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More Spring Training Thoughts

Mon, Jan 7, 2008Ballhype: hype it up!
by Geoff Young

We’ve got the spring training meetup poll going over there on the right. With very few precincts reporting, so far it looks like folks want to get together in the desert sooner (Feb 29 - Mar 2, or Mar 7 - 9) rather than later (Mar 14 - 16, or Mar 21 - 23). Typically I’ve gone toward the end, when big leaguers see most of the action, but it might be interesting to watch more of the kids for a change.

Anyway, if you have any interest in attending spring training as a group, please participate in the poll and/or leave comments so we can start making plans. On a related note, I’ve been talking to my buddy with the limousine company. I’d love to figure out a way to get him involved if possible. Whether that means driving out in a limo (we tried this for Cooperstown, which would have been hilarious, if not entirely practical) or just having one out there to shuttle us around town, I don’t know.

Links and Stuff

I’m on deadline with several projects (most notably the book!), but here are a few items of potential interest:

There you go. Enjoy, and remember: spring training; we’re doing that thing, yo, but we need a plan…

Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.

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    • 24 Responses to “More Spring Training Thoughts”

    1. Phantom Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 9:11 am Reply to this comment

      I’m definitely on the earlier in the month side of things for ST. The games closer together and I’ve got to be able to go down to Petco in mid-to-late March in order to trade in season tix for different days.

    2. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 9:37 am Reply to this comment

      Andy’s Stat-O-Day (TG over .400 for 162-games) is *AWESOME*!!!

      THANKS!!!

      And I like that some Boggs fan was able to do same for Boggs … but his is .401 vs TG’s .402 :-)

    3. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 9:46 am Reply to this comment

      re: Giles’ arm … the data matches my perception …

      Good to see Edmonds well up on the list …

      The first time I’ve ever gone to 3 games in a row was last summer vs Marlins … and the player that stood out for me during that series was Alfredo Amezaga … and his numbers in this analysis are very interesting (he threw out 8 runners from CF) … but also what I noticed was that he played a good SS while Ramirez was hurt … ie. he’d be a GREAT fit on the Padres right now (backup CF + SS)!

    4. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 9:48 am Reply to this comment

      re: TG hitting .402 over 162-games … also just noticed that he K’d only 22 times during those 162 games! Yowza!

    5. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:11 am Reply to this comment

      4 … here’s a list of the times that an MLBer has had 500+ PAs in a full season with 23 or fewer K’s … http://tinyurl.com/388m7j … done 17 times … 7 by TG :-) (#1, @ 14, Felix Fermin???)

    6. Didi Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:13 am Reply to this comment

      This is food for thought:

      http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....g-average/

    7. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:13 am Reply to this comment

      5 … oops, left out one further qualification i did on the list … only includes seasons 1980+ … and George Brett’s 1980 with 1.118 OPS really stands out on that list, don’t it?

    8. Geoff Young Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:31 am Reply to this comment

      Re: Spring training, sounds like we might be able to get dinner/hotel discounts, too. We’re brainstorming ideas; will have more info later this week.

    9. Phantom Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:55 am Reply to this comment

      8: That definitely sounds great. A question - for weekend ST games, are there any practice sessions before the game?

    10. JP Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 10:58 am Reply to this comment

      Thanks very much for the Rich Burke interview link. It was interesting to see how much he (Burke) really likes Yordany Ramirez

    11. Tom Waits Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:04 am Reply to this comment

      10: I like listening to Burke broadcast Beaver games across the Interwebs, but nobody’s defense is worth a run per game.

    12. Steve C Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:20 am Reply to this comment

      Re: 11 speaking of listening to ML games on the radio, did anyone else listen to storm games on 1700 last season? It’s great that chose to broadcast them here in SD and it made it a lot easier to follow the team. I hope they do it again this year.

    13. SDSUBaseball Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:21 am Reply to this comment

      9: Yes there are. Seems like there is practice before just about every game.

    14. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:44 am Reply to this comment

      13 … the “practice” is not on the field of the ST game … but rather back on the “practice fields” at the complex (which is at the same “site”) …

      As I’ve said before, I’m going to be there the weekend of March 8/9 … but I think an advantage of going to ST later is that you have the option to go to minor league ST games also (rather than drive to see the Padres, for example) … I found a web site with these schedules on them last spring … if/when I find it again, I’ll post it here …

    15. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:45 am Reply to this comment

      Here’s a Master Schedule for the Cactus League …

      http://www.springtrainingonlin.....cactus.htm

    16. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 11:47 am Reply to this comment

      And here’s a Padres-specific page …

      http://www.springtrainingonlin.....padres.htm

      … which has a link to minor-league info … which is not yet available …

    17. Pat Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 1:03 pm Reply to this comment

      14: LM, what’s with all the quotation marks? Are you going all Dr. Evil on us? :-)

      Last time I checked they really were practicing on the practice fields at the same site where the ST games are played. ;-)

    18. Phantom Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 1:11 pm Reply to this comment

      Great THT article about the true definition of “league average”. http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....g-average/

      Given these metrics, here’s how the Padres compared:

      2007 OPS+ by position
      Pos Mean Median
      C 86 83

      Bard: 107 OPS+
      Barrett: 40 (!) OPS +

      Yikes! Bard was well above average, but Barrett, dear God. Given the playing time distributions, the Padres probably ended up above average here, but man did Barrett pull us down.

      1B 115 108

      Gonzalez: 125

      This pretty much confirms what we already knew, Adrian is a freakin stud at 1B. It will be interesting to see how Blanks forces the FO’s hand in a couple years…

      2B 96 100

      Giles: 68
      Blum: 84

      Clearly 2B was a problem for us last year. We were well below average here, and with Iguchi’s career OPS+ of 98, we should be well within the bounds of average.

      3B 109 101

      Kouz: 109

      Kouz, who was the median 3B from last year, put up pretty good numbers considering how the season started. I look for his OPS+ next year to be in the 120 range.

      SS 94 94

      Greene: 100

      In Khalil, we truly have an above average short stop. Not only does Khalil play great D, but his bat plays better than most in spite of his awful OBP.

      RF 111 105

      Giles: 109

      Not sure how to feel about this. Giles is clearly average, and at this point I think that’s all we can really hope for. Maybe he’d be better in LF (who, as you will see, produce lower numbers)?

      CF 97 88

      Cameron: 103

      Cameron was truly an above average CF, although his is more of a case of the glove making the true distinction. For reference sake, Edmonds posted an 88 OPS+ in 07, which is on the lower bounds of average.

      LF 107 101

      Cruz: 86
      Sledge: 80
      Bradley: 167 (!)
      Hairston: 156 (!)

      Holy crap, was LF all over the place or what?! We probably ended up close to, if not above, average for the year. Good God, I didn’t realize what a monster Bradley was for us. Hairston wasn’t no slouch either.

      It’s important to remember that all of the numbers here are for just their contributions as Padres. In Barrett’s case, this deflates the numbers. For Hairston and Bradley, it’s just the opposite.

    19. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 2:16 pm Reply to this comment

      A friend of mine just gave me something that looks to be a USPS product commemorating TG’s 3000th hit … while doing some google-based research to see what it is, I found this web site …

      http://www.wsradio.com/shopton.....lopes.html

      … “The official web site for Tony Gwynn Sports Memorabilia” … hmmm … fyi …

    20. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 2:46 pm Reply to this comment

      OT … a reminder of what the 2008 draft is looking like …

      http://www.baseballamerica.com.....65300.html

      Padres picked up a sup 1st round pick for losing Brocail … which is amazing, ain’t it? And will pick up another if/when Cameron signs.

    21. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 2:51 pm Reply to this comment

      Another “spring” (quotation marks are for you, Pat :-) ) option for baseball is to go the college rout … for example, if you’re going to be over in Tempe, AZ the weekend of Feb 22-24 you can watch the 2-time defending national champs play in the Arizona State Tourny … or you can wait until March 7/8/9/10 when they play in the San Diego State Tourny (Sat. March 8th game @ Petco) …

      http://www.osubeavers.com/Spor.....PSID=24961

    22. Pat Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 3:55 pm Reply to this comment

      LM, are you contending the OSU Beavers are “defending national champs” or something?

    23. LynchMob Says:
      January 7, 2008 at 3:59 pm Reply to this comment

      22 … “indeed”

    24. Pat Says:
      January 8, 2008 at 7:45 am Reply to this comment

      23: lol

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