Vinny may have a few brief hot streaks left in him but he’s really not an effective player anymore. I agree we’d be better off with Bellhorn at 3rd or bringing up Leone.
Vinny still seems smooth defensively to me, but his bat looks like he’s dragging a parachute.
I don’t want a repeat of 2005, when mgmt and a lot of fans said “Stick with Burroughs, he was hitting almost 300 for most of May, and the team was winning.” Winning in spite of an underperforming player is no reason to stick with him, not when there are no other advantages. Castilla is not part of the future. It may only be a slump, and we might not be able to trade him for anything, but he should be sitting.
And on yet another note, Justin Leone has 7 errors and Vinny has 1.
It’s good to see Leone get off to a hot start. Let’s leave him at a level where he can continue to grow.
Just my two cents.
“Justin Leone (3b) has been the big offensive force for the Beavers. Leading the team in batting average(.379), slg pct(.701), ops (1.162) hits(33) total bases(61)l, and rbi(27).” (quoted from Hanks Padres)
Those stats are from the end of April. Now, just 11 days into May, his average has dropped to .316, slg pct to .570, ops to .981 and has accrued just 4 more bases(65) total and 2 more rbi(29)
Now you can figure out as easily as me how bad he must be hitting to take that big of drops in all those categories. It is safe to say that the hot streak is over. eh?
He could be just returning to his normal level:
2005 numbers:
.243/.351/.383/.734 in 313ab;’s with tacoma or the .216/.298/.441/.739 he posted in 102ab’s with the Mariners.
I was very close to getting on the Leone bandwagon myself before this latest slump brought me to my senses.
I have been somewhat concerned about Castilla myself, but not from the batting average or ops, He doesnt seem to be getting any extra base hits. We need him to have a little more pop over there than 3 doubles and 1 homer.
Leone’s too old for me to worry about his growth. It may only be a hot streak in Portland, but at least he’ll take a damn walk. Sorry about the damn, Geoff.
I’ll take my chances with a month-long hot streak over an 11 day cold streak. At least get him here over Blum or one of our 3 catchers or the 12th pitcher.
Did he get any time with Seattle last year? The 102 ab stretch I see is for 2004. That year he went 269/677/597 for Tacoma, and Tacoma is no hitter’s park.
Of Leone’s errors, how many of them are bobbles versus throwing? I have a feeling that AGon could help out with the throwing errors.
I too have noticed his cold streak at Portland, but at worse we would be back in the same boat we were back in November, i.e. Burroughs/Randa was so bad that a relatively normal year from Vinny is an upgrade. Even if Leone reverts back closer to his 2004 Tacoma numbers, that likely still represents an upgrade over the present and future Vinny. At least Leone is younger and could pay off for a year or two. Vinny is giving us nothing.
At a minimum I would rather have Bellhorn starting at third and have Leone’s right handed power come off the bench (something we sorely lack at the moment).
Well one thing to remember, Portland Pge ain’t Petco.
Vinny is hitting .349/.396/.465 away from the friendly confines of Petco. What do you suppose he would hit in Portland?
Portland isn’t Coors Field, either, where Vinny piled up 1.215 OPS worth of his road numbers in 1/3 of his road at-bats. He got fat at his old hometown buffet. The other road parks he’s been okay or bad.
Just how bad has he hit everywhere else but Coors if he’s down to 243/289/301?
This is a 39 year old who was hurt last year. His career high EQA was 280 and that was in 1998. Anywhere outside Coors he’s been terminally average his whole career. He can’t play anywhere else on the diamond, he’s not hitting for power, and his bat seems to have slowed considerably. What’s the harm in promoting Leone and giving him some starts? Have Petco’s seats been jammed with Vinny supporters?
Here we go again … BP STAT OF THE DAY
Top 5 NL Bullpens, by WXRL
Team, WXRL
New York Mets, 4.13
Colorado Rockies, 4.01
Philadelphia Phillies, 3.15
Cincinnati Reds, 2.58
San Diego Padres, 2.46
… good stuff!
OMG, this rocks:
http://www.brewcrewball.com/special/milb+splits
What he said!!!
Thanks for the link Geoff, this is great
How bad has Vinny been? At -5.4 VORP, the Nationals still got the better of the trade.
(Alright, you nitpickers, thanks to the glove, he does actually, and barely, have a positive WARP1. Still.)
Let Leone grow? The dude’s like 29 or something.
GY
Awesome link. That’s totally wild.
Screw Leone, we should bring up Sikorski. Just for the heck of it — guy’s got 30 Ks in 19 IP.
That’s a great link Geoff, I was looking for something like that. Nice to see Leone performing well at home. As TW said earlier, PGE is no hitter’s paradise. BA has its 2004 park factor as 927 (very PETCO-esque). Not to mention, BA also lists Tacoma’s ’04 factor as 859(!), during which Leone put up that respectable 269/344/597 line. I didn’t expect Leone to continue to bat 400+, but his current slump is no worse than what we have seen from some of our regulars so far this season. Remember when we were all giddy about AGon? He sure went south in a hurry.
Anyone notice that TG Jr. is hitting .301 for Nashville? Actually that’s 5/7, I think his average went down a bit.
on april 23, leone was hitting .460. after that he went into a slump..
going 7 for 52 thru may 9th. this is an average of .135 for that period of two weeks after being red hot for 3 weeks. some, it appears, dont consider this a very bad slump. maybe they have a different standard than me or just didnt do the math.
when leone was hot, I was all for bringing him up and giving him a shot. I have changed my mind after seeing his slump. I dont think this is the right time to bring him up. If some still do, well, there is nothing else I can say.
That’s funny, I have Leone getting 9 hits (2 2b, no HR), 5 walks, and 8 RBI in his slump. 14 game stretch, but he only played in 12 of those and was a replacement or replaced in 1 other. That doesn’t make his numbers sparkle, but he’s still been disciplined.
Clearly he’s been cold, but Castilla hasn’t been hot yet. Even if we keep starting Castilla, I’d rather have Leone than Blum, Bard, or Bellhorn.
When you start at .460, even 2 for 5 drops your average.
according to milb schedule box scores, these are the numbers for leone during the period april 24 thru may 9(last game stats available)
april 24, leone 0-4 1rbi
april 25, leone 1-4 1bb
april 27, leone 1-4 1rbi
april 28, leone 0-4 1bb
april 29, leone 1-4 2rbi
april 30, leone 1-4
may 1, leone 0-4
may 2, leone 0-5
may 3, leone dnp
may 4, leone 1-2 3bb
may 5, leone 0-4
may 6, leone 1-4 2rbi
may 7, dnp
may 8, leone 1-5
may 9, leone 0-3
—————-
7 for 51 (.13725ba) 5bb and 6 rbi. Maybe I miscounted again..
The sooner they get the rotting corpse of Castilla out of the lineup, the better. I said during spring training that Bellhorn is a better option. I doubt Leone is the answer.
I’ll say this: Sean Burroughs is a better player than Castilla.
hank is right about Leone’s slump. How did I miscount by 2 in a run of 7? I’m not missing any fingers or toes.
I meant to write that I’d rather have Leone over Blum, Bard, or Brazelton. So many B’s. Bellhorn’s K’s are hard to watch, but he’s still more effective than our other options. A
Don’t know why I want to promote Leone, though. Ben Johnson can’t break into the lineup against lefties, why would Leone fare any better?
I wish they would send Johnson down. His value is dropping every game he sits on our bench. Why can’t they just call up Cust or Sledge and send Johnson down so he can play everyday? They can’t be keeping him around purely as defensive cover for Cameron can they? The only reason EY gets these starts against lefties is because he fits the mold of a leadoff hitter. We would be better off letting Greene or Barfield leadoff in those cases and letting BJ play, but our manager has got it good for EY, or vice versa. What a waste.