Cheeseburger in Purgatory

by Geoff Young on Dec 12, 2008 (31) Comments

Jake Peavy isn’t going to the Cubs… for now. And just when I was starting to like the names being mentioned. Did you notice how the rumored packages went from being awful, to decent, to pretty good? At the very least, Kevin Towers deserves credit for not jumping on any old deal, like some folks seemed to assume he would. (Of course, it’s his job to refrain from making lousy trades, so how much credit he deserves is open to debate.)

Still, we’re left with the question: Now what? Well, holding onto Peavy remains an option. Actually, given his lack of potential suitors and questionable desire to accept a trade, it remains a pretty likely option.

The downside is that if the Padres really trim their 2009 payroll to $40 million, then 27.5% of that is tied up in one player. For a little perspective, consider that the Yankees had a payroll last year of roughly $209 million. If they were to pay one guy as much as the Padres will pay Peavy this year proportional to total outlay, the pricetag would be $57.4 million. The Yankees’ most expensive player, Alex Rodriguez, made $27 million in 2008.

Yes, you read that right. If the Padres are at $40 million next year, Peavy at his current price will cost double, proportional to overall payroll, what A-Rod cost the Yankees last year. Is Peavy worth more than twice as much as the highest paid player in baseball? To a team that is coming off a 99-loss season?

More importantly, will the Padres be able to compete with Peavy still on the roster? Ironically, he may actually hurt their chances because the team is now limited in the other moves it can make to shore up holes (and you may have noticed there are a few). When soon-to-be-42-year-old Omar Vizquel is mentioned as a possible replacement for Khalil Greene at shortstop and a 21-year-old who played in Low-A last year is plucked in the Rule V draft (comparisons to Rafael Furcal are fun; comparisons to Donaldo Mendez, not so much), it’s hardly cause for celebration.

Meanwhile, the ownership situation continues to be murkier than Mission Bay after a heavy rain. I keep telling myself that I should be upset by all of this, but instead I just find it fascinating. Like, how much worse can the situation get? And the answer is none. None more worse.

(Incidentally, the comments in that last linked article are hilarious. I considered joining the discussion but balked at the clause in the Terms and Conditions that requires users to “acknowledge that I am a complete moron and agree to clutter this space with words and thoughts that only other morons will understand and appreciate.” I just couldn’t abide by that. Fortunately they don’t seem to need my help.)

So where does this leave us? Pretty much the same place we were before the Winter Meetings — too much money tied up into one (very talented) player who doesn’t want to be traded and whom nobody is anxious to acquire, too many holes elsewhere that will be difficult to fill without funds, and an ownership divided.

Really, with this kind of excitement, who even needs a season?

Links for 9 Dec 08

by Geoff Young on Dec 09, 2008 (30) Comments

I’m a little behind in my links, so some of these might be oldish. Hey, better late than never…

Khalil Greene Trade Reaction

From the Ducksnorts Archives

  • Why the Rumored Nevin for Griffey Deal Made No Sense

    This was in December 2002. Just for the record, here’s how Griffey and another outfielder the Padres actually acquired have fared from 2003 to 2008:

    Brian Giles vs Ken Griffey Jr., 2003 – 2008
      PA BA OBP SLG OPS+ $M
    Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.
    Brian Giles 3915 .287 .393 .456 128 53.5
    Ken Griffey Jr. 2774 .267 .355 .503 119 64.7

    Yeah, I know Giles didn’t come to San Diego till the end of ’03 (and neither did they pay most of his salary that year), but you get the idea. Be sure to thank Phil Nevin for exercising his veto power on that one.

New/Updated Blogs in the Blogroll

Go say hi to these folks:

  • TinCaps Blog. The Fort Wayne Wizards are now the Fort Wayne TinCaps, and Lamond Pope has them covered.
  • Raise the Jolly Roger!. It’s all about the Pirates. Aargh!
  • BaseballGB. This site describes itself as a “hub for the best British baseball writing.” I know we’ve got readers here from all over the world, and it’s always great to see folks catch baseball fever regardless of geographic location. Plus, they have really good beer over there; helps make up for the food, I suppose. ;-)

That’s the fact, Jack. More links are available at the Ducksnorts delicious page, which I update as often as practical.

Writing the Book (8 Dec 08)

by Geoff Young on Dec 08, 2008 (6) Comments

I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving. I’m finally settling back into my routine and almost caught up on emails. If I still owe you a response, this is probably the week it happens.

I got a ton of work done in Hawai’i, which is good because I’ve been stressing about the whole book thing. Having a bunch of unstructured time without Internet access allowed me to crank out the pages. Of course, now I have to type them all up, but that’s another story…

Ted Simmons and the Hall of Fame

Before we talk about the book, I wanted to mention an article of mine that ran at Hardball Times while I was gone. It asked whether new Padres bench coach Ted Simmons belongs in the Hall of Fame. Hopefully I’ve done Simmons justice, although a few readers think I haven’t come down strongly enough in his favor.

They may be right.

One of the unstated assumptions in my analysis is that the Hall of Fame has been fair in its judgment of catchers. However, given that only 10 of them are in Cooperstown (for their catching exploits, anyway), this might not be a valid assumption.

My intent was to determine how well Simmons measured up against his HOF counterparts, but in so doing, I missed an important question: Is the current standard for catchers reasonable? I haven’t studied this at all, but my guess would be that it is not.

On the bright side, the Veterans Committee can have their say. On the not-so-bright side, it won’t happen this year because they’ll be too busy giving Maury Wills consideration.

Speaking of Cooperstown…

I’m looking at who all will be eligible for consideration in coming years. Some of the names (Dave Burba? Matt Lawton?) are laughable, but that’s how the system works. Here are the ex-Padres:

  • 2009: Ron Gant, Rickey Henderson, Jesse Orosco, Greg Vaughn
  • 2010: Roberto Alomar, Andy Ashby, Ray Lankford, Fred McGriff
  • 2011: Kevin Brown, Paul Quantrill, Steve Reed, Benito Santiago, Ismael Valdez
  • 2012: Pedro Astacio, Vinny Castilla, Dustin Hermanson, Phil Nevin, Joe Randa, Eric Young
  • 2013: Sandy Alomar Jr., Jeff Cirillo, Steve Finley, Ryan Klesko, Mike Piazza, Reggie Sanders, Todd Walker, David Wells, Rondell White, Woody Williams
  • 2014: Greg Maddux (he’s retiring in case you missed it)

Out of those guys, I’m liking Quantrill, Reed, and Randa…

I slay me. Anyway, Rickey, Piazza, and Maddux are no-brainers. Roberto Alomar and McGriff deserve serious consideration, too, but I doubt they’ll get elected when their times come. Alomar hung around a little longer than he should have (plus there’s the spitting incident that, right or wrong, will remain in folks’ minds), and McGriff made the mistake of playing most of his career in an era where 35 homers meant you hit more than anyone else.

Uh, the Book?

Right. Got distracted there. So here’s what I worked on while I was off yonder:

  • Padres Farm Report — I made some good headway on this chapter. I’ve drafted player commentaries for the hitters and assembled a rough top 30 prospects list that probably will be tweaked several times in the coming weeks.
  • Decade of Drafts — I’ve gotten through 2003 so far. My favorite pick is 2000 fourth rounder Mewelde Moore, who hit .210/.272/.284 in parts of three seasons at Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League before turning his attention to football. I’d say that worked out well for Moore.
  • Three-Headed Beast — This is an ambitious piece that examines the relationship between fans, management, and the media. I wrote most of the 8000+ words in the San Diego and Honolulu airports. It reads like a lunatic manifesto at the moment, so I’m trying to tighten things up a bit and make the connections clearer. With luck I can turn this into something coherent and maybe offend a few people in the process. ;-)

I’ve also decided to include, in addition to the glossary and index, an annotated bibliography. I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction books lately and found such resources to be both interesting and useful.

This Week

I’ll just keep banging away at the keyboard and hope stupid stuff doesn’t come out — you know, the usual. Also, I need to finish my chapter for The Hardball Times Season Preview 2009. I’m waiting to see if anything materializes at the Winter Meetings before submitting it.

Speaking of which, if something does materialize, I’ll cover it here as time permits. If nothing much happens, expect a link dump or two… again, as time permits.

Yo, ding dong, man; ding dong, ding dong, yo…

Cardinals Get a Shortstop, Padres Save Money

by Geoff Young on Dec 05, 2008 (24) Comments

The Padres have traded shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals for right-handed reliever Mark Worrell and a player to be named later. Worrell, no relation to ex-Padre Tim Worrell, has has put up some nice numbers in the minor leagues. Then again, so has Carlos Guevara, and nobody ever gave up the best shortstop in franchise history (damning with faint praise, I know) to get a piece of that action.

Paul DePodesta talks about Worrell’s repertoire (sounds a little like Cla Meredith) and acknowledges that clearing Greene’s $6.5 million salary for 2009 was a factor in the deal. Quoth DePo:

This move provides us some flexibility in our other dealings, which could be very helpful going forward through this winter and provides us some more definition as we approach next week’s Winter Meetings.

Tom Krasovic suggests that the Greene trade “could improve the club’s chances of retaining ace pitcher Jake Peavy or gaining leverage in trade talks involving Peavy.” If Krasovic is correct and this in fact helps the Padres keep Peavy, then that’s a sacrifice you make every time.

Still, if you’re going to dump salary, it would be nice to move players with actual value. Greene is coming off a career-worst season (.213/.260/.339) that ended prematurely thanks to a self-inflicted fracture of his left hand. In retrospect, getting rid of Greene last winter would have been the better play. However, we didn’t know — and had no way of knowing — three things at the time:

  1. Greene would stink in 2008 and injure himself in a fit of rage (really, you saw that coming?)
  2. The Padres would stink in 2008
  3. John and Becky Moores would file for divorce after 40+ years of marriage and throw the ownership situation into complete and utter chaos

In a perfect world none of these things happens and the Padres don’t need (or feel the need — makes no difference in the end) to give away Greene for a home version of the game and some car wax. I wish the Padres could find another way to recoup the $6.5 million owed Greene this year — getting the Cardinals to refund their money on the defective product they shipped to San Diego last December immediately leaps to mind.

On a personal note, I hate to see Greene leave. I’ve enjoyed watching him play over the years — the three diving stops in one inning while wearing the throwback uni, the dramatic homer off Chad Cordero, the crazy piroutte play to rob Ryan Theriot of a base hit — and I always appreciated his presence on the team. I’m not sure I’d want to see every ballplayer carry himself the way Greene does, but a few more wouldn’t hurt.

I also think that if healthy, Greene has a chance to do some serious damage in St. Louis. Before last year, when he played poorly everywhere, he’d been a beast (.280/.334/.511) away from Petco Park. Assuming he isn’t one of those freaks whose career is essentially over at age 28, I’m liking Greene’s chances to rebound in a big way.

Anyway, he’s gone now. In his place we’ve got Luis “I Will Lay Down a Sacrifice Bunt in the First Inning” Rodriguez at shortstop, with Sean “Less of a Hitter in the Minors Than Luis Rodriguez” Kazmar waiting in the wings. Pretty exciting, eh?

We’ve got a 25-year-old right-handed reliever with 5 2/3 innings of big-league experience under his belt who wasn’t happy in his previous organization. Because if there’s anything a 99-loss team needs to do, it’s shore up (or in this case, maybe shore up) the bullpen. (And to be clear, the Padres had a terrible bullpen last year, but seriously… without much of a rotation, it hardly makes a difference.)

Oh, and of course, a Peavy deal has been “imminent” for months now. So there’s that, too.

Did I miss anything? No? Very well, then; that’s enough of my boundless optimism for now. Happy Friday. Watch out for… stuff.

Stupid Padre Tricks: Two Games or Fewer Pitched (2000-2008)

by Geoff Young on Dec 03, 2008 (10) Comments

On Monday, we ran through the list of players who pitched two games or fewer for the Padres from 1969 to 1999. Today we check out the rest of the lot. Interestingly, only seven guys met our criteria in the club’s first 31 years of existence, while nine have done so in the last nine. Let’s meet them:

D’Angelo Jimenez, 2002

The Padres acquired Jimenez on June 23, 2001, in a trade for right-hander Jay Witasick. Once a top prospect in the Yankees organization, Jimenez broke his neck in a January 2000 car accident. After missing an entire season while recovering from the injury, he became the Padres’ starting shortstop in 2001, with mixed results. The following year, Jimenez shifted to second base to make room for Deivi Cruz. And on June 30, he worked a perfect inning and a third against the Royals in Kansas City. Two weeks later, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Humberto Quintero and Alex Fernandez. After bouncing around the big leagues for several more years, Jimenez spent all of 2008 at Triple-A Memphis in the Cardinals organization, where he hit .244/.332/.353 but did not pitch at all.

Jason Pearson, 2002

Pearson, a left-hander out of Illinois State University, made two appearances for the Padres. On June 4 in San Francisco, he retired J.T. Snow and David Bell in the ninth on a total of five pitches. Then, on June 7 in Tampa Bay, Pearson gave up a double to Steve Cox to start the eighth before coming back to strike out Ben Grieve, Aubrey Huff, and John Flaherty in order. On June 10, the Giants claimed Pearson off waivers, but he never pitched for them. He did make two appearances for the Cardinals in 2003 before returning to the minors for good. Pearson was last seen pitching for the Bowie Baysox in 2006, where he posted solid numbers before disappearing into the ether.

Roger Deago, 2003

Deago, a diminutive southpaw from Panama, made two starts for the Padres. In the first, on May 10 at Shea Stadium, he worked six strong innings, but saw his team lose when Jaret Wright served up a two-run walkoff homer to Mike Piazza. On May 15, at home against the Braves, Deago and the rest of the pitching staff (except for one guy, but we’ll get to that in a minute) got pounded in a 15-6 loss. Deago hasn’t resurfaced in the big leagues. He spent 2008 at Double-A Montgomery in the Rays organization, where he went 2-5 with 4 saves and a 2.95 ERA.

Wiki Gonzalez, 2003

The Padres selected Gonzalez in the minor-league portion of the 1996 Rule V draft. The nominal starting catcher in 2000, Gonzalez enjoyed moderate success the following season before reminding everyone that if the Pirates can’t find room for you in Double-A, you’re probably just not very good. On May 15, 2003, he followed Deago, Wright, and 87-year-old Jesse Orosco into battle and was the only Padres hurler that escaped unscathed against the Braves that afternoon. Gonzalez retired Marcus Giles, Robert Fick, and Andruw Jones, issuing only a two-out walk to Chipper Jones. Presumably Atlanta’s hitters were exhausted by the time Gonzalez took the mound.

Randy Keisler, 2003

Keisler signed with the Padres as a free agent in February 2003. Before that, he pitched briefly for the Yankees, who selected him in the second round of the 1998 draft (the fourth straight year he’d been drafted, incidentally). Keisler started a game at Milwaukee on May 19, and another at Arizona on May 25. The first two batters he faced while donning a Padres uniform were Eric Young and Scott Podsednik. Young drew a leadoff walk and Podsednik — who once went an entire 568 plate-appearance season without hitting a home run — took Keisler deep. The southpaw later served up back-to-back jacks to Geoff Jenkins and Brady Clark in the third. Keisler’s second start didn’t go much better. He gave up three runs in the first and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fourth. Charles Nagy replaced him and proceeded to pitch even worse before handing the ball over to Wright and Orosco. (Man, that was a dreadful staff in ’03.) The Padres released Keisler on June 5. He’s made brief stops in Cincinnati, Oakland, and St. Louis since then, compiling a 4-4 record and 6.63 ERA (66 ERA+) in 55 big-league games. Keisler spent 2008 at Triple-A in the Orioles and Cubs organizations.

Sean Burroughs, 2005

I’m done with Burroughs. The game took place at Coors Field on September 20 if you’re interested.

Randy Williams, 2005

Acquired in a November 2004 trade with Seattle, Williams made two appearances against the Cardinals. In the first, on May 6, he allowed one run in one inning. In the second, on May 8, Williams took one for the team, giving up five runs in three and a third innings. This was Tim Redding’s final start for the Padres — you know, the one where 16 men came to bat for St. Louis in the first inning and the Cards led, 13-0, after two. The Rockies claimed Williams off waivers on May 11, and he got into 30 games for them. Since then he has been kicking around the minors. In 2008, Williams went 0-2 with a 4.33 ERA in 27 innings at Triple-A Albuquerque in the Marlins organization.

Aaron Rakers, 2007

Rakers, a right-hander out of Southern Illinois University (Champ Summers), was selected by the Orioles in the 23rd round of the 1999 draft. After a couple cups of coffee with the big club, he came to San Diego as a free agent in February 2007. His lone appearance for the Padres came on April 19, at home against the Diamondbacks. Rakers worked a scoreless ninth to put the finishing touches on an 11-6 victory, retiring Orlando Hudson, Scott Hairston, and Carlos Quentin in the process. Rakers pitched for York of the independent Atlantic League in 2008, going 11-8 with a 4.52 ERA.

Jared Wells, 2008

The Padres picked Wells in the 31st round of the 2002 draft. After stalling out as a starting pitcher, he shifted to the bullpen at Triple-A Portland midway through the 2007 season. Wells made two appearances for the Padres, in back-to-back games at home against the Reds. On May 24, in his big-league debut, he worked a scoreless seventh. The following day he coughed up two runs in the 11th in a game that the Padres eventually won, 12-9, in 18 innings. On May 28, the Padres dealt him to Seattle for right-hander Cha Seung Baek. Wells made six appearances for the Mariners after the trade.

That’s way more information than you probably needed, but there it is…

Stupid Padre Tricks: Two Games or Fewer Pitched (1969-1999)

by Geoff Young on Dec 01, 2008 (1) Comments

In their relatively brief history, the San Diego Padres have had 16 players pitch in two games or fewer for them. It’s a fascinating list… if you find these sorts of lists fascinating:

Al McBean, 1969

Taken from the Pirates as the 50th player selected overall in the 1968 expansion draft, McBean started his only game in a Padres uniform on April 12, working seven innings and taking the loss at home against the San Francisco Giants. On April 17 he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tommy Dean and Leon Everitt. The Virgin Islands native made 39 more big-league appearances after leaving San Diego, all in relief, and retired following the 1970 season with a 67-50 record, 63 saves, and 3.13 ERA (110 ERA+) in 409 games.

Jerry Nyman, 1970

Nyman, a left-hander out of Brigham Young University, came to the Padres on March 30, 1970, in exchange for right-hander Tommie Sisk. After spending most of the season at Triple-A Salt Lake City, where he went 9-13 with a 4.09 ERA, Nyman came up to the big club late in the year and made two September starts: one on September 7 at home against the Houston Astros, and one on September 14 at Dodger Stadium. In the latter, Nyman gave up four hits and retired just one batter (Wes Parker) before being replaced on the mound by Earl Wilson. It would be Nyman’s final big-league appearance. He spent ’71 in the minors before calling it a career. Over parts of three seasons Nyman went 6-7 with a 4.57 ERA (80 ERA+).

Dane Iorg, 1986

Oddly enough, the next member of the Padres to pitch in two games or fewer also came from BYU. Iorg was a reserve outfielder who was originally drafted by the Phillies back in 1971 but who spent most of his career playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. He played significant roles for two World Series winners. In ’82, he hit .529/.529/.882 for the Cards in their victory over Milwaukee. In ’85, he collected exactly one hit for the Kansas City Royals against the Cardinals, but it was a walkoff game-winner in the infamous Game 6 of that year’s classic. Iorg’s two pitching appearances came in the final season of his 10-year big-league career. On June 23 at Candlestick Park, he surrendered four runs in the eighth — three scoring on a homer by starting pitcher Mike LaCoss, the other on a solo shot by reserve infielder Mike Woodard — to put the finishing touches on an 18-1 loss. Then, on August 30 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Iorg shut down the Expos for the final two innings of a 10-1 loss, allowing only an infield single to Jim Wohlford and even striking out reserve infielder Al Newman. Both of Iorg’s appearances came in relief of LaMarr Hoyt.

Luis Salazar, 1987

Salazar, the franchise leader in games played at third base, worked two games in relief in his second (of three) stints with the Padres. The first came on June 10 at the Astrodome, when he tossed a scoreless eighth inning in a 10-1 loss. Padres pitchers walked eight and struck out none in that game. In his second appearance, on July 29 at Cincinnati, Salazar gave up one run in a 15-5 loss — ground ball single to Nick Esasky, bloop double to Dave Collins, wild pitch — before retiring Barry Larkin and Buddy Bell to end the frame.

Darrin Jackson, 1991

Jackson was originally selected by the Chicago Cubs out of Culver City High School (go Centaurs!) in the second round of the 1981 draft. He came to San Diego on August 30, 1989, in a trade involving — among others — the aforementioned Salazar. In 1991, as San Diego’s primary center fielder, Jackson hit .262/.315/.476 in 394 plate appearances. He also worked two innings in a May 26 contest at Houston. Jackson gave up two runs in the seventh — on doubles to Steve Finley and Casey Candaele — before retiring Ken Caminiti to end the inning. He enjoyed better success in the eighth, retiring three of the four he faced, including Luis Gonzalez and Jeff Bagwell. Jackson spent another season with the Padres before being traded to Toronto as part of Tom Werner’s Fire Sale on March 30, 1993, for Derek Bell… who later became part of the package that brought Finley and Caminiti to San Diego.

Pete Walker, 1996

Walker, a right-hander out of the University of Connecticut, became the first actual pitcher to work in two games or fewer for the Padres in a quarter of a century when he faced five batters in a September 7 contest at St. Louis. Picked by the New York Mets in the seventh round of the 1990 draft, Walker came to San Diego in a trade that sent Roberto “Patron Saint of Baseball Nerds” Petagine to the Big Apple. In his lone appearance for the Padres, Walker was unhittable, if a tad wild: After striking out John Mabry to start the eighth inning, he got Tom Pagnozzi to pop out to third before walking the bases loaded and being yanked for Mike Oquist, who retired Ray Lankford to end the threat. Walker spent the next three seasons bouncing around the minors before resurfacing for three games with the Colorado Rockies in 2000 and two more with the Mets in 2001. The following year, at age 33, he inexplicably won 10 games as a member of Toronto’s starting rotation. Walker last pitched in the big leagues for the Blue Jays in 2006; he owns a career record of 20-14 with four saves and a 4.48 ERA (102 ERA+) in 144 appearances.

Ed Giovanola, 1999

Taken by Atlanta in the same round of the 1990 draft as Walker, Giovanola played his college ball at Santa Clara University (Mike Macfarlane, Randy Winn). An infielder by trade, Giovanola was claimed off waivers from the Braves in October 1997. He spent parts of two seasons with the Padres. On August 25, 1999, at Philadelphia, Giovanola made the first and only pitching appearance of his career. With two out in the seventh inning, Dan Miceli served up a three-run homer to Rico Brogna, extending the home team’s lead to 15-1. Bruce Bochy summoned Giovanola, who retired four of the seven batters he faced and did not allow a run. Of course, two of those batters were future Padre outmakers Alex Arias and Gary Bennett, but still.

Okay, that’s enough for now. We’ll take a look at the 21st century on Wednesday…

Blast from the Past: Old Free Agents, Ugly Drafts, and Great Albums

by Geoff Young on Nov 26, 2008 (1) Comments

Not much of a theme today. Just… whatever…

  • Remember when we used to lust after Marcus Giles? This was in 2002 — years before he actually arrived and demonstrated an alarming inability to hit baseballs. We kinda had a thing for Jose Vidro and Bobby Hill back then, too. Don’t ask. On the bright side, Royce Clayton signed with Milwaukee, leaving the Padres with their fallback option of… Mark Loretta.
  • That same year, we were underwhelmed by the Padres off-season moves, and who can blame us? The big free-agent signings were 39-year-old outfielder Brady Anderson, injured right-handers Francisco Cordova and Jaret Wright, and 46-year-old left-hander Jesse Orosco. I think all of us were expecting big things from the ’03 team after those moves. Could you hear the snickering there? Did that make it through the tubes?
  • Right around the same time, I advocated that the Padres cut ties with Trevor Hoffman:

    The Padres are blowing a quarter of their payroll on a guy who works 60 innings a year. As much as it pains me to admit this, because Hoffman is one of my favorite players in the game right now, I’m not sure that’s a wise way for an organization that refers to itself as “small market” to be allocating its resources. Hoffy has done a great deal for the city and the ballclub, and he seems like a heckuva good guy. But he isn’t young, and he isn’t cheap. And on a team that constantly cries “small market” that’s not a winning combination.

    I also found sweet anagrams for Mark Kotsay (Kayak Storm) and Ryan Klesko (Skylark One). Actually, Sean Burroughs had a pretty funny one, too: A Bong User Rush.

  • The Padres sure used to have some ugly drafts. Here is a look at hitters and pitchers they picked from 1995 to 2004. This will be interesting to revisit in a few years, when guys like Matt Antonelli, Chase Headley, and Will Venable have a little more big-league experience under their belts (and maybe Kyle Blanks and Kellen Kulbacki, for that matter).
  • Finally, back when I used to post more non-baseball stuff, I wrote about 12 albums that changed the way I think about music. The list holds up pretty well, I think, though I might be tempted to something by Frank Zappa or Bjork. Maybe Neko Case. I dunno, I’d have to ponder it for a while.

That’s all for now. Later, yo…

Blast from the Past: Mark Phillips Outrage

by Geoff Young on Nov 25, 2008 (13) Comments

What a fool I used to be. Those are Neil Peart’s words, but they apply here as well, so I’ll use ‘em. When the Padres traded Bubba Trammell and minor-league left-hander Mark Phillips for Rondell White back in ’03, I was… a little less than pleased. I actually vented in three parts:

  • Part 1 includes this gem:

    I realize I may not be the most objective person when it comes to talking about Phillips. I’ve seen him pitch on several occasions and I even once had the chance to chat with him while he was charting a game at Elsinore. But beyond the fact that he seemed like a nice enough kid, he has a serious arm. You just don’t see a lot of young lefties with that kind of fastball/curve arsenal.

    Except, of course, that he never made it past A-ball.

  • Here’s my favorite passage from Part 2:

    Trade Phillips if you have to; it’s not the end of the world. But make sure you address a need and get value for him. The Padres did neither.

    Except, of course, that Phillips and Trammell sucked for the Yankees, and White played well for the Padres.

  • Finally, in Part 3, I respond to some reader feedback:

    [Yankees GM Brian] Cashman essentially threw less-than-first-round money at a former first-rounder who already has professional experience under his belt and who, unlike many former top draft picks, actually has had a fair amount of success as a pro. From the Yankees’ standpoint, this wasn’t about money. This was about opportunity. Cashman saw a stud lefty on the horizon and went out and got him on the cheap.

    Except, of course, that Phillips wasn’t a stud lefty. He only seemed like one at the time.

I’ve talked in this space about being slower to judge now than I once was. Crap like the three posts above should help you understand why. I didn’t know enough then to know how little I knew. I may have had good intentions, but it’s pretty clear that I had no freakin’ clue.

Blast from the Past: Arizona Dreamin’

by Geoff Young on Nov 24, 2008 (0) Comments

I usually make one or two trips out to Phoenix each year. Spring training has become a must, and I always enjoy taking in some Arizona Fall League games. Today, we’re all about the AFL… and whatever else happened to come with it on a particular journey… and whatever else that triggers in my mind, which you may recall is a scary place to be:

  • In 2001, I was impressed by a kid from Rancho Bernardo named Hank Blalock. Incidentally, his name used to appear at Ducksnorts with some regularity. The following year, while comparing a young Adam Dunn to Brian Giles and a young Albert Pujols to Manny Ramirez, we tossed around the possibility of acquiring Blalock to play second base to accommodate Sean Burroughs, whom we later compared favorably to the Rangers third baseman. It was a nice thought, anyway. Actually, it was two nice thoughts — that the Padres might acquire Blalock and that Burroughs might be good. Oh well. Speaking of Blalock, and since this bullet point seems to have taken on a life of its own, remember when the Oakland A’s were trying to extract him as compensation for the Rangers’ signing of Grady Fuson? If you don’t, it’s probably because you were still wondering how well Mel Proctor’s replacement would do alongside Mark Grant:

    I don’t know much about Vasgersian but almost anything has to be an improvement over Proctor, who seemed like a really good guy but not a very good announcer.

    Uh, yeah; I’d say that worked out okay. And I’m still gonna miss Matt.

  • Hello, we were talking about the AFL? Right, then. In 2004, I was watching Jeremy Hermida, buying some cool baseball books (speaking of Grant, here’s a fun scouting report on him from one of those books), and getting seriously lost on McDowell Road. Good times. That IHOP was pretty funky, although I’ve eaten in funkier places. Cafe Westminster off the 405 at 3 a.m. circa 1987 comes to mind.

Eh, I thought I had more stuff for you. Maybe I do, but I’m too lazy to go find it. Stay funky…

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule

by Geoff Young on Nov 22, 2008 (1) Comments

Forgive the lack of updates this past week. I rolled out of bed on Monday, blinked, and it was Saturday. Time is not your friend.

We’re off to Hawai’i for the annual Thanksgiving shindig at my wife’s family’s farm. I’m prepping some articles (mostly annotated reruns) to run in my absence; although discussion is always welcome, comments may be held up in the moderation queue a little longer than usual. I will get to stuff when I can, but my priorities over the next two weeks are:

  1. Hang out with family
  2. Eat good home cookin’
  3. Work on the book
  4. Do nothing

Anything else is a luxury, and I make no guarantees.

I also have a couple of articles scheduled to run elsewhere at some point. One is on Padres bench coach Ted Simmons, and the other is my preliminary list of top 20 Padres prospects. The former will be at Hardball Times, the latter at MadFriars. I have no clue when they will be published; just keep checking back because there’s always good stuff at those sites anyway.

That’s pretty much it. Again, we’ll do reruns this week and next, then return to quasi-regular posting around the second week in December. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Peace…