Tagg Bozied, Jake Gautreau, and Gerik Baxter

by Geoff Young on Apr 12, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Caught the Storm home opener last night. I’m pressed for time at the moment but I’ll have a full report early next week, after I’ve had a chance to see them again a couple more times. But just to whet your appetite, I’ll say that Tagg Bozied looked better than he did when I saw him in college and if he keeps up what he’s doing now, he won’t be at Elsinore long. Also, Jake Gautreau played a very solid at second base, making the routine plays as well as a couple not-so-routine ones. But he looked very lost at the plate. It’s early so don’t panic. After all, he is still learning a new position in the field.

I leave you now with a new article on a chance encounter with the late Gerik Baxter’s sister. Enjoy…

D’Angelo Jimenez and Ramon Vazquez

by Geoff Young on Apr 11, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

A sweep of the defending world champs is always a nice way to kick off the first homestand of the season. Brett Tomko pitched reasonably well but didn’t get the win in the 2-1 contest. He worked with an 89-93 MPH fastball, 82-85 MPH breaking pitch, and occasional change-up. Tomko mixed his pitches well and worked quickly. His command was a bit shaky at times but for the most part he looked good.

D’Angelo Jimenez is becoming a real pest at the plate. Here are his Wednesday night at-bats against starter Rick Helling:

  • Bottom first, none on, none out: Infield single to second base, seven pitches.
  • Bottom third, none on, one out: Swinging strikout, five pitches.
  • Bottom sixth, none on, none out: Ground out to first base, ten pitches.

Jimenez grounded out on just two pitches later in the game batting from the right side against southpaw Eddie Oropesa. But while the starter was in there, Jimenez saw 22 pitches in three plate appearances. He made Helling work. And, as he has in each game so far this season, he got himself on base.

Ramon Vazquez is starting to grow on me. I’ve been skeptical of him since the Pads acquired him but every time I see him play, he does something to impress me. In the field, Vazquez has good hands and quick reactions (apparently he played volleyball professionally back in Puerto Rico for a few years). And at the plate, he has a good working knowledge of the strike zone and can drive the ball into the gaps. He’s a gritty, intelligent ballplayer. Fun to watch.

I don’t understand why some people dislike Rick Sutcliffe so much as an announcer. He knows a lot about the game, and he’s entertaining. My favorite line of his tonight was, in describing a Padre staff member, "His idea of a balanced meal is eating a hamburger using two hands." No, not the most clever line I’ve ever heard, but funny nonetheless. And it’s fascinating (to me, anyway) to hear him talk about things like pitch selection and mechanics.

Down at Mobile, Dennis Tankersley is back to his old tricks. Eight punchouts in five innings. Vince Faison is making some noise. I’d questioned the decision to start him at Double-A, but his strong postseason performance of last September appears to have carried over to 2002. He had a double and a homer in five at-bats last night, and he’s now hitting a cool .240/.321/.520. It’s still awfully early, but if he’s still doing this a month or so from now, things could get interesting.

Speaking of interesting, Corey Patterson now has drawn six bases on balls this year in just 25 at-bats. It took him 131 at-bats to walk that many times in 2001.

Home opener at Elsinore tonight. I’ll be there, in my customary spot behind home plate. I hope to get some good pictures. Full report tomorrow.

Thoughts on the Padres’ 2002 Home Opener

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Eleven runs in the first six games, 13 in the last two. The bats are starting to wake up.

Monday’s opener was a blast. About 30 of us from work sat way out in left field, view level, seven rows from the back of the stadium. On Opening Day, if I’m in the park, I’m happy.

Thoughts from the game:

  • Before the game, four Navy jets fly over the stadium. Man, that was loud. I can’t get that kind of sound out of my Marshall 4 x 12, and it goes to eleven.
  • A brief tribute to Mike Darr is held, with a moment of silence and a video montage of clips of Darr playing. Some of the video shows him at Rancho Cucamonga, where I first saw him.
  • Bottom of the first, with one runner on, Phil Nevin comes to bat. Brian Anderson falls behind in the count, 3-and-1. I tell my buddy Jeff that if Nevin gets a strike he’ll hit it out to right center. I’m wrong; he hits ball four out down the right field line, 2-0 Pads.
  • Sean Burroughs collects his first big-league hit at home. Ground ball to deep second. He later adds another hit, slapping a single into Tony Gwynn’s patented 5.5 hole.
  • Bass guitar virtuoso Stu Hamm plays "America the Beautiful" in the middle of the sixth. We all sing "God Bless America" in the middle of the seventh. I’m proud to be an American but I long for the days of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
  • The Diamondbacks play brutal defense, kicking the ball around and throwing it away repeatedly. They are charged with five errors (this is changed to four after the game), which may be a tad generous. An errant throw home by Mark Grace on a play already involving a passed ball and two miscues isn’t scored an error. Presumably the thought is that Bubba Trammell would have beaten the throw anyway.
  • D’Angelo Jimenez has some pop from the left side of the plate. He knocks his first homer of the year off Mike Morgan.
  • Brian Lawrence is mixing his pitches well and painting the corners. He throws a four-hit, complete-game shutout. Nothing is hit with much authority.

Last night’s game I caught on television. Most of what I saw you can read about in the papers or elsewhere but I just wanted to comment on the Padres’ defense. Frankly, it stunk last season. But so far this year I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Some guys, like Kotsay and Ramon Vazquez, I figured would be solid. But others, like Nevin and Ryan Klesko, have been better than I’d expected. Nevin is showing good instincts at first, while Klesko is reading the ball well in right and actually has made a couple of very nice plays the past few nights. It’s early yet but I’m encouraged by what I’m seeing. I’m sure the pitchers are, too…

Notes from Jake Peavy’s Start against West Tenn

by Geoff Young on Apr 07, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Caught the Internet feed of the Mobile/West Tenn game last night while doing taxes. Here are my notes from the game:

Jake Peavy is dealing. According to radio announcer Tom Nichols, his fastball has been clocked at 98 tonight.

5:55 PM Peavy picks up his first pro hit, lining an RBI double to left in the top of the third.

6:03 PM Peavy allows a one-out solo homer to Dennis Abreu in the bottom half of the inning.

6:04 PM Peavy fans Nic Jackson following the homer. Third strikeout of the night. He also catches the next batter looking to end the inning.

6:08 PM Donaldo Mendez drops a bunt single down the third base line. He’s come to bat three times so far. Walk, hit batsmen, bunt single. Mendez is doing the right things to work his way back up to the Show.

6:09 PM Mendez caught stealing. Oh well.

6:15 PM Peavy serves up a homer to left by Ryan Gripp to start the fourth.

6:17 PM Peavy hits Jorge Piedra. Nichols is talking about Dennis Tankersley’s performance last night. Worked out of a bases-loaded no outs jam in the fifth, retiring the 2-3-4 hitters in order to escape unscathed. In between fly outs, Tank fanned Jackson on a full-count changeup for the second out. Pitching coach Darren Balsley reportedly is pleased with Tankersley’s outing.

6:23 PM Peavy strikes out pitcher David Hooten after falling behind, 2-0, to end the fourth.

6:38 PM Vince Faison makes a sliding grab of a sinking line drive off the bat of Jackson and fires to first to complete a double play that ends the fifth inning.

6:41 PM Bobby Scales pinch hits for Peavy in the top of the sixth, flies out to left. Peavy’s line for the night: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR.

6:46 PM Bernie Castro is thrown out stealing to end the inning. He’s already successfully swiped two bases.

6:52 PM Nichols notes that the Chicago Sun-Times is sending its lead baseball reporter to cover Mark Prior’s pro debut tomorrow afternoon.

7:08 PM Southpaw Matt Hampton finishes his second scoreless inning. Hampton is an Indy League find, most recently having played at Chillicothe, Brian Tollberg’s former team. Hampton is winning admirers within the organization.

7:10 PM Federal form is printed out. I’m actually a bit surprised our printer still works. It tends to sit idle for months at a time.

7:14 PM Faison draws a walk. Against a left-hander.

7:15 PM Faison picked off first.

7:26 PM Cliff Bartosh allows a run in the eighth, to trim the lead to 4-3. He escapes without further damage.

7:31 PM Castro strikes out but reaches first when the catcher can’t find the ball at his feet.

7:32 PM Double play to end the ninth. On comes J.J. Trujillo.

7:40 PM BayBears botch a double play that should end the game. Runner on first, two outs.

7:43 PM Trujillo fans shortstop Mickey Lopez to end the game.

7:47 PM Switch over to the Portland/Salt Lake game. Rodney Myers is pitching for the Beavers against Robb Quinlan. Bottom of the eighth, Portland trails 4-1. Time to start work on the State form.

7:54 PM USD alum Bart Miadich comes on to work the ninth. First batter he’ll face is Pete Incaviglia.

7:56 PM After running the count full, Miadich fans Inky for the first out.

7:58 PM Two-out single by Julius Matos to keep the game alive for Portland.

8:00 PM Rich Gomez fans on three pitches. Game over.

Padres Farm Report (6 Apr 2002)

by Geoff Young on Apr 06, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Repeat after me: Do not pitch to Barry Bonds with the game on the line. Oh well, at least Brett Tomko looked good in his Padre debut.

On to the minor-league highlights…

Triple-A Portland

Catcher Adan Amezcua fell a triple short of the cycle in four at-bats in a 10-4 victory at Salt Lake. Leadoff hitter Cesar Crespo, playing second base, doubled and drew four walks. Veteran Pete Incaviglia batted cleanup, going one for five as the Beaver’s DH. Outfielder Jeremy Owens, having combined for 188 strikeouts between Lake Elsinore and Mobile last year, fanned three times in five at-bats yesterday. USD alum Bart Miadich worked a scoreless ninth for Salt Lake, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out three.

Double-A Mobile

The BayBears won their first game of the season, behind five solid if unspectacular innings from Dennis Tankersley. Tank yielded five hits and one walk against two punchouts. Southpaw Cliff Bartosh worked two scoreless innings in relief to pick up the victory, and J.J. Trujillo nailed down his first save. Leadoff hitter Bernie Castro went one for three, with two walks and two steals. Right fielder Ben Johnson went hitless in five at-bats, while left fielder Vince Faison doubled in five trips to the plate. Darren Blakely, acquired in the Sterling Hitchcock deal, played center and batted third, doubling in four at-bats.

High-A Lake Elsinore

The Storm lost their second straight at Stockton. Again it was a lefty starter having trouble finding the plate, this time Mark Phillips. He lasted just four innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits and six walks. Phillips fanned four. Shortstop Jason Bartlett had a hit and a walk in four plate appearances. Xavier Nady went hitless in four at-bats. Tagg Bozied knocked his first homer as a pro, accounting for the Storm’s only run. Jake Gautreau singled in four trips to the plate.

Low-A Ft. Wayne

Josh Barfield led the way with three hits in as many at-bats, as the Wizards rolled past Dayton, 6-5, in a six-inning game. Lefty Nobuaki Yoshida started the contest but lasted only three innings, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out two.

Padres Farm Report (5 Apr 2002)

by Geoff Young on Apr 05, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Haven’t been able to get my hands on most of the box scores from yesterday’s minor-league games but here are a few highlights from the Padres’ affiliates.

Triple-A Portland

Right-hander Jason Middlebrook allowed two runs and three hits over five innings in a 5-1 loss at Salt Lake (Angels). Top Anaheim prospect John Lackey struck out seven in six innings, allowing the only run and earning the victory. Beavers’ outfielder Kory DeHaan collected three hits in four at-bats. Supposedly the games are broadcast live at http://www.oregonlive.com/pbeavers/ but I didn’t have much luck finding it. Maybe you’ll do better.

Double-A Mobile

Right-hander Ben Howard took the loss in a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Cubs). Howard worked five innings, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned). He struck out nine and walked just two. Right-hander Dennis Tankersley gets the nod tonight, with Jake Peavy taking the hill Saturday night, and southpaw Eric Cyr matching up against San Diegan Mark Prior in his pro debut Sunday afternoon. Listen to the games live over the Internet at http://www.sportsjuice.com/providers/mbaybears/

High-A Lake Elsinore

Hey, whaddya know, a box score. The Storm lost their first game of the year, 1-0, to the Stockton Ports (Reds). Lake Elsinore had five of the eight hits in the game but starter Oliver Perez had trouble finding the strike zone, walking six in just 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and allowed the game’s only run on two hits. Marcus Nettles, leading off and playing center, went one for three with a walk; Xavier Nady, batting third, tripled in four at-bats; cleanup hitter Tagg Bozied, playing first base, went one for three with a walk; second baseman Jake Gautreau batted fifth and went hitless in four trips to the plate. Live broadcasts soon will be available at http://www.stormbaseball.com/broadcast.htm

Low-A Ft. Wayne

And, to make it a clean sweep, the Wizards also lost their opener, 4-1, to the Dayton Dragons (Reds). Right-hander Justin Germano threw five scoreless innings, allowing only three hits. Lefty Nobuaki Yoshida starts tonight. Webcasts are available at http://www.wizardsbaseball.com/

Other News

Finally, at my geekiest, I’ve built a page that keeps track of all my Scoresheet players. If you’re interested, have a look. Names are linked to ESPN, leagues are linked to the associated league page at Scoresheet’s site. If you’d like to use this as a template for your own page, feel free. Or, if you’d simply prefer to take amusement in my geekiness, hey, that’s cool, too. Whatever works for you…

Wiki Gonzalez Injured, and Other Notes

by Geoff Young on Apr 04, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

More bullet points today.

  • Barry Bonds, four homers in two games? Yeah, okay. But Corey Patterson, three walks in two games. Interesting.
  • Wiki Gonzalez out 6-8 weeks with a busted hand. Hello Javier Cardona. No official word yet, but he’ll be up tomorrow.
  • Deivi Cruz and Ramon Vazquez impressed me last night. Cruz had a great at-bat against Mike Myers to lead off the ninth. After falling behind 0-and-2, he battled back to work the count full and then slapped a single to center to get the game-winning rally started. As for Vazquez, he made a nice diving stop in the field at third base and also executed a perfect sacrifice bunt against Myers, no easy feat for a left-handed batter. Fellow newcomers Ron Gant and Alan Embree also impressed. Gant homered and made a terrific throw to home to nail Quinton McCracken in the middle innings, while Embree fanned Luis Gonzalez to end the seventh and preserve what was then a 5-4 Padres lead.
  • Trevor Hoffman struggled with his command in an uncharacteristic 34-pitch outing to close the game. The final out came with the bases loaded, when Steve Finley fouled out to catcher Tom Lampkin on a 3-and-1 pitch. Scary stuff.
  • Padres acquired lefty reliever Juan Moreno from the Rangers today for minor-league infielder Jason Moore. No disrespect to Moore, but this is a steal. Moreno has a live arm and opponents hit just .153/.289/.305 against him last year, his first in the bigs. With Jose Nunez headed to the DL, Moreno gives Bruce Bochy a second option from the left side behind Embree. At age 27 and now nearly two years removed from rotator cuff surgery, Moreno has some upside, too. Nice little pickup that won’t get noticed much by the media.
  • Some interesting assignments for Padres minor leaguers. Vince Faison starts at Double-A Mobile. If his performance in the Cal League playoffs was legit, then this might turn out okay, but personally I wouldn’t mind seeing him get some more work at Lake Elsinore. Speaking of the Storm, this season’s club could be even better than the 2001 version, which was the Minor League Team of the Year. Xavier Nady returns to DH, as do lefties Oliver Perez and Mark Phillips. Joining them will be Jason Bartlett, Tagg Bozied, and Jake Gautreau. No sign of Greg Sain anywhere.
  • Amusing but true: Rob Deer is the hitting coach for the Storm this year. Actually, if there’s one thing Deer did well as a hitter–aside from sending the ball very far away when he actually made contact–it was drawing walks, which is something the Padres are emphasizing up and down the organization.

Garage Doors and Thoughts on the Start of the Season

by Geoff Young on Apr 03, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Busy as all heck around here lately. Just had a new garage door installed today. Managed to sell an old television in the process. Go figure.

A few quick, quasi-random thoughts on the season so far:

  • Pedro, Rocket, Kevin Brown. Those were some seriously ugly pitching lines.
  • Hank Blalock looked real good in his first big-league at-bat against Mark Mulder, lining an RBI single to center.
  • Sean Burroughs knocked a couple of hits off Curt Schilling in his first big-league game. Nice compact stroke. It was like watching Wally Joyner again.
  • Kevin Jarvis pitched very well in the opener. Kevin Towers and I must be the only guys on the planet who think he’s capable of an ERA in the 3.80-4.20 range this year. I’m pulling for him to make some folks eat crow after the season. We’ll see…
  • How sweet was it to see the Expos come from behind to beat their former owner’s team?
  • Anybody else notice that Corey Patterson drew two walks in his first game of the season?

That’s all for now…

Padres Prospects Peak Projections

by Geoff Young on Mar 30, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Can you believe it? Tomorrow is Opening Day. I’m pumped. Went out to Costco tonight and bought myself a 5-pound bag of peanuts. Bring it on, fellas.

I’ve mentioned Chris Reed’s work over at ProtospectWatch.com before, and now he’s at it again. He and Mark Jerkatis have developed a tool for projecting the future performance of current minor leaguers. This isn’t a straight translation like MLEs, but rather a look forward at how a prospect might do at his peak based on his current minor-league performance. Intriguing, no?

Chris has been kind enough to allow me to reprint his "Peak Projections" for some Padre prospects. For an explanation of the system and a more complete listing of projections, check out his site.

Meantime, take a look at these:

pitchers

                    W  L  ERA DIPS  IP   H HR  BB  SO
Bynum, Mike        12 12 5.03 5.05 216 240 34  90 141
Cyr, Eric          15  9 3.45 3.71 216 200 16  78 171
Fikac, Jeremy       5  3 2.99 3.93  72  58  7  24  54
Herndon, Junior    11 13 5.66 5.72 216 268 35  95  77
Howard, Ben        12 12 5.15 5.17 216 221 26 148 167
Lawrence, Brian    15  9 3.60 3.72 216 220 18  54 147
Middlebrook, Jason 13 11 4.63 5.17 216 222 35  81 127
Peavy, Jake        15  9 3.66 3.75 216 201 22  76 196
Perez, Oliver      12 12 4.91 5.09 216 224 35  99 160
Tankersley, Dennis 15  9 3.44 3.88 216 189 24  69 189

hitters

                 AVG  OBA  SLG  OPS  RC
Burroughs, Sean .339 .405 .504 .910 110
Nady, Xavier    .301 .365 .530 .895 107
Johnson, Ben    .263 .336 .452 .788  82
Crespo, Cesar   .252 .351 .416 .767  82
Donovan, Todd   .287 .352 .352 .705  67
Castro, Bernie  .267 .352 .331 .683  63
Faison, Vince   .231 .292 .352 .644  54

I don’t know anything about Chris’ methodology, but most of these "feel" more-or-less right to me. Among pitchers, the projection for Cyr seems a bit optimistic, while those for Howard and Perez seem low. But I understand, given the available data, why this is so. Cyr is coming off a monster season and Howard has had serious control problems throughout his career. Not sure why Perez’ numbers are so poor; perhaps lack of experience?

Among hitters, I really can’t take exception to anything here, although I suspect Burroughs’ slugging percentage will be higher than .504 at some point during his career. There’s nothing in the current numbers to suggest a power surge. That’s just a hunch on my part, based on what I’ve heard and seen of Burroughs. Still, the projection Chris gives is basically John Olerud, which I’ll take at third base any day of the week.

Fascinating stuff. It will be interesting to look back at this 10-15 years from now to see how close this was to reality. Thanks again to Chris for allowing me to post these here. I encourage you to take a look at his site; there’s lots of fun and useful stuff over there. It’s well worth the trip…

Padres, Tigers Swap Spare Parts

by Geoff Young on Mar 26, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Slowly recovering from Vegas. My draft wasn’t terribly strong but neither was it a disaster. Heckuva lot of fun, though. And I didn’t lose too much money while I was there.

So naturally the Padres wait till I’m out of town to make some moves. In case you missed it, infielder Damian Jackson and catcher Matt Walbeck were shipped to Detroit for catcher Javier Cardona and outfielder Alexis Gomez. Basically this upgrades the Padres’ organizational depth behind the plate and in the outfield. Cardona is a better option than Walbeck should someone need to step in if Wiki’s elbow keeps bothering him. The departure of Jackson also means that both Trenidad Hubbard and Mark Sweeney are all but assured of roster spots with the big club.

Kevin Towers offered some interesting thoughts on his young pitchers. Apparently Jason Middlebrook and Matt DeWitt (!) are first in line for a promotion early in the season. But later in the season, the Pads might dip down to Double-A, where top prospects Jake Peavy, Dennis Tankersley, Ben Howard, and Eric Cyr will be pitching. And when asked which of that group would be first in line, Towers answered Peavy. This according to the U-T.