Following the lead of Jim McLennan at AZ Snakepit, here are the Padres 2005-06 Elias player rankings:
Hitters
- Brian Giles 83.333 A
- Mike Piazza 76.923 A
- Mike Cameron 71.333 A
- Todd Walker 70.996 A
- Dave Roberts 66.000 A
- Khalil Greene 62.434 B
- Josh Bard 54.762 B
- Ryan Klesko 53.778 B
- Josh Barfield 49.134 C
- Adrian Gonzalez 48.261 C
- Rob Bowen 35.897
- Russell Branyan 26.708
- Geoff Blum 22.360
- Terrmel Sledge 12.222
Pitchers
- Scott Linebrink 84.231 A
- Trevor Hoffman 83.298 A
- Jake Peavy 78.023 A
- Chris Young 75.490 A
- Woody Williams 68.137 A
- Rudy Seanez 63.319 A
- Clay Hensley 61.482 A
- Cla Meredith 61.436 A
- David Wells 60.458 B
- Chan Ho Park 57.680 B
- Alan Embree 53.950 B
- Doug Brocail 41.733
- Brian Sweeney 35.456
- Shawn Estes 29.330
These rankings are always so goofy — Brian Giles ahead of Carlos Beltran? Matt Diaz ahead of Adrian Gonzalez? Eh, whatever…
Don’t forget Scott “Gopherball” Linebrink ahead of Trevor.
Wow! – I don’t care how goofy they are, we potentially get extra draft picks for Piazza, Walker, Roberts, and Klesko and pitchers Williams, Seanez, Embree, and Chan Ho Park!
Some of those guy obviously won’t be offered arbitration, but assuming most them go elsewhere, we should get compensation for Williams and Roberts at the minimum which would would give us four extra picks.
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the article on the front page of the UT today — Dusty Baker a possible managerial candidate? I think everyone’s first reaction is one of horror but maybe Dusty wouldn’t be a bad one year hire. If you look at the his team’s improvement in his first year it’s pretty amazing. In 1993 he took over the Giants and they had 30 more wins than the previous season (added Barry Bonds which helped but not that much). In 2003, the Cubs improved by 21 games with essentially the same team as the previous year (some minor changes). Pretty impressive. Personally, I doubt that he could end up here as he’s pretty much the same as Bochy — although instead of crappy corner players Dusty seems to prefer crappy no-hit middle infielders.
Yuck. No Dusty in SD, please. He’ll be bringing Neifi Perez to play in front of Barfield.
This is why Cameron’s option was picked up:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/batted-balls-in-2006/.
Very interesting to see what a balance hitter he was last season.
No touchy on Dusty!
I’m sincerely hoping the quotes in the UT around bringing him into the process as a good comparison to the other candidates are valid. I would feel pretty disillusioned if our front office, which should be about as anti- a guy like Baker as there can be, hires him.
Now, if you’re Baker, why do you let yourself be pulled in if there is no chance? Only reason I can think of is to increase leverage with another team, but that could backfire. Barring that, he must believe there is a chance, which is dismaying.
Honestly thought I’d woken up on another planet when I read about that. Never in a million years did I see Dusty having even a remote shot at this job. Tim Sullivan’s article was a joke. Can that guy call himself a serious sportswriter and write that Dusty is a top-tier manager we’d be lucky to get? I say no.
#1
Remember, these numbers are based on 2-year stats, and Linebrink was clearly better than Hoffman (and every other reliever in baseball) in 2005, and it wasn’t even close. Same with Diaz-Gonzalez, Geoff. Adrian was not good at all in 2005 with Texas – negative value, in fact. I’ve never understood the 2-year thing either, but I guess it’s to minimize fluke seasons, like Phil Plantier in 93 or Todd Hundley or that year Brady Anderson hit 52 homers.
Trey Hillman loves Jesus.
http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1054
#6, Keep in mind, that these reporters get “cozy” with managers, frequently the managers will even give the reporters their cell phone and/or home phone numbers… Whenever a team gets a new manager who has not worked as a big league manager, the reporter has to develop a new relationship and earn that manager’s trust. If a former big league manager is hired, frequently the reporters will have already made in-roads into developing a relationship with that potential manager.
Also, keep in mind that these reporters are given every cliche in the book about how to run teams. They could even be considered quasi-experts of managerial phillosophies. But as such they’re in tune more with the managerial side than the GM-side. Lastly, don’t forget that most of these reporters are mid-40′s or later and they cemented their ideas about what works and what doesn’t during the hitting-surpressed 70′s and 80′s. It’s not the least bit surprising that reporters are the biggest parrots at perpetuating “small ball” philosphies.
Now when we couple the psychology with the fact that MLB writers awarded Baker the NL Manager of the Year 3 times, why would we suspect anything else from Tim Sullivan?
Brian Hiro has an excellent article detailing the Baker inclusion into the managerial search.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/02/sports/professional/padres/22_36_4211_1_06.txt
Also, I posted an “Update” piece on my blog about updates to players I’ve already profiled.
And for laugh:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/54778
Re 7: ….and?
RE: 5 – I thought the same thing when I read Sullivan’s story. Even so, I think he’s pretty sharp columnist, also having listened to him as a guest on XX.
I get ill seeing Ozzie Guillen’s “smart ball” myth, in terms of why White Sox went all the way, become gospel in the press – writers and letter writers. Not necessarily a Guillen thing, but someone posted on signonsandiego.com that Bochy cost the team 15 to 20 games by not playing small ball. I knew they were a 108-54 caliber team.
“Landing a center fielder and and eighth-inning reliever remain the club’s top priorities. Agents for Darin Erstad, Gary Matthews and Dave Roberts have been contacted as the Rockies attempt to establish contract parameters.
“Matthews and Juan Pierre will set the market – they could receive $9 million a year – leaving Roberts and Erstad more realistic targets financially. Erstad hit just .221 last season, playing 40 games with an ankle injury.”
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_4588389
It would not bother me at all to see Roberts land in Colorado as their CF. He’d be an offensive asset for them, but with his diminished range and Colorado’s spacious outfield, he might cost them too many runs to be truly useful.
Erstad can’t play anything, much less center field. They are really dumb.
Wow. $9 million for Juan freaking Pierre. Juan “replacement level” Pierre? The guy that OBPs .330 and slugs .380? That $7 million option for Mike Cameron is looking pretty good.
Ben B., that’s why Towers wants to get Mike Cameron extended…
At least he doesn’t clog up the bases
Could we get Gary Matthews Jr. back to the Pads to play LF?
Imagine an OF of him, Cameron and Giles . . . nice.
OK . . . back from fantasyland . . . Pierre would get $9MM/year? That’s a tad high.
MLBTradeRumor.com just posted their top 50 free agents w/ predictions for which team they’ll land with. I copied (and linked) some of interest to Padre fans on my blog.
Boy, I wish Alou wouldn’t have said this:
“I’m almost sure, more than 99.9 percent sure, that I won’t return with the San Francisco Giants.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2647542
Now the Giants will CERTAINLY offer him arbitration because they KNOW he’ll decline it. With his 2006 salary, $7.45 m, the wouldn’t have risked offering arbitration for the 40 year old… DANG!
#18
I would be terrified of Matthews, Jr. His numbers were abnormally high in ’06, far, far better than any he had ever posted, and he was in his FA year in a hitter’s park. Plus, his OBP is extremely BA-dependent (I think he batted like 313 and had an OBP around 370, with twice as many Ks as walks, along with 100 runs scored in 700 plate appearances. He is also going to be 33 next season, is average defensively (highlight plays notwithstanding), with a poor throwing arm for a center fielder. He’s a terrible base-stealer (66% in his career) and has never been good before 2006. All the warning signs are there for a major collapse – and I don’t want SD to be the team stuck paying him for the next five years of Randy Winn-type staistics.
Solid analysis David.
Re #11: Let’s keep the “Jesus Freaks” out of the dugout. We should hire a Baha’i manager instead.
Re: 11
And it makes me wonder if he also likes meth and gay sex.