I hope everyone is enjoying the book so far (and spreading the word!). I continue to receive positive feedback, so I take that as a good sign. I’m now sketching ideas for the 2008 Annual; if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a note in the comments or drop me a line. Meanwhile, let’s hit the links…
- Strike zone comparison: 5/15 and 5/16 (Friar Watch). Was the final pitch to Kevin Kouzmanoff in Wednesday night’s game really a ball? As Anthony shows, it depends on which umpire you ask.
- Coaster adds trains for Padres fans (San Diego Union-Tribune). Good news for North County residents who don’t want to (or can’t) drive downtown on weekends.
- Bring in the Fences? (Gaslamp Ball). jbox weighs in on the impact Petco Park has on hitters.
- Josh Q. Public gives Jake Peavy some love. Bonus points for a solid Steve Erkel reference.
- Q&A with Andy Masur (Padres.com). Corey Brock talks to the new guy in the radio booth. Masur reveals, among other things, that he “used to walk around, from what my parents have told me, with the old Lincoln Log toys, interviewing people.” Good to know technology has improved since then.
- He’ll Probably Get Into The Hall Of Fame Now Too (Rumors and Rants). I know we’re not supposed to talk about Jack Cust, but he’s still a great story. As a reminder, the A’s released Cust in October 2005, so it’s not like they knew all along. Nice 11 games so far, though.
- Vet Brocail gives advice to Carrillo (San Diego Union-Tribune). What, pray tell, might that be? “Don’t pick up a ball again until you are pain-free.” Makes sense…
- Gwynn awed at impending Hall of Fame induction (Yahoo!). Fluff piece, but Tony Gwynn stories never get old:
Just say it. I was a Judy. Just say it. I’m fine with it. I was a Judy. I put the bat on the ball. I take a lot of pride in that.
Actually, I think Judy may have been a Gwynn.
- Minor League Spotlight: Finding A Real “Bob L. Head” (FanHouse). From the article:
The Portland Beavers — the Triple-A affiliate of the Padres — are putting a unique twist on the bobblehead. As a promotion, the organization is making a bobblehead of um, a Bob. L Head.”
Pure genius.
- Ten Things I Didn’t Know Last Week (Hardball Times, via Anthony in the comments). Scroll down to the section called “Who’s responsible for Pythagorean variances” for a closer look at why the Padres aren’t performing up to expectations. If you’ve been following the team (and you have, of course), this will come as no surprise, but as always, it’s good to see numbers confirm our anecdotal observations.
- (ESPN, via Didi in the comments). Fantastic read. My favorite part:
Rangers outfielder George Wright went three for five on Opening Day 1982. “Did you have fun today?” I asked. He said, “Yeah, I’d never been to a major-league game before.” Amazing: the first major-league game he had ever seen, he played in and got three hits.
Onto the PPR:
by Peter Friberg
You will not see all the notable performances from the night before, but you will see the notable performances from those who are actually prospects.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
AAA
No notable performances
AA
Chase Headley: 3 AB, 2 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; HR, BB – .347/.435/.590
Nick Hundley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 2B, 3 BB – .301/.427/.445
David Freese: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 3 RBI; HR, BB, SO
Chad Huffman: 3 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; 2B, SF
Manny Ayala: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR – 2.41 ERA
Low-A
Daryl Jones: 5 AB, 0 R, 4 H, 1 RBI; SO
Kyler Burke: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB, 2 SO, PO
Ernesto Frieri: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
I ran a projection on Headley’s season with his current rates… In 130 games he’s projected to hit 20 home runs and 42 doubles while walking 72 times and striking out 94 times. Encouragingly, Headley has three homers each at home and on the road…
Daryl Jones is in a nice little hot streak.
Thanks, Peter. Headley has made great strides so far this season. Here’s hoping he continues to build on his hot start.
That’s all for now. The fiercest rivalry in pro sports resumes Friday night when the Padres take on the Mariners in Seattle. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. PT. The IGD will be in effect around 6 p.m. Happy Friday, folks, and go Padres!
It’s funny the Padres and Mariners sharing the same S/T complex has actually made me like them more because ive become more familiar with their farm teams. Its odd trying to put them in the same class with the dodgers, D-Backs, and The Padre Senior Team otherwise known as the Giants.
1) By the way, our Pads currently have the lowest ERA in the
majors.
2) Any chance of Headley being moved up to AAA soon?
3) It seems that some of our young pitchers are doing very well in AAA : apart from Germano, Brown and Ring have very low ERAs. In AA, Sean Thompson is doing cery well, with an ERA of about 2.50. I love good pitching!
It’s finally here – Mariner week! I’m giddy with excitement…
Does anyone know of a website where I can find ACCURATE information regarding the payroll of each major league team? I checked on ESPN but I don’t think their figures are accurate (according to them, the Pads have a payroll of $69,000, but I’m pretty sure we’re at around $59,000).
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=sdg
has them at 58+ million.
If you want fully accurate numbers regarding team payroll, you would have to account for guys who get called up and performance incentives. I am not sure there is any site that does that, but if anyone can find one, that would be great.
#4: This one isn’t perfect but it’s a pretty good source:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/san-diego-padres.html
4: Cots is the most comprehensive site I’ve seen. It has information on bonuses.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/
5: Guys who get called up are fractional money, pro-rated per the major league minimum of 3800,000. 486 games played by callups = slightly less than 1 Geoff Blum. It’s actually days on the roster rather than games, I think, but close enough. You’d also have to subtract payroll for players whose stay on the DL was covered by insurance. Teams almost never release that information.
You don’t have to pay performance bonuses unless the player hits them. It would be disingenuous for the Padres to claim a payroll of 62 million now, before David Wells starts earning his bonuses. One dropped wine glass and he doesn’t earn an extra dime, let alone th 4 million he might make. All the other Padre bonuses together are in the neighborhood of 1 million.
For those scoring at home, our current 58 million payroll is 4 million more than the 2000 payroll in terrible old Qualcomm. It’s 11.7 million less than the 2006 payroll. It doesn’t bother me to spend less, but you could fit a Ted Lilly in the gap between last year and this. He’d be our second-best starter.
MOCK DRAFT ON BA! MOCK DRAFT ON BA!
Sorry, bit excited. They have us taking James Simmons (RHP, UC Riverside) at 23, possibly Joe Savery from Rice.
Simmons is a meh pick to me. Not a bad pick, but there are a lot of low 90s command RHP in our system. We’d have to take some chances with later picks.
They suggest Wieters could fall all the way to St. Louis at 18.
Hey, thanks for the mention!