Links for 14 Oct 08

I’m trying out a tool that pulls links from my Delicious bookmarks and publishes them here on a semi-regular basis…

  • How much should Ben Sheets get? (Hardball Times). Victor Wang uses projected performance and risk analysis to predict that free-agent right-hander Ben Sheets will get $55-65 million for 4 or 5 years. The methodology seems reasonable, although that’s an awful lot to pay for a guy who has made fewer than 25 starts in three of the last four seasons.
  • Padres target pair of coaches (Padres.com). Corey Brock talks coaching changes. From the article: “The team has targeted Jim Lefebvre as the favorite for its hitting coach vacancy and Ted Simmons for the bench coach opening on manager Bud Black’s staff.”
  • Why does Bud Black get a pass? (The Book). Mitchel Lichtman wonders why Bud Black wasn’t fired after one poor season. Lichtman offers a few possible reasons, including this one: “The Padre fans are laid back and they play in a laid back environment.” Overall, it’s a disappointingly superficial analysis that offers little insight. Oh well, even real smart guys clank one every now and then.
  • The Dodgers can thank Padres’ ex-scout for recent draft success (U-T). Tom Krasovic writes about Logan White, a former Padres scout who helped build the current Dodgers. Quoth White: “In the Moneyball era, there were teams that wouldn’t go scout the high school players. It was an advantage for us. When teams were solely focused on a college player, it just leaves more of a pool of high school players for you to get. So I think it really helped us.” The beauty of this, of course, is that White actually was employing Moneyball philosophy by exploiting a market inefficiency.

More links are available at the Ducksnorts delicious page, which I update as often as practical.

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4 Responses »

  1. Looks like they are trying to bring hoffman back

    http://tinyurl.com/46ajew

    Does this inspire confidence…. I personally thought that he has been fine, and am realistic that there really aren’t that many options out there that really do it any better. (w/o costing the farm)

  2. The guy from The Book misspelled “Khalil.”

    After that, there’s not much else to say. No credibility.

  3. #1@DM: I was behind Trevor last season, but I think it would be tough to make the playoffs next year with him closing. A great option that won’t cost the farm is already here in the (large) form of Heath Bell. That said, I would understand if they do bring him back for one more and I completely understand they have to at least look like they tried to bring him back. It’s a tough spot to be in for the Padres if he doesn’t retire on his own, imo.

  4. On the links: 1) Ted Simmons should have been in the HOF years ago. 2) I keep reading good things about Logan White; wish he were still here.