I don’t have a lot of links today, so before we get to those, let’s do a quick recap of this winter’s moves so far:
Out
- Geoff Blum, INF: Signed with Houston Astros
- Hiram Bochachica, INF/OF: Signed with Seibu Lions (Japan)
- Milton Bradley, OF: Signed with Texas Rangers
- Doug Brocail, RHP: Signed with Houston Astros
- Mike Cameron, CF: Free agent
- Jack Cassel, RHP: Signed with Houston Astros
- Scott Cassidy, RHP: Signed with Milwaukee Brewers
- Brady Clark, OF: Free agent
- Morgan Ensberg, 3B: Free agent
- David Freese, 3B: Traded to St. Louis Cardinals
- Marcus Giles, 2B: Free agent
- Jason Lane, OF: Free agent
- Rob Mackowiak, INF/OF:
Free agentSigned with Washington Nationals - Terrmel Sledge, OF: Signed with Nippon Ham Fighters (Japan)
- Mike Thompson, RHP: Signed with Pittsburgh Pirates
- Brett Tomko, RHP: Free agent
From what I can tell, the Padres will receive a supplemental pick in the 2008 draft for Brocail and another for Cameron (once he signs with someone). They will not get one for Bradley, who was not offered salary arbitration. I don’t believe anyone else will net compensation; let me know if that’s wrong.
In
- Callix Crabbe, INF: Acquired from Milwaukee Brewers via Rule V draft
- Jeff DaVanon, OF: Signed as free agent
- Jim Edmonds, CF: Acquired from St. Louis Cardinals via trade
- Robert Fick, C/1B: Signed as free agent
- Michael Gardner, RHP: Acquired from New York Yankees via Rule V draft
- Carlos Guevara, RHP: Acquired from Florida Marlins via trade
- Tadahito Iguchi, 2B: Signed as free agent (1 yr, $3.85M)
- Mark Prior, RHP: Signed as free agent (1 yr, $1M)
- Luis Rodriguez, INF: Claimed off waivers from Minnesota Twins
- Glendon Rusch, LHP: Signed as free agent (1 yr, $850k)
- Randy Wolf, LHP: Signed as free agent (1 yr, $4.75M)
- Mauro Zarate, RHP: Claimed off waivers from Florida Marlins
None of the players signed will cost the Padres any picks.
The organizational tree has been updated to reflect these moves. Now back to your regularly scheduled links:
- MB at Friar Forecast examines bullpen usage in the NL West in 2007 and offers suggestions on how the Padres might better leverage the back end next year.
Joe HamrahiDave Rouleau at Baseball Digest Daily offers his thoughts on the revamped Padres rotation. Among other things,JoeDave includes a link to this video breakdown of Mark Prior’s delivery done by friend of Ducksnorts (and now enemy of Padres Nation) Carlos Gomez.- Ex-Padre Gaylord Perry weighs in on cheating and the Hall of Fame (Boston Globe).
- Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated has a nice blurb on Trevor Hoffman (via Phantom in the comments).
- A Cubs blogger talks about Prior. So does a local paper. These are very tame compared to some of the stuff that’s out there. Seems folks in Chicago feel about Prior the way Padres fans feel about, oh, Ruben Rivera or Sean Burroughs. Only differences I can see are that a) the Cubs actually got a good year out of Prior and b) their fans are way angrier. Seriously, there’s a lot of bitterness toward the guy if you look for it. Try the Internet.
Happy Friday, yo.
What does anyone think about Barret & Morrow or P-Mac for Matt Stairs? Would that make people feel a little more confident about our OF?
Interesting take on the Prior acquisition over by David Pinto at Sporting News…
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=historyshowspriorabadgam&prov=tsn&type=lgns
Not sure on the accuracy of the comparisons because of how radically better medical and rehab technology have become in the last decade.
Re: 1 No thanks they have enough OF’s over the age of 37
3: He posted an OPS+ last year of 138. Over the past four years, he’s averaged an OPS+ of 101.
More importantly, Stairs gives us a credible back-up at 1B and has consistently posted OBPs in the .360 range.
He might be old, but he might also be a good 1-year option. I think we match up well with a Barrett/Morrow combo because Morrow has tore up AAA and is also a 1B/DH type while the Blue Jays made a hard run at Lo Duca this off-season and lost.
Don’t forget that Hiram Bocachica is out as well after signing with the Seibu Lions of Japan, as per MLB.com’s free agent tracker. Not that it’s really that big a piece of news.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/hot_stove/y2007/free_agent_tracker.jsp?fastatus=all&subscope=pos&teamPosCode=O
Also, Rob Mackowiak signed with the Washington Nationals.
#1: Myrow basically is Matt Stairs. I liked your idea in yesterday’s comments of signing Livan Hernandez. He’d be a great fit, plus that slow curve is fun to watch.
#2: Interesting. I also wonder about medical advances. To me the two most relevant names are Chris Carpenter and Jamie Moyer. I’m still not expecting anything, but it didn’t cost much to play.
#5, 6: Thanks for the updates. Did Bocachica finish the year with us, or was he let go before season’s end?
a Prior risk that I haven’t seen mentioned:
he appears healthy, but pitches poorly, yet his upside seduces us into continuing to give him innings despite a 7+ ERA and costs us slim playoff hopes.
8. Great point
7: I don’t know much about Myrow, but I can definitely see that making sense. Any chance he makes the team?
I think Livan would be a great innings eater and could be incredibly valuable over the length of a season. We’ve got to reasonably expect CY and Wolf to miss starts for a variety of reasons, and it would be nice to have another workhorse to go with Jake. The problem is that Livan will probably fetch a much higher price than he’s worth from the likes of the Astros or the Mets.
Is this guy on crack?
http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2007/12/the-deal-of-the-year/
Sorry, its off topic, but holy crap is Leyritz ever in trouble!
Report: Leyritz arrested on suspicion of DUI, vehicular homicide
re 7: bocachica was DFA’d near the end of the season, but he did accept a minor league assignment and played all the final games with the beavers.
he then became a MFA.
and i was about to mention mack to the nats as well
Sorry bad link:
ESPN story
14.
Yikes! That is a sad situation.
“Enemy of Padres Nation” huh?
LMFAO…
Carlos
#16: Hey, I meant it in the nicest possible way.
wanted to share the link of a new blog. more to be added soon enough.
go PADRES
http://sidearmdelivery.blogspot.com/
GY, can you pass that Carlos Gomez link to your contacts in the Padre front office?
hate to say this again but i updated my new blog and added an in-depth analysis of the Padres 2008 Bullpen
http://sidearmdelivery.blogspot.com/2007/12/2008-padres-bullpen.html
If you want to see some stupidity, check out SI.com Jon Heyman’s picks for the Hall of Fame:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/12/28/daily.scoop/index.html
First I like the initial shot at people who rely on stats. Classy. What always amazes me is that a lot of writers seem to confuse team excellence vs individual. Seriously, there is no doubt that Bert Blyleven was a much better pitcher then Jack Morris, yet since Morris was surrounded by better players, Heyman thinks that he should be in the Hall of Fame rather then Blyleven. Goose is a no-brainer but his other picks are absurd, especially considering the alternatives. Dawson, Rice, Concepcion and Dave Parker (!) were all good players but Tim Raines is better then all the outfielders and Alan Trammell is better than Concepcion. Rice isn’t even the best Boston OF’er from that time frame, Dwight Evans was a lot better. I try not to get worked up about the Hall Of Fame (much like the baseball awards) since it’s so screwed up but then you have to read stuff like this.
Hey Geoff!! I did the Padres Starting Rotation Analysis on BDD…….lol
#22: Ah, sorry ’bout that. I’m such an idiot!
MY real name is DANNY MARTIN this is a cool websitt I love it I will be at this websitt sometimes if I can. MY dad is oside Jon. He let me post cause this site is cool!!!
I am just a kid that likes games ok
Yeah, I don’t care that much about the Hall of Fame until everyone else starts screwing it up.
Hi Chris Brown/Danny Martin. Who’s your favorite Padres? Welcome to the site.
7 – the difference is, Myrow doesn’t have the OF experience Stairs does.
I’m excited to see Adam Bass in spring training. He’s a 6’6″ 210 lb converted starter, which is one of the things KT targets when looking for cheap bullpen help. I think he may be another “Hampson”. Nothing great, but a useful part.
Very bad news for Jim Leyritz and even worse for the person he killed…..
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071229/news_1s29digest.html
Peter Gammons is now voting for Tim Raines:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof08/news/story?id=3169953