I really don't understand the choice of Northern Illinois' Larry English with the first round pick. Some have him listed as a pass rushing DE, which is good, but he's pretty small for a 3-4 DE at 254 pounds, so he's going to just be a situational guy. You don't take situational guys with your top pick.
ESPN had him figured as an OLB, which makes more sense on his weight. If true, that tells you much about how the Chargers view the potential recovery of Shawne Merriman and their view of Shaun Phillips 2008 performance.
On the other hand, I'm not so sold on anyone drafted behind English that I'll jump off a ledge. I hope the offensive line gets addressed on Sunday.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Chargers Lines Cry for Help, Sordid Hoops
If you've read my Chargers comments in the past, you know the drill. I think the Bolts need improvement on the offensive line. GM AJ Smith doesn't seem to hold that unit with the highest of priorities, ever. In this particular year, the defensive line appears to need help, too.
So, when the Chargers pick 16th in the first round of Saturday's draft -- barring trade -- should they go for an offensive lineman? Maybe. Those halfway-through-the-round selections are tough. In good, deep drafts, there's game-changing talent still available. However, by the time your selection comes, you've just about run out of the impact guys. It's highly unlikely the remaining potential superstars are going to be in your area of need. So I say take the game-changer.
From there, however, there's no question that the lines need help. More so than a ball-carrier to groom as LT's replacement, more so than inside linebacker and more so than safety. The Chargers currently have nothing at right guard, very little at tackle and while Nick Hardwick is popular at center, even he can be improved upon. The draft gurus who talk tackle always focus on left tackles who protect a passer's blind side. I'm willing to try Marcus McNeill another year. They need a solid blocker on the right side of the offensive line more than anything.
The defensive line is a problem across the board. Jamal Williams is getting old, Luis Castillo was revealed to be pretty average last season and Ryon Bingham is a career backup. This is a group that's going to get flattened in 2009.
Despite brilliant skill talent, the Chargers have are trying to support them with mediocrity. No matter what happens in the first round of the 2009 draft, upgrades are necessary up front or the Bolts will not reach .500 this fall.
---
The seamy underside of basketball was never demonstrated so well as the story of San Diego High School basketball star Jeremy Tyler leaving for Europe to play his senior season before entering the NBA draft. By doing so, he will void his scholarship to Louisville and be ineligible to play college basketball.
Tyler is quoted as saying he won't get any better playing for a team without a coach and against San Diego County hoops "talent" that is regressing to traditional levels. Both points are valid and are good reasons to either return home to Eastlake HS where he should have stayed in the first place, or move to either LA to battle the superior talent or somewhere in Kentucky where he'll be close to what might have been his future coach.
The trouble is Tyler bit from the apple several years ago, when he ditched Eastlake for San Diego High's brighter lights. I'm sure he had no idea, certainly no intention, of the trouble that joined him, but his initial transfer set in motion the reasons why he can't simply move to another school now. Any change now would be for pure basketball reasons, which are against the same rules that made three other SDHS transfers ineligible. If none of that happened, he could have quietly transferred this year and none would be the wiser.
It's a shame. I hope Tyler makes it in the NBA and gets his millions. He appears to come from a solid family. Unfortunately, he's learning some awful lessons along the way -- courtesy of supposed grown-ups -- which won't help him become a mature adult. If there's anything the game of basketball needs right now, at any level, its a mature adult.
So, when the Chargers pick 16th in the first round of Saturday's draft -- barring trade -- should they go for an offensive lineman? Maybe. Those halfway-through-the-round selections are tough. In good, deep drafts, there's game-changing talent still available. However, by the time your selection comes, you've just about run out of the impact guys. It's highly unlikely the remaining potential superstars are going to be in your area of need. So I say take the game-changer.
From there, however, there's no question that the lines need help. More so than a ball-carrier to groom as LT's replacement, more so than inside linebacker and more so than safety. The Chargers currently have nothing at right guard, very little at tackle and while Nick Hardwick is popular at center, even he can be improved upon. The draft gurus who talk tackle always focus on left tackles who protect a passer's blind side. I'm willing to try Marcus McNeill another year. They need a solid blocker on the right side of the offensive line more than anything.
The defensive line is a problem across the board. Jamal Williams is getting old, Luis Castillo was revealed to be pretty average last season and Ryon Bingham is a career backup. This is a group that's going to get flattened in 2009.
Despite brilliant skill talent, the Chargers have are trying to support them with mediocrity. No matter what happens in the first round of the 2009 draft, upgrades are necessary up front or the Bolts will not reach .500 this fall.
---
The seamy underside of basketball was never demonstrated so well as the story of San Diego High School basketball star Jeremy Tyler leaving for Europe to play his senior season before entering the NBA draft. By doing so, he will void his scholarship to Louisville and be ineligible to play college basketball.
Tyler is quoted as saying he won't get any better playing for a team without a coach and against San Diego County hoops "talent" that is regressing to traditional levels. Both points are valid and are good reasons to either return home to Eastlake HS where he should have stayed in the first place, or move to either LA to battle the superior talent or somewhere in Kentucky where he'll be close to what might have been his future coach.
The trouble is Tyler bit from the apple several years ago, when he ditched Eastlake for San Diego High's brighter lights. I'm sure he had no idea, certainly no intention, of the trouble that joined him, but his initial transfer set in motion the reasons why he can't simply move to another school now. Any change now would be for pure basketball reasons, which are against the same rules that made three other SDHS transfers ineligible. If none of that happened, he could have quietly transferred this year and none would be the wiser.
It's a shame. I hope Tyler makes it in the NBA and gets his millions. He appears to come from a solid family. Unfortunately, he's learning some awful lessons along the way -- courtesy of supposed grown-ups -- which won't help him become a mature adult. If there's anything the game of basketball needs right now, at any level, its a mature adult.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Moorad's Tasks for Padres; Aztecs Hoops
Here are what I see as the primary tasks for new Padres CEO Jeff Moorad, who took over for Sandy Alderson during spring training and eventually will become the majority owner.
1. Improving relations with fans. Since Petco Park opened in 2004, attendance at Padres games has dwindled. The first couple years after, it was by just a thousand or two per game. Last year, the drop from 2007 was 4,500 fans per game. A total reduction of around 7,500 fans from that inaugural season. More ominously, the Padres went from well above average National League attendance to well below.
The case should not be overstated. The 2.4 million total draw in 2008 was higher than all but two seasons at the various incarnations of Qualcomm Stadium. Still, the Friars had something going there for a few seasons and they're in the process of losing it.
An open and honest dialogue between Moorad and the fans, something that, fairly or unfairly, they didn't perceive they were getting from his predecessor, would be very helpful here.
2. Making baseball decisions based on baseball, not the bank account or over-reliance on computer analysis. No one is saying blow the checkbook or ignore the stats, but there's gotta be a happy medium. Our first hint of how this works out will likely come in the June amateur draft, unless a major early-season trade is made at the big-league level.
3. Lower the ticket and concession prices. I have no problem with field level seats being $30 a game and up to $57. What I have a problem with is upper reserved at $14. Those $9 bleacher seats they advertise are never actually available, in my experience. The cheap seats have got to be truly inexpensive and they're not. I have also lost my interest in the Park in the Park, where you just simply can't see the darn game. If you want to spend your evening in an interesting atmosphere, fine, but you're not going to watch a game. I do think they've made headway on concessions, in which there's a plan to get a hot dog, snacks and soft drink for $5.
If he does those things and re-establishes a solid working relationship with the players, in order to prevent future Trevor Hoffman fiascos, then he'll do well here.
---
Here we are the Friday before the season and the starting pitching situation has not improved a bit. It shows how bad things are with the pitching staff that the powers-that-be thought the bullpen was an even bigger priority. Now even the Peavy-Young duo is uncertain because Peavy trade rumors have resurfaced -- though I doubt them -- and Young was lit up like a stogie in Arizona last month.
Opposed to last year, I like the Padres in the field and their lineup in 2009. They might turn out to have the worst sea-level pitching staff since the Astros posted a 5.42 team ERA in 2000. The Astros, of course, play in the hitter-friendly confines then known as Enron Field. The Padres, in hitter-adverse Petco Park, will have a similar ERA hearing into June and will be well under.500.
Perhaps that's when we'll see what we have in our new CEO/future owner.
---
It was a shame that San Diego State's men's basketball team had to play Baylor in a semifinal of the NIT instead of the title game because the Bears, as expected, presented the sort of matchup that gave the Aztecs problems all season long. Still, it was an excellent season and you can't sneeze at a school-record for wins and a deep post-season tournament run.
As sad as it was for the season to conclude a game early, the arrival of the offseason is not the worst thing in the world, for the next seven basketball-free months should be very interesting.
First, there are a lot of key players leaving and a lot of top recruits taking over. Some services rate the class coming in this fall as the 15th best in the nation. I'm sure that's over-rating the case, but even if it is they're well-regarded. A good thing. How it all shakes out, who takes what role, who garners the playing time and who becomes the star, are all interesting questions.
Plus, Coach Steve Fisher and his staff will have two scholarships available for the next recruiting class, if my figuring is accurate, maybe three since kids on the lower rungs of the roster tend to transfer or quit to concentrate on academics. Can these coaches capitalize on success and the excitement of the Saint Mary's game to take their already very good recruiting even a notch higher? Some folks said that potential recruits were in Cox for the NIT quarterfinal. If those kids liked the atmosphere, maybe they come.
There's two clear areas of personnel improvement for SDSU that make the difference between the good program they are now and the very good or great teams from the BCS conferences. They don't have size at center. In the years they did have size, the players weren't terribly good. Can Fisher now bring in serious quality for the post? Size is also the issue at guard. The Aztecs are simply too short and skinny. Physical guards like Baylor's have been the primary reasons why SDSU struggles with power conference teams even as they beat nearly everyone else. The guards coming in this fall are only a little bigger than what they've had previously. If Fisher can just get someone with Richie Williams' talent in someone with Matt Thomas' body size, then the Aztecs program would be on the cusp of the Sweet 16.
Imagine that. Then people will hardly remember that quaint little run in the NIT.
1. Improving relations with fans. Since Petco Park opened in 2004, attendance at Padres games has dwindled. The first couple years after, it was by just a thousand or two per game. Last year, the drop from 2007 was 4,500 fans per game. A total reduction of around 7,500 fans from that inaugural season. More ominously, the Padres went from well above average National League attendance to well below.
The case should not be overstated. The 2.4 million total draw in 2008 was higher than all but two seasons at the various incarnations of Qualcomm Stadium. Still, the Friars had something going there for a few seasons and they're in the process of losing it.
An open and honest dialogue between Moorad and the fans, something that, fairly or unfairly, they didn't perceive they were getting from his predecessor, would be very helpful here.
2. Making baseball decisions based on baseball, not the bank account or over-reliance on computer analysis. No one is saying blow the checkbook or ignore the stats, but there's gotta be a happy medium. Our first hint of how this works out will likely come in the June amateur draft, unless a major early-season trade is made at the big-league level.
3. Lower the ticket and concession prices. I have no problem with field level seats being $30 a game and up to $57. What I have a problem with is upper reserved at $14. Those $9 bleacher seats they advertise are never actually available, in my experience. The cheap seats have got to be truly inexpensive and they're not. I have also lost my interest in the Park in the Park, where you just simply can't see the darn game. If you want to spend your evening in an interesting atmosphere, fine, but you're not going to watch a game. I do think they've made headway on concessions, in which there's a plan to get a hot dog, snacks and soft drink for $5.
If he does those things and re-establishes a solid working relationship with the players, in order to prevent future Trevor Hoffman fiascos, then he'll do well here.
---
Here we are the Friday before the season and the starting pitching situation has not improved a bit. It shows how bad things are with the pitching staff that the powers-that-be thought the bullpen was an even bigger priority. Now even the Peavy-Young duo is uncertain because Peavy trade rumors have resurfaced -- though I doubt them -- and Young was lit up like a stogie in Arizona last month.
Opposed to last year, I like the Padres in the field and their lineup in 2009. They might turn out to have the worst sea-level pitching staff since the Astros posted a 5.42 team ERA in 2000. The Astros, of course, play in the hitter-friendly confines then known as Enron Field. The Padres, in hitter-adverse Petco Park, will have a similar ERA hearing into June and will be well under.500.
Perhaps that's when we'll see what we have in our new CEO/future owner.
---
It was a shame that San Diego State's men's basketball team had to play Baylor in a semifinal of the NIT instead of the title game because the Bears, as expected, presented the sort of matchup that gave the Aztecs problems all season long. Still, it was an excellent season and you can't sneeze at a school-record for wins and a deep post-season tournament run.
As sad as it was for the season to conclude a game early, the arrival of the offseason is not the worst thing in the world, for the next seven basketball-free months should be very interesting.
First, there are a lot of key players leaving and a lot of top recruits taking over. Some services rate the class coming in this fall as the 15th best in the nation. I'm sure that's over-rating the case, but even if it is they're well-regarded. A good thing. How it all shakes out, who takes what role, who garners the playing time and who becomes the star, are all interesting questions.
Plus, Coach Steve Fisher and his staff will have two scholarships available for the next recruiting class, if my figuring is accurate, maybe three since kids on the lower rungs of the roster tend to transfer or quit to concentrate on academics. Can these coaches capitalize on success and the excitement of the Saint Mary's game to take their already very good recruiting even a notch higher? Some folks said that potential recruits were in Cox for the NIT quarterfinal. If those kids liked the atmosphere, maybe they come.
There's two clear areas of personnel improvement for SDSU that make the difference between the good program they are now and the very good or great teams from the BCS conferences. They don't have size at center. In the years they did have size, the players weren't terribly good. Can Fisher now bring in serious quality for the post? Size is also the issue at guard. The Aztecs are simply too short and skinny. Physical guards like Baylor's have been the primary reasons why SDSU struggles with power conference teams even as they beat nearly everyone else. The guards coming in this fall are only a little bigger than what they've had previously. If Fisher can just get someone with Richie Williams' talent in someone with Matt Thomas' body size, then the Aztecs program would be on the cusp of the Sweet 16.
Imagine that. Then people will hardly remember that quaint little run in the NIT.
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