The big news, of course, is that Khalil Greene has won the shortstop job. Rey Ordonez abruptly and unexpectedly left camp, essentially giving Greene the nod. It should be said that Greene was making a strong claim on the position even before Ordonez left (which may also have been a contributing factor to Ordonez’ departure). [...]
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Spring Training Notes
My wrists are killing me, so we’ll keep this short and sweet. Conversation with Tye Waller (PDX Beavers). Jonathan talks to the Pads’ Director of Player Development, who offers his thoughts on Bernie Castro, Freddy Guzman, Jason Szuminski, and more. Nice work here. Padres Notes: Top pick Stauffer makes belated debut (NC Times). Regular reader [...]
Opening Weekend at Petco
I’m still compiling data, and it’s a dangerously small sample, but Petco sure wasn’t kind to hitters during the Aztec Invitational: AB R H RBI BB SO BA 641 78 143 72 75 141 .223 A whopping 3.9 runs per game, per team, with aluminum bats? Here’s the distribution: runs times ———– 11 1 7 [...]
Spring Training Notes
Seems the hosting company moved my site to another server while I was on vacation and ducksnorts.com disappeared for a few days. In case you missed last Thursday’s report, check it out before proceeding. In other news, Brian Buchanan is seeing a lot of action at first base with Phil Nevin sidelined. Jeff Cirillo and [...]
Who’s On First?
While I was off cavorting about California’s central coast, discovering my new favorite small town, Phil Nevin injured his right shoulder. Again. Diving for a ball. Again. On March 7. Again. Details of Nevin’s injury and prognosis: Nevin suffers another injury (NC Times) Nady gets call to fill in at first (NC Times). Nevin is [...]
If It Wasn’t for Disappointments, I Wouldn’t Have Any Appointments
Apologies to Mssrs. Flansburgh and Linnell for the title, but I recently picked up a copy of Baseball Prospectus 2004 and although I haven’t had a chance to read a lot of it, I did get through the Padre section. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed. There are some terrific writers on the Prospectus team, so [...]
Spring Training Notes
Greetings from San Luis Obispo, a town along the central coast of California about 6 1/2 hours’ drive northwest of San Diego. Vacation, what a concept! Now that games have started, we can start monitoring the shortstop and #5 starter battles. Way too early to draw any conclusions, but here’s how things look so far: [...]
Padre Preview
Just a quick note to let everyone know my 2004 preview is now up at Primer. Hopefully my prediction on how the club will do is better than last year’s. Stop on by, check it out, leave comments if you have ‘em. That’s it for today. There are still spots open in the Ducksnorts Yahoo [...]
Spring Training Notes
Listening to Outkast’s "Hey Ya" a lot. Trying to deconstruct it. Much of what gets played on the radio is garbage, but this is some pretty serious stuff. The multiple syncopated vocal lines and killer synth bass are cool. But what really gets me is the acoustic guitar chord progression that repeats throughout the entire [...]
Petco Pix
by Geoff Young on Mar 01, 2004 (0) Comments
Spent three hours touring the park yesterday. Initial reactions: The stadium has a very open feel to it. The marketing folks have been saying that Petco takes advantage of what San Diego has to offer and they’re not kidding. Where the Q felt a bit monolithic and claustrophobic (particularly after the lone view of Mission [...]