2008 October

Archive for October 2008

Links for 31 Oct 08

Friday, October 31, 2008
by Geoff Young

Happy Halloween! To the links... Sabathia's free agency could set up a big payday for Padres ace (San Diego Union-Tribune). Reader Nick G. sends us an update on the Jake Peavy "story" from Tom Krasovic. Quoth Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod: Making this about money is not my style, nor Jake's style. I think we proved that. But at the same time, I don't think Jake should have to sacrifice anything. I don't doubt Axelrod's sincerity, but these millionaires need to let go of that whole "it's not about the money" thing. Even if they believe it, and even if they're correct in believing it, nobody wants to hear about Peavy's "sacrifice." Don't get me wrong, ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 8 Comments »

Riffin’ on Carrillo

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
by Geoff Young

In response to Tuesday's item about right-hander Cesar Carrillo experiencing yet another setback in the Arizona Fall League, reader Christian offered this comment: The Cesar Carrillo news is disappointing. I remember watching the guy throw in game in a college world series qualifier against Joba Chamberlain. He was sitting 92-94 with a ton of movement and good secondary stuff. Hearing he is throwing 85-86 well into his rehab speaks for itself. Yeah, people forget just how good Carrillo was when the Padres drafted him. I was at Carrillo's pro debut in July 2005, and my observations at the time jibe well with Christian's: Carrillo threw 20 pitches in the first inning, 11 in the second, and 9 in the third. He was around the plate and ...

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Posted in Minors | 11 Comments »

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Links for 28 Oct 08

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
by Geoff Young

Mmm, linkity link links... Padres remain a preferred spot for pitchers staging comebacks (U-T). Mark Mulder, Mark Prior, and Matt Clement all have expressed an interest in pitching for the Padres or, failing that, at least wearing the uniform. Mark Prior Halloweeen Update. Speaking of Prior, Planet Padres caught up with the right-hander at a local pumpkin patch, of all places. Petco Fences Moving In? For those who enjoy the occasional conspiracy theory, Melvin Nieves at Sacrifice Bunt delivers the goods. Padres hope their core of young players ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 2 Comments »

Writing the Book (27 Oct 08)

Monday, October 27, 2008
by Geoff Young

I had two revelations this past week: Working full time and doing physical therapy (I'm re-learning how to walk, which apparently is a skill one is supposed to have mastered by age 40) is exhausting. It's not realistic to assume that I'll be able to make significant progress on the book during the week. That's a lame excuse. What the heck do you think weekends are for, doofus? In that spirit, I put in 9 hours on Saturday and 9 more on Sunday. It is what I have, so it is what I will use. Anyway, I've pretty much finished the Player Dashboards chapter. I still have to check everything, of course, but the raw data is all in place. We're looking at about 70 pages. Last year's chapter ...

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Posted in 2009 Annual | 5 Comments »

Links for 22 Oct 08

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
by Geoff Young

Notes to self: Always add Sriracha to spaghetti sauce, stop leering at Yvonne Strahovski, listen to more Fishbone... Why not us? Comparing Royals' moves to Rays' decisions (Kansas City Star). Reader Didi sends this article by Joe Posnanski. There's plenty of good stuff in here, but looking beyond the article, what gets me is the fact that the Rays won 31 more games in 2008 than they did the previous season. In fact, they bested their previous franchise high in wins by 27. The Padres are coming off a season in which they fell by 26 games. I guess my point is that large yearly fluctuations can and do happen. In San ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 14 Comments »

Random Tuesday (21 Oct 08)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
by Geoff Young

I thought I'd take a little random walk through the archives and highlight a few old posts. Not that I'm one for nostalgia, but sometimes it's fun to remember where you've been... From August 24, 2001: Raley Field opened May 15, 2000, and seats, well, I'm not sure, but there were over 12,000 last night. We sat in the lower deck, off the first-base side, just beneath an overhang and behind the Krispy Kreme donut stand. I took some pictures but unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I won't be able to post those till I return home. The matchup featured an up-and-comer versus a former top prospect trying to make it back to the bigs. The River Cats of Sacramento sent LHP Mario Ramos to the mound; ...

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Posted in Minors, Travels | 3 Comments »

Writing the Book (20 Oct 08)

Monday, October 20, 2008
by Geoff Young

Life happened this week; the book, not so much. I did make up some ground over the weekend -- put in about 10 hours on Saturday and another 4-5 on Sunday. It's not as much as I'd have liked, but it's better than nothing. In addition to the actual writing, I'm playing a lot with design elements. People have been telling me for years that I suck at design, so I'm trying to make that less true. I've been studying fonts and settled on a couple that should be a huge improvement over the uninspired Arial/Times New Roman combination that I employed in the first two books. (For those who care about such things, I'm going with Gill Sans MT/Palatino ...

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Posted in 2009 Annual | 11 Comments »