first pitch: 11:05 a.m., PT
television: none
matchup: Clay Hensley (4-5, 4.05 ERA) vs John Rheinecker (2-1, 3.60 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
Best of all possible outcomes Wednesday night: Padres get the win, we get to see Aki, and even though he takes the loss, no earned runs are charged to his record. I can’t even tell you how much I hated rooting against Aki. But, hey, that ain’t a Padres uni on his back. After this afternoon’s contest I can start pulling for him again.
No television for this morning’s affair. Figured if we can’t watch the game, maybe we can talk more about the third base situation. Here’s our current wish list. Let me know if I’m missing anyone.
Edgardo Alfonzo
Is there an “older” 32-year-old in baseball? Hasn’t been productive since his last year with the Mets, in 2002.
Rich Aurilia
Not an everyday player, still has some pop in his bat. Can play second or short if needed.
Tony Batista
Low batting average, good power, no walks. Don’t the Padres already have that?
David Bell
This was last year’s solution, only he was called Joe Randa.
Wilson Betemit
He’s only 25 and he can hit, so he might be a little costly (assuming he’s even available). The Braves have Edgar Renteria at short and Chipper Jones at third, so maybe, just maybe.
Aaron Boone
Like Bell, only with ties to San Diego. Uh-oh.
Russell Branyan
Three true outcomes, baby! Can he really play third base?
Miguel Cabrera
He’s young, cheap, and great. I love the concept but can’t imagine Florida parting with him for anything short of Jake Peavy, if that.
Pedro Feliz
A watered-down version of Batista, plays in the same division as the Pads. Not gonna happen.
Corey Hart
I’m not convinced he’s a third baseman. Next game he plays there in the big leagues will be his first, but the kid can hit.
Aubrey Huff
On the one hand, he’s just 29 years old and not far removed from a .311/.367/.555 season. On the other, his OPS keeps going down — 922, 853, 749, 635. Could be cheap, could be worth nothing; see Grieve, Ben.
Andy Marte
Outstanding minor-league credentials. How come he keeps getting traded?
Dallas McPherson
A cooler-named, less productive version of Branyan. Scary but vaguely intriguing.
Mark Teahen
With Alex Gordon on the way, Kansas City probably doesn’t need Teahen. Then again, the Padres and their fans are still recovering from the Sean Burroughs Experience™.
Right now the guys I like are Aurilia, Betemit, and possibly Huff or McPherson. And of those, the only one that excites is Betemit.
US down by a goal in the first half to Ghana. Crap. Oh, yes, the VQ. Eeny, meeny, mineey, moe catch a 3rd basement by the toe. Crap I have no idea. Perfer younger to older, and don’t want to swap one DV for another. Would take a little less D for a lot more O.
Padres seems to have the swagger back, which is great fun and our ptichng continues to perform.
Hey, is it windy in Arlington or what. Ted said its windy all summer long. reminds me of candlestick.
With the Padres rumored to have inquired about Marte and have supposedly spoken to Washington, perhaps they are interested in Kory Castro in AA for the Nationals. With the recent Sullivan article on how the Padres do not have the money to add an impact player, it is very possible that KT is looking for a cheap, young 3B that they can ease into next season. With Ryan Zimmerman emerging, Castro may be available.
Betemit would be an interesting pickup as well.
I’m looking all over the place for Kory Castro. Take out the r in his last name and….wow. Those are niiiiiice numbers. 300/426/512, 53 walks, 53 strikeouts, 11 hr. He’s a little old for AA and they’ve moved him to 2b, but he’s definitely worth looking at.
The Braves may decide to trade Giles and slot Betemit in at second base. Or shove Chipper to first base and play Betemit at third. I get nervous thinking about dealing with them.
I don’t think Aurila is an every day solution but I would love him to be in a Blehorn/Blum role, he still has a better bat then both, his defense is far superior to both and he can play all 4 IF positions.
The Rangers where tiring to trade Blalock last off season I wonder if they will do the same this off season, the padres have good young pitching in the system which seems to be what the rangers covet. Would it be worth maybe a Jarred Wells, Tim Stauffer, Chase Headly deal? would that deal even get it done?
Is Leone out of the 3B discusion? or are his 11 errors this season in AAA killing his chances? I guess I would still like to see him play every day for a few weeks in the majors before I move on.
Vinny’s two doubles the other night have bought him the rest of June. He shouldn’t be starting against RHP, but he’ll get more playing time than he deserves as long as he’s here. So any trade has to not only bring in a replacement but get Castilla out. And let’s be honest, Vinny does his part to keep games short by hacking at the first pitch he sees, as if every pitcher just got off the bus from Single A.
I think everyone has resigned to knowing that Vinny will be the 3B this year for better or worse, I think most of this discussion is based upon who we think will be holding down the hot corner next year.
Thanks for the break down Geoff. This exactly the kind of discussion I was looking for. That guy from the Nationals looks like a possible option and I for some reason have always kinda liked Dallas McPherson. Anyways I’m interested to find out what everone else thinks!
I don’t know that the Rangers are going to trade Blalock. Texeria is getting pretty well entrenched at first and now that he’s won a Gold Glove there it will be tough to move him…
I’ve read that the Braves are more interested in dealing Giles than Betemit. Do we have any interest in getting Giles and playing him at 3rd?
In April I spoke with Peter about trying to pick up McPherson for Ben Johnson. I doubt that LAA would do that deal now that they are falling out of the race and McPherson has gotten hot.
I think that Marte and Cabrera are both sort of pipe dreams. No way that the Pads have the prospects to get Cabrera or that the Indians will move Marte.
Of the players that you mentioned I do think that Huff makes some sense. He’s a left-handed bat, which we need, and has historically had good second halves. If we acquired him, I’d like to keep Vinny for defense and platoon and let go of Blum or Bellhorn.
Other guys to throw in the mix based on how their team is doing and whether they might be tradeable: Corey Koskie, Jeff Cirillo, Ty Wigginton, Aramis Ramirez, Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista
Short term fill in dream list: Bill Hall, Ryan Freel
Aramis Ramirez…
Now that’s what I’m Talking about!!! But I don’t think we have anyone to give up for him. How good would that guy look in the line-up?
Vinny’s gonna come out of it. Just you watch. BTW, Woody pitched 3 nearly perfect innings last night, striking out 3 and only walking one (no hits, no runs) for Lake Elsinore. Options when he returns??
1. Bullpen
2. Send down Vanilla Mike
3. DL Jake
4. Send Clay back to pen
5. Play Woody, then trade him or Chan Ho for a 3B (Can Ray Lankford play 3rd?)
Oops, sorry…Woody struck out 5 in 3 innings last night.
Brocail pitched the night before for Elsinore, just FYI
Koskie might be a good possibility, I think Cirillo left a bad tase in the padres mouth, and Beltre has way to big of a contract for the padres to even look at him.
Can Giles play 3rd? I would love to see him in a Padres uniform, im sure working with his brother would help his game even more.
I just got it…
The new starting 3B for San Diego
RYAN KLESKO
That’s right folks Left handed 3B and we all know for 10Million a year Klesko will put in the time to get the job done. Oh and maybe if we can all pitch in go down to Mexico and pick him up some HGH we’ll see that player we saw 4 or 5 years ago!
Just a thought!
I think the pads will send down Thompson when Woddy comes back.
Do you think the pads will try to re-sign Chan Ho at the end of the year. The way FA pitcher have been going the last couple of off seasons he coulf get 3-4 Mil on the open market if continues to perform.
With Boras as his agent I think that Park will be looking for more than 3-4 Mil for next year. I think he’s looking more at 5-8 per for 3 years.
I agree that the Padres send down Thompson when Woody gets back.
Koskie might be a good option for the Padres to pursue. He plays better defense than Huff, but doesn’t have the offensive upside either…
Anyone think that the Rays might do Thompson and a low-level prospect for Huff? They need pitching pretty badly and Mike has looked pretty good during this stretch for the Padres.
Thompson, Stauffer, and maybe Belhorn (if he appoves the trade) Maybe but no way Thompson and a low level prospect.
Kind of interesting, Johnson is in the #2 hole today.
Scratch what i said above about Belhorn and insert McAnulty
Headley with HR #9 yesterday … http://tinyurl.com/mgdeg … he’s still a long shot, imo … 2007 at best … 2008 more likely …
Antonelli was 0-for-2 plus a walk yesterday … http://tinyurl.com/rwd9w … before being PH’d for (again) … and the PH’er hit a 3-run HR …
btw, that previous link to yesterday Lake Elsinore box score has the line for Woody in it …
Hensley 6-up-6-down thru 2 …
Pitches-strikes – C Hensley 25-16; J Rheinecker 27-15.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Hensley 4-0; J Rheinecker 4-2.
Batters faced – C Hensley 6; J Rheinecker 8.
What the hell happened? It says Giles was thrown out at 3rd, what happened to Johnson? Did Giles go to 3rd when Johnson stopped at third? Ran ourselves out of 2 runs that inning.
We ran ourselves out of three runs that innings, because Cameron was the first man to reach base and he was picked off. Our hitting is poor, but when we run ourselves out of three runs in an inning, of course our hitting is poor.
A burp (walk) to the #9 hitter takes Clay away from “perfect game” … thru 3 full …
Pitches-strikes – C Hensley 41-24; J Rheinecker 46-23.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Hensley 6-0; J Rheinecker 5-2.
Batters faced – C Hensley 10; J Rheinecker 13.
… let’s go O, swing that lumber!
This clown Rednecker or whatever isn’t fooling anybody. 7 hits, no runs…Let’s go Vinny!
I keep hearing Cabrera’s name associated w/ NL West trades. And it doesn’t bother me a bit that we aren’t the only name in the discussion. If we can’t get him, we can drive the price up…
calling it…squeeze. Yes, with 2 out.
See Vinny, good things happen when you don’t close your eyes and swing at the first pitch every time. And when your manager limits you to hitting LHP.
Hey, Vinny’s got a 2-ball, 1-strike count on him!!!
… and then delivers sac fly … 1-0 Padres
J. Barfield doubled to deep left, K. Greene scored … 2-0 Padres
Hensley should already be out of this inning.
Coleman asserts that the official scorer is on drugs.
Do you suppose Young would have held at third if EY had been in left instead of Johnson?
3 pitches, 2 outs. C’mon now.
Big AB for AGon against the lefty
Richard … what happened in the 3rd? Here’s what yahoo says …
- B. Johnson walked
- B. Giles walked, B. Johnson to second
- M. Piazza singled to center, B. Giles out at third, B. Johnson to third
… did Giles go to 3rd and Johnson not go home?
Johnson coasted home and didn’t score before Giles made the third out.
Clay…back to the bullpen. The walks don’t hurt as much there. If you average 1 walk every 2.5 innings, that’s once every two appearances as a reliever, but three walk a game as a starter.
We’re playing like absolute crap today. Day game after a night game. Damn the ban!
That runner may have been safe either way. But when the runner knocks the ball out as he’s getting up and inadvertantly hits Bard’s glove, that shouldn’t count as losing the ball. That’s a couple seconds after the play is over.
Maybe Aki will hook us up with a MEATBALL!!!
jesse – “the ban”?
Willy Aybar can hit, if the Dodgers would trade him within the division. Not good defensively, but still very young, could fill in at second as well, and his offensive ability is well rounded (doubles power, eye, ability to hit for average), which I like for a player having Petco as his home park. He’s no Aramis Ramirez, but since Aramis is a power hitter and little else, I’m not sure he’d be the best fit for the park (he’s also too expensive, both in terrms of contract and trade value)
If the Padres wanted to gamble on a prospect, Kouzmanoff (sp?) of Cleveland might not be a bad shot, if the Indians are still high on Marte.
Medea’s Child
lynch- greenies, amphetamines, etc.
ah … yes, the price we pay … but is that an NL-only thing?
I can’t believe that a 3B has possibly just fallen into the Padres’ lap. Sean Burroughs was just designated for assignment!