I’m scrambling to get ready for Peoria, so I need to direct you elsewhere today. I’m thinking about fun story lines for ‘08 at Hardball Times and the Top 100 prospects from ‘98 at Knuckle Curve. Also, reader LynchMob has taken some short videos from actual spring training games. Sweet!
Lessee, what else have I got? Okay, here’s a question for you: Who will be the biggest surprise among this year’s Padres? Positive, negative, whatever. Give me a name and a reason.
Or talk about whatever else is on your mind. Be excellent…
60 Comments
No “B” game today … it was yesterday instead … a few details from Corey Brock here …
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080305&content_id=2406583&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd
Biggest surprise? Mark Prior returns to his former self by the end of the year and chooses to stay in SD at another discount after winning game 6 of the World Series. How’s that?
I’ll continue the optimism: Kevin Kouzmanoff has a breakout year and will make the All Star team after a torrid first half, hitting .320 with 20 home runs by the break.
I have some negative ones but there’s no way in hell I’m going to write them down and jinx us.
Chase Headley, Paul McAnulty, and Jody Gerut force the team to rethink Brian Giles in RF (I know, not a huge stretch).
As an alternate: Brian Giles bounces back in a huge way and earns his playing time.
Which one of these is more likely?
P-Mac wins LF job, hits .320/.375/.500 becomes the face of the franchise and avoids doing Corkeys and Murry Lampert comericals!
Re: 5 Okay that may be a little to optimistic.
5: I see Valley View in P Mac’s endorsement future.
Biggest surprise? How about no surprises? Peavey is the only legitimate pitcher that we have. We still don’t have a second baseman. Our right fielder is on bad knees. We don’t have a catcher that can throw. Our shortstop is so fragile he could go to a prom dance and draw disability for life. Now let’s talk playoffs – NOT!
#2: Man, I love spring training.
#7: Nice call on the Valley View.
#8: Yeah, “no surprises” would be a huge surprise. I’ve never seen a baseball season without surprises. Maybe this will be the year.
7: Great call. Except nobody will know who he is and nobody will bring him food.
So who will be the next relief pitcher to fall victim to the Corky’s curse?
#11: Nobody can replace Aki. Those were the best commercials ever.
Hey GY when are you headed to Peoria? I just want to make sure the package I sent out gets to you before you take off. It went out on Tuesday, so it maybe there today or tomorrow…
Re: 12 Very true, someone call Heath Bell and make sure he stays as far away from Corky’s as possible!
This is my guess for biggest surprise:
I’m going to say that Chris Young will stay healthy for an entire season, make the All-Star Team again, and be among the top-five in the NL Cy Young voting.
The Padres’ plethora of OFs outside of Edmonds/OG all had 4 weeks stretches of .810 OPS in succession making them the MVP, Most Valuable Plethora. This earns them the nickname Regular Season Roskos Squad.
Justin Germano found his fastball to really mess up the timing of the hitters, making him the most improved of the staff and stopping him from going the way of Matt Thompson.
Thanks for videos, LM. How do the plethora looks?
16:
El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A *plethora*.
Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?
8.
Realist,
Did you mean to post here at ducksnorts? I think the site you were looking for is http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports
17: We pruned the hedges of many small villages…..
Re: 8
Two illegitimate pitchers make one legitimate ones, any fan knows that.
I hope we have a second baseman or else we will have a huge hole on the right side of the infield. Our whole outfield is on bad knees, and who says Robert Fick can’t throw. Khalil at prom would give we more to worry about than just his physical makeup. Please get your facts straight Realist.
By the time I get to Peoria
She’ll be working…
How many times do we hear 163 today?
I’m putting the over-under at 10.
21: Already have 1 mention 1-pitch in!
Jake serves up a dinger to Tulo. 1-0 Rox top 1st.
17 & 19: This sounds awfully familiar. Is it Three Amigos? I guess it’s time for me to get over to IMDB.
Since I’ve been so down on him I’ll predict the biggest surprise to be Jim Edmonds. He will struggle in CF at Petco, but he bounces back offensively to a respectable, but not peak, level. Go get ‘em, Jimmy!
I’m going to say the surprise will be Hairston wins an everyday job in the outfield split between all three and is surprisingly adequate as a fielder. He also hits .280 with 30 HR and 100 RBI — Khalil’s numbers from last season with a higher average.
Here’s an article on Mark Prior from espn.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3279715&sportCat=mlb
OT: Geer, Ramos, and Blanks are among the first reassignments to minor-league camp.
Edmonds left today’s game early with a right calf strain. They’re going to re-evaluate tomorrow. I hope like hell this isn’t serious.
Does – I will be suprised if Jim Edmonds plays more than 100 games – count?
As stated in #5 above, Jody Gerut will put give us a preview of the 2009 OF. with Headley in left, Gerut in right, and the centerfielder/leadoff hitter yet to be obtained. Expecting Kouz to get seven strong months under his belt.
On the disappointment side will be the search for solid pitching in the 4 & 5 slot, which will be partly resolved at the break by Pryor. The 5 slot will be our August deal.
17 & 19…What was that about the cattle?
Is Richard Pryor now in competition for the #5 spot? I thought Mark Prior signed in San Diego…..lol
Can’t help messing with 1 of the other 1000’s of Mark’s that come to this message board
31: When you are pitching with your hair on fire…..batters will get out of your way. I think that’s how it went, it’s been 25 years since I’ve listened to that cassette.
30: I expect KT has been talking to the Angels about Willits even before Edmonds owwie.
33.
Totally agree. I think Willits will be on this team in at some point this season. I see him being the 09 CF’r. The Angels have next ZERO incentive in keep him around with all the outfielders on their roster.
32. I meant
I would love to see willits in petco but what do the Pads have that could net them willits, guys like Headley are to much to give guys like Geer are to little… The pads just dont match up with the angles well.
Maybe a reliever like Merideth, Cameron or Hampson + a lower level prospect . I could see it happening with the surplus of arms that it looks like we might have.
35: The Angels didn’t think so much of Willits that they didn’t go out and sign Hunter to play CF one season after signing Matthews to do it.
I agree that the Angels don’t need much, but I’d be surprised if they really expected a lot for him. Geer might be the kind of guy they’d ask for, or at least a large part of the deal.
I agree that a Willits deal would probably be centered around pitching. I guess we can just see where we’re at by the trading deadline, but I completely agree that I can see Willits are our starting CF for the next few years.
I would think that if you wanted Willits the time to act would be now, before injures caused him to be unavailable or more expensive.
38: How many games will Edmunds have missed by the trading deadline? If we need a backup CF who is better than Hairston/Crabbe, and we just might, we need him in April, not August.
39: Agree, adding “or before injuries to Edmonds make it hard for us to win ballgames.”
Re: 39 that’s my point the Angles don’t have many needs so they can hang onto Willits until a CF go on the DL and they can get a desperate team to overpay for him.
I had a *great* morning over at the Peoria practice fields … I took a lot of videos … only have time to post 2 now …
1 … Matt Antonelli signs an autograph for a father/son … classic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQoUuBokPTc
2 … Chase Headley practicing LF … he’s workin’ at it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqk8pc0bYU4
More tomorrow …
41: They might do that, but then again Willits is nobody’s top target. Teams that needed CF weren’t knocking down the Angels’ door to get him over the winter. They do have to balance what they might get later with what might happen to Willits if he gets hit by a pitch or slumps for two months.
42: I bet Jack will appreciate that…..if he wasn’t there in person.
LM – how did Edgar G look at SS yesterday? Crabbe in CF?
Completely random, but any thoughts about Inman? I got excited about the reaction when we snagged him last year, but he is not very high on our prospect list and his name is nowhere in consideration for the lower rungs of the rotation and those lower rungs are wide open.
I worry about Willits’ total lack of power. I don’t think he can keep high walk totals without some extra-base hits, otherwise pitchers will just throw the ball down the middle knowing that he can’t hurt them even if he does hit it. Willits’ reminds me of Jason Tyner (except for 2006 their minor league numbers are very similar) but his number one BP comparable is Stan Javier.
I think people are down on Inman because his “stuff” isn’t that overwhelming and he’s short, only 6′0″. His stats also were a lot worse in AA from the lower minors (4.80 ERA in AA vs. 1.75 below that). However, he’s still pretty young as he turned 21 about a month ago (Leblanc turns 24 this August and has pitched about 20 less innings in AA). He still has a lot of potential though, on BP his 7 year forecast is better then any other pitcher on the roster except for Jake (slightly higher then CY).
#43 Willits may not be awe inspiring in center field but what are the options if Edmonds is toast ? I mentioned Coco Crisp several months and got the same response “Crisp has weaknesses and is not as good as Cameron”. Well, Cameron is of course gone and if Edmonds breaks down then who will we have roaming center field ? Sorry but Scotty Hairston has corner outfielder written all over him….
Lynch Mob, I appreciate the You Tube postings. Now the Chase Headley practice fly ball catch has 3 viewings as I just watched it twice
48: In the event that Edmunds cannot answer the bell, they have the Gerut card to play. He is one more question on a team of questions, but he is looking healthy so far and last time he was healthy, he showed some skills.
Re: 46 worst case scenario he’s Juan Pierre but only costs 400k a year…
?? Could Willits of been had for Freese?
#50 Gerut as an answer as a regular in center field ? I am an optimist but I can’t go here. But then again, its happened like this before (ie-Eric Owens) but seems very far fetched. But heck, if you go with Gerut can I dream and turn to 28 year old Chip Ambres in center field ? …..nah
By the way, Gerut is 30 years old…
Gerut’s rookie line was .279/.336/.494, Owens was .200/.281/.229. I don’t see much of a comparison. Gerut’s issue was injuries not talent. If the injuries are behind him, which is a big IF, he may be a flat out steal.
53: Owens played CF. He wasn’t the answer in CF. If all we’re looking for is a sub-par hitter and fielder in center, we can call off the search. You can’t swing a dead fish in Arizona without hitting one of those.
I’ve posted 18 more (short) videos this morning …
http://www.youtube.com/LynchMob98
… and I’ll post as many more as I have time for this morning. It was a blast checkin’ out all the goings-on at the practice fields … and then see some good pitching and even better hittings vs Rox during the main game … feeling better after yesterday’s debacle vs A’s
Is this a “ducksnort”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk0t0SvAT4w
#42: LM, thanks a bunch for posting these videos!
#45: I’ve got Inman ranked as our #8 prospect. Seems like he could be a solid mid-rotation guy in a few years.
59 … I saw Inman yesterday and he is a short/small guy … 6′? I don’t think so … but it’s hard to tell in this land of Giants where only CY and Tony Clark and Matt Latos really stick out very much (on the high side) … short didn’t stop Tom Gordon, Roy Oswalt, Tim Lincecum … but if you’re gonna be small, you better be *good*!