One of these years I will finish my essay comparing the scrappy indie-rock band Pavement to David Eckstein. While we’re all waiting for that to happen, here are some links you might enjoy…
Padres
- Part of the core? (Inside the Padres). Tom Krasovic wonders about Chase Headley’s future with the Padres.
- Padres Could Have A Loud Off-Season (FanGraphs). This article is eight paragraphs long but really comes down to the first sentence in the third paragraph: “The Padres are very well set up for the future.” [h/t reader Didi]
- Moorad: Padres to increase payroll in 2012 (U-T). More money is good news, but only if it helps improve the team. Hint: Look north to Anaheim and their acquisitions of Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells in recent years for guidance. Do the opposite of that.
- The Padres Bullpen, Yoda, and The Force (LobShots). Huzzah for Space Muppets, er Star Wars…
- Bell and fellow Padres ‘firemen’ visit Cave (Padres.com). Speaking of the ‘pen, Heath Bell, Josh Spence, Erik Hamren, and Anthony Bass recently visited some New York firefighters and wore snappy T-shirts. Bell also talks about trade-deadline adventures.
- Cory Luebke, Starting Pitcher (Roto Hardball). Eno Sarris takes a closer look at the rookie left-hander’s success this year.
- Top 25 Padres Prospects (Padres Prospects). I don’t know who these guys are, but this site recently launched and looks promising. I like James Darnell more and Reymond Fuentes less than they do.
- Hoffman’s Retired Number: What are they planning!? (Gaslamp Ball). Inquiring minds want to know…
- Career destined for stardom cut short for Pace grad (Pensacola News Journal). Quoth former Padres first-round pick Drew Cumberland, who has retired at age 22 due to head trauma:
I want to get married some day. I want to have kids. I want to be 40 years old and able to hold an intelligent conversation with someone.
Here’s wishing Cumberland the very best in his life ahead. [h/t reader Chris K.]
Offense
- Defensive Independent Hitting, Or ShH (FanGraphs). Bradley Woodrum speculates that “maybe there is a better way to predict how well a hitter is doing.” More here.
- Why Strikeouts Stink (FanGraphs). Didn’t J. Geils Band do a song about that once? Yeah, yeah…
- Most Natural Golden Sombreros (Baseball-Reference). Speaking of lousy contact, this is a fascinating list occupied mostly by very good/great offensive players… and Mark Bellhorn.
Defense
- The Error Face (Baseball Prospectus). Cute and fun, but without muppets or space.
- Extra plays made: Should we change our point of view? (Hardball Times). Max Marchi ruminates on how best to evaluate fielders.
- James Shields and greatest pickoff moves (SweetSpot). Would-be base stealers are 1-for-15 against the Tampa Bay right-hander.
Prognostication
- Guessing About Stamps (Joe Blogs). Joe Posnanski tries to figure out which baseball players might be featured on a new set of stamps commemorating the game. Hint: Not Mark Bellhorn.
- Celebrating 40th SABR anniversary by guessing future convention sites (Hardball Times). Chris Jaffe predicts it will come to San Diego in 2018 and Oakland in 2024. So, I guess I’ll be attending once every 6 or 7 years…
History
- The history and mystery of the high five (ESPN). Lamont Sheets? Glenn Burke? What an odd and surprisingly fascinating tale.
- Card of the Week: 1990 Score #84 Tony Phillips (Baseball-Reference). Here’s a cool card of the man who almost but never quite played for the Padres. The 52-year-old Phillips is now playing third base (and fighting with other former big-leaguers) for the Yuma Scorpions of the North American Baseball League.
- Teams Developing Young Winning Pitchers (Baseball-Reference). Clay Kirby, Andy Benes, Jake Peavy: three people who have never been in my kitchen…
Whatever
- A Quick Update On My Health (FanGraphs). Dave Cameron informs us that he is beating leukemia. Go, Dave, Go!
- Your Worthless No-Count Friend Texts You Updates from Historically Significant Baseball Games (Baseball Prospectus). In which Jon Bois asks, “What is porridge?” Indeed. Bonus points for the Star Trek: TNG and Incubus references…
Forsythe, Venable and Blanks look really good. I’m not sure what the Pads are going to do with all of their corner IF/OF, but it sure is nice to have some guys that can play a little.
I really hope the Padres don’t try and go the Hawpe route agian and they just stick with the young talent they have now. I would hate to see a veterain on the tail end of his career take AB’s away from Guzman, Blanks, Venable, Rizzo and Darnell next season. To be honest I would be ok if the Padres went with a pure youth movement next season and had a roster somethign like this:
C: Hundley, Martinez
1B: Rizzo, Guzman, Blanks
2B: Hudson, Forsythe
SS: Bartlett, Gonzalez
3B: Headley, Darnell, Forsythe
LF: Guzman, Blanks
CF: Maybin, Venable, Denorfia
RF: Venable, Darnell, Denorfia
Rotation
Latos
Stauffer
Luebke
Ricahrds
Moseley
Pen
Gregerson (CL)
Frieri (8th)
Bass (7th)
Spence
Thatcher
Scribner
Leblanc (Swing Man)
@Steve C — hopefully, any FAs like Hawpe next year will be for bench depth, which I’m fine with. It would be nice if we could use something from our surplus of corner guys to get someone who can help us up the middle. The tandem of Bartlett and Hudson has not impressed so far.
Although, I recognize that stability is nice at 2b/SS.
The thing that makes me sad about this offensive surge is that I don’t really consider it a surge as much as the players playing to their expected level. Guzman has been the real surprise, but Venable, Hudson and Bartlett are all playing much better, though none are exactly ripping the cover off the ball (Bartlett: .273 in Aug, Hudson: .292). I think Jed must feel a little vindicated, because the offense on the field was substantially worst than they were on paper coming into the season, and now, the team is finally hitting more in line with what he (and I) expected. I think Buddy deserves a little credit too. With as much as he likes to play musical chairs with the lineup, having Maybin and Bartlett 1-2 and the the O-Dog in the 6 or 7 spot has worked.
I think a few, wise FA pickups this offseason, and the team can really compete next year. I think we need to get a few more power arms in the pen, and probably a veteran inning eater in the rotation, and I think the team could be pretty good.
@Nick G, veteran bench players always seem to make their way into the starting lineup over younger players. It’s one of the things that drove me nuts about Bochey ::cough:: Bellhorn ::cough:: and a trend I’m starting to see in Black.
Because of Petco, the Padres are the inverse Colorado Rockies – they can pick up pitchers from the reclamation bin (Chan Ho Park, Aaron Harang, Jon Garland, etc.), make them look good and send them out to the world. Seriously, if I was a veteran starting pitcher who had a subpar year, I’d make sure to inform the Padres that I was interested.
On the other hand, because Petco is such a different environment to hit in, we need to find guys who either fit a certain hitting style (Milton Bradley, Cameron Maybin), or are homegrown. From watching the Padres the last few years, its pretty clear that the kids are more willing to modify their hitting styles for Petco than the veterans. So, please, no more “power” hitters from the NL Central.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/shortstop-central/
@ SteveC
Frieri in the 8th makes me shudder.
With that team, there’s actually some $ left on the table. I won’t be oppossed to using it on locking up Latos and Maybin for a year or two into FA and maybe give Heath 2 or 3 years at 9/yr (just throwing a number up there) Still think that makes in the 50′s with room to spare next year (and to keep Headley).
And I am the only one who likes Cunningham? Short swing straight to the ball (even if he does weird stuff with his hands before he brings his bat in position to hit) with good speed and can cover ground in the OF, though he’s more an emergency CF and while I haven’t looked for it, supposedly his arm is a (-). But as a 4-5th OF who will come cheap for another 3 years or more and in his mid 20′s that’s a good spot to be in. Problem is it may come down to Denorfia/Cunningham this winter.
And this sounds strange to say, but if we like our pitching staff and we can keep up the depth to cover for pitching injuries, we actually might find it hard to spend $70 mill/yr. FA hitters aren’t coming (unless we overpay and even then….) and if we like our pitchers, who are we going to sign as an upgrade other than the top of the line Lee’s and Halladay’s of the world (who are going to be out of range anyway)? But if that’s true, it lets Jed use Moorad and Co’s $ to lock up our own talent into FA….. which is what Moorad just said he intends to do.
So maybe there’s hope.
@QUIN Cunningham and Denorfia are interchangeable to me.
Yeah, except Denorfia is 30 and Cunningham 25.
@Quin — I’m on board with Cunningham. He seems like he’s a decent hitter and a good defender. He would be a nice 4th OF next year.