Uh-oh, another post full of bullet points. I am so jonesing for actual games…
- I’m seriously stuck in the past. The latest installment in my re-examination of the top prospects of ’98 is up at Knuckle Curve. Padres relevance? Rafael Medina checks in at #72, Ramon Hernandez at #74.
- Turning the clock back another decade, I’ve written a brief retrospective of the 1988 Pacific Coast League over at Hardball Times. Padres everywhere in this one: Sandy Alomar Jr., Greg Harris, Jerald Clark, Ken Caminiti, Shane Mack, Gary Lucas, Bruce Bochy, Darrel Akerfelds, Kevin Towers. Fun stuff.
- Ben B. points us to a chat with Heath Bell at North County Times. So, Heath, tell the folks what you think about the idea of Barry Bonds playing for the Padres:
It would be a bad move on the Padres’ part because we’d have a slow left fielder who’s not a team player. It’d bring too much controversy to the clubhouse. But at least I wouldn’t throw strikes to him and have the umpire call it a ball.
Thanks, man. Simple is beautiful.
Meetups and Fantasy League
- Assuming the weather holds, we’re meeting at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Friday evening for the USD/SDSU game. Be at the ticket office at 5:40 p.m.
- The limo thing fell through (we’ll try again next year), but reader Lance and I are headed to Peoria March 6 – 9. If you’ll be there at that time, let me know in the comments or drop me a line and we’ll come up with a plan.
- Thinking a little further ahead, I’ve been in contact with the Padres about another group night. We did one of these last year, and it was a blast. This time we’re talking about maybe Saturday, July 12. It’s a night game against the Braves, and the Padres will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ’98 NL Championship team. Also, tickets are half off for that game, so — you know, cheap is good. Anyway, just wanted to get this on the ol’ radar, see if we can make something happen.
- Oh yeah, almost forgot. We’re doing another Ducksnorts fantasy league this year. It’ll probably be Yahoo! because their platform is pretty reliable and, as an added bonus, it’s free. Let me know if you’re interested.
That’s all for now; more as it happens…
Count me in for a fantasy league. I’ve never done baseball before (and haven’t done football in years), so I expect to get stomped pretty badly.
Estes apparently has “great sink” on his fastball “if healthy”: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20080221-9999-1s21padnotes.html
Heath Bell commands, his right arm obeys: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20080221-9999-1s21padres.html
Did anyone else hear SA on Too Much Show last night? He was discussing Chase Headley and said that he believes the ideal situation for the Padres will be one of Jody Gerut or Paul McAnulty forcing Chase to AAA by having a break-out spring. Since Headley has options (and Gerut and McAnulty don’t), the team feels like it would be better to start the season with one of them in LF, platooning with Hairston. SA also admitted that if Chase forces their hand, he will make the team out of ST. But ideally, Gerut or P-Mac will have a monster ST and force Chase to get a bit more seasoning.
Thoughts?
Half off of tickets! count me in.
I’d also like to play in the fantasy league as well.
Re: 1 FREE P-MAC!
1: I was thinking the same thing about Headley. I’d go so far as to say the best thing would be for him to go to AAA and keep playing 3b. If he keeps hitting he’s at the more valuable position from a trade standpoint and he offers insurance for Kouzmanoff. We have sufficient left fielders.
Justin Huber is likely to be moved by the Royals. I’d take a flyer on him. Not good defensively anywhere, but a real emergency catcher, can play LF in a pinch, is a natural RH hitter and would give us an option to spell Agon without going to Clark’s weaker side. Would be a lot easier to build a strong bench if we weren’t carrying 12 pitchers again.
Count me in for the fantasy league.
3 & 4: I think giving Chase some more seasoning can’t hurt at all. Myabe we can catch lightning in a bottle with P-Mac or Gerut (sort of like Cruz last April), and we can always pull Chase up if one of them hits the skids (and no, this is not my attempt to get the most cliches possible into one post).
I don’t know why, but I feel pretty positive on Gerut. I don’t know much about the guy, but he’s continually mentioned by Black and Alderson whenever they discuss LF. I would love to see P-Mac get a legit chance, but I’m not sure how much we can afford weak range in LF with an old Edmonds in CF. I guess it remains to be seen how well Edmonds can man CF, but I think I’d rather have a more solid LF (defensively) than not.
Does anyone really know how poor P-Macs range in LF is he looked pretty good out there last year in ST. Does anyone keep ZR’s and RF’s for the minors?
From what I remember seein of P-Mac’s D it wasn’t too shabby. If he really is in as good of shape as reported then I don’t see why he shouldn’t be able to handle LF.
Count me in for FLB
people are starting to get excited about the SDSU/USD games, its going to be a good turn out for once.
and yeah, get em at the Q before the games, open 9-5 Gate E.
Re: 10 at the Q?
Kevin Goldstein’s Top Padre prospects list is up at BP. You can see the list and the Headley review without being a subscriber:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7162
If we go to the 7/12 game at Petco Peter will be wearing Braves gear…just a warning
I’d also be interested in fantasy baseball…
And…I’m not too excited about Gerut or McAnulty. I agree with Tom that Headley’s highest value is as a 3B-I tend to think that we should play him there or trade him while his value is at it’s peak. Also, a good call on Huber. I wonder how he’d do in a bench role…?
Hey…if you guys are interested in checking out CBSSports.com this year for your fantasy league, follow this link and you get $50 off of league registration:
http://baseball.sportsline.com/splash/baseball/spln/referral?refcode=BBCA08_atpr
For what it is worth, I always thought PMac was an average outfielder defensively. He doesn’t have much speed, but takes good routes to the ball and he has a decent arm.
I’m up for the fantasy league.
I’m down for mthe fantasy league again this year. Feel free to email me any info.
kristofer.mcdaniel@gmail.com
Re: 14 I have had a bunch of issues with CBSSports.com fantasy leagues in the past.
In regards to LF, if neither of these guys (Hairston, Headley, P-MAC, Gerut) fails to win the job outright during spring training, we’re gonna be in the same situation as last year with Sledge and Cruz. We didn’t have an everyday left fielder until the Milton Bradley trade.
I would hope that LF wouldn’t turn into a platoon situation because where we really need a platoon is CF and RF. Giles batted .241 with 2 HR against lefties in ’07 and Edmonds hit .198 with 3 HR.
I’d like to join the Fantasy League. What do I need to do?
#19: Nothing yet. So far we’ve got nine people. What kind of game do folks like? Is 4 x 4 good? Or… ?
I’ll do the fantasy league.
Man with the OF mess the Pads are in right now and the addition of Clark I think they really need to carry 11 pitchers this year so that they can carry a 6th OFer. But with the two rule V guys I fear that they will go with 12 pitchers again…
I would like to see a bench like this:
Gerut/McAnulty
Hiarston
DeVanon (they need a legit backup CF)
Clark
Crabbe
Barrett
I’m a daily reader, infrequent poster… but I do love fantasy baseball.
Astral_Frost@yahoo.com if there are any openings.
5×5 Geoff…if possible…and Yahoo is better than CBS, IMO.
Okay, I think we’re at 12 now. I’ve sent out invites…
12 … thanks for the link, TW … the point that interested me the most is this …
Timetable: Carrillo is throwing without pain, but is not yet ready for game action. The plan is to get him back on the mound in late May or early June.
… that’s good news! I hope to see him in Portland this season …
25: Is our league technically a custom league? I’ve never done this before, so I’m trying to get a handle on all of the pertinent rules.
Missed out on the DS fantasy league again…
OT … today marks the beginning of http://www.billjamesonline.net = Bill James Online … I can’t resist … I’m a fan of Bill James since the early 80s … he’s currently got up some recent columns and articles … I havenn’t browsed the whole site yet … but did come across this in the current Q&A …
Why don’t the San Diego Padres care about shutting down the running game? Both Greg Maddux and Chris Young get run on a lot–37 and 44 stolen bases allowed in 2007 respectively. And GM Kevin Towers seems to prefer offensive-minded catchers like Michael Barrett and Mike Piazza (I think the Pads were even mentioned in the Javy Lopez un-retirement sweepstakes this winter!). So what gives? Is the ability to control the running game an overrated attribute for catchers? Is San Diego’s park effect so extreme it offsets the disadvantage of having teams run all over them? Or is it more of a philosophical thing with Towers, Black and company?
Asked by: Charles Fiore, Chicago
Well, there is certainly a lot of evidence that shows that you can win without worrying about the running game. Pete Palmer suggested in the 1970s that you should never pitch out, because when you do the cost of the pitch (the ball) is comparable in value to the loss of the base. You’re smarter just to worry about getting out the hitter. The Padres are sort of testing the limits of this theory.
LM, I’ve been exploring Bill James Online almost nonstop since I got the e-mail notification that it launched this morning.
The site is incredible, and will likely be the cause of the disintigration of my homelife, as well as my professional downfall.
30 … you’ve weathered tougher storms, haven’t you Lance?
I hope BP will do a Pizza Feed again this year … or that we’ll get another chance to go to “The Field” …
Book proof just arrived. Wife and I will be combing it thoroughly over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.
Nice article on CY: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080221&content_id=2382642&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
32: Very excited about seeing how that turns out. Hope it’s in great condition after coming back.
OT … way OT …
http://www.obamaofdreams.com/noname.html
… clever! Nice to know he’s a fan of the 84 uni’s
re 11: its the Main Ticket Office we(SDSU) have…they just use the other office at TG stadium for day of game sales…..
hah. sry about the confusion there
oh crap, no more room in FLB?
I’d be up for it, if there is.
#28, 36: If there’s enough interest, we can open up a second league. Any other takers?
GY gets a shout-out on the UT’s Web site!!! http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/weblog/index.html
Granted, it’s the UT’s Padres blog. But still, the guy haws teh DS 08 Annual.
Well done, sir.
dprat is up for DS League #2.
LM, thanks for the link… I think I’ll have to get a few of those… Red Sox version for one son, Cubs for the other, and good old mustard & brown for the spousal unit and I. The family worships one god… “thou shalt not have more, nor less, than 108 stitches”… but we pray at different altars. But on most things political, we pull on the same oar.
Count me in for a DS fantasy league…probably playing the NFBC main event this year though so time may be limited
Any more room for fantasy league?
38 … cool … ‘cept, and correct me if I’m wrong, it’s a bit premature … i don’t think the 2008 book is orderable yet …
I’m in for fantasy league #2 if there is still room.
I’m in for league 2. wolstenholmjw@yahoo.com
Cool, sounds like there’s enough interest for a second league. Once all the invites I sent for the first one have been accepted, I’ll set up the second. It might not happen right away, but if you’ve left a note here in the comments, I’ve got you on my list. I’ll let you know when those invites have been sent. Then if you haven’t heard from me, it’s time to panic.
Thanks, folks. This’ll be fun…
45: I’m definitely in. Standard 5×5 roto or whatever…
I’m in for fantasy league #2.
28 – that’s fantastic! Bill James is a pioneer.
BTW, it’s good to see you here, dprat.