San Diego Padre Positives?

by TheAxManCometh on Jul 18, 2009 10:01 AM PDT

Wanted to put out a general post and see if, in this insanity of a very poor year with the Padres, there are some good things to think about in this team in the midst of this disaster.

Add anything or agree or whatnot, and I'll start out a few of them

1. Evereth Cabrera - I think he's only going to get better from here on in. He has some incredible speed and is solid in hitting. He will be something very special.

2. Tony Gwynn Jr - Again another that I think will just keep getting better with more and more playing time. He plays solid defense, he can be a slap hitter in this park and has very good speed. He needs to better utilize it on the base paths and learn to steal better but he and Cabrera give us one of the fastest fronts of the lineup we've had in almost a decade.

3. Some bullpen guys - I actually think we've got some young gems in the bullpen that no one is looking at or giving much love. I do like Gregerson and think he has potential. Mjuica has been quietly impressive. Bell needs no extra adjectives, he's been outstanding. And other guys like Perdomo and even Burke have had good times out there. Could be some very good players in that group - especially considering Schrieber and a few others in the minors and Mark Worrell.

4. Some minors talent - I won't include Kyle Blanks in this list. But Mat Latos, Sawyer Carrol, Dan Robertson, Logan Forscythe, Luis Durango, Cory Luebke, James Darnell and a few others are showing some real progress. Yeah I know this is still up in the air, and there's no guarantee. And maybe I'm being stupid but I think there's some real potential down the line.

5. New Ownership - I can only pray that finally we'll get some semblance of order, structure and focus on the team with a new ownership.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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Comments

Well if you're looking for positives

you found the few.

My question (also proposed by Drama in his post yesterday): Why is Blanks here if he’s not going to play? Things like that which make little sense make me forget about the very few positives we have as fans.

http://avengingjackmurphy.blogspot.com/

I don't agree with a word you're saying but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" ~Patrick Henry

"Shut the fuck up Donnie, you're out of your element!" ~Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski

by AIChief on Jul 18, 2009 11:11 AM PDT reply actions

Having a backup first baseman

makes no sense, unless….

"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."

Groucho Marx

by planetjeffy on Jul 18, 2009 1:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Umm you forgot Padres player of the month for June

Fire Bud Black!

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Jul 18, 2009 1:34 PM PDT reply actions

Lance!

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 18, 2009 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Who is Schrieber?

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 18, 2009 4:01 PM PDT reply actions

I think he meant Scribner

The reliever we got for Tony Clark last year.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 18, 2009 4:09 PM PDT up reply actions

Bingo

Sorry. Always misspell his name.

And I passed on lance because his name is harder to spell and also because if cabrera continues to stick and there’s a strong chance of that then lance is blocked

by TheAxManCometh on Jul 18, 2009 4:13 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

I know you meant Scribner, just messin'.

I’m big on him. I like him to be a BP fixture for a long time.

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 18, 2009 5:36 PM PDT up reply actions

Who would have thought we would have gotten him for Tony Clark

amirite?

Fire Bud Black!

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Jul 19, 2009 6:46 AM PDT up reply actions

Completely right.

I’m just STUNNED that the D-Backs gave him to us just so they could get another half-season out of Tony Clark. If I recall correctly, at the time Evan was one of their top five pitching prospects.

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 20, 2009 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions

He was a reliever with a sidearm delivery in High A ball

Not exactly the crown jewels of pitching prospects. If a guy like that was in the top 5, it had more to do with them shipping out prospects to the A’s. But, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t in their top 5 (I didn’t buy BA 2008 and plus they printed the book before the Haren trade, but looking at BP’s top 11 in Jan 2008, if you don’t count Scherzer, then there are 8 pitchers mentioned and none of them are Scribner).

It’s still nice to see that he may pan out.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 20, 2009 11:26 PM PDT up reply actions

I guess I'm not remembering well lately.

But I still can’t believe they gave him to us.

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 21, 2009 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions

I would also add

Canham and Sogard to the list of future big leaguers. I would also note that it’s going to take a while for guys like Carroll, Robertson and Darnell to make the majors, but if we are looking at the lower minors Jaff Decker, Buster Weems, Drew Cumberland, Brad Chalk, Blake Tekotte, Jeremy Hefner and Wynn Pelzer deserve mentioning. Nick Schmidt’s stock is slightly down since my fanpost about him, but I think Cesar Carillo’s is slightly up. Chad Huffman may be able to become a bench OF and pinch hitter in the majors, but it seems Blanks (for who knows what reason) currently has that role. I still think Leblanc has the talent to pitch in the majors, but needs to be confident and get out of his own way when he comes back up.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 18, 2009 4:15 PM PDT reply actions

Wonk, a question about Forsythe.

We’re having a discussion about him over on the UT Padres forum. There’s a lot of people that don’t like his lack of power, and think that minor league OBP is useless for predicting big league success. They point to players like Antonelli and Kouz who had big OBPs in the minors who couldn’t do a damn thing in the majors.

There was a chat on Baseball America, where their experts said they liked Forsythe but his lack of power is concerning.

And as I typed this, Forsythe just hit a stand-up triple against Midland :-).

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 18, 2009 5:42 PM PDT up reply actions

If he doesn't get some power

He’s basically a useless 3B, unless he plays great D and hits for average like a Bill Mueller.

I have no idea whether he’ll develop power, but I hope he does.

I’m not sure that OBP is “useless” in the minors, but it’s definitely not enough to project stardom all by itself. I would never count it as a mark against you, just maybe not the most positive mark for you.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 18, 2009 6:28 PM PDT up reply actions

I would also point out

That it’s not like he’s hitting .260 with a great OBP. He’s hitting .300 or higher which is pretty damn nice to see with or without the walks.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 18, 2009 6:30 PM PDT up reply actions

I totally agree with you.

And I really like Logan and would like to see him in San Diego at some point next year.

One thing he has going for him is his versatility—he can play pretty much any infield position except SS. If he can keep the high OBP going and the high average, even if it is mostly singles and doubles, he’d be a great major leaguer.

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 18, 2009 7:16 PM PDT up reply actions

Speaking of Logan

He seems to have found his power over the last three games. Two HRs and a triple.

Love we shine like a burning star
We're falling from the sky tonight

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 19, 2009 5:29 PM PDT up reply actions

You have a discussion on the UT forum?

ROTFLMFAO

Fire Bud Black!

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Jul 19, 2009 6:47 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Dont forget the added value

and 5 for 5 deal

by 1210pads on Jul 18, 2009 4:30 PM PDT reply actions

Good to be Friar faithful

even if FRIAR is against the rules

by dirtballer on Jul 18, 2009 5:24 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

WOOHOO!

I got promoted to the front page. This makes my day!

I didn’t include Carillo/LeBlanc/Huffman because I think either they don’t have it or they’ve proven they don’t have it. I liked LeBlanc but he just hasn’t shown he is anything more then a AAAA guy. Carillo is completely off the rails, Huffman hasn’t been able to really show anything either. Of course then again I still like Inman and think he could be something special

And yeah I think the low minors have the majority of the talent considering that LE/FW have been pretty good and there are alot of players in both those areas dominating. San Antonio has some good ones (Canham I’m not sure of yet) but not quite the quantity that’s in the A level.

by TheAxManCometh on Jul 18, 2009 5:26 PM PDT reply actions

To be fair

The guys you mentioned are not sure fire guarantees to even make the big leagues (other than Latos) let alone have success. I was just pointing out some guys that are showing potential to make the show and some others that just show promise in general. I would say though that given our lack of depth at catcher, Canham will get a shot. Look at Hundley, he did next to nothing to show he was ready for the bigs, but they gave him a shot. Canham has shown more than him (and apparently gets some marks for team leadership) so I think barring injury or full-on collapse he will make it to the Padres in the next couple of years. With Huffman, what you see is what you get. He can’t play everyday and his D is suspect, but a PH doesn’t have to be a great hitter, just one that can hit with some authority when they get up. Huffman has a chance to be that.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jul 18, 2009 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Silver lining to this disastrous cloud

WE’RE GONNA RUIN EVERYTHING!

Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you? ◔ヮ◔
Uncommon Sportsman :: Absurdity in play

by Axion on Jul 19, 2009 1:02 AM PDT reply actions

plus we have the best starting DL rotation in baseball

maybe the best all around DL team

by 1210pads on Jul 19, 2009 1:13 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

you forgot a few ..

A solid catching tandem for the next few seasons in Hundley/Alfonso.
For people who can’t afford to pay their cable bill, free viewing of away games at the park in the park.
Since we don’t win that often, less exposure to Heath Bell’s dumb song.
Great seats available.
Breakfast.

552

by wrveres on Jul 19, 2009 1:30 AM PDT reply actions