For the second time this season, the Padres won despite collecting just two hits. Tuesday night’s contest (recap | boxscore) might not have been pretty, but last I checked, there aren’t any bonus points for style.
Although Chris Young wasn’t at his best, he battled for seven innings and kept his team in the game. The Dodgers wasted a huge opportunity in the seventh when Russell Martin slipped rounding second on a single to right by Winston Tony Abreu. A runner on second with two out is nothing like runners at the corners with one out.
Give credit to Hiram Bocachica for hitting the cutoff man, allowing the Padres to capitalize on Martin’s blunder. Give credit also to Young for repeatedly throwing over to first and helping to wear down the runner. Between Young’s throws over and numerous foul balls off the bat of Andre Ethier and Abreu on pitches where Martin was running, the Dodgers’ talented young catcher had logged some serious frequent flier miles by the time Abreu finally put the ball in play.
From that point, it became a battle of the bullpens. You know how that ends most nights.
Kudos also to Russell Branyan for his pinch-hit appearance in the eighth. After falling behind in the count, 0-2, he took two pitches and fouled another before being plunked on the foot. Branyan then stole his 10th career base (not a bad percentage move — he hasn’t been thrown out since July 4, 2002) and scored on a Marcus Giles single, the Padres’ second hit of the game.
Scott Linebrink worked a scoreless eighth for the victory. Trevor Hoffman closed it out with his 17th save of the season and 499th of his career.
by Peter Friberg
You will not see the Dodgers score on Chris Young…
AAA
Craig Stansberry: 5 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; SB
Vince Sinisi: 4 AB, 1 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; BB, 3 SO, SB
Royce Ring: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR
AA
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR – 10th (12 in ’06)
Will Venable: 2 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB, SB
Sean Thompson: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR
High-A
David Freese: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI
Chad Huffman: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2 2B
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; SO
Commentary:
No commentary today — sorry.
Draft Wishlist
This is not a complete draft ranking. I included players that I liked and those that I thought the Padres were or should be considering with their first 6 picks (23, 40, 46, 57, 63, and 64). And I left players off who project to be gone before the Padres pick at 23…
Matt Wieters, C, Georgia Tech — There’s a chance that Boras’ demands are scaring off suitors (supposedly: 4-year MLB deal worth $9.5M according to BA). If a talent like Wieters (who BA ranks as the #2 prospect in the draft) slips as far as the Padres, Towers and Fuson need to convince John Moores to step up and sign Matt (they can probably get a deal done with a $3-4M signing bonus + $2-4M, 4-year annual MLB contract). Boras is likely trying to get Wieters to slide to the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Tigers or another free-spending club.
Michael Main, RHP, Deland (Fla.) HS — I finally got an expert’s opinion on Main as an outfielder. He’s “raw.” He also doesn’t project as a first-rounder as a position player. His arm still warrants the pick.
Kyle Blair, RHP, Los Gatos (Calif.) HS
Kevin Ahrens, 3B, Memorial HS, Houston
Josh Smoker, LHP, Calhoun (Ga.) HS — Josh is among the high school hurlers who will probably go in the first round. However, thanks to the depth of that subset, at least one mid-first round worthy high school pitcher will probably slide into the mid-late 20′s… At least one draft expert expects Smoker to be the pitcher holding the short straw.
Pete Kozma, SS, Owasso (Okla.) HS
James Simmons, RHP, UC Riverside
Nick Noonan, 2B/SS, Parker HS, San Diego — If Noonan can play shortstop (that is reportedly not the case) he would move ahead of Kozma in my book. Even as a second base (or converted to center field?) Noonan is quite the talent.
Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Liberty-Elyau HS, Texarkana, Texas — There is no way that both Ahrens and Middlebrooks are available when the Padres pick at 23 (though one of them probably will be) and both will likely be gone by the time the Padres pick again at 40.
Kellen Kulbacki, OF, James Madison — I really want this bat in the Padres organization. He may be available with one of the later sandwich picks. I wouldn’t be upset if the Padres popped him with their 40th or 46th pick, but I’ll be thrilled if they grab him at 63-64.
Matt LaPorta, 1B, Florida
Chris Withrow, RHP, Midland (Texas) Christian HS
Nevin Griffith, RHP, Middleton HS, Tampa
Travis d’Arnaud, C, Lakewood (Calif.) HS — d’Arnaud is considered to be one of the top three defensive high school position players in the country. Travis “consistently [gets] his throws to second base in 1.9 seconds.” He also has enough bat to move off catcher, but he’s considered “too good” of a catcher to move.
Nick Hagadone, LHP, Washington
Todd Frazier, 3B/OF, Rutgers
Nathan Vineyard, LHP, Woodland HS, Cartersville, Ga.
Jordan Zimmerman, RHP, Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Sam Demel, RHP, Texas Christian
Neil Ramirez, RHP, Kempsville (Va.) HS
Grant Desme, OF, Cal Poly
Josh Donaldson, C, Auburn
Thanks, Peter!
Greg Maddux gets the call Wednesday night agains the surprising Randy Wolf. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. PT; you know the rest…
I would love it if Noonan slid to the #26 pick (or 40, 43…), It would be nice to draft another hometown product who’s name is not matt bush.
A fantastic game last nite. I finally felt like we caught some breaks against the Dodgers (despite not getting some corner calls from the home plate ump).
Living in Riverside County, I decided to amuse myself and watch the Dodgers’ post-game show on FSN Prime Ticket. I half expected them to blame the loss on fatigue (given their schedule before last nite’s game), but their analysts actually mentioned that if there is a fatigue factor, it will be most relevant tonite.
With that in mind, you’ve gotta feel good about our chances to sweep this series. Jake vs. Kuo tomorrow bodes well for us, and if Maddux can keep his BABIP down, we should be fine. Hopefully Cruz and Khalil can return to the line up tonite and we’ll bask in the glory of another Padres win.
Draft:
If Wieters slides to 23 and we don’t pick him, I’ll be disgusted. There are a couple of players who would lessen my disgust – Burgess, Main – but I’d still be pretty sick.
Re:1 Sorry I meant #23 & 46
Noonan will ABSOLUTELY be available at 23… I like him too, but I probably wouldn’t take him at 23. I like him more at 40 & a ton at 46… He won’t be there at 57…
Peter, do you think there is a realistic chance of Matt Wieters falling to 23? That would be freaking amazing and Moores would have to pony up the money to get him signed I would think.
Peter, who do you think the pads will get at 23, based upon your gut feeling?
5.Problem with Noonan is that he projects more as a 2b than a SS. I would rather see the team go for a SS
Agree that popping Noonan at 23 is an overdraft. Right now the hype is at its greatest. Chances on anybody becoming Chase Utley are slim. If somebody picks him between 23 and our supplementals, that’s just a chance you have to take.
Don’t agree with 7 if it means just taking a kid who can stay at short. Other than Kozma, which SS has any sort of offensive profile? Horton, but he may last until the 5th round. I might be overlooking somebody.
If Wieters falls to 23, we better pick him. There are a lot of intriguing prospects who would be good picks there, but if you have the chance to get a very good college position player at a premium position, you have to do it.
Re: 8 at this point who knows where he will play in the majors, his arm could develop within the next 3-4 years he’s only 18.
The reason why I like him is because he is a line drive hitter and he is quick on the bases which is exactly the kind of player the pads need at the top of thier lineup at petco.
10: He’s not going to develop the foot speed and range to be a shortstop, though. If you draft Noonan, you draft an offensive-minded 2b. He’s not going to move to the most difficult infield position no matter how much arm strength he gains.
I love Branyan’s comment:
“We won another ballgame with less than three hits,” said Russell Branyan, who scored the winning run after getting hit on the foot with a pitch and getting into scoring position with a rare stolen base.
“There’s no better place to play in,” Branyan added. “Here, it’s refreshing to see a pitchers’ duel six out of seven nights.”
Good article on NL West pitching:
http://tinyurl.com/22b9m4
See, other GMs thought so too about the lack of affordable Power Hitter FAs last winter.
10. Usually the scouts have a pretty good idea if someone has the ability to play a certain position. Baseball America likes him, but gives the following assessment
“A prep shortstop, his fringe-average arm and range profile better on the right side of the bag, and he has more than enough bat to make the move.”
http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/draft/features/263999.html
Maybe his arm could develop but at that position someone usually does not “grow” into being a shortstop.
The guy you seem to be describing the team already has, Matt Antonelli.
The Padres could end up taking him, supposedly he was impressive in private workouts…but it seems like a lot of money to spend on someone that could be better spent elsewhere.
I’m stating to agree he may not be a great pick at 23 but I would think if he is there at 40 or 46 he would be worth it.
He may be alot like Antonelli but isent that the derection the pads are going in?
Do you see any other SS worth taking in the top 65 pics?
All of the comments I’ve seen about Smoker indicate that he would be a pretty intriguing guy at 23, if he falls that far. He had a *0.09* ERA one year in high school. Combine that with the fact that he throws from the south side, and that’s pretty ridiculous. Of course, I’ve seen mocks with him going to the Braves at 14, so that could be completely out the window.
(Psst, Geoff, I think Winston Abreu would be pleased to know he got credited with a hit, since the Nationals didn’t play the Padres last night.
)
I heard an expert compare Noonan to Chase Utley of the Phillies. If he can develop that kind of bat, he’d be very worthwhile. That being said, I don’t want him at 23 unless Fuson just loves him.
Conniff is right. If Noonan isn’t profiling as a SS now, he won’t move into that role. The one caveat is that most scouts thought Khalil Greene would have to move off SS. So the scouts can disagree. If the Padres think he’s a SS then take him at 23. However, I’ve not heard one expert say that anyone suggests he’s a future MLB SS.
Now, if Noonan has the athletic ability to play CF I think he actually has more value than if he plays 2B. That said, draft on talent, not need. Think about all the times in the early 2000 decade when we could have said, “Yeah, he’s a nice player, but we already have our 3B of the future (Burroughs).”
Will Wieters be available. My source yesterday said that he didn’t know where to slot him. Nobody in the top 10 seems to want to pay his asking price & no one in the next ten seems be an ideal suitor. He may slide…
Lastly, who do I think we’ll take? A lot of people have aligned us to James Simmons (as a safe, collegiate-polish guy). Last year I was told the night before the draft that the Padres were locked into Antonelli or Sinkbeil (sp?). That person would only speculate about what the Padres were doing when we talked yesterday.
15. Sure I would agree with that, at 40 or 46 I would too.
Actually I don’t have any great direct knowledge of the draft, I’ve been reading Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and reading Peter’s reports here like everyone else. The draft is just so broad its hard to really get a good handle on it.
The shortstops I’ve read about are Josh Horton of NC and Zack Cozart from Mississippi – there are some good high school ones as well – but you know right now its just a guess.
19: I was talking to Ed from On the Road with Matt and Mud last night about one of the guys you mentioned.
Horton looks pretty projectable, has great size, bats from the left side and looks to be probably the most big-league ready of anybody out there. Of course, he may end up becoming a third baseman or an outfielder down the road just because of his size and decent ability to run, but he’d be a good guy to look at around 40 or so.
#16: I’m pretty sure we need to declare a moratorium on allowing new players named Abreu into the league.
Thanks for the catch…
What are your guys’ opinions on Andrew Brackman? Alan Matthews of BA in his ESPN chat just said he thinks Brackman will slide several rounds, so he could be available to us with one of our lower supplemental or second round picks.
I just want the Padres to pick him because it would be cool to have two 6’10” guys in our rotation.
22: Brackman is definitely large, but I’m concerned about his numbers. He went 6-4 with a 3.81 this year at NCSU, and the troubling part is that he had a .264 BAA and gave up a hit an inning. Also, for someone of his size and alleged stuff, he didn’t even strike out a batter an inning (78+ IP, 74 K). He also had 12 wild pitches and 10 hit batsmen.
Someone who’s that reliant on size and stuff having those kinds of numbers is a bit alarming.
So yeah, he should slide, and he’s going to be a projectability pick as opposed to any kind of instant gratification.
Re: 22 the pads could then double as an NBA team during the winter.
With Geoff’s software holding my submissions until they can be checked for explosives, I feel like I’m posting news from the Crimean War. Write the report, put it in a saddlebag, put the saddlebag on a donkey, donkey takes it to train, train delivers it to a troop ship at the Hellespont, troop ship takes it London, London post service delivers it to American newspaper office, American newspaper office puts report on transatlantic steamer. By the time my piece on the opening battle is published, the war’s over.
Anyway.
I would take Horton with anything after 57. I’d take Brackman with one of the 40s if he’s still there, but I expect Boras has some plan to deal with a client who slides. The universal signing date means the drafting team doesn’t have a year to get a deal done, but nothing stops the player from going back to college or playing indy ball. The indy route worked out very well for Hochevar and Scherzer.
I think taking Noonan at 40/46 makes a ton of sense….so what if he can’t play shortstop? He’s got to be a decent athlete to be a 1st round pick as a middle infielder and if he has 30 home run power with plus batting average down the road the Padres shouldn’t feel badly about playing him at C/2B/3B/LF/RF…..
Since they reportedly have 8.8M more to spend on the draft I hope they do gamble on 2-3 guys who fall based on signability, otherwise I can’t imagine them spending all that money this year.
When is the draft? I’m not finding any info on when it starts???
By the way taking Brackman in the supplemental round makes a ton of sense as well. Even if he has fallen out of favor at NC St they guy still throws in the upper 90′s consistently and I’ve got to think that he is going to improve quite a bit once drafted: playing baseball full time and being a very, very good athlete. Plus, we’ve seen how taller pitchers can really mess with hitters timing his upside has to be very high still.
Does the Lotos signing lower the 8.8?
11am ESPN 2 Pacific time
8.8 came from the stated 10M-1.2M for Latos….not sure how sizable the bonus was to the other draft and follow pitcher
30 … it’s now past 11am … but I don’t see any draft info??? So the draft started an hour ago?
32: Don’t panic, LM. The draft’s tomorrow. 2pm EST.
tomorrow
34 … ah, the draft is tomorrow, not today?
re: 32 draft it tomarrow
34 … whew … $PANICMODEOFF
the draft is on thursday.
#29: Towers has mentioned several times that he has a $10m budget. Latos’ signing brings it to the $8.75 range…
39: Since Latos was drafted last year, his bonus should come from the 2006 draft budget. But even if it doesn’t, they’re going to have a hard time spending 8.75 million unless they take a couple of high-profile guys who really slide. Paying slot to their picks gets them to the 7 neighborhood, and that’s if they don’t take any signability guys. You start saving money with a Culp, an Underwood, a Cooper, you’re not going to spend 6 million.
http://sportsline.com/mlb/story/10214096
Lots of love for the Padres and the NL West in the forward and then they rank us behind the Dogs and the D-Bags. It’s still a pretty good ranking though!
Re 40: When BA calculates the money spent from each draft, they’ll put it in the 2006 draft, but from a business standpoint, I’m pretty sure Moores, Alderson, & Towers have it in this year’s budget…
DRAFT BASICS … http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/news/264176.html … good stuff …
BA editor John Manuel is on 1090 now.
ESPN’s DraftTracker has been updated … http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/rankings/?rank=tracker … shows a “pitchability” guy at #23 (Nick Schmidt, lhp, Arkansas) … bleh …
45 … uh, check that … that’s BA’s DraftTracker …
That’s just their top 30 though…..nothing specific to each team in that one. BA is going to post their 1st round projection later on this afternoon/evening.
Looks like a very good draft for Boras this season.
Cool ARTICLE ON THE TOP 20 HIGH SCHOOLERS
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/highschool/06/06/top.20/index.html
42: I’m sure they’ll do that, but it’s a way for them to spin their “big investment” this year.
45: bleh indeed.
47: It’s always a good draft for Boras. He’s a smart man. But he’s not impossible to deal with. He’s had several clients the last couple of years sign quickly for slot.
44 … thanks for the pointer … it was good … “Coach” didn’t realize that the Dogs and Angels lost their 1st round pics … but while checking that, I see that the Dogs did pick up pick #20 (from Boston for losing Lugo) … http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/ … so they do still get to pick before the Padres … interesting …