Okay, I know I said I wouldn't start another post with a Padres comment, but I really didn't foresee them trading away injured P Jake Peavy, who was sent to the White Sox for four hurlers, three of them minor leaguers.
Immediate reaction: there are fewer true number one starters than major league baseball teams, so if you have one, you don't get better by sending him away.
The logical argument for trading Peavy is that his injury is nowhere close to healing and the front office is concerned about his future, whether he'll ever approach what he once was. GM Kevin Towers has unloaded damaged goods on other teams before, after all. However, you'd have to wonder what the White Sox are thinking in bringing such a guy to their ballclub.
The Padres organization has alienated local fans to the point where no one will buy the logical baseball argument. It's all about dumping salary. I gotta think the fans are right on this one.
The Padres are a better team today than they were yesterday for bringing in the new blood to the pitcher's mound, since Peavy was still on the DL. Lefty Aaron Poreda is a top prospect and could have some good years at Petco Park. But today no longer matters. What's important is whether the Padres will be better for this trade in April 2010 when everyone is healthy again, and the answer is clearly no.
---
Randy Ready for Jim Lefebvre, who took over from Wally Joyner and on it goes with the batting coach position for the Padres. As long as they're trying to coax hits from the same ballplayers, it doesn't matter who the coach is.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Last Chance for Current Chargers?
With LaDainian Tomlinson's advancing age, unsettled lines and injuries catching up to Shawne Merriman and Antonio Gates, one of the themes we'll be hearing as training camp opens this week is whether 2009 is the last legitimate Super Bowl opportunity for this crop of Chargers.
I tend to think not. My belief is more that core players including those three have a two-year window before age and injuries begin to take their toll and reduce their status as contenders. By way of clarification, Philip Rivers is clearly part of the core but he's emerging as one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the NFL and has plenty of good years in front of him unless he's injured.
It would make us all feel better, of course, if they get off to a decent start, if Merriman can reignite the aggressive butt-whipping style of the defense of years-past, and Tomlinson and Gates can pair with Rivers to score points aplenty. An opening trio of the Raiders in Oakland, and the Ravens and Dolphins at home, is encouraging. A Chargers team headed for a deep playoff run emerges 3-0 before a showdown in Pittsburgh.
I'm still old school and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face -- or blew in my nose -- that the Bolts front office is ignoring the line of scrimmage at its peril. The offensive line is now subpar at three of the five positions, a ratio that will increase to four of five if Marcus McNeill doesn't return to the form of his rookie season. The defensive line offers aging Jamal Williams, career backup Ryon Bingham and inconsistent Luis Castillo. An improvement at linebacker will do no good if opposing blockers are allowed to get in their way. Therefore, I suspect teams with good running games will be the Chargers Achilles heels. Uh, the first three opponents were among the better rushing ballclubs in the league last year. Oops.
Therefore, you might see Coach Norv Turner come out with very aggressive offensive gameplans early in order to get a jump on the other team and force them to pass.
That's how I see things. It's a long season, and one of the things we learned last year is that the first half of the epic is not necessarily a predictor of the second half. There's also the advantage in competing in the AFC West, which might not be as strong as the SEC.
---
Speaking of college football, San Diego State opens camp Aug. 10 and it will be very interesting to see how Brady Hoke and his staff have molded their players. By the end of spring practice, it was clear this team was lacking in experienced talent. The kids who were playing, with a couple of notable exceptions, weren't all that good. The promising younger players were just that, promising.
A lot can happen in a few months, though, and by all accounts just about the entire roster and most of the incoming recruits have been working diligently. How Hoke, Al Borges, Rocky Long, Brian Sipe and the others on the staff can "coach them up" will be interesting to see.
One of the themes we could have for the Aztecs this year is turnover -- not just of the coaching staff taking over for Chuck Long, but for the two-deep of players. It wouldn't be too suprising to see a wholesale number of younger players in the lineup by the end of the season. Hopefully, that will be from a talent infusion instead of an injury siege like last year.
---
Back in the old days, 13-1 losses to the team with the worst record in baseball would get someone fired. For the Padres, it was just another day at the office ... Will someone end the misery for Josh Geer? Jeez, four earned runs and three homers in four innings pitched? I know Cincinnati is a hitter's park, but come on ... Kyle Blanks sucks. There, I wrote it. Last week I mentioned the young outfielder's inability to reach the cheap seats and he suddenly knocked a few out. He got some other hits too and has his average nearly up to .200. So now that my latest criticism has been offered, maybe he'll go out and have another big week ... I'm not a huge animal rights activist, but as time goes on and there continues to be fatalities at Del Mar, the validity of the protestors arguments improves. You can't ignore a problem and hope it will go away.
I tend to think not. My belief is more that core players including those three have a two-year window before age and injuries begin to take their toll and reduce their status as contenders. By way of clarification, Philip Rivers is clearly part of the core but he's emerging as one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the NFL and has plenty of good years in front of him unless he's injured.
It would make us all feel better, of course, if they get off to a decent start, if Merriman can reignite the aggressive butt-whipping style of the defense of years-past, and Tomlinson and Gates can pair with Rivers to score points aplenty. An opening trio of the Raiders in Oakland, and the Ravens and Dolphins at home, is encouraging. A Chargers team headed for a deep playoff run emerges 3-0 before a showdown in Pittsburgh.
I'm still old school and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face -- or blew in my nose -- that the Bolts front office is ignoring the line of scrimmage at its peril. The offensive line is now subpar at three of the five positions, a ratio that will increase to four of five if Marcus McNeill doesn't return to the form of his rookie season. The defensive line offers aging Jamal Williams, career backup Ryon Bingham and inconsistent Luis Castillo. An improvement at linebacker will do no good if opposing blockers are allowed to get in their way. Therefore, I suspect teams with good running games will be the Chargers Achilles heels. Uh, the first three opponents were among the better rushing ballclubs in the league last year. Oops.
Therefore, you might see Coach Norv Turner come out with very aggressive offensive gameplans early in order to get a jump on the other team and force them to pass.
That's how I see things. It's a long season, and one of the things we learned last year is that the first half of the epic is not necessarily a predictor of the second half. There's also the advantage in competing in the AFC West, which might not be as strong as the SEC.
---
Speaking of college football, San Diego State opens camp Aug. 10 and it will be very interesting to see how Brady Hoke and his staff have molded their players. By the end of spring practice, it was clear this team was lacking in experienced talent. The kids who were playing, with a couple of notable exceptions, weren't all that good. The promising younger players were just that, promising.
A lot can happen in a few months, though, and by all accounts just about the entire roster and most of the incoming recruits have been working diligently. How Hoke, Al Borges, Rocky Long, Brian Sipe and the others on the staff can "coach them up" will be interesting to see.
One of the themes we could have for the Aztecs this year is turnover -- not just of the coaching staff taking over for Chuck Long, but for the two-deep of players. It wouldn't be too suprising to see a wholesale number of younger players in the lineup by the end of the season. Hopefully, that will be from a talent infusion instead of an injury siege like last year.
---
Back in the old days, 13-1 losses to the team with the worst record in baseball would get someone fired. For the Padres, it was just another day at the office ... Will someone end the misery for Josh Geer? Jeez, four earned runs and three homers in four innings pitched? I know Cincinnati is a hitter's park, but come on ... Kyle Blanks sucks. There, I wrote it. Last week I mentioned the young outfielder's inability to reach the cheap seats and he suddenly knocked a few out. He got some other hits too and has his average nearly up to .200. So now that my latest criticism has been offered, maybe he'll go out and have another big week ... I'm not a huge animal rights activist, but as time goes on and there continues to be fatalities at Del Mar, the validity of the protestors arguments improves. You can't ignore a problem and hope it will go away.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Baseball America was Right
Remember the uproar when Baseball America a few years ago called the Padres minor league system the worst in baseball? They were right, weren't they? Oh, yeah.
Because of injuries and poor performances by veterans, the Padres have had to pull up a bunch of players this year from Portland and San Antonio, and they're not exactly cutting the mustard.
Last season's savior-to-be, Chase Headley, is batting just .239 with 9 home runs and 34 RBI through Sunday. Will Venable is at .227 with 5 RBI in 75 at-bats. Luis Rodriguez is looking more like Mario Mendoza every day, batting .205 with 9 RBI in 132 at-bats. This season's savior, the tall Kyle Blanks, is hitting .163, hasn't knocked one out of the park and appears to have too giant of a strike zone for his swing.
And those are just the hitters. Don't get me started on pitching. Let's hope Tim Stauffer has another good start vs the Marlins tonight, which would give him a pair of quality outings in his second stab at a big league career. He is the only guy among the youngsters who seems to have a chance at fulfilling his promise this season. I think Blanks still has potential. He's very athletic for such a big guy. If he's smart and a hard worker -- and I don't know if he is or is not -- then he could iron out his problems at the plate and turn himself into a solid outfielder. It's up to him.
Otherwise, no one the Padres have brought forth from their system has impressed me a bit, so I'd have to say Baseball America's editors knew what they were writing about. I don't know where Mat Latos fit into their thinking. At the time, he was so low in the Padres system that he might not have been much of a factor. Now he's in San Diego after only a few AA starts and actually looked like he had a clue against the Rockies on Sunday. He's still tender young so there's no sense counting on him. I just hope he's a sign of what's to come from the lower levels of the farm system in future years, because the guys brought up to help this year aren't helping much.
---
Whenever someone of Slavic descent would come into the sports world someone would throw out a stupid joke like, so-and-so needs a vowel. Latos could use a consonant.
---
Interesting article in The San Diego Union-Tribune by Mark Zeigler Sunday about how most professional sports teams in the world, if they finish in the last couple places in the standings, are relegated to a lower division. It would be like the Padres being sent to AAA for next year.
I just don't see how that can happen in the American system of sports, with the vast financial commitments made by the teams and communities to be of major league caliber and our natural abhorrance of caste systems so prevalent around the world.
There are instances, however, of professional sports franchises that have become so used to losing that they need to have some sort of wake-up call. Just a few off the top of my head:
1. Detroit Lions. No doubt they should be punished for the past two decades. There is no minor league pro football, but if there was, they should go.
2. Arizona Cardinals. Until the last couple years, the face of futility in the NFL. No longer applies, but I think you get my drift.
3. Philadelphia 76ers. They haven't done anything since Dr. J was around.
4. Los Angeles Clippers. Their logo might be next to the word 'losing' in the dictionary.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates. How they can co-exist in the same city with the Steelers and Penguins is beyond me. You have two stellar franchises right there to emulate.
6. Kansas City Royals. Starting the beautiful ballpark trend no longer excuses their annual losing.
Sure, the Padres are bad now, but they do have a few division titles in the middle of the decade along with the 1998 World Series appearance and 1996 NL West crown. So they don't deserve to be on the above list, but they are so bad right now it's interesting to talk about.
---
I'm sorry, but we're headed into late-July and I'm ready for football. Unless something wild happens I doubt if I'll lead any posts with baseball for the rest of the year, until October demands season-ending comments.
Meanwhile, I promised to mention kayaking if the Padres were this bad in the middle of the summer. Santa Clara Sports Center on Mission Bay. Rent one and get some good exercise. I'm actually waiting until our strangely cold water warms up. The weather people claim El Nino is coming, so I think all the warm ocean water has congealed over the mid-Pacific.
Because of injuries and poor performances by veterans, the Padres have had to pull up a bunch of players this year from Portland and San Antonio, and they're not exactly cutting the mustard.
Last season's savior-to-be, Chase Headley, is batting just .239 with 9 home runs and 34 RBI through Sunday. Will Venable is at .227 with 5 RBI in 75 at-bats. Luis Rodriguez is looking more like Mario Mendoza every day, batting .205 with 9 RBI in 132 at-bats. This season's savior, the tall Kyle Blanks, is hitting .163, hasn't knocked one out of the park and appears to have too giant of a strike zone for his swing.
And those are just the hitters. Don't get me started on pitching. Let's hope Tim Stauffer has another good start vs the Marlins tonight, which would give him a pair of quality outings in his second stab at a big league career. He is the only guy among the youngsters who seems to have a chance at fulfilling his promise this season. I think Blanks still has potential. He's very athletic for such a big guy. If he's smart and a hard worker -- and I don't know if he is or is not -- then he could iron out his problems at the plate and turn himself into a solid outfielder. It's up to him.
Otherwise, no one the Padres have brought forth from their system has impressed me a bit, so I'd have to say Baseball America's editors knew what they were writing about. I don't know where Mat Latos fit into their thinking. At the time, he was so low in the Padres system that he might not have been much of a factor. Now he's in San Diego after only a few AA starts and actually looked like he had a clue against the Rockies on Sunday. He's still tender young so there's no sense counting on him. I just hope he's a sign of what's to come from the lower levels of the farm system in future years, because the guys brought up to help this year aren't helping much.
---
Whenever someone of Slavic descent would come into the sports world someone would throw out a stupid joke like, so-and-so needs a vowel. Latos could use a consonant.
---
Interesting article in The San Diego Union-Tribune by Mark Zeigler Sunday about how most professional sports teams in the world, if they finish in the last couple places in the standings, are relegated to a lower division. It would be like the Padres being sent to AAA for next year.
I just don't see how that can happen in the American system of sports, with the vast financial commitments made by the teams and communities to be of major league caliber and our natural abhorrance of caste systems so prevalent around the world.
There are instances, however, of professional sports franchises that have become so used to losing that they need to have some sort of wake-up call. Just a few off the top of my head:
1. Detroit Lions. No doubt they should be punished for the past two decades. There is no minor league pro football, but if there was, they should go.
2. Arizona Cardinals. Until the last couple years, the face of futility in the NFL. No longer applies, but I think you get my drift.
3. Philadelphia 76ers. They haven't done anything since Dr. J was around.
4. Los Angeles Clippers. Their logo might be next to the word 'losing' in the dictionary.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates. How they can co-exist in the same city with the Steelers and Penguins is beyond me. You have two stellar franchises right there to emulate.
6. Kansas City Royals. Starting the beautiful ballpark trend no longer excuses their annual losing.
Sure, the Padres are bad now, but they do have a few division titles in the middle of the decade along with the 1998 World Series appearance and 1996 NL West crown. So they don't deserve to be on the above list, but they are so bad right now it's interesting to talk about.
---
I'm sorry, but we're headed into late-July and I'm ready for football. Unless something wild happens I doubt if I'll lead any posts with baseball for the rest of the year, until October demands season-ending comments.
Meanwhile, I promised to mention kayaking if the Padres were this bad in the middle of the summer. Santa Clara Sports Center on Mission Bay. Rent one and get some good exercise. I'm actually waiting until our strangely cold water warms up. The weather people claim El Nino is coming, so I think all the warm ocean water has congealed over the mid-Pacific.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Ups and Downs of Baseball, SDSU Stadium
Baseball, the good: Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State and West Hills HS in Santee wins the Golden Spikes Award as the Player of the Year in college baseball. No surprise there and congratulations. Strasburg, with all the stories about how he came to college soft and turned himself into the monster pitcher that he is, makes for a great life story for parents to use with their children.
Baseball, the good: Adam Jones of Morse HS and now the Orioles drives home the winning run in the All-Star game with a sacrifice fly off the Padres' Heath Bell.
Baseball, the bad: The Padres Heath Bell is the losing pitcher in the mid-summer classic.
Baseball, the worse: The Padres really suck. I accept to a certain degree that their poor play of the past month is, in part, due to injuries. They were within hailing distance of .500 when starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young went down with injuries. Add to that the loss of 2B David Eckstein and C Nick Hundley, and that hurts a bit, no question.
What really strikes me about the team's futility is that the Friars have the second worse team ERA and have given up the second-most runs in the National League despite playing half their games at pitching-friendly Petco Park. If these guys hurled in Cincinnati, the team ERA would be over 6.00.
I have to admit to not being impressed by the recent statements made by Padres president Tom Garfinkel, who is busying himself with improving the "fan experience" at a relatively new baseball park. As one letter writer to the Union-Tribune mentioned, get a better team and the fan experience will be great. Garfinkel's reaction to the current predicament is to baffle us with BS. I know it will take a couple of years probably to turn things around, but we'd rather see progress on the field than a new video board.
---
A barely noticed tidbit from Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani on XTRA 1360 Tuesday: SDSU AD Jeff Schemmel has mentioned a couple times something about building the school's own stadium. Interesting. He also said with the state's budgetary difficulties that any talk was unrealistic, and his NFL team fully considered SDSU to be the main tenant of their new facility.
As reported here recently, Fabiani says the Bolts have talked to the city of San Diego more the past few months than in the four years that Michael Aguirre was the city attorney, and they were looking at sites downtown, though nothing has jelled.
Fabiani also said the state of the nation's monetary system means financing will take a while for a new Chargers stadium, so my thinking is by the time they come up with money, the state of California also might come up with money. I can see a lag time of a couple of years between private and public capital markets returning to normal, but the Aztecs might be able to get their own place sometime in the next few years.
Baseball, the good: Adam Jones of Morse HS and now the Orioles drives home the winning run in the All-Star game with a sacrifice fly off the Padres' Heath Bell.
Baseball, the bad: The Padres Heath Bell is the losing pitcher in the mid-summer classic.
Baseball, the worse: The Padres really suck. I accept to a certain degree that their poor play of the past month is, in part, due to injuries. They were within hailing distance of .500 when starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young went down with injuries. Add to that the loss of 2B David Eckstein and C Nick Hundley, and that hurts a bit, no question.
What really strikes me about the team's futility is that the Friars have the second worse team ERA and have given up the second-most runs in the National League despite playing half their games at pitching-friendly Petco Park. If these guys hurled in Cincinnati, the team ERA would be over 6.00.
I have to admit to not being impressed by the recent statements made by Padres president Tom Garfinkel, who is busying himself with improving the "fan experience" at a relatively new baseball park. As one letter writer to the Union-Tribune mentioned, get a better team and the fan experience will be great. Garfinkel's reaction to the current predicament is to baffle us with BS. I know it will take a couple of years probably to turn things around, but we'd rather see progress on the field than a new video board.
---
A barely noticed tidbit from Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani on XTRA 1360 Tuesday: SDSU AD Jeff Schemmel has mentioned a couple times something about building the school's own stadium. Interesting. He also said with the state's budgetary difficulties that any talk was unrealistic, and his NFL team fully considered SDSU to be the main tenant of their new facility.
As reported here recently, Fabiani says the Bolts have talked to the city of San Diego more the past few months than in the four years that Michael Aguirre was the city attorney, and they were looking at sites downtown, though nothing has jelled.
Fabiani also said the state of the nation's monetary system means financing will take a while for a new Chargers stadium, so my thinking is by the time they come up with money, the state of California also might come up with money. I can see a lag time of a couple of years between private and public capital markets returning to normal, but the Aztecs might be able to get their own place sometime in the next few years.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Jones to All-Stars, Hairston Trade
Another blog entry, another "local baseball product makes good" story. Gotta love it.
This time it's Adam Jones, who was named to the All-Star Game as a reserve outfielder representing the Baltimore Orioles. Jones was the great shortstop and pitcher who, with help from a then-young Bruce Billings and if memory serves right Glenn Swanson, led Morse to the semifinals of the Division I baseball playoffs. The Tigers, who really never had much happening in baseball before Jones showed up and haven't done much since the Billings brothers left, really pressed Rancho Bernardo hard before falling.
Jones was a clearly dominant presence, easily the best baseball player on the field that day or just about any day he showed up. That was back in the day when I had a say in who was selected the CIF Player of the Year, and I pushed really hard for Jones. I wish I could have been more persuasive, because events since have proved out what a great high school ballplayer he was. The award isn't to honor the best pro prospect. It's for the best high school player, no matter whether he plays another inning anywhere. But pro success certainly proves vindicating, and what Jones has done this season makes me feel better for standing up on his behalf.
His stat line as of this writing is .308-12-46 as the regular number two hitter in the Birds lineup. He's struck out only 60 times in nearly 300 at-bats. He's only 23 years old and is exciting an organization that traded P Erik Bedard to get him. There hasn't been much to cheer for during the summer in Baltimore since I was a young adult.
On the other hand, as in the post on Sean O'Sullivan, there's always a downside. Jones was hurt over the weekend when he crashed into the outfield wall chasing down a fly by Kevin Youkilis. That's the same guy Jones stole a home run from a week earlier. It doesn't look too bad, and hopefully he'll be able to make his appearance in St. Louis.
---
It's tempting with the Padres back in last place to think that Kevin Towers will start trading everyone in sight since the deadline is only a few weeks away. He started by trading OF Scott Hairston to Oakland Sunday for pitching prospects. But the question becomes who do they trade?
I looked through the Padres roster and, assuming the Padres don't trade pitching, there's no one I want besides OF/1B Kyle Blanks. Gonzalez, of course, but he's not going anywhere. With Peavy on the DL, don't expect any more significant trades unless some GM gets blinded by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Cough, cough, hack. Sure.
This time it's Adam Jones, who was named to the All-Star Game as a reserve outfielder representing the Baltimore Orioles. Jones was the great shortstop and pitcher who, with help from a then-young Bruce Billings and if memory serves right Glenn Swanson, led Morse to the semifinals of the Division I baseball playoffs. The Tigers, who really never had much happening in baseball before Jones showed up and haven't done much since the Billings brothers left, really pressed Rancho Bernardo hard before falling.
Jones was a clearly dominant presence, easily the best baseball player on the field that day or just about any day he showed up. That was back in the day when I had a say in who was selected the CIF Player of the Year, and I pushed really hard for Jones. I wish I could have been more persuasive, because events since have proved out what a great high school ballplayer he was. The award isn't to honor the best pro prospect. It's for the best high school player, no matter whether he plays another inning anywhere. But pro success certainly proves vindicating, and what Jones has done this season makes me feel better for standing up on his behalf.
His stat line as of this writing is .308-12-46 as the regular number two hitter in the Birds lineup. He's struck out only 60 times in nearly 300 at-bats. He's only 23 years old and is exciting an organization that traded P Erik Bedard to get him. There hasn't been much to cheer for during the summer in Baltimore since I was a young adult.
On the other hand, as in the post on Sean O'Sullivan, there's always a downside. Jones was hurt over the weekend when he crashed into the outfield wall chasing down a fly by Kevin Youkilis. That's the same guy Jones stole a home run from a week earlier. It doesn't look too bad, and hopefully he'll be able to make his appearance in St. Louis.
---
It's tempting with the Padres back in last place to think that Kevin Towers will start trading everyone in sight since the deadline is only a few weeks away. He started by trading OF Scott Hairston to Oakland Sunday for pitching prospects. But the question becomes who do they trade?
I looked through the Padres roster and, assuming the Padres don't trade pitching, there's no one I want besides OF/1B Kyle Blanks. Gonzalez, of course, but he's not going anywhere. With Peavy on the DL, don't expect any more significant trades unless some GM gets blinded by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Cough, cough, hack. Sure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)