Archive for the ‘Baseball’ Category

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Potential Fire Sale FAQ

Friday, November 14, 2008
by Geoff Young
Nothing has happened yet, but all indications are that life is about to get real interesting around these parts. With that in mind, here's a little something to help you through as we move forward into the unknown... Q: What the heck is going on with the Padres? A: Principle owners John and Becky Moores have filed for divorce. Custody of the team will be a part of the proceedings, although as of early October, "no decision regarding the Padres has been made." Some reports suggest that total payroll could plummet to as low as $40 million in 2009. This may or may not be the result of a desire to make the franchise ...
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Posted in Baseball | 24 Comments »

Parting Thoughts from Matt Vasgersian

Friday, November 7, 2008
by Geoff Young
As you know by now, Matt Vasgersian is leaving the Padres after seven years to join the new MLB Network as its first studio host. Since Matt has been such a part of our lives over those seven years, I thought it might be nice to get some parting words from the man himself, and he agreed. Take it away, Matt... I really hope that the Friar Faithful can survive what looks to be a lean couple of years. The reality of baseball is that all this is cyclical (any Springsteen fans? ... "Everything that dies someday comes back" ... "Atlantic City" from the Nebraska album). To those who enjoyed the last seven years with me -- thanks very much. Ours is an industry where ...
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Posted in Baseball | 8 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Gonzalez Garners Gold Glove

Thursday, November 6, 2008
by Geoff Young
Congrats to Adrian Gonzalez for winning the first Gold Glove Award of his career. Although I'm thrilled for Gonzalez, who according to my eyes is a fantastic first baseman, I have mixed feelings about this choice from a group that essentially throws darts and hopes for the best. Albert Pujols (superior hitter) and Derrek Lee (bigger media market, better name recognition) would have been my guesses based on the voters' usual apparent criteria. Given Gonzalez' relative lack of exposure and the fact that the Padres stunk in '08, I'm more than a little surprised at his selection. What do the defensive metrics say? Nothing kind, I'm afraid: Revized Zone Rating: .697, 10th in NL out of ...
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Posted in Baseball | 2 Comments »

In This Town, the Hitting Coach Wears a Red Shirt

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
by Geoff Young
According to Tom Krasovic at the U-T, Wally Joyner has resigned as hitting coach [h/t Sacrifice Bunt] of the San Diego Padres. In lieu of an explanation, Joyner offers this curious quote: I came to the job hoping to put my experience and ideas to good use in teaching and coaching the Padres' hitters, but it has become obvious to me in the past few months that the organization's approach is different from mine. First off, I suspect the approach is less of a problem right now than the results. Second, although the results haven't been great, they haven't ...
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Posted in Baseball | 16 Comments »

Blog World and New Media Expo 2008 Recap

Monday, September 22, 2008
by Geoff Young
We drove to Vegas on Thursday afternoon. Neko Case, Silverchair, Interpol, and Thievery Corporation accompanied us on our journey. Not literally, of course; our car isn't that big. On Friday we rode the monorail all over the Strip, gawking at the utter freakishness that is Sin City. This place always makes me feel lonely, although it's more bearable now than when I was younger and had difficulty coping with loneliness. That evening we saw Tony Bennett perform at the Hilton, where we were staying. The man is 82 years old, but as a performer he's still at the top of his game. His band swung like nobody's business (drummer Harold Jones played with Count Basie in the late '60s), and Bennett's voice remains remarkably crisp ...
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Posted in Baseball | 5 Comments »

All-Time Padres Team

Friday, September 19, 2008
by Geoff Young
Last week I mentioned an all-time Padres team that I've been assembling. This wasn't just an intellectual exercise. Our friends at Seamheads are running a simulation league this off-season with the best players from each big-league franchise, and they invited me to submit a 40-man roster for the Padres. Most of the choices were fairly obvious (I'd already ranked the best players by position in the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual), but some presented a challenge. Usually it came down to questions of longevity versus effectiveness. For example, Luis Salazar spent a lot more time playing third base in San Diego than Gary Sheffield did, but only one of those guys will help you win baseball games. I tried to stick with players who ...
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Posted in Baseball | 6 Comments »

Bounce or Crash?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
by Geoff Young
This is a guest post by long-time Ducksnorts reader and contributor Tom Waits. Few teams have fallen so far, so fast, as the 2008 Padres. A team that was one out away from the playoffs in September 2007 is now 33 games under .500, with a very real chance of picking first in next year's draft. But is this disaster a systemic failure, the result of poor design and poor execution, or is it more akin to a plane crash caused by wind shear -- a horrific event that nonetheless does not call into question the laws of aerodynamics? Put another, less tortured way: What are the chances that the 2009 Padres are a helluva lot ...
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Posted in Baseball | 7 Comments »

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