Fans’ Scouting Report, 2009

It has been quiet around here lately, but I wanted to point you to Tango’s annual Fans’ Scouting Report.

As of right now, the Padres only have 8 reports filled out, which is the third lowest total. Get over there and have your say!

Draft talk

Tom Krasovic gives us a bunch of quotes and info regarding the Padres’ draft and their philosophy.

Seriously, great stuff – well worth a read.

Williams and Sampson signed, Tate close

Today is the deadline to sign players from the 2009 amateur draft. According to Baseball America, the Padres have signed second round pick Everett Williams for $775,000 and fourth round pick Keyvius Sampson for $600,000 (not verified).

The Pads are also apparently getting close to signing top pick, Donavan Tate, for $6+ million, spread out over multiple years. If that happens, it’ll cap off a big day for the organization.

As I mentioned over at Friar Forecast (lots of good discussion in that post, too), drafting Tate, Williams, and Sampson was one thing, getting them signed is another.

Eckstein is who we thought he was

Year	PA	Hits	Singles	Doubles	Homers	Walks	HBP	SF	SH	GDP
2008	376	86	63	21	2	31	9	3	9	7
2009	368	86	64	19	1	24	8	3	9	6

 

Seriously, I could go on and on. Anyway, I was just browsing his stats at Fangraphs, and thought it was remarkable how similar his last two years have been.

It shouldn’t be too hard for the Padres to determine how much on-field value Eck will bring to the team in 2010. He’s basically been the same type of hitter for the last seven years. At this point, he just isn’t that good. The value he provides as a role model to the young players is another thing, however — I can’t tell you how much that is worth. 

Draft talk at Friar Forecast

Nothing ground-breaking here, just some thoughts on the upcoming draft pick signing deadline. August 17th is a big day for the Padres.

Gaudin to the Yanks

On Thursday night, the Padres traded right-hander Chad Gaudin to the Yankees for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

The 26 year old starter is under contract through 2011. Gaudin’s strengths are his strikeout rate (8.97 k/9 this year; 7 per 9 for his career) and his ability to keep the ball in the park (.60 hr/9 this year; .91 for his career). His biggest weakness is his control, with a career walk rate of almost 4.3 per 9 innings. His career ERA sits at 4.58; his FIP at 4.45.

Gaudin’s a pretty nice pick-up for New York. He might even be around average as a starter, and he should fit in nicely on the Yanks’ pitching staff (be it in the pen or rotation – or both). Signed through 2011, he probably wasn’t a guy who really fit into the Padres’ long term plans. Still, he’s a solid starter with two years left under contract – hopefully, the Pads get something of use for him.

Interview at Mets 411

I answered some questions about the Padres for the Mets’ blog, Mets 411. Fun stuff; check it out.

Quick hits: 8/5

Three heavyweights, Geoff Young, Rich Lederer, and Mike Rogers, all weigh in on the Jake Peavy trade.

Geoff makes a good point, one that I tried to make in my last post:

Snark aside, the larger point is that the trading of established stars for unproven youngsters is not the hallmark of a bad baseball organization. What does identify a bad organization is the refusal to acknowledge shortcomings and a failure to take corrective action.

I’m glad that the Padres appear to understand that this current crop of players is not going to compete. That should have been relatively easy, although it’s tough for any organization to realize they aren’t cutting it. The tough part will be rebuilding, and doing so successfully.

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I’ve been evaluating a lot of recent moves with a method that has been popularized over the last few months/years on the saber-blogosphere. I’m not sure that I’ve ever really given a full explanation of it – Justin does an excellent job of that right here.

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Over at Gaslamp Ball, there’s a FanPost about San Diego sports media. Pretty good discussion, at points. Also, jbox talks about his evening at Petco with Padres’ COO Tom Garfinkel.

Mid-season moves

The Padres have made four ‘major’ in-season trades (I left out the Chris Burke deal):

Coming	Going
LHP Aaron Poreda (22)	SP Jake Peavy (28)
LHP Clayton Richard (25)	OF Scott Hairston (29)
RHP Dexter Carter (22)	RP Cla Meredith (26)
RHP Adam Russell (26)	OF Jody Gerut (31)
LHP Sean Gallagher (23)
RHP Craig Italiano (22)
RHP Ryan Webb (23)
INF Oscar Salazar (31)
OF Tony Gwynn Jr. (26)

 

The Padres have accomplished a few things with these deals. Obviously, they’ve added players to the organization. Four going out, nine coming in. With that, they’ve added plenty of service time. The players leaving were running out of years with the Padres, while the guys coming in all have a long time before free agency.

With these deals the Padres got a lot younger. Salazar’s really the only older guy who was acquired; everyone else is in the 22-26 age range. The Pads have also added a lot of pitching depth. They traded two pitchers and got seven back in the four trades.

The biggest thing these deals tell us is that San Diego knows where they stand. The Friars dealt some talented players, namely Peavy and Hairston, and in return have mostly prospects to show for it. The organization appears to understand that it isn’t going to compete in the short-term, and the rebuilding process has begun.

I’m not saying this is a great thing, but it’s better than trying to win with inferior talent. Hopefully in a few years, because of some of these trades, we’ll have a competitive team to watch again.

Clayton Richard dazzles in debut

Clayton Richard, acquired in the Jake Peavy trade, pitched five and two-thirds innings last night against the Brewers, allowing one run, two hits, three walks, and striking out five.

According to PITCHf/x, Richard worked primarily with the four-seam fastball, throwing it 57 times. He averaged 91.8 miles per hour with the pitch, and topped 95 three times. Richard worked in 11 two-seamers, averaging 88.7 mph. His off-speed repertoire included 11 change-ups (84 mph), seven sliders (80.1), and three curves (81.3).

Richard throws from the left side, and stands at 6-5, 240 pounds. The 25 year old has a 5 ERA in 142.3 innings in the majors, so far in his young career. He has put up respectable peripherals: 6.3 k/9, 3.4 bb/9, 1.0 hr/9. In the minors, Richard had a career 3.33 ERA, along with 5.8/ 2.5/.4 periphs.

According to the Baseball America Prospect Handbook, Richard throws an 88-92 mph fastball with natural sink. He has an average change (at best) and an inconsistent breaking pitch (they call it a slurve). BA thinks he has a chance to be a starter long term, but also may profile well as a reliever so he can concentrate on his best pitch, the sinking fastball.

Richard is a nice addition to the organization. His upside probably isn’t super-high, but he has size, a good track record, and he fits right into the rotation. For the Padres, it also has to be nice to be able to display him right away, as often times prospects are just names and numbers to fans. Richard’s Saturday night start puts a face on him and shows Pads fans that he is, like the other three prospects acquired in the Peavy deal, a real, live thing — and that he can pitch a little bit too.