I'm waiting for good off-season news from the Padres.
Of course, I'm not exactly holding my breath, either, for that could prove fatal the way things have started out. While GM Jed Hoyer has added a defensive-minded project in CF Cameron Maybin, we've been treated to saying goodbye to a whole bunch of other quality players.
The latest here on Friday is that trade talks are heating up with the Red Sox over 1B Adrian Gonzalez, who would go to Boston for prospects. I understand why trading the best player -- and most marketable -- on the team might be necessary, but at least get a major league hitter for him. There is nothing this team needs more than a legitimate threat in the batter's box and if Gonzalez goes, there will be none.
(Saturday morning edit: sources say the deal is done, with P Casey Kelly, 1B Anthony Rizzo and OF Reymund Fuentes coming here. Kelly was considered the Sox top prospect despite going 3-5, 5.31 in 21 starts in AA this year, throws in the low-90s and has a hard curveball; Rizzo is a big lefty with gap power that might fit Petco Park well, solid defender and considered a top prospect despite mediocre minor league numbers; Fuentes looks like another Maybin.)
I will say that by listening to the radio and reading some Internet postings, some panic appears to be setting in among Padres fans about the 2011 season, but Hoyer did a fine job in patching holes last year and Bud Black was fully deserving of his NL Manager of the Year Award despite stiff opposition. It's early yet -- I won't panic until tomorrow. No, seriously, mid-January.
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It doesn't take much to read into coach Brady Hoke's motivation for waiting to sign his contract extension at San Diego State. It's because the Michigan athletic director will not evaluate embattled Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez until after their bowl game, most likely at the start of the new year. None of this is really news, but it at least gives us a timeline.
Michigan is Hoke's dream job, even if he would probably not, at this point, be the top candidate. That would be Jim Harbaugh, the former Chargers QB and USD coach who took the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl and now runs the Stanford program. Michigan might want him, but Harbaugh went to high school in Palo Alto in a family that was involved in athletics on The Farm. I'm not sure he goes. If he doesn't, then Hoke moves one rung up the ladder of candidates, who knows how close to the top.
A lot of people are annoyed with Hoke for dragging this whole thing out, and I would be too if this were all about Minnesota or Indiana. But it's Michigan, and you've got to allow a man to pursue his career dream, especially when the SDSU program could absorb the horrible timing of such a loss in-house.
Eventually, I think this will all go for naught -- this year. I think cooler heads will prevail in Ann Arbor, where Rodriguez has the right QB to run his spread offense. He just needs to recruit better players for defense.
Coincidentally, the Aztecs play in the "Big House" next season. If Michigan is struggling again, it could be an on-scene audition for Hoke.
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It was a wonderful night, Wednesday, watching Hoke and the Aztec football seniors accepting an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl before the basketball game vs. Saint Mary's. I like Hoke but sometimes I don't understand his methods. His bomb-throwing QB is a junior, his top defenders are a junior and sophomore, his conference Freshman of the Year running back is, yep, a freshman. I think they should have joined in the fun...Then to watch the hoops team dismantle a very good Gaels squad that returned three starters from a Sweet 16 appearance en-route to a 14-point win in which they were never seriously threatened...The Wichita State game is on track to be another sellout. If the Aztecs can get through the next couple games unscathed, you might not find another empty seat at Viejas Arena the rest of the season...I haven't written about the Chargers much because, well, none of what's happening is particularly surprising. Stop screwing up and you win...Congratulations to coaches Gary Blevins and Chris Thompson for getting Mira Mesa High to the stadium after many years of playoff frustration...Oceanside High has won six straight Division II titles and is headed back to the final again. The Pirates really should be competing in Division I...I love it whenever the Padres sign a local guy, like P Aaron Harang (Patrick Henry High, SDSU), but since his best season of 2007 (16-6, 3.87), his records have been 6-17, 6-14, and 6-7 with bad ERA's. At least we can count on the Padres winning six games next season.
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