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Current Padres

• The Playoffs Sweet Spot (FanGraphs). The Padres are rebuilding, while the defending champs in San Francisco are considered “fringe contenders”? Tough crowd…
• Makeover bolsters Padres’ defense, pitching (Padres.com). Corey Brock asks a bunch of questions and provides an equal number of answers. He suggests, among other things, that Aaron Cunningham may start the year at Triple-A. If you need to know where Cunningham stands in the organization, well, he’s 25 years old… so there you go.
• Brad Hawpe (Inside the Padres). Tom Krasovic remembers a home run Hawpe, then with the Rockies, hit at Petco Park in 2007.
• Brad Hawpe replacing Adrian Gonzalez, doing his thing (Gaslamp Ball). Jbox doesn’t care for the Hawpe signing: “…my expectations are extremely low for Brad Hawpe… Would any of you be surprised if he’s not playing first base full time at the end of the season? Not me.” It wouldn’t surprise me, either, but I don’t care. His long-term importance to the organization is nil. Best case, he provides enough now to help and/or fetch something of value in trade, making way for the prospects when they are ready. (This, incidentally, is why passing on Adam LaRoche and his desire for a long-term contract was a good idea.)
• The Padres Waive Type A (FanGraphs). Jed Hoyer has devised a novel strategy for drawing free agents to San Diego, i.e., “promising not to offer arbitration if his newly inked free agents reach Type A status.”
• Rich Team, Poor Team – Part II (Pitchers Hit Eighth). This is a thoughtful piece on a subject that I know bothers some Padres fans. As I mentioned to the author on Twitter: “Nice article, although it’s worth noting that our ‘shoddy bill of goods’ won more than yours in 2010.” Just havin’ some fun…

Former Padres

• To Thine Own Self (Dirk Hayhurst). Friend of Ducksnorts Dirk Hayhurst addresses the dangers of groupthink: “Ask yourself, how much do the thoughts of those around me contribute to the way I think about myself, or perform? The answer might surprise you.” Sadly, Hayhurst has been released by the Blue Jays.
• There’s Reason to Be Optimistic (Wall Street Journal). Speaking of friends, here’s what Paul DePodesta is up to these days. [h/t BBTF]
• Ex-Tiger Boros, manager of A’s, Padres, dies (MLB.com). Belated condolences to the friends and family of Steve Boros, who died December 29.
• The Padres All-Time 25-Man Roster (Sacrifice Bunt). This is fun. I messed around with something similar in one of the Ducksnorts Annuals. I will have to update my list some day.
• Care About the Australian League for a Second! (FanGraphs). Justin Huber and Chris Oxspring are playing back home. I have a soft spot for Oxspring, about whom I’ve written in the past.
• New Padres Fan Tradition: Rub Tony Gwynn’s Statue’s Knee, “ease his pain” (Gaslamp Ball). Huh. I really don’t know what to say.
• New Year Brings Fantastic New Features to Seamheads.com (Seamheads). Mike Lynch and the gang are running a Strat-o-Matic league featuring great teams through history. I won’t be participating this year, but the ’96 Padres are well represented, with friend of Ducksnorts Joe Sheehan at the helm.

Future Padres

• San Diego Padres Top 20 Prospects for 2011 (Minor League Ball). John Sickels ranks ‘em. He’s higher on recently acquired Reymond Fuentes than I am. Sickels also identifies right-hander Matt Lollis as a breakthrough candidate (I agree). Further down, I like Edinson Rincon, Jason Hagerty, and Logan Forsythe as sleepers. Maybe Jonathan Galvez or Everett Williams.
• Previewing the 2011 Storm: Pitching (Friar Forecast). I hope to see Lollis and/or Jerry Sullivan pitch at Elsinore this year.
• Jeff Moorad’s Escondido state of mind (Hardball Times). My colleague Steven Booth provides a terrific overview of the proposal to bring Triple-A baseball to Escondido.
• Dominican Trainer Arrested On Fraud Charges (Baseball America). The trainer in question has been associated with Padres outfielder Edwin Moreno. [h/t Watson Files]

Blogs

• The Bert Blyleven Awards (Baseball Analysts). Jeremy Greenhouse pens his final piece for Baseball Analysts.
• So Long, From Sabernomics (Sabernomics). J.C. Bradbury is hanging up his spikes (keyboard?) as well.
• Happy 2nd Birthday, Perpetual Padres Saga! (Perpetual Padres Saga). I am late in wishing one of our friends in the Padres blogosphere a happy blogiversary.

Research

• Adjusting Our Opinion on Pitch Counts (FanGraphs). This is one of those areas, like judging defense, where sabermetricians have much work ahead of them.
• Scout’s Take: Long Tossing (Project Prospect). This isn’t exactly research, but it’s related to the previous link and I can’t figure out where else to put it. [h/t BBTF]
• Oliver, smarter than your average monkey (Hardball Times). Brian Cartwright gives details of his projection system.
• Ground-ball Rates in the Minors and Majors (Baseball Prospectus). Clay Davenport discovers that pitchers induce fewer grounders as they rise through the minors.
• Custom wOBA and Linear Weights Through 2010: Baseball Databank Data Dump 2.1 (Beyond the Box Score). This could be useful.
• The Sabean Years (Bay City Ball). Chris Quick examines Brian Sabean’s penchant for old guys. I like Quick’s method and the way he presents his data. It might be interesting to view Kevin Towers’ (or Bruce Bochy’s) tenure in San Diego through a similar lens.
• Stadium Boom Amounts to Fountain of Youth for MLB Parks (Beyond the Box Score). I can’t adequately describe this… just read it.

Whatever

• Some weird injuries broke out in 2010 (ESPN). Mat Latos and his phantom sneeze show up here, as do former Padres Geoff Blum and Russell Branyan. [h/t Baseball-Reference]
• The Double Play (Mop-Up Duty). Poetry. Baseball. I’m all over that.
• Three ways baseball should be more like European football (soccer) (Hardball Times). Jonathan Halket offers good food for thought, although I believe he overstates the competitive balance issue (for one thing, the Padres haven’t really been “sleeping” since they moved downtown).
• Dan Uggla signs a five-year, $62 million extension with Braves (USA Today). Yuck. I am loathe to agree with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria on anything, but yeah, good luck to the Braves. [h/t BBTF]
• Is Jeff Idelson Lying or Incompetent? Either Way, He’s Trying to Ruin the Hall (Platoon Advantage). Okay, fine… one HOF link.

Happy Friday…