Friday Links (4 May 07)
Fri, May 4, 2007
by Geoff Young
Welcome to the end of the week. Here are your links:
- Mailbag: Are the Giles brothers content? (Padres.com). Corey Brock answers more mail. From Corey’s response to the question about Kevin Kouzmanoff:
I never watched Kouzmanoff hit in the Minor Leagues but his track record (a career .332 hitter) with a big enough sample size led me to believe he will hit at the Major League level. His skill set is just too good to flop here. I like his mental makeup. I don’t get the feeling this guy gets frazzled too easily. That will also serve him well at the Major League level.
I think we’ve been seeing more of his skill set over the past few days. Even though the hits aren’t always falling, Kouz is putting much better swings on the ball (and the Padres haven’t lost faith in him). I also have to point out that Josh Barfield became a “proven player” thanks to someone giving him a shot as a rookie.
- Some of the pain of Virginia Tech is personal (San Diego Union-Tribune, via Ranger31 in the comments). Cla Meredith grew up with one of the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting and shares his thoughts.
- Anthony has more great charts up at Friar Watch. Here are two of my favorites from this week: Anatomy of an at bat: Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jake Peavy strike chart. As always, good food for thought.
- Lawrence headed to Portland? (San Diego Union-Tribune). With Cesar Carrillo headed toward “Tommy John” surgery, the Padres are looking to sign Brian Lawrence as insurance at Triple-A Portland.
- Broward coach Bob Deutschman on Matt Latos (MadFriars.com). There’s been a lot of buzz lately about right-hander Matt Latos. The Padres, in case you missed it, drafted Latos in the 11th round last year and still control his rights. John Conniff chats here with Latos’ JC coach. Mid-90s fastball, strong secondary pitches, velocity sustained into the late innings? Git ‘er done!
- From fired to fired up (Boston Globe). Not that I have complaints with current hitting coach
DaveMerv Rettenmund, but I always thought that Dave Magadan became something of a scapegoat out here. Good to see him land on his feet and succeed as hitting coach for the Red Sox. - USD Sweeps Away Pepperdine (USD). My alma mater is ranked #9 in the country. Also, BA’s Aaron Fitt likes the Toreros’ sophomore southpaws (thanks to reader LynchMob for the BA link, Brian Matusz and Josh Romanski — a couple of names worth filing away for the ‘08 draft.
You will not see all the notable performances from the night before, but you will see the notable performances from those who are actually prospects.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
AAA
Michael Thompson: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
AA
Chase Headley: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B
Mike Ekstrom: 5.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; SO
David Freese: 5 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 3 SO
Chad Huffman: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; BB, SO
Matt Bush: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI
Kyler Burke: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 SO
Commentary:
The Beavers’ tilt against the Salt Lake Bees was suspended in the middle of the 4th.
As a fellow Pt. Loma Nazarene University alum, no one wants to see Ekstrom succeed more than I do — ok, maybe his family. However, I just can’t help but wonder if the talent level has caught up with him…
Cesar Carrillo has succumbed to “Tommy John” surgery further weakening the already-thin Padres minor league pitching corps. The Padres need to sign Matt Latos. Latos wanted $1m+ last year. According to BA’s Jim Callis, Latos has done well:
“This spring at Broward, Latos has shown more maturity as a person and as a pitcher. Last weekend, he pitched at 94-98 mph for seven shutout innings in front of San Diego general manager Kevin Towers.
“…If Latos re-entered the 2007 draft, he’d probably go late in the first round of in the upper half of the sandwich round. The Padres figure to pay accordingly so that won’t happen, however.”
I cannot see where Latos and his “advisor” would ask for less than they did in 2006. I expect Latos’ price tag to be in the $1.2m range (tip o’ the cap to Paul Reams for walking and talking me through the theory).
Thursday, May 3, 2007
AAA
No notable performances
AA
Sean Thompson: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR
Jonathan Ellis: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
Neil Jamison: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
High-A
David Freese: 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; 3 2B, SO
Chad Huffman: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 3 RBI; 2B, BB
Craig Cooper: 3 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, HR, BB
Matt Bush: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; BB, SO
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO
Ernesto Frieri: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
I sure hope the wind was blowing out in Frisco, TX last night and that wasn’t just sucky pitching.
I’m not sold on Cooper as a prospect, but he deserves mention here with a double and home run performance.
Matt Bush is quietly coming around. He needs to get his batting average up (currently .208) but he has 11 walks vs 16 strikeouts. That is a marked improvement in plate discipline (he had 33 BB vs 79 SO in 2005, his only full season of professional baseball) — I think the hitting will follow.
I really like Ernesto Frieri. Frieri’s 2007 statistics:
1.35 ERA, 13.1 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 17 SO, 0 HR
Thanks much, Peter. That’s all for now. Be back here for the IGD around 3 p.m. PT. Happy Friday, and go Padres!
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May 4, 2007 at 7:55 am
May want to change that Dave Rettenmund reference, Geoff.
(Sorry, had to…love the site, and this proves I read.
May 4, 2007 at 8:18 am
What, you’ve never heard of Dave Rettenmund?
Thanks, Brian; got it!
May 4, 2007 at 9:42 am
Maybe that’s why our situational hitting has been a problem, we should have hired Dave Rettenmund instead!
May 4, 2007 at 10:41 am
I’m finally going to my first game at Petco this season on Sunday, May 13 (Section 132) against the Cardinals. I hope the game this year ends better than the game I saw against the Cardinals last year (OG was picked off of first with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. That was a real groin shot, I tell ya’…
May 4, 2007 at 10:57 am
Baseball Analysts has a nice article up right now:
http://baseballanalysts.com/ar.....p#comments
I just posted the following and thought it was relevant here:
The Lake Elsinore Storm probably won’t catch the Giants in the standings, but they have some serious hitting (keep in mind, Lake Elsinore is the lone pitching park in a hitters’ league). They have 6 regulars with OPS over .850 and another regular at .832:
Seth Johnson .342/.376/.456
Craig Cooper .299/.400/.455
Matt Antonelli .303/.410/.444
Kyle Blanks .307/.372/.505
Chad Huffman .308/.390/.495
David Freese .308/.383/.510
Jose Lobaton .296/.420/.493
Furthermore, I would say that Antonelli is lock to play in the Bigs, Huffman & Freese are reasonable bets to do the same, and Blanks might…
May 4, 2007 at 11:40 am
5 … thanks for the link, PF … way to stick up for our Storm boyz … they are lookin’ mighty fine indeed!