Too Sexy for a Title

by Geoff Young on Nov 10, 2004

Too sexy? Too lame is more like it. Anyway, here is what a couple of Royals blogs are saying about Monday’s trade:

Everything really hinges on how well Dennis Tankersley does. If he blossoms, this could be a terrific deal for the Royals. Oh, and for any KC fans looking for info on Tank, here’s what I’ve written about him over the years.

To recap, the Padres current pitching staff looks more or less like this:

Rotation '05 sal          '04 stats
                     IP   H BB  SO HR  ERA
Eaton     $3.2M   199.1 204 52 153 28 4.61
Lawrence  $2.25M  203.0 226 55 121 26 4.12
Peavy     $2.5M*  166.1 146 53 173 13 2.27
May       $3.2M   186.0 234 55 120 38 5.61

Sweeney   $0.3M?  153.0 150 44 120 17 4.00

Bullpen   '05 sal        '04 stats
                     IP   H BB  SO HR  ERA
Hoffman   $5.0M    54.2  42  8  53  5 2.30
Otsuka    $0.8M    77.1  56 26  87  6 1.75
Linebrink $1.2M*   84.0  61 26  83  8 2.14
Neal      $0.3M?   42.0  49 11  36  6 4.07
Bukvich   $0.3M?   54.2  37 37  67  4 4.28

Baker     $0.3M?   66.0  42 28  85  2 1.50

Note. Sweeney and Bukvich split time between Triple-A and the big leagues; Baker split time between Double- and Triple-A.
*Estimated 2005 salary based on comparisons with similar players.
?Not sure of salary, but I think it’s league minimum.

The Dodgers supposedly are interested in David Wells. If they get into the bidding along with the Yanks, it definitely would not be in the Pads’ best interest to even think about him. They simply cannot afford to throw a bunch of guaranteed money at a guy his age.

I don’t think the Padres are done here. Sweeney in the #5 spot isn’t horrible, although I still think signing a guy like Cory Lidle would make sense. Whoever they end up putting there likely is just keeping the spot warm for Tim Stauffer anyway. And if Sweeney doesn’t stick in the rotation, he’d probably make a good swingman.

At this point I’m thinking Kevin Towers is more likely to pursue some bullpen arms. Neal showed signs last year, and Baker had a tremendous season but has no big-league experience. Bukvich’s numbers aren’t too encouraging, unless you’re one of those folks who haven’t yet gotten over the loss of Luther Hackman.

While we all anxiously await the signing of Dave Burba, Dan Miceli, or some other similarly generic reliever, let’s see what else is going on:

  • Mike has a look at attendance patterns in new ballparks over at Mike’s Baseball Rants. Using history as his guide, Mike estimates that the Padres will generate roughly $2.7M less in ticket revenue next year than in 2004. He also refers to us as “Pod People”, which may be complimentary but probably isn’t.
  • NL ERA Champ Jake Peavy may not have gotten a single Cy Young Award vote, but he did beat a team of Japanese All-Stars.
  • Storm add two years to deal with Padres (NC Times). Everyone seems happy with the arrangement.
  • Arizona Fall League Notebook: Chris Oxspring (Baseball America). Notes on the Aussie Olympic hero who could end up on the big-league pitching staff sooner rather than later.

That’s all for now. More as it happens…

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