Lookout Landing

It's occurred to me that the Padres are exceptional at fielding players that I have never heard of

which means either their FO is finding undervalued players (the literal “I can field a team entirely of guys you’ve never heard of”) or they really, really suck.

Or?

Well the A's are probably number two on the list of "most likely to field a player I've never heard of"

and they’re usually not bad at all

The Nationals are #3

but they’re probably half players who are old and suck and half players I’ve never heard of.

Even the Padres recognizable players (besides Gonzalez and Peavy) are essentially nobodies (Kouzmanoff, Headley, Tony Gwynn)

I actually know almost all of the Nats position players.

Starting pitchers gets a little less.

Relief pitchers? Now you’re talking about nobodies.

Limerickx - June 22, 2009 reply

Wade LeBlanc has a really good change!

The first time I had ever heard of him was when I was looking up the pitching matchups for my dad

I could've sworn he was a Ray

That's Wade Davis

So it is

It is worth noting that the Yankees are playing some poor baseball at the moment

having just dropped series to the Marlins and Nationals. I know streaks are not ~~-very~~- predictive but there is a difference between playing a team that’s firing on all cylinders and a team that’s in a group slump.

I have little hope for the Boston series and hope to leave with one win. Ditto for the Dodgers.

Immediately prior to the Marlins series they beat Johan Santana and the Mets 15-0

I’m not real thrilled to have to see them.

But what enjoying the history and ambiance of Yankee Stadi...

Never mind.

lemonverbena - June 22, 2009 reply

At least we'll get to see some dingers!

GRIFFEY!

I hope Johnson hits one!

Griff always ratchets his game up a notch we he goes to Yankee Stadium

Hey maybe we can trade him to the Yankees!

mark sobba - June 22, 2009 reply

The Nationals probably weren't either after that game.

ThundaPC - June 22, 2009 reply

I don't get it:

1. "I know streaks are not ~~very~~ predictive "
2. “there is a difference between playing a team that’s firing on all cylinders and a team that’s in a group slump”

1 negates 2. Unless you talk about the Yanks being in a group slump when we happen to play them, but being as slumps are not predictive, you cannot predict when they’ll occur, as you point in out in 1.

I guess I'm drawing a distinction between an individual in a slump

and a team having a variety of problems. I haven’t been following the Yankees but I talked to a fan last night who seemed to think that Rodriguez has rushed his return from surgery and been worked too hard, that Chamberlain doesn’t have the endurance to start and that Wang lost something after his surgery and hasn’t gotten it back. Maybe this impression is magnified by the recent losses to bad teams and the fact that every time a yankee gets a cold I hear about it.

"I haven’t been following the Yankees but I talked to a fan last night......"

I think I found your problem.

If I hear one more idiot Yankee fan talk about how they think Joba is most valuable as a relief setup man ace (I live 5 minutes right outside NYC) I will punch someone.

Limerickx - June 22, 2009 reply

To be fair to my acquaintance, who is extremely intelligent when it comes to things outside baseball,

he wasn’t arguing that Joba would better serve the team as a reliever, only that he may not have it in him to be a very effective starter. And this may be true after all; who knows maybe Joba’s a diabetic.

I think your right.

Living in NY, I’ve heard the same things. I follow the Yankees a little bit (I hate them, but my Dad is a huge fan) and it seems that A-Rod is still recovering from the surgery. I think he’ll be fine with a little rest, but right now he’s not close to 100%. Chamberlain is a good pitcher, but he is not the next Cy Young that everyone was making him out to be in 2007. And there is obviously something wrong with Wang.

I wouldn’t say that they’re slumping as a team and that it will carry over, but if A-Rod still isn’t healthy when we face them that will be great news.

dbroncos31 - June 22, 2009 reply

An average starter is almost always more valuable than a shutdown reliever

Of course

I meant that Chamberlain is not actually pitching poorly, but it seems that way because of all the hype and NEXT stuff we heard about. He’s just going through what most young pitchers do. I was trying to say that Cahmberlain isn’t struggling because of endurance issues, rather it’s because he is a young pitcher and people are adjusting to him.

It didn’t come out exactly the way I meant it.

dbroncos31 - June 22, 2009 reply

If past experience has taught me anything

now is the time to make a deal for a mediocre role player

I can't believe we need a new Endy Chavez

Aim higher

Then it's not a mediocre role player anymore

My original comment was sarcastic.

GRIFFEY!

Oh, wait, he’s already on the team…

PositivePaul - June 22, 2009 reply

Mediocre is way better than useless

Jeremy Reed sounds pretty good right now

I cannot believe I just typed that sentence

How could he be better than Saunders?

He wouldn't, but we're talking about a fourth outfielder and I don't want to kill Saunders development

by calling him up to play twice a week

Start start start

Might as well just call up Redman then.

SS?

Huh?

Should we call up Prentice Redman to play shortstop?

No. I think that would be a bad idea.

Reference to the Carp and Redman for middle infielder thread

We are almost there.

It works even better since Lopez is out. Redman for SS!

Kirk - June 22, 2009 reply

I'd point out that on May 29th I endorsed the idea of trading for Ryan Langerhans.

.385 wOBA in AAA!

Can we possibly call it a need considering the bonanza of toolsy lefty OFers this org is sitting on?

I mean I know they’re not ready for the majors but when you’re filling in for Endy Chavez the bar isn’t unspeakably high.

The team needs a 4th OF

and given the current starting one is Balentien, and the nature of Safeco Field, a left-handed hitting one would be ideal.

It's better than dealing away a passable, but aging setup man

for a recently injured former top pitching prospect.

JY - June 22, 2009 reply

Wait

Is it time to dig up the corpse of Bobby Ayala?

13194013 - June 22, 2009 reply

I was going to half-heartedly suggest Snelling

Because he had been playing in the Mexican leagues all year. Looks like the Pirates picked him up about a week ago though.

sulles - June 22, 2009 reply

Fun with numbers ...

Puckett & the KJR callers are debating the return of Johjima, because as you know, the team ERA is so much better with Rob Johnson.

Meanwhile the difference at the plate between Kenji and the others is something like 5 runs every 100 PAs

....

it’s not even like Kenji is all that good

Remember when

we thought that his 2007 was a down year? Yeah… Bavasi really made sure the team would stay good and boned for a few years yet.

The Johjima deal isn't Bavasi's faul

Just sayin…

TrashiDawa - June 22, 2009 reply

Bavasi was the GM

ergo it was his fault. And Joh’s deal is one of the team’s least problems, but it reminded me of the generally sad state of affairs. Was there a single trade Bavasi was involved in that wasn’t a disaster? I can think of one – Rhodes (or was that Pelekoudas?)

Can a move you oppose really be your fault?

Didn't know he was actively opposed to it

Pelekoudas and Gaby Hernandez has been hurt/sucked since he came over

Although that wasn't a bad trade.

That's poor reasoning. Bavasi was GM, but he still had superiors.

Also, yes there were quite a few trades Bavasi made that weren’t a disaster. The Garcia trade was great, the trade for Carvajel, the Winn trade at the time seemed good. The Rhodes trade, the Ron Villone trade. That’s just a few. The Sean Green trade if you want to go post-analysis, etc.

Forgot about Garcia; that was fine.

So, high profile moves Bavasi made which helped the team; Beltre, Ichiro, Ibanez, Garcia trade. Am I missing anything major? Guillen signing would have been an overall plus if not for the arbitration nonsense.

You cannot remove Guillen entirely just because of that.

They still got a good+ year out of Guillen for very little.

Reminds me of a quote from former Soviet PM Chernomyrdin

“we tried [to make it turn out] for the better, but it came out like always”

And this is why you should only listen to Brock and Salk.

BrianL - June 22, 2009 reply

...and Salk is currently calling for the benching of GRIFFEY!

BrianL - June 22, 2009 reply

Has been for a few days now.

This show would be so much better without Brock.

BrianL - June 22, 2009 reply

I was getting ready to switch over when I heard it...

I didn't actually have a chance to change the channel (that darned work) yet, and and here was Fain

back again, and sitting in for Furness — wondering if the fanbase now thinks they should be buyers, not sellers.

That has been a big part of the post game too. Blech. 20 callers taking turns yelling buy! or sell!

I’m interested in the moves the Angels or the Rangers make. My knowledge of their teams, FO personnel, and spending abilities is very limited to non-existent so I’m very curious as to what they can and will do.

Caller:

“the only way that (Bedard) trade is worth it is if you get into the playoffs and make a noise so no to selling”

I remember the time I had a $20 in each hand and lost one, so I threw the other after it.

Sounds reasoning right there.

Aw.

Fain is very against getting rid of the veterans; he hated that whole ‘’sell now sell now drivel" being thrown around, because the team wasn’t and isn’t that bad.

That line about quantifying the Bedard trade caused momentary rage induced blindness

Puckett did have the thought that maybe he should take Silva's numbers out of the mix and then see what Joh's catcher's ERA was ....

Ooh, it was all Sandmeyer.

apparently, he’s the one obsessing about the wonderfulness of Rob Johnson, as he keeps repeating the catchers & pitchers ERA for Johnson & Joh (“I’m not trying to cause controversy, I’m not trying to stir the pot, I’m just laying out the numbers”) He then plays audio of pitchers responding favorably to questions about Johnson’s catching as though they are volunteering the information.

msb - June 23, 2009 reply

There are still upgrades that I would like to see from within.

Clement still needs to come up to catch twice a week, Saunders needs his chance if Wlad does not improve, and Morrow needs to go to AAA and learn to pitch as a starter, hopefully with a view to him coming back in September for a run at the playoffs.

And of course, Yuni needs to go somewhere far away [Cuba?] and be replaced with a league average left handed bat.

EnglishMariner - June 22, 2009 reply

A league average left-handed bat at shortstop would be like the third best position player on the team

Even better!

Wilder. - June 22, 2009 reply

I believe a Yuni replacement is being actively pursued

so I have faith that as soon as a viable option surfaces the team will take it. There are no internal solutions to the MIF travesty. Luis Valbuena, however, is making the most of his cup o coffee with Cleveland.

I dreamed that we traded for Julio Lugo last night

I'd settle for getting Bloomquist back

or better yet try to get Punto away from the Twins, contracts be damned.

...

…

That's where I am with Yuni

but I believed he could turn it around up until May so I’m extra bitter.

If it is all the same to you,

I would prefer to never get Bloomquist back.

Fine

But if Yuni takes out another outfielder you’re to blame

Bearskin Rugburn - June 23, 2009 reply

Watching a Royals game might be even weirder.

I attended the Royals game last Wednesday and Willie Bloomquist, Jose Guillen, and Miguel Olivo were in the starting lineup and Tug Hulett was used as a defensive replacement in left field. The only way it could’ve been wierder is if Meche instead of Greinke had been pitching.

Decatur - June 22, 2009 reply

It is all exciting!

While Lopez and Betancourt are starters on the team I will try not to get too excited.

mark sobba - June 22, 2009 reply

So Kevin Correia retired the first fourteen batters he faced against Oakland

which means he pitched to forty consecutive batters without pitching from the stretch.

Read that again.

Kevin Correia. Pitched to FORTY CONSECUTIVE BATTERS. Without throwing from the stretch. Thirty-eight outs and two home runs.

Those camo unis are really paying off.

The best thing is that in his previous start versus the Dodgers, he retired the final fourteen batters he faced, including 12 with the bases empty

so Correia ended up pitching to fifty-two consecutive batters without pitching from the stretch. FIFTY-TWO! That’s almost two complete games in a row!

Sounds like I have a FanGraphs post to write!

Thank the lord that you were able to notice this

I just happened to go over to AN and they had a post up about his last start against them

And I thank you for giving me something easy to write about today.

So, about that lefty on the DL

Is there any thought to holding onto Bedard and resigning him after ‘09? I doubt we can get much for him in a trade because of the injury concerns and if we’re fighting for the playoffs we don’t want to deal him for 80 cents on the dollar. In addition, it is unlikely (read: nearly impossible) for him to become a Type A FA, and if he misses more time he might not even be Type B. With that in mind, I think the best scenario would be to sign him to a 3 year, incentive laden contract and hope he stays healthy. I haven’t seen this discussed anywhere and I wanted to hear your thoughts. (If it has been discussed a lot, I must have missed it. Mea culpa.)

dbroncos31 - June 22, 2009 reply

It has been discussed quite a lot, here's the bullet points.

Would Bedard be nice to keep around? Yes. Whether that’s a good decision depends on how much you’d have to pay him (we don’t know), and what you’d give up by keeping him and not trading him (possibly Type B compensation, but we don’t know if he’d reject arbitration) and what’d you give up by not trading him (impossible to know) and whether or not you could trade him and have him still resign this winter (impossible to know).

Just too much speculation.

I keep thinking this is 2007 all over again.

And that our GM will look at us being close to the playoffs and sell out our whole organization for “that one veteran player that will push us over the top.” Then I remember who our GM is, and what he has done so far, and think that this just might work out.

JLProck - June 22, 2009 reply

If we had traded for Bedard in July of 2007

that would have made so much more goddamn sense

And then he'd have gotten injured just in time for the death spiral

Well, at least then it would have been a two-run homer

Yeah, that came out wrong.

I was trying to liken our situation in the 2008 offseason (misguided FO thinks we’re close to contention in the AL West) and now (legitimately close to contention in the AL West with a better FO). The misguided FO sold out for Bedard, but I don’t see Jack Z. getting fleeced like that.

JLProck - June 22, 2009 reply

I know what you meant.

How do people look at this series and see anything but the Colorado series all over again?

Robert - June 22, 2009 reply

Which one

and I guarantee that will never happen again

There is only one Colorado series.

Robert - June 22, 2009 reply

No I can think of at least three

The Dodgers are interested in Washburn

Per the LA Times

It’s a small quote near the bottom of the article. Is Washburn in line to start vs the Dodgers on the next road trip?

Also unrelated but

This article on Torii Hunter made me laugh, mostly because of its premise not its content.

No, he starts the last game of the Pads series

which means, hey another shitty offense!

No. Looks like Vargas-Felix-Olson

unless Bedard can cut in there somewhere.

Too bad they already giftwrapped Carlos Santana.

But they had Russell Martin!

who might not actually be finished!

Looking ahead to the Dodgers

Pitching matchups as of right now:

Vargas vs. Weaver
Hernandez vs. Kershaw
Olson vs. Kuroda

If ever there was a chance to take 2 out of 3 from the Dodgers, I’d say this is it. First two are very winnable, and Kuroda has struggled his last two starts (doesn’t mean it’s indicative of anything).

Fuckmikereilly - June 22, 2009 reply

If there's a pitcher our lineup is designed to struggle against, it's Jeff Weaver.

and Olson v. Kuroda doesn’t look like a great matchup for us either

How is Kershaw a good matchup, either? His main weakness is strike throwing, and well, yeah.

Other than Felix being his opposition, which is nice.

Pretty much

he’s been inconsistent but against a team of hackers like the M’s I could see him having a good game.

Basically Kershaw's opponent is Felix, and he's left-handed

so while not a good matchup, it’s not a really terrible one either

My main point was that

we don’t draw Wolf or Billingsley, who are probably their two best. And we don’t start Morrow against them, which is nice.

Jeff Weaver has had good streaks in the past, but has proven time and again that he’s not that good of a pitcher. That being said, he could destroy us.

On Kershaw:
A) Lefty
B) Felix

Olson vs. Kuroda is admittedly a bad matchup, which I never denied.

Fuckmikereilly - June 22, 2009 reply

Except Weaver is just the type of right handed sinker/slider slop-baller that we can't hit

and he’s facing Jason Vargas.

To be fair, most types of pitchers are pitchers we can't hit.

Well wait a second

maybe there are some types of pitchers we haven’t faced yet so we just don’t know….

Bearskin Rugburn - June 23, 2009 reply

Well given that we haven't hit anyone and have faced most kinds of pitchers

I think it’s safe to assume that we can’t hit most types of pitchers

seattlebruin - June 23, 2009 reply

When you assume you make an ass out of u and me.

I have confidence we can hit a spitballer.

We still wouldn't be able to hit most types of pitchers

seattlebruin - June 23, 2009 reply

Free Mario Yepez!

Our offense makes me =(

You would do poorly on an LSAT

Kirsten Schlewitz - June 23, 2009 reply

Exactly!

Jason fucking Vargas man! We’re guaranteed a victory.