Updated

Not that it’s a big deal but I updated the roster page, the minors page, the history page and made a few other little changes here and there. I might start posting every now and then in the future…..then again I may not.

Portland Beavers

So a while ago I made a little visit up to Portland for some scouting. KT called and told me I needed to check out some players that they might be calling up soon so I made the trek up there…….OK I lie I went up there for vacation. But I did get to catch my first Portland Beavers game! After going to the Padres game on the 26th (a Pads win over AZ 9-2) & the 27th (both a 5-4 Pads win and a Storm 10-4 win over Inland Empire) I was hoping the AAA club wouldn’t ruin my win streak. The minor league experience is quite a different ballgame all together. PGE park is amazing though. It definitely gives you that old ballpark feel (because it is an old ballpark) I went to the last home game (August 28th) against the 1st place Salt Lake Bees (Angels AAA) and that game drew the 2nd highest attendance this season (11,857 and if I recall correctly the max capacity is around 19,000 so it was still pretty empty). I purchased the general admission tickets and went straight to the Widmer beer garden, which is actually on the field (1st base side) which I highly recommend doing or for the under 21 crowd get GA tickets and go and sit on the LF wall. All in all it was a great game for the Beavers. Leblanc pitched well going 7 strong, the offense battered the Bees pitching all night long starting off with Dowdy & Ciofrone leading off the game with back-to-back homers, Antonelli hitting a homer & strong performances by Myrow and Ambres. I was the only person in the entire ballpark wearing a Padres jersey and hat and kind of got some grief for it….yet the majority of the people are Mariners fans..go figure. I highly recommend going to see a Beavers game if you are ever in Portland…great atmosphere and next year I expect some pretty good players up there….that is unless the Padres take them all.

Sandy on 1090

-Offer was pulled off the table Friday after being on the table for about 4 weeks.
-Didn’t receive a counter from the Hoffman camp and didn’t hear anything except they wanted to meet with Moores directly
-Sandy & KT offered to meet with Trevor and his agent first to try and answer their questions and at that point if they had more questions then he would bring up the question to Moores if he wanted to meet them
-Hoffman wanted to keep the media out of this (unlike last time) but he went on vacation last week and Rick Thurman started yapping his mouth so they pulled the offer
-Sandy did in fact meet with Moores on Sunday
-The Padres were humiliated by the last Hoffman negotiations
-Season ticket renewal date & Trevor’s offer being pulled was coincidence
-They didn’t pick up Giles option to trade him this off-season
-It was Sandy’s decision to pull the offer. Not Moores. Not KT.
-Door is not closed on Trevor returning
-”Choices” need to be made (IE: Payroll being cut therefore some players need to go)
-Not confident Heath Bell will take Trevor’s spot
-They listen to the fans more than people think

Spotted

According to Philly Billy during the first few minutes of todays show he had “a guy” spot John Moores and Sandy Alderson having lunch at a resturaunt on Villa de la Valle Saturday….a day before the Hoffman deal was pulled off the table. More to come at 5:00 when Sandy is going to be on Too Much Show.

“The offered was pulled”

Buster Olney just keeps throwing the punches at us Padre fans(Peavy trade/payroll cut). Now he is telling us that the Padres have pulled the 4 million dollar offer they made to Trevor Hoffman (Contract impasse forces Hoffman out of San Diego) thus officially cutting ties with the all-time saves leader. I really don’t know what to say on this. On one hand is it possible the Peavy deal had something to do with this as I suggested yesterday? Did Trevor want more money? Was there some more harsh words between him and Sandy? The world may never know. But all I do know is I wouldn’t 100% count on him not coming back next year. I remember the last time he was a free agent and that was a whirlwind adventure and everyone thought he was as good as gone. And of course we all know how that ended up though. Bottom line he isn’t the pitcher he once was and I really think a 4 million deal was actually what he is worth now but on the other hand he should finish his career in San Diego. I believe he has one solid season left in that arm. Hmmmm….

Also Buster was on Scott and BR this morning and said that a story will soon be posted about the Peavy deal saying that the Padres “settled” on 2 players Yunel Escobar & Gorkys Hernandez and would include 1 of the 2 between Charlie Morton & Jo-Jo Reyes. I don’t like that word “settled”. They shouldn’t have to settle and I don’t think they will. Also Buster said that the Cubs are still in the picture with a deal centered around Josh Vitters and they are getting a third team involved since the Cubs don’t really have any depth in pitching. I was all for this deal if we were getting some solid players in return but if all these stupid rumors are true it’s looking more and more likely we aren’t going to get the haul we once thought and this indeed is a salary dump situation not a “looking to improve our team” situation. Things are looking bleak in SDPads1 land.

On the plus side the rumors are flying around that Larry Lucchino is trying to get a group together to purchase the Padres. There have also been rumors that Sandy Alderson was trying to get a group together as well. For the good of the team John Moores needs to sell it and fast.

Holliday to Oakland

No this is not my idea of a sick joke and I’m not taking a vacation to that hell hole. But the Rockies Matt Holliday will be spending a lot more time there soon according to ESPN (Holliday appears headed to A’s in trade from Colorado). Apparently the details are still being finalized but the Rockies, and arguably the NL West’s, best hitter will be flying the coop soon. Names such as pitchers Greg Smith, Huston Street & Bret Anderson as well as outfielders Carlos Gonzalez & Ryan Sweeney have been mentioned as possible returning players in the deal. This is big news for A’s fans since instead of seeing the star leave, for once the star is coming into town. Despite the city being a dump I’ve always admired the Oakland A’s club from top to bottom. Beane has worked wonders and our own Paul Depodesta & Sandy Alderson have strong connections there. You know what would be great though? If John and Becky Moores both came up with this great plan to fake a divorce and throw out false rumors such as “the payroll is going to be cut”, “we are trading Jake Peavy” & “we are in rebuilding mode” and them when teams like the D-Backs, Rockies, Dodgers and Giants throw weak teams out there thinking the Padres were going to be push overs this year at the last second John and Becky say “SIKE!!!!” and we keep Peavy, payroll doesn’t decrease, we sign Manny & Sabathia and Khalil has a press conference telling everyone his 100 strikeout season was all apart of “the plan” and he puts on a hitting display the likes of Musial, Williams, Gwynn & Cobb would be proud of. Ah yes those wild and wacky Moores….I didn’t even see it coming.

Peavy…once again

Take this for what you will but I’ve got a source who is close to Peavy and they said that Peavy is “worried how the fans will treat him if he decides to veto a deal and stay in SD” and he is strongly considering staying in SD. He knows of the backlash Nevin had against him when he vetoed 2 deals (1 for Griffey Jr & 1 for Ponson) and doesn’t want that to happen to him. I personally think it’s 2 completely different situations. On one side the fans actually “WANT” Jake here and he is still young and contributing. On the flip side Nevin was older, coming off a rough season and was kind of wearing out his welcome in SD with his harsh personality.

That same source also told me that payroll will be a mandated 40 million next year. So being that Jake and Giles (both of whom hold full no trade powers) take up exactly half (20 million) of that number that brings up an interesting question……What happens IF Peavy decides to stay? We have CY (4.5 million) and Adrian (3 million) under contract for ‘09. We supposedly have a contract on the table for Trevor at 4 million. Then we have Bell, Gerut & Hairston for sure being arbitration eligible while Rodriguez & Hensley have a shot at being “Super 2’s”. The major league minimum has gone up to 400,000 this year….and of course this is not even thinking about Khalil (6.5 million) being back next year. Would we be forced to trade CY and Adrian because Jake doesn’t want to go? Would payroll be forced to increase? What about Trevor? Would all the arbitration eligible players become casualties? So many questions…so little answers and it all hinges on Jake.

Ughhh Peavy….

What better thing to get me out of my non-blogging slumber than trade talk and rumors. Personally all stats aside I can’t stand Peavy anymore. Yes the Padres had a bad….ummm OK horrible…. season this year, but keep in mind the previous 4 years were all winning seasons. It’s not like we are coming off 10 straight losing seasons. So one bad season and the dude can’t shut his trap. Last offseason he bitched and moaned about his contract (which the Padres finally gave him), a few seasons ago he was whining about his old friends  being traded (even though it improved our team), we all read the headlines of his arrest and now we have this? Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs did an article where he thinks the Padres are selling high (with all my off field rants aside, I think this could very well be true ). Keep in mind he would be leaving the friendly confines of Petco Park as well in which he had a dazzling 1.75 ERA in 98 IP this year to go along with a 4.28 ERA away from Petco in 75.2 IP. Ah yes let us not forget the “BIG GAMES” as well. Every single “MUST WIN” game he has pitched for us in his career has ended in disaster. Then there is the whole breaking down issue. He has been hurt numerous times in his short career, nothing to serious mind you, but he has been hurt at one point in time the past few years now. Obviously I’m not a doctor (I just play one on TV) but that just screams big injury waiting to happen. With all this said I am officially giving Sandy, KT, Depo and the rest of the FO my endorsement to deal Peavy away and bring the Padres back stronger than ever next year.

Lake Elsinore Storm

I just got an e-mail from the Storm saying that all tickets to this Monday’s playoff game against the Lancaster Jayhawks (Red Sox) will only be $1.00. Yes you heard right exciting playoff baseball for only 1 dollar!! Can’t beat that!!

Here is the link to buy online
or
Call 951-245-HITS
or
Go to the ticket office

I’m going to try and make it to this game for sure. I just got back from Portland last week and got a chance to see the last Beavers home game (which I’ll post later on) and the Minor League expierience is definitely something you don’t want to miss.

ESPN the Magazine

Wow who would of thought that I’d get some big time recognition for my nerdiness. Check out this article (17%) that ESPN the magazine’s Tim Keown wrote about the post I did a while ago on the 2007 Padres and stolen bases (Did stolen bases really hurt us last season???). While you are at it check out the amazing article he did on Greg Maddux (How In The World Did This Guy Win 347 Games?). And a big Happy Birthday to the Mad Dog himself who turns 42 today.

PS-Not to toot my own horn or anything but KT himself even e-mailed me about this same post…..I think I may start posting on this here blog more frequently again.