Geez, this is supposed to be the off-season. Busy, busy, busy…

• Two articles in today’s U-T on Bud Black, formally introduced Thursday night as the Padres’ new manager: The Buddy system and Compromise or consensus, it’s Bud’s job. Interesting look at Black, as well as the process that led to his hiring.
• Padres’ new manager is feeling ‘fabulous’ (North County Times). The usual stuff, plus a non-update on the Darren Balsley situation: “After speaking with Balsley on Wednesday, Black said he’s inclined to bring him back, although negotiations on a new contract remain in Towers’ hands.” Well, okay; let’s get it done, then.
• 2006 All-OOPs Team (Baseball Analysts). Rich Lederer identifies the most overrated offensive players in 2006. Ex-Padre Jay Payton makes the list, while Josh Barfield merits an honorable mention.
• Roster management and why it’s important (USS Mariner). Fascinating discussion on the nuances of building a big-league team. Very well thought out, plus it contains gems like, “This is why catchers with odd skillsets seem at times like fetish objects of the stathead community.”
• Net Stolen Bases: Leaders and Laggards (Baseball Analysts). Who were the most efficient base stealers in 2006? Well, Dave Roberts led the National League, and as a team, the Padres were second to the Mets. Defensively, the Pads were, um — hey, would you look at that offense!
• Gold Gloves by team? Interesting concept. Jeff at Lookout Landing identifies the Padres as the best defensive team in the big leagues. This makes for a nice companion piece to Chris Dial’s individual NL Gold Gloves from a couple weeks ago. We all know this already, but that really was a spectacular outfield last year.
• Crunch on This (Dodger Thoughts, via Baseball Musings). Jon Weisman talks about the J.D. Drew incident. Drew, in case you missed it, opted out of his contract with the Dodgers, thus becoming a free agent. Apparently the Dodgers didn’t see this coming. The salient points for Padres fans are:
  1. Drew is a Scott Boras client, and the Pads just shipped the last one of those (Barfield) out of town, so forget it.
  2. I like Ned Coletti better as the Dodgers GM than Paul DePodesta. Of course, in a perfect world, they’d bring back Tommy Lasorda.
• Chasing the Big Numbers 5 – Wins (Batters Box). How do some of today’s brightest young starting pitchers compare against the all-time greats at a similar stage in their careers? This piece is looking strictly at wins, but it’s an interesting read.
• Evaluating Managers, Part 3 (Baseball Think Factory). Man, I’m behind on my reading. I’ve only had a chance to skim this one, but it promises to be a fun read. Chris Jaffe attempts to determine the influence different managers have on their team’s success. Bruce Bochy does well according to Jaffe’s methodology, placing 12th among 34 managers examined. Surprisingly, Dusty Baker shows up at #6. Jaffe goes into pretty good detail on several of the managers. Fun stuff.

I could go on, but I’m out of time. Is it spring training yet?