First off, thanks to everyone for helping out yesterday with the overlooked players. This is subject to change, but right now based on your feedback, I’m leaning toward Mike Ivie, Ruppert Jones, and Brad Ausmus to go along with Ollie Brown.
Onto the links!
- Padres tentatively acquire OF Milton Bradley (San Diego Union-Tribune). We started talking about this last night and we’ll analyze it in greater detail once “tentatively” is removed from the equation (it’s not so long ago that he was “traded” to the Kansas City Royals), but for now I’ll just point out, as I did the other day over at Knuckle Curve, that Bradley is hitting .287/.377/.459 since the start of the 2003 season. If he can keep his head on straight and other body parts intact, not only does Bradley represent an upgrade in left field right now, he also gives the Padres a first-hand look at an intriguing center field option for 2008 and beyond. There’s always the chance he could implode, but for the price of an A-ball pitcher (probably not a top prospect), that’s a risk worth taking.
- The best unemployed GM in baseball (Hardball Times). Jacob Jackson gives Paul DePodesta some love. I think calling him “the best free agent on the market” is probably a stretch given his presence in the Padres’ front office, but it’s a nice sentiment nonetheless.
- Breaking Down The Draft’s 1st Round: Picks 21-30 (Hardball Times, via Didi in the comments). Carlos Gomez isn’t real high on recently signed left-hander Nick Schmidt.
- Letting Ichiro Leave For Nothing (U.S.S. Mariner, via Ben B. in the comments). Interesting research on the relative merits of trading a potential free agent versus letting him walk and collecting compensatory picks. I will point out, anecdotally, that there’s no way the Padres would have gotten anything close to Kellen Kulbacki and Eric Sogard for Woody Williams last summer.
- Eugene Emeralds – Opening Day 2007 (Flickr, via LynchMob in the comments). Yep, LynchMob was there and he’s got the photos to prove it. Sweet!
- Let’s ponder what a healthy Griffey would’ve done (ESPN, via Rain Delay in the comments). Scroll down a bit to see what Jonah Keri has to say about the Michael Barrett deal.
- Padres’ pick is man for all seasons (MiLB.com, via Pelotero 47 in the comments). Nice little article on draftee Mitch Canham. Among other things, he’s an accomplished rapper. Maybe he and Khalil Greene can throw down some — whatever it is rappers throw down…
- Left Coast Bias. New Padres blog. Stop by and say hey.
That’s all I’ve got. Peter, what’s up with the prospects?
by Peter Friberg
You will not see Nick Schmidt in an Arkansas uniform in 2008; he signed with the Padres on Thursday.
Also…
You will not see that “0″ in Ryan Ketchner’s win column. Ryan is a heck of a pitcher and the Padres are lucky to have him. But up until tonight, the offense did not show up on nights he pitched. Again, Ryan, congrats on your first win in the Padres organization.
AAA
Vince Sinisi: 4 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 3 RBI
Ryan Ketchner: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR
AA
Postponed…
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 5 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, SO
Chad Huffman: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, 2 SO
Manny Ayala: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
Low-A
Game postponed in 4th inning…
Short Season-A
Luis Durango: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; HR
Ray Stokes: 3 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 3B, BB, 3 SB
Danny Payne: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, 3 SB
Justin Pickett: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR, BB, 2 SO
Mat Latos: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Rookie
No game scheduled…
Commentary:
To give you an idea what kind of pitcher Ryan is, in his last three games the lefty has gone 19 IP, 16 H, 6 ER (2.84 ERA), 2 BB, 21 SO…
It’ll be interesting to see which “A-ball” pitcher the Padres gave up to get Milton Bradley. Since Kansas City was only giving up Leo Nunez to get Bradley before the trade was cancelled, I do not think it is likely that the Padres had to give up someone like Wade LeBlanc.
The Padres have some serious offense in Lake Elsinore and Eugene.
Thanks, Peter. I’m not quite as enthusiastic about Ketchner as you seem to be, but we’ll see what happens. The Padres are in LA for the weekend. We’ll have Friday night’s IGD up and running by 6:30 p.m. PT or thereabouts. Go Padres!
Also, to be clear, losing Brown is something that I think is likely to be felt long-term … perhaps not Cust-like … but Brown will contribute to the A’s … he’s an above-replacement-level pitcher … it’s why we got in the trade from Cleveland … and I think he’s done well at AAA …
That being said, I *love* this trade … so it’s one of those “no looking back” deals … ie. right here, right now, I say making this trade was a good decision by the Padres … so, if Bradley flops and Brown turns into a stud closer, I will *not* be whining.
Barfield has been making “web gems” all year. I know its ESPN, but at least he is getting some love and its hard not to be happy for him and hard not to wish that we was back here. He was a rookie, arm strength, plate disapline that will all come in time, but we was an excellent prospect and i’m pretty sure home grown. Its hard to see them come up, play well and then get delt. Kouz and Bradley make this a good deal. Kouz and Brown, I dunno… we will have to see how Kouz turns out. So far he’s not out performing Barf his rookie year but Kouz definitely has power potential, and I really like the kid.
100 … I’ll be in town next week … that’s sound good, don’t it? It was a bit rainy here yesterday, so I’m very much lookin’ forward to my annual dose of sun, dead hot sun!
I’m going to be at Petco on Tuesday and Wednesday … on Tuesday, my current plan is to be there EARLY … my understanding is that BP is at 440pm and I’m hoping to be there for that (taking trolly from Old Town Trolley station) …
For 7:05 p.m. Game Time
4:40 p.m. – 5:40 p.m. Padres Batting Practice
5:40 p.m. – 6:20 p.m. Visiting Team Batting Practice
6:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Padres Infield Practice
6:30 p.m. – 6:40 p.m. Visiting Team Infield Practice
6:40 p.m. Grounds Crew Field Preparation
Here is how I FEEL, other than tired from my workout:
1. Bradley is, of course, a good move. As pointed out, the Padres have traded Barfield for Kouzmanoff and Bradley, and Kouzmanoff is better than Barfield by himself.
2. The Loretta trade was, ultimately, a good one. The Padres flipped Loretta for Josh Bard and Cla Meredith. You don’t need complicated stats to determine that M. Giles has been better than Loretta last season and this one. Just a small understanding of ballpark effects. Loretta has played in Fenway Park and Minute Maid Park. Giles has played at Turner Field and Petco Park.
3. Marketing. I don’t live in San Diego, so I don’t see every car commerical, but unless we’re talking about Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman or Jake Peavy, isn’t the marking talk a lot of quibbling? Teams try to push the players they have.
4. Statistics. If you don’t want to consider stats, that’s fine. But then one can’t consider batting average, runs, home runs or RBIs. If a fan watched a .300 hitter for a season a .275 hitter for a season and didn’t keep stats, they wouldn’t know who is better. They would just rely on their memory. Bill James has said he was never a stats-obsessed guy. But he said if we’re going to pay attention to such things and even obsess over them, then we might as well pay attention to the right ones and understand what they mean. Without James, there would not be a statistic as simple to compute as on-base percentage. There was no such word before he wrote it, I think.