matt antonelli

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

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
by Geoff Young

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 ...

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Posted in Draft, Off-Topic | No Comments »

Faulty Radar, and Performance by Position

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
by Geoff Young

I've got a few things on my mind this morning. First off, I'm reorganizing the categories of this here blog, trying to put some of those information architecture skills I learned at my last job to use. Among other things, I'm discovering that it's a lot harder to organize your own stuff than someone else's. Anyway, in the process of doing this, I've rediscovered a few ancient posts. One of them (pardon the ugly tables) discusses the limitations in using statistics to evaluate prospects. I'm thinking of Matt Antonelli and the fact that he's fallen off a few radar screens because of his poor showing at Portland this year. Not that Antonelli is the same type of player, but I wonder how many folks had given ...

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Posted in Research | 4 Comments »

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Friday Links (12 Sep 08)

Friday, September 12, 2008
by Geoff Young

That was a fun one Thursday night, eh? I'd make a crack about how it's only the Giants, but seeing as how we have virtually no chance of overtaking them for fourth place, that hardly seems appropriate. Seriously, though, it's cool to see a bunch of these kids that I watched at Elsinore come up here and have some success. Matt Antonelli knocked three hits and drew a walk (and only a fine play by Omar Vizquel kept him from reaching base a fifth time), Drew Macias collected his first big-league hit (a homer off Matt Cain, no less), and Josh Geer tossed a gem. Meanwhile, we've got ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 27 Comments »

The Perils of Projecting

Friday, September 5, 2008
by Geoff Young

Five years ago today I was extolling the virtues of one Sean Burroughs, noting the similarities between his second big-league season and that of Derek Jeter. It sounds ridiculous now, but the comparison seemed valid at the time: Sean Burroughs vs Derek Jeter, Sophomore Season AgePABAOBPSLGOPS+ Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. Burroughs22578.286.352.402105 Jeter23748.291.370.405103 The key word here is "seemed." It's important to remember (and something I have to remind myself of constantly) that no two snowflakes are alike, even though they may look the same. It's also important to remember that there are no "sure things" when it comes to prospects. How does this apply to the current rebuilding project? Well, a lot of times -- ...

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Posted in Minors | 24 Comments »

One Actionable Item

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
by Geoff Young

It's easy, in a season where almost everything imaginable has gone wrong, to forget that the Padres won 89 games a year ago with comparable talent. The lazy and somewhat impractical suggestion is to say we should blow everything up and start over from scratch. Nice Debut Speaking of the future, we've already seen four members of the 2005 draft class surface in San Diego this year. Monday night marked the debut of second baseman Matt Antonelli, the first member of the 2006 class to arrive. Antonelli started his big-league career in fine fashion, lacing a sharp single to center off 354-game winner (and ex-Padre) ...

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Posted in Baseball | 16 Comments »

Padres Farm Report: Spotlight on Portland

Thursday, August 28, 2008
by Geoff Young

Portland Beavers in a Box: Record: 69-70 Runs Scored: 695 Runs Allowed: 764 BA/OBP/SLG: .265/.350/.431 (Pacific Coast League: .277/.347/.443) ERA: 5.04 (PCL: 4.84) DER: .632 (PCL: .637) Source: Baseball-Reference. This may be the weakest minor-league team in the Padres organization. In a league that emphasizes scoring, the Beavers' offense is a little below average, while their pitching and defense are considerably worse. The roster features a mix of legitimate prospects, suspects, guys who could have a career on the fringe if everything breaks right, and veterans who aren't going anywhere soon. The best of the lot are second baseman Matt Antonelli (whom I ranked as the Padres #2 prospect entering the season), center fielder Will Venable, and left-hander Wade LeBlanc (#7). Others potentially in the ...

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Posted in Minors | 1 Comment »

Padres Farm Report (8 Jul 08)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008
by Geoff Young

FYI, I'm way behind on my email. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. If you're expecting a response from me, it may be a while... Triple-A -- Fresno 11, Portland 10 Craig Stansberry (SS): 3-for-5, 3B, BB Peter Ciofrone: 1-for-4, BB, HBP Will Venable: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 BB Justin Huber (1B): 0-for-5, SF Vince Sinisi: 2-for-5, BB Colt Morton: 3-for-6, HR Matt Antonelli: 0-for-4 Cesar Ramos: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 3 SO, HBP...

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Posted in Minors | 13 Comments »