Padres Trade!

When your small market team makes a trade, it's time to celebrate.

Padres GM Josh Byrnes pulled the trigger on the last day of the year and traded 2 minor league prospects for White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin.

Quentin, a native San Diego product (and San Diego high school athlete of the year in 2000), is a 2 time all star coming off a season where he batted .254 with 24 hrs, 31 doubles, 77 rbi's and 53 runs scored. The right handed hitting Quentin will probably play left field and bat 4th. Jesus Guzman (who I expected to start in left), will now become a utility guy subbing in left and right field and in a platoon at first with Yonder Alonso.

Quentin is arbitration eligible and will probably make around $7 million this year and be a free agent after the season, so he'll be playing for a new contract.

The Padres traded minor league pitchers Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez, the 16th and 17th rated prospects in their minor league system. Between this trade and the Latos deal, the Padres have added $9 million to their payroll signaling a change in philosophy and a willingness by owner Jeff Moorad to open the purse strings a little. Other good news is that in neither of these moves did they give up any of their top rated prospects, so their future looks good.

Let's pop the champagne and go get Matt Garza!

Nice deal by Cherington

Yes, I know I'm a Boston homer, but trading for Andrew Bailey was a good deal by new GM Ben Cherington. Filled a need, got a young, cost controlled closer and didn't give up the farm to get him.

The issue with Bailey will be health. He's spent time on the DL parts of the last 2 seasons and obviously that's a concern, but "if" they can keep him healthy, I think he'll thrive in Boston.

The medical staff in Boston has said they looked at all of Baileys records and they're comfortable with his medical history and concerns going forward, so we'll see.

As to what Boston gave up, it cost them outfielder Josh Reddick and 2 lower level minor league prospects (Miles Head, a 1st baseman and Raul Alcantara, a 19 yr old pitcher. Their 21st and 23rd ranked prospects in their minor league system). Reddick should excel in spacious Oakland Coliseum but Boston was content giving him up as they felt Ryan Kalish, a similar young prospect to Reddick, was ready to step up and give the big team everything Reddick would have.

Next up for Boston will probably be another starting pitcher.

Bill

I'm Adopting!

Here's some news I was planning on saving, but with the holidays and good cheer about, I couldn't wait to share. Come April 2012, I'm adopting!!!!

After many years of thinking about it, I finally broke down and decided to go ahead and adopt a small market baseball team.

I spent the first 23 years of my life in New England, so I'm a born and raised Boston Red Sox fan. I've spent the last 23 years living in Southern California, and have taken on the Angels as my local team I follow. Both big market teams and every year there's the expectation of the playoffs and hopes for a world series run. All fun and enjoyable but in the last few years I've discovered it lacks the excitement you get when your team is the perenial "also ran", who has everything come together and makes that magical run. Nothing like it in sports. I did experience that in 02 when the Angels won the world series as at the time they were the "mid market" team that came out of nowhere, with no expectations and went on to capture the title and the interest of fans everywhere. The Thunder Sticks, K-Rod and what we came to discover later, a bunch of juiced up JAGS (just a guy). Hardly a superstar in the bunch.

In football, I'm a New England Patriots fan (and have been since 1972). For you younger people, you probably don't remember what a sad and pathetic franchise the Patriots were before Robert Kraft bought the team. Multiple times they had the first pick in the draft after posting 1-13 seasons (yes, 14 game seasons back then) and 2-14 seasons. Dealing with horrendous ownership (Sullivan family, Victor Kiam), a joke of a stadium (oh how we miss you Sullivan Stadium and your bleacher seats), an owner that tried to move the team to St. Louis (James Orthwein), the Lisa Olson affair, Irving Fryer (the Pee Wee Herman Tequila dance!). The team was a wreck, but they were still my team and when they did have a couple winning seasons (76, 86), it made it that much more exciting when they got to the Super Bowl as no one thought they could do it. Say what you want about the Patriots and their success in the last 11 years, but no long time fan EVER thought they'd be where they are now. Tuck Rule, Spygate, whatever. Scoreboard says 3 Super Bowl Titles. Suck it bitches.

And thats why I'm adopting the San Diego Padres. The Padres (along with the A's), might be the sorriest franchise in baseball right now. Pittsburgh and KC are right there, however they seemed to have turned the corner last year with young talent, were competitive for stretches of time and hopefully they can keep the momentum going.

The Padres and A's are in full sell off mode, but while it looks like the A's are holding payroll down while a new stadium deal gets worked out (and it looks like it has), the Friars don't have that excuse. They play in Petco Park, which if you haven't been there, is a beautiful stadium in the heart of downtown San Diego. Within walking distance to the Gas Lamp District, the beach, restaurants, hotels, etc.. San Diego county is the 5th largest county in the US, so the people and tv market are there, it just hasn't been properly taken advantage of yet. I want to get on the bandwagon before it takes off.

Last year the Padres went 71-91, finishing 23 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. They had the 4th lowest payroll in baseball ($45,869,140) ahead of only the Royals, Pirates and Rays and trailing the Yankee's in payroll by a minuscule $161 million.... This winter from that powerhouse team, the Padres elected to let all star free agent reliever Heath Bell walk, then traded their number 1 starter, 24 year old Matt Latos to the Cincinnati Reds. Watch out MLB, the Padres just punched their ticket to the big dance!

Things aren't hopeless though. In return for Latos, they got back recent first round draft picks, 1st baseman Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal and reliever Brad Boxberger. They also got 28 year old Edinson Volquez, former all star pitcher still trying to return to form from Tommy John surgery a few seasons ago. They also traded for Huston Street from the Rockies to take over the closer position.

The salary payroll is projected to once again be in the mid 40's range and expectations are low. They have a young team, young pitching staff and some veterans that have been around awhile, but manager Bud Black is considered one of the better managers in the league and will hopefully get everything he can out of them. Are they expected to challenge for a world series? No, but then again stranger things have happened.

Being end of December, the roster is still rounding into form and a trade or 2 may still happen, but with spring training 7 and a half weeks away, here's the most likely opening day lineup:

1. Cameron Maybin - CF - Padres like his speed (40 steals, 8 triples last year), but needs to increase OBP and cut down on strike outs
2. Orlando Hudson - 2B - The O Dawg (or as my Padre breathern call him, the NO dawg), battled injuries most of last year, but when healthy hit .280 in the number 2 slot and has a lifetime .342 OBP. I might not be psychic (though I do have ESPN....), I see a trade in the O Dawgs future.
3. Chase Headley - 3B - Not an ideal number 3 hitter as lacks traditional power but has good average and OBP. Before breaking his finger in Aug last year, was at .300 with a .380 OBP. Would be ideal #2 hitter if lineup was stronger.
4. Jesus Guzman - LF - In 76 games last year he hit .312 with 5 home runs and 44 rbi's while mainly playing 1st base. He'll be rotating there but Padres are hoping he can be the everyday LF. Look for a rotation with Kyle Blanks.
5. Yonder Alonso - 1st - Padres love his swing as he's a gap to gap hitter. He'll get the 1st shot at 1st base and the Friars will keep another highly touted 1st base prospect (Anthony Rizzo) down in AAA to start the season.
6. Nick Hundley - C - Left handed hitter provides Padres with a good bat behind the plate. He's keeping the position warm with uber prospect Grandal waiting in the wings.
7. Will Venerable - RF - will platoon with Chris Denorfia depending upon righty/lefty pitching. Don't have much else to say here.
8. Jason Bartlett - SS - batted 2nd most of last year with injuries to others, but this is a better spot for him. Padres had hoped for more when they traded for him last year, so don't be surprised to see him leave town in a trade as he has the 2nd highest salary on the team.

For pitchers, expect this starting rotation (in some order):

1. Tim Stauffer - RHP
2. Corey Luebke - LHP
3. Edinson Volquez - RHP
4. Clayton Richard - LHP
5. Dustin Mosely - RHP

Huston Street will be the closer with Luke Gregerson and Ernesto Frieri setting up.

Bench players of note: Everth Cabrera, Kyle Blanks, James Darnell, Mark Kotsay, Anthony Bass, Josh Spence, John Baker.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 San Diego Padres! That's how I roll.......

As the season gets closer, I'll do a more in depth look at the team and their minor league system (which is pretty highly rated) along with my predictions for the season.

I'm excited about the 2012 season, everyone needs a small market team to embrace!

Bill

Clippers Celebrations

Nice write up on ESPNLA.com today about the Clippers, their excessive celebrations and comments from Matt Barnes (of the Lakers) about it. Basically Barnes said the Clippers are good and exciting, but do some winning before all the celebrating of dunks and what not.

Now I like the Clippers, hate Matt Barnes, hate the Lakers (I'm now sounding like the late, great Johnny Most and his infamous "I hate Kareem Abdul Jabbar, I hate the Lakers and if an earthquake hit right now and knocked the city of Los Angeles into the ocean, I could care less" rant), however I agree with Barnes here. Do something great to win a game? Yes, jump around and celebrate. Do some amazing highlight reel dunk while the game is relevant? By all means, celebrate to your hearts content. However if it's a meaningless dunk and your team is losing by 20 and your record on the year is 30-42? Shut up and play some defense.

Barnes (and Pau Gasol) also went on to talk about all the "flopping" the Clippers are doing, which is done league wide. Yes that needs to go also, but the referees should be handling that. Thats easily correctable if things get out of control.

Not often I agree with a Lakers point of view, but there you go!

Bill

Barkley Press Conference

Why would he announce today he's leaving for the NFL? He has till 1/15 to decide. My guess is he's staying at USC.

Update - Barkley announces he's coming back.

USC’s Matt Barkley To Announce NFL Intentions Today

MATT BARKLEY, NCAA, USC | COMMENTS

USC quarterback Matt Barkley will announce his decision on whether or not he will return to school or enter the NFL Draft today at a press conference, ESPN’s Colin Cowherd said on his radio show this morning.

If the 21-year-old quarterback leaves school he is expected to be a top-10 pick in the draft, however some believe that if he were to stay in school for his senior season he would be a lock for the No. 1 overall pick next season.

This year Barkley led the USC Trojans to a 10-2 record, including a 7-2 mark in the Pac-12. As a result of NCAA sanctions, the Trojans were not eligible for postseason play, which means despite defeating UCLA 50-0 in their final game of the season, they were forced to watch as the Bruins represented the Pac-12 South in the conference title game.

This season Barkley threw for 3,528 yards and 39 touchdowns while only tossing seven interceptions.

Who's Got Next?

For the past few months, those following MLB have heard all about Yu Darvish from Japan and his abilities. Next up from the international game that you're going to be hearing about is Yoenis Cespedes, who hails from Cuba.

Cespedes defected from Cuba last summer and has set up residence in the Dominican Republic, making him eligible for major league baseball.

He's a 26 year old 6 foot, 215lb center fielder who's considered a 5 tool player (power, average, speed, fielding and throwing). Last year in the Cuban League he batted .333, with 33 hr's and 99 rbi's in 90 games. He was Cuba's center fielder on the 09 World Baseball team, leading the team in slugging and runs and was second in average, hr's and OBP.

He's expected to be asking for a contract somewhere north of what Aroldis Chapman got a few years ago (6 years, 30.25 million). Some reports saying it could take as much as $50 million to sign him. At that price, we can "round up the usual suspects" of teams interested and say Yankee's, Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies, Nationals. Pirates have gone to the Dominican and met with him, but at that price, Pirates won't be an option.

One interesting team that keeps getting mentioned are the Miami Marlins. Flush with cash and having missed out on Pujols and Wilson this winter, they could afford Cespedes and his $50 million price tag. He'd be a great draw in South Florida helping to bring more people to their new ballpark, so don't count the Marlins out. Bat him second behind Reyes and in front of Ramirez and Stanton and thats a formidable 1-4 batting order. Don't count the Marlins out.

Bill

Game I Want To See Happen In NFL Playoffs

Pittsburgh at New England.

I'm tired of hearing people and the "press" talk about how the Steelers "dismantled" the Patriots earlier in the season. Two things here:

1. It was a 6 point game under a minute to go and New England had the ball. Pittsburgh came up with a sack and the ball got stripped, Polamalu advertently/inadvertently kicked it forward going thru the end zone, resulting in a safety and giving us the final score (25-17).
2. Game was played in Pittsburgh.

Yes Pittsburgh played well and deserved to win, no question about that, but for some reason the media wants to make this sound like a blow out, which it was not...... It was a 1 possession game which went right down to the wire.

Admittedly I place a high importance on where the game was played. In my viewpoint, play that game in Foxborough and New England wins the game. Emotions, crowd, comfort level all factor into a game and the final result.

Two good teams and when they match up, could go either way. I'd love for NE to get another shot at them in the playoffs, in New England, and we'll see who advances.

Go Pats!

Bill

What Should The Colts Do?

While not mathematically "clinched" the worst record in the NFL this year, they're banging on the door and about ready to knock it in. Should they end up with the first pick I think they'll go ahead and select Andrew Luck as that seems like the safest play which GM Bill Polian is all about. Sit him for a year behind Peyton and hope the transition goes smoothly.

As a New England Patriots fan, that is exactly what I'm hoping for. This Colts team is horrible and has huge holes on both offense and defense and probably what Indy is going to do is take the overall number 1 pick and sit him for a year, hence not helping their team at all.

As a fan of another team, what I don't want to see happen is the Colts trading that pick, stockpiling a bunch of draft picks, running Manning out for another 3 years (which I believe he has in him), rebuilding the defense and offensive line and being a contender for the next 3 years.

Who knows how good Luck is going to be? Is he really that much better than Matt Barkley and RG3 this year? What if he turns out to be another Ryan Leaf or JaMarcus Russell? Everyone thought they were also "can't miss". How many QB's have we seen taken lower in the draft go on to be hugely successful? Obviously it happens and happens a lot. The draft is a crapshoot.

I understand taking Luck #1 if Manning isn't there. The neck has had it, he's retiring, etc.... However if the Colts, Manning, Doctors, think Manning has 3 more high level years in him, I think they're cheating themselves and their fan base by taking Luck at #1.

Pre Christmas Musings

Just some random things on my mind with Christmas coming up:

1. 49ers - I was impressed with their defense last night against Pittsburgh. Better than I thought and they're going to be a tough out in the playoffs. Difference between Alex Smith and top QB's in league (Rodgers, Brady, Bree's) is accuracy. He missed a lot of open receivers when he was just sitting still in pocket. Those others don't miss those throws. It'll be their downfall in playoffs.
2. Packers - Is there a "book" out on how to beat them now? I didn't see Packers/Chiefs game and was surprised to see Chiefs shut them down. Tho not surprising as Crennel is a heck of a D coordinator.
3. Tebow - I don't know if Tebow is the long term QB in Denver, but he's going to be in this league for a while. Lots of worse QB's around, someone will want him as their Quarterback. He generates interest and brings media and fans to the games. 30 teams in NFL and lets face it, 15 or so have a realistic shot at winning the Super Bowl. Other 15 want to be competitive and make money. He'll do that for you.
4. Yu Mania - Hopefully the contract with Rangers gets worked out, I'm excited to watch him pitch. Should be a nice rivalry between Rangers and Angels over the next few years. Barring injuries to main players, both should win somewhere in the 90's and compete for ALCS for awhile. Hopefully rivalry will generate same Yankees/Red Sox interest.
5. Pujols - I like the Angels signing him. Their revenue stream is going up so they can add payroll. Yes they'll end up eating salary the last few years, so realistically they've got to be successful in the next 6 years to make this deal pay off. My barometer for them to be a "good signing" is at least 1 WS Championship and 3 ALCS appearances. I compare this signing to the Red Sox / Manny Ramirez signing in 00 (for 01 season). 8 years/$160 million. RS won 2 World Series titles with Manny. Was it worth it? Absolutely. They more than made their money back. Lets see if the Angels can do the same.
6. Tommy John Injury- "He's a horse", "Big and Strong". Always kills me when I hear "media" people talking about certain pitchers and the likely hood of them coming down with an arm injury. Just because a guy is 6'7", 250 pounds and "strong", has nothing to do with the ligaments and tendons in his throwing arm and whether the guy will break down. NOTHING. Those ligaments and tendons are not stronger and bigger. Whether a guy is the aforementioned one or 5'10", 185 pounds, his likely hood of coming down with an arm injury has to do with throwing mechanics and the "load" on his elbow and shoulder. Not how big and strong he is. Kind of like the whole steroid misconception in baseball. Taking steroids doesn't make you bigger and stronger (players weren't sitting on their sofa's at home popping steroids and eating potato chips and getting stronger). Taking steroids allowed their muscles to recover quicker allowing players to work out harder and more frequently (which in turn allowed them to get stronger and recover from injuries quicker).
7. Joe O'Brien - I'm waiting to hear about the other side to this story from St. Joe's as there are always 2 sides to every story. Sure does seem strange though. Unless Martelli has a real good reason, I hope they run him out of town.
8. NBA - I'm still not real interested in the NBA starting up in a few days, but I'm sure I'll be sucked in once it gets going. I'll be interested in watching the Clippers and I hope the Lakers don't eventually get Dwight Howard. Beyond that, whatever.....
9. NFL in LA - I've said for years now I thought it will be Jacksonville that eventually moves to LA, however I'm now backing off that. With them being sold, new owner has gone on record saying he won't move them and on top of it, they would have to pay a high price to get out of their lease in Jacksonville (though it could be done). Though the popular opinion has been the Chargers moving to LA, I still don't see that. They have a great deal in San Diego even without a new stadium. Eventually the stadium will get done. Spanos is holding it over their heads threatening to move, but I don't think he really wants to. The city pays him for a full sell out whether they sell out or not, so he's making money. My new hope for an NFL team in LA is the St. Louis Rams. They have an out in their stadium lease, new owners (who for the record also said they wouldn't move when they bought) who don't have a connection to St. Louis and a history of the Rams being in LA. Seems to make sense. St. Louis "stole" the Rams from Los Angeles, so how much complaining can be done when we steal them back? I want a downtown stadium and I want this to happen in my life time.

Merry Christmas,

Bill