Party Like It’s 1989

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
by Geoff Young
Doing some research for an article, flipping through Baseball America's 1989 Almanac. The book doesn't list top prospects by team, but it does list them by league. Here are some familiar (and not-so-familiar) names for you: Triple-A Gary Sheffield, 3B, Denver (Brewers): American Association #2 (behind Mike Harkey, ahead of Randy Johnson). Steve Finley, OF, Rochester (Orioles): International League #4 (behind Dave West, ahead of Greg Jefferies). Sandy Alomar Jr., C, Las Vegas (Padres): Pacific Coast League #1 (ahead of Ramon Martinez). Alomar also was BA's Triple-A player of the year....
Keep reading >>

Posted in Baseball | 27 Comments »

Did Giles Bounce Back, and Where Does He Go from Here?

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
by Geoff Young
As part of the book-writing process, I'm going through pretty much everything that we've covered here at Ducksnorts over the past year or so. One question we asked last November was whether Brian Giles' 2006 was a blip or the beginning of a slide. Among other things, we looked at a slew of historical comps for Giles and found that most of the guys who continued to play didn't experience further catastrophic decline. There were a couple notable exceptions (Fred Lynn, Ray Lankford) that haunt Padres fans in particular, but in general, we were looking at a group of players that didn't fall off the proverbial cliff at age 36. Thankfully, Giles didn't go Lynn or Lankford on us. He ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Baseball, Minors | 85 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Can Giles Bounce Back?

Monday, November 13, 2006
by Geoff Young
There's been some discussion recently on the value of Brian Giles. Specifically, did his 2006 season (.263/.374/.397) represent an aberration or the beginning of the end? Giles turns 36 in January, so it's tempting to believe that the latter is the case. However, there is precedent for a player performing at a very high level up until his mid-30s, declining, and then re-establishing himself in his late-30s. And we actually don't have to look that far back to find such a player. But before we go there, let's check out some other players who are comparable to Giles according to Baseball-Reference.com: Players Similar to Brian Giles through Age 35 Name Years AB ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Baseball | 106 Comments »