Is it still Spring Training?

by Dex on Mar 24, 2008 9:16 AM PDT in News

Are you guys tired of Spring Training? Me too. Seriously, it's taking forever and I'm not sure that I'm learning anything new about the team. I've taken to barely even paying attention to the Spring Training games as we finish out the month.

Nothing surprises me anymore and I can only assume that decisions are being made by people brighter than me. I think we all saw a Jim Edmonds injury coming sooner or later and lo it has come to pass. What I figured that meant was that either Matt Antonelli or Chase Headley would be getting big league action to start the season. It seemed so clear to me, and yet neither Headley nor Antonelli will be around come Opening Day. Rather, we'll get P-Mac, who I still really like, though more in a "buddy who still insists on bringing the beer bong to the dinner party" kind of way. And we'll get Gerut, which is good times, but you know... I was kinda on the "excited about the top prospects" bandwagon.

All of which probably puts me in a poor frame of mind for my Treehouse Fort appearance tonight. Treehouse Fort is the podcast equivalent of Matt Sussman's BlogCritics sports show. I'm going to be breakin' it down with Sussman and Tuffy at the Fort and InjuryRate from FanIQ. Tune in if you'd like.

As a crib sheet, I may sneak looks at No Bias Baseball's division preview. They predict the Padres as 4th, but it's a reasonably thought out prediction. Tough to argue with it, which is also why I want the season to just start already. Gotta start underdoggin' our way to the postseason.

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Fourth Place

I'm not liking it, but seems fairly plausible at this point.

It looks like we will have the same problems with generating offense like we did last year. Khalil came through in a big way last year, but seems like he has been sleeping in Spring Training. Headley was a monster in ST but did not make the cut. But who knows at this point? Maybe the Padres will really turn it on for the season opener.

I'm still worried about the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation.

by sacpadre on Mar 24, 2008 9:38 AM PDT 0 recs

Almost time to stop worrying about projections?

Projections are great in February to give us something to do, but it's almost the season so we won't have to fret over them much longer.

It's reasonable to think that the Padres will finish 4th and it's hard to make a case beyond talking about our rotation that the Padres will finish first. But, this is the reality of the Padres. Since we cannot buy a contender like the Red Sox or Yankees, we have to rely on other teams rebuilding (AZ and Col 05-06), getting old (SF 05-06) or incompetence (Dodgers since 1988) to be favorites. But the key is be good enough, so that with a little luck (Wolf and Prior coming back strong, Giles healthy enough to get back to .400+ OBP, Khalil taking another step forward, AGon becoming a superstar, Gerut or Hairston having career years, Edmonds getting back to being an average CF, etc) we can win it. Which I'm okay with (at least until we can get a good minor league pipeline going). As long as you can't count us out on March 31 (see Giants, Pirates, Nationals, and Marlins), and we are solid enough to earn a modicum of respect then we're doing good enough.

by Wonko on Mar 24, 2008 2:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

Not sure

I put much stock into that No Bias preview. Especially when I read things like, "Shortstop Khalil Greene, fresh off a two-year, $11MM contract signing, will bat cleanup and should be a decent slugger."

Weird. I thought Adrian was our cleanup guy.

At any rate, No Bias does the traditional "The Padres suck at offense, LOLZ!" without mentioning park effects. Anybody would struggle offensively for half their games if they played at Petco. Why do people consistently misrepresent our offense by just quoting raw numbers out of context? I really fail to understand that.

by Phantom on Mar 24, 2008 9:52 AM PDT 0 recs

all of these predictions are worthless

But even at 5th or 6th in the order, is anyone else concerned about Khalil's anemic spring?

by Billy Almon on Mar 24, 2008 10:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

Yes

Khalil isn't struggling, he SUCKS. He has made like 6 fielding errors by my count. He can't hit fastballs. He can't hit soft stuff. There is something seriously wrong with him. Maybe he's pissed about his contract or something. Even if he isn't there is something distracting him and he's not putting his best effort forth.

by sdsuaztec4 on Mar 24, 2008 12:50 PM PDT up 0 recs

I thought

There was something going on with his dad or some other close family member. Heard they were really sick.

by sacpadre on Mar 24, 2008 12:58 PM PDT up 0 recs

Obviously

I'm a biased source, but KG went 2 for 2 today with 2 RBI and a sac fly. Leitner said that his bat speed finally looks game-ready and that he thinks he's ready for the season.

As for the fielding, I have no idea what that's about. That's very concerning.

by Phantom on Mar 24, 2008 3:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

KBot powering up

Maybe the robot is trying to use less power before the season starts and is only limited to basic functions. Not sure what it's power source is but energy costs are high these days. Today was a test mode to make sure all systems are operational. Once the regular season starts it will be back in full gas guzzling mode and we shall all be in awe of it again.

Live long and prosper.

by Wonko on Mar 24, 2008 4:24 PM PDT up 0 recs

Yes and yes

Yes, very tired of spring training.

And, yes, I was on the "excited about top prospects" bandwagon, too. The Headley demotion is frustrating, but I'm not ready to really question KT and Sandy before the season even starts. (I'll give it one game.) They do a better job of looking at the big picture than we do (surprise!) and I'm gonna guess there's a method to their madness.

by Winfield's Ghost on Mar 24, 2008 10:51 AM PDT 0 recs

KT

Ya, its not like he didn't watch Spring Training. He knows what is going on. General Manager Kevin Towers didn't disagree that Headley outperformed all other outfielders in camp.
"It should be only a matter of time before he's back up here," Towers said.

Headley has never played a game above AA, its only natural they want him to get some ABs in LF in AAA. He needs to work on hitting the soft stuff anyway.

by sdsuaztec4 on Mar 24, 2008 12:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

it could be a sly move

If P-MAC is on the opening day roster, having a good spring and a solid first month, I expect him to get dealt early for a B-Type prospect. They can't deal him now, since if he doesn't make the team, any other organization can just put a waiver claim on him. Of course if he has a terrible first month, he will be waived and no one will claim him.

Blind man's bluff.

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. " ~Frank Sinatra

by Sammy G on Mar 24, 2008 1:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

Good point

You must be sober today.

by Winfield's Ghost on Mar 24, 2008 2:22 PM PDT up 0 recs

KT is smart

KT is smart enough to know that you can't give a guy a job based on Spring Training performance, especially a guy learning a knew position. I've also ran this point into the ground a few times before, but you need flexibility. Putting Headley in AAA gives us more candidates to play OF since someone would no longer be with the organization if Headley made the 25 roster. You have to weigh the loss of Headley's bat for 2-3 months (which wasn't guaranteed to be successful anyway) versus having the depth to deal with injuries, ineffectiveness or plain-old pinch hitting and defensive substitutions.

by Wonko on Mar 24, 2008 2:48 PM PDT up 0 recs

what time is the blog show?

it's says 5pm, is that ET or PT

Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by TheRevRun on Mar 24, 2008 2:56 PM PDT 0 recs