Super lightning style today.
- Manager Black ready to be second-guessed (San Diego Union-Tribune). Tim Sullivan talks about new manager Bud Black. A lot of fluff, but one passage stood out for me
There’s some things that we can’t let you know. (Maybe) a guy is having personal problems at home and something happened and he didn’t get any sleep at night and he’s just a wreck. Or a guy has a little bit of a bad (hamstring). Maybe our pinch runner has a little bit of a leg problem. And we can’t run him on a certain night where it looks like a perfect situation to run.
Something to bear in mind as we dissect every move during the spring and summer.
- New boss, same routine for Padres (North County Times). Skip to the notes: Adrian Gonzalez, Russell Branyan, and Paul McAnulty all arrived to camp early. Gotta love it.
- Gaslamp Ball Interview with Paul DePodesta Part III. Dex and jbox wrap things up today. They cover the relationship between team chemistry and winning, the importance of balancing statistical analysis with traditional scouting methods, and more. Fantastic stuff!
- Notes: Buddies battling for roster spot (Padres.com). Leo Rosales? Sean Thompson? Hey, it could happen. Here’s the disturbing part: “When the season opens in San Francisco, new manager Bud Black will be carrying 11 or 12 pitchers, most likely 12.” Ack, no more 12-man staffs.
Also, a few notes:
- I know I’m way behind on my emails. I’ve read everything but I haven’t had a chance to respond. If you haven’t heard from me about something, I heartily apologize; things will clear up once the book is done.
- Speaking of the book, thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help. If you haven’t heard from me yet, don’t worry — you will.
- We’re getting a Ducksnorts fantasy league started. Coronado Mike is leading the charge on that. Feel free to discuss in the comments.
- Tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT is the deadline to enter the 2007 Opening Day Roster Contest.
Happy Friday, everyone. Go Padres!
Does anyone agree with me that Bernie Williams would be a nice addition to a somewhat thin outfield?
I think Bernie would only take AB’s away from P-Mac and put out about the same production at this stage of his career
1. I don’t know about anyone, but I don’t. Cruz offers the same skills and is less of a threat to steal a starting spot he doesn’t deserve.
Bernie can’t hit, field, or run anymore. We have backup OF who can hit but not field or run in McAnulty, Cust, and Branyan. 1 out of 3 is better than 0 out of 3.
No Bernie Williams. He was very good in late 90′s until about 3 years ago.
Free P-Mac.
A twelve-man pitching staff always confound me. Unless, it’s a trip to Coors, there is no reason to do this, right? With a five-man rotation, and keeping the starters to 4-days rest in between starts, doesn’t it make sense to skip the number 5 starter if there is an extra day off? Keep the 1-4 starter on the 4-days rest and use the #5 for long relief if he must throw some.
Is this the current practice? It seems to me that when I tried to count which game is going to get a particular pitcher starting, I was only correct about half the time.
Also, after reading the interviews Dex and Jbox had with DePodesta, I hope that Scott Linebrink will learn to pitch to contact a little bit this season. It just seemed that he was hittable last season. By that, I mean he seemed to exert a lot of energy trying to finish off hitters by trying to strike them out. I hope that Jake Peavy is working on that also.
I guess you guys are right. Big drop off for Bernie since 2002, with a slight uptick last year that was probably just a dead cat bounce. I still feel like our OF is weak, esp if Giles is worthless again this year.
6 – “worthless” is an over-statement, right? OPS+=105 … ’twas better than Bernie
7: Even if Giles was worthless, which he wasn’t, you don’t fix it by bringing in someone worse.