King Arthur: I am your king!
Woman: Well I didn’t vote for you!
King Arthur: You don’t vote for kings.
Woman: Well how’d you become king then?
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- geoff@ducksnorts.com
- 5663 Balboa Ave., #267
San Diego, CA 92111
83 Comments
Following up on GY’s comment #31 from previous thread … here’s TK @ UT’s view of the roster status …
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/weblog/2008/03/blacking_growing_doubtful_on_e.html
… Edmonds “doubtful†… Estes expected to go to Portland … Gernamo the “leading candidate†for #5 …
OT … an interesting perspective on Game 162 …
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20080323-9999-1s23padnotes.html
… as well as some interesting comments on the “San Diego discount” … fyi.
I like TK @ UTs comp’s for Headley in OF …
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20080325-9999-1s25padnotes.html
… noting that Victorino and Guzman struggled in MLB outfields in 2003 and 2004 … key quote …
“Lights, wet grass – there are a lot of things he needs to experience that he didn’t experience in spring training,†manager Bud Black said.
Lineups are posted …
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_03_25_kcamlb_sdnmlb_1
… no KG … Germano vs Tomko …
Turns out Keith Law doesn’t actually hate every prospect to ever set foot in the Padre organization. In his short chat today focusing on the ROY contenders, he had this to say about Headley:
“Headley was another RoY contender who was sent out, and I don’t get the decision to favor Kouzmanoff over him. Headley’s at least average at third base, he’s patient, and he’s added so much upper-body strength since college that he now projects to hit for power. You move other guys to make room for a player like that.”
Setting aside that we’re obviously higher on Kouz than he is, that’s a pretty glowing assessment of Headley.
Nice start for Justin. I’d like to see him make the roster.
Koooooz!
7 … what’d he do?
Opposite field triple off the wall in right center. It was a huge looping curveball that Kouz golfed really high up in the air.
Triple off the left field fence to drive in Agon.
Patrick Sullivan at The Baseball Analysts examines the Vegas over/under, and takes the under for the Pads:
“San Diego – Over 84 (-125) Under 84 (-105)
Prediction: Under
What is Vegas missing here?
The young and talented infield will not overcome the old and washed up outfield. The talented bullpen will not overcome the thin rotation. One of the better bets on this list if you ask me.”
I sure hope he’s wrong, but as I mentioned to Geoff during the drive to Peoria, I wouldn’t be shocked if the wheels came completely off and we went 72-90.
Sorry, right…
I’m trying to find Adrian’s website as quoted by Ch. 4 http://www.agonzales23.com without any luck.
Germano with 6 up, 6 down … 2 Ks thru 2 IP … nice …
13 … http://www.agonzalez23.com/
15: Thanks Lynch. A ‘Z’ not an ‘S’. Gracias.
Esteban German gives us his finest Kevin Reimer imitation.
Well Germano sure is getting practice covering first base. Four groundouts that have gone 3-1 in 7 total outs.
Describe KK’s error for me?
#19 Snaked hard at him, bobbled, no way to tag the runner going to 3rd and no way to get the out at 1st.
Lynch, are you on MLB.com or something?
19. The kind of play that would make Keith Law stand up and say I told you so.
Germano is nails through 4.
Justin is looking pretty solid tonight.
21 … I’m just following the “live box score” on mlb.com … a link to which I’ve tried to post 2 times and it’s been swallowed …
Question: do the Padre hitters look like they are not being patient at the plate? I’m getting a bit concerned at the lack of walks in recent games …
Barrett has batted well this spring. Hopefully he can carry this over to the full season.
#25: No, they look like they are trying to get their pitch. Funny thing just happened. Justin broke his bat which gave him two strikes. OG is on deck and threw Justin his bat knowing full well he probably wasn’t going to get up this inning. But the look on Germano’s face was priceless.
25: I wouldn’t necessarily be concerned about the lack of walks, given that they’ve been having pretty good ABs almost across the board. They’re taking good approaches and are hitting the ball hard.
Breaking Padres news…
Wally Joyner likes kettle corn.
#29: Who doesn’t?
5 pitch inning for Justin. I think he is well on his way to that #5 spot.
31: Agreed. He’s pitched VERY well this spring. He’s only given up 1 fly ball tonite. Unbelievable.
Cheerleaders!!!!!!!!!
OG has left the building….
That knock went right through the old T. Gwynn 5.5 hole.
Bad throw from 4-5 at 2nd scores the tie run.
26 … how did Barrett look on the SB by Gathright?
#37: I wish he had a stronger arm.
36 … what does that mean? i don’t understand “from 4-5″?
Barrett just airmailed a throw to 3rd to allow another run.
Ouch. Tough inning for Justin. Not all his fault.
The play went 4 to 5 at 2nd. Second to SS.
Not at all Justin’s fault. He’s done a fairly good job of keeping the ball on the ground.
Nice catch for PMac there!
So who is “Ellis” and how/why is he pitching in this game?
It just dawned on me (probably because I’ve never thought about it before), the guys who haven’t made the roster yet don’t have their names on their uniforms. Makes sense but I never paid much attention to that.
44 … tell me more!
Ellis is probably going to end up in Portland or Lake Elsinore if I had to make a guess.
PMac’s catch in left looked like a ballet move.
Hairston knocks a ball that goes 5 to 3 and he managed to out run it. Nice.
Barrett goes straight down the right field line to send Scotty in.
Black is going to announce the #5 spot sometime tommorow morning. Justin being interviewed right now, Lynch.
Hayherst from AA San Antonio.
26 … hmm, another double … this one of Nomo … ah!
Go Hayhurst!
51 … Dirk is gonna pitch? Great!
He pitched at AA San Antonio last year … MadFriar’s are projecting him to pitch at AAA Portland this year … http://padres.scout.com/a.z?s=315&p=8&c=2&nid=313286&yr=2008
Just bought 10 bleacher tickets for my sons Birthday in July vs. Braves. Stoked. Amazing…….10 tickets for $100 total.
Go Padres.
This guy Hayherst telegraphs his delivery. He looks like a farm club pitcher.
Jon, son Kevin right?
Close…….Danny. Thanks for remembering him though…….He digs KG and it’ll be KG free hat day.
Ron Mahay to pitch in the 7th. Yikes.
Danny, that’s right. Sorry, alzheimer moment. I remember talking to Danny last season. Nice kid. I have 4 tix for the business man’s special on the 3rd and tix for my wife and I on the 4th for the Dodger game. I’m soooooo glad baseball season is upon us once again!
Rob Neyer lists his top 50 players over the next five years:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview08/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=3310373
Odd list since Peavy is 23rd and the 4th pitcher, behind Johan (5th), Webb (17th), and Sabathia (23rd). There are some really baffling choices for batters as well, Cano (11th), Peralta (21st), Pedroia (24th), Kinsler (25th). That’s as far down as I’m going. Since it’s kind of late, maybe we should rip on the list more tomorrow?
Barrett the only starter left on the field.
BTW, my updates are only meant for those not able to watch Ch. 4. Sorry to bore the rest of you.
The scrubs are playing now, so this is really a non-game at this time.
Kazmar, with plenty of time, fields an easy grounder and throws it into the dirt and couldn’t be picked by Banks giving Kazmar an error.
Next batter smokes one down the 3rd base line and Kazmar dives, sprints, touches third, throws on the run and gets him easily.
Sweet redemption!
62 … thanks
63 … stay tuned for ABs from Gerut, Antonelli, Huffman, Blanks and Crabbe … and don’t call them “scrubs”
61: I am a big fan of Neyer’s, but I suspect he compiled that top 50 after some heavy drinking.
#25: Just got in; a few comments have been swallowed, and I’m fixing that now. Sorry for the trouble.
I missed the sixth inning in which Germano and the defense apparently had some problems, but overall it looks like a very good outing. 4 k’s but more importantly 11 groundball outs against 1 fly ball out. And, at least while I was watching, very few well hit balls.
#45: See pp. 121 & 122 of the 2008 Annual.
#53: Love me some Hayhurst. Sure hope he makes it…
#68: Germano didn’t have the problem in the sixth. The defense just had a really bad hiccup.
65,66:
Did you notice all the 2B on the list? 5 of the top 28. Seriously, does anyone think that Ian Kinsler will be one of the top 25 players for the next five years? Granted 2B is harder to play then 1B but the offensive difference between AGon (38th) and Kinsler is huge. Russell Martin (33rd) seems really low considering how scarce catchers that can hit are.
#69: Got the 2K8 Annual and am using it as a great reference. Thanks for the glossery and index. My favorite part of the book was your trip to Cooperstown. You gotta sign this one too GY!
69 … bingo! Now I see why MattV said he’ll have a worn-out copy in the broadcast booth with him!
Also, it made me look at a few nearby entries … and the comment on Frieri is now obsolete … a recent article I read said he’s improved his fastball to 95 mph! Which reminds me, where Friberg?
65 … looks like the game ended with Antonelli and Huffman making outs … sigh …
Black is pretty much saying right now that Germano will be the #5 guy (unofficialy).
I’m kind of surprised that they kept Rodriguez over Stansberry. Stansberry is two years younger and is a much better hitter. Since so many of the starters will be left-handed they’ll need right-handed bats on the bench and despite the fact that Rodriguez is a switch hitter, he has 408 PA’s hitting left-handed and 98 right-handed.
Crabbe and Rodriguez seem to be similar players but Crabbe is 3 years younger and has a better track record in the minors. Why carry two poor hitting utility players?
Aren’t all utility players poor hitters, by definition?
77,
I guess, otherwise they would be starters! I think Crabbe has some potential as he was above average in the PCL last season (812 OPS vs. the league OPS of 794) which is always good for a 2B.
I find it odd that for at least the 2nd season in a row they don’t have a good right-handed bat on the bench. With both Edmonds and Giles being bad against left-handers they only have Barrett on the bench that’s good against right-handed pitchers if Hairston is in the lineup (which I assume he’s going to be an everyday player) and I know most managers don’t like to pinch-hit with their backup catcher. Remember last season when Blum was the first right-handed bat off the bench? That wasn’t good.
Germano was the heavy favorite to be the fifth starter before tonight’s game. He made himself the no-doubt fifth starter. But tonight’s game was not crucial.
78: With the amount of LHP there actually are, it doesn’t really matter to me which side of the plate our bench players bat from. More than likely it will be a RHP. Rather than worrying about whether they are left handed or right handed we should be worrying about finding a bench who can actually hit, (and field).
61: Assuming for a moment that those are the top 50 players for the next five years, I think only about ten of them are more than ten spots from where I’d rank them.
Overrated by more than ten spots (imo): Markakis, Swisher, Sizemore, Granderson, B.J. Upton
Underrated by more than ten spots (imo): Jake Peavy, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Matt Kemp, Josh Beckett
My new favorite prospect is Kyle Banks.
81: I might agree with Swisher, but the rest of the guys you list are five tool studs and guys like that can never be overrated.
Peavy, Martin, and McCann are definitedly underrated. Beckett will convince me when he goes consecutive seasons without injury. Kemp hasn’t really done anything significant yet. Although that isn’t necessarily his fault…