Padres GM Byrnes compounds mistakes by extending Quentin for 3 yrs/$30 million

Padres Josh Byrnes compounds earlier mistakes by signing LF Carlos Quentin to a 3 yr/$30 million extension

In the middle of Vicky Santo's stirring comments during the induction speech for her husband Ron here in Cooperstown a member of our front office leans over to me and says, "what is Byrnes thinking"? 

Earlier in the day my wife had pried my phone and tablet from my hands and handed me a camera and her grandfather's Cubs cap. "Its a day to be a fan" she said, so I had no idea what he was talking about.

I had to wait until I got back to the hotel last night to learn that Josh Byrnes had made his third critical mistake regarding Carlos Quentin.

Byrnes' Critical Mistakes

1st - He traded a young Quentin to the White Sox as GM of the Diamondbacks

2nd - He traded two very good prospects (Castro and Hernandez) to the White Sox for an older and injury prone Quentin as the new GM of the Padres

Now, to compound those two huge mistakes, Byrnes gives Carlos Quentin a 3 year $30 million extension with the San Diego Padres.

2013 - $9.5 million

2014 - $9.5 million

2015 - $8.0 million

$3 million buyout of $10 million 2016 option

For a low budget team expected to have a $60-70 million payroll in 2013, Byrnes gives a 3 year deal that will take up 15+ percent of the teams total payroll to:

• a player that is so injury prone that he has not had a season where he started more than 103 games in the field since 2008 
• a player so bad defensively that he has not completed more than 83 games in a season since 2008 & has recorded a -37.7 UZR over that period.
• a player with a .248 batting average since the start of the 2009 season

You also have to remember that Quentin is more expensive than just his salary. Someone else has to play the 60 + games he will miss due to injuries each season and the 180 + innings per season he will be out of games because of his bad defense and you have to pay those players too.

Byrnes' Guarantees

Byrnes has guaranteed that for 60 or more games each of the next 3 seasons the Padres will wonder who will be playing in LF. (Quentin is hurt for 1/3 of each season)

Byrnes has guaranteed that the Padres will have one of, if not THE worst LF defense in the league for 2/3 of each of the next 3 seasons. (Quentin is hurt for 1/3 of each season)


Byrnes has also guaranteed that the Padres have no money to sign any real threats with the bat by tying up more than 15% of the payroll in one player. (You cant be a threat when you are on the DL 1/3 of each season and have to be removed in late innings of games for a defensive replacement.)


Byrnes has guaranteed that the Padres will be saddled with Quentin; an expensive, injury prone, poor hitting, defensive liability for the next 3 seasons because they gave him a full no-trade clause.

Carlos Quentin, Bust

Face it Padres fans, Quentin is a bust so far. He has hit just .217 with a .359 slg since a 6 game hot streak ended on 6/5. This after spending the first 2 full months of the season on the DL. 


At his current pace, IF he is able to play the rest of the season without a trip to the DL, Quentin will hit for a .232 batting average with 16-17 home runs. 


His defense ranks 25th in the league with a .982 fielding percentage and -2 DRS this season and is the worst in MLB since the start of the 2009 season. Even Jesus Guzman has been better in the outfield and that says volumes about Quentin's dearth of skills with the glove.


The question you must ask is what is a player worth that will play 100 games per season and hit .230-.240 with 16-18 home runs while playing horrible defense? 


Regardless of Byrnes attempt at justification for signing him, Quentin is not a threat with the bat and he is not protecting the other Padres players in the lineup because:

• #1 he was on the DL the 1st 2 months of the season 
• #2 he is not hitting for either average or power in the past month and a half.

Now, I understand that no other MLB team wants to give up good prospects for Quentin and with good reason (those enumerated above and fact that any team trading for him would not get a draft pick if he left in FA), but that is no reason for Byrnes to compound his mistakes by hamstringing the team with Quentin for 3 more seasons.


The sandwich pick the Padres would have received for making Quentin a qualifying offer in arbitration and then watching him walk in free agency is likely worth more and will be MUCH cheaper than 3 seasons of Quentin in a Padres uniform.


If you get the idea I don't like this signing you are right. I didn't like the trade that brought Quentin to the Padres in the first place and this just piles stupid on top of stupid.


The only good that may come of this is that the Padres are showing fans a willingness to hold onto players after years having to trade away good players because of payroll considerations during the Moores' divorce.


It may also mean they will be trading or non-tendering Will Venable, who will be eligible for arbitration for the 2nd time in 2013 and due a raise from his current $1.475 million even though his performance continues to lag far behind his potential. Too much money for a backup outfielder.


I have had my say, now what do you think about the Padres extending Carlos Quentin?


Websoulsurfer

The Websoulsurfer Predictions for the NL West

My Predictions for the NL West  in 2012

Opening Day for the Padres is less than 18 hours away and here is my first post of the new season. Over the next few days I am going to give my predictions for won-loss records, division and wild card winners, award winners and even Padres players production.

Lets start with the won loss records and my pick to win the NL West.

Arizona Diamondbacks -  93-69
Colorado Rockies - 87-75
San Francisco Giants - 87-75
Los Angeles Dodgers - 81-81
San Diego Padres - 76-86

The Reasoning:

The Arizona Diamondbacks combine a good young pitching staff with some great prospects ready at the top levels of their farm system with a good young position players.

• Kennedy, Hudson, Collmenter, Cahill and Saunders as the starting 5 with Bauer ready 
• Upton, Young, Kubel, Parra in the OF
• Goldschmitt, Hill, Drew (eventually), Roberts across the IF with Montero behind the plate

Best in the division top to bottom.

The Colorado Rockies are my surprise pick. For one reason - veteran leadership. This team had the talent to win in 2011, but they fell apart under pressure. Tulo and Gonzales are two of the best young players in the league. Helton was hurt and he is a real quiet guy. Not the leader they needed.

In the offseason they added three guys that can not only get the job done, they are great clubhouse guys. Now they have Jamie Moyer, the ageless wonder, out there in the starting rotation to provide an example of what it takes for the pitching staff. They also added Scutaro & Cuddyer to provide the example for the position players.

I still don't think they have enough to win the division, but they will surprise alot of people. Think Padres of 2010.

The San Francisco Giants do not have enough offense or enough depth to compete for the division title. Yes, they have an outstanding top end to their starting pitching corp with The Freak, Cain and Bumgarner. After that it drops off precipitously to Zito and ???. They dont even know who will step up enough to fill the #5 slot.

Like the starting pitching, the offense is great at the top with The Panda and Posey, but falls off quickly after those two with no one in the wings to fill spots in the batting order when injuries strike.

• Pagan, Cabrera, Huff, Schierholtz across the OF. 
• Bolt, Burris, Crawford, Sandoval across the infield with Posey behind the plate part time. Looks like he will get time at 1B this season. 

Just not enough to win in a consistently tough NL West.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a one trick pony. They have 3 great players and 21 scrubs on their roster. Kemp, Ethier and Kershaw are good enough to keep them out of the cellar, but not much more.

Their new ownership group has deep pockets, but they have invested 2.15 BILLION so far in the team and have another 350-500 million still to invest in the ballpark renovations.This team will get worse before it gets better.

The San Diego Padres are an extremely young team that the front office tried to graft in a couple of veterans that just dont fit.

In Stauffer, Volquez, Luebke, Richard, Moseley. (I know Stauffer is not starting opening day, but he is the Padres number 1) the Padres have a good young pitching staff with a very good young prospect in the pen (Bass) and at least 4 pitchers within a year of making the staff. Kelly, Weiland, Erlin and Sampson will be ready soon and will slot somewhere in the middle of that rotation - #2 to #4.

Their pen was totally made over in the last year with Street, Cashner and Owings taking the place of Bell, Adams and LeBlanc. i believe the pen will be just as strong with more depth since Thatcher is healthy, 2 members of that pen from last season, Spence and Hamren, will be in the minors this season and two others with huge talent, Brach and Boxberger, will start the year in AAA.

• Guzman, Maybin, Denorfia, Venable across the OF. Quentin and Blanks will also play PT in the OF. Quentin because of current injuries, Blanks because of past injuries.
• Alonso, Hudson, Bartlett, Headley in the infield with Hundley behind the plate.

The future is bright. The present is glum.

Those are my thoughts, What are yours?

Websoulsurfer

Padres Pick 3 Losers to Fill Out 25 Man Roster

The Padres pick Owings, Hermida and Parrino to fill last 3 spots on 25 man roster

Fair Warning. 6 hours on planes followed by two Arrogant Bastards and I am a little riled up.

I am so fucking sick of teams picking who is going to be on the team by who has more experience or by financial considerations.

WTF happened to the best player getting the spot?

With ALL THREE choices for the last 3 spots on the 25 man roster, the Padres picked the WORSE player. The one that absolutely sucks.

• The Padres added Owings, who fucking sucks
• Hermida, who fucking sucks
• Parrino who not only fucking sucks but has no upside 

To make matters worse they have had to put Jose De Paula, on the restricted list and drop at least one other player from the 40 man roster, which means they will both be subject to being claimed.
Fucking stupid. Really fucking stupid.

And what excuses are the Padres trying to foist on fans for being so unbelievably stupid?

"Parrino is used to being a backup in the minors so he will be mentally more prepared to be a backup in the majors." 
Lets see if I get this correct. He sucked so bad that he couldn't even start in the MINORS, so you are going to give him the backup role behind TWO injury prone players that you KNOW are not going to play 250 combined games? WTF are you thinking?

Here is the real reason you lying sack of garbage. Cabrera will be eligible for arbitration if he spends the entire season in the Majors. THAT is why Parrino is on the team now.

"Owings can be a long reliever."
WTF is that? WHO THE FUCK CARES that he can be a long reliever if he is going to pitch like he has recently? The guy is a loser. LOSER! 7.62 ERA and got WORSE as camp went on instead of better with 7 hits and 4 runs in his final two outings. 2.1 ip, 7 hits, and 4 earned runs. That's nearly an 18.00 ERA. 18!

Even Worse, Owings has an era over 5.00 over the past 4 years of regular season play. WTF is there to like about him? Please don't even TRY to trot out some fucking excuse that he can hit. ANY of the Padres young pitchers can be a long reliever and do better than a 5.00 ERA. Bass, Kelly or Weiland would have done great in that role. Even Wade Fucking LeBlanc could do that AND he hits better than Owings AND he was cheaper.

No fucking excuse for Owings making this team. None.

"The 80 year old veteran we brought in for locker room presence is hurt"
Don't even get me started on Hermida. That bum hit .211/.272/.354 for 4 teams over the past 2 seasons. Why 4 teams? He fucking sucks, that's why.

Hermida had a good spring training, when it doesnt count, just like he did the last two years in spring training

(.450

/.500

/.650

/1.150 and

.342 /.458 /.632 /1.090 respectively)

and then once the regular season starts he sucks. Every year. 

AND HE IS GETTING WORSE!!!!!!!! 

I thought the point of the game was to WIN, not to put the worst fucking possible team on the field because they are "used to being a backup" or "can be a long reliever." I guess not in the La-La Land they call Padres baseball.

So who DIDN'T Make the Team So These LOSERS Can Play?

Brad Brach
Brach had not only a great spring, but he has tremendous upside. He BELONGS on the team.

Everth Cabrera
Cabrera was the starter here for a 90 win team, he has upside, Black even said he was the better player, and while he sucked in spring ball, is a better fielder, hitter and baserunner than Parrino. He belongs.

James Darnell
All he did was hit .295/.338 in spring ball after a cup of coffee in 2011 where he hit better than Hermida did.

Come on Padres, if you want to win, let the kids play! Stop giving us washed up veterans and sorry excuses.

Enough from me. Tired of sitting on the side watching these morons run this team. To think they used to write my paycheck. Thank goodness I just have to live in San Diego, not work for these guys anymore. Maybe a good ownership group will come in and save Padres fans like RAK. We can still dream of Mark Cuban buying the team right?.

The Hammer

Padres Quentin Injures Right Leg - Out 4-6 weeks

San Diego Padres GM Byrnes made a huge, and to the low budget Padres very expensive, mistake in trading for Carlos Quentin.

The prospects he sent to the White Sox notwithstanding, Quentin had averaged only 98 games per season in the field for the White Sox over the past three seasons. Nothing indicated he would be any more healthy his year. In fact, the pattern of being injury prone was in place like a Huge Red Flag and Byrnes simply ignored the warning signs. Byrnes wanted to make up for another huge mistake he made while in Arizona in trading away a then 24 year old Quentin and in doing so compounded his mistake.

Padres Carlos Quentin Injures Right Leg - Out 4-6 Weeks

Now Quentin has injured his right leg and will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Monday. Quentin is expected to miss 4-6 weeks and at the very minimum, the first 2 weeks of the regular season. More likely he will return to the Padres lineup in the last week of April or early May.

To add insult to Quentin's injury, it is to his right leg, the drive leg for a right handed hitter, and will rob him of power all season. Power is the only thing Quentin has to offer to the Padres as he has been the very worst defensive outfielder in major league baseball over the past 3 seasons with a -38.2 UZR.

Those of you who follow me know that I am not a big fan of defensive metrics like UZR unless there is at least 3 years of data to analyze. Looking at just one season of data is totally useless. Well we have three years of Quentin's defensive contributions to base a good determination of his ability in the field on and it says what our eyes have been telling us, he is horrendous with the glove.

Now about what the Padres are paying for Byrnes attempt to redeem his earlier mistake:

• $7.025 million or more than 13% of the overall 2012 Padres payroll
• Two prospects that now rank in the top 20 for the White Sox organization and who will contribute at the major league level in 2012 for the South Siders. (Castro is #4 or #5 depending on the list)

So the bottom line of Byrnes screw up is that Quentin will give the Padres under 100 games of mediocre power and atrocious defense and then Quentin will leave in free agency after the season.

The GM of the team can afford to make mistakes like this when you have a $100+ million payroll, but in San Diego it can be fatal to your hopes of a decent season.

Byrnes hubris in trying to redeem himself for an earlier mistake and Quentin's continuing injury problems may have torpedoed San Diego chances at a .500 season before the season even begins.

I've had my say about Byrnes, Quentin and the San Diego Padres.

Now its your turn. What do you think?

Padre's Byrnes Trades 1B for Reliever

Saturday January 7, 2012

So let me get this straight.

Padres GM Josh Byrnes trades away:

A 22 year old prospect that was a centerpiece of the trade that sent Adrian Gonzales to the Red Sox and who grades out as a future star (if not All Star) quality everyday position player who crushed at AAA at age 21 in 2011

For:

A 25 year old reliever with a history of shoulder problems?

WTF?

Byrnes has made the cardinal mistake of anointing a 25 year old prospect as the Padres starting 1B after a cup of coffee in Cincinnati (one of the best hitting parks in baseball) and sends away a young 1B who struggled when he was called up too early.

In his last trade, Byrnes traded away two prospects likely to make the White Sox staff in 2012 for a oft injured, defensive liability with mediocre power who is very expensive in Padres terms and who is a free agent after the 2012 season.

On a team that has has a very low payroll so has to live and die on locking up young players and keeping a deep pool of prospects, Byrnes has traded away his best young pitcher, his best position player prospect and two good pitching prospects and brought in only two injury prone players in Cashner and Quentin.

These last two trades would make sense only as the final pieces needed for a playoff run by a team full of proven talent. The Padres are far from full of proven talent.

Time will tell if the Padres can even make it out of last place in 2012, let alone contend.

I am starting to think that Byrnes is not such a smart general manager.