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OBG08 Revisited: Hitters

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
by Geoff Young
Back in February we did some community projections for the 2008 Padres. In the interest of accountability, here's how we measured up to reality. Catchers Josh Bard, 2008  PABAOBPSLG Projected425.278.357.410 Actual198.202.279.270 Yuck. Our most pessimistic projection had Bard at a 725 OPS. Michael Barrett, 2008  PABAOBPSLG Projected246.263.323.419 Actual107.202.274.298 We need a synonym for "yuck," preferably something that rhymes. If only there were such a word... Infielders Adrian Gonzalez, 2008  PABAOBPSLG Projected641.293.362.517 Actual700.279.361.510 We totally nailed this one. Imagine how many batting titles Gonzalez could win if he didn't play half his games at Petco Park and weren't Molina-brother slow. Khalil Greene, 2008  PABAOBPSLG Projected561.257.309.464 Actual423.213.260.339 Greene and Bard killed the offense this year, but we already knew that. Tadahito Iguchi, 2008  PABAOBPSLG Projected532.263.341.391 Actual337.232.292.306 Iguchi was actually a little worse than Marcus Giles in 2007, which just boggles the imagination....
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Posted in Projections | 18 Comments »

Writing the Book (6 Oct 08)

Monday, October 6, 2008
by Geoff Young
I'm happy to report that the first week of serious work on the Ducksnorts 2009 Baseball Annual went well. I made progress on several fronts: I had some good discussions with my editorial advisory board, which is just a fancy name for folks who are helping guide me as we move forward with the project. I have a fairly solid idea of the outline, although I'm keeping it a bit fluid at this stage -- just in case something unexpected comes my way. Like what? Well, if I knew that, it wouldn't be unexpected, would it? ;-) On Thursday, I sat down and talked with a graphic designer about ideas for a cover. We're in the pre-Cambrian stages of development, but I'm very glad to have this ...
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Posted in 2009 Annual | 7 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Light Posting This Week

Monday, August 18, 2008
by Geoff Young
Posting will be light this week. Nothing much is happening with the Padres right now (aside from the signings of Allan Dykstra and James Darnell, I suppose), and a few other projects are demanding my time: I'm working on a quick survey of compensatory draft picks through history -- We've already touched on Rafael Palmeiro being drafted by the Cubs as compensation for "losing" Tim Stoddard to the Padres, but how about the Blue Jays getting Shawn Green for losing Bud Black, or the Rockies getting Jody Gerut for losing Walt Weiss? I'm also working on the 1969 chapter of the Ducksnorts 2009 Baseball Annual -- ...
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Posted in 2009 Annual, Notes and Links, Site News | 58 Comments »

The Giles Non-Story

Monday, August 11, 2008
by Geoff Young
I haven't commented on the Brian Giles waiver thing because, frankly, nothing happened. That said, because the Red Sox were involved, people are making a big stink, so here's my two cents. First off, pretty much everyone gets placed on waivers this time of year. That's not a news item. Second, I'm hearing a lot of nonsense about Giles' desire to win or whatever. I understand that the Boston media maybe feels a little jilted by his decision to remain in San Diego, but seriously, get over yourself. This is choice: Giles is a player who talks a lot about winning, but if that's the ...
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Posted in Baseball | 88 Comments »

Here’s to Humble Foundations

Friday, June 13, 2008
by Geoff Young
That was satisfying. We took the in-laws out to the ballgame -- sprung for Toyota Terrace seats, first time this year. They picked a good time to visit. Mom is from the old country, but I was heartened to see that she chose to root for the home team rather than Hiroki Kuroda. She digs the long ball. Jake Peavy looked sharp. He was efficient with his pitches (12 per inning) and made a few terrific defensive plays. Maybe he paid extra close attention to Greg Maddux while he was on the disabled list. Fun with Small Numbers In about 3 1/2 weeks, the Padres have ...
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Posted in Game Recaps | 15 Comments »

Hit or Be Hit

Friday, June 6, 2008
by Geoff Young
I had some computer issues this morning, and I'm still wading through draft material, so I'll save my thoughts on how the Padres did until Saturday or Monday -- then we'll have the entire draft to look at anyway. Based on the information at my disposal (which obviously is much, much less detailed than what the Padres have), I've upgraded my initial assessment of the Allan Dykstra pick ("Man, that stinks" were my exact words) to "Not what I would have done, but I'm beginning to understand the thought process behind it." John Sickels had the Padres taking Dykstra at #42. I'd targeted Dykstra at #42 or #46 in the mock draft I participated in, but the Diamondbacks ...
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Posted in Draft, Game Recaps | 131 Comments »

Peace, Love, and Delusion

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
by Geoff Young
Sometimes you can get away with making stupid mistakes against lousy teams. Unfortunately the Cubs aren't a lousy team, and they saw to it that the Padres paid for their transgressions. Carlos Zambrano is a terrific pitcher when he's on his game. He wasn't at his best Monday night, but the Padres let him off the hook just the same. Despite having trouble controlling his pitches and his emotions (he needed separate conferences with the catcher, third baseman, and manager at various points during the first two innings), Zambrano limited the early damage and then settled into a groove. And he couldn't have done it without the Padres ...
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Posted in Game Recaps | 74 Comments »

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