Links for 23 Jan 09

First off, thanks for the excellent discussion on fan disillusionment. You’ve helped me see the problem in new ways, and I’ve got additional thoughts that I’ll share as soon as they make sense. It’ll probably come in the form of a thought exercise — sort of along the lines of Kobayashi Maru.

Until then, we’ve got links:

  • Websoulsurfer offers some suggestions on how to market the Padres. I like #7: “Have Padres players throw out the first pitch at local Little League games.” Community involvement seems like a good idea.
  • Sully Baseball gives us their Padres all-time home-grown team vs all-time acquired team. It’s a solid effort. For the home-grown team, I would start Khalil Greene ahead of Ozzie Smith at shortstop, and stick Sean Burroughs at third in place of Tucker Ashford. For the other guys, I’d have Ryan Klesko at first base ahead of Steve Garvey, Gene Tenace over Chris Cannizzaro on the bench, and Bruce Hurst or possibly Clay Kirby ahead of Sterling Hitchcock in the rotation.
  • Dan at BBTF has posted his 2009 ZiPS projections for the Padres [h/t Pat]. From the article: “Most players that hit like Shane Victorino in 2002 don’t hit like Shane Victorino in 2008…” Yeah, Kory DeHaan sends his regards.
  • Over at MadFriars, Sean McCall, radio voice of the Lake Elsinore Storm, offers his thoughts on last year’s team and players. Fort Wayne TinCaps broadcaster Mike Maahs does the same for guys that likely will be at Elsinore in 2009.
  • John at MadFriars also chatted with Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein about the Padres farm system:

    In my opinion, they need to become a little more tools conscious in the draft and not play it as safe in the past drafts. Teams that play it safe in the draft are the ones that are built to win 80 games.

    As Goldstein notes, they do seem to be making strides in that area, but yeah, more potential impact players would be nice.

That’s all for now. Happy Friday!

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4 Responses »

  1. Thanks for the link.

    I can see why you would make those changes on the Home Grown vs Acquired Roster.

    I always lean more towards people who have come through in the Post Season which is why Garvey and Sterling Hitchcock get so much love.

    Although as a Red Sox fan, I loved loved LOVED Bruce Hurst.

    You might be right about Burroughs. I may change that.

    As for Greene over Smith… I just can’t bench the wizard!

  2. Thanks for the link to the ZiPS projections … 3 thoughts after a quick glance …

    – Myrow is gone from the org … signed with ChiSox …

    – The distinction between Headley being “VERY GOOD” versus Kouz being “AVERAGE” at 3B is lost on me … those seems like pretty identical projections …

    – Overall, this seems like a pretty realistic assessment … it doesn’t look good … another good year to be following our farm boyz closely and investing my fandom energy in the future … I’m not goin’ anywhere, and the future will arrive … and I’m confident that it’s brighter than today …

  3. According to this, Brian Giles had the worst arm in the majors among right fielders last season:

    http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/best-outfield-arms-of-2008/

    Headley was fifth worst among left fielders.

  4. I saw that, too, Kevin. I was surprised as Giles does have a, relatively, weak arm for a RF, but he has always seemed to me to hustle/charge the ball well, take good angles and get rid of the ball quickly with an accurate arm. I didn’t read the article closely, but I noticed the author did try to make some adjustments for park effect. I wonder how much playing in a huge OF resulted in Giles having runners take the extra base on him versus his arm being “weak.”