san diego padres

In This Town, the Hitting Coach Wears a Red Shirt

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
by Geoff Young

According to Tom Krasovic at the U-T, Wally Joyner has resigned as hitting coach [h/t Sacrifice Bunt] of the San Diego Padres. In lieu of an explanation, Joyner offers this curious quote: I came to the job hoping to put my experience and ideas to good use in teaching and coaching the Padres' hitters, but it has become obvious to me in the past few months that the organization's approach is different from mine. First off, I suspect the approach is less of a problem right now than the results. Second, although the results haven't been great, they haven't ...

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Posted in Baseball | 16 Comments »

Chatting with Sandy Alderson (Part 3)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
by Geoff Young

This is the third of a three-part interview (Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here) with San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson. Big thanks to Mr. Alderson for taking time out of his busy schedule to make himself available, and also to his assistant, Dayle Tedrow, for her indispensable assistance in making this happen. Ducksnorts: Something that's near and dear to my heart: Paul DePodesta has recently started a public-facing blog, which is really cool. When I was working in industry, that was one of the things I was trying to get my company to do externally... I've seen a lot of examples -- Wells Fargo, ...

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Posted in Interviews | 108 Comments »

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Chatting with Sandy Alderson (Part 2)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
by Geoff Young

This is the second of a three-part interview (Part 1 is here) with San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson. Big thanks to Mr. Alderson for taking time out of his busy schedule to make himself available, and also to his assistant, Dayle Tedrow, for her indispensable assistance in making this happen. Ducksnorts: What exactly are the daily responsibilities of your current position, and is there an off-season for you? Alderson: No, there's really not an off-season. During the season we have a game virtually every day... so there are always things going on. My job during the season is to oversee day-to-day activity and be responsive to people who need some direction, and provide a public face for the team and be able to deal with ...

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Posted in Interviews | 35 Comments »

Chatting with Sandy Alderson (Part 1)

Monday, June 16, 2008
by Geoff Young

This is the first of a three-part interview with San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson. Big thanks to Mr. Alderson for taking time out of his busy schedule to make himself available, and also to his assistant, Dayle Tedrow, for her indispensable assistance in making this happen. Sandy Alderson has been CEO of the San Diego Padres since May 2005. Before then he served as general manager of the Oakland A's from 1983 to 1997, where he led that franchise to a World Series title in 1989 and mentored one of today's more noteworthy GMs, his successor, Billy Beane. After leaving Oakland, Alderson went to work at the MLB offices in New York, where his duties included, among many other things, finding ways to speed up ...

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Posted in Interviews | 56 Comments »

One-Homer Wonders

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
by Geoff Young

Over the years, 48 players have hit exactly one home run as a member of the San Diego Padres. Here are the guys who've done it with most and fewest plate appearances: Most PA: Ozzie Smith, 2536 Ed Whitson, 481 Jeff Gardner, 472 Dave Cash, 437 Bob Davis, 391 Fewest PA: Tim Stoddard, 10 Jason Bay, 10 Eddie Miller, 14 Marty Barrett, 17 George Williams, 17 Talk about whatever. That's what I'm ...

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Posted in Open Thread | 46 Comments »

The Book Has Landed

Monday, February 25, 2008
by Geoff Young

I am pleased to announce that the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual is now available as a hard copy or a PDF download. Not ready to commit? Try some linky goodness: View the table of contents Download a free PDF of excerpts Read reviews of the 2007 Annual Read an interview of me at Hardball Times Buy the book As a reminder, $1 from each book sold during calendar year 2008 will go to the San Diego Red Cross, so not only are you getting something to read, you're also doing something good for folks. Enjoy, and spread the word!

Posted in 2008 Annual | 16 Comments »

Familiar Refrain

Thursday, February 14, 2008
by Geoff Young

On pages 141-143 of his 1985 Baseball Abstract, Bill James launches into a discussion of whether baseball dynasties are a thing of the past. This is technically his essay on the San Diego Padres, who were the defending National League champions, although only two paragraphs focus on the Padres: I do not see the Padres as a great team, and I do not see them as likely to repeat. They've got three infielders that I wouldn't put in the top fifteen men at the position. With Terry Kennedy's defense and baserunning, he's got to hit a whole bunch before he can help you, and he hit .240 last year. Their bench is thin. They've got a couple of great young outfielders and real good depth in ...

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Posted in Open Thread | 78 Comments »