first pitch: 1:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (6-1, 1.63 ERA) vs Jeff Suppan (6-4, 3.49 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
Free-agent acquisition Jeff Suppan got off to a surprisingly hot start (2.55 ERA in six April starts) that almost made his 4-year, $42 million contract palatable. Since then, however, his ERA is 5.11 in four May starts.
At the end of the season, Suppan’s numbers will look like they always do: he’ll have made about 30 starts and finished with an ERA right around league average. In other words, he’ll be Pedro Astacio or Ismael Valdez. And he’ll be making a filthy amount of money in the process.
I shoulda been a pitcher…
That was a sac bunt by Sledge?
Ouch … Branyan … looking … blummer …
Today’s Haiku:
One giant question
When do we get to decide
Germano’s for real?
Ethier goes yard 1-1
Is Trevor the ONLY person we trust with a 3 run lead in the 9th? If his arm wasn’t cranky, I’d shut up and let Bud do his thing, but I really hope this doesn’t end up hurting us in the long haul.
103: I think Germano is for real.
Does a “cranky” arm persist or is it one and done?
106: I am bit worried he is Rodrigo Lopez
103: Response haiku
Maybe when Towers
finally realizes that
Blum cannot pinch hit?
How ’bout those Padres!
Wer’e going to Sea World. Have a good holiday all.
That was fun. First sweep of the season. First time the Brewers have been shut out this year. Off-day tomorrow, so everyone will be fresh on Tuesday. Life is good…
77 … thanks for the link … I like Jack McKeon … ’84 was a great year for the Padres … here’s an amazing Q&A from that interview …
DL: What was Marge Schott like?
JM: Marge was great. I loved Marge. She was a very dedicated lady. She had two loves: her dog, Schottzie, and the baseball team.
… I guess I’ll take Jack’s word for it …
63 … LaForest with a GS in the top of the 9th to propel Portland to a 10-9 victory today … cool …
OT … if you want to read something amazing, read this about the pitcher that LaForest hit the GS off of … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._White … that is one *rich* dude!
Re:103…He is not that good. Love the run, but he is not anything more than a 4 or 5 at best…Clay can be a solid #3.
GY … where is the “mail bag” that you mentioned a couple of days ago (that Corey Brock writes)? I want to give the guy a chance …
115 … agree … 100% … ’bout both Germano and Hensley … but there isn’t anything bad/wrong with being a #4 or #5! I think Germano is *very* valuable as a #5! I suspect Hensley will take a while to get back to being the solid #3 that he showed last year … and so we still need more good innings from Germano to bridge that gap. I suspect that Wells will not stay healthy for every start he’s on the schedule for … so we’ll need Germano to bridge that gap. This situation is a *very* good thing for the Padres … and, if they do happen to get an offer for a legit hitter and it includes Germano, than that’s even better!
At AA San Antonio, Chase Headley with HR #8 … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_05_27_sanaax_arkaax_1 … man, between Antonelli and Headley, I’m getting some way-high expectations building … those guys are doing things *very* prospect-like! Also, Josh Geer off to a good start today …
Here’s a look back at last year’s draft … http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/features/263880.html … Antonelli’s looking like a good pick still …
My biggest question is this … how can we find out why the Padres have Geoff Blum on the roster? I know that even if Bud or KT or SA is asked the question, that it’s not likely we’d get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth … and that’s OK … I’m at least interested in what ever they would say … sort of positive spin they could give … hopefully it’d just be that he can play SS well enough for the Padres to win a few games while they give KG a rest (as has happened yesterday and today, well done!). For as little as I really understand VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), I sure like the concept that it’s trying to implement. Blum last year (2006) was negative VORP offensively (-2.7 by BP calc, after being -8.3 with the ChiSox to start 2005 and +1.9 with the Padres to finish the season, and a whopping -15.3 VORP in 2004 with TB) … so it wouldn’t seem likely that there’d be a statistical basis for expecting a positive VORP in 2007 … but BP’s calculations do show a projection of +2.7 for this year … huh? … that’s based on .242/.302/.375 in 176 PAs … well, he’s got some work to do to reach that … do you know what his VORP is so far in 2007? It’s -2.7 … http://baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=204782 …
To be fair, and based on KT’s comments at the 2005 BP Pizza Feed about Sean Burroughs, and his subsequent actions, I gotta believe that he’s working at finding an alternative … I do believe that … it’s not as easy as it might seem to us … but I trust that that guy is looking at scouting reports and reading analsysis (both from internal and external sources) EVERY DAY … and it’s gotta be high on his priority list to find a replacement for Blum …
Whew … OK … that’s my daily anti-Blum-rant … thanks, GY, for providing the forum … I feel better now …
#116: LM, here’s one from a couple weeks ago:
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070430&content_id=1939092&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd
Wade LeBlanc with a nice start for the Storm today … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_05_27_lncafa_lesafa_1 … Chad Huffman being the key offensive contributor …
121 … Thanks, GY … does he do a MailBag on a regular basis? I don’t see how to find these (ie. I don’t see a “MailBag” link) …
mlb.com has video highlights from today up … http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070527&content_id=1989109&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd … nice defense, AGAIN, by Adrian starting a DP on a sacrifice attempt … that kind of defense is SOOO valuable!
According to Hit Tracker (http://www.hittrackeronline.com/index.php) the HR KK hit on 5/23 was the highest SOB (Speed Off Bat) of any Padre HR this year (118.2 mph), it actually travelled 429 feet, for a “standard” distance of 436 feet (after factoring in wind, temperature, and altitude).
(WARNING: Blum’s HR on 5/9 checks in at #4 on the SOB list … so the dude does still have some power
)
Checking in on an old pal … George Kottaras is just hitting .200/.304/.300 at AAA Pawtucket … so … trading him for Wells seems like it was worth taking a shot at post-season magic … imo …
that HR by KK was definitely a big SOB.
126 … ya, ya … I knew I was settin’ someone up for that line
re: CF in 2008 … GY, you gotta get on-board for this conversation … lookin’ ahead is where it’s at … a note at BP today tells me the Cubs are lookin’ ahead for their CF’er in 2008 also … in addition to “the usual suspects”, there’s this note …
Two Japanese players who reportedly interest the Cubs as potential free agents are right-hander Hiroki Kuroda and center fielder Kosuke Fukodome.
… so, if/when you get into this subject (November, perhaps?), make a note to look up Kosuke Fukodome … perhaps then the Padres won’t have to pay for an exclamation point (!) …
I think this link is outside the BP subscriber wall … http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6279 … an interesting note about the Bucs rotation and comparison to the back-to-back Under-25 rotations of the ’74 and ’75 Padres … as well as clarification of the Maddux/Young spin on why SBs are no big deal …
127: The funny part of the Cub hand-wringing over a CFer for 2008 is Felix Pie should be ready for them by then and is a much better long term option. But, heck, they’re welcome to go out and sign Andruw Jones if they’ll trade us Pie.