Usually news writers are a little cautious in how they characterize their subjects. They'll quote the opinions of others for example, so they don't have to directly say what they think. Not so with The San Diego Union-Tribune's coverage of the Padres this year. Primary beat writer Tom Krasovic thinks the Friars suck and isn't afraid to come right out and say so.
Just today, in a recap of the Padres 10-3 loss at Florida Sunday, he called the team "unathletic" and "slow-footed." There's plenty of other examples of Krasovic directly smacking the Padres. He's also slanting his coverage in items about the Padres getting desperate, about how poor scouting and poor drafting has hurt the franchise, etc.
Now, Krasovic is right on the money with his analysis. I have no problem with that at all. His approach, very direct, is interesting.
His colleague, Chris Jenkins, who covers baseball in general, added to the chorus Sunday by basically saying the Padres were out of the race in the National League West. Of course, it's way too early, but we've seen the Friars and we've seen the Diamondbacks. Okay, the race is all but over.
---
If my memory is correct, the reason why the Padres brass soured on former manager Bruce Bochy was his reluctance to play youngsters, favoring veterans instead.
Fast forward to this season and you can see where the front office placed too much faith in this year's aging former stars. Brian Giles is down to .259, not playing too well defensively and was caught in a rundown -- who'd have thunk? -- on Sunday; Khalil Greene is at .220 with a single home run and Jim Edmonds, likely to go down as one of the Padres worst free agent signings ever is at .177 with just 6 RBI.
Some of the pitchers are just as bad. Glendon Rusch and Trevor Hoffman both have ERAs over 6. Greg Maddux is 0-3 with a no decision in his past four starts in his quest for 350 victories. Yesterday, and in another start he got pounded.
I have a bigger problem with the position players than the pitchers at this point. We've seen Trevor struggle previously and work his way out of it. Maddux can be vulnerable if he's not perfect on every pitch, but usually is masterful. Giles and Edmonds are on the downsides of their career, though, and Greene appears very likely to never fulfill his vast potential, at least not in San Diego.
---
What troubles me about this season is not so much that the 2008 Padres are bad, but that the minor league hot shots expected to replace the current major leaguers over the next two years are stalling out in AAA Portland. The numbers for Chase Headley and Matt Antonelli are about what they were in previous posts. P Wade LeBlanc is also having a hard time.
I'm all for keeping with the long term plan to wait for the minor leaguers to develop, but if they don't in fact develop, the Padres could suck for the next decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment