Getting ready for the holidays, so this will be brief: Mailbag: Do Padres need a big bat? (Padres.com). Lyle Spencer frets about the Padres defense. One statement in particular fascinates me: But pitching and defense go hand in hand. And when the defense falters, it tends to wear on pitchers emotionally, causing erosion in their [...]

Happy Friday, folks! Have some links: I am honored to participate — along with Tom Goyne of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff and Joe Hamrahi of Baseball Digest Daily — in this week’s Friday Five over at D.A. Humber’s Baseball Central. Big thanks to D.A. for the invite and for asking such thought-provoking questions. Black likes [...]

While we’re all waiting for “something to happen” (no I’m not talking about those ridiculous Manny Ramirez rumors), here are a few links to keep you occupied, amused, and otherwise out of trouble: Padres, Graffanino talking (San Diego Union-Tribune). Tom Krasovic reports that the Pads are looking at Tony Graffanino as a possible successor to [...]

Hi, folks! I’m back from vacation and still prepping the announcement I promised. Meantime, I’ve been going through all the comments and emails (thanks for keeping the party alive while I was gone — great discussion, as always!), and here are a few thoughts I have on some of the hotter items: Juan Pierre to [...]

Geez, this is supposed to be the off-season. Busy, busy, busy… Two articles in today’s U-T on Bud Black, formally introduced Thursday night as the Padres’ new manager: The Buddy system and Compromise or consensus, it’s Bud’s job. Interesting look at Black, as well as the process that led to his hiring. Padres’ new manager [...]

As part of my research for the upcoming Ducksnorts book, I’m going through all posts from the end of 2005 to present. Here’s a nugget I found from last November, when the Dodgers fired Paul DePodesta as GM: Oh well, their loss. As a Padres fan, I’m happy enough he’s out of the division. (My [...]