In case you missed it - and how could you miss it?! - the Padres signed Xavier Nady to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league spring training earlier this week. X. spent all of last season in AAA; his last major league appearance was as a Giant in the 2012 NLDS. Nady was 0-5 with a walk in San Francisco's five-game victory over the Reds.
For the uninitiated, this is not Nady's first stint with the Padres organization. He was selected in the second round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed that September. Nady also made his major league debut that same September, before playing in a single minor league game. He singled in his only plate appearance and then spent the entirety of the 2001 and 2002 seasons on the farm. Nady played in 268 games for the Padres from 2003 through 2005, posting a .263/ .320/ .414 slash line before being sent to the Mets for Mike Cameron, who was recovering from facial fractures and a concussion following a gruesome collision with teammate Carlos Beltran earlier in the year.
Nady lasted all of 75 games with the Mets before he was flipped at the 2006 trade deadline to Pittsburgh for fellow former Friar Oliver Perez and the original Roberto Hernandez. Nady notched his first 20 homer season in 2007 and followed that up with his career year in 2008. He hit .330 with 13 homers in 89 games as a Pirate before the Yankees acquired him in late-July. He finished the season with career-highs in games (148), doubles (37), home runs (25), RsBI (97), and all the slash averages (.305/ .357/ .510).
...and it's all been downhill from there. He missed all but seven games of the 2009 season after his second Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Cubs for 2010 and got into 119 games but slashed a disappointing .256/ .306/ .353 with just six homers. Nady moved on to Arizona, where he played in only 82 games, missed time with a broken hand, and saw his numbers decline even farther. He went even deeper into the abyss in 2012, batting .184 with four homers in 59 games split between the team formerly known as the Expos and the aforementioned Giants. He hit well in AAA last season but didn't fit into the Royals' or Rockies' plans.
It's difficult to see a scenario in which Nady is on the Opening Day roster. It would require about as many injuries as the Springfield Nine sustained, so more than likely he'll head to the West Texas town of El Paso and act as a mentor. Maybe if he tears it up he'll find a nice home somewhere else. We'll see, and none too soon. Hurry up and start happening again, baseball.
The Padres have added even more organizational depth in the past couple days, signing a pair of pitchers with major league experience to minor league deals. Both right-hander Blaine Boyer and lefty Zach Braddock last pitched in the majors in 2011.
Blaine Boyer, who last played in MLB with #Mets in 2011, signed minor lge deal with #Padres. Gets $700,000 if plays in majors
Boyer has pitched in parts of seven seasons for four clubs, most notably the Braves. He has thrown 234 innings in 233 appearances to the tune of a 9-14 record with a 4.81 ERA. His minor league numbers aren't much better, but he did pitch well in his 13 games with Kansas City's AAA affiliate in Omaha last season. Boyer posted an ERA of 3.00 in the small sample size of 15 innings. After being released by the Royals, he had success in Japan, going 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.889 in 27 innings spread over 22 games for the Hanshin Tigers.
#Padres sign LH reliever Zach Braddock to minor league deal. Finished 2013 in Atlantic League but has big league time with #Brewers
Braddock is less well-traveled than Boyer, having pitched just two seasons for only one team. The seasons were 2010 and '11, and the team was the Brewers. He did well in his rookie year, putting up an ERA shy of three in 33.2 innings over 46 appearances in a LOOGY role. Braddock wasn't as successful in 2011, lasting just 17.1 innings with an astronomical 7.27 ERA. His K-rate dropped from a ridiculous 11 strikeouts-per-nine-innings to a still-impressive 9.3. His walk rate was also high both years - 5.1 and 5.7 per nine, respectively. These numbers were no fluke, as he has had double-digit K's-per-nine in the minors every year since 2009, averaging 12.0.
On November 5, 2013, fourteen minor leaguers in the Padres organization were granted free agency. Of those fourteen, four have signed on with a new team.
Third baseman Scott Moore signed with the Cardinals on November 11. Moore, who spent parts of five years in the majors with the Cubs, Orioles, and Astros, hit .260/ .336/ .382 with three homers in 39 games with the Padres' AAA affiliate, the now-defunct Tucson Padres last season.
Tucson outfielder Brandon Allen signed with the Mets on November 19. Allen played 116 games in the bigs with Arizona, Oakland, and Tampa Bay from 2009 through 2012. He slashed .267/ .347/ .478 with 24 doubles and 17 homers in 423 at-bats over 119 games with the TuPads. The 2014 season will be his eleventh in the minors.
Left-handed reliever Tommy Layne inked a deal with the Red Sox on November 10. Layne had a 2-2 record with a 2.84 ERA in 40 games as a LOOGY for the Padres in 2012 and 2013. He hasn't been as successful in AAA, posting a 6.40 ERA in 209.2 innings spread over 91 games in three seasons split between Tucson and the Diamondbacks' affiliate in Reno.
Right-handed outfielder Mike Wilson signed with the Reds organization on November 6. Wilson, whose major league experience consists of four hits in 27 at-bats with the 2011 Mariners, saw action in 76 games with Tucson last year. He batted .291 with 13 doubles and seven homers in 220 at-bats.
In addition to the players listed above, another Padres minor leaguer has signed on with another organization. Right-handed starter Sean O`Sullivan was granted free agency on October 1, and signed with the Phillies on December 18. O`Sullivan went 8-5 with a 3.83 ERA in 20 starts for Tucson in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He got into seven games with his hometown San Diego Padres, starting three of them, and posted a 3.96 ERA in 25 innings.
Jorge Velandia is very fascinating to me. Off the top of my head, I can't think of another player who was so fringe for so long. I'm sure there are at least two or three guys who could give him a run for the dubious crown, but I don't know about them because flying under the radar is pretty much the whole idea.
Velandia managed to play tiny portions of eight seasons over twelve years with six teams. The most at bats he got in one season was 58 when he hit .190 for the 2003 Mets. It sounds bad but that's actually one point better than his career average and 189 points higher than his average each of the previous two seasons, when he went hitless in 15 ABs spread over '01 and '02. It was enough to keep him out of the Majors for the next three seasons. He persevered, though, and made the most of his next opportunity, responding with his career year for the '07 Devil Rays, hitting .320 with both of his career home runs in 50 at bats over 14 games.
He got into 10 games his next and final season- 3 for Toronto and 7 for the Indians. Over the span of his career, he played in a single-digit amount of games in a season twice and had single-digit ABs in three. He hit .125 or worse in five seasons. One of the others was a .250 showing when he singled in four ABs for the '98 A's. In his six stops he wore seven uniform numbers, wearing two different ones with three teams. He wore 13 with three teams and 11 with two.
I have several Randy Jones cards, but this is both my oldest and my favorite. It's from the iconic 1975 Topps set; he was previously featured in the 1974 Topps set following his rookie season. In addition to the colorful and memorable front, the back of this card also captures the era. I enjoy the cartoon, but I feel like that trivia question is obsolete. I can't recall hearing anyone refer to an able-handed outfielder as a "ballhawk", but maybe I wasn't paying attention. "Boy, he's a real ballhawk out there." Nope, doesn't sound familiar.
It was nice of Topps to choose not to mention that Jones led the National League with 22 losses in 1974. They wouldn't gloss over his most recent season on his 1976 and '77 cards, as he finished second in Cy Young Award voting in 1975 and won it in '76, making the All-Star Game and receiving MVP votes each year.
It seems hard to believe that Akinori Otsuka is already 42 years old. Then again, it has somehow already been eight years (and a week) since the Padres traded him to Texas, and he wasn't exactly a spring chicken back then, so it all adds up. I guess it's just the eight years thing that's hanging me up; it feels like it was yesterday.
Aki is pictured here on his 2005 Topps Heritage card, number #372, which was released right after his excellent rookie campaign. The design mirrors the 1956 Topps set, both on the front and back.
The triptych of cartoons is nice and all, but the really impressive stuff is down there in his stat line. Man, he was good that year. He vultured seven wins against only two losses while posting an ERA of just 1.75 backed by a K rate of 10.1 per nine innings. Otsuka finished third in 2004 NL ROY voting behind former Friar Jason Bay and teammate Khalil Greene.
Otsuka experienced a sophomore slump in 2005, but his bad was still pretty good. He became a member of the Rangers the next season after being traded with Billy Killian and the original Adam Eaton for Adrian Gonzalez, the Chris Young who pitches, and Terrmel Sledge. Texas gave Aki the chance to close that he was denied in San Diego due to the presence of some guy named Trevor, and Otsuka excelled. He saved 32 games in 2006 while posting a 2.11 ERA. Aki ceded the closer role to free agent Eric Gagne in 2007 but pitched well in his old setup role before an elbow injury ended his season and his career.
I hope Aki has a wonderful birthday and that no ants attack his cake. But if they do, he knows who to call.
Ray publishes the schedule for the Fake Teams Consensus Position Rankings that begin the week of January 20th. We start off with our 2014 catcher rankings and here is what you can expect.
Here at Fake Teams, we pride ourselves on the fact that we provide fantasy baseball coverage 365 days per year. There are plenty of other sites that also offer the same, but there are plenty that do not. We hope we have met your expectations this offseason, and we value your readership on a daily basis. We hope that you have enjoyed our offseason coverage to date, as we are as passionate about fantasy baseball as you are. But the real offseason is just beginning.
Rankings season is upon us, and we are very excited about our rankings coverage this offseason.
Like last year, we will be publishing the Fake Teams Consensus Position Rankings beginning the week of January 20th. We will be covering a position per week beginning the week of January 20th and running through the week of March 3rd. Below is the current schedule:
Rankings Week Schedule
Catchers: January 20th
First Base: January 27th
Second Base: February 3rd
Shortstop: February 10th
Third Base: February 17th
Outfielders: February 24th
Starting Pitchers: March 3rd
We will kick off our coverage with catcher week, which will coincide with the last week of the excellent Minor League Keeper Thoughts series, where the prospect team will publish their top 10 fantasy prospects for the Padres and Giants. The Padres top 10 fantasy prospects will publish on Monday, January 20th and the Giants on Thursday January 24th.
Below is the schedule for the rest of catcher week, where Alex will kick everything off with the State of the Position on Monday at 10am. I follow that up with part 1 of our catcher rankings, where our consensus catcher rankings 1 - 15 will be released, along with player profiles for each player.
In addition to the player profiles, we will be publishing projections and auction dollar values for the very first time. Daniel Schwartz, who runs the Rotobanter fantasy baseball site, has agreed to provide us his 2014 projections and auction dollar values for every player ranked. Daniel has spent all offseason preparing and fine tuning his projections, and he will be explaining, in some detail, how he calculates his projections later this week (Tuesday and Thursday).
Along with the rankings, projections and auction values, Daniel Kelley has volunteered to provide his newly created Fantasy Average for each of the catchers ranked as well, so we will be providing much more than just the rankings this season.
In addition to the rankings and projections, we will be providing player profiles for each of the major league catchers ranked. Unlike last season, we have decided not to publish fantasy prospect position rankings, as most of them won't have on an impact on fantasy rosters this season anyway. Instead, we will publish prospect profiles for prospects who could/should have an impact on fantasy rosters in 2014, and on a few prospects who you should target in keeper/dynasty league drafts. We feel that these profiles will give you a better idea as to who to draft and who to keep your eye on should they be called up this season.
Our coverage won't stop there, as we aim to please, and we will be providing you with player profiles on some players who could be sleepers this season or players who could breakout. Like last year, the Fake Teams fantasy baseball writers will provide you with the catcher to target and the catcher to avoid this season in a staff post on Thursday and Friday.
You like sleepers? We will have a piece on those as well, as Dave Morris and I will provide separate articles on AL-only and NL-only catcher sleepers for 2014.
Need a strategy on draft day? We have you covered there as well. Zack Smith will offer his thoughts on what you should know on draft day and what strategy you should use with the catcher position.
Finally, I will analyze the current ADP trends at the catcher position so you know what to expect on draft day.
With all that said, this is the template for each week of our consensus position rankings series, and we look forward to interacting with you each day. We are here to share our knowledge with you with the hope that you can win your fantasy leagues in 2014.
Below you will find the schedule for catcher week:
Over the weekend I discovered that Sporcle.com gives us the option of making matching quizzes. Since our buddy TheThinGwynn loves to be all matchy, I thought I'd create a quiz for him... and you! The topic? Twenty-five Padres player's nicknames. O-M-Gee!
In this quiz you'll have a list of nicknames and match them to the Padres player's name as it pops up. To add an element of pressure I've only given you two minutes to finish the quiz. I do not work well under pressure and when I took a similarly formatted Beatles song quiz yesterday I felt like I needed to pee my pants as time counted down even though I knew all the answers. I wanted to pass that feeling on to you.
Don't worry these won't be the goofy nicknames that you've seen here on Gaslamp Ball. These are legit. They all exist on Padres.com, Baseball-Reference, Wikipedia or have been used by Jonny Dub at some point in his life, so don't get mad at me if you've never heard them before.
We continue to play doctor with bad baseball teams, this week paying a house call to the San Diego Padres.
Record: 76-86
This was the third year in a row, and the fifth in the last six, that the Padres lost more than 85 games. Not that I'm blaming him for the club's performance, but it's remarkable that Bud Black doesn't get mentioned as being on the hot seat.
Diagnosis: Phantom Limb Syndrome
Ian P. Kennedy (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY)
Our bodies can be truly disturbing. If you lose part of one, occasionally, the nerves that used to run to that part of your body will fire and you'll feel pain, pressure, itching, or even just the presence of a limb that was lost long ago. This, thanks to their ballpark, is essentially the Padres' problem. It looks and feels like they have arms that they really don't.
If you looked at the Padres' team ERA, it looks relatively normal. It's below average, but not terribly so. However, Petco Park, which the Padres have called home since 2004, continues to be the most extreme pitcher's park in the majors, making guys like Eric Stults and Jason Marquis look like passable pitchers. For years, the Padres have coasted along with pitchers who were simply "good enough, " supplementing legitimately good starters like Jake Peavy and Mat Latos with the likes of Kevin Correia, Chad Gaudin, Jon Garland, Wade LeBlanc, Tim Stauffer, Aaron Harang, Clayton Richard, and Edinson Volquez (one of the 25 least-effective pitchers to throw 800 or more innings in history). Indeed, according to Fangraphs, the Padres haven't had more than one pitcher worth in excess of three wins above replacement since 2007, when, not coincidentally, they won 89 games in Bud Black's first year at the helm.
To be clear, I'm not saying the Padres are too dumb to understand that the marine layer is effectively masking the fact that their pitching has been little better than that of the Astros over the last couple years. Instead, I think they understood the marine layer would help keep the score down at Petco, foresaw an inability to compete on the open market for premium free agent starters, and were hoping their offense would hit enough to catch up. Moreover, I'm not necessarily critical of the Padres' strategy, as some of the problem could have been mitigated if pitchers like Casey Kelly, Joe Wieland and Cory Luebke (and Dustin Moseley and Tim Stauffer, etc., etc.) had managed to avoid catastrophic arm injuries.
Using glorified filler in the rotation is not a terrible strategy when it's just one or two starters and you're a bad club just looking to get through a season, but when injuries, stalled development, and the rising cost of free agent starters force you to fill out the bulk of your rotation, they're officially a liability.
The Padres scored just 618 runs in 2013, 12th out of 15 teams, and just 16 runs out of 14th. That doesn't sound all that great until you take into account the Padres' extreme ballpark. While OPS+ is a rough tool that doesn't tell us the whole story of their offensive performance, it does adjust for that context, and tells a vastly different story about the Padres' offensive last year than the conventional stats suggest. The average OPS+ in the National League was 94 in 2013, and the Friars actually finished the year tied for fifth in OPS+ by their non-pitchers.
That's actually pretty impressive for a club that lost first baseman Yonder Alonso to a wrist injury, catcher Yasmani Grandal to a PED suspension and subsequent knee injury, center fielder Cameron Maybin to wrist and knee injuries, and Carlos Quentin to knee surgery, second baseman Jedd Gyorko to a groin strain, and shortstop Everth Cabrera to the Biogenesis scandal. With those players, and Jedd Gyorko, on the field for the majority of 2014, the Padres would actually have a formidable-looking lineup that could make noise in the top-heavy NL West.
Breakout: Will Venable, Everth Cabrera
Didmy love letter to Will Venable have anything to do with his tremendous 2013, in which he hit .268/.312/.484? I'd like to think that it did. Venable stayed healthy, started 120 games, uncharacteristically hit lefties well, hit nine more homers than in any previous season, and played solid defense according to most advanced metrics. At 30, this was probably the best he's ever going to be, especially since you can't count on his success against lefties to hold after a career hitting .233/.299/.354 off of them, but the Padres have two more years of control and he should continue to be an immensely valuable player before they trade him or let him walk.
Will Venable (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY)
Before he got popped in the Bioogenesis scandal, Cabrera was having a great season, holding down the leadoff spot with a .355 on-base percentage, stealing a ton of bases, and providing adequate defense at short. He's never done anything like this before, so what changed for Cabrera? Almost the entire difference is due to him cutting his strikeouts by more than one-third in 2013, and all that extra contact simply resulted in more hits. So long as that he continues to put the ball in play, Cabrera will be one of the few great Rule 5 draft success stories of recent times.
Breakdown: Carlos Quentin
When he was healthy in 2013, Quentin hit the snot out of the ball (.275/.363/.493). But he was only on the field for half the season, marking the third year in a row where he's played fewer games than the year before. At 31, Quentin's ability to stay on the field isn't going to improve going forward. He already has zero mobility in the field and a historic predilection to get hit by pitches (again, probably in part due to his lack of mobility). The Padres still owe him at least $20.5 million over the next two years, but with Maybin on the rebound and Reymond Fuentes ready to graduate from the minors, the Padres would be wise to make Quentin some American League team's problem.
Prescription: Bubble wrap for everybody!
In all honesty, I don't know what we can expect from the Padres in 2014. If their health improves, the offense is strong enough to push this club toward the top of the division and into playoff contention. They could be above-average at six of their eight positions and could also see a major upgrade in the starting rotation if Josh Johnson can start at least 25 games for just the fourth time in nine years. None of that is anything close to a sure thing, however. Johnson and Quentin's problems are chronic, and no one seems to be quite sure when Grandal's knees will be healed enough for him to resume catching.
Despite this uncertainty, if I was approaching Chase Headley's walk year with this roster, I'd push all my chips into the middle of the table rather than deal him for a diminished return.
Reymond Fuentues (Scott Cunningham )
Assuming encasing everyone in bubble wrap when they aren't on the field isn't a realistic option, the next best solution is to build up the club's rotation depth, especially in light of Johnson's injury history. Of course, according to Baseball-Reference, the club will pay players about $10 million more in 2014 than they did last year, which would be the club's highest payroll of all time. As such, San Diego doesn't have anywhere to go at the moment to pursue the likes of Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, or seriously bid on Masahiro Tanaka. Johnson, Ian Kennedy, Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, and Cory Luebke with a whole lot of "health permitting" thrown in is a step in the right direction (Matt Wisler, when/as/if he comes, is as yet an unknown quantity), but it doesn't get them all the way there without that kind of high-cost intervention.
With the rise of Reymond Fuentes, the Padres have an in-house candidate for left field whose power won't be sapped by the marine layer, whose defense will save them several runs, and who they can presumably count on to be on the field. In Joaquin Benoit, the Padres have a candidate on hand to supplant Huston Street on the back end. Quentin and Street would both be interesting targets for the Mariners or Orioles given the seemingly high cost of acquiring Nelson Cruz in terms of money and draft picks and the lack of quality closers on the market. Both would come considerably cheaper, and with less of a commitment of years than anyone of their caliber on the market at the moment.
The Orioles have already burned bridges with Grant Balfour and are seemingly desperate to upgrade the back end of their pen, and would love a DH to slot in behind Chris Davis. Meanwhile, the Mariners fetishize corner OF/1B/DH bats, seem to think they need a replacement for Kendrys Morales, and would prefer not to go into 2014 with Danny Farquhar closing.
No doubt top young pitchers like Kevin Gausman and Taijuan Walker would be off the table for Quentin and Street, but a guy who strikes out a lot of batters and gets a ton of fly balls like Bud Norris? Or James Paxton and one of Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, or Dustin Ackley? Those seem like reasonable, and cheaper, returns for players who will have more value to other organizations and it would potentially free up money to pursue more pitching on the open market. That way, the Padres can have some real, working arms in the organization again, and not rely on their ballpark to make Eric Stults look like a real major league starter.
Catcher Eddy Rodriguez was one of 14 Padres minor leaguers who were granted free agency last November. Today it was reported that he has signed with the Rays, making him the fifth minor league free agent from the Padres organization to sign on with another team.
Former #Padres catcher Eddy Rodriguez (@EddyRodriguezU) has signed with the #Rays. Nice landing spot for a Florida guy and avid fisherman.
Rodriguez made his major league debut with the Padres on August 2, 2012 after being promoted from Lake Elsinore a day prior as a result of Yasmani Grandal hitting the DL. Facing Johnny Cueto in his first major league at-bat, he knocked the ball out of the park, becoming the third of four Padres catchers ever to hit a home run in his first ML at-bat. He made two starts for San Diego that year before Nick Hundley returned on August 9th, at which time he was optioned to Triple-A Tucson. Less than a month later, he was DFA , but passed through waivers unclaimed. He re-signed as a minor league free agent in 2013 with an invitation to Spring Training and split time between San Antonio and Tucson during the season, but he never made it back to San Diego.
Like Corey Brock said, this seems like a good move for Rodriguez. Wishing him the best of luck and lots of good fishing in Tampa!
The Padres' 2013 late season emergency option at SS will not be an option in 2014.
Last season when Everth Cabrera was suspended for a PED violation, it was Ronny Cedeno who stepped up and played SS for most of the remaining games in the season. Not much expected from the light-hitting, 30 year old SS, but he proved to be serviceable as he outhit his career rate stats (batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage) shaking off the rust that came with a poorer numbers with the Houston Astros earlier in the year. He also played solid defense.
That being said, that sort of uptick in numbers from a middle infielder on the wrong side of 30 was more of a sign of catching lightning in a bottle than a newfound asset that needed to be retain. The Padres apparently agreed with that evaluation as they let Cedeno hit free agency. Today he came off the market and signed a minor league contract with the Philadelphia Phillies where he'll be one of a couple of insurance policies on veteran SS Jimmy Rollins.
The Padres will go back to starting Everth Cabrera at SS and it seems plan to once again use Alexi Amarista and Logan Forsythe as the emergency options. That's a fairly typical strategy to employ in these days of 12 man bullpens eating up roster spots. The SS is one of the best athletes on the field and barring injury should be expected to start close to 160 games. If an injury arises, then a call to the minors can be made to fill the hole with emergency options filling in for the meantime. The reason for this strategy is that most backup SS cannot hit adequately enough to be a useful bench option and thus decrease the pinch hitting and double switching options at a manager's disposal.
Still, if Cabrera were to get injured (or worse, suspended again) the Padres would be a little short on minor league options. It looks like the plan is to employ former major leaguer Alberto Gonzalez as the AAA shortstop. While experienced, Gonzalez has shown that he is not that useful of a player at the major league level. At AA, the plan is to promote prospect Jace Peterson to that level. Peterson was at Lake Elsinore last year and would be stretched to make a leap to the bigs this season if a call up was necessitated.
Basically, the plan is for us all to root for Cabrera to stay in the lineup as much as possible.
The season is still a few months off and so we Game Thread another classic game. This game is from September 11, 1985 when Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit. Eric Show was the pitcher that day. When he gave up the hit, you may remember he sat down on the mound during the Reds' celebration which earned him the ire of the fans and even his fellow Padres.
All in all, last Wednesday night was one start Eric Show would like to forget. First, the San Diego righthander, whose chief claim to fame had been his membership in the John Birch Society, allowed Pete Rose's 4,192nd hit. He plopped down on the mound during the delay for festivities, an action which Padre Garry Templeton later said was "bush." Then he got into a dugout shoving match with leftfielder Carmelo Martinez, over a ball that fell for a single and led to the game-winning run. Finally, Show refused to stay to answer the post-game questions and, in his absence, his teammates ripped him.
"I'm tired of hearing about his unlucky luck," said Tim Flannery. "That's been at the root of the problem all year. If something goes wrong, he quits. That's why runs aren't scored for him. Guys don't want to play for him. One guy got tired of hearing it."
Before the game, when Show had been asked about the possibility of giving up The Hit, he came up with this droll answer: "I guess it doesn't mean as much to me as it does to other baseball enthusiasts. Don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not putting down Pete. It's a fantastic accomplishment. But in the eternal scheme of things, how much does this matter? I don't like to say this, but I don't care."
The 2009 first round draft pick will experience yet another setback in his professional career, but continues to look toward the future.
Looks like another bump in the road for Donavan Tate. He posted this picture on Instagram yesterday, revealing that he has undergone surgery for a torn achilles.
If history is any indication, Tate really means it when he says "nothing will stop me." Since being drafted by the Padres in the first round in 2009 and getting the largest signing bonus in franchise history when he signed with the team later that year, Tate's professional career has been a tumultuous one.
He missed the chance to make his professional debut in 2009 because of a pubic bone injury, which required surgery and sidelined him for the rest of the season. Then there was the infamous ATV crash in late 2009 that resulted in a broken jaw, though he and the front office were confident that he would be ready and raring for Spring Training 2010. But that year, he suffered a shoulder injury that caused him to sit out the rest of the Spring, an intestinal issue that sidelined him for a month, and knee & wrist injuries that turned 2010 into a full-blown bust.
Going into the 2011 season, things were looking promising. Jed Hoyer projected that Tate would most likely spend the year in Fort Wayne working to get back from the injury issues that had plagued him up to that point. Instead, Tate faced a drug suspension that season after having tested positive a second time for a "drug of abuse." In 2012, he split time between Fort Wayne and Lake Elsinore. His numbers weren't all that impressive, but he at least saw some consistent playing time, which was encouraging after what he had gone through the previous years.
But 2013 saw him relapse once more. Reports surfaced of Tate missing Minor League camp due to undisclosed (at the time) personal reasons. It was later confirmed that what many had suspected was true - Tate had been completing a second rehab stint for substance abuse. As Corey Brock reported, Tate had spent five months in a rehab facility in California. But upon his return he seemed to have a better outlook and was looking forward to a fresh start to his professional baseball career. He played in 23 games with the Eugene Emeralds and looked to be on an upward swing. Fans were pulling for him, and he really seemed to have finally taken a turn for the better.
So the news of this new injury is discouraging, but hopefully he will come back strong, like he has before. After all, he has overcome a lot worse in his young career and the 23-year-old still has a long way to go and some time to work with. So while many have already resigned to giving up on him, signing him off as one of the biggest busts in Padres history, I'll be rooting for him when he returns and gets back to tearing up the basepaths this Summer.
A supplemental first-rounder in 2008, the 27-year-old Forsythe has appeared in 228 games for the Padres over the past three seasons. He's been plagued with injuries, spending time on the disabled list all three years for various maladies including knee surgery, a broken bone in his foot, and plantar fasciitis. Forsythe hit well in a career-high 91 games in 2012, but sandwiched it with two disappointing odd years. To date, he has hit .241/ .310/ .349 in 685 at-bats, and has 28 doubles, five triples, and a dozen homers under his belt. Forsythe has stolen 17 bases while being caught only four times - a feat that's even more impressive when you consider how ravaged the lower half of his body has been.
The quintet of Padres players born on January 14 who preceded Forsythe includes:
Starting pitcher Sonny Siebert turns 77 today. A veteran of 12 major league seasons, Siebert joined the Padres before the 1975 season and started six of his 399 career games before being traded to Oakland for Ted Kubiak. He was 3-2 with a 4.39 ERA during his brief stay in San Diego.
Infielder Dave Campbell is now 72 years old. "Soup" played all but 100 of his 428 career games with the early-'70s Padres. He was the team's starting second baseman in 1970 before settling into a utility role. He's best known for his second career as a broadcaster. Campbell spent 11 years in the booth for the Padres before he was fired after the 1988 season, and went on to be a fixture at ESPN for 20 years.
Utilityman Derrel Thomas has 63 candles to contend with. He spent four seasons with the Padres, first from 1972 through 1974, and then again in 1978. The light-hitting Thomas stuck around the majors for 15 seasons on the strength of his versatility; he played at least six games at every position except pitcher.
Left-handed reliever Danny Boone is turning 60. Boone posted a 2.84 ERA in 63.1 innings over 37 games as a rookie for the Padres in 1981. The descendent of the famed frontiersman of the same name split the next season between San Diego and Houston, spent the entirety of both 1983 and '84 in AAA, and was out of the game hanging drywall until resurfacing in 1990 to sign with the Orioles. He pitched a no-hitter for AAA Rochester, earned a September roster spot with Baltimore, and pitched the final four games of his big league career. He attempted another comeback in 1995 as a replacement player for the Padres, but thankfully the strike was ended before his services were needed.
Shortstop Gary Green is the youngest of the bunch, turning a mere 52. He was a first-round pick in 1984 and made his debut with San Diego in 1986, batting .212/ .235/ .242 in 33 at-bats over 13 games. Green made it back for 15 more games in 1989 before the Padres lost him to the Rangers in the minor league draft. He got 88 at-bats in a career-high 62 games for Texas in 1990, and played in only eight games each of the next two seasons. His career had such a little impact on me that I forgot he was a Padre until after I wrote the original version of this post. His name looked familiar, so I checked him out, stood corrected, and came back here to blurb him and change all mentions of "four" to "five".
The Yankees are exploring the trade market to try to improve their infield.
According to Jon Morosi, the Yankeeshave "made trade inquiry to Padres about infield depth," and says that infielder Logan Forsythe could be an option for New York. Morosi goes on to note that Forsythe is a more realistic target than Chase Headley since the Yankees don't have much to offer from their farm system, but we knew that already.
Forsythe, who turns 27 years old today, hit just .214/.281/.332 with a 73 wRC+ in 243 plate appearances with the Friars in 2013. In his three-year career, Forsythe is a .241/.310/.349 hitter with an 87 wRC+ in 762 PA's. A right-handed batter, Forsythe has fared much better against left-handed pitching, as he has posted a career 124 wRC+ against them (though just an 81 wRC+ last year), whereas he has only a career 69 wRC+ against right-handers.
Along with hitting lefties pretty well, Forsythe also brings some versatility to the table. Last season, he played 32 games at second base, 13 games at both corner outfield spots, 11 games at third, and 11 at short. In terms of the advanced defensive metrics, Forsythe is rated below-average at every position, except third base, where DRS and UZR/150 rate him as +4 and +31.5, respectively, albeit with just 268.1 career innings under his belt.
In terms of injury, Forsythe has had problems with his feet in the past. He missed the first 63 games of the 2013 season while dealing with Plantar fasciitis in his right foot, which could have played a role in his sub-par 2013. In 2012, Forsythe also missed 54 games after undergoing surgery on a broken bone in his left foot.
He would be a decent fit for the Yankees, and there are certainly some similarities between him and current free agent Jeff Baker, who would also be a good fit for New York. The Yankees are reportedly, for whatever reason, unwilling to offer guaranteed Major League contracts to any free agent infielder, and Forsythe would, kind of, fit under their plans. Forsythe is pre-arbitration eligible for the final time in 2013, and I assume he'd have a minor-league option as well. If the Yankees do stick with their plan of signing/trading cheap, scrap-heap-type infielders, guys like Forsythe will definitely be on New York's radar as we head towards Spring Training.
I made this quiz the night before last, but went to sleep before I got around to writing an introduction so now you get an introduction about how I didn't feel like writing an introduction then and still don't.
At any right, this quiz is about the Padres' last trip to the postseason. You don't need to name all 46 guys who suited up for the Padres during the 2006 season, just the 25 who saw action in the NLDS loss against the Cardinals. Time shouldn't be an issue since I put five minutes on the clock.
As always, only last names are required. Don't forget to log your results in the poll below and use the black-bar spoiler-alert feature where applicable in your comments.
What might an extension for the Tribe's best player look like?
Between now and Opening Day is the time when teams and players who've not yet reacher free agency often work out contract extensions. The Indians player with the most chatter about a possible extension this winter has been Justin Masterson, who's entering his final season of team control, and is likely to earn close to $10 million through arbitration, if the two sides don't work out a longer deal. I wrote about a possible extension for Masterson a few weeks ago, but he's not the only player the Tribe could look to extend before the season gets underway. In fact, Masterson isn't even the best player the Tribe might extend, Jason Kipnis is.
Kipnis is currently under team control through 2017, when he'll turn 30. He isn't yet arbitration eligible, so the Indians can pay him ~$500,000 in 2014, while the following three years will be far more expensive. To try and get a sense of what an extension for Kipnis now might look like, I found other players one season away from arbitration eligibility (the same point Kipnis is at now) who signed an extension in the last two years. Here are the four players fitting that description:
A 5-year deal buys out what would have been each player's first year of free agency, and you can see that all recent extensions for players like Kipnis included that year. Each deal also included a team option for an extra year at the end. Such options are fantastic for teams, because either they retain the player for a reasonable cost, or they get to let him go, if he hasn't been playing well (each of those options had a $1-million buyout).
Here are those four players and Jason Kipnis, with some key statistics from the year before they signed, and the two years before they signed combined:
Player
1-year Games
1-year wRC+
1-year fWAR
2-year Games
2-year wRC+
2-year fWAR
Kipnis
149
130
4.5
301
115
7.6
McCutchen
158
130
5.4
312
127
8.8
Castro
162
98
3.1
320
103
6.3
Craig
119
138
2.8
194
143
5.2
Maybin
137
105
4.2
219
95
4.7
McCutchen signed his deal before 2012, and is now the reigning NL MVP, so his contract now looks like a steal. He was two years younger when he signed than Kipnis is now, and he'd been a better player, so while inflation has raised salaries over the last two years, I wouldn't expect Kipnis to command quite as much money as McCutchen did.
Castro signed before 2013. He'd been a solid player before the extension as a league-average hitter who could handle shortstop, was signed mostly due to his youth and potential (Castro went out and had a brutal 2013, with some of the worst hitting in baseball). Kipnis has less room left to grow, because he's four years older than Castro was, but he's also been a better performer. I also doubt the Tribe and Kipnis would land on a 7 or 8-year deal.
Craig also signed a year ago. He was a year older then than Kipnis is now. He'd put up great hitting numbers, but provided little other value (and his hitting wasn't that much better than Kipnis' in the year before signing). Between Craig being a lesser player overall, and a year older, I have to think Kipnis would cost more money.
Like Kipnis, Maybin made big strides in the year before he signed (due in Maybin's case largely to staying healthier). Health concerns still deflated Maybin's price some, and with Kipnis also being a much better hitter, he's going to cost more to sign.
Less than McCutchen, but more than Craig or Maybin. Similar money to Castro, but for fewer years.
My best guess on an extension: 5 years, $37 million, with a $13M team option for 2019.
That would keep Kipnis under team control through his age-32 season, at which point he'd be entering the phase of his career in which he's likely to decline sharply.
The Indians can instead go year-to-year with Kipnis, paying him ~$500,000 in 2014, and (if he continues to play the way he did in 2013) something like $8 million in 2015, $11 million in 2016, and $14 in 2017, at which point he'd likely leave fr another team. That would work out to $33.5 million for the next 4 years, so the extension I'm proposing means the team risks Kipnis suffering a major injury or serious decline, in exchange for keeping him under team control for an additional two years for very little additional money ($3.5 million for the 5th year, $13 million for the 6th).
Working as a public-address announcer for the San Diego Padres seems like an amazing job. And now it can be your job, assuming you can get yourself to San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 25 and convince a whole lot of people you’re the best candidate.
The Padres are hosting an open casting call for their PA gig. Semi-finalists will be selected from the audition to interview for the chance to show off their skills at the club’s Fan Fest event on Feb. 8, when fans will be able to vote online to select three finalists for the position.
Pro tip: "Gyorko" is pronounced "jerko."
Frank Anthony is the current P.A. announcer and has been manning the mic for the Padres since Petco Park opened in 2004. He also hosts a Saturday morning radio show on 105.7 (The Walrus) in San Diego. He is the seventh announcer in the Padres' 45-year history and will soon be joining the ranks of former announcers John Demott, Bruce Binkowski, and Bob Chandler.
Will the next voice we hear at a Padres game be a Gaslamp Baller's?
As the Yankees' 2014 roster begins to take shape, the salary arbitration process begins today. Five Yankees have filed for arbitration and will be able to begin exchanging figures with the team on Friday. Those five include David Robertson, Brett Gardner, Ivan Nova, Shawn Kelley, and Francisco Cervelli. Of these five, Robertson and Gardner are in their last year of arbitration eligibility before free agency. Both Nova and Cervelli are eligible for the first time in their careers, and Kelley, as a Super Two, will go through his third season of arbitration, with one more to go.
Back in November, MLB Trade Rumors released their 2014 salary arbitration projections. The original seven eligible Yankees were cut to five when Jayson Nix was non-tendered and later signed with the Rays, and Chris Stewart was traded to the Pirates. The remaining were projected to make as follows:
Player
2013 Salary
2014 Salary (est.)
Raise
Francisco Cervelli
$515,350
$1.0 MM
$484,650
Brett Gardner
$2,850,000
$4.0 MM
$1,150,000
Shawn Kelley
$935,000
$1.5 MM
$565,000
Ivan Nova
$575,600
$2.8 MM
$2,224,400
David Robertson
$3,100,000
$5.5 MM
$2,400,000
Total Hit Against 189
$14.8 MM
As you can see, Robertson, in his last year of arbitration, and Nova, in his first year, are in line for substantial raises. Despite their projected salaries, teams and players very rarely have to go to an arbitration hearing to determine their future salaries. Instead, both parties come up with numbers and then they agree on a salary somewhere in the middle that would make everyone happy. The only question is where the middle ground will be, and what they will base such valuation on.
Cervelli's injury-filled season that was capped off with a steroid suspension will likely harm his case in court, so the Yankees might be able to sign him to a much cheaper deal. They have yet to name Robertson as the closer, despite a lack of obvious competition. This has likely been done to limit his value in any arbitration case. Closers are valued much higher than middle relievers, so without the "Closer Stamp" D-Rob might have a harder time proving he should be paid like one.
Ian P. Kennedy (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY) 
