DePodesta: It Might Be Dangerous… You Go First

Plaschke was right!

I began thinking about hosting a blog about a year ago, and back in January I took the first big step by starting an internal blog for employees of the Padres. The idea all along was to someday create an external blog to engage in a direct dialogue with our fans. Well, given the events of the past few weeks, that “someday” is now.

...Nevertheless, hopefully you’ll find it useful to have some unfiltered access to our internal conversations and feelings. We’ll have to figure out the rules as we go since I won’t be able to share everything, but I think it’s important to open this avenue right now.

So, I’m here, and I’d like to be a part of the conversation. I’ll do my best to reply to comments/questions, though I can’t promise punctual responses or regular posts. After all, just like everyone else out there, I already have a job. :-)

Hit me with whatever you have and let’s get out of this slump together.

Thanks to Can’t Stop the Bleeding.

MLB: Prior experiencing shoulder discomfort

What doofs...MLB.com misspelled Pavano.

Pitcher Mark Prior is returning to San Diego on Sunday, though it won’t be to pitch for the Padres.

Prior experienced discomfort in his surgically repaired right shoulder during a throwing session on Saturday. He will be examined by team doctors on Sunday.

“I think you can call it a setback,” San Diego manager Bud Black said, “but we’ll know more [Sunday].”

WaPo: Boswell: Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz a showcase for great players who did it right

I think the Boswell Museum has kept its doors open a little tooooo long past its closing hour.

Eventually, your wins, like your sins, will find you out.

In San Diego tonight, Greg Maddux will try to win his 350th game. Later this year, he may pass Roger Clemens’s total of 354. But whether Maddux hits either number, the verdict is in. It arrived in the Mitchell report. The greatest right-handed pitcher since Walter Johnson is no longer the tainted Clemens but the mesmerizing Maddux.

Just as Barry Bonds’s 762 homers will always be a smaller number—arithmetic be damned—than Hank Aaron’s 755, so Maddux already has forever outdistanced Clemens.

Searching for silver linings in a steroid age is hard work. But there are some. Perhaps none is brighter than the realization that Maddux, and two of his former teammates, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, all of them presumptive Hall of Famers, will now be among those who move up most dramatically as we reevaluate the stars of the past 20 years.

MLB.com: Padres part ways with Edmonds

The Padres decided to sever ties with Jim Edmonds on Friday, releasing the 37-year-old, eight-time Gold Glove winner after he struggled offensively and defensively during the first month of the season.

“It’s just not happening for him statistically,” Padres manager Bud Black said Thursday before a 5-4 loss to the Braves ended a 2-7 road trip, leaving the reeling Padres with a 12-23 record and in last place in the National League West.

Edmonds, 37, was hitting just .178 with 24 strikeouts in 90 at-bats.
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The Padres have recalled outfielder Jody Gerut from Triple-A Portland to take Edmonds’ spot on the 25-man roster.
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In another move, the Padres claimed… pitcher Sean Henn off waivers from the Yankees.

S.I.: Donovan: An offense that’s been offensive is dooming the Padres chances

The Padres...the worst thing to come out of San Diego since the ballsy Genetic Disorder T-shirt story!

None of it has mattered. The Padres have trailed after seven innings 16 times this season. They are 0-16 in those games.

“I think you can say that if things continue down this way,” Bud Black says when pressed, “we may have no choice but to change some things.”

The first move may be getting rid of Edmonds. The 37-year-old has been ripped mercilessly in several circles as injury-prone and past his prime. Several observers say that he looks slow and lost at times in the outfield. His numbers at the plate have dropped so precipitously that Wednesday night, trailing by three runs in the ninth, Black pinch hit for him with rookie Callix Crabbe.

Even GM Towers now has his doubts as to whether Edmonds, who has a history of concussions and missed several weeks in spring training with a pulled calf muscle, can be anything close to what the team envisioned when they traded for him last December.

“You’d like to think that they’re able to find their way out of it,” Towers says of the team’s veterans in general. “If not, maybe that’s a telltale sign that they’re done. You know, there comes a point in time ...”

Friar Forecast: Pads most likely to make the HOF?

This is funnier stuff than you’ll ever see at the Steve Huntz Hall of Comedy at PETCO Park!

I had a thought while reading a Hall of Fame debate thread: Which Padre is most likely to make the hall? The only criterion is that the player has to have played on this year’s team. So here are my top ten, in order:

1. Greg Maddux
2. Trevor Hoffman
3. Jim Edmonds
4. Jake Peavy
5. Brian Giles
6. Adrian Gonzalez
7. Kevin Kouzmanoff
8. Khalil Greene
9. Chris Young
10. Heath Bell

I think Maddux is up around 100%, obviously. Hoffman is up there, too. I’d guess Edmonds is around 65-75%, but I think he should be higher (i.e., the voters will underrate him). I’ll say Peavy has around a 50% chance. He is off to a decent start, huh? I would put him higher, but he has to put up another 4-5 great years, at least, to garner any real consideration, imo. He could go on to be a lock and have an unreal career, but there’s also a decent chance he breaks down or fads away like so many other pitchers (or players, really). I don’t think there’s much of a chance for Giles, who has a great track record. A non-elite fielder who got most of his value from OBP — nah, not gettin’ in (I’m not sure if he deserves real consideration, but he’ll be underrated anyway).

LA Times: Buzzie Bavasi, former Dodgers GM, dies at 92

He may have bled Dodger blue, but he was still a front-office Giant:

“I’ve had to take the abuse for that over the years, but that’s fine,” Bavasi told The Times in 2005. “Stay around long enough and there’s going to be abuse.”

Although his reputation as a dynamic baseball executive became somewhat tarnished during his time with the Padres and Angels, Bavasi will be remembered best for building championship Dodgers teams while staying within the budget of parsimonious owner Walter O’Malley.

SoSD: Sullivan: Peavy pitches the idea of acquiring the ageless Lofton

The sinking of the SS CF Edmonds fits Jacob.

Jake Peavy’s next start is Sunday, but the Padres’ ace made an unscheduled pitch on behalf of Kenny Lofton yesterday.

“I like Kenny,” Peavy said of the unemployed outfielder. “I think he’d bring a dimension to this ballclub that we don’t have any of—we have no team speed.

“It’s not my call. It’s not my decision. But he’d definitely be a spark.”

...Maybe Kenny Lofton is not the answer, but it’s hard to dispute Peavy’s assertion that the Padres’ predicament is “borderline ridiculous” or the mounting evidence in support of sweeping change.

“Stir it up,” Peavy told a reporter, by way of encouragement. “I like it.”

Ledezma plunks Conor Jackson for swinging too hard.

Post game host on Channel 4, Bob Scanlan got real fired up talking about Ledezma hitting Conor Jackson in the ribs after he swung so hard that he fell to his knees in the previous pitch.

“Can you swing any harder than that?  Come on now.  You can’t be swinging hard like that.  A message has got to be sent and Wil Ledezma does it.”

Ledezma hits Jackson in the ribs with the next pitch.

“Wear that!  I’m not for hurting people but at the same time you cannot have batters standing in that batters box swinging as hard as they possibly can and think that you aren’t going to send a message… He came in, he wasn’t head hunting, he went right for the ribs.  You know what?  You don’t like it Conor?  You know where to find me!

“You’ve got to send a message, not just to Conor Jackson but to that entire Arizona Diamondback ball club.  You want to swing hard like that?  Do it against the Dodgers.  Do it against the Giants.  Go ahead and swing like that against the Colorado Rockies, but you aren’t going to do it here against the San Diego Padres here in Petco Park.  Well done Wil Ledezma.”

The question was raised in the Lounge, how recent of an addition is this to baseball’s unwritten rules?  I’ve asked a few people if they’ve ever heard of this practice before this season and all have said no.

Maddux: ‘Closing’s got to be the hardest job in baseball’

Another Mad Dog Minute!

Don’t tell Greg Maddux that relievers are failed starting pitchers. Maddux, who has made 712 starts, said a closer has baseball’s toughest job because the mental burden is so great.

“When the closer messes up, you lose,” Maddux said, elaborating on comments he made Wednesday after closer Trevor Hoffman blew the save. “Anyone here can go 0-for-4—you can still win. A starting pitcher can get knocked out in the fifth—you can still win. A reliever can come in and walk the two guys he faces—you can still win.

“Mentally, closing’s got to be the hardest job in baseball.”

Maddux, who entered the majors in 1986, is amused how quickly people assume a good set-up reliever can shift into a closer’s role. “Everyone thinks it’s just physical thing—they don’t understand,” he said. “These guys who pitch before (the closer) have a good month and everyone’s like, ‘He should be the closer.’ It’s a little different. And that’s not to mention how a closer is the anchor point of the ‘pen.”

God honors Sabbath; Padres to defeat Diamondbacks

In what some observers have termed “as setting a good example” God refused to act on behalf of his chosen team as the San Diego Padres scored nine runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks four on the 20th of April, 2008 A.D.

According to several Phoenix-based theists, God had determined in advance of the current baseball season that the Diamondbacks were the “chosen team”.  While many theologians had downplayed the possibility it is understood that the Supreme Being is indeed a baseball fan and has been known to take an active role in the proceedings for his own purposes.  (See Mets, 1969)

After observing the Diamondbacks win two games by a cumulative total of 19-3 the Holy One assuaged concerns among advisors by honoring his assigned “day of rest”.  While no direct connection was claimed more than a few noted that bereft of divine intervention the Arizona squad was thrashed quite handily by a team that before today’s game was last in the National League in both runs scored and home runs.

Though no comment was available from The Great Beyond, the visiting Pope Benedict did offer, “Ich bin ein anti-levski”.

MLB.com: Huber’s first homer propels Padres

Chances are Justin Huber won’t romanticize tales of his first Major League home run when he gets around to returning to his native Australia, but not because he didn’t think it was an important hit for himself and the Padres on Sunday.

“It’s pretty special… but I don’t see myself telling stories about it in 10 or 20 years,” Huber said. “No one (in Australia) knows who Randy Johnson is.”
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But Huber’s first home run was clearly the highlight of the game for the Padres and a welcome sight for a team that had gone 106 innings without a home run until they hit two on Saturday.

“We think there’s a home run in our lineup,” Padres manager Bud Black said.

He just might not have thought Huber would have been the one to hit one off Johnson (0-1), who allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits with three walks in 5 2/3 innings.

AP: Streaking Diamondbacks beat Padres 10-3

Arizona has won the first two games of the series by a combined 19-3 and has outscored its opponents 112-56 this season. The Diamondbacks were outscored by 20 runs on their way to the NL West title last year.

Winning games has been OK but I’m really happy the Dbacks are taking care of that Pythag this year. It’s the moral victories that count.

Former all-star Ryan Klesko retires after 16 seasons in major leagues

Come down to Bootworld and tell them I...packed it in.

Ryan Klesko is retiring after 16 seasons in the major leagues, agent Joe Sambito said Friday.

Klesko, an all-star in 2001 with San Diego, hit .260 last season with six homers and 44 RBIs in 362 at-bats for the San Francisco Giants. He played in only six games the previous year for the Padres because of shoulder surgery. The 36-year-old became a free agent following the World Series and didn’t sign.

Klesko batted .279 with 278 homers and 987 RBIs. His best season was 2001, when he hit .286 with 30 homers and 113 RBIs.

He spent seven seasons with San Diego after playing his first eight years in the big leagues with the Atlanta Braves.

WFAN: Mike & Mad Dog: Steve Garvey Interview (Audio)

Listen for such gems as…

an extremo smugadacious Garvey makes his HOF case by touting his “fielding pct. and body of work.”...and his All-Star game batting numbers!

a Dietribe Coke swilling Francesspool burbs out..."I’m a hard marker, but you should be in the HOF"..."you played just before the Steroids Era”

a Danny Federici-mourning Mad Dog Russo adds later..."Mikey, Garvey’s numbers kinda slip under the cracks"..."Garvey was a much better player than Keith Hernandez...and he was better than Will Clark!"..."and Bill Russell of the Dodgers was a great, great hitter, Mikey!”

My radio now rests in a tenement alley next door.

AP: Tulowitzki’s double gives Rockies 22-inning win

Troy Tulowitzki’s RBI double with two outs in the 22nd inning scored Willy Taveras and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the longest game in the majors in nearly 15 years, a 6-hour, 16-minute marathon that ended at 1:21 a.m. Friday.

A scoreless game until the 14th inning. Jeff Francis threw 7 scoreless innings; Jake Peavy 8… but the game kept going… and going…

The last game that went this long was the 22-inning Indians/Twins game of August 31, 1993.

TSN: Pinto: Maddux reaching win No. 350 is remarkable

Not as remarkable as seeing Pinto’s work sitting next to Fraley’s...but that’s for another day.

Greg Maddux stands one win away from becoming the second pitcher of his generation to reach 350 wins. A decade ago, few thought another pitcher would ever reach the 300 plateau. That speculation rested on solid logic, which makes reaching the 350 win milestone all the more impressive.

Two factors worked against pitchers of this era reaching these lofty career totals, apart from the longevity factor. One is how long pitchers remain in the game; the other is the number of games they start in a season.

The day-by-day database contains all batting and pitching lines back to 1957, over 51 seasons of data. This allows the computation of the probability of a starter receiving a win, based on the number of innings pitched. The following table shows the probability of a pitcher getting a win in games his team eventually won:

NC Times: Should fans be worried about the Padres’ bullpen? YES

From Immelman to pummelman...a Trevor-filled day.

These people adore Hoffman as if he were Mother Teresa, only taller and with more stubble. The man can do no wrong. He just can’t. Hoffman’s Army is convinced of that.

So if a guy digs a ball out of the dirt and knocks it for a crucial hit, as Tony Gwynn Jr. did late last season in the Padres’ crushing loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Hoffman’s Army dutifully explains how it was a “great pitch.”

How any pitch that is hit can be classified as great is baffling to me. But I don’t pretend to be a baseball savant. We’ll let George Will and Bob Costas ponder that one.

Hoffman’s strikeout-strikeout-strikeout ninth innings have gone the way of the Sony Betamax. The chiming of “Hells Bells” now signals a high-wire act, not an execution. Square-on-the-barrel hits and warning-track fly balls are mainstays in the ninth-inning mix these days.

Great stuff if you are the sort of Padres fan who enjoys swimming with sharks, eating raw poultry or playing golf in an electrical storm.

ESPN : How in the World did this guy win 347 games?

Maddux wound up and threw. By now, pitching coach Darren Balsley was watching, along with a few other Padres who had received word that a strange experiment was taking place involving a catcher attempting to catch without the benefit of vision. The ball left Maddux’s hand, and Akerfelds yelled “Now!” and Risinger clenched his mitt around the ball.

He opened his eyes. There it was, in the mitt.

Penny, figuring he’d take advantage of the situation, asked Maddux to call a game for him against the Cubs. And so, on the night of Sept. 13, Penny glanced into the dugout before every delivery and found Maddux, who signaled the next pitch by looking toward different parts of the ballpark. Penny threw seven scoreless innings with no walks and beat the Cubs 6-0. “Maddux probably won’t tell you that story,” Penny says

A fantastic article about my favourite pitcher. Nuff said.

S.I.: Heyman: Is it time to remove Hoffman from closer role?

Is the Trevor project at the end of its rope?

Padres GM Kevin Towers, reached by phone Monday night, insisted Hoffman’s time isn’t near being up. “It hasn’t even crossed my mind what Plan B is,’’ Towers said. “At the end of every year he ends up with 40-plus saves. He’s Mr. Consistency. I haven’t seen any dropoff. He actually has a lot better velocity ... I think he’s going to be fine.’’

Towers isn’t shocked the whispers have started, though. “I think there’s some residual effect after what happened last year,’’ Towers said. “But his stuff is still good. [All] you have to do is look at what he’s done historically. He’s in great shape. He’s in a great frame of mind. I think he’s just tired of being the focus.’’

...In any case, Towers said he isn’t worried about having to tell Hoffman when it’s time. “I think when it does happen, Trevor will know. He’s got too much pride,’’ Towers said. “He’ll know probably before we know. He’s not going to hang on just to hang on. He cares too much for his teammates to do that.’’

Bugs & Cranks: Is Jake Peavy a cheater? (Video)

Barnald, digs up this dirt on “Jake Deceivey”.

An eagle-eyed viewer of the Dodgers/Padres game noticed something strange on Jake Peavy’s fingers after he tossed a complete game, 2-hit shutout yesterday:

Is he cheating? Is it just a coincidence that the 3 fingers that grip the ball have a mysterious substance on them? Or does Jake Peavy wipe with his pitching hand?

YOU decide.

After the jump, I clipped video of the final out of the game and subsequent poopy-finger shot. It seems Peavy still has an awful lot of movement on his last pitch.

Dugout Central: Ehrke: Could Ozzie Smith Have Played in Today’s Game?

(quickly thumbs through Backflip Magazine looking for latest advancements in contemporary flipology, comes up short)...Uhhh, dunno.

So what would Ozzie Smith do today? He would have a hard time keeping a job. This isn’t to say that Smith wasn’t a great player or that he doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

The reason Ozzie Smith enjoyed a long career is because he was a tremendously talented fielder who was given ample time to develop into an effective hitter. Although it took Smith years to hone his hitting skills, he played at a time when teams expected shortstops to generate far less offense.

There’s a point where a player, no matter how talented in the field, becomes such an offensive burden that he loses his job. That’s why there are no .100 hitting gold glove shortstops.

Early in his career Smith was a horrible batter, especially his second through fourth seasons in San Diego. But he kept his job because of his fielding proficiency. However, the level of tolerance has changed. With so much more offense expected from shortstops, most teams wouldn’t be patient enough to suffer through Smith’s early struggles.

SoSD: Posner: You stay statsy, San Diego

Will Channel 4 San Diego have the first Saber-friendly produced baseball telecasts?

Since Ed Barnes made his initial impression by doing statistical research and analysis, his friends have wondered if the telecasts will become a visual version of “Baseball Prospectus” or “The Bill James Gold Mine” (even though many local media members and fans could learn a thing or 20 if he did, or if they read such books). Barnes says not to worry.

“I don’t want it to be wall-to-wall stats,” he said. “I’m not the guy who’s going to be introducing EqA – equivalent average – to the show or something like that. . . . If we can find a way to put a nice bow on something and provide a nice context, then I don’t think a new stat is necessarily a bad thing. But we are not going to be scanning ‘Baseball Prospectus’ from this year and putting that on the air.”

EV Tribune: Cactus League sets attendance record

Not much of a Bonds effect in Scottsdale, but I can’t imagine attendance will hold up well in SF.

The just-concluded Cactus League season set records for total attendance and per-game turnout.

“Not too bad,” league president J.P. de la Montaigne deadpanned Thursday.

Attendance this year was 1,316,160 for 177 games, which comes out to about 7,436 fans per game.
Once again, the top turnstile count was recorded at Mesa’s HoHoKam Park, home of the Chicago Cubs. The defending champions of the National League’s Central Division drew 181,280 fans in 15 games, and their average attendance of 12,085 was almost 22 percent higher than the runner-up San Francisco Giants.
The Scottsdale-based Giants suffered a slight drop in attendance from 2007, perhaps due to the absence of all-time home run leader Barry Bonds. Still, their per-game count of 9,929 was 10 percent better than the third-place Seattle Mariners, who train in Peoria.

“They did almost 10,000,” de la Montaigne said. “I think anybody would be happy with that.”

SportsTicker: Padres place RHPs Prior, Hensley on DL

The San Diego Padres placed righthander Mark Prior on the 60-day disabled list on Wednesday as part of a flurry of moves to trim their active roster to the 25-man limit.

Prior, who has made trips to the DL an annual rite of spring, signed a one-year, $1 million deal with his hometown team on December 26.

The talented but injury-prone righthander still is recovering from shoulder surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2007 season and is not expected to pitch until June at the earliest.
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Righthander Tim Stauffer, who is suffering from a right shoulder strain, joined Prior on the 60-day DL. In addition, the Padres placed righthanders Clay Hensley (right shoulder strain) and Carlos Guevara (groin) and lefthander Justin Hampson (left shoulder tendinitis) on the 15-day DL.
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The Padres also purchased the contracts of veteran lefthander Glendon Rusch and outfielder Jody Gerut from Class AAA Portland and optioned righthander Kevin Cameron and infielder Luis Rodriguez to their Pacific Coast League affiliate.

KC Star: Royals trade Huber to Padres, cut loose De La Rosa

Even the Royals’ need for some right-handed power couldn’t overcome Justin Huber’s inability to master a defensive position. The Royals traded Huber to San Diego this afternoon for a player to be named later. The deal came one day after Huber smoked a two-run pinch double against the Padres in an 8-4 victory.

“For us, the way our club was shaping up,” general manager Dayton Moore said, “we just didn’t see the opportunity for him to be on our team. He’s out of options, and I really wish we had more time.”
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The trade was one of two made today by the Royals. They earlier acquired right-handed reliever Ramon Ramirez from Colorado after clearing space on their 40-man roster by designating left-handed pitcher Jorge De La Rosa for assignment.
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The lack of a defensive position hampered Huber’s development. He was a catcher when acquired from the Mets but shifted to first base because of a knee injury. Huber struggled at first base and fared little better after shifting in 2006 to left field.

Padres Pick Up Black’s 2009 Option

“While we exercised Buddy’s option for next year, we believe that he will continue to grow and develop as a major league manager for years to come,” Padres general manager Kevin Towers said. “He has exceeded our expectations and we are excited for the future of the Padres under his guidance.”

Ducksnorts: Young: Q&A with Tom Krasovic

That’s Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune...and the Roger Repoz Fan Club!

Ducksnorts: You’ve been known to quote statistics advanced by Baseball Prospectus and similar outfits. To what degree does sabermetrics inform your thinking and writing?

Krasovic: When I got the Padres beat, the club’s director of baseball operations was Eddie Epstein, who brought a sophisticated statistical perspective to player evaluation. He wasn’t always right, of course, but he could always back up what he said, and he tended to be right more than he was wrong. Epstein had an air of discovery about him. He was like a treasure hunter who had tapped into reliable methods to find sunken ships or oil reserves. He had been empowered by Larry Lucchino, the club’s CEO, so he deserved to be taken seriously as a significant figure within the organization, and that’s how I treated him. I quoted him several times, and he unquestionably added depth to my reporting; years later, Kevin Towers said Epstein had furthered his evolution as a general manager. Fortunately for me, Epstein was succeeded by Theo Epstein, who also could take arcane statistical material and explain how it applied to player evaluation. He became a key advisor to Towers, and it behooved me to help our readers understand the perspectives he provided. Had I been covering the Pirates, I probably would have been less inclined quote some of the statistics advanced by Baseball Prospectus — whose web site was recommended by Theo Epstein. That would have been my loss.

Thanks to Friar Forecast.

MLB.com: Padres option top prospect Headley

It’s Jody Gerut time.

In deciding to option their top Minor League prospect, Chase Headley, to Triple-A Portland, the Padres haven’t given up hope that the former third baseman can make the conversion to left field.

They just want to give the 23-year-old a little more seasoning in the outfield, and that’s why the Padres on Sunday sent Headley to Portland, even though his hot bat this spring made it increasingly tempting to put him on the 25-man Opening Day roster.

Headley hit .349 in 43 at-bats with three doubles and a triple, and he led the team in home runs (four) and RBIs (14) in 23 games. Headley had a single in his only at-bat in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Cubs at the Peoria Sports Complex.
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With Headley going to Portland and Jim Edmonds likely headed to the disabled list with a strained right calf, it appears that non-roster invitee Jody Gerut will start Opening Day in left field against Houston on March 31, with Scott Hairston starting in center field.

MLB: Graig Nettles diagnosed with prostate cancer

When Graig Nettles learned he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, one of the first telephone calls he made was to former Yankees manager Joe Torre.

The current Dodgers skipper went through his own prostate cancer scare in 1999, diagnosed as part of a routine checkup. Torre underwent treatment and has had no related issues since, and the 63-year-old Nettles—awaiting surgery in early April—is keeping his spirits high. “He’s pretty upbeat about it after what he’s gone through,” Nettles said. “I hope I have the same fortune that he had.”

Nettles, a six-time All-Star third baseman, is scheduled to have surgery on April 8 at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. He was diagnosed the day before Thanksgiving last year, shortly after his brother, Jim, had also discovered his own prostate cancer.

Nettles said he was spurred to have his prostate checked by his brother, Jim, who informed the Gold Glover that cancer ran in the family. “They told me they got it early, and it’s curable and treatable,” Nettles said. “I’ve just got to think positive.”