Jake Peavy of the Padres was a highly deserving and unanimous National League Cy Young Award winner today, after leading the senior circuit in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
I was actually a little nervous about whether Peavy would have won the prize that was rightfully his. Just this week, Ben Braun of Milwaukee won Rookie of the Year over Troy Tulowitzski of Colorado. Braun, who had a fine first season, is half the player that the Rockies shortstop is. Maybe that changes in 2008, but it was the case in 2007, which is what counts. The AL Cy Young vote, which favored Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia, was also controversial.
Plus, the Padres had been screwed before -- recently. I thought Trevor Hoffman was clearly the best pitcher in the league in 2006, but the award went to Brandon Webb of Arizona, who won only 16 games. Hoffman obviously fell victim to anti-reliever bias, something I understand in general, but as in most things in life, there are times when exceptions can be made, and the season before last was one of those occasions.
The question now becomes what to do with Peavy, who is signed through 2009 and will command a heap of money when he becomes a free agent. General Manager Kevin Towers is reportedly in preliminary negotiations with agent Barry Axlerod, which is good to hear. It sounds like both sides have the same goal of keeping the pitcher in San Diego for a long time. The only downside I see is if they go through the winter without coming to any sort of agreement, the story of Peavy's future in San Diego will be front and center all season and could become a major distraction. If the team and agent are smart, even if no agreement is reached, they will all put on smiling faces in April, say their relatively close, and not let Peavy blow his value.
Which brings us to free agency. The Padres have a lot of money available this winter but have a lot of holes to fill. Center field, second base, the back end of the pitching rotation and catching are major holes. Neither Mike Cameron nor Milton Bradley will return.
Plus, an upgrade is necessary in right field, where the play of Brian Giles has been sub-standard for two years running. Khalil Greene was sub-par at shortstop until August. Adrian Gonzalez's second season with the Padres was not as impressive as his first.
But looking at the list of free agents and, well who do you want?
Braves CF Andruw Jones, who hit just .222 last year and will want well into eight figures for a year of services? You know, there's spending money, and there's spending money wisely. Jim Edmonds? Puhleeze! (I almost never write Puhleeze, but the thought of acquiring Edmonds is the right time). Geoff Jenkins in left brings yawns.
Torii Hunter of the Twins has had two straight excellent seasons at the plate, but he wants a five-year deal, and he's 32 years old.
Aaron Rowand of the Phillies makes sense. He's a Gold Glove winner with a decent average each year who inflated his power numbers playing in a bandbox last season.
That's the high point. Players at 2B and C are more likely than not to stay home, unless you want to spend big buck for Paul LoDuca of the Mets, who is injury prone, not great defensively and not a strong clubhouse guy.
Starting pitchers? Let's put it this way. Josh Fogg of the Rockies is listed as the second-best free agent pitcher on Sportsline.com, behind the Angels' Bartolo Colon.
In other words, the free agent market ain't happening, unless the Padres decide to make a splash for Hunter.
If I'm the GM, I think I bite the bullet and spend the newfound cash on what I have. You want to keep Peavy, Chris Young, and Heath Bell around for the next decade. If Kevin Kouzmanoff produces for a full season the way he did in the last 2/3 of 2007, you'll add him to the list of big 2009 contracts.
At catcher, remember it was only a year ago that people were thinking Josh Bard had some real potential. Maybe another year is not out of the question, but when prompted by Lee Hamilton in a radio interview, Peavy did not rise to Bard's defense. So maybe not. It might be time to give Oscar Robles a shot at 2B and let him handle the bat in the eighth position in the batting order.
None of these are great options, I know. But screaming at Kevin Towers to go spend some money is not likely to get you too far. Maybe you can get a Hunter or Rowand and, if so, great. But the number of needs the Friars have lead you to think the solutions are more likely to come from the minor leagues, over a period of several years. Those upcoming seasons might be lean.
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XTRA Sports 1360 is off to a fine start, by the sound of it, but Lee Hamilton's schtick is still hard on the ears sometimes. "Along the West Coast" is laughable when you can barely receive the station north of Lake Hodges.
And he's still geographically challenged. There is no "East Valley" here. When he says "from North Park to Balboa Park," maybe that's a statement about the station's signal strength, because there's nothing between those two spots. And did I really hear him say "from Del Mar to Duarte?" Huh?
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Memo to Norv. Play Billy Volek. You don't need to take away Philip Rivers' starting job, or remove him to prove a point. But there's a reason why baseball has relief pitchers. Sometimes in football you just need to put in another guy for a series or two to see what happens. Give Volek that chance.
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