Baseball's Future In San Diego

[Kevdog1020]

May 28, 2012

It seems like any time I take notice to someone's playing, they start slumping. Yorvit Torrealba was 2-11 with 1 run scored after I talked him up, then Yonder Alonso went 3-10 with 2 RBI, 1 run and 1 BB but made a costly error that lost us the final game in the Mets series. Roy Oswalt also got shelled after I commented that he was on a hot streak.

I was extremely upset about the Mets series. I saw the series as a chance to make up games in both the division and the wild card races. But we choked and ended up losing ground in both races. I still think that we are in decent shape, but we have to start winning now, instead of losing. Especially to teams that are under .500. Another blow to us on the injury front. Orland Hudson is making his 2nd trip to the DL. This time, he will miss 3-4 weeks with a hamstring strain. We called up 3B James Darnell who was hitting .280 with 6 HR and 29 RBI and 21 runs.

But back to our team and the playoff races, I believe that we are one great bat or 2 or 3 good bats away from making a series playoff push. Of course it would be great if I could add a couple of bullpen arms, because our 'pen is shaky at best, the bats would help us a lot more.

I STILL don't have any mailbag questions, so I'll wait until the next diary before I do a mailbag. If you readers don't PM Kevdog1020 mailbag questions, then the newspaper will have to generate random mailbag questions. I don't want the newspaper to do that, so please, please, please send your questions.

[Kevdog1020]

May 29, 2012

Clayton Richard threw another gem yesterday, this time against the Chicago Cubs. He went 7 innings and allowed 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 5. This performance came on the heels of his last outing, where he went 8 innings and allowed 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. I think that it is safe to say he is HOT. The run came off of a solo shot by Anthony Rizzo, his 10th of the season.

The Padres had plenty of homeruns of their own though. They finished the game with a total of four 2-run homeruns. Yonder Alonso hit his 2nd of the season in the 4th, Will Venable hit his 7th of the season in the 7th, Willie Cabrera hit his 7th of the season in the 8th, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit his 1st of the season, also in the 8th. Kyle Blanks and Clayton Richard also drove in runs, with the other run being scored on a Jeff Samardzija wild pitch.

[Kevdog1020]

May 29, 2012

It was deja vu at Wrigley Field last night, except for the fact that the roles were reversed. This time, it was Joel Pineiro who got shelled by Cubs hitters. Pineiro allowed 9 hits and 7 runs in 5 innings while striking out 3. Pineiro wasn't as awful as his stats showed, he just had a problem controlling the longball.

Three Cubs players combined for four homeruns and seven RBI. Anthony Rizzo, who homered in game 1 off of Clayton Richard, was 2-3 with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 2 runs. The homers were his 11th and 12th of the season. The other homeruns came from Jeff Baker (2-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run) and Brett Jackson (3-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run).

San Diego did get a little something going offensively in the 6th, Chris Denorfia drew a leadoff walk and was then tripled in by Andrew Parrino. Will Venable then singled in Parrino. Then in the 7th, the Padres led the inning off with back-to-back doubles by Kyle Blanks and Yonder Alonso to make it a 7-3 game. The Padres failed to score for the remained of the game and dropped game 2, 7-3.

[Kevdog1020]

May 30, 2012

The San Diego Padres hammered out 14 hits, 6 runs and 3 homeruns in a 6-1 win at Wrigley Field yesterday afternoon. 7 of the Padres 14 hits went for extra bases. It's too bad the Padres don't play in Chicago regularly, because their power really came out in this series.

The Padres struck first in the first. Chase Headley drew a 2-out walk and Kyle Blanks singled before Hedley was singled in by Yonder Alonso. The Cubs quickly evened it up in the 2nd inning as Jeff Baker singled Starlin Castro home. The big blow, however, came in the 4th inning. Corky Miller doubled and Evereth Cabrera drew a 1-out walk before Willie Cabrera blasted a 3-run homerun over the left field fence to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. Yonder Alonso would hit a solo homerun the next inning, and Corky Miller would hit a solo homer in the 7th to give the Padres a 6-1 lead and help improve Roy Oswalt's record to 6-2.

That's not to say the San Diego offense didn't struggle early. Roy Oswalt doubled in the 2nd but failed to score. The same went for Kyle Blanks, who tripled in the 3rd but also failed to score. Corky Miller doubled in the 4th and scored on Willie Cabrera's homerun, but Evereth Cabrera doubled in the 5th and also did not score. In total, 7 of the 8 Padres left on base were left in scoring position.

Roy Oswalt bounced back from a 8 inning, 12 hit, 7 run performance in his last start by going 7 innings and allowing 5 hits and 1 run while walking 4 and striking out 5. Brad Brach pitched the final 2 innings in relief and allowed 2 hits and 1 walk but did not allow a run to score.

[Kevdog1020]

June 1, 2012

[Kevdog1020]

June 1, 2012

AL Batter of the Month: 1B Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox .376, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 21 runs


NL Batter of the Month: 2B Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers .387, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 25 runs


AL Pitcher of the Month: SP Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels 6-0, 1.93 ERA, 35 K


NL Pitcher of the Month: SP Tommy Hanson, Atlanta Braves 4-1, 1.23 ERA, 38 K


AL Rookie of the Month: DH Jesus Montero, Seattle Mariners .239, 8 HR, 17 RBI


NL Rookie of the Month: SS Zack Cozart .323, 5 HR, 13 RBI

[Kevdog1020]

June 1, 2012

Happy June everyone! While I am a little upset to see the month of May go (we went 15-13) I am excited for our opportunities to improve in June. I believe that our starting pitching is good enough where they can carry us into the wild card race and out of the cellar. If the team can prove to me that they can make a playoff push, I will make the moves necessary to put a playoff team together.

I do have good news and bad news. The bad news (I'm a bad news first kind of guy), is that another big name free agent to be is off the board. Zack Greinke signed a 4 year/$59,200 contract, very similar to the deal that Cole Hamels just signed. Those two deals are making me very happy that I decided to sign Edinson Volquez to a very cost effective 3 year/$9 million contract. With the removal of Hamels, Volquez and Greinke from the 2012-13 free agent market, the top 3 starting pitchers available are SP Derek Lowe (39 years old), Jeremy Guthrie (33 years old) and Erik Bedard (33 years old). Not too promising if you ask me.

I really enjoyed seeing our bats come alive during the Chicago series and also to see us take 2 of 3. We are on our way towards reaching my goal of .500 baseball. I'm just going to go over our June schedule real quick with you before I have to catch my plane back home. We start with a 6-game homestretch against Arizona and San Francisco (very important towards making ground in the division). Then we go on a 9 game road triple to Milwaukee, Seattle and Oakland (Interleague Play!). We come back home for 3 against Texas and Seattle before going back on the road for 4 in Houston and 3 in Colorado. The end of the Colorado series is the start of July. In July, we have 3 against Arizona, 3 at home against Cincinnati and then the All-Star Break. It is very important for us to have a winning record against these team. If we have a losing record in this stretch, we could very well end up as sellers.

[Kevdog1020]

June 2, 2012

A costly error committed by Cory Luebke in the 3rd inning opened the floodgates for a 3-run inning that the Padres could never recover from. They tacked on an extra run in the 6th off of Luebke, this time earned, off of a Miguel Montero RBI single. Luebke went 6.1 innings and allowed 6 hits, 4 runs (1 earned) and 2 walks while striking out 4.

The Padres would mount a comeback, starting in the bottom of the 6th. Will Venable and Chase Headley had 1-out singles before Kyle Blanks doubled Venable in. Yonder Alonso then hit a sac fly to centerfield to narrow the deficit to 4-2. San Diego struck again the 7th, Willie Cabrera was walked and then sacrificed to 2nd. Then Kirk Niuewenhuis hit a pinch hit, RBI triple but failed to score after Andrew Parrino and Will Venable flew out to end the inning.

The Padres had another chance in the 9th, when Yorvit Torrealba led the inning off with a double. Willie Cabrera moved him over to 3rd with a groundout, but Evereth Cabrera grounded out with the infield in and James Darnell had a pinch hit fly out. The Padres left 5 runners on base, 4 of them in scoring position. The lack of timely hitting was the cause of their loss, which dropped them another game behind the division leading D'Backs.

[Kevdog1020]

June 3, 2012

Kyle Blanks had a day, going 2-4 with 2 HR, 5 RBI and 2 runs including a walk-off 2-run homerun off of Arizona closer Craig Breslow that evened the series at one apiece. His 2 big homers came on a day when San Diego hitters only managed 5 hits, 2 by Will Venable (2-3, 2 runs, 1 BB) and 1 by Evereth Cabrera (1-3).

The game started off with a bang. After Andrew Parrino flew out, Will Venable singled, Chase Headley reached on an error, and Kyle Blanks hammered a 1-2 fastball 420 feet over the left-centerfield fence. The Diamondbacks would score three of their own in the 6th inning after Miguel Montero hit an RBI double and David Winfree hit a 2-run homerun off of Edinson Volquez. Volquez went 7 innings and allowed 7 hits and 3 runs while striking out 5.

Alfredo Simon came on in the 8th inning to relieve Volquez and allowed a single to Gerardo Parra and then a triple to Chris B. Young. With a runner on 3rd and no outs, Simon hit Aaron Hill, got Miguel Montero to ground out into a fielders choice (infield in, no run scored), Jason Kubel to strike out, and Evan Frey to ground out to keep the game at 4-3 Arizona. After an uneventful bottom of the 8th and top of the 9th, Will Venable started the bottom of the 9th with a leadoff walk. Chase Headley flew out on a deep drive to center before Blanks smacked a 3-2 pitch in an almost identical place as the first. The homerun was of the walk-off variety and was Kyle's 7th of the season.

[Kevdog1020]

June 4, 2012

Clayton Richard is on fire! The Padres left-hander pitched 7.1 scoreless innings while allowing 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. He has been lights out in his previous 3 starts after a rough stretch to start the season. In his last 3 games, he has gone 22.1 innings while allowing 16 hits, 1 run, and 2 walks while striking out 11. He has improved his record from 1-4 to 4-4 and lowered his ERA from 4.59 to 3.28 in that stretch.

The Padres managed 2 runs against Arizona starter Trevor Cahill (5-3, 3.38 ERA), both in the 6th inning. Andrew Parrino led off the inning with a single, before being moved over to 2nd on a fielders choice. Chase Headley was intentionally walked, and then Kyle Blanks hit an RBI single to left field. Yonder Alonso walked to give Yorvit Torrealba a chance to hit with the bases loaded. Torrealba grounded into a fielders choice to the shortstop and beat out the throw to first which allowed Chase Headley to score.

The Pads sent Clayton Richard out to pitch the 8th, but was pulled after a catchers interference and a walk gave the D'Backs runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Brad Brach relieved him and got the next 2 hitters to ground out. Tyler Clippard pitch a 1-hit 9th to record his 12th save of the season.

Padres Notes...Kyle Blanks has been on a tear recently, he was 4-12 with 2 HR, 7 RBI, and 2 runs in the last series against Arizona.

[Kevdog1020]

June 4, 2012

Weekly Team Power Rankings -- Week 9:

Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Milwaukee Brewers (131.7, o)
2) Cincinnati Reds (131.3, o)
3) Los Angeles Angels (119.5, o)
4) Philadelphia Phillies (118.3, +)
5) Los Angeles Dodgers (111.7, o)
6) Atlanta Braves (108.0, -)
7) Boston Red Sox (101.2, o)
8) Baltimore Orioles (99.7, +)
9) Kansas City Royals (97.0, ++)
10) New York Yankees (95.0, ++)
11) Cleveland Indians (94.7, --)
12) Miami Marlins (93.4, +)
13) Texas Rangers (87.7, -)
14) Arizona Diamondbacks (86.7, --)
15) Seattle Mariners (85.8, ++)
16) Chicago White Sox (85.0, --)
17) Tampa Bay Rays (84.3, ++)
18) San Diego Padres (83.8, +)
19) Chicago Cubs (80.7, ++)
20) New York Mets (79.0, --)
21) Minnesota Twins (79.0, --)
22) Toronto Blue Jays (78.3, -)
23) San Francisco Giants (78.0, +)
24) Colorado Rockies (76.5, -)
25) Pittsburgh Pirates (71.7, -)
26) Oakland Athletics (71.0, +)
27) Detroit Tigers (69.8, --)
28) Washington Nationals (66.0, o)
29) St. Louis Cardinals (65.0, +)
30) Houston Astros (64.0, -)

Players of the Week

AL: 1B Mark Teixiera, New York Yankees 10-18 (.556), 2 HR, 3 RBI
NL: CF Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers 13-30 (.433), 3 HR, 8 RBI

[Kevdog1020]

June 4, 2012

The MLB First-Year Player Draft is fast approaching, in just 2 short days I will be in the war room with scouts, ownership and coaches as we try to improve the future of this franchise. This day could single handedly be the most important day of my young career. If we draft well, I could set up the team for success for 5-10 seasons. If we don't draft well, I set the team back another season. The city may not be able to take many more setbacks before someone decides that it's time for us to move.

But I'll save that thought for another day. We took 2 out of 3 from the division leading Diamondbacks and are now only 5 games under .500, 3rd place in our division. We are 8 games behind Arizona, very manageable with the way we've been playing. We have San Francisco, with the draft right smack in the middle of the series. Luckily, we are home so Manager Bud Black will be able to join us during the draft. Not that the Manager has much say, but it's good for the leader of the roster to see what and who the future may hold. Well, I have a long couple of nights prepping for this draft and shouldn't waste any more time writing to the fans. By the way, we pick 6th in this season's draft. We are behind Houston, Minnesota, Seattle, Baltimore, and Chicago (NL).

[Kevdog1020]

June 6, 2012

San Francisco pitcher Madison Bumgarner put on a show today and walked away with a 9-0 shutout victory over the San Diego Padres, throttling them on 2 hits. He just cruised through their lineup, fanning 5 and walking 1 in a strong outing. Checking out his stats for the season, Bumgarner has notched 5 wins and 4 losses in 12 starts, 3.03 ERA and struck out 61 batters in 77.1 innings.

"He was very efficient and he hit his spots," his manager said. "He stayed down in the zone and stayed away from the middle of the plate."

The Padres offense was dismal, with the only bright spot, ironically, being Joel Pineiro who was 2-2 at the plate. For some strange reason, Pineiro went all 9 innings despite allowing 12 hits, 9 runs, 6 walks while striking out 3. Joel really struggled with his control, doubling his walk count in one outing. In his last two starts, his ERA has jumped from 2.17 to 3.75. It kind of makes you wonder if there is something wrong with him.

[Kevdog1020]

June 7 ,2012

We had a pitchers duel last night at PETCO Park, as we watched 17 frames of baseball go by without a single run. A grand total of 12 hits between two ball clubs were recorded. Three of those hits came from Yorvit Torrealba who was 3-3 with 1 HR, 3 RBI and 1 run. That one homerun was a walk-off shot off of Sergio Romo in the bottom of the 9th which evened out the series with the Giants.

Roy Oswalt was dealing, he went 8 innings while allowing 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. His counterpart Bobby Cramer went 6 innings and allowed 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. Brian Wilson and Santiago Casilla both pitched scoreless innings of relief for the Giants, but Romo was handed the loss after failing to record an out in the 9th.

Padres Notes...Josh Spence got the win after pitching a scoreless top of the 9th. He is 1-0...Joel Pineiro was placed on the 15-Day DL with what the Padres are calling "dead arm". He will rest for 15 days before resuming to throw, most likely in a couple rehab games...Craig Stammen was recalled to take Pineiro place on the active roster. He will start tomorrows game...Draft Results can be found on Page 8.

[Kevdog1020]

June 7, 2012

First Round Recap

Round 1, Pick 1 - Houston Astros: SP Antonio De La Garza
Round 1, Pick 2 - Minnesota Twins: CF Chang-jun Hwang
Round 1, Pick 3 - Seattle Mariners: SS Mark Perry
Round 1, Pick 4 - Baltimore Orioles: CF Jose Quiogue
Round 1, Pick 5 - Chicago Cubs: SP Ross Meque
Round 1, Pick 6 - San Diego Padres: SP Pedro Gonzalez
Round 1, Pick 7 - Kansas City Royals: CF Tex Coleman
Round 1, Pick 8 - Miami Marlins: SP Justin Schu
Round 1, Pick 9 - Pittsburgh Pirates: SP Antonio Ruiz
Round 1, Pick 10 - Colorado Rockies: SP Mark Appel
Round 1, Pick 11 - Oakland Athletics: SP Carlton O'Dugan
Round 1, Pick 12 - New York Mets: CF Juan Villarreal
Round 1, Pick 13 - Chicago White Sox: CF Raul Ibanez
Round 1, Pick 14 - Cincinnati Reds: MR Lucas Giolito
Round 1, Pick 15 - Cleveland Indians: CF Valentin Montoya
Round 1, Pick 16 - Washington Nationals: SP Todd Hodges
Round 1, Pick 17 - Toronto Blue Jays: SP Jesus Manuel
Round 1, Pick 18 - Los Angeles Dodgers: RF John Armstrong
Round 1, Pick 19 - San Francisco Giants: SS Jose Velasquez
Round 1, Pick 20 - Los Angeles Angels: LF John Cavilhas
Round 1, Pick 21 - Atlanta Braves: SP Fernando Mendez
Round 1, Pick 22 - Boston Red Sox: SP Justin Russell
Round 1, Pick 23 - St. Louis Cardinals: SP Kevin Gausman
Round 1, Pick 24 - Tampa Bay Rays: CF Byron Buxton
Round 1, Pick 25 - Arizona Diamondbacks: SP Jose Mora
Round 1, Pick 26 - Detroit Tigers: SP Donald Collins
Round 1, Pick 27 - Milwaukee Brewers: RF Alonso Pineda
Round 1, Pick 28 - Texas Rangers: SP Juan Manuel
Round 1, Pick 29 - New York Yankees: SP Lance McCullers
Round 1, Pick 30 - Philadelphia Phillies: SP Jaime Rodriguez

San Diego Draft Recap

Round 1, 6th overall pick - SP Pedro González


Round 2, 36th overall pick - 2B Adam Numbers


Round 3, 66th overall pick - C Roberto Aguilar


Round 4, 96th overall pick - SS Ken Stark


Round 5, 126th overall pick SP Gary Baker


Round 6, 156th overall pick - SP Michael Bell
Round 7, 186th overall pick - LF Álex Durán
Round 8, 216th overall pick - CF Júlio López
Round 9, 246th overall pick - C Jorge Ramos
Round 10, 276th overall pick - MR Floyd Maci
Round 11, 306th overall pick - 3B Greg Forbes
Round 12, 336th overall pick - RF César Rodríguez
Round 13, 366th overall pick - C Miguel Angel Rodríguez
Round 14, 396th overall pick - SP Cisco Alou
Round 15, 426th overall pick - SP Ju-zheng Ying
Round 16, 456th overall pick - SS Andrew Harris
Round 17, 486th overall pick - CL Vance D'Al
Round 18, 516th overall pick - CL Rafael Elías
Round 19, 546th overall pick - 1B Mark Anderson
Round 20, 576th overall pick - RF Jack Dean
Round 21, 606th overall pick - SP Juan Cordero
Round 22, 636th overall pick - CF Juan Alvarado
Round 23, 666th overall pick - SP Pedro Fernández
Round 24, 696th overall pick - SS Josh Chase
Round 25, 726th overall pick - CF Jason Reid
Round 26, 756th overall pick - SP Manuel Díaz
Round 27, 786th overall pick - 1B Heath Brown
Round 28, 816th overall pick - CF Sylvain Lechat
Round 29, 846th overall pick - SP Ray Douglas
Round 30, 876th overall pick - SP Clark Ross

[Kevdog1020]

June 8, 2012

Craig Stammen was tagged for 6 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks over 3 innings in his Padres debut. He was relieved by Dustin Moseley, who allowed 2 runs and 5 hits over 4 innings. The Padres failed to get much going offensively which allowed the Giants to take two of three from the Padres.

San Diego's only run came in the bottom of the 3rd when Kyle Blanks hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Willie Cabrera. A few other Padres had decent games at the plate, Willie Cabrera was 2-4 and got his average up to .258. Will Venable was also 2-4, he is hitting .266 with 7 HR and 24 RBI.

Padres Notes...Following the game Craig Stammen was demoted to Triple A, MR Andrew Cashner was recalled after posting a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings in Portland. It is not yet known who will take Pineiro/Stammen's place in the rotation.

[Kevdog1020]

June 8, 2012

Well I'm somewhat disappointed in the results of the San Francisco series, but I have found some bright spots in the series. In game 1, Joel Pineiro got shelled, but afterwards in was revealed that he has "dead arm" (fatigue in casual fans speak), so we have shut him down. Game 2, Roy was vintage Roy so no complaints there. Then in game 3, we sent out Craig Stammen. No offense to Craig, but he has no business starting on a big league club at this point in time. He went from pitching in Double-A to pitching in the big leagues in a 5 day period.

I'm also very happy with how we drafted. I think we uncovered a couple of great players. Pedro Gonzalez has the stuff to hang around the majors for a long time and has a good chance of being an ace on a major league team in 3-5 seasons. Adam Numbers can play almost every position on the field and can hit with the best of them (he played at UNC, one of the premiere college clubs in America). Roberto Aguilar is an average catcher, but has a great bat (16 HR, 65 RBI, .331 AVG as Mississippi State). Ken Stark is a speedy, defensive player with an above average bat that any GM would take into their system. Last but not least, Gary Baker showed above average stuff at UCLA, who faced a steep schedule and top teams and prospects around the nation.

I went with Billy Beane's approach of college-first (I did break the rules and take a couple of high school players) drafting and feel like I've adequately stacked our system in my first draft as a major league general manager. Talk to you guys after the Milwaukee series.

[baseballfanmas]

Dombrowski Junior,

I think you made a mistake in getting rid of Pena, but it seems that you have really made up for it by having a very good draft. My question is, will you be looking to trade off some of your better players for future prospects before the trade deadline comes around? or will you be using some of those draft picks as trade bait to get a few solid players that could help the Padres make a playoff run? In other words are you still holding out hope for a playoff spot? or are you calling this season a wrap and looking to build for the future? Thanks, now you can say that you have your first couple of questions to answer for your dynasty.

[Kevdog1020]

June 9, 2012

Cory Luebke cruised through most of last nights game. He allowed his first hit in the 4th inning (which should've been caught, but there was miscommunication between fielders) and didn't allow his second hit until the 7th inning.

The 7th inning started off like many of Luebke's previous innings. He got the first two batters out before allowing an infield single to Aramis Ramirez (it was only the Brewers 2nd hit of the game). Travis Ishikawa then hit a grounder to Andrew Parrino, which he booted. Jonathan Lucroy took advantage of the extra out and smacked the first pitch over the left field wall to give the Brewers a 3-1 win.

The Padres themselves only managed 4 hits, Willie Cabrera was 2-3 with 1 2B and 1 BB and Yorvit Torrealba was 2-4 with 2 2B and 1 run. Evereth Cabrera drove in the only run for San Diego on an RBI groundout.

[Kevdog1020]

June 10, 2012

Edinson Volquez was rolling last night but in an eerily similar occasion, the Padres defense ruined a great pitching performance and knocked it down a peg to just plain old good. Volquez had a 1-hitter going through 3 before an error (by Volquez) cost the Padres two runs. Volquez went 5.1 innings and allowed 8 hits, 3 runs (1 earned) and 2 walks while striking out 6.

The Padres did score one run in the 6th, off of a solo homerun by Will Venable, but promptly gave it back off of an RBI single by Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum. Yorvit Torrealba continued his hot hitting, going 1-3 against Marcum who improved to 8-2 with a 3.24 ERA.