Busy, busy, busy…

• Scouting Jake Peavy (Baseball Analysts, via Jim Parish in the comments). Joe P. Sheehan dissects the repertoire of Jake Peavy.
• Brian Giles has surgery on knee (San Diego Union-Tribune, via Tom Waits in the comments). Brian Giles, who has been having trouble with his right knee since April, is expected to be ready for Opening Day 2008. Also, the possibility of Matt Antonelli leading off next year is mentioned.
• Overachievers, ey? (Friar Forecast). MB isn’t impressed with Nick Canepa’s latest. (Neither is Dex at Gaslamp Ball.)
• Coming up short: Padres were a good team, but couldn’t overcome obstacles (North County Times). Dan Hayes looks back at the season that was and offers suggestions for the future.
• Bradley won’t be suspended for incident (Los Angeles Times). Quoth Bob Watson: “If his manager hadn’t gotten him, we’re talking a whole different situation.”
• Hoffman accepts blame for defeat (Padres.com). Quoth Trevor Hoffman:
  

  You can’t really point to any other factor than my performance tonight. It’s a burden I’m going to have to deal with.

  Actually, you can point to many small failures throughout the season. This is not on any one moment or person.

• Rockies Celebrate… But He Still Has Not Touched Home Plate! (San Diego Spotlight). Not to dwell on it, but Rich offers his thoughts regarding the Matt Holliday/Tim McClelland fiasco that ended the Padres season. Be sure to read the comments; unintentional humor is the best kind.
• Speaking of which, by request, we now have Waiting for Holliday shirts available. I’m going to do some housecleaning at the store over the next few weeks, so if there’s something you’ve had your eye on, now might be a good time to get it.
• California League Top 20 Prospects List (Baseball America, via Peter Friberg in the comments). Antonelli checks in at #4, while left-hander Wade LeBlanc is ranked #12. No love for Kyle Blanks.
• 101 Best Baseball Blogs of 2007 (LA Snark, via Gaslamp Ball). I’m overjoyed to be ranked #44, which as we all know has been retired by the Padres in honor of Willie McCovey. Furthermore, it’s the number Peavy wears.
• 2008 Baseball Free Agents (Knuckle Curve). Calling my own number here; I’ve gathered a few links for tracking potential free agents this winter. Might come in handy while we’re trying to figure out how to shore up the Padres’ various holes.
• OOTP league and Sunday softball openings (Friar Watch). Anthony is looking for softball players. I’m in, if that makes a difference.

Most Commented Posts

On another note, someone was asking about this the other day; here are the top 5 non-IGD threads at Ducksnorts:

1. Blum, Bocachica, and a Slice of History (June 7, 2007)
2. Jake the Efficient (September 27, 2007)
3. Padres Poised to Pop Pitcher (June 6, 2006)
4. Till It Hurts, Kiddo (September 27, 2006)
5. Padres, Mets Swap Spare Parts (November 16, 2006)

I love that our fifth most heavily commented thread ever came in November. We are such geeks.

I’ve also been reminded of an old thread about which ballparks we’ve visited. I’ll need to update my list to include the parks I stopped by on the way to Cooperstown this summer. Feel free to hop on over and add your own if the spirit moves you.

And as always, we’ve got a boatload o’ links at del.icio.us. Happy reading…

Tagged as: Baseball, baseball_america, baseball_analysts, california_league, jake_peavy, mlb, padres, prospects, san_diego_padres, scouting