You’ll have to supply your own snappy intro today… The Case for Mark Loretta’s Hall of Fame Enshrinement (Gaslamp Ball). This is hilarious, although I’m not sure that’s its intent. Willie Mays, at 78, Decides to Tell His Story (New York Times). One of the game’s legends has a biography coming out soon. [h/t Didi] [...]
Author Archives 
Me, Elsewhere: Thanks for All the Runs
My latest at Hardball Times examines pitchers that succeeded despite not pitching very well. Our pal Ismael Valdez, who once inspired some wretched poetry, appears on this list. For grins, here are the five lowest ERA+ of Padres pitchers who qualified for the ERA title and finished with a winning record: Kevin Jarvis, 2001: 12-11, [...]
Positive Negative Man
In my experience, things usually are neither as bad nor as good as they seem to be. When the Padres lost 99 games in 2008, many people abandoned hope. I wasn’t one of them and predicted 75 wins in 2009, which is precisely what we got. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’d predicted 87 [...]
Bud Black and Pitchouts
We’ve noted that Bud Black has done a good job of protecting his pitchers in three years as manager of the Padres. At the end of that little ditty, I alluded to another aspect of Black’s managerial style that caught my eye. I speak of his affinity for the pitchout. Black led National League managers [...]
Friday Links (29 Jan 10)
Don’t waste your links or links will waste you… The nickname game: all nicknames all the time (Hardball Times). I don’t recall ever hearing Mike Cameron referred to as “The Black Cat” in his two years with the Padres. I still have a soft spot for two other ex-Padres, Milton “Jenga” Bradley and Kevin “Mashin’ [...]
Me Elsewhere: Tough-Luck Pitchers
As threatened, postings will occur more frequently this year. If you’re looking for the Jon Garland thread, it’s over here. Meanwhile, my latest is up at Hardball Times. It’s all about pitchers who ended up with losing records despite pitching very well. Dave Roberts’ epic 1971 campaign with the Padres tops the list. Five times [...]
Padres Add Garland to Rotation
The Padres have signed veteran right-hander Jon Garland to round out the 2010 rotation. The deal is $4.7 million this year, plus a mutual option for $6.75 million in 2011. Excluding 2005, when he masqueraded as a front-line pitcher, Garland has been a league-average innings eater throughout his career. He’s filled that role for a [...]
Once Upon My Mind: Jeff Weaver, Johan Santana, Corey Patterson, Milton Bradley, Jayson Werth
Myron at Friar Forecast is looking back at old Padres drafts, and in his first installment, he covers 2000 (Mark Phillips, Xavier Nady, Mewelde Moore…). I thought it might be fun to see what I’d said about those players back in the day; unfortunately, much of that stuff didn’t make it over from the old [...]
Bud Black’s Short Leash
I was flipping through The Bill James Handbook 2010 the other day and got to wondering about Bud Black’s managerial tendencies. Now that Black has three years under his belt, maybe we can start to make meaningful assertions about his style in the dugout. James evaluates managers according to several different factors — adherence to [...]
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