Magnetic Curses

I've been in San Diego for about 10 years and I've come to understand the way they do things here. Not well! Ramon Hernandez is leaving and Giles is waiting at the terminal for his ride out as well. The player the Padres seem the most interested in is Kenji Jojima. That's all well and good, but I'd be really nervous having a catcher who can't communicate with the pitching staff. It also seems as though they are going to court Jacque Jones. To put this into perspective, here is what this team might look like next year: Dave Roberts Mark Loretta Ryan Klesko Jacque Jones X Nady Vinny Castilla Khalil Greene Kenji Jojima/Miguel Olivo Peavy, Eaton, Park, Williams, Wells? Trevor Hoffman emptied his locker when the Padres lowballed him as well. John Moores is spending all the money he is making off the Padres baseball team on developing condominiums and shopping around the stadium rather than on improving the team. They were 6th in attendance with extremely healthy ticket prices last year. i'll believe that a team run by sandy alderson will go after jacque jones when i see it. Keeping up with Jones Nov 9 - The Padres are exploring Jacque Jones as an option in the outfield if they can't re-sign Brian Giles, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. "They've got quite a bit of interest," said Jones' agent, Rick Thurman, told the newspaper. "A lot of it depends on Giles. Jacque is interested. San Diego is his home base." that just doesn't make sense.

true enough.

mastro over on the espn boards use to argue that the team's best hitter should bat first to maximize their plate appearances over 162 games. i think that something like that could only be attempted in the american league, when you can put some OBP guys down in the order and don't have to deal with the pitcher's spot.

I've been in San Diego for about 10 years and I've come to understand the way they do things here. Not well! Ramon Hernandez is leaving and Giles is waiting at the terminal for his ride out as well. The player the Padres seem the most interested in is Kenji Jojima. That's all well and good, but I'd be really nervous having a catcher who can't communicate with the pitching staff. It also seems as though they are going to court Jacque Jones. To put this into perspective, here is what this team might look like next year: Dave Roberts Mark Loretta Ryan Klesko Jacque Jones X Nady Vinny Castilla Khalil Greene Kenji Jojima/Miguel Olivo Peavy, Eaton, Park, Williams, Wells? Trevor Hoffman emptied his locker when the Padres lowballed him as well. John Moores is spending all the money he is making off the Padres baseball team on developing condominiums and shopping around the stadium rather than on improving the team. They were 6th in attendance with extremely healthy ticket prices last year. i'll believe that a team run by sandy alderson will go after jacque jones when i see it.

a. pierre would not look very good at all. b. you did a good job on the photoshopping.

if pierre can get his OBP back up around .375, i'd like to see him in chicago. contrary to the beliefs of many, i think furcal is a much better #2 hitter than a leadoff hitter.

i think hendry has proven that he'd rather get a poor producing "clubhouse guy", than a talented perceived "clubhouse cancer". which upsets me greatly, as it is my belief that team chemistry in baseball is the most overrated term ever used in sports history. history has borne out that chemistry has little to no effect on a team's performance.

sure sounds like neifi thinks he'll be the starter. i take consolation in this: hendry will be fired.

this is subjective, and why the cubs organization is worthless. it gives dusty the opportunity to micromanage his way to a losing season, despite dlee having an mvp-type year. small-ball does nothing but give the other team opportunities to keep the score close in a game that should be a blowout. small ball CAUSES more one-run games than it wins. My last comment was not subjective. The data proves it. I have to ask, why does small-ball cause more one-run games? I think you jumped to the conclusion that all small-ball haters jump to, which is to assume that all 9 innings of the game are played that way. The relaity is, you play small-ball in select situations, when down by one run late in the game, or up by one run and in position to grab an insurance run. Since you don't start executing small-ball until you're already in a one-run game, you comment makes no sense to me. where's the data that proves it? just wondering. small-ball causes more one-run games than it wins because too many managers are bunting in the 3rd inning with their #2 hitter. as for close and late, if you get a man on base to leadoff the inning, i don't see how playing small ball makes it any more likely that you will score a run than if you tell your hitters to just hit the freaking ball as hard as they possibly can. the key here is getting a man on any way you can, which goes back to the base on balls being a valuable weapon in every situation.

this is subjective, and why the cubs organization is worthless. it gives dusty the opportunity to micromanage his way to a losing season, despite dlee having an mvp-type year. small-ball does nothing but give the other team opportunities to keep the score close in a game that should be a blowout. small ball CAUSES more one-run games than it wins. if you're smart, you build a team for 162 games, a team that gets on base consistently, hits the ball consistently, and acts consistent in every situation. if they have men on base, they try to hit the ball hard and drive runners in or take a walk because the pitcher is pitching around them. will they leave runners on base? of course. good hitters get hits 30% of the time, so that's bound to happen. they will leave situational hitting for the teams that are too gutless to have faith in their abilities and the teams that enjoy being inconsistent in their decision-making, teams that don't understand laws of averages or attempt to get every coinflip right by calling heads or tails based on gut instinct--you call heads 100 times in 100 situations and you are right 50 times, the rest is up to the talent of your team. you do NOT handicap your team by calling tails 50 times and heads 50 times. end strange rant.

There's a reason five organizations rid themselves of Milton Bradley, and it's not because of his baseball ability. Dumb move. Five organizations? Montreal traded him because they were getting Zach Day, both were good prospects at that point. Cleveland traded him because they had Sizemore coming and he was arbitration eligible, in addition to his off field problems. Bradley's only been with 3 organizations, and this would be the only one to get rid of him for solely behavioral issues. The man has character issues. When you spend 9 months together, those flaws appear. While in Cleveland, Bradley was arrested and spent 3 days in jail for leading police on a high-speed chase after refusing to pull over for speeding: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2004-12-15-legal-roundup_x.htm What was his mindset? Pull over, take your speeding ticket which you deserve for going more than twice the posted limit, or hit the gas and flee from the police so you can spend 3 days in jail? He's not bright. if he plays baseball games and produces well, why should any of us fans care? instead of being disappointed in bradley as a person, i'd rather be disappointed in patterson and burnitz as players. i don't care what his personal life is liek.

i'll try. :)

what are the chances that both depo and epstein catch on with teams in minor roles and are available next year?

then you haven't talked to me at all. i've championed a youthful bench for dusty for a long time. if i had to have dusty as my field manager, i wouldn't dare give him lenny harris, neifi perez, jose macias, or todd hollandsworth. and when hendry starts writing the lineup cards, you'll be right in thinking that. based on what, dusty's history of rewarding young players with playing time?

Right and signing Neifi precludes any chance at the bigger targets? The extra $1-1.5M that Neifi costs over an alternative means no Brian Giles? Who would you sign instead for the same backup role that doesn't make bigger signings impossible? giving dusty a player like neifi is like giving an idiot a semi-automatic handgun. he's proven that he doesn't know how to use decent veteran bench players. a veteran bench is the worst thing you can give dusty.

and btw, i'd like to go on record as saying this is the end for hendry and dusty, sweeping organizational changes will be slated for next season. the team will need a change after riding this marriage to aggressive hitting into the ground. i guess i can't say as i blame hendry, he probably has decided that it's too late for him to change his management philosophy, at this stage of the game, he's forced to go down with the ship. i guess if you're going to fail, it's best to fail spectacularly--as he has little option left. signing a hitter like giles, trading for drew and bradley or abreu would mean that he's giving up on conventional wisdom, and he can't do that with hughes around. if he did, there would be an episode of law and order based on the ensuing chain of events. and i'd watch it.

yep, and the cubs will take a big step backward. paying neifi a ton of money to babysit cedeno and talk freud to zambrano is idiotic, especially when his IsoD is borderline practical joke. we don't need leaders, we don't need clubhouse guys or babysitters, we need to spend money on hitters like giles--guys who understand that to score runs--you need guys on base. no latin ned flanders's plz.

An injury prone pitcher and an overrated SS for 20-25m a year? We're talking about Burnett and Furcal, not Renteria and Morris, or whatever, your messageboard is thataway. I just happen to think those two guys will be the most overpaid players in the offseason. Relax. what other injuries has burnett had besides TJS? i honestly don't know but doubt that him having one injury makes him injury prone. as for an overpaid furcal....of course he's going to be overpaid, christian guzman makes 4 mil a year and he might be the worst hitter in the history of the game. shortstops are ALL overpaid, it's simply a position that people want to squeeze offense out of. i don't think they'll be the most overpaid FAs this offseason, they might, but there will be a lot of overpaying. at least they're talented and warrant any risk involved in signing them.

Agreed. That would really get me interested in doing a deal for Bradley (which would involve Walker). Furcal Murton Giles Lee Ramirez Bradley Barrett Cedeno word... so do the dodgers move kent to first then? that might make sense, then.

the problem with your crazy thome idea is that lee just won a gold glove at first, not to mention a batting title. he probably sees himself as pujols with a better glove right now. no way he moves.

Who said 4 years anyway? I'd be much happier with a 3-year, 30 million contract than a 4-year, 36 million contract. Also, if we do land Furcal, there's no question we'd move Todd Walker in my mind. Cedeno is gonna be cheap for a long time, and with the added expensive contracts of Furcal and hopefully Giles, not to mention someone in the Starting pitching role, Cedeno will be a much better bargain. Plus, he'd be a decent 2 hole hitter as well. Also, this is very exciting. I can't wait until Nov. 11th. I'm not sure that the $2 million or so that Walker would make more than Cedeno is worth the downgrade in expected performance. I think Walker is plenty enough of a bargain as it is. i was thinking the same thing as well. if we move walker, it won't be because of money, it will be because we just traded for someone very good.

I really want Furcal, but agree that those 3 don't necessarily excite me into thinking we'd be contenders. However, I look at Furcal as having the Lofton-catalyst effect of a few years ago, allowing us to mix small ball with the long bal. no small ball, plz.

Probably not all that much? LA isn't Pittsburgh. The fans are pretty ticked @ them for being too cheap. They'd have to get back some name players for Drew. if he was fired, in part, due to drew's contract, freeing up 44 mil for other purposes over the next 4 years might actually look like good thing for them. maybe they'd like to make a run at giles. Drew's contract was a small part of the the firing, if any. DePo was fired over the current manager situation and "breaking up chemistry" by dealing off or letting go of core players. Good luck @ making a run @ Giles when you have little to go w/ him. Winning 70 games can't be appealing. That team needs lots of help. if that team needs a complete restructuring, then it's going to get worse before it gets better.

hyperbole If Prior, Z and Wood are all healthy, the Cubs can beat anyone. And if Prior returns to old form, too. The prior of the second half of the season won't be enough. good pitchers have bad years, especially after getting hit in the freaking pitching elbow with a line drive. if it's the worst we see from prior, i'll be happy. prior makes more than 30 starts next season, puts up an era under 3 and wins the k title, book it.

Probably not all that much? LA isn't Pittsburgh. The fans are pretty ticked @ them for being too cheap. They'd have to get back some name players for Drew. if he was fired, in part, due to drew's contract, freeing up 44 mil for other purposes over the next 4 years might actually look like good thing for them. maybe they'd like to make a run at giles.