Right now there is exactly one reason to watch the games, and his name is Adrian Gonzalez. I wonder if this is what it was like to root for the Padres back in ’72:
| Player | Team | Player/Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR | RBI | HR | R | HR/HR | RBI/R | |
| Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of June 3, 2008. | ||||||
| Nate Colbert, 1972 | 38 | 111 | 102 | 488 | .373 | .227 |
| Adrian Gonzalez, 2008 | 17 | 55 | 49 | 222 | .347 | .248 |
1972
Nate Colbert: 38 HR, 111 RBI
next two guys combined: 19 HR, 91 RBI
2008
Adrian Gonzalez: 17 HR, 55 RBI
next two guys combined: 15 HR, 49 RBI
The ’72 Padres finished 58-95. That’s a .379 winning percentage. This year’s squad is pretty much on pace with a .383 winning percentage.
Hooray for us…
So, um, yea…we got that going for us!
I think you also forgot to mention that he is a blast to watch with the glove as well. Dude is good.
Over at GLB, Dex has a post about how Adrian could break an MLB record by being reponsible for more than 23% of his teams runs.
#1@Coronado Mike: Definitely that, too! From the June 2008 Padres Magazine:
#2@Phantom: Oh, crud. I had no idea. Here I thought I was doing something original. Sigh…
I’m behind in the comments … this is likely already posted … in case not … a few more thoughts from DePo …
http://tinyurl.com/5l55ww
… with 2nd Bill Murray reference in as many days
Sounds like he’s hinting at “college reliever” to me … and I’m OK with that …
(GY … this post got spam-filtered with the actual DePo-blog URL in it)
GY … spam filter is set to “high” this morning … ate a post with direct link to DePo’s blog … then ate the repost with the tinyurl in it … ug …
#5@LynchMob: Got it, thanks! I’m not real thrilled at the idea of Cashner or Perry, although I’m trying to get used to it because I think there’s a good chance we’ll end up with one of ‘em. Honestly, this isn’t a great draft class.
#6@Geoff Young: I’d be more at-peace with the weak draft class idea if the same thing hadn’t been said about the 2004 draft. Leaving Bush Matt aside, guys who were picked only in the first round include Verlander, Weaver, Drew, Hughes, Bailey, Fields, and Butler. 2008 might be a weak class, but in a weak class it may make even more sense to take risks.
Of course much of the available risks depend on who’s picked above us. It’s not a great year for HS hitters or pitchers.
#3@Geoff Young: Great minds
Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com still has us picking Schlereth, but he’s also linked us, somewhat tenuously, to Lance Lynn, junior RHP out of Mississippi. That would make me very depressed. He’s a right-handed Cesar Ramos.
College reliever? What’s the point? A pick like that further cements this team as never, ever, being elite again without a whole lotta luck.
We’re not signing superstars in free agency. So we have to find ways to acquire them either through trade (difficult) and the draft. If we don’t draft upside, we’ll constantly be in the race but never good enough to win it.
Fun.
SI and BP has their mock draft. Here’s what they have to say about the Padres:
23. San Diego
Teams picking below the Padres are having trouble figuring out what they’re doing, and the rumor seems to change every 12 hours or so. The top two stories that seem to be gaining currency during draft week couldn’t be more different. The first is South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens, a fundamentally sound college grinder; the much more strange rumor has the Padres doing some late homework on Connecticut prep school phenom Anthony Hewitt, who might offer more tools and less refinement than any player in recent memory. That kind of player seems like the anti-definition of a Grady Fuson selection. They might also be intrigued by Hunt at this point. Early in the season, the Tulane ace looked like he might be one the first ten selections, but he ran out of gas by the end of the year, and rarely more than ordinary. If the Padres believe in the early-season showings, Shooter would be a steal here.
Selection: Shooter Hunt, RHP, Tulane
Brian Giles is having an All-Star season, too.
I would love to see the Padres draft Hewitt at 23 and draft a solid more polished college SS like Justin Parker or Brandon Crawford later in the supplemental rounds or 2nd round. That way they would have solid SS in both Ft Wayne and LE next year with the potential or Parker or Crawford moving up to
But eerything I have read has said that Hewitt will not sign for slot…
#12@Kevin: Good point … and obviously Jake is an All-Star … so that’s 2 huge differences between the ’72 and ’08 Padres … also, iirc, we fans of the ’72 Padres had much, much lower expectations for winning … both short-term and medium term … and that makes it easier to be in love with the team and its players
#13@Steve C: Hewitt has a solid commitment to Vanderbilt and the Commodores haven’t lost many (maybe not any) recruits in the past few years. I can’t see him taking slot money either.
In some ways I’m tempted to focus on Havens because the Red Sox like him so much, and Boston’s system has been a dominant drafting team in recent years.