Wednesday November 4, 2009
Congratulation New York Yankees!
You have proven that if you spend $200 million, $80 million more than your opponent, $60 million more than any other team in baseball and nearly 10 TIMES as much as the lowest payroll team, you can buy a World Series title.
By taking game 6 over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3, the New York Yankees claimed the 27th World Series title in the franchise's storied history.
The Yankees World Series win and the fact that all but one of the teams that made the playoffs had a season ending payroll of over $100 million, has shone a 200 million candlepower spotlight on the fact that the business of baseball is broken.
It has revealed in a crystal clear manner no amount of spin can obfuscate that money is truly the only thing that matters when it comes to a franchises success in baseball.
It is time to make some changes before another generation of fans in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Milwaukee and many other small market towns wake up on opening day knowing they have no chance to watch their team play a playoff game.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Padres outright Edgar Gonzalez to minors
Wednesday November 4, 2009
According to a report by Bill Center in the San Diego Union Tribune, the San Diego Padres have dropped Edgar Gonzalez, the older brother of Padres All Star 1st Baseman Adrian Gonzalez, from the 40 man roster and outrighted him to the AAA Portland Beavers.
Gonzalez, who spent 9 years in the minor leagues before getting a shot with the Padres in 2008, has chosen free agency instead of accepting the demotion and we have likely seen the last of him in the Padres organization.
I have been one of EGon's biggest critics in the blogosphere this season and am not surprised that he has been dumped to make room on the 40 man roster for one of the good young players that have emerged (or been traded for by Kevin Towers) in the Padres organization in 2009.
Over 478 abs in 193 games, Egon has hit .255/.312/.381/.693 with 11 hr and a 112/36 K to BB ratio. In 2009 he hit an anemic .216/.278 while making 28 starts over 82 appearances.
I am quite sure neither his bat nor his defense will be missed.
Regardless of my thoughts on Edgar Gonzalez the player, it has been heartwarming to see the two brothers play together.
I hope Edgar lands on his feet with another team.
According to a report by Bill Center in the San Diego Union Tribune, the San Diego Padres have dropped Edgar Gonzalez, the older brother of Padres All Star 1st Baseman Adrian Gonzalez, from the 40 man roster and outrighted him to the AAA Portland Beavers.
Gonzalez, who spent 9 years in the minor leagues before getting a shot with the Padres in 2008, has chosen free agency instead of accepting the demotion and we have likely seen the last of him in the Padres organization.
I have been one of EGon's biggest critics in the blogosphere this season and am not surprised that he has been dumped to make room on the 40 man roster for one of the good young players that have emerged (or been traded for by Kevin Towers) in the Padres organization in 2009.
Over 478 abs in 193 games, Egon has hit .255/.312/.381/.693 with 11 hr and a 112/36 K to BB ratio. In 2009 he hit an anemic .216/.278 while making 28 starts over 82 appearances.
I am quite sure neither his bat nor his defense will be missed.
Regardless of my thoughts on Edgar Gonzalez the player, it has been heartwarming to see the two brothers play together.
I hope Edgar lands on his feet with another team.
Report on the Padres farm hands in the AFL
Wednesday November 4, 2009
From Uber-Prospect Central, the AFL!
The Arizona Fall League is the place for teams to showcase the skills of their top prospects.
This is the place we get to come to and watch Uber prospects get a chance to go head to head against the best of the best the minor leagues has to offer.
Well ... most of the Padres players in the AFL are having a rough go of it against the best prospects in baseball, combining on a 4.91 ERA and a .223 batting average and .297 OBP.
Top Padres catching prospect Mitch Canham is hitting a robust .036. 1 for 28 over 8 games. After seeing him bat against several good young pitchers in the AFL, I am not so sure we are watching a great hitting catcher. Canham's defense is suspect, so he is not very valuable as a prospect if he can't hit at a high level.
Cedric Hunter, one of the younger players on the Peoria Saguaros team at 21, is holding his own with a .288 BA, but his .304 obp with no home runs is a little disconcerting for a player expected to have a shot at being the Padres CF of the future.
SS Lance Zawadski is hitting .259 with a .389 slg %. I don't think a mediocre batting average and slugging percentage under .400 is what the Padres were looking for from Zawadski.
Of the 4 pitchers the Padres sent to the AFL, Only Evan Scribner is having what you could call a good performance. His 2.84 ERA in 7 appearances is 7th on his team in ERA, but he has only been used in mop up at the end of games (no holds or saves) so he has only thrown 6.1 innings while giving up just 3 hits and 2 earned runs. his 5 BB/5 K ratio is not promising though.
Mark Demark (one of the oldest players in the league at 26) has a 7.71 ERA over 6 appearances with a 7.0 IP/8 Hits/7 Runs/6 Earned Runs/5 BB/6 K as a line. Too old to really be a top prospect and getting crushed by the true prospects.
The MLB.com beat writer for the Padres posted an article praising the performance of Steve Garrison who returned this season from a long layoff after surgery.
Garrison has started 4 games and thrown 11.1 innings so far. After getting roughed up in his first start, giving up 4 runs in 2 innings, Garrison has rebounded to post a 3.97 ERA, giving up 5 runs on 13 hits and 4 walks while striking out 5.
The other Padres pitcher, Brandon Gomes, has a 5.40 ERA in 6 middle relief appearances. He has given up a .294 BAA. Ouch!
Not exactly stellar performances from the players the Padres have sent to the AFL.
I guess I should cut the Padres some slack. Almost all of their top prospects above High A Lake Elsinore played at the major league level this season.
In a typical year in a typical organization players like Mat Latos, Luis Durango, and Ernesto Frieri would more than likely be showcasing their skills as part of the Padres contingent on an AFL roster, not the September roster for the big league squad.
I guess we should be glad that we got to see some of the future in San Diego, instead of Arizona and that for the most part they played well and showed promise.
From Uber-Prospect Central, the AFL!
The Arizona Fall League is the place for teams to showcase the skills of their top prospects.
This is the place we get to come to and watch Uber prospects get a chance to go head to head against the best of the best the minor leagues has to offer.
Well ... most of the Padres players in the AFL are having a rough go of it against the best prospects in baseball, combining on a 4.91 ERA and a .223 batting average and .297 OBP.
Top Padres catching prospect Mitch Canham is hitting a robust .036. 1 for 28 over 8 games. After seeing him bat against several good young pitchers in the AFL, I am not so sure we are watching a great hitting catcher. Canham's defense is suspect, so he is not very valuable as a prospect if he can't hit at a high level.
Cedric Hunter, one of the younger players on the Peoria Saguaros team at 21, is holding his own with a .288 BA, but his .304 obp with no home runs is a little disconcerting for a player expected to have a shot at being the Padres CF of the future.
SS Lance Zawadski is hitting .259 with a .389 slg %. I don't think a mediocre batting average and slugging percentage under .400 is what the Padres were looking for from Zawadski.
Of the 4 pitchers the Padres sent to the AFL, Only Evan Scribner is having what you could call a good performance. His 2.84 ERA in 7 appearances is 7th on his team in ERA, but he has only been used in mop up at the end of games (no holds or saves) so he has only thrown 6.1 innings while giving up just 3 hits and 2 earned runs. his 5 BB/5 K ratio is not promising though.
Mark Demark (one of the oldest players in the league at 26) has a 7.71 ERA over 6 appearances with a 7.0 IP/8 Hits/7 Runs/6 Earned Runs/5 BB/6 K as a line. Too old to really be a top prospect and getting crushed by the true prospects.
The MLB.com beat writer for the Padres posted an article praising the performance of Steve Garrison who returned this season from a long layoff after surgery.
Garrison has started 4 games and thrown 11.1 innings so far. After getting roughed up in his first start, giving up 4 runs in 2 innings, Garrison has rebounded to post a 3.97 ERA, giving up 5 runs on 13 hits and 4 walks while striking out 5.
The other Padres pitcher, Brandon Gomes, has a 5.40 ERA in 6 middle relief appearances. He has given up a .294 BAA. Ouch!
Not exactly stellar performances from the players the Padres have sent to the AFL.
I guess I should cut the Padres some slack. Almost all of their top prospects above High A Lake Elsinore played at the major league level this season.
In a typical year in a typical organization players like Mat Latos, Luis Durango, and Ernesto Frieri would more than likely be showcasing their skills as part of the Padres contingent on an AFL roster, not the September roster for the big league squad.
I guess we should be glad that we got to see some of the future in San Diego, instead of Arizona and that for the most part they played well and showed promise.
3 computers later and we are back
Wednesday November 4, 2009
After 3 separate computer failures and many hours of gnashing teeth as we tried unsuccessfully to to recover several hundred gigabytes of data from multiple computer hard drives, Websoulsurfer is back in business.
I would like the thank The Chip Merchant in San Diego for all their help in getting our computers operational.
We lost more than a dozen articles that had been written for this blog and other publications, but we are working to catch up.
Expect to see a flurry of articles on the Padres recent actions here.
After 3 separate computer failures and many hours of gnashing teeth as we tried unsuccessfully to to recover several hundred gigabytes of data from multiple computer hard drives, Websoulsurfer is back in business.
I would like the thank The Chip Merchant in San Diego for all their help in getting our computers operational.
We lost more than a dozen articles that had been written for this blog and other publications, but we are working to catch up.
Expect to see a flurry of articles on the Padres recent actions here.
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