Blast from the Past: Old Free Agents, Ugly Drafts, and Great Albums
Wed, Nov 26, 2008
by Geoff Young
Not much of a theme today. Just… whatever…
- Remember when we used to lust after Marcus Giles? This was in 2002 — years before he actually arrived and demonstrated an alarming inability to hit baseballs. We kinda had a thing for Jose Vidro and Bobby Hill back then, too. Don’t ask. On the bright side, Royce Clayton signed with Milwaukee, leaving the Padres with their fallback option of… Mark Loretta.
- That same year, we were underwhelmed by the Padres off-season moves, and who can blame us? The big free-agent signings were 39-year-old outfielder Brady Anderson, injured right-handers Francisco Cordova and Jaret Wright, and 46-year-old left-hander Jesse Orosco. I think all of us were expecting big things from the ‘03 team after those moves. Could you hear the snickering there? Did that make it through the tubes?
- Right around the same time, I advocated that the Padres cut ties with Trevor Hoffman:
The Padres are blowing a quarter of their payroll on a guy who works 60 innings a year. As much as it pains me to admit this, because Hoffman is one of my favorite players in the game right now, I’m not sure that’s a wise way for an organization that refers to itself as “small market” to be allocating its resources. Hoffy has done a great deal for the city and the ballclub, and he seems like a heckuva good guy. But he isn’t young, and he isn’t cheap. And on a team that constantly cries “small market” that’s not a winning combination.
I also found sweet anagrams for Mark Kotsay (Kayak Storm) and Ryan Klesko (Skylark One). Actually, Sean Burroughs had a pretty funny one, too: A Bong User Rush.
- The Padres sure used to have some ugly drafts. Here is a look at hitters and pitchers they picked from 1995 to 2004. This will be interesting to revisit in a few years, when guys like Matt Antonelli, Chase Headley, and Will Venable have a little more big-league experience under their belts (and maybe Kyle Blanks and Kellen Kulbacki, for that matter).
- Finally, back when I used to post more non-baseball stuff, I wrote about 12 albums that changed the way I think about music. The list holds up pretty well, I think, though I might be tempted to something by Frank Zappa or Bjork. Maybe Neko Case. I dunno, I’d have to ponder it for a while.
That’s all for now. Later, yo…
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
November 26, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Congrats to Terry Kennedy for landing the San Antonio gig. Here is a video of coach Kennedy between innings of a San Antonio game last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrAUBr3jtzw