Friday Links (15 Jun 07)

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:

Padres Prospect Report

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!

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30 Responses »

  1. 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.

  2. Looks like all three games to be televised on WGN this weekend; very nice for us out-of-towners. Let’s Go Padres!

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.