Short and sweet, like Adrian Gonzalez‘ swing:
- Walker wins arbitration case, surprising both sides (San Diego Union-Tribune). Backup second baseman Todd Walker won his case and will receive $3.95 million in 2007, making him the highest paid infielder on the team. If the Padres release Walker by March 15, it will cost them about $658,000.
- Player profiles are coming fast and furious: Winter of Bard’s Content and On Kooz control are the latest entrants. We really need to ditch “Kooz” as a nickname — Mashin’ Macedonian is much better.
- Branyan just wants to play (Padres.com). Kouzmanoff on Russell Branyan‘s legacy at Double-A Akron in the Indians organization: “There’s this restaurant way out beyond the fence, and he used to clear the restaurant. You’d look out there and wonder how it was possible.”
- Black sees strong rotation and bullpen (Padres.com). Yeah, and I see the sun every day. There isn’t much of note here, but it’s cool that manager Bud Black took the time to do a little Q & A.
- Padres Spring Training notes (Scout.com). Todd Greene, a backup catcher candidate, has dislocated his shoulder (details on how it happened at North County Times, which also notes Luke Carlin’s presence in camp). Minor-league catcher Colt Morton previously had torn his labrum, which I missed. That’s too bad; Morton made nice progress last season.
- Also at Scout.com, John Conniff has an interview with draft-and-follow right-hander Matt Latos ($). The Padres’ 11th-round pick from 2006 is currently at Broward Community College in Florida. Apparently Latos has made major strides with his changeup and, oh, the fastball ain’t too shabby either: “I’ve been sitting at 95 to 97 MPH and topping out at 99.”
There you have it. Happy Friday!
It’s time to trade Walker, then.
He’s a useful bench guy, I supposed. But that money is crazy.
I supposed he can back up second and first but how many games is that going to be. If he sticks around, I can see Blum getting dropped with Oscar Robles getting signed earlier.
Looks like Todd Greene is going to AAA then? He won’t be ready for the season. That’s not good news on Morton. Grady likes his progress on one of the interview with Mighty XX.
Here’s a fun thing that’s free over at BP today … http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5900 … “The Defensive Spectrum” …
And for prospects nuts (where are you, Peter F?) …
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5901
Talking Prospects with Kevin Goldstein
I mighta mentioned this before … in case not … Job Fair up at Lake Elsinore on March 1st … http://www.stormbaseball.com/Main.html
Hey here’s a question… with Walker costing so much, do you think that’ll somehow creep into the decision making whether to put him in in certain situations? You know, when it comes down to either putting in Blum or Walker to pinch hit or cover second the thought of “well, we better get our money’s worth out of Walker” will come up and tilt the decision in his favor more often than not?
Re #5. I hope it does. Walker is a much better player than Blum. Frankly, outside of doing interviews with Jane Mitchell, there is no good reason that Blum should be a Padre this year. when you stink that bad with the stick I don’t care that you can play short.