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 Diego, we have a fairly recent history of dramatic upward movement: ’95 to ’96 (+21), ’97 to ’98 (+22), and ’03 to ’04 (+23). Anyway, just a little something to consider the next time you feel like panicking.
• Superduperswingmen (Part 4: 1970-2008) (Hardball Times). Steve Treder looks back at some guys who were pretty handy in the rotation or coming out of the bullpen. Several Padres show up here, including Eric Rasmussen, Bob Shirley, and Scott Sanders. Another, Dave Dravecky (’84, ’87), misses the cut by one start. Fun stuff… [h/t Didi]
• Final 2008 Offense Plus Defense (OPD) Results (Baseball Think Factory) Chris Dial talks value. I haven’t looked at the methodology, but those are some nice showings from Jody Gerut and Brian Giles. [h/t Pat]
• What does a potential Peavy trade mean to San Diego Padres fans? (Gaslamp Ball). Quoth Dex: “Just because Sandy Alderson has a particular philosophy that has worked in the past doesn’t mean that I have to like it. There’s a good chance that I won’t like it regardless of how hard he and his supporters try to convince me that I’m stupid for not liking it.” Once upon a time I wanted to go into teaching. I even worked as a teacher’s aide for a semester at a junior high school. That’s where I learned that people will believe what they want to believe no matter what you tell them. That’s where I decided that teaching wasn’t for me. If the effect is the same regardless of my presence, I’d just as soon save my energy for something else. Sigh…

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