Padres 2008 Draft Odyssey

Thursday, June 5, 2008
by Geoff Young
Grab a beverage, sit down, and get comfy. Well, maybe not that comfy; seriously, dude, have a little dignity. As you know, MLB's First-Year Player Draft is upon us. What's in store for the Padres? Good question. Let's take a look, shall we... Draft Class Strengths and Weaknesses First-Year Player Draft Thursday, June 5, 2008 11 a.m. PT ESPN2 MLB.com XM 180 (names), 186 (commentary) The 2008 draft class features plenty of first baseman and relievers, but not much in the way of college pitching and middle infielders. According to Grady Fuson (for some reason not by-lined in the online version), the Padres are looking to add catching depth, corner outfielders with power, pitching, ...
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Posted in Draft, Minors | 343 Comments »

Reshaping the Padres: Let’s Make a Deal (or Three)

Friday, May 23, 2008
by Geoff Young
On Thursday, we examined what the Padres have and what they need. Now we turn to the question of which teams might make good trade partners and then consider some possible scenarios. As of this writing, about half the teams in baseball appear to be in contention. Some will fall of the pace, although it's impossible to know which ones. Others may not be interested in adding payroll despite their hot starts -- Oakland, Florida, and Minnesota come to mind. The NL West teams are probably out as well -- Kevin Towers has made a total of four trades (one with each team) within the division in 12 1/2 years. That's out of 139 total trades, at last count. Almost everyone needs pitching to some degree. ...
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Posted in Baseball | 173 Comments »

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Padres Farm Report (5 May 08)

Monday, May 5, 2008
by Geoff Young
Before we get to Sunday's games, here's a brief chat I had with John Conniff, of MadFriars.com, about his impressions from a recent trip to Portland: Ducksnorts: The big names at Portland, of course, are Chase Headley and Matt Antonelli. How do they look so far this year? Conniff: Obviously by the numbers that they are putting up not that great. The big difference that I could see from them this year from last at San Antonio is they are both having trouble adjusting to the fact that Triple-A pitchers can throw strikes early in the count with their secondary pitches and have better fastball command than Double-A. Consequently they are both hitting behind in the count it seems nearly every time and are ...
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Posted in Interviews, Minors | 2 Comments »

The Khalil Conundrum

Tuesday, January 22, 2008
by Geoff Young
Late last week talks broke down between the Padres and shortstop Khalil Greene. The Padres control Greene through 2009 but are interested in pursuing a long-term deal with him. According to the U-T, the club offered a 3- or 4-year deal (no money disclosed) without success, and the two sides now have exchanged salary arbitration figures. Quoth GM Kevin Towers: A long-term contract with Khalil at this time is probably doubtful. I don't know, it might not be able to get done. Khalil's family is on the East Coast and ...
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Posted in 2008 Annual, Baseball | 49 Comments »

Your First Padres Game

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Geoff Young
Inspired by former Indians shortstop Tom Veryzer (of all people!), we ended up talking in Monday's comments about some of our favorite Padres memories. I've been having a little fun with a similar thread over at Knuckle Curve, and I thought, hey, we should do a full-on thread here at Ducksnorts. Yeah, I know. That's crazy talk. Anyway, my questions to you are these: When was the first Padres game you attended in person? (Link to the box score at B-R if you can find it.) Are there any specific memories you have of that game? Could be action on the field, or whatever. For example, I'm pretty sure that ...
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Posted in Baseball | 53 Comments »