Comments on: Eckstein Marks the Spot

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:26:41 +0000

#14@Tom Waits: To be clear, Eckstein isn't great. I mainly like that, as stopgaps go, he's a lot cheaper than Giles and Iguchi. Not only is that good for the budget, but the Padres also might be more willing to cut bait if he stinks and they want to see what Antonelli can do. #16@JP: E-Gon's rookie numbers: 5/12 - 7/22: 204 PA, .328/.373/.466 7/23 - 9/27: 149 PA, .199/.268/.272 I'm cherry picking the dates, but yeah, his bat disappeared mid-July and never returned.

By: JP

JP — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:39:56 +0000

Did Edgar really “completely fall apart” offensively in the 2nd half or 2nd go around ? I thought that he did a decent job swinging the bat for the duration but his defensive skills are absolutely brutal. Maybe a team can carry a big bat off the bench, one who can hit a late innings long ball, but can you carry a “Dr. Stranglove” like singles hitting middle infielder who strikes out a lot and can’t play ‘little ball” ?

By: Steve C

Steve C — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:27:57 +0000

#13@Geoff Young: If Headley keeps maturing, Gerut continues to be productive and Kouz can figure out a way to get on base more, then the Padres would actually have a pretty good lineupâ€¦ it's kind of ironic though that when the Padres finally get a somewhat stable lineup their once league leading pitching staff falls apart (especially if they trade Jake).

By: Tom Waits

Tom Waits — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:05:59 +0000

#13@Geoff Young: Agree that relying on Egon would have been dangerous, but if we're looking at improving over 2008 (which maybe we're not), Eckstein vs Iguchi+Egon isn't likely to do much. He may help with the marketing a bit. He could go off for a career year, like anybody, but that's luck and not a plan. Shawn Estes, currently bamboozling the Dodgers. Never have a pulse and a left arm led to so many chances.

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:52:23 +0000

#9@DM: I think the "grit" angle has been a bit overplayed by many. He's been a useful player for much of his career. #12@Tom Waits: Eckstein is in about the same position as Dave Roberts was when he arrived. It's unreasonable to expect a guy that age to suddenly find himself, as Roberts did, but for the price, I can live with it. E-Gon completely fell apart on his second trip around the league. My guess is that the younger, more talented Denker fills E-Gon's role in '09. And yeah, the pitching continues to be a problem. On the bright side, at least Shawn Estes is gone. This, of course, raises the question of why he was here in the first place...

By: Tom Waits

Tom Waits — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:13:12 +0000

Eckstein’s OBP still doesn’t push him to even an average hitter, which he hasn’t been since 2005. Last year he had an OPS+ of 84. We’re not HOPING he rebounds from that? I sure am. That’s substantially worse than Egon’s 96. Even if Eck’s defense makes up the gap, and even if Egon was a fluke (which seems likely), Eck doesn’t make us much, if any, better than what he had. He should be better than what we got from Iguchi, but the latter had outperformed Eckstein recently and he still fell on his face. It could happen to the new guy, too.

The Padre offense came in at a 98 OPS+ last year, so there’s room for improvement, and Ecks may help a tiny bit. But the pitching hurt us the most last year, and all we’ve done there is buy a couple of low-paying lottery tickets like Correia and Ryu.

By: Loren

Loren — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:42:36 +0000

I think he adds a nice element of speed and OBP to the top of the order with a guy like Jody Gerut. You have two guys who can get on base and run with Giles at #3 to knock them in. There’s some potential in this lineup.

By: Steve C

Steve C — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:11:50 +0000

OT – Xtra Sports 1360 Es No Mas

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162009/business/clear_channel_plans_revamp_150374.htm

http://sdradio.net/2009/01/20/clear-channel-restructures/

By: DM

DM — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:58:39 +0000

#8@Geoff Young: But seriously, I am surprised that people seem okay with this move as Eckstein, by name, is often used as the poster boy for "grit" over results. Personally looking at his stats I am surprised that we didn't pick him up earlier. He looks a lot like what we were trying to get with both the NOG and the Iguchi deals. Let's just hope that he doesn't fall on his face like the previous players.

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:56:46 +0000

#7@DM: But without angry elves, is it really baseball?