Padres (20-33) vs Nats (22-31)
Shawn Estes vs Odalis Perez
7:05 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 188
MLB, B-R
The ability to throw left handed and breathe at the same time can make some men very rich…
On a less facetious note, have you noticed how much Kevin Kouzmanoff has improved defensively this year? He’s eighth in the big leagues in range factor (ahead of guys like Adrian Beltre and David Wright), and nobody has turned more double plays at the hot corner (an even dozen, the same number he turned all of last year!). Heck, Kouz rules the world in terms of RZR:
| Year | FPct | RF | RZR | DP/100inn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics are courtesy of ESPN and Hardball Times, and are through games of May 27, 2008. | ||||
| 2007 | .932 | 2.38 | .680 | 1.05 |
| 2008 | .974 | 2.85 | .779 | 2.50 |
That really isn’t the same guy…
#49@Schlom: For example, the Giants are also conducting tryouts on the major league level as part of their rebuilding process but the big difference is that are bring up all young players.
#49@Schlom: Did you not want to boycott the rest of the 2007 season when we started Tomko,Brady Clark, and T.Sledge in the same lineup ?
#52@JP: Those three didn’t ever start the same game together. That was also slightly different because of the two injuries down the stretch to Bradley and Cameron — it was too late in the season to have a Plan C. However it did show the alarming lack of depth on the team — the same problem as this year.
#52@JP: Also, Tomko is still way better then Shawn Estes. I don’t know if Estes is the worst starting pitcher in the NL this season as there’s been some dreadful starters already (Matt Belisle, Jack Cassel, Matt Chico, Josh Fogg, etc) but he’s certainly right near the bottom.
#54@Schlom: Lets not get too carried away here. Tomko way better than Estes ? How is Tomko way better than anyone ? Tomko (also 35 years old) is 6-19 in his last 2+ seasons with an era of 5.53. I saw Tomko get absolutely punished in his last start. At least after only 4 starts, Estes has had as many quality starts as Tomko has had this year in 10 starts.
#53@Schlom: was too late in the season to have a Plan C. > I don’t buy this alibi. You now show holes in your argument/analysis. You mean to tell me that the Pads have no one else in their whole system in 2007 to replace two starters other than Brady Clark ? Think the other playoff contenders with far better farm systems in 2007 would have been relegated to starting Brady Clark ?
worded wrong/sloppy grammar :no one else to replace one of the two starters other than Brady Clark ? Brady Clark. Completely Out of a job in July, starting in centerfield in one of the biggest games in Padres history 60 days later. Jody Gerut, out of the game in 2007, 30 years old, now starting in center field for the Padres….
Geoff, have you given any thought to making a thread dedicated to people bitching about the same things every single day? That way it wouldn’t clutter all the other discussion threads. Just a thought.
#20@Richard Wade: Stop your complaining. We know its bad.
#59@JP: Okay, that was actually funny.
Seriously though, FootballOutsiders.com sets up threads explicitly for annoying topics that crop up in every other thread so that they stop taking over every discussion.
#31@Schlom: Ok, yes, you don’t like the job Towers did. What would you have done instead?
You don’t take the gamble on Edmonds, saving the team $6 million (your philosophy in passing on Edmonds here also probably caused you to pass on Piazza two years ago, but that’s irrelevant). You definitely wouldn’t go out and pay for Rowand or Hunter, since that wouldn’t be close to enough to put us in the race, and those are long term albatross type deals. Not sure who you sign for center since you really don’t like a cheap upside gamble like Gerut either. As I recall, you did want to sign Kyle Lohse, so you’ve got a couple million committed to him this year. That’s a couple million flushed down the drain, since they’re not competing with or without him. He would be a mild upgrade, though. You’d probably bring in a better left fielder, but again, ultimately it doesn’t really matter since the team is so far out of it. Barry Bonds in is prime isn’t enough to make up 7 games in a third of a season. Not sure what other sort of cheap out of house options are available there, either.
Other than those three spots, how do you upgrade this team to a playoff contender? You trade away Greene, maybe, but then the organization doesn’t have a major league caliber shortstop. You shake up the bullpen, fresh off an outstanding season? Turn over almost the entire rest of the roster to replace the people causing the terrible start this year? Pay more than the major league minimum to bring in guys that are better than the Geruts, Estes, Hubers, Carlins, etc. as backup plans?
Towers took some gambles, that, had they hit, likely would have resulted in a contending team. Every single one of those gambles missed, and the guys we didn’t think were gambles have been terrible too. And then two of the best three players on the team got hurt and are out for significant time. What’s your plan to avoid this catastrophe without doubling the budget or turning over the entire roster of a team that was good enough to win the division last year (which no one was advocating over the winter)?
#62@Ben B.: That was rather outstanding.
I don’t think starting new threads for topics that get brought up all the time is a good idea. That will just increase Geoff’s moderation duties and lessen the discussion in the threads. A person can just scroll past it and don’t respond if they don’t like the post or topic.
#60@Richard Wade: But your right though Richard …its really hard not to complain but it does get old. There is plenty to complain about but at least I should limit it to the 2008 season and stop bringing up the likes of Brady Clark or Jack Cust.
#62@Ben B.: #63@Richard Wade: But guys, allow me to beat another approaching dead horse, Gerut is in no way an ‘upside gamble’. There is no ‘upside’ for the 30 year old Gerut. He is hopefully stop gap for two more weeks.
#66@JP: Stop gap for who? Vinable’s D has been Q’d a number of times and he is coming off an injury…
#66@JP: I also see Gerut as an “upside gamble” … he’s been hurt … without the injuries, he may have developed into an All-Star-caliber player … he does not have that “upside” today, but could, imo, still develope into a solid-regular for at least a couple of years … and that’s valuable …
#67@Steve C: Yeah, good point. Though, I would rather see Venable in center today rather than Gerut.
Stop gap for soon to be acquired youngster?
#62@Ben B.: Couldn’t respond to this post as it was too late for me.
Your thought, and I suspect that a lot of others think this way, is that since the Padres suck anyway, why bother to spend any money on payroll. I can certainly agree with that but the problem is that the Padres have filled their team with low upside players. Gerut and Estes have zero upside, either as regulars or as trade bait. Why bother to bring them in? Estes hasn’t been good since 1997 and Gerut was only good in his rookie season in 2003. If you are going to bring in someone with absolutely zero recent track record, why not bring in Josh Hamilton?
Again, all this comes back to their absolutely horrendous drafting over the years. They wouldn’t need to bother with these guys if they’d just drafted adequately. Unless that changes (and signs point to that it won’t) they won’t be good.
#70@Schlom: Signs point that they have begun to draft adequately. See going form 30th ranked farm system to about 12th in just a few years.