I hope you had an excellent New Year’s celebration. We managed to stay awake, which is a victory of sorts around here.
Anyway, I’m one of those annoying people who sit down and write a list of things to do in the coming year. I don’t call them resolutions, because that term implies a finality that doesn’t exist. They’re just things to do.
With so much of my energy now focused on blogging here, there, and everywhere — to say nothing of the book — I thought it would be good to come up with a game plan. Bearing in mind that this, like everything in life, is subject to change, here’s a little of what I’d like to accomplish at Ducksnorts in 2007.
Strengthen Community
One aspect of Ducksnorts that totally blew me away in 2006 was how much our community has developed. This is something I value greatly, and I think we can do even better this year. My goals are twofold:
- Give folks who are already here the chance to become even more involved.
- Bring more fans into the discussion.
To that end, here are a few things we can do:
Meetups
We finally had our first Ducksnorts meetup last season and it was awesome. For as much fun as the In-Game Discussions are, they’re even better when we’re all at the ballpark together, so we’ve got more meetups planned for 2007. The first will be sometime during spring training. Stay tuned for details.
Frappr!
This is a free service that — as many of you already know — provides a map showing where all the Ducksnorters are. If you’re on the map, great; if not, feel free to add yourself.
MySpace
I’m an old fart. I don’t understand MySpace at all, but it seems to be where the cool kids are, so I’m giving it a shot. If you do the MySpace thing, you can add me as a friend or whatever. It’ll be great.
Increase Features
I’m always trying to think of ways to improve Ducksnorts. I’ve got some ideas, but most will have to wait until after the book is published. A couple, though, are ready right now:
- Organizational Tree and Player Cards. We fired up the org tree late last season, and I’ve just added the player cards (see, e.g., Cla Meredith). I’m hoping that these will be valuable resources for fans of the Padres and baseball in general. If you think of anything more we can add to the org tree or the player cards, please drop me a line.
- Season Diary. As I’ve said before, my best ideas are stolen from other people. Over the past few seasons, TigerBlog has chronicled the 1935 and 1984 Tigers seasons. I’m going to do something similar at Ducksnorts this year. We’ve got the 1998 season covered in the book, so I’m thinking maybe we can revisit 1969 or 1984. I’m open to other ideas, though — let me know what you want to do and we’ll make it happen.
Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The book is my primary focus at least through the end of April. After that, we can get back to the business of making the blog rock as hard as possible. As always, suggestions are welcome.
Ready for another awesome year? Good, let’s do it.
Hey GY for the Spring training meet up, about when were you thinking about doing it? early, late or mid March? im going to try and work out of our Phoenix office that week.
Probably late March. I’d like to have books in hand when I get out there. Will set a date next week.
I will be in AZ for ST in the middle of March…my annual Thurs – Sun trip…anyone going to be in Peoria on March 18?
Re: #3 I think im going later that week like on the 21st – 25th.
A couple quick notes since I have been gone for the past 2 weeks…
The Zito signing made me laugh…a marginal team signing a marginal pitcher for the richest pitching contract ever. I love SF! Have fun Boch.
I loved someone else bringing up the KG problems…glad to see that I am not the only one that things KG is not worth the hype.
One last thing…This summer, DS put together a Fantasy Football League called Ducksnort Nerds over at NFL.com…here is the most recent news…
Dec. 26, 2006
San Diego Senators won the Ducksnort Nerds Championship by a score of 94 to 74 over Tara’s Tater Nuts. Marvin Harrison led the team in scoring in the championship round and Michael Vick led the team in scoring for the season. Congrats once again to San Diego Senators on a terrific Fantasy football Season. Hope to see you all next year!
Speaking of fantasy sports, are we going to do a fantasy baseball league? If so, count me in.
Congrats to the SD Senators, and thanks to all who participated in the Ducksnort Nerds football league this year! (Sorry I wasn’t more active, although something tells me I’d have done even worse if I’d been more hands-on.)
Yes, we will be doing a fantasy baseball league again. Thanks for the reminder, Richard. Don’t have details yet; will pass those along as soon as I get them.
Richard – *any* chance you resurect your “Top 100 Padres” work? I hope so … I really enjoyed it … and respect how much work it was/willbe … links to those write-ups would make a good addition to GY’s “player cards” …
The Snort. Awesome nickname.
Just wanted to add that I am a longtime lurker/poster from the Indianapolis area. Grew up in Evansville and loved Andy Benes and started loving baseball when he was chosen. Loved the Pads ever since – very passionately I might add. This site is fantastic and your writing is great. Geoff, this site is a regular e-stop for me, so thanks for your effort, time and energy.
LynchMob, I intend to resume the Top 100 soon. I know that Richard and I have written some as yet unpublished profiles, and we have several written by various contributors that I’d love to post.
Richard, shoot me an e-mail if you have interest in completing this.
8: Yeah. I’ll probably get a few up in the next couple of days.
GY, don’t forget, there was a lot of grassroots support for adding an edit feature to the comments section…
Ti wolud be reely helfpul.
Tanks
Johon Sickles posted his Padres Top 20 today. And I basically agree with it.
I did an e-mail interview w/ John Sickles a while back (can’t find it now) where he was real critical of Josh Barfield (who was in AAA at the time) right before Barfield went on a tear. I’ve never been Sickles’ biggest fan, but I completely respect anyone who is as knowledgable of minor leaguers as he is. So I was pretty shocked when his top 10 essentially agreed w/ mine…
Sickles’ top 12:
1. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B, Grade B (love this bat, defense and age preclude B+)
2. Cesar Carrillo, RHP, Grade B (good if healthy)
3. Cedric Hunter, OF, B (major sleeper from ’06 draft)
4. Chase Headley, 3B, B (solid hitter but may not have standard 3B power)
5. Matt Antonelli, 3B, B (good glove, solid bat, but power a question)
6. Chad Huffman, 2B, B- (can hit, position a question)
7. Nick Hundley, , C, B- (projects as solid but not spectacular player)
8. Will Venable, OF, C+ (good tools, developing skills, but old for level)
9. Kyle Blanks, 1B, C+ (very intriguing power)
10. Paul McAnulty, OF, C+ (age precludes higher grade but he can hit)
11. Kyler Burke, OF, C+ (good tools but very, very raw)
12. David Freese, 3B, C+ (good bat but old for level)
Mine (posted in comments section here on Dec. 28):
My revised top 10:
1. Kouzmanoff
2. Carrillo
3. Hunter
4. Antonelli
5. Venable
6. Hundley
7. McAnulty
8. Headley
9. Freese
10. Blanks/Huffman
Matt: Thanks for “de-lurking” and for the kind words. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the ride!
Peter: I’m evaluating some edit/preview functionality but I haven’t found anything I like yet. It’s on the list though. Also, thanks for the heads-up on Sickels. The lack of even one B+ grade is disappointing, but oh well. Nowhere to go but up.
I think Sickles’ grades are quite fair, though I would give Kouzmanoff a B+. His bat was simply TOO dominant to be brought down by his reportedly below-average glove (Sickles said Barfield was a defensive liability as well). But other than Kouzmanoff everybody is either has injury concerns, is too old, or doesn’t have enough performance history to merit higher than Sickles’ “B’s.” But as I pointed out, there are a bunch of guys in that second tier group…
Back to Kouzmanoff, look at these numbers:
2004:
473 AB – .330/.394/.526 Low-A
24 AB – .208 .259 .458 – AA
2005:
7 AB – .143 .250 .143 – Short Season
254 AB – .339 .401 .591 – High-A
2006:
254 AB – .389 .449 .660 – AA
102 AB – .353 .409 .647 – AAA
That’s just sick. Sick, sick, sick. Adrian Gonzales was the steal of the 2005-6 off season, Kouzmanoff will likely be the steal of 2006-7 offseason.
Does Sickles actually watch these guys in the field or does he base his defensive evaluations on stats/anecdotal evidence? I think Sandy has made comments that they are satisified with KK’s defense (didn’t he say people will be pleasantly surprised by his glove?).
17: According to Baseball Analysts, Kouzmanoff was one of the better fielding minor league third basemen (link at my name).
Re: 16…Barfield was not a good glove man…really was a below average fielding 2B. Sickles was closer to right than wrong…was he a liability? No, but he certainly was not much of an asset.
I’d say the State of the ‘Snort is strong. This being the case, I hereby nominate Geoff for President of the ‘Snort in 2007.
Can’t wait for fantasy baseball to get underway again. That was a lot of fun last year!
CM, with all due respect, Barfield was pretty solid. Even at the lower levels it was more a situation where Josh needed to focus on the small things. When he became our second-baseman, he upgraded the defense from the sure-handed, but range-challenged Mark Loretta…
Sickles does see some guys, but mostly MWL & TL guys, because that’s where he lives.
I’ve been turning over this Barfield trade in my mind ever since it happened, and while I can respect the numbers he put up last season, when I watched him play, I could never get too excited. He swung at everything. I think if you throw out his intentional walks last season his OBP was barely 310, and that’s not enough for a guy who hits 286. It’s not enough to take advantage of his speed, and it’s not enough if he’s going to have to eventually be moved off second, which I think he will. Like any fan, I hate to see players we developed leave – there’s so few of them around. I was even a little bummed about sending off Eaton last year, and if we hadn’t made that move we wouldn’t have won the NL West. So I’m torn, but considering how highly Kouzmanoff rates with the people who follow and analyze this sort of thing, I really am looking forward to seeing what he can do.
Peter I guess I look at defense a little differently than you…I think we even disagree on KG.
Yes, Barfield improved over his minor league glove, but that does not mean he was good. After watching him, I would compare him to Ronnie Belliard.
would you rather have
Barfield 2B
Branyan 3B
or
Giles 2B
Kouz 3B
Good read from Gammons on ESPN Insider today – here are some selections:
It’s foolish to predict the futureposted: Tuesday, January 2, 2007 | Print Entry
What we do know about 2007 is that we don’t know much. Hit the rewind button back a year, and tell us you thought the opening matchup of the World Series would pit Anthony Reyes against Justin Verlander, and that the Series would be closed by Adam Wainwright.
Things change. One year the White Sox starting pitchers lead the league with a 3.75 ERA and they win the World Series. The next year, their (starters’) ERA is 4.65 — eighth in the American League, right behind the Blue Jays — and the Tigers go to the World Series with, yes, the best starters’ ERA in the AL.
The Cardinals won the 2006 World Series and their primary offseason acquisitions were Juan Encarnacion and Braden Looper, while the Tigers were baseball’s legitimate feel-good story, rolled into the Series and their free-agent pickups were Rogers and Todd Jones, not to mention the addition of a great manager named Jim Leyland.
And the final game of the Series was won by the Cardinals’ one prime trade-deadline acquisition, Jeff Weaver, who was 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA for the Angels and was 5-4, 5.18 for St. Louis.
Look, shortstop Jason Bartlett couldn’t make the Twins’ roster out of spring training and ended up not only batting .309 but also helping Minnesota grab first place in the AL Central on the final day of the regular season.
At the start of the regular season, 37-year-old Takashi Saito wasn’t even a consideration for the Dodgers, but he ended up with 24 saves and 107 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings.
On the first of March, many laughed at Nationals general manager Jim Bowden because Alfonso Soriano didn’t want to play left field and supposedly couldn’t hit outside of Texas; $136 million later … Dan Uggla batted .282 with 27 homers, Billy Hall went deep 35 times, Freddy Sanchez batted .344, Juan Rivera .310 — and it should be noted again that Harang led the NL in wins and strikeouts.
Then … in 2005, Josh Towers was 13-12, 3.71. And in 2006, he was 2-10, 8.42. In 2005, Brad Lidge’s ERA was 2.29. In 2006, it was 5.28. In 2005, Jorge Sosa was 13-3, 2.55. In 2006, he was 3-11, 5.42. Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small were a combined 17-3 for the Yankees in 2005, and 5-6 with a combined ERA of nearly 8.00 in 2006, and gone from the Bronx.
So we don’t know anything about 2007, yet. We don’t know if the list of 100 players who failed drug tests in 2003 will be made public, but we are told that the 11 baseball players named in the BALCO case have had all their tests turned over to the government, as much as that may vex those obsessed with Bonds.
What we think we know is that it will be eight different world champions in eight years, something none of the other major sports leagues has accomplished.
re 24 – option B, every day of the week and twice on sundays
Re: 26 my point exactly
That’s a great point you have there, too, Steve. I just don’t see how anyone can see it any differently IF they’re willing to be detached and objective, but I guess I have to try to understand the casual fan’s perspective and their tendency to get attached to players (not talking about anyone here, btw, but in other venues where I’ve discussed this topic).
The one move that bugs me this year is giving up ben johnson, we gave a right handed left fielder with power (which is the one thing the padres lack this offseason) to sure up the best bullpen in the leauge last year? I know ring shows a lot of potential and bell throws flames but a young power hitting LF would have been nice this year.