How ’bout that Chris Young. Friday night we get to watch one of the guys he was traded for, Adam Eaton. For the record, his ERA is a tad higher than Young’s…
- Young helps stifle Phils with vanishing fastball (San Diego Union-Tribune). Geoff Blum scored the game’s only run Thursday night. Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, speaking about the change-up that Blum hit for a single: “I got a little overconfident there.” With Blum at the plate? C’mon, how is that even possible…
- Boomer adds a knuckleball (Friar Watch). Anthony offers his thoughts on the knuckler David Wells busted out Monday night against the Mets:
Given Boomer’s difficulties in getting past the 6th inning I’d like to see him throw a lot more knuckleballs, maybe save them for the third time through the order. Once Wells gets tired he starts relying on that big slow curve and hitters sit on it. The knuckler would give him another option and would definitely keep hitters on their toes.
I believe I could get behind that. Good thinking…
- Someone asked about OPS the other day, and I thought about writing a full post about it, but the good folks at Wikipedia have done a fine job of explaining what I failed to convey:
It should be noted that unlike many other statistics, a player’s OPS does not have a simple intrinsic meaning, despite its usefulness as a comparative statistic.
Well said. OPS is meaningless but useful. Batting average is meaningful (i.e., it actually measures something) but useless (i.e., what it measures doesn’t tell us much about how runs are scored, games are won, etc.). This may seem like semantics, but it’s important to be aware of a metric’s strengths and weaknesses before jumping in and using it.
- Gators looking better than Padres (St. Petersburg Times, via LynchMob in the comments). The Padres drafted a kid named Tommy Toledo in the third round. That is a great name; he should quit baseball and focus on developing his superhero skills. Back in the real world, Toledo, a high school right-hander out of Florida, and the Padres appear to be far apart in negotiations. Quoth Toledo’s adviser, former big-league pitcher Jim Bullinger:
I think the Padres understand they may have a Jake Peavy under their control at this point and they don’t want to let him go
Congrats, Jake; you’ve arrived. Folks are starting to throw your name around the way they do when comparing every finesse lefty to Tom Glavine (mentioning Jason Jacome somehow doesn’t inspire the same confidence).
- Checking in with Cooper Brannan (The Extrapolater). The former Marine currently is pitching in Rookie ball.
- Anxious Gwynn readies for Hall (North County Times, via LynchMob in the comments). This is mostly an excuse to remind you that we’re still working on a master plan for our meetup in Cooperstown next weekend.
- Gwynn Chats Online with Fans (National Baseball Hall of Fame, via LynchMob in the comments). On Petco Park:
I would have loved to hit here. The home run wasn’t really part of my game. I was a line drive hitter and that type of hitter is perfect for this park. But I’m just happy that we have a new ballpark. I get to work here and the TV booth is awesome, much better than Qualcomm, so I have reaped some benefits. With a street named after me and a statue going up, it keeps getting better and better.
- This is what Petco Park was supposed to look like (Gaslamp Ball). Speaking of Petco, jbox busts out a sweet artist’s rendering of the downtown ballpark from 2000.
Calling my own number…
- Blogger Beat: Ducksnorts. Me at MetsBlog, talking about the Padres’ offense, bullpen, Mike Cameron, Petco Park, and more.
- Suicide Fan Podcast #28: The MLB Trade Deadline with Geoff Young. Aaron and I chat about the All-Star game, deadline trade rumors, and the divisional races.
- Fact or fiction. Me at Hardball Times, revisiting our preseason look at the young talent in the NL West. Thanks, Didi, for reminding me to get back on this. Incidentally, if anyone ever has ideas about stuff you’d like to see me cover at THT, please let me know.
- Phillies/Padres Preview. Me at Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, talking about Petco Park, the proposed Aaron Rowand for Scott Linebrink deal that never materialized, Justin Germano, and more.
Hooray, links. Now over to Peter…
by Peter Friberg
You will not see the Padre hitters sweat. Three hits? Pssh, we got Chris Young on the mound. Seriously, Jake Peavy is getting a lot of love as a Cy Young candidate; when will we start looking at Chris in the same light?
AAA
Pete LaForest: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; HR, 3 SO
AA
Will Venable: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB – .295/.356/.382
Brett Bonvechio: 4 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 2B, HR, BB, SO – .328/.453/.741
Chad Huffman: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; HR, 2 SO – first AA HR
High-A
David Freese: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; BB, 2 SO
Kyle Blanks: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR, SO – .310/.387/.568
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R 2 H, 1 RBI – .276/.334/.349
Ernesto Frieri: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Short Season-A
Luis Durango: 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; SO
Eric Sogard: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; SO, S
Keith Conlon: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 3B, SO
Danny Payne: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; 2 SB
Cory Luebke: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Rookie
Brad Chalk: 2 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; BB – pro debut
Tyler Mead: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
Is Bonvechio playing his way into the discussion in left? I don’t know, but he has definitely played his way onto my watch list…
[Ed note: Glad to hear you're warming up to Bonvechio. Dude can flat rake.]
I hated the Corey Luebke pick — hated it. Tonight he went 12 up, 12 down. Corey has “only” 15 strikeouts in 17 innings, but he has yet to walk a batter. Yes, he has a 0/15 BB/SO ratio to go with his 1.06 ERA.
Thanks, Peter. Happy Friday, folks; if you’re not heading out to the game tonight, be here for the IGD around 6 p.m. PT.
Go Padres!
50: That’s a surprise.
LM, did you get a copy of the book?
http://tinyurl.com/26a53x
47: I really dont think any of those guys are for sale right now but they would all definitely start over Marcus.
#49 That makes sense– higher SLG.
50: I find that hard to believe with how lost he is out there, this seems to be a stat where the numbers lie. He is just god-awful in LF.
54: UZR is probably the best defensive statistic out there. Of course, with a relatively small sample, there’s going to be room for error. I wouldn’t doubt if Sledge is really closer to average, but he’s still been better than what we see with the naked eye, imo. By the way, he’s been +14 by UZR from 04-07.
55: I’m not saying the stat is bad, I am saying it is bad in this specific case. He is hard to watch out there.
I dont really understand the move though. Sledge has an option.
47:
The Cubs signed DeRosa last winter and they’re charging, he’s not available.
Minnesota’s not out of it yet. Castillo might be a waiver move, but what does he offer vs Loretta? Not a great defender, no power, worse OBP, doesn’t steal anymore.
Belliard. Pretty equivalent to MLo, no quibble there. He was the St. Louis good-luck charm against us last year, if that’s worth anything. I don’t think he has Loretta’s bat control.
Amazega. Blum but 5 years younger and still athletic enough to play CF. Not a bad player to pursue when building the 2008 Padres, but not much purpose to this year’s team with Blum entrenched.
I like that Loretta has already played 2 seasons in Petco. He knows what happens to fly balls there, he’s not going to burn about it.
55, 56: I’m torn. I’d like to believe in what UZR tells us, but Sledge sometimes looks like he’s playing defense blindfolded.
It shouldn’t matter much the rest of the year. If Bradley-Cameron-Giles stay healthy they should get 85% of the starts with Cruz as the main backup. Sledge’s defense is immaterial when he’s coming off the bench to hit RHP.