Now, with 100% less snappy intro…
- Q&A: Chase Headley (FanGraphs). Our pal David Laurila chats with the Padres third baseman. Quoth Headley: “I would rather strike out on a 3-2 count than put the ball in play on the first pitch of an at bat and make an out. I just think that makes the pitcher work a little bit harder.” [h/t reader Didi]
- Active hitting leaders (Baseball-Reference). Mat Latos has never drawn a walk?
- Followed Him Up to the Gates of Grantland (Baseball Prospectus). Colin Wyers takes aim at a recent article that has received more attention than it deserves. Joe Pawlikowski does the same at FanGraphs, while Mike Stadler takes a slightly different approach at Hardball Times. It’s an easy article to destroy… not much fun, really; rather like hunting cattle.
- Evaluating catchers: Framing pitches, part 2 (Hardball Times). Max Marchi continues his fascinating series.
- MLB Team Travel (FanGraphs). The six teams that travel the most all call the West Coast home.
- Prospect Gyorko hard for Padres to ignore (Padres.com). Yeah, he’s pretty good: .373/.438/.645 as of this writing.
- MVP Darnell lofts South to victory (MiLB.com). Speaking of minor-league All-Star third basemen…
- Wriggling for Riggleman (Joe Blogs). Former Padres skipper Jim Riggleman recently resigned as manager of the Washington Nationals for reasons that only he comprehends. David Schoenfield notes that this likely ends Riggleman’s managerial career, while our pals at Platoon Advantage examine other managers who have left their post midseason.
- Talking ball with Dick Williams (Hardball Times). Speaking of former Padres managers…
- Tate suspended (Inside the Padres). Tom Krasovic offers his thoughts.
- My journey (Dodger Thoughts). Jon Weisman, in the exquisite way that only he can, discusses the plight of following a franchise that insists on running itself into the ground at every opportunity. Yeah, it’s the Dodgers, but we’ve all been there.
- Ever-impressive Strasburg making his way back (MLB.com). Peter Gammons notes that SDSU alum Stephen Strasburg is making progress in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. [h/t BBTF]
- Spence keeps his fellow Aussies informed (Padres.com). Fluffy but fun piece on the rookie left-hander.
That’s all for now. Have a safe and happy 4th, and go Padres!
Man, that kid is stupid. MLB already told him, he’ll be tested not randomly and he went the synthetic way? I hope he figures it out.
How’s Everett Williams doing?
Happy 4th, y’all.
I sure want the Padres to sweep the Giants, and still trade Bell and Ludwick away for some prospect. I don’t need to go to the playoff this year.
Hey, Geoff, what do you think of this?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584004576418142641741566.html
Could this be another way of evaluating hitters before bringing them to the Padres via free agency or trade?
Yup, thanks Mike Cameron for the memories. Everytime I watch Maybin, I’m reminded of you.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/mike-cameron-stealth-star-of-the-90s-and-aughts/
He’s really good! Now the world knows it.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/is-fenway-helping-or-hurting-adrian-gonzalez/
Woo hoo. Padres farm system from Eugene on up are a combined 25 games over .500 now. Getting better as the season goes on.
Spangenberg is putting on a clinic up in Eugene. .426/.582/.617, with 17BB vs 7K. 6 doubles in 14 games. (We’ll ignore the 2 errors for now.)
Pretty great start!
It’s nice to see the farm system in better shape then recent years. There’s gotta be a good 30 players worth keeping tabs on, maybe as many as 50. It’s a welcome change.
@dts – I just wrote a piece detailing the Padres farm system on my blog today. I have around 40 players that are worth keeping an eye on… many others that could become prospect status soon.
I suspect the Padres will be considered one of the 5-10 best Farm systems going into next year.
nice piece PadresFutures. thanks.
http://www.fangraphs.com/not/index.php/ranking-baseballs-center-field-camera-shots/
@Didi – thanks. I just can’t help but wonder if the minor league starting lineup I put together could beat this Padres team
A loss like this (6-0 to the Mariners, without a baserunner reaching 2B until the 9th inning) might quiet a lot of the “Don’t trade any players while we’re making a run! We could be a playoff team!” talk.
Hoyer, make the moves. Build for 2012 and beyond.
Yup, let’s see the younger players up and see what we have for the future.
Being the leader in the league for being shut-out, the Padres should be making changes now. I don’t want the Padres to make a run this year with this roster. Not nearly enough starting pitching to go deep nor the defense and offense needed to win games consistently.
Lots of former Padres in this story:
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/sports/baseball/adrian-gonzalez-proves-worth-the-price-for-the-red-sox.html?ref=sports
Adrian, Edgar, Theo, Magadan
@USMC53
Agree! While last night’s loss is only one game, I think it is also important to remember that the dreadful 2008 season included a stretch where they won 8 of 10 in June.
They swept 4 from the Mets (so long Willie Randolph) then took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers. A week later, they were back to their losing ways.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SDP/2008-schedule-scores.shtml
Great job by the Padres adding to an area of prospect weakness. They just signed a 16 year old catcher Jose Ruiz from Venezuela. Spent some pretty penny, $1.1 million.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/07/padres-sign-jose-ruiz-for-1-1-million/
why not?
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/7/1/2253260/mlb-trade-rumors-heath-bell-padres
@Parlo: or the 14-games winning streak almost a decade ago to get to about .500 around ASB.
ha…ha…ha….flinch…ouch…ha…ha…ha…
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/7/1/2255197/harold-reynolds-eric-byrnes-video
Kyle Blanks is READY!!!
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2011_07_02_tucaaa_srcaaa_1
@LM: yes, he is.
re: Bartlett, he’s not hitting enough to make up for his fielding deficiency (bottom 5 in UZR). He almost cost the win today after his error yesterday opened the floodgate of Mariners’ scoring – not that the Padres was going to win that game. Today’s game was a 1-run game and his error could have cost the team a win. This season, it probably doesn’t matter but do the Padres want to contend next year with Bartlett at SS?
What to do? The Padres already committed to Bartlett until 2012, Cabrera isn’t quite ready in AAA (his away OPS is .200 lower than in Tucson, though his BB/K and OBP is fine). No SS prospects are closer to ML. I guess, we hope that Everett will improve enough by end of season that he and Bartlett can man the position adequately. It’s not like there are plenty of SS available.
Spangenberg goes 2-for-5 to *lower* his BA for .407
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2011_07_02_eugasx_vanasx_1
Ems now 14-2 riding an 11-game winning streak!
Road trip, anyone???
@LM: Spangenberg also has 20 BBs in 16 games, vs. only 7 Ks! OBP of .571.
This kid is ALWAYS on base.
Can’t wait to see what he does at Ft. Wayne. And I wonder how well he fields his position.
3 Ball walk! Is luck finally turning in the Padres favor this season?
Just checkin’ in on my man Kyle Phillips
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16537679
@PadresFuture: and Latos is trying to pay back the favor…luck, i mean.
Ok, enough already…. just trade Ludwick and call up Blanks. Blanks is clearly healthy again.
@Didi
Good call! Late June of 1999:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SDP/1999-schedule-scores.shtml
@German: I imagine the Padres already use Hit Tracker technology or some in-house version of it in making their evaluations. Greg has done some pretty great work with that stuff.
@PadresFuture: Nice writeup, thanks.
@Didi @Parlo: Thanks for the links. That streak in ’99 was fun. I actually analyzed it at the time if you’re interested (see here).
Happy 4th, y’all!
I like the way Paul Lukas @ Uni-Watch celebrates the 4th … with a picture that captures the state of the states …
http://www.uni-watch.com/2011/07/04/for-amber-waves-of-grain/
… he’s a funny guy!