Padres News and Notes

by jbox on Feb 1, 2009 11:17 PM PST

The Padres might play the South Korean national team if they make it to the second round of the World Baseball Classic. If things work out they'll play games vs. the Padres in Peoria. I seem to remember that the Padres played Korea last time the WBC came to town as well.
This Red Sox fan has a special connection with new Padres announcer Mark Neely. He interviews Neely and asks him a ton of questions. Besides talking a little too much about his St. Louis Cardinal fandom for someone who proclaims that the Padres are now his favorite team, he also is thinking about blogging. "I do not currently have a blog. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens now in San Diego." Also Neely says that Adrian is the only Padre that might have a chance at the Hall of Fame if he plays outstanding for the next 10 or 12 years, no mention of Peavy.
Peavy and Moores didn't show up for the Padres award night. Does anybody really think that Peavy wants to be a Padre anymore? I just don't see it. I think he's still pissed at just about everybody associated with the Padres and is hoping to be traded quickly. I can't wait until he stops giving the press the silent treatment. Peavy doesn't seem to have a filter and I'm sure we're going to hear some good quotes. I think everybody knew Moores wasn't going to show.
We should know by early this week if Moorad is going to buy the Padres. Supposedly the deal is all but done and Moorad is looking into schools for his kids.
The Boston Globe thinks that Jake Peavy would be a good fit for the Milwaukee Brewers. I can't believe I clicked on that link, I just got burned by hotstove rumors.
Towers wants Livan Hernandez and Cliff Floyd in the worst way.

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I was also thinking the other day that the Brewers would be a good fit for Peavy

and a good trade partner for the Padres. Just goes to show you that anyone with half a brain can come up with these things.

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by Wonko on Feb 1, 2009 11:46 PM PST reply actions

Livan and Floyd?

I don’t think it would hurt to add either. I say go get em.

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by JollyWaffle on Feb 2, 2009 12:36 AM PST reply actions

Floyd is alot better than some of the other left handed bats I have heard the Padres are interested in.

Livan would not be a bad addition either…might be a good piece to move at the deadline if the Padres are out of it and Inman is still putting up good #’s a AAA or Carillo is healthy.

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 7:01 AM PST up reply actions

Livan would be an awful acquistion

He’s terrible, he costs more than a young player and he’s boring. Why pay for terrible, boring performance when you can pay less for bad, mildly interesting performance?

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 9:36 AM PST up reply actions

I like Livan better than Baek

Is that bad?

He’s like the opposite of Mark Prior. You can shoot him in the arm and he’ll give you 6 innings. Plus, he’s always a tough customer in Petco (but that could just be against Padre batters).

I don’t like his price, though. Maybe we can get him to do that Milton Bradley “play for charity” thing.

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by Axion on Feb 2, 2009 10:32 AM PST up reply actions

Well I guess it all depends on what the rotation shakes out to be

LeBlanc could probably use a bit more time in AAA and if Geer’s arm is not ready to start the season than it would not be a bad thing to have a guy that can eat up innings until the younger guys are ready. When the rotation is a complete mess like it is right now it never hurts to have multiple options.

Also teams don’t seem to be clamoring over Livan so I’m sure the Pads could get him to sign a ML deal with an invite to camp.

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 10:39 AM PST up reply actions

Even if they sign him to a minor league deal

He’d still cost twice as much as a young guy if he made the roster. I just don’t see the point of throwing a guy out there who may not keep his ERA under 6.00. Sure he could go out there for 6 innings but what’s the point if he keeps giving up hit after hit? The Padres may not be competetive this year, but don’t give me a pitcher that’s a guaranteed L every 5th game that lasts 3 1/2 hours and we get clobbered 10-2.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 10:53 AM PST up reply actions

Also

It would have to be a minor league deal at this point. The Padres 40 man roster is full right now, so you’d have to waive somebody in order to sign a player to a major league contract. The only way I see them doing that is if they signed or trade for someone they thought could be here for a couple of years as a potential starting player.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 11:01 AM PST up reply actions

So why does it hurt to sign him to a minor league deal to give themselves more options?

I dont see the risk if he sucks or if they have a better option they can drop him with no strings attached.

If Geer and Prior are not ready by the start of the season and LeBlanc struggles in ST then what other options do they have?

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 11:43 AM PST up reply actions

Because the option sucks

I don’t understand the point of bringing in somebody who will pitch terribly. If you need more options try to find one that has a chance to pitch well.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 1:50 PM PST up reply actions

Who else is out there that will take a minor league deal?

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 1:57 PM PST up reply actions

Look

Currently we have 8 guys on the 40 man roster that are candidates for the rotation. Plus we have Mark Prior and Kevin Correia. I don’t feel the need to worry about bringing in an 11th guy to compete, especially if there is a really, really good chance that guy will be terrible and boring. After saying that, I probably wouldn’t approve of any minor league deals. We should have enough guys to fill out the rotation in Portland too so there’s no reason to give out minor league deals. An ST invite would probably be as generous as I would go, but if Elarton, Trachsel and Lawrence don’t cut it for ST invites, I don’t see why you’d want to bring in Livan. Sounds to me like they want to see as many innings as they can of the guys they have. Livan would just mess that up. Plus, being the rubber armed guy that he is, if something went wrong in March with our guys he should still be ready to go in April.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 2:25 PM PST up reply actions

Who are the 8?

Peavy – given
Young – given
Beak – given (unfortunately)
Geer – may be injured to start the year
LeBlanc – may need more time in AAA
Correia – also an ERA of 6 last year
Ryu – has started 1 major league game
Ramos – has never seen the major leagues

looks to me like there are alot of questions in the 4 and 5 spot and I would rahter see Hernandez in there than LeBlanc or Ramos getting lit up when they should be in AAA.

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 3:42 PM PST up reply actions

In a season where they won’t be competing for the playoffs, I’d rather have guys who are questions getting Major League innings under their belt than a bad, overpriced veteran.

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by Richard Wade on Feb 2, 2009 4:09 PM PST up reply actions

even if it means hurting the development of players who are not ready for the majors?

like LeBlanc and Ramos could be?

also is a $700K ML deal really that overpriced?

by Grey Suit on Feb 2, 2009 4:49 PM PST up reply actions

You named 7 of the 8

Correia is not on the 40 man roster. The guy you missed was Reineke.

I just can’t understand why you don’t want guys who have already pitched in AAA in favor of a guy who can’t get anyone out unless he gets lucky enough to have the ball hit at somebody. I’ve watched Livan pitch many times. He is bad. Very bad. In 2007 he was bad and vary lucky and escaped without looking terrible. In 2008, he was not so lucky and it showed. I just don’t want to see a guy out there that has no potential to be anything better. Especially if he’s already terrible. It makes no sense. Let’s get the kids out there who have potential, who can actually strike people out and who fans can allow themselves to envision a guy who may be with the team in the future. Not some guy who needs a 12 ft wide strike zone to be successful.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 11:36 PM PST up reply actions

Let me emphasize the annoyance factor of Livan

The last 2 years:
384 IP, 504 H and 122 BB resulting in 233 Runs.
In 2008, that totaled an AVG/OBP/SLG line of .342/.375/.520
In 2007, that totaled .308/.371/.499
That’s basically like turning every hitter in the 2008 version of Vladimir Guerrero.

In his last “good” year (2005), hitters were still hitting .284/.348/.427
Which is basically like turning every hitter into the 2008 version of James Loney. Now Loney ain’t an MVP candidate or anything, but I wouldn’t want to face a lineup where every hitter was that good.

By comparison, Baek gave up only a .268/.321/.444 line in 2008. So if you want the “good” version of Livan, we already have him. And you don’t seem to like him.

So can you see why I’m having a hard time coming to terms with bringing in Livan?

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 11:57 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

Its not like I'm saying Livan should be pitching 3rd in the rotation.

I’m just saying is it such a bad thing to have a back up plan if things don’t work out?

Next year is going to be a wasted year so if Leblanc, Geer and Ramos are not ready then let them throw another year in AAA instead of getting crushed in the majors in front of 40,000 people (well on the road atleast).

I dont see why you are so against him signing a ML deal in which the Padres can tell him to take a hike at any point. If Livan comes to ST and stinks the place up or they have better options (Correia, Ryu or Renkie) then they can cut ties and wont owe him jack, but if things fall through with their other options at least they will have a guy who can eat up innings ever 5 days.

by Grey Suit on Feb 3, 2009 7:07 AM PST up reply actions

But you don't need to throw those guys

to the wolves. You’ve got Reineke and Correia who can take lumps until the kids develop further. Geer showed some promise, but I’m not buying the health of his arm.

by Phantom on Feb 3, 2009 7:48 AM PST up reply actions

But the thing is

Ramos, Geer and Leblanc are all ready. They don’t need to go back to AAA. The time is now for these guys. Having them keep repeating AAA is not helping them develop. You need to find out what they can do in the majors because the jury is still out on them. Since its a wasted year its the perfect time to find out what you have. Its the non-wasted years where you bring in the wily vets to block the kids from screwing up the team (although Livan will screw up the team far worse than any of these kids).

Plus, as a fan who pays money to the Padres, I don’t to deal with watching Livan give up hit after hit, turning every hitter into Vladimir Guerrero no matter what the franchise strategy is. There are enough things going wrong with the team. Making them unwatchable 1 out of every 5 days is just a horrible idea.

One final thing and then I’m (probably) done with this. There is no room for all of these guys (Ramos, Leblanc, Geer, Reineke) to go back to AAA. Guys are getting promoted from San Antonio and there needs to be room in the Portland starting rotation for all them. So the big league club needs to take them or start turning them into relievers. That’s why they brought in guys like Correia and Ryu because they can be experienced bullpen guys if there’s no room in the rotation. So like I said, it’s now or never. You’ve got to find out if these guys are major league starters.

by Wonko on Feb 3, 2009 9:52 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs

I agree with you that now is the time to fins out if they are major leauge starters.

My point is that what if they aren’t? What’s the plan then? I would love to see two of those guys make it into the rotation but the last thing I want is to see a kid get lit up every 5th because the team doesn’t have anyone else to put out there. I guess I just don’t see how its a bad idea to sign him to a no strings attached can drop him whenever you want deal. I’m not saying I want him in the rotation I’m just saying it may not be a bad idea to have him in ST as an insurance policy.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

by Grey Suit on Feb 3, 2009 10:17 AM PST up reply actions

You gotta be ****ing me

Sheets/Martinez/Ohman/Perez are ALL OUT THERE and all cheap, and we have to get a guy who never had good stuff but now can’t command his stuff anyway. For the love of all that’s holy are the Padres this moronic? I know they have a small budget but come on!

by TheAxManCometh on Feb 2, 2009 8:49 AM PST reply actions

I understand

your frustration when it comes to Livan…..I can’t stand the guy either. Yeah his profile says he is only 33 but in Cuban years that means he really is about 43. Plus watching him pitch last year it was ugly. I know he was in Colorado and all but he could hardly find the plate. But on the flip side you are delirious if you think Sheets/Martinez/Ohman/Perez are going to be “cheap”. They aren’t getting their 3-4 year deals like they wanted but they’ll still get a solid 1 year deal worth around 10 mil or so (similar to what we paid Maddux the past 2 seasons so like other people have said before…..ANY OTHER OFF-SEASON and the Padres might have had a shot at some of these guys!!).

by SDPads_1 on Feb 2, 2009 10:08 AM PST up reply actions

I'm not sure

that $12M per year is “cheap”

by Phantom on Feb 2, 2009 11:02 AM PST up reply actions

By what they originally wanted, yes

Three additional things
1. You give them a one year deal to try and improve their standing for another year
2. If they are pitching really well, and we are down in the standings as alot of us honestly expect, then we could flip them to another team for some worthwhile prospects.
3. Especially starting pitching – I mean how can you not like pitching in four cavernous parks, including your new home park.

by TheAxManCometh on Feb 2, 2009 11:04 AM PST up reply actions

His point was

That Oliver Perez at 3 years/$36 mill, doesn’t really fit what you’re talking about. Of course, maybe you are talking about Odalis Perez?

The other 3 might though. Although, I have a hard time envisioning Pedro coming here no matter what you pay him (maybe that’s just me). And Ohman is a reliever, so it’s not really worth paying him much (i.e. over $1 million is too much) since reliever performances fluctuate so wildly. Chances are you are better off sticking with what you got. There’s like a 50/50 chance that Thatcher could have a better year than Ohman.

by Wonko on Feb 2, 2009 11:09 AM PST up reply actions