Friday Links (16 Jun 06)
Fri, Jun 16, 2006
by Geoff Young
Okay, I’m still backlogged from my Hawai’i trip so you’re getting an extra helping of links today. Some of these have been out there for a while, but they’re all good. Enjoy.
- Mailbag: A catching conundrum? (Padres.com). Lyle Spencer talks about everyone’s favorite three-headed monster, as well as backstop of the future George Kottaras. He also talks a little about the difficult hitting conditions at Petco Park, which seems appropriate during this time of transition among the coaching ranks.
- Speaking of the coaching situation, gotta love this quote from Dave Magadan in the wake of his dismissal: “Hopefully, I’m the reason and these guys turn it around.” Just for the record, the Padres had an OPS+ of 100 or better in all three of Magadan’s seasons. The team is hitting .252/.322/.391 as his tenure comes to an end, and Dave Roberts has become a legitimate offensive threat under Magadan’s watch. One thing that might make Merv Rettenmund’s job easier: anyone but Vinny Castilla at third base. As for Rettenmund, if the hitters don’t pick up under his instruction, maybe the Pads can look into building a new stadium. Either that or turn back time.
- Richard Wade at Friar Faithful is calling for Bruce Bochy to be next in line at the unemployment office. You know what’s great about all this? The Padres are 34-32, two games out of first place. Can you imagine, 10-15 years ago, advocating a shakeup in that situation? This is called progress. People are expecting the Pads to win now. Incidentally, they are 203-187 since moving to Petco Park, so I take back that bit about the new stadium.
- Ekstrom, Headley and Jamison to represent Storm in All-Star Game (OurSports Central). Great news for all three. It must be nice to have an All-Star third baseman on your team. The game, between the California League and the Carolina League, will be played in Salem, Virginia on Tuesday, June 27.
- Athleticism the key for Padres on Day 1 (Padres.com). Nice little recap of the recent draft, with quotes from Grady Fuson about each player. There’s also coverage from Day 2 but it’s a little less thorough.
- Padres Pick a Third Baseman (Voice of San Diego). Speaking of the draft, Tom Shanahan takes an unusual angle on the Padres’ selection of Matt Antonelli in the first round. Shanahan talks to Antonelli’s teammate at Wake Forest, first baseman Allan Dykstra. Kind of a neat perspective, and one that you don’t hear too often.
- Evolving Draft Strategies (Hardball Times). Chris Constancio assembles some cool graphs showing trends in the draft. The shocker is that the Padres tend to favor college pitchers. Yeah, we knew that already, but it’s neat to see in graphical form.
- 2006 College All-America Team (Baseball America). Four guys taken by the Padres in the draft are here: Chad Huffman (#53 overall), DH, third team; Wade LeBlanc (#61), LHP, third team; Craig Cooper (#213), 1B, second team; Kody Valverde (#303), C, second team.
- 2006 High School All-America Team (Baseball America). Three Padres draftees are represented on this one: Cedric Hunter (#93), OF, first team; Kyler Burke (#35), UT, second team; Matt Latos (#333), RHP, second team.
- Cool interview of Tony Gwynn in the Spring 2006 edition of vice-versa, a literary quarterly published by the University of Hawai’i. It’s a quick read, but we get to find out what Gwynn’s favorite movie is. Thanks to Jeff at Syntax of Things for the heads-up on this one.
- Speaking of Gwynn, Ed Barnes and Brian Wilmer have an outstanding audio interview with him in their May 31 episode of The Writers Radio. The interview kicks in around the 7 minute mark and runs about 16 minutes. Gwynn talks about the hitters he identified with and emulated as a youngster, his pioneering use of video as a diagnostic tool (hint: he had to buy and set up all of his own equipment for the first few years), the importance of controlling the strike zone, the Hall of Fame, and more. Good stuff — as is the rest of the show.
- Home Depot Criticized For Pledging $10 Billion To American Cancer Society For Every Padres Home Run (The Onion). Thanks to Tim and Nick G. for the tip. Great quote: “Having your donation depend upon a San Diego player hitting a baseball over 300 feet through the air is not only placing unfair and unrealistic expectations on the Padres, but is equivalent to telling everyone who has cancer to go off and die.”
That’s all for now; more as it happens. Happy Friday to all, and we’ll get the IGD going tonight around 6 p.m.
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June 16, 2006 at 8:41 am
10 billion, that is snark at its best…
June 16, 2006 at 9:13 am
Another link. Looks like T Gwynn Jr. may be in line for an OF job if the Brewers don’t re-sign Carlos Lee.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=436498
June 16, 2006 at 10:41 am
Anyone see this from the NC Times article yesterday?
The Padres signed RHP Steve Andrade to a minor-league contract after he chose free agency over a Triple-A assignment from the Kansas City Royals. Andrade, who spent spring training with the Padres before being waived, had a 9.64 ERA in four relief appearances with the Royals. He will report to Triple-A Portland.
June 16, 2006 at 11:20 am
I’m coming out of denial about The Hammer (aka Paul McAnulty)’s ability to play 3B … Jonathan @ pdxbeavers.com has a pretty realistic view, based on actual observations (I haven’t gotten up to a Beavers game yet) …
… seeing him at 3B, it reminds me of one of my favorite baseball quotes of all time. Former Pawtucket Red Sox manager Ed Nottle was asked once, what will it take to make Sam Horn a good defensive 1B. Nottle replied “About a million ground balls. And I’ve already hit him my million.”
In his defense, P-Mac took about 50 grounders at 3B yesterday during BP, so he’s only about 999,950 away
In all seriousness, he’s not an everyday 3B and he’s not going to be an everyday 3B anytime in the near future. But he might be able to step in in a pinch, and relieve all those Pads fans the agony of having to watch Vinny C.
… and then this comment was in yesterday’s Beaver game notes …
With one out, Carlos Quintin reached on a poor throw from McAnulty at third.
… so, ya, defense matters … ya can’t hide @ 3B, I s’pose … but the dudes bat is on fire!
Remember the Pizza Feed game last year? It was that game in which he got his first MLB hit … I hope he’s up again for the Pizza Feed game this year
June 16, 2006 at 11:49 am
Cesar Carrillo - S - Padres
Padres prospect Cesar Carrillo returned to the DL at Triple-A Portland and may miss the rest of the season with a sore right elbow.
An MRI was taken yesterday. “If we need to be cautious and shut him down, we will,” said Grady Fuson, the club’s vice president of scouting and player development. “We could always get him innings later in the (Arizona) Fall League.” Carrillo would have been a candidate to join the Padres in the second half if healthy. Jun. 15 - 2:05 pm et
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
June 16, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Stark’s take on who will and won’t be traded this summer:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=2485721
Wonder what it would take to get Aubrey Huff…
June 16, 2006 at 1:31 pm
“what it would take to get Aubrey Huff”
Pack of smokes? He’s right in the Castilla Zone offensively and he can’t field. I’ll live with a worse glove if the bat is there, and Huff might bounce back, but does anyone see Bochy playing Huff full-time if he still has Bellhorn, Castilla, and/or Blum to go to?
Besides, the Devil Rays still sound like a tough team to deal with, asking for 4! players for Crawford. If teams had two good young major leaguers and 2 sure-thing minor leaguers, why would they be looking to acquire Crawford in the first place?
June 16, 2006 at 4:25 pm
You know the bad thing about 3b situation is: We had a good kid a couple of years ago and failed to sign him. Now he is showing really good power for the Dodgers(who did sign him)
Andy Laroche…
he is hitting .309 with 41/32 bb/k ratio and 9 hrs in the Southern league. Just another case of failing to pony up for your draft picks..
he hit 30 hrs last season between A+(21) and AA(9)
June 16, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Speaking of 3b, Bellhorn is not doing such a fine job of replacing vinnie. I was watching him waving at those ground balls to the right and left of him. He doesnt have much range at third. He is hitting .111 with exactly 1 hit(a homer) in the last 7 days. He did pile up some walks but still didnt score or drive in anyone wiith them.
Vinnie is still sucking but he had 3 hits, 2 doubles and a homer.
June 16, 2006 at 5:24 pm
You were watching Bellhorn waving at ground balls? Where were you when Vinnie was kicking them the last two weeks?
Yes, in June, with very sporadic playing time, Bellhorn hasn’t hit well. Since he dominated Vinny in April and May, the edge goes to Bellhorn.
As a third baseman this year Bellhorn’s Rate stat is 117, which is tremendous and admittedly much better than his career. Castilla is at 109, still very good. Bellhorn’s fielding percentage is higher, which isn’t worth much, but his Zone Rating, one of the best available fielding stats, is much higher than Castilla.
LaRoche is bad enough, but Drew still hurts worse because everyone in the organization thought he was the best pick and chickened out when Moores asked them to defend it.
June 18, 2006 at 10:12 pm
It’s worth noting that I’ve been calling for the firing of Bochy for a few years. And I’ve been detailing why for around a year. I’m only now posting it at Friar Faithful.