Want to hear a dirty little secret about the Padres’ recent spending habits? Guess how many teams have increased their payroll every year since 2001. Two. The Houston Astros and our Padres. Not that more cash is always the answer — the Twins have won nine fewer games over the past 6 years than the [...]
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Friday Links (2 Mar 07)
Happy Friday, folks. We’re playing games again. Man, does it feel good to say that. Gonzalez contract imposed by Padres (San Diego Union-Tribune). Seems to me there are better ways to save a few thousand bucks. I sure hope this doesn’t cause problems when they try to work out a long-term deal. Hey, maybe Todd [...]
Interview: Q&A with MadFriars.com
Background The folks at MadFriars.com have been dishing out the goods on Padres prospects since 2003, when founder Denis Savage saw a need for more detailed information on Padres’ minor-league players and set out to fill it. Denis and John Conniff have just released their list of top 20 Padres prospects for 2007. Their work [...]
Wednesday Links (28 Feb 07)
I’m feeling a bit under the weather (nothing serious, just a little run down), and I need to finish something I’m working on for tomorrow, so bullet points this morning (and a new poll): A Meander Through Hitters’ K Rates (via PF4L in the comments). John Beamer at The Hardball Times gives some love to [...]
Polls, Prospects, Restaurants, Television
No, these are not four things that have never been in Cliff Clavin’s kitchen. Well, they might be, but that’s not the point… The poll feature seemed to be pretty popular over the weekend, so I’ve added it to the sidebar, right above the merchandise link. We had a cool little over/under thing going yesterday [...]
Spring Training Notes (26 Feb 07)
Happy Monday. Lots going on today; let’s get to it. Cameron’s Preparation Padres center fielder Mike Cameron offers his thoughts on getting ready for the season, including this gem: Cameron takes more pitches than he takes swings early in spring, something he said he picked up from John Olerud when they both played for the [...]
How Many Posts Would You Like Me to Write per Day?
Here’s the deal. When I started writing Ducksnorts back in the Mesoarchean era, the technology I was using made it impractical for me to write more than one post per day. Technology dictated workflow, and I grew accustomed to writing one longish piece every day. This approach has worked for many years but I wonder [...]
Friday Links (23 Feb 07)
Short and sweet, like Adrian Gonzalez‘ swing: Walker wins arbitration case, surprising both sides (San Diego Union-Tribune). Backup second baseman Todd Walker won his case and will receive $3.95 million in 2007, making him the highest paid infielder on the team. If the Padres release Walker by March 15, it will cost them about $658,000. [...]
Worst Padres Hitters Ever
I’m mostly a positive guy (trying to make up for my youth, LOL), but how can I resist anything called “suckage index”? Introduced by the Batter’s Box as a way to identify lousy pitchers, and tweaked by Billfer at Detroit Tigers Weblog for use with hitters, suckage index simply multiplies how bad a guy was [...]
Spring Training Notes (21 Feb 07)
Have we hit all the cliches yet? Only a month till the season starts; better get cracking. We just need to give 110%, take it one day at a time, and stay within ourselves. And if that doesn’t work, we can always look at pretty pictures. Catcher Competition One of last year’s pleasant surprises, Josh [...]
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