If I don’t share these with you, I risk not committing. Here are things I’m working on and hoping to publish at Ducksnorts or elsewhere over the next, oh, couple months or so…

• The final five installments of our One-Hit Wonders series – There are some seriously fun names coming up in the queue
• A closer examination of great pitchers duels in which the Padres were involved, i.e., 9/28/88, 7/15/94, and 9/2/98 (this reminds me, I’ll be giving a presentation based on my Hardball Times series at the Ted Williams Chapter SABR meeting on Saturday, January 29: Petco Park, 9 a.m.; if that’s not motivation enough, Padres VP/AGM Jason McLeod also will be speaking)
• Best single-game hitting and pitching performances in Padres history – Been thinking about this for a while; might be a series
• PCL Padres retrospective – Overview of the Padres from 1936 to 1968 in six or so installments; team records, key players, etc.
• A comparison of the near perfect games by San Diego’s Mat Latos and Detroit’s Armando Galarraga – I’ve been struggling with this one since July; can’t seem to find the right angle
• Something about the time Tim Raines came close to signing with the Padres – Reader David alerted me to this the other day and it blew my mind (metaphorically speaking, of course); subsequent research has turned up some interesting tidbits, e.g., I had no idea that George Argyros almost bought the team

A reader also suggested revisiting an earlier look at stolen bases and wins as they related to the 2010 Padres. I took some notes for a follow-up during the season but then lost steam. I dunno, we’ll see.

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And in the links department, we have… yup, links:

• Big Red Letter Bartlett (FanGraphs). Eno Sarris calls the Padres’ signing of Jason Bartlett “smart baseball.” [h/t reader Didi]
• Gwynn on the mend, eyes return to coaching (U-T). Tony Gwynn continues to battle cancer. My thoughts are with him.
• All-time saves leader Hoffman retires (Padres.com). I’ll have more to say about Trevor Hoffman in the coming days. Meanwhile, congrats on a great career… see you in Cooperstown.
• Bert Blyleven and Jim Edmonds (Viva El Birdos). Padres fans haven’t seen many weaker efforts in recent years than what Edmonds “provided” in 2008, so it’s easy to forget that he used to be very good. [h/t BBTF]
• The Success Cycle is Full of Crap (FanGraphs). The ever-thoughtful Jonah Keri reconsiders an earlier stance of his (and one to which I have referred in the past). I’m not sure I agree entirely with Keri’s new position, although I admire him for analyzing his own work in this way.
• Worst Bunts of 2010 (FanGraphs). Padres old (Jon Garland) and new (Orlando Hudson) appear on this list.

There you go. Any other article ideas? Hit me up in the comments or on Twitter. We’ll do that thing; it’ll be great…

Tagged as: armando galarraga, jason bartlett, jason mcleod, jim edmonds, jon garland, mat latos, orlando hudson, pcl padres, pitchers duels, sabr, tim raines, tony gwynn, trevor hoffman