Friday Links (15 Jun 07)
Fri, Jun 15, 2007
by Geoff Young
Ah, it’s nice to win a series again. This calls for some links…
- Germano’s savvy outing baffles Rays (North County Times). I’m finding my skepticism of Justin Germano increasingly difficult to justify. I love this quote from Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon:
Just get the Padres pitchers out of town. They can go wherever they want to go. Just get out of here.
- Towers rang up Tampa on Bell (San Diego Union-Tribune). Fluff piece on reliever Heath Bell. Apparently the Devil Rays were interested in him this off-season. Hey, at least they got Jay Witasick.
- A quick look at how Black is using the pen (Friar Forecast). From the article: “I’d like to see Bell used in even more critical spots, but I’m not even close to ready to give up on Meredith yet.” Yep, what he said. Also, Friar Forecast is moving to a new home, so please be sure to make the necessary adjustments.
- Meet Kevin Kouzmanoff (The Extrapolater). Nice little profile of everyone’s favorite third baseman. Of course, we prefer “Mashin’ Macedonian” around these parts, but if he keeps hitting the way he has been (once his back is feeling a little better), folks can call him whatever they want.
- Boone blazed Giles’ injury trail (San Diego Union-Tribune). There’s no timetable for Brian Giles‘ return.
- Q&A with Grady Fuson (San Diego Union-Tribune, via Bruce in the comments). Some good stuff here, including this quote about second-round pick Bradley Chalke:
I don’t know if he’ll develop power, but in college (Clemson) he was an amazing singles, walks, on-base-percentage guy. He could play center field in the major leagues right now. Chalk reminds me of Steve Finley in every aspect except power.
As a quick reminder, Finley didn’t develop his power until age 31.
- 2007 Draft: San Diego Padres (Baseball America, via LynchMob in the comments). Several draftees have signed, including former SDSU shortstop Lance Zawadzki, former USD outfielder Shane Buschini, and former USD second baseman Keoni Ruth. Incidentally, the Padres’ 32nd-round pick, shortstop Anthony Renteria, out of Temecula, is the son of former Lake Elsinore Storm manager Rick Renteria.
- Blue Jays, Braves among big winners in 2007 draft (SI.com, via Phantom in the comments). Bryan Smith reviews the draft, and places the Padres at #10. Unfortunately, he also has the Diamondbacks at #3 and Giants at #7. As a Padres fan, I really hate Arizona’s draft.
- Quantifying Plate Discipline (Dan Agonistes, via Didi in the comments). Using Gameday data, Dan Fox attempts to answer old questions with new metrics.
- Hall of Famers take the reins at Futures Game (MiLB.com). Ex-Padre and HOFer Dave Winfield will lead the U.S. squad in the July 8 contest.
Thanks to Thursday’s insanely early start time, we missed a day of the PPR. Time for a double dose:
by Peter Friberg
You will not see Chase Headley in San Antonio. He has been called up to play (and start) for the Padres this weekend.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
AAA
Vince Sinisi: 6 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B
Frank Menechino: 4 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; 3 2B
Tim Stauffer: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
AA
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; HR, 2 SO
Joshua Geer: 4.0 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
High-A
No game scheduled
Low-A
Daryl Jones: 5 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 3 RBI; HR
Kyler Burke: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 SO
Commentary:
No commentary, I’ll have a feature ready for you on Monday.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
AAA
Jared Wells: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR - 1 ER in 7.1 IP as RP
AA
Will Venable: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; BB
Jonathan Ellis: 0.0 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR - yuck!
High-A
Nic Crosta: 2 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, BB
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO
Commentary:
I am amped to watch Chase Headley’s big-league debut. That’s about all I can think about at the moment. Set your DVRs…
Thanks, Peter. Another morning start on Friday when David Wells and Ted Lilly hook up at Wrigley Field. We’ll have the IGD up and running by 10:30 a.m. PT. Go Padres!
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
June 15, 2007 at 6:39 am
Nice collection of articles to distract me at work.
This quote from today’s game preview on padres.com has me seriously confused:
“Wells has benefited from a healthy run support from his teammates, as the offense has scored 34 runs over his 12 appearances.”
I wouldn’t consider an average of 2.83 runs/game healthy even in the alternate universe that is Padres offense. With that stat Wells could theoretically go out and pitch a quality start every game (6 innings, 3 runs) and lose every time.
Oh and don’t let Boomer see that quote.
June 15, 2007 at 6:56 am
Looks like all three games to be televised on WGN this weekend; very nice for us out-of-towners. Let’s Go Padres!
June 15, 2007 at 7:35 am
On one hand I would have liked Chase to finish the year in the minors, on the other there is no way I want to see Blum get any time at 3B.
June 15, 2007 at 8:05 am
I hope Kouz gets well in two weeks or after 3 series. I don’t think Headley is going to stick up here longer than necessary.
It sure would be nice to see him at Petco, though.
June 15, 2007 at 8:12 am
I really, really, really hope that we’re not just showcasing chase. If he can hit, I’d love to see them move him to the OF once he’s sent back down.
June 15, 2007 at 8:19 am
Whatever we end up doing with Headley, I love that there’s at least the willingness to bring up one of our prospects and plug him into the lineup. We haven’t seen a lot of that in recent years.
June 15, 2007 at 8:20 am
Re: 5 I agree I dont want to even think about trading Headly untill we find out if any of the stom guys can hit in a league above the Cal League.
June 15, 2007 at 8:21 am
Re: 6 in past years Kouz would be on the bench and Blum would be at 3rd.
June 15, 2007 at 9:00 am
I just spoke to Peter of PPR fame and he thinks that they are NOT showcasing Chase. He argues that by bringing Chase up, you risk his trade value (if he struggles).
Like Peter, I hope that Chase is here to show what he can do. If he can hit and he can make adjustments, insert him into the OF. Even though he’s never played there, he can learn.
Another thing that Peter and I discussed: Does anyone have a break down of Chase’s batting splits (lefty/right)?
June 15, 2007 at 9:09 am
Headley’s splits in ‘07:
vs LHP: .350/.400/.600
vs RHP: .359/.444/.665
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....pid=452104
June 15, 2007 at 9:11 am
Today is a *HUGE* day … like PF, I am WAY excited about seeing Headley’s MLB debut … well, not that I’m going to actually see it … but you know what I mean …
And that does NOT mean I have high expectations … the odds are VERY long that he’ll put up #s that will be “impressive” … .200/.300/.400 would be best that I’d expect if he gets in 5-10 games …
9 - milb.com has basic split data …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....pid=452104
Entire Season AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS
vs Left .350 60 10 21 9 0 2 12 4 11 0 0 .400 .600 1.000
vs Right .359 167 35 60 12 3 11 30 27 42 1 0 .444 .665 1.109
… nice balance, huh? There’s A LOT to get excited about there!
June 15, 2007 at 9:12 am
Different story in ‘06:
vs LHP: .243/.309/.347
vs RHP: .324/.434/.489
http://www.minorleaguesplits.c.....ALb06.html
June 15, 2007 at 9:13 am
And then there’s gobs of splits here …
http://www.minorleaguesplits.c.....X&bp=b
June 15, 2007 at 9:16 am
I probably should have clarified my splits statement. According to Peter, he’s a swtich hitter, so I was curious to know what his switch hitting splits are.
Of course, you can typically assume that a switch hitter with bat left-handed against a righty and vice-versa. Considering that, he appears to be slightly less productive as a right-handed bat.
June 15, 2007 at 9:18 am
12: I was going to note that as well Geoff-Chase had pretty rough splits last year–then again, he didn’t have a very good year last year.
I agree with Peter and Phantom that they’re probably not just showcasing Headley-Peter’s probably right-there’s a lot of risk involved in letting him play at the big league level.
See last nights last post for a review of how Chase Headley has been hitting over his last 10 games. I think that what is more encouraging than his splits is the fact that the Padres are promoting a really hot hitter to a lineup that could use one.
June 15, 2007 at 9:19 am
I don’t understand mlb.com … we’re abuzz about Headley … madfriars.com even more so … but padres.mlb.com? Nada …
June 15, 2007 at 9:23 am
GY … poll idea … # of hits by Chase Headley before going back down?
If you want to keep it simple … 2 choices … more hits than games played … or … less hits than games played?
Next more complicated … more hits+walks than games played vs less hits+walks than games played?
I’m going to say he plays in 10 games … gets 7 hits and 2 walks … 1 double …
And then he goes back to San Antonio and scuffles for a while … but gets his stroke back in August and returns for a September callup … and contributes a few keys hits down the stretch (like McAnulty did last year) … and then lives happily ever after …
June 15, 2007 at 9:32 am
Krasovic says …
A positional change isn’t imminent for either player. “It’s a nice problem to have,” Fuson said.
June 15, 2007 at 9:32 am
#16: It’s there, but it’s buried:
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com.....mp;c_id=sd
June 15, 2007 at 9:37 am
19 … thanks, and this confirms the 40-man …
Today’s move puts San Diego’s 40-man roster at 40 players.
… which seems like a good thing
ps. I’m bum’d that McAnulty’s going down … they again passed up an opportunity to trim their pitching staff back to 11 … I hope the Padres “Cust” McAnulty, I guess …
June 15, 2007 at 9:38 am
Did anyone else notice that the U-T article with the headline about Headley’s call up actually makes no mention of Headley at all (in the body of the article)? It only talks about Kouz. Struck me as somewhat odd and unfortunate.
June 15, 2007 at 9:41 am
21: That’s only true of the preview blurb. If you access the entire article, it icludes quotes of Grady going ga-ga over Chase, as well as the aforementioned Krasovich quote regarding Chase not switching positions.
June 15, 2007 at 9:44 am
Really? I believe I opened the whole article this morning (early, around 5:30). Maybe they’ve fixed it since then.
June 15, 2007 at 9:53 am
23: I saw the same thing, Brian.
What is the ever-lovin’ point of carrying 12 pitchers if you’re not going to use them? They could have let Hamspon and Cameron finish Peavy’s game after he lost the no-hitter. An 8 run lead? Somebody’s going to have to rearrange Bud’s toy box for him.
June 15, 2007 at 10:00 am
Re: 20 Im bummed witgh the move as well I was hoping that they would send Hampson or Sledge down, but i figured it would be P-mac after he went 0-8 this week.
June 15, 2007 at 10:00 am
I hate to pee in the punchbowl but can we realistically expect anything out of Headley? Kouzmanoff put up great AA numbers, did well in a short AAA stint and spent over a month flailing at breaking balls before he made the adjustment. Obviously every hitter is different but AA is a long way from the major leagues. I really hope Headley does well but the odds are against it.
I remember a few weeks ago when Kouz was struggling Fuson was on 1090 and Coach asked him if he would promote Headley to the big show out of AA and he gave a pretty definitive “no”. Is Kouz headed for the DL?
June 15, 2007 at 10:03 am
Re: 26 the pitching in AA can be better than AAA, that being said I still would have liked Headley to finish the year in the minors and make a run at the 08 team.
June 15, 2007 at 10:05 am
#24: How Headley performs in the short-term is pretty much a crapshoot. He probably is a better fit for the bench than P-Mac right now given that he’s a switch hitter and can play a legit third base. Like TW, I’d still like to see an 11-man pitching staff, but I think we’re all wasting our breath on that one.
June 15, 2007 at 10:12 am
Re: 28 I would hate to see him waste away on the bench, in Blacks eyes he would be behind Blum on the depth chart.
June 15, 2007 at 10:24 am
29: I sure hope not. Why bring up Headley just to sit him behind Silent L? That makes no sense. I’m guessing that Headley will have his shares of trouble hitting ML pitching. I don’t see why he should be sitting, though.
I like that he’ll start in Wrigley, instead of Petco. I hope he gets some hits early before coming home to get some confidence up.
28: Yup, about the pitching staff and PMac got screwed again. Why not sent Sledge down if it had to be a hitter? Can the Padres not do that?