Former Padres right-hander Hideki Irabu was found dead on Wednesday in a home in Rancho Palos Verdes, a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. His death is being called an “apparent suicide.” Irabu never pitched for the Padres, of course, and that is why this blog exists today. When the Padres secured his rights from NPB’s Chiba [...]
Tag Archive for ‘ruben rivera’ 
Less Is Less
I’ve run out of words to describe the ineptitude of the Padres offense. Well, words that I care to use in decent company. Here’s how they fared while being swept at Petco Park by the Phillies: G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG 4 145 133 3 22 [...]
Dali Meets Federman
What the heck happened this weekend? It was a Dali painting wrapped in a Federman novel inside a flaming bag of… well, it was weird…
Me, Elsewhere: Looking Forward… in Three Places at Once!
My latest at Hardball Times is part of their annual “Five Questions” series and focuses on our favorite team. One of my questions deals with Cameron Maybin, who is a key to this franchise in many ways right now: Oliver likes his chances this season, setting the bar at .271/.339/.422, which looks suspiciously like what [...]
I Wouldn’t Miss You if I Had Better Aim
Monday morning, it appeared that Everth Cabrera would make the big club as the Padres backup middle infielder. Despite Cabrera’s train wreck of a 2010 campaign and a less-than-inspired spring training, the path looked clear after Kevin Frandsen, the only legitimate contender for the job, was released on Friday.
Mailbag: On Lineup Construction
We had some good discussion about possible lineups for the 2011 Padres in last week’s open thread. Several suggestions were made regarding specific order, but a few “big picture” comments caught my attention.
Stuff I Learned at SABR Day in San Diego
I’ve been a SABR member for a few years but never made it to a meeting until this past weekend. When I wondered aloud on Twitter what took me so long, one person quipped, “Because they’re at 9 a.m. on a Saturday.” Yeah, that might have something to do with it. Now that I’ve been, [...]
Adrian Gonzalez Traded to Boston for Guys You Haven’t Heard of… Yet
Slow news day, eh? Neither team has confirmed this, but sources too numerous to count are reporting that the Padres and Red Sox have agreed to a trade that would send All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Boston for right-handed pitcher Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, center fielder Reymond Fuentes, and a player to [...]
Cameron Maybin: When a Player’s Perceived Value Plummets, That’s the Time to Grab Him
I heard about the Cameron Maybin trade while I was in Arizona, taking in some AFL games (more on that later in the week). I thought about it a lot on the drive home and shared the gist of my conclusion on Twitter: Even if Maybin ends up stinking, so what? Webb and Mujica can [...]
Hoyer Learning to Love the Sludge
by Geoff Young on Sep 06, 2011 (18) Comments
Jed Hoyer’s predecessor, Kevin Towers, was known as “The Sludge Merchant” for his ability (born out of necessity) to pick up discarded scraps and turn them into functioning parts. Claiming Scott Linebrink off waivers and flipping him for Joe Thatcher after five great seasons, stealing Heath Bell from the Mets, signing Brian Sikorski from Japan [...]