IGD: Padres vs Phillies (19 Jul 07)

Game #94
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Chris Young (8-3, 1.97) vs Cole Hamels (11-4, 3.83)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

In 2002, the Padres were believed to be interested in local southpaw Cole Hamels with their first pick (#13 overall). Of course, they passed on Hamels (as well as Scott Kazmir) and instead selected Clemson shortstop Khalil Greene. At the time, I was less than enthusiastic about the pick:

I’m not overly thrilled at the selection of Greene when guys like Hamels, [Bobby] Brownlie, and Scott Kazmir were available. For one thing, there’s talk that his future is at second base, which has become an area of relative strength in the organization. For another, he’s a college senior who is a full year older than Sean Burroughs. I hope I’m wrong but I can’t help but think of Kevin Nicholson when I see this pick.

I’m happy to report five years later that I was wrong and that Greene has been the most productive player to come out of the 2002 draft’s first round so far:

Win Shares, 2002 Draft First Round
Player 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total
Stats are through games of July 8, 2007, and are courtesy of Hardball Times and Baseball Graphs.
Khalil Greene, SD (13th pick) 1 21 17 13 10 62
Nick Swisher, Oak (16th) - 1 12 22 11 46
Jeff Francoeur, Atl (23rd) - - 13 16 12 41
Mark Teahen, Oak (39th) - - 10 19 10 39
Joe Blanton, Oak (24th) - 0 14 10 11 35
Prince Fielder, Mil (7th) - - 2 17 15 34
Scott Kazmir, NYN (15th) - 1 13 14 5 33
Jeff Francis, Col (9th) - 2 6 13 9 30
Matt Cain, SF (25th) - - 5 12 6 23
B.J. Upton, TB (2nd) - 4 - 2 12 18
Cole Hamels, Phi (17th) - - - 8 10 18

Nice draft by Oakland, eh? Incidentally, the White Sox nabbed left-hander Royce Ring with the pick just after Hamels.

Go Padres!

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61 Responses »

  1. How odd that second base seemed like a position of strength then. It’s now a position that we most need an upgrade at and it’s filled by a free agent. Was Jake Geautreau still thought of as a possible 2nd basemen of the future when Khalil was drafted?

  2. This is OT (btw, love the Khalil love) but what the hell ever happened to Brady Clark? I know he was DFA’s by the Dodgers. Did we not make a waiver claim?

  3. Ah yes, the “Moneyball” draft. Maybe Alderson and/or DePodesta can answer your question.

  4. 2: I don’t think that we made a waiver claim.

  5. It’s kind of funny that the Moneyball draft is generally believed to be something of a failure for the A’s.

  6. #1: Gautreau, Josh Barfield, and Bernie Castro all were in the minors, and Ramon Vazquez looked like a potential option at the big-league level.

    #5: A lot of beliefs about Moneyball are kind of funny…

  7. Ironically, I don’t think we could trade Khalil for any of the players on that list. Maybe Teahen, but he was also traded for Carlos Beltran, the Sox won’t even trade Dye for Khalil straight up.

  8. Did Hamels throw his changeup that inning? Gameday has two offspeed pitches but they look more like curves than changeups, and they were to lefties.

  9. Nice play by OG.

  10. Three pop ups after two innings. 23 total pitches thrown by Hamels. Not a great offensive start. Hamels is a very good pitcher though.

  11. #10: Yeah, pitchers duel tonight.

  12. Weirdly, 5 IP, no hits for either side (especially not for the Padres, because Cole Hamels is no-hitting them, that’s right, he has a no-hitter going) yet no K’s in the game either. And both teams strike out a bunch, and both pitchers typically strike out a bunch of guys.

  13. WTF? Silent L trying to redeem himself for a crappy first half season?

  14. Geoff Blum is on FIRE. Makes Hamels throw 8 pitches and even singles. I was even ready to declare it a moral victory when he extended Hamels past five pitches.

  15. Crazy first inning over at Dodger stadium including 8 runs. 6-2 lead by the Mets, helped out by Jeff Kent getting thrown out at third with one out by Shawn Green trying to go from first to third on a single.

  16. Way to go OG!!!

  17. Monopoly just landed on ‘Go Directly To Jail.’ Well, at least we go one run out of this inning.

  18. 17: At least he didnt strike out

  19. CY can’t throw his breaking ball for a strike at all tonight.

  20. This just in: It’s easy to steal on Padre pitchers.

  21. At the beginning of the season, didn’t we have the option of trading Linebrink for Rowand? Man. What would our team look like then. To quote Seargent Weinberg, I’d take that trade every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

  22. Rowand is having a ridiculous career year. He had an OPS+ of 87 last year and of 93 two years ago. This offensive explosion is pretty much out of nowhere. Linebrink’s decline has also been pretty catastrophic and mostly out of nowhere. It was a good decision not to make that deal at the time.

    Now, the Linebrink trade that I really want to a do-over on is the one that had us sending Linebrink to New York for Oliver Perez and Heath Bell last year. That one looks pretty awesome in hindsight too.

  23. 22: I understand, but good scouts/GMs (not me) would hopefully be able to anticipate such things, e.g., “Soon, the league is going to adjust to Linebrink, or he is going to lessen his effectiveness.” Or, “Rowand has talent, and he should do better.” I’m not saying I knew those things at all, but I’d hope that our scouts could…

  24. 23: I see your point on Linebrink. His K rate has been declining, and he was less effective last year. There were some warning signs. But with Rowand, the guy is 30 years old and has a pretty significant track record. Oliver Perez and Heath Bell would also have been guys that you would trust scouts’ words on instead of recent results.

  25. Yikes. 63 pitches for Hamels through 5. That’s better than Maddux last night.

  26. 24: Didn’t realize Rowand was that old…

  27. #21: I like Andrew Brown for Bradley even better.

  28. Well that was a decidedly less crisp outing than his last one against Arizona, but CY gets the job done.

  29. The Dodgers-Mets game is just whipping along. 9-6 Mets after three innings, and both Lowe and Glavine are gone from the game. Glavine left with the bases loaded and no outs in the third with the score 9-5, so he couldn’t finish five innings for his 299th win despite 9 runs of support.

  30. The Ryan Howard at-bat was epic. He fouled off five pitches there.

  31. Our at bats have been decidedly less epic. Hamels at 72 pitches through 6.

  32. Let me rescind post 28, as CY is still out there throwing despite entering the 7th with 105 pitches.

  33. And that was a very crisp seventh for CY. Nice job.

  34. That inning sure made the outing look a lot crisper. Good work by CY to come out for that inning and good call by Black to have faith in him against the bottom of the order.

  35. any chance we dont see linebrink in the 8th?

  36. There is a chance… Bell in the 8th, thats refreshing

  37. Adrian flashing some leather. Wow.

  38. thats a Gold Glove play there. Nice stab Gonzo!

  39. Bell threw some dirttty pitches to Victorino and he still gets a hit.

  40. Any chance Victorino (former Padre) doesn’t steal here?

  41. Sure. Bell isn’t as bad as CY at holding runners, and you absolutely do not want to be thrown out with Utley at the plate.

  42. All right. An insurance run would be nice here with Howard leading off the 9th.

  43. Nice inning by Bell, good to see Buddy finally not use Linebrink. You can only “get him right back out there” for so long. At some point you gotta manage to win.

  44. Well, clearly Bell thinks he’s gonna try.

  45. Ugly AB by Kouz

  46. Blum doesnt want Marcus to have his job back.

  47. Brian has got to realize that with 2 outs, and especially 2 strikes, a hit is worth much more than a walk and swing the bat

  48. 47: Not necessarily in that situation, since a single doesn’t score the runner and a walk advances him into scoring position.

  49. 48: true, but he was looking for the walk that entire at bat. there are some at bats where he just wont even lift the bat off the shoulder. A hit gets hime to 3rd or possibly scores him on an XBH with 2 outs.

    Classsssic Hoff right there

  50. Got Howard looking on change.

    Death.