| time: | 12:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | none |
| sp: | Justin Germano vs Aaron Cook |
You really do not see a lot of guys with Aaron Cook’s abysmal strikeout rates stick around in the big leagues these days. It’s a credit to Cook that he’s able to make it work, but kids, don’t try this at home. Unless your name is Justin Germano, and even then…
132 Comments
2-1 bottom 1st. I think this is gonna be one of those Coors Field classics.
Crap at-bat by Greene in the first inning, otherwise we might be sitting on 3 or 4 runs. That’s said only from GameDay, maybe it was the world’s greatest DP on a smoked ball, but with a man on third you’ve got to elevate the ball, especially when you’re swinging first pitch.
Cruz over Sledge. Huh.
wow. as Ted just said on the radio, Germano has the highest batting average in today’s lineup. um, wow.
Um scary stat on Germano.
First game I’ll be watching live in at least 2 weeks.
And the first thing I see is Giles getting tagged out at 3rd.
Ugh.
3 DP between the teams in the first 3 innings.
2: At least we got a run in there. He could have K’ed and then Branyan could have K’ed as well. It’s not pretty, but I’ll take it.
So do now have 13 pitchers on the roster?
NO WANT PADRE GIDP!
NO WANT!
What’s with the low pitch count on Cook? Can’t the Padres’ hitters be a little patient? Take a couple of pitches?
7: And then we’d still have an out to work with, but since Cook doesn’t strike anybody out, it’s a chance worth taking. You swing first pitch in a scoring situation when the pitcher hasn’t got anybody out yet, you need to do something with it besides give him 2 outs.
There goes the Rockies…deep. Solo HR.
2: KT was on the radio this morning and said that Sledge was being sent down to AAA for Clay Hensley, who will work out of the ‘pen. That’s right, we will be carrying 13 pitchers, even if one of them is hurt (or two if you want to believe that Hensley is not right, which I do).
13: Unacceptable.
Damnit Padres, stop swining first pitch!
Branyan is 8 for his last 52 at bats with 28 strikeouts. Nice.
Branyon is not a LF’er. Come on Buddy quit experimenting.
There’s the danger of having Branyan in LF-Double that was a line drive that he misjudged and let go over his head.
13: That’s pretty desperate. Why not Bradley in CF?
Merv sure did fix this offense. A 2 run deficit in Coors still looks too big.
Ted’s saying that both the single and the double this inning had to be caught. Shoot…
The wheels are coming off.
HOLY SHIT!!! 3 TIMES THIS INNING… ARE YOU F-ING SERIOUS!!!
Oh well, BARRETT’S FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!
Branyan just let another 2 runs in this inning by letting a single turn into a triple. Good grief. Branyan gave up three runs this inning, pretty much on his own. Turned two fly balls and a single into a single, a double, and a triple. Yikes.
I wish that Barrett would get his act together and stop playing Branyan in LF.
2 outs… NICE
I not going to miss the weak hitting T.Sledge one bit – touted by the Padres brass as a possible, everyday lead off guy (can you imagine ?) the has been a bigtime disappointment –he is 30+ years old and may never see the majors for any length of time again. The Pads may be bringing up Hensley to showcase him for a trade –he will get some mop up work and lets hope he does well so that we can trade him for some decent bench/pitching help.
Cook gets a hit?
Oh well… BARRETT’S FAULT!!!
Yikes! Cut Barrett now. He’s ruining the team.
Versus Aaron Cook, 52 pitches in 6 IP. You’ve gotta be kidding me.
26: Sledge isn’t a weak hitter against RHP. Whatever he was or wasn’t touted as, his value is as a reserve outfielder who can hit righties.
Hensley’s trade value is not going to be greatly affected by a few days in the BP.
Can some body work the count.
Definition of insanity: Continuing to do the same thing in hopes of getting different results. Let’s keep swinging early!
30.
Dear Pat,
NO!!!
Sincerely,
The Padres
Seriously. Screw this. I’m going to go hit my finger tips with a hammer.
I’m tuning out now. I hope Cook gets the CG and then, perhaps, the Padres would try to work the count next time. I doubt it. Darn that Barrett dude. Off the team, man. Just go!
#29 – I understand the point you are making -but Sledge is an amazing 0 for 20 versus lefthanders and in a pinch hitting role, with opposing managers having a left handed pitching option when he is announced, don’t you think that makes the Pads vulnerable without decent righthanded hitters ? Also, I am encouraged with Branyan’s last at bat (8 for his last 53) —he hit it so high in the air, Gosh, Branyan’s really strong.
Well, I’m done. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
Remember: You can’t get too high or too low, its a marathon, it’s only July, we are only a game out and all those other cliches.
Go ASTROS
yet another day game B squad game that Bud really could care less if he won… great.
The more I think about it the more I have no f-ing clue what I would do at this point if I was KT. Who or what can we even get. Bradley, Cameron and Giles are the only ones really doing anything lately. Do you get rid of Merv? He can’t be telling these hitters to act like this and do the things they are doing at the plate right? It’s like groundhog day with these bums. Even if you are Buddy Bell how the hell do you sit there and air out a bunch of mostly vetrans day after day after day for looking like rookies? Man this is frustrating!!!
Maybe it would be a good idea to bring Buddy Bell in and have him stir it up.
The Colorado announcers are wondering aloud if the Pads are trying to get out of town (they compared it to what you may see in a spring training game) and get this game over with because they are swinging at the first pitch in every at bat. Cook has thrown 62 piches in 8 innings. Unbelievable.
through 8 innings, Cooke hasnt even thrown 70 pitches. 66 pitches through 8 innings???
Oopps I gues I’ll change my name back haha!
hahaha Wrong “Buddy” whoops!!!
UNCLE!!!!!!!!
The padres want to see if its possible for a guy to throw a complete game in 70 pitches or less…
It’s possible.
they really made him work in the 9th… 8 pitches
wow 70 pitch complete game way to go Padres! Maybe the Padres are trying to trade for Cook and they did not want to wear him out.
Padres trade Linebrink to the Brewers for three minor league pitchers!
Holy shit we just traded LINEBRINK!!!
Ha, KRS1 gotcha!
Wow, we really suck at the plate. Problem with hitting is none of these guys do it very well or with any consistancy save Bradley and you can’t make a guy a better hitter. I would fire Merv right now, bring back Mags. That seemed to work in 2002(?). The lack of hitting has finally caught up with the good pitching and the standings. Agree with above, Go Astros.
I think the Padres are just trying to make it easy for me to miss watching/reading about the next month’s worth of games while I’m on a two week vacation and moving across the Atlantic.
Hey Padres, really it’s okay – you can play well and I’ll get over missing the fun.
Well according to BA Will Inman was the 3rd rated prospect in the Brewers system but with Yovanni Gallardo and Ryan Braun with the big club I guess that would make him their #1 prospect. Hmmm, kinda weird that we would take 3 pitchers for Linebrink when we have a few arms to use but maybe that’s all that was out there. BA seems to like Inman and he looks like he has solid potential for whatever that’s worth.
54: Where are you seeing this?
KT on XX right now
wire article on Linebrink trade:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2949167
Well, the Padres didn’t get help in this pennant race, unless you count not having Linebrink pitch for them any longer.
Basically replaced a reliever with a reliever and 2 guys who may be in the running to start next year. Not a terrible trade, but its not a huge help right *now*
Wow. CG on 74 pitches. One better than the Ashby’s gem.
He must have had great stuff.
Linebrink no more. I supposed trading him for a 4/5 starter seems about right given Scotty’s poor performance lately and his declining peripheral numbers.
Inman’s no 4 or 5 starter. 3rd best prospect in a pretty stacked Brewers system and he was leading the minor leagues in strikeouts for big chunks of this year. Plus, he’s only 20 and in AA striking out more than a guy per inning. I wouldn’t expect to see him before 2009 though.
I think that this is a pretty good return for Linebrink. The AAA reliever that we got (Thatcher) is putting up great strikeout numbers (Peter points out that his numbers look like Heath Bell’s before we acquired him) and he’ll join the Padres in Houston according to the U-T. http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070725-1556-bn25linebrink.html
Minor league career totals for Thatcher (2 seasons) 103 IP 133 K’s. Just what the Padres are looking for. And he’s a left hander…interesting
Could this be setting up another trade?
I really like the Linebrink trade. I’m not sure how we got a prospect like Inman for a reliever with a HR rate like Liney’s.
61: Thanks. So, this is a better trade than I thought.
Interesting that the Brewers didn’t just bring Thatcher up.
Baseball Musing take on the trade:
http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/022030.php
74 pitches?????????
Even if they had hit 2 solo home runs on the first 2 pitches of the game and followed with 27 consecutive 3 pitch strikeouts, he would have had to throw 83 pitches.
Nice haul for Linebrink even if we didn’t get any help for the offense. I’ll be posting some info about the new Padres later tonight at Friar Watch.
Apparently the Padres have offered Shea Hillenbrand a minor league contract. Are we trying to corner the market on a-holes? I imagine Bud Black knows him from their Angel days and is ok with it. Who would leave to make room for him? Branyan?
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/mlb_experts/post/Five-and-Fly-Selig-pulls-up-a-chair?urn=mlb,40306
63: I think you might be onto something there.
I just heard a caller on XEXX praise Russell Branyan saying that we have the bat on our roster and his name is Russell Branyan and that all he needs is more at bats. Coach K almost choked. Coach K said that Branyan may not even be on this team in a week. On this blog, I get blasted for critiquing Branyan—how unsophisticated is San Diego as far as being a baseball town ? I guarantee that Branyan will not get another 150 at bats total in the majors..he is absolutely brutal……
67: Shea Hillenbrand…yuck.
69: Oh, well if Coach K doesn’t like him…
Branyan had a terrible game today-just brutal. He’s still a better bench option than most anybody who will be available. And, I’ll take the over on your guarantee of 150 AB’s for Branyan…
A good point on the Musings site is that in giving up Linebrink, the Padres likely parted with a sandwich pick and a first rounder next year, thus the relative bounty as far as farmhands that we received.
70: Damn, Paul, you beat me to it. I’ll take that bet and give terrific odds.
Branyan is what he is. TTO. Not good defensively anywhere. Can hit the ball out of anywhere, won’t give away at-bats.
71: I’ll take Inman and Thatcher over any draft picks we’d have gotten for Linebrink.
Inman’s been hit a little in AA so far (not surprising for a 20 year old) but in his last 5 starts he’s thrown 29 innings and given up 8 runs (Around a 3 ERA) and he’s struck out 30. It seems like he’s getting the hang of the level. Depending on how he finishes the year, he may battle Headley for the #1 prospect in the system. He’ll certainly be in our top-3.
71: Me too. I just think that’s why his cost was more than may have been perceived by some.
So long Linebrink. I know we all criticized him a lot this season, but he got a lot of outs for this team over the last two seasons. And not a bad haul for a pitcher picked up from the junkheap (Linebrink was DFA’d by the Astros several seasons ago) – Three minor leaguers with some upside. Towers ahs had pretty great luc in identifying bullpen arms, and Thatcher looks like he could help right away, with Inman possibly useful eventually. Plus – three arms for a guy who had probably lost his manager’s trust? Nice job, Padres.
Also, now by my count we have an 8-man bullpen. (Hoffman, Thatcher, Hensley, Cameron, Ring, Hampson, Meredith, Bell) Yikes!
We also sent out Sledge today, no big deal.
I would guess that the next move is that the Pads figure out whether they’re going to keep K. Cameron or not, then figure out some kind of upgrade for the bench. I’d much rather have Grudzielanek or Loretta than Shea Hillenbrand. I freakin’ hate Hillenbrand, and not just because he’s a jerk – he’s an unproductive jerk. We’ve already got plenty of unproductive nice guys.
Ironically enough, in preseason threads on this blog I was arguing vehemently in favor of Loretta and Grudz – either of whom could have been had for nothing or almost nothing – and was laughed out of the room. Now we’re probably going to have to deal somebody good for one of those guys (I guess Inman or Freese)
I totally disagree re: Branyan but I guess that’s what makes this fun. I will bet you an dinner at a nice restaurant in the Gaslamp that Branyan will not have 150 total at bats at the mlb level in his career. I don’t understand the patience with a guy who actually DOES give away at bats…a guy who swings for the downs every single at bat and more importantly is 8 for his last 53 at bats with 28 strikeouts with three solo blasts.
You mean 150 more not 150 total right?
77: At bats or plate appearances? That’s worth clarifying with a guy who walks a lot.
Over Branyan’s last 53 AB, he has a .663 OPS which would be “good” for like 81st in the NL among those currently qualifying for the batting title. Just ahead of Juan Pierre and just behind Craig Biggio. Just thought I’d point that out.
OPS is one of the most meaningless stats there is. Truth is, Branyan has done absolutely nothing for well over a month and a half.
150 Total official at bats at the major league level – we can check the boxscores daily (he won’t be a Padre much longer) for his cups of coffee (with 2 to 3 clubs ) that will employ him in the next few years all of whom will give him a few at bats here and there. We can go see h
sorry. we can see him get some at bats for the Mexican League Tijuana Poteros. he’ll bat 4th in that lineup behind former Padre George Arias.
Anyway, I am wasting your time , really , blowing off steam after this Padre 8-13 stretch and blaming it all on a fringe player.
80 last 53 AB’s pr PA’s. If its AB’s i dong get how it can be that high because your not including walks. Just wondering.
83 … re: blowing off steam … I know the feeling … I’ve been doing some of that at work today … it feels potentially career-limiting … need to do it here rather than at work, me thinks
84 … my guess is that he’s saying is that during the games during which RB has amassed his most recent 53 ABs his OPS = .663 … doesn’t that make more sense than than thinking that Richard is saying that Branyan’s SLG = .663 over his past 53 ABs?
84# Official at bats – I think he has walked 8 or 9 times.
150 PA’S on the bet.
One guy I wouldn’t mind returning to the Padre’s as a bench guy down stretch is Chris Gomez (.301).
I had enough of Gomez back in the late 90’s.
What about bringing up this Myrow character from Portland – he a lefty who plays 1B/3B and is hitting pretty solidly at the AAA level. Let him take Branyan’s place…
I also think it’s time to give Stauffer a try instead of Germano. Unless Jennings is on the way.
I like Myrow as well. He is 30 years old but he is tearing the cover off the ball. We need guys who put the bat on the ball when coming off the bench.
BTW, Gomez is not the player you saw 10 years ago. He rarely strikes out now and hits for a much better average.
81: OPS is meaningless? Which part? The percentage of plate appearances where a batter reaches base? Or is it the average number of total bases per at bat? Among easily calculated statistics, OPS is the most meaningful.
81: Are you honestly claiming that batting average tells us more about the overall quality of a hitter than OPS? Because if that’s what you’re saying it’ll save me time in the future.
I spoke to Peter this afternoon, and there’s no guarantee Liney would have left via FA. To get the compensation picks, you have to offer the player Arbitration. Since Liney had been struggling of late (and who knows how he would have finished the season), there’s a high chance he would have accepted arbitration. So, no. Linebrink does not automatically cost us two picks.
Hillenbrand and Gomez are definitely not an upgrade over anyone on our bench. Replacing Branyan with either would be an ugly downgrade.
Scouts have said Inman will struggle at the upper levels because his stuff isn’t very good. Still, he’s a good back of the rotation candidate for the next couple of years at the minimum, and he’ll help a lot sooner than any draft pick would. Where Inman is now would be a best case scenario development for the Linebrink draft pick.
93: Good point. Though if Linebrink’s ERA stays at around 3.5 I bet a team would sign him to a longer term deal, horrible peripheral stats be damned.
Nate Silver of BP loves the deal for the Padres, mostly because of his really low opinion of Linebrink. He says, “relief pitchers have short life spans, and the general rule is that declines in their peripheral performances are fairly sticky.”
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=459
#89 and 90
The thing about guys like Myrow is that Portland is a ridiculous hitting environment. The numbers are inflated to an absurd extent, and are really not much of an indication of real talent (vice versa for the pitching, BTW.) Check out last year’s Portland team – there was a similar guy on that team named Justin Leone. His numbers were off the charts, but, like Myrow, he was an old-for-AAA player having a career year, and got a single at-bat with the Pads, who were struggling through Vinny Castilla half the year. I trust that Gms and scouts understand what they have in guys like this – a 30-year old minor-leaguer who’s never been in the majors is almost never going to become anything more than bench filler. The number of usefu major leaguers who made their debut after age 30, I’m going to wager, is miniscule.
Starngely enough, Gomez wouldn’t bother me as much as Blum. And I HATED Gomez 10 years ago – such a mediocre all-around player. But if he can still field short and second and hit lefties a bit, I’d probably take him, as long as San Diego didn’t give up anybody within sniffing distance of being useful.
I still say there’s another deal coming. Will Carroll hinted today at BP that it involved bats – plural. I can only see one obvious hole in the lineup currently (i.e., in need of an immediate upgrade) and that’s M. Giles. Since supposedly SD can’t take on any salary, any other bat they would have to add would be in the final year of a fairly small contract. Grudzielanek fits the bill pretty well, and he was a gold-glover last season, and he can play short a little bit. He’s not going to put up a lot of runs, not with a sub-par OBP, but he’s going to an easier league and he hits line drives, rather than swing for the fences, and line drives are good in Petco.
96: And then someone like Jack Cust goes off and has a career three months. So sometimes GMs make mistakes. But yeah, I really, really doubt Myrow can help this team.
It’s hard for me to understand why so many people dislike Branyan so much. I also don’t understand why people find the need to break down Branyan’s season into segments…when he already isn’t getting many PA’s to begin with. For a bench guy with like the second highest OPS on the club, he sure does catch a lot of flak…
98: Some people just detest TTO players.
Re #90: I saw Myrow hit tonight. He hit a solo shot in the first and made really solid contact in every at bat. He got robbed twice: once by the 2B and once by the 1B.
Of all the guys on Portland’s roster tonight, he was the only real bright spot as far as hitting goes.
On defense, the CF made a catch at the warning track and threw a one-hop laser to first base to double up Jason Botts. It was one of the best throws I’ve seen in person. I couldn’t believe how fast it came in.
98,99 – Maybe you’re right – to this day I still wonder why the Padres cut bench player Rob Deer in 1996. Give me a solo shot from Branyan every two weeks or so and it will be acceptable if he hits.197
101: You know batting average is the least important of the three standard rate stats (BA/OBP/SLG), right?
102: Right. It’s why some don’t think Tony Gwynn deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Batting average and subsequent batting titles don’t mean a whole lot I guess. Gwynn rarely walked and didn’t have a particularly high SLG. In fact, Russell the Muscle’s OPS was pretty close to Gwynn’s. You’ve changed my whole perception of Branyan. I see a lot of value in his his 118 homeruns even though he is a lifetime .229 hitter and even though he amazingly only has 293 rbi’s in 2000+ plate appearances.
102: It becomes a bit more important when the player hits sub .200. You cant just ignore batting average. I like Manyan. You always have that feeling like he is going to hit one out. That said, it gets to a point to where he can be a very frustrating player to watch. A solo shot when we are down by 4 or more runs just isnt that valuable, and it inflates an OPS. He is a good bat off the bench because he has game changing power, but a singles hitter that hits in the clutch, with RISP, and drives in runs can be more valuable. The problem I have with OBP, and OPS to an extent is that old saying that “a walk is as good as it hit” is just not true. A walk doesnt score a guy from second, or get a guy from 1st to 3rd.
This is my opinion on the matter. What stats people find useful in their evaluations is up to them. There are many ways to evaluate a player. Looking at numbers is just one of them.
103: Dude Gwynn had a career .847 OPS. That is actually pretty damn good. He slugged .449 and had a career .388 OBP. The reason Gwynn didnt walk alot is because he hit, A LOT. .388 is a great OBP.
103: Nobody is arguing that Branyan is as good as Tony Gwynn was. Also, nobody is suggesting that Gwynn isn’t a Hall of Famer. You’d have to be an idiot to suggest that. You sure showed that strawman who was boss.
Gwynn actually had an above average OBP before accounting for walks, hit by pitches, etc. But seriously if Gwynn had hit .338/.338/.338 instead of .338/.388/.459, there wouldn’t be anyone with half a brain arguing to include him in the Hall.
What my post in 102 meant was that batting average doesn’t give you a complete picture. I mean would you honestly rather have a guy batting .280/.310/.400 than say a guy batting .200/.330/.440?
104: A walk isn’t as good as a hit. That’s why a measure like wOBA is so good (it’s based on linear weights).
#103: Branyan is similar to Bubba Trammell, Ron Kittle, and Henry Rodriguez in career OPS+.
Gwynn is similar to Rod Carew, Paul Waner, Wade Boggs, and Roberto Clemente using the same metric.
106: If the .200 hitter is getting it done w/RISP then of course you take him, but if the .280 hitter is getting it done w/RISP and driving in more runs, then you take him. For the most part Manyan has trouble w/RISP. Again, I like him off the bench, I would just rather he doesnt start. Your OPS doesnt make up for your defense in his case.
Branyan is fifth on the team in wOBA, btw. Bradley leads the team and is followed in order by Gonzalez, Giles and Cameron.
Sandy Alderson was on XX this afternoon. When they asked him about the 2nd base situation and bringing in Loretta he said they aren’t going to make a move just to make a move, it would have to be a significant upgrade. He also said any move they make (Linebrink included) would be geared toward winning this year.
More than anything he was livid over the approaches taken by the hitters this afternoon. He went so far as to single out Barrett for not having drawn a single walk since joining the team. One game isn’t going to trigger a move but I think today’s debacle pushes the team in that direction.
Oh, he also said the outfield is set, there’s no one there that can obviously be improved.
107: wOBA is a bit too much numbers wise for me, and I also dont agree on some one the weights. How do you weight HBP higher than BB or reaching on and error higher than a single? Its better than traditional OBP but who makes the rules? Again this is my opinion. I dont dive too deep into numbers because its not exactly how I like to evaluate.
109: Branyan has actually hit significantly better with runners on than with none on. (.222/.390/.467 compared to .189/.286/.419)
That said, when you break down the numbers like that you just end up with even smaller samples that mean next to nothing.
111. Interesting, because they Linebrink trade does not seem to improve us significantly this year, where as Loretta would by possibly improving 2B and definitely improving the bench.
He is right to be upset about Barrett. He hasnt really been an upgrade at all over Bard, but drawing a walk today would not have scored 8 runs. I agree we cant really improve the OF much.
Who sets the rules? The weights are based on the average run value of each event. From The Book:
“These are all the types of events in baseball, along with how often they occurred and how many runs were scored from the instant before that event occurred to the end of the inning. For example, there were 21,026 HR in the years in our data. From the time the HR was hit, to the end of the inning, 40,838 runs scored, for an average of 1.942 runs scored by team per HR hit by player. Now, go to the bottom of the chart. Once an out is recorded on a hit ball, you can expect to score 0.240 runs to the end of the inning.”
114: Well, perhaps they believe the guy who will replace Linebrink on the 25-man roster will be an improvement. That really won’t take too much as Linebrink’s peripherals are not good this year.
Using my own highly advanced set of metrics, I deem Branyan as the player 22nd most responsible for the Padres failings.
Ken Rosenthal is saying the Padres have interest in bringing Klesko back. Do we need another left handed bat? At least he’ll take some pitches.
113: But the RISP numbers is an important sample. I dont see where you get that. If the game we are down by 3 or less w/RISP runs (Clutch) Branyan doesnt hit above .200, in fact his OPS really doesnt get above .700. To me this is more important. But either way, he is a bench player and it doesnt matter all that much.
The most interesting thing to me is he is overall a much better hitter against LHP (SMALL SAMPLE), but all his HRs are against RHP.
116: He used the word significant upgrade. I dont see Thatcher being that significant, then again he could be what Cla was last year. Dont get me wrong, I love the trade.
115: Ok, thats just not something I would personally dive into. If thats the case though, it seems like the weights should be evaluated from team to team as a single from the Padres is less likely to score a run as a single from the Phillies. Just my opinion.
119: The logic given for the trade was that they feel Thatcher and Meredith and possibly some other guys in the pen will ultimately be more valuable than Linebrink this year and the two prospects will strengthen the system down the road. So it’s a win now/build the future combo.
118: Being important doesn’t make a sample inherently predictive.
117: Hahaha, I was actually making that list to myself the other day. Using just the 25 man roster, going from least responsible for the failings (measuring performance relative to expectations going into the year), I’d go Bell, Young, Hoffman, Bradley, K. Cameron, Branyan. If you include people off of the 25 man roster, then that probably pushes Branyan down to right about 22nd.
120: The point of the metric is context neutrality.
121: Yes thats what I said haha. I said possibly they see him doing what Cla did last year and that I love the trade. I just dont see it as a significant upgrade looking at it right row. A minor leauger with no ML exp. over Linebrink does not seem significant, but it could be and the other 2 guys are great pick ups.
Well I’m just glad the trade went down today. It takes our minds off of today’s embarrassment.
118: No it doesnt, but its a stat I like to consider.
120: Sure, but that doesnt make it entirely correct.
126: Yes it does, hopefully it doesnt make the clubhouse sour though. We are playing like the worst team in MLB right now, we dont need it to get worse. I hope we turn it around this series in Houston. It would be nice to bring Loretta and Jennings home with us haha.
112: I believe HBP get more value than a walk because they generally occur in more critical moments in the game… leading to more runs. At least that’s what I remember reading. Reaching on an error is higher than reaching on a single because of the advancement after an error, I think.
What do you guys think are the Padre’s needs now? Obviously they need offense, but where can they upgrade. The bench could use help, and people have talk about Loretta and Burke, both good options. It also looks like we need another starter. Stauffer could get the call, but I dont know if I am confident with him. Jason Jennings seems to be talked about, and I read Scott Olsen is on the block. What are your guys takes on the moves so far, and what and who do you think we cang do/get to improve?
128: Will Carroll reported the other day that Jennings isn’t actually fully healthy and recovered from the arm troubles that sent him to the DL. It sounded like this could be a thing that shuts him down the rest of the year, or at least severely limits his effectiveness. If the Padres training staff does its due diligence on Jennings and thinks he’ll be 100% healthy for the stretch drive, then he would be a good acquisition.
130: Scott Olsen recently got arrested and tasered for drunk driving and refusing to stop for police. Sounds like a perfect acquisition for the Padres!
An upgrade to the starting pitching would be nice. A decent second baseman would also be nice. Other than that, any upgrade would likely be marginal and cost way too much. A new rumor on mlbtraderumors mentions Wandy Rodriguez, who could be an good trade target. He’s got great K and BB numbers this year, but his ERA doesn’t reflect that at all. The price for him might be the price of a mediocre starter like he’s been in the past, but if this step up in peripherals this year is real, he could be a good number 3 pitcher. His xFIP is 3.94.