SBNation.com User Blog: Antonio Olivares

"He talked about his passion, his commitment and the direction and that he wants to win," Gwynn...

Antonio Olivares — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:53:52 -0000

"He talked about his passion, his commitment and the direction and that he wants to win," Gwynn said by phone. "He's not doing this to have a toy. He's getting in to win. That was conveyed.

"I can't tell you how fired up I was."

PADRES: Gwynn joins Tull's group in bid to purchase franchise : North County Times - Californian

Dustin Moseley's MRI didn't sound good. Black said out "past the 15 days."

Antonio Olivares — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:13:52 -0000

Dustin Moseley's MRI didn't sound good. Black said out "past the 15 days."

Dan Hayes ‏ @NCTPadres

CTPadres Dan Hayes #Padres agreed to a one-year deal with Chris Denorfia and will tender all other...

Antonio Olivares — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:12:38 -0000

CTPadres Dan Hayes
#Padres agreed to a one-year deal with Chris Denorfia and will tender all other players.

Winter Meetings Open Thread

Antonio Olivares — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:27:26 -0000

The Winter Meetings started today. With so much happening at the meetings I thought it might be nice to have an open thread to post any Padres related (or unrelated) news/rumors or thoughts on such news/rumors.

The stuff I have seen so far that pertains to the Padres:

The Doyers signed Jairston to a 2 year contract worth $6M. This news disappoints me because he was a guy I would have liked to see the Padres sign.

The active Doyers are supposedly close to signing Aaron Harang as well. Harang would be their 7th free agent signing of the offseason already. Two of their signings are guys I wanted the Padres to sign, Capuano and Jairston. Damn. The Harang signing would also give the Padres another sandwich round pick.

The Padres are supposedly getting interest in Headley, but they are asking for "the moon." Which is exactly what they should be asking for. The Padres could use the moon. I think it is a year too early to move Headley, but if they do get offered the moon I would probably be okay with it.

The Padres are supposedly interested in Andrew Bailey and several FA arms to replace Bell. The FA arms definitely get my vote. I would be quite disappointed if the Padres moved anyone of value for a reliever. The Padres should be a team that trades relievers for prospects or young players (like Hoyer did), not the other way around.

I think that is all that has caught my interest so far.

Should the Padres trade Orlando Hudson?

Antonio Olivares — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:13:51 -0000

Jamey Carroll just signed with the Twins to play shortstop. This could help the Padres in a couple ways. One: the Padres won't have to face his pesky ass next year. Two: It thinned the FA market for starting second basemen. There should now be more demand than supply. Which should create a market for Orlando Hudson.

The remaining Second Basemen on the FA market are these guys:

Clint Barmes (33) - Type B
Andres Blanco (28)
Orlando Cabrera (37)
Alex Cora (36)
Craig Counsell (41)
Mark Ellis (35) - Type B
Jerry Hairston Jr. (36)
Bill Hall (32)
Aaron Hill (30) - Type B
Kelly Johnson (30) - Type A
Adam Kennedy (36)
Felipe Lopez (32)
Jose Lopez (28)
Aaron Miles (35)
Nick Punto (34)
Drew Sutton (29)

In parentheses is the player's age and the players that will likely be thought of as starters are in bold. The teams in definite need of a starter at second base are: D-Backs, Blue Jays, Tigers, Dodgers, and Rockies. There are other teams that might want second base help, but those other teams would probably be okay with backup types. I imagine Barmes will sign as a starting shortstop somewhere leaving 3 legitimate starting second basemen with 5 teams in need.

Given this market I think that the Padres could find a trade partner if they choose to shop Hudson. After all he should be worth the contract. A reasonable prediction for his 2012 production would be about 2 WAR, which is worth about $9M. If he were a FA this offseason I imagine he would get an offer similar to the contract he has now, one year at 5.5M with an option and buyout for a 2nd year.

I think they should choose to shop him for a few reasons:

One: For whatever reason the guy just does not seem to be a good fit in San Diego. He had the twitter arguments with fans. There was also some sentiment that he was not a good fit in the clubhouse.

Two: It would free up money. The Padres would have an extra 5.5M to spend this offseason and 2M to spend next offseason.

Three: Given the market for second basemen I think the Padres could get some potentially useful prospect in return. Someone that profiles as a potential reliever or utility guy maybe.

Four: I kind of think Forsythe could be just as valuable as Hudson for a fraction of the cost. Plus I would like to see if Forsythe can handle being a starting second baseman at the major league level. I think the Padres will be serious competitors starting in 2013. With no other in-house alternatives at second in the upper minors, it's either Forsythe or a free agent in 2013. If they signed a solid utility guy like Jairston or Punto, they could afford to find out what they have in Forsythe next year.

It is not a case where Hudson's really blocking a top prospect that's forcing him out or his contract is too burdensome. So it is not something I feel needs to happen. However I think there is a pretty good argument for putting him on the trading block this offseason. Hopefully we could find a trade partner. There's been reported interest from the Rockies. They seem to be pretty down on Eric Young Jr., maybe they'd swap him for the O-Dog.

Padres Minor Leagues: Week 4

Antonio Olivares — Sat, 07 May 2011 21:04:52 -0000

Here's what the top prospects in our system did this week. As a whole not a great week for the farm system. There were a few standout performances though.

1) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B+: at AA. 33.1 IP, 3.78 ERA, 3.5 FIP, 23 K, 9 BB. Had his longest start of the year this week going 7 innings while giving up just 2 ER, 8 H and no walks, while striking out 4.

2) Simon Castro, RHP, Grade B+: at AAA. 25.2 IP, 10.17 ERA, 6.2 FIP, 2.14 WHIP, 21 K, 18 BB. Castro continues to struggle. His first start this week he gave up 6 ER in 5 innings while walking 3. His 2nd start this week is the only start this year in which he did not give up 3+ walks, but that's because he only recorded 2 outs before getting the hook. I know the PCL is a tough league to pitch in, but he is getting rocked every game this year.

3) Jaff Decker, OF, Grade B+: at AA. 275/413/647, 9 HR, 32 K, 23 BB, 3 SB, 126 PA. Jaff had his 2nd bad week in a row. He was just 4-27, with 8 K, 5 BB.

4) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B: at AAA. 395/457/737, 9 HR, 13 BB, 24 K, 4 SB, 129 PA. Rizzo continues to swing the bat well, hitting safely in every game this week. He is 11-29 with 2 hrs in his last 7 games.

5) Donavan Tate, OF, Grade B-: A. 316/435/421, 3 K, 4 BB, 2 SB, 23 PA. Out maybe another month after colliding with E. Williams.

6) Corey Luebke, LHP, Grade B-: MLB, 17 IP, 4.24 ERA, 2.65 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 18 K's, 6 BB's. Since that game against Cincy he's still yet to give up a run.

7) James Darnell, 3B, Grade B-: at AA. 365/483/604, 4 HR, 14 K, 23 BB, 1 SB, 120 PA. Had what is probably his worst week of the year so far, going 5-22 with 4 BB, 6 K. On a positive note, he has now had 16 games in a row without an error. Hopefully it's a sign that he's improving over at 3B.

8) Reymond Fuentes, OF, Grade B-: at A+, 330/368/425, 22 K, 6 BB, 9 SB, 115 PA. Had a great week going 11-25, with 3 BB's. Nice to see him take some free passes.

9) Drew Cumberland, INF, Grade B-: at AA. Still on the DL for vertigo.

10) Jedd Gyorko, 3B, Grade B-: at A+. 381/462/628, 5 HR, 18 K, 18 BB, 1 SB. 132 PA. He stayed hot this week, going 10-26 with 2 HR, 3 K, and 7 BB. Made baseball america's prospect hot sheet for the 2nd week in a row.

11) Johnny Barbato, RHP, Grade B-: Still not seeing him on any rosters.

12) Matt Lollis, RHP, Grade C+: at A+. 31.1 IP, 5.46 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 34 K, 8 BB. Had another tough outing despite good peripherals. He went 5 innings, giving up 4 ER, with 5 K, 0 BB. Has given up exactly 1 HR in every start this year. If he keeps up this K/BB ratio the rest of his numbers should come around.

13) Adys Portillo, RHP, Grade C+: at A.14.2 IP, 9.82 ERA, 6.0 FIP, 1.98 WHIP, 15 K, 13 BB. Had a really bad outing this week giving up 7 ER in 3.1 Innings, with 4 K, 5 BB.

14) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade C+: at A.31 IP, 2.32 ERA, 2.55 FIP, 0.84 WHIP, 41 K, 12 BB. Had another excellent outing giving up 0 runs in 6 IP, with 8 K, 2 BB. He has definitely been the best starting pitcher in the organization so far this year.

15) Juan Oramas, LHP, Grade C+: Likely out another month or so with neck spasms.

16) Edinson Rincon, OF-3B, Grade C+: at A+. 343/387/472, 1 HR, 19 K, 8 BB, 119 PA. A mediocre week at the plate for Rincon going 7-28 with 5 K, and 0 BB. He continues to struggle in the field. His 3 errors last night brought his season total to 10.

17) Jason Hagerty, C, Grade C+: at A+. 289/337/461, 2 HR, 24 K, 5 BB. 83 PA. He was placed on the 7 day DL this week on May 2nd, not sure why. Hopefully not serious.

18) Logan Forsythe, 2B, Grade C+: at AAA. 291/410/488, 4 HR, 28 K, 15 BB, 2 SB, 105 PA. Got the call to the bigs! Unfortunately Buddy hasn't given him a start yet. In his first major league at bat he grounded out. Maybe he gets the start tomorrow against the lefty Saunders. He is a good line drive hitter that strikes out more than you'd like, but walks at a good enough clip to carry a high OBP. Probably a below average fielder at 2B since he hasn't played there too long. Better at 3rd.

19) Blake Tekotte, OF, Grade C+: at AA. 354/470/635, 6 HR, 20 K, 18 BB, 9 SB, 119 PA. Tekotte has cooled off. Went 4-16, but had more walks (6) than strike outs (4).

20) Zach Cates, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 20.1 IP, 5.75 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, 25 K, 13 BB. Had a good outing this week going 5 innings, with 2 ER, 6 K, 3 BB. He's walking a lot of guys, but his K/9 (11.07) and his batting average against (191) are very good. His FIP (fielding independent pitching) is much lower than his ERA which bodes well for future performance. So far this year he has not been leaving many guys on base. Nearly half of the guys that have reached have scored. Which is usually just a sign of bad luck, but for Cates might be because he was converted to a pitcher a couple years ago and he may struggle out of the stretch.

21) Jonathan Galvez, SS, Grade C+: at A+. 263/343/421, 3 HR, 28 K, 10 BB, 8 SB, 108 PA. Starting to swing the bat a little better. This week he was 7-24, 2 HR, 1 3B. He is showing he is not much better at 2B than he was at SS though, an error last night brought his season total to 5.

22) Jose De Paula, LHP, Grade C+: at A+. 23 IP, 6.26 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 1.96 WHIP, 13 K, 10 BB. Continues to struggle. His last outing he gave up 5 ER in 4 IP, with 2 K, 3 BB.

23) Everett Williams, OF, Grade C+: at A. 300/391/300, 4 K, 3 BB, 4 SB, 23 PA. Out for the year thanks to Tate.

Some other dudes worth mentioning:

Luis Durango, OF, AAA. 256/354/317, 1 2B, 2 3B, 3 SB. He's been struggling, and striking out at an uncharacteristically high rate. This week he had 6 K's and just 3 H in 20 AB.

E-Cab, SS, AAA. 282/345/379, 1 HR, 16 K, 10 BB, 10 SB. Broken. Out 6-8 weeks.

Anthony Bass, RHP, AA. 35.2 IP, 4.04 ERA, 4.1 FIP, 1.15 WHIP, 27 K, 7 BB. Had a strange start where he pitched well, with 9 K's in 7 IP, but gave up 5 ER.

Brad Brach, RHP, AA, 12.1 IP, 3.65 ERA, 1.09 FIP, 21 K, 1 BB. He's been pitching like Mike Adams with more K's this year. One ugly appearance at the start of the year has his ERA up there, but he's been amazing overall. His last 4 games he has struck out 9 while walking 0 in 4 IP.

Kyle Blanks, Rehabbing in AA, 280/325/453, 1 HR, 15 K, 5 BB, 83 PA. Starting to swing the bat with more authority. This week he was 8-30 with 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR.

Cody Decker, AA, 274/330/670, 11 HR, 38 K, 7 BB, 114 PA. Hit 2 more HRs. Still tied for the minor league lead with 11.

It seems the system as a whole has cooled off, but at least most of the hitters still have good stats on the season. Many of our pitching prospects continue to struggle so far this year. I don't know what's up with Castro, but hopefully he figures it out soon. At least Hawpe is swinging the bat well!

Padres Minor Leagues: Week 3

Antonio Olivares — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:24:14 -0000

Not a good week for the Padres organization. The big league Padres continued to stink. Most of the Padres top prospects cooled off as well. There were a few highlights, but overall it was a mediocre week for the Padres farm system.

1) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B+: at AA. 26.1 IP, 4.10 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 19 K, 9 BB. Kelly did not have the best week. His first start of the week he got rocked for 5 ER's in 5 IP. His second start he was better giving up just 1 ER despite giving up 9 H in 5 IP.

2) Simon Castro, RHP, Grade B+: at AAA. 20 IP, 8.55 ERA, 6.09 FIP, 16 K, 13 BB. Castro did not have a good start this week giving up 5 ER, on 7 H and 3 BB over 5 IP. His lack of control is still hurting him as he's given up 3+ BB's in every game he's pitched.

3) Jaff Decker, OF, Grade B+: at AA. 320/457/747, 7 HR, 7, 18 BB, 24 K, 3 SB, 94 PA. Decker has been striking out a lot recently, he has 15 K's in his last 8 games. He has just 5 hits over that time, but 3 of them left the yard. He does continue to walk at a good rate though, with 1 BB in each of his last 6 games.

4) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B: at AAA. 400/474/729, 7 HR, 17 K, 11 BB, 3 SB, 97 PA. Rizzo has stayed hot. He was just 7 for 26 this week, but that was with 2 HR's and 6 BB's. So far this year he has a better BB% (11.3) and K% (17.5) than last year where he finished AA with rates of 9.7% and 21.5%.

5) Donavan Tate, OF, Grade B-: A. 316/435/421, 3 K, 4 BB, 2 SB, 23 PA. Out maybe another month after colliding with E. Williams.

6) Corey Luebke, LHP, Grade B-: MLB, 14 IP, 5.14 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 16 K's, 5 BB's. He's pitched really well, and he showed all of us his huge cojones. Since that nasty game where he gave up 6 runs in the 11th to Cincy he hasn't given up an ER in 6 appearances. Over that time he has thrown 8 K's to just 1 BB in 7.2 IP.

7) James Darnell, 3B, Grade B-: at AA. 405/521/703, 4 HR, 8 K, 19 BB, 94 PA. He has cooled off and started actually striking out. After striking out just once in his first 14 games he's struck out 7 times in his last 6 games. He does have 3 HR's in his last 8 games, but his AVG and OBP have dropped off (although 405 and 521 on the season is not bad). Over those 8 games he is 8 for 34, not exactly slumping, but not the tear he was on before. He does have 10 games in a row without committing an error, which is perhaps a very good sign.

8) Reymond Fuentes, OF, Grade B-: at A+, 296/326/370, 18 K, 3 BB, 4 SB, 86 PA. He has tripled his season walk total from 1 to 3 over the last 7 games, but he still walks too little and strikes out too much to be productive.

9) Drew Cumberland, INF, Grade B-: at AA. Still on the DL. I did find out what he's on the DL for though, vertigo, wtf.

10) Jedd Gyorko, 3B, Grade B-: at A+. 379/444/598, 3 HR, 15 K, 13 BB, 99 PA. Gyorko is not quite as hot as he was the previous week, but still doing well. Over his last 7 games he is 11 for 30 with a HR and 4 2B's.

11) Johnny Barbato, RHP, Grade B-: Still not seeing him on any rosters.

12) Matt Lollis, RHP, Grade C+: at A+. 26.1 IP, 5.13 ERA, 5.44 FIP, 29 K, 8 BB. Had 2 very good starts this week. He gave up 4 ER's over 10 IP while striking out 15 compared to just 1 BB. He did give up a HR in each of his starts though, which makes him 5 for 5 in giving up a HR a game this year. At least he's really cut down on the walks which makes those HR's a little less damaging.

13) Adys Portillo, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 11.1 IP, 7.15 ERA, 6.25 FIP, 11 K, 8 BB. In his only game this week he started out pitching great before hitting a wall in the 5th. Over all he ended the game with 2 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, in 4.1 IP. I think both the runs were knocked in after he was taken from the game.

14) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 21 IP, 1.29 ERA, 2.13 FIP, 28 K, 8 BB. Sampson had a good start this week giving up no runs on 1 H over 5 innings while striking out 7. He did walk 4 guys though, which is a little alarming following his previous start in which he issued 3 BB.

15) Juan Oramas, LHP, Grade C+: Likely out another month or so with neck spasms.

16) Edinson Rincon, OF-3B, Grade C+: at A+. 375/427/538, 1 HR, 14 K, 8 BB. He is killing it. He currently has a 5 game hitting streak with 4 multi-hit games. Over his last 7 games he is 15 for 30. Hopefully we start to see a little more power and a few more walks. His fielding still sucks, they should move him to corner outfield already.

17) Jason Hagerty, C, Grade C+: at A+. 299/351/493, 2 HR, 19 K, 5 BB. Had a pretty good week going 7 for 20 with a HR. His defense is terrible though, he has 5 errors and 2 PB's, while throwing out just 27% of runners this year.

18) Logan Forsythe, 2B, Grade C+: at AAA. 307/430/520, 4 HR, 22 K, 15 BB, 2 SB. Had a good week, hitting safely in every game but one while walking as many times as he struck out 7.

19) Blake Tekotte, OF, Grade C+: at AA. 375/464/675, 6 HR, 16 K, 12 BB, 6 SB. Swinging the bat really well. Over his last 7 games he is 12 for 25 with 4 HR. He also has more walks (4) than strike outs (3) during that time.

20) Zach Cates, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 15.1 IP, 6.46 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 19 K, 10 BB. Had the worst line I've seen this year recording just one out while giving up 6 ER, 3 H, 3 BB. At least the one out was a K.

21) Jonathan Galvez, SS, Grade C+: at A+. 254/341/352, 1 HR, 21 K, 8 BB, 6 SB. He has really been struggling.

22) Jose De Paula, LHP, Grade C+: at A+. 19 IP, 5.21 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 11 K, 7 BB. He had a decent outing on the 23rd, but on the 29th he had a start that was nearly as bad as Cates'. He gave up 7 ER on 7 hits while recording just one out. The only reason I think Cates outing is worse is De Paula at least didn't walk anyone.

23) Everett Williams, OF, Grade C+: at A. 300/391/300, 4 K, 3 BB, 4 SB, 23 PA. Out for the year. What a shame, he really needed a good year to even get back to prospect status.

Some other dudes worth mentioning:

Luis Durango, OF, AAA. 290/377/371, 1 2B, 2 3B, 10 K, 8 BB. Struggling over his last 6 games, just 1 H, 3 BB, and 4 K.

E-Cab, SS, AAA. 284/337/379, 1 HR, 15 K, 8 BB, 9 SB. Did not have a good week going 4 for 27 with 4 K and 2 BB.

Anthony Bass, RHP, AA. 28.2 IP, 3.45 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 18 K, 7 BB. Had an okay week. One game he had good peripherals, 5 K vs 0 BB, but gave up 5 ER and 9 H (3 HR). The other game his peripherals were not as good, but he only gave up 1 ER over 6 IP.

AAAron Poreda AAA, 13.1 IP, 3.38 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 11 K, and 8 BB. After a streak of 8 IP without a BB he started pitching like the Poreda we know giving up 5 BB in his next 1.2 IP.

Kyle Blanks, Rehabbing in AA, 260/321/360, 10 K, 4 BB, 1 SB, 56 PA. He has a 5 game hitting streak, but really isn't hitting that well. Over those 5 games he is just 5 for 21 with 4 K and 1 BB. The big guy did hit a triple though.

Cody Decker, AA, is tied for the minor league baseball HR lead with 9. His other stats are not very good though, just 5 BB and 26 K.

This week there were a few standout performances like Tekotte and Sampson who were both named to Baseball America's prospect hot sheet. Overall though it was not the best week for the Padres farm system or organization as a whole.

Saw @sawyercarroll19 congratulated RHP Evan Scribner. Guessing he's coming up to #Padres to take...

Antonio Olivares — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:41:49 -0000

Saw @sawyercarroll19 congratulated RHP Evan Scribner. Guessing he's coming up to #Padres to take Wade LeBlanc's spot on roster.

NCTPadres Dan Hayes

Padres Minor Leagues: Week 2

Antonio Olivares — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:12:51 -0000

I probably won't do this minor league roundup every week, but I had free time today. Plus, it's kind of nice looking at such pretty stats by Padres affiliated players.

As the San Diego Padres continued to disappoint, their minor league players continued to impress. It's still a very short sample size, but the majority of their top prospects are continuing strong starts to the season.

Here are the season stats of the top prospects, along with a note about their past week. Again I just copied John Sickels' list of the Padres top prospects.

I probably won't do this minor league roundup every week, but I had free time today. Plus, it's kind of nice looking at such pretty stats by Padres affiliated players.

Here are the season stats of the top prospects, along with a note about their past week. Again I just copied John Sickels' list of the Padres top prospects.

1) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B+: at AA. 16.1 IP, 3.31 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 10 K, 4 BB. Has improved each time out so far this year. Had a very good outing in his last start with 7 K, 2 BB in 6 IP.

2) Simon Castro, RHP, Grade B+: at AAA. 15 IP, ERA 8.40, 10 BB, 11 K. Castro's 2nd and 3rd starts weren't as bad as his first, but were still disappointing. Hopefully he gets his control back soon.

3) Jaff Decker, OF, Grade B+: at AA. 379/500/878, 4 HR, 7 2B, 2 3B, 12 BB, 11 K, 2 SB, 49 AB. Jaff Decker remains on fire, displaying great patience, and great power. His 43 total bases has him leading the minors with an 878 SLG.

4) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B: at AAA. 458/500/814, 5 HR, 9 K, 5 BB, 59 AB. Rizzo had a good first week, and an outstanding 2nd week. The kid is hitting the cover off the ball. He has an 8 game hitting streak, with 20 hits during that stretch, and 4 of those left the yard. His 27 hits and 22 RBI (I know, I know, useless stat) are leading the minors.

5) Donavan Tate, OF, Grade B-: A. 316/435/421, 2 SB, 4 BB to 3 K in 19 AB. Still out after colliding with E. Williams.

6) Corey Luebke, LHP, Grade B-: MLB, 9.2 IP, 7.45 ERA, 12 K's, 5 BB's. That one bad outing still has his ERA bloated, but he is pitching very well so far.

7) James Darnell, 3B, Grade B-: at AA. 500/596/727, 1 HR, 12 BB to just 1 K in 44 AB. James Darnell is in the zone. He's seeing the ball extremely well so far, walking in over 20% of his PA's, while striking out just once in 56 PA's. His 500 AVG, and 596 OBP lead the minors. His defense is still lacking at 3B, but his bat would play anywhere. Hopefully he suddenly figures out 3rd or gets moved to the outfield. I have read that he has the skills to play 3rd, good range and a good arm, but just makes a lot of mistakes.

8) Reymond Fuentes, OF, Grade B-: at A+. 321/345/357, 3 SB, 1 BB, 12 K in 56 AB. Someone teach this kid some plate discipline. There is no way he ends up even an average major leaguer without taking more walks and striking out less often. He is young though and can hopefully develop those skills.

9) Drew Cumberland, INF, Grade B-: at AA. Still on the DL.

10) Jedd Gyorko, 3B, Grade B-: at A+. 386/463/596, 2 HR, 9 BB, 9 K, in 57 AB. Had a very good week. Now carrying a 9 game hit streak.

11) Johnny Barbato, RHP, Grade B-: I couldn't find him on a roster, must be in extended spring training for some reason.

12) Matt Lollis, RHP, Grade C+: at A+. 16.1 IP, 6.06 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7 BB, 14 K. Had another shaky outing. Three HR's have hurt his ERA.

13) Adys Portillo, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 7 IP, 9.00 ERA, 2.29 WHIP, 6 K, 5 BB. His second outing was better than his first, but still not good.

14) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 16 IP, 1.69 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, 21 K, 4 BB. After 2 masterful outings he came back down to earth a little in his 3rd start, giving up 3 ER's and taking the loss.

15) Juan Oramas, LHP, Grade C+: Still not seeing him on any rosters.

16) Edinson Rincon, OF-3B, Grade C+: at A+. 300/390/460, 1 HR, 8 BB, 11 K in 50 AB. Continuing to display good offense and crappy defense. He now has 5 errors on the season, still one short of the team lead of 6 by Valdez at SS.

17) Jason Hagerty, C, Grade C+: at A+. 277/320/404, 1 HR, 3 BB, 14 K in 47 AB. He did not have a good week, going 3 for 19 with 6 K's. Hopefully he gets back some of his plate discipline from last year.

18) Logan Forsythe, 2B, Grade C+: at AAA. 275/383/588 with 4 HR, 8 BB, 15 K, 51 AB. He cooled off a bit, but still has good stats on the year. The improved power stroke is nice to see, but he seems to be paying for it with a higher strike out rate so far.

19) Blake Tekotte, OF, Grade C+: at AA. 340/441/520, 4 SB, 8 BB, 12 K in 50 AB. Continuing his strong start along with the other missions players.

20) Zach Cates, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 15 IP, 3.00 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 18 K, 7 BB. Another good outing for Cates 5 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 ER.

21) Jonathan Galvez, SS, Grade C+: at A+. 341/444/447, 1 HR, 4 SB, 7 BB, 14 K in 44 AB. Still hitting well on the year, but has cooled off in his last 5 games. In those 5 games he had 10 K's.

22) Jose De Paula, LHP, Grade C+: at A+. 13 IP, 0.69 ERA, 3 BB, 6 K. Had a very short outing his last time out. He gave up 4 runs in 3 innings, but they were all unearned. The Storm defense is terrible.

23) Everett Williams, OF, Grade C+: at A. 300/391/300, 3 SB, 2 BB, 3 K in 20 AB. Still out after colliding with Tate. Guess it was a little more serious than initially thought.

Some other dudes worth mentioning:

Luis Durango, OF, AAA. 349/431/465 2 SB, 1 CS, 5 BB, 5 K. Go-go-durango continues to get on base at a good clip. He now has 3 extra base hits! That's just 4 shy of his total from all of last year. He is showing good plate discipline, 10 % BB rate (10.6% last year), and 12.5 % K rate (16.3% last year). At the plate I think he could be a useful big leaguer right now. He does need to improve his stolen base %, and his fielding.

E-Cab, SS, AAA. 338/392/471, 6 SB, 4 CS, 5 BB, 7 K. Still hitting well. He's carrying an 8 game hitting streak, with 3 2B, 1 3B, and a HR during that time. Hopefully he improves his stolen base %.

Anthony Bass, RHP, AA. 17.2 IP, 2.55 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 10 K, 5 BB. A little shaky in his last start, but still good numbers on the year.

San Antonio Missions, AA, 334/414/584, 23 HR, 64 BB, 91 K, 473 AB. Rather than write about all the fringe prospect Missions players having good starts to the season, I'm just going to mention the Missions. As a team they are on fire. They've scored over 20 runs on two separate occasions in the short season. They lead their league in AVG, OBP, SLG, HR, BB, H, R. All this while playing in a notorious pitcher's park.

AAAron Poreda AAA, 9.2 IP, 2.79 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 9 K, and 3 BB. He now has 4 straight games (6 IP) without issuing a walk. I don't know for sure, but that is probably a record number of consecutive batters faced without a walk for him in the Padres organization. Promising.

Kyle Blanks, Rehabbing in AA, 333/429/417, 3 BB, 6 K, in 27 PA's. He's been solid so far. He's just received time at DH and 1B. Hopefully his arm holds up when he finally gets some reps in LF.

After it seemed like everyone was off to a good start a couple guys cooled off as to be expected. Some guys got even hotter though. Darnell, Rizzo, and Jaff Decker all have me very excited. Thanks to those 3 dudes a Padres prospect is leading the minors (or tied for the lead) in 5 of the 6 hitter leaderboard stats (OBP, SLG, AVG, RBI, H) on the front page of milb.com.

Padres Minor Leagues: Week 1

Antonio Olivares — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:35:54 -0000

Looking at the season's stats for the SD Padres is a little depressing. Thus far the Padres offense has been less than awesome in the short sample size of the 2011 season. This led me to looking at the stats for the Padres minor league rosters.

Last year it seemed like a lot of the Padres top prospects struggled, so far that's not the case in 2011. It's an even smaller sample size than the MLB season, but it seems like nearly all the top prospects in the organization have started off right. Here's what the organization's top prospects (according to John Sickels) have done in the first week of minor league baseball.

1) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B+: at AA. 10.1 IP, 3.48 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 3 K, 2 BB. Hopefully he can find a way to strike guys out at a better rate than he did last year. His first start was a little shaky, his 2nd start was better. So far not bad.

2) Simon Castro, RHP, Grade B+: at AAA. 4 IP, ERA 18.00, 3 BB, 2 K. Not a good first start for Castro, he got rocked for 9 runs, 8 earned.

3) Jaff Decker, OF, Grade B+: at AA. 379/500/828, 2 HR, 5 2B, 1 3B, 2 SB. He's got 6 K's vs 7 BB's in 36 PA's. He's a freaking great hitter. I've read that he's supposedly taking his conditioning very seriously this year as well. I guess all the 'bad body' talk has motivated him. I am stoked on Jaff Decker.

4) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B: at AAA. 333/353/576, 2 HR. He's struck out about as much as you'd expect with 7 K's in 34 PA's, but walking way less than you'd like to see with just 1 BB in this first week.

5) Donavan Tate, OF, Grade B-: A. 316/435/421, 2 SB, 4 BB to 3 K in 23 PA's. He looked like he was off to a good start, but then ran into Everett Williams in the outfield. Supposedly not a serious injury, should be back in a couple games.

6) Corey Luebke, LHP, Grade B-: MLB, 6.1 IP, 11.37 ERA, 8 K's, 4 BB's. As you all know he had one horrible outing against the Reds. That one outing aside, he's been pretty impressive. I'd like to see him in the rotation, but with Moseley pitching so well I guess it's no big deal.

7) James Darnell, 3B, Grade B-: at AA. 400/448/640, 1 HR, 3 BB to just 1 K in 28 PA's. Nice start to the season. He does already have 2 errors though. Hopefully he can improve his fielding or maybe try him as a corner OF?

8) Reymond Fuentes, OF, Grade B-: at A+. 310/333/345, 2 SB, 1 BB, 7 K in 30 PA's. He's hit safely in every game, but needs to learn how to take a walk.

9) Drew Cumberland, INF, Grade B-: at AA. Starts season on 7 day DL. Not surprised. Not sure what's wrong with him.

10) Jedd Gyorko, 3B, Grade B-: at A+. 290/371/387, 1 HR, 4 BB, 4 K, in 35 PA's. Solid start, could definitely keep up this pace, but should improve. He should hit for more power in that league.

11) Johnny Barbato, RHP, Grade B-: I couldn't find him on a roster, must be in extended spring training for some reason.

12) Matt Lollis, RHP, Grade C+: at A+. 1.27 WHIP, 11.1 IP, 5.56 ERA, 4 BB, 9 K. The 9 K's are nice to see. The ERA is a little inflated from 2 HR's.

13) Adys Portillo, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 3 IP, 15.00 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, 4 K, 2 BB. Not a good first start.

14) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 11 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.27 WHIP, 19 K, 1 BB. He was perfect in 6 innings on opening day, and nearly as good in his 2nd start.

15) Juan Oramas, LHP, Grade C+: Couldn't find him on a roster, must be in extended spring training for some reason.

16) Edinson Rincon, OF-3B, Grade C+: at A+. 333/467/417, 6 BB, 8 K in 30 PA's. With 4 errors already at 3B. He's like a Dominican James Darnell.

17) Jason Hagerty, C, Grade C+: at A+. 357/379/571, 1 HR, 1 BB, 8 K in 29 PA's. Has 3 errors already behind the plate. He can definitely swing the bat.

18) Logan Forsythe, 2B, Grade C+: at AAA. 313/450/719 with 3 HR. He had a crazy first game where he had 2 hr's, 4 bb's, and a sb. He is striking out more than you'd like to see with 11 in 39 pa's, but offsets that with the 7 bb's.

19) Blake Tekotte, OF, Grade C+: at AA. 438/448/886, 2 SB, 2 BB, 4 K in 31 PA's. I would take him as 4th OF over Denorfia right now.

20) Zach Cates, RHP, Grade C+: at A. 10 IP, 3.60 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 14 K, 6 BB. If he improves his control he could be really good. I guess he has a great fastball/changeup combination.

21) Jonathan Galvez, SS, Grade C+: at A+. 429/552/667, 1 HR, 3 SB, 5 BB, 4 K in 26 PA's. Off to a great start offensively. Looks like they've already shifted him to 2B though. Hopefully E-Cab pans out because we've got no one at SS after him.

22) Jose De Paula, LHP, Grade C+: at A+. 10 IP, 0.90 ERA, 1 BB, 5 K. Sickels had him as a sleeper candidate, hopefully he's right.

23) Everett Williams, OF, Grade C+: at A. 300/391/300, 3 SB, 2 BB, 3 K in 22 PA's. Off to a decent start before colliding with Tate in the outfield. Should be back on the field in a game or two.

Some other dudes worth mentioning:

Luis Durango, OF, AAA. 370/455/519 1 SB, 2 3B, 4 BB, 4 K. Nice to see him with 2 extra base hits already. Though for all I know both of those could have been infield triples. If he continues to reach base in over 40% of his plate appearances in AAA and Venable continues to struggle through the end of the month I wouldn't mind the Padres bringing him up and sending Venable down.

E-Cab, SS, AAA. 314/400/400, 5 SB, 5 BB, 7 K. Hopefully he can keep this up all year and help the big club in 2012.

Anthony Bass, RHP, AA. 11.2 IP, 1.54 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 8 K, 2 BB. He's a guy that has never been considered much of a prospect, but has put up good numbers every where he's gone.

Sawyer Carroll, OF, AA. 435/435/957, 3 HR, 0 BB, 5 K.

AAAron Poreda has had 2 outings in a row (4 IP) where he didn't throw a walk!

There is a lot to be excited about there. The Padres seem to have a nice balance of hitters and pitchers, tools and skills. Hopefully they can stay healthy and the organization as a whole can have a good year.

Rule 5 Draft

Antonio Olivares — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 03:54:58 -0000

With the Rule 5 draft coming up next week I thought it might be worth while to take a look at some of the more interesting players that are eligible for this year's draft. There is a handy list of all the eligible players for this year's draft here. First off the players in the Padres organization it lists as eligible are:

Nick Schmidt, Aaron Breit, Matt Buschmann, Nathan Culp, Steven Faris, Colt Hynes, Alexis Lara, Anthony Contreras, Andy Parrino, Quentin Berry, Craig Cooper, Hayden Beard, Nick Schumaker, Danny Payne.

I don't see any of those players being drafted and kept on a team for all of 2011, maybe Colt Hynes.

Now here are some position players I think the Padres should take a look at.

	Pos	Age	Level '10	Org	Drafted	G	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	SB
Matt Lawson	2B	24	AA	SEA	14th rd	118	.293	.372	.439	9	6
Brad Emaus	2B	24	AAA/AA	TOR	11th	125	.290	.397	.476	15	13
Ryan Adams	2B	23	AA	BAL	2nd	134	.298	.365	.464	15	2
Marquez Smith	3B/2B?	25	AAA/AA	CHC	8th	107	.297	.371	.556	20	2
Steve Clevenger	C	24	AA	CHC	7th	88	.317	.367	.461	5	0
Justin Sellers	SS	24	AAA	LAD	6th	90	.285	.360	.456	14	5
Josh Rodriguez	SS/2B	25	AAA/AA	CLE	2nd	107	.297	.378	.484	13	6
Corey Wimberly	SS/2B/OF	26	AAA	OAK	6th	135	.284	.373	.354	3	56

Sellers and Lawson are supposed to be + defenders while Wimberly is supposed to be below average. Marquez Smith is a + defender at 3B, but probably average at best at 2B where he only has 32 minor league games played. The rest are some where around average defensively. Brad Emaus and Ryan Adams are probably the most highly regarded, making organizational top prospect lists at some point. With Adams ranking 8th in Baseball America's Orioles prospect list for 2011.

There are also a number of eligible pitchers that could possibly be useful bullpen arms. I mainly looked for guys with high K/9 rates since I consider strike outs kind of a proxy for "stuff", and high strike out guys typically have the best chance of succeeding as relief pitchers

Nick Schmidt, Aaron Breit, Matt Buschmann, Nathan Culp, Steven Faris, Colt Hynes, Alexis Lara, Anthony Contreras, Andy Parrino, Quentin Berry, Craig Cooper, Hayden Beard, Nick Schumaker, Danny Payne.

I don't see any of those players being drafted and kept on a team for all of 2011, maybe Colt Hynes.

Now here are some position players I think the Padres should take a look at.

	Pos	Age	Level '10	Org	Drafted	G	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	SB
Matt Lawson	2B	24	AA	SEA	14th rd	118	.293	.372	.439	9	6
Brad Emaus	2B	24	AAA/AA	TOR	11th	125	.290	.397	.476	15	13
Ryan Adams	2B	23	AA	BAL	2nd	134	.298	.365	.464	15	2
Marquez Smith	3B/2B?	25	AAA/AA	CHC	8th	107	.297	.371	.556	20	2
Steve Clevenger	C	24	AA	CHC	7th	88	.317	.367	.461	5	0
Justin Sellers	SS	24	AAA	LAD	6th	90	.285	.360	.456	14	5
Josh Rodriguez	SS/2B	25	AAA/AA	CLE	2nd	107	.297	.378	.484	13	6
Corey Wimberly	SS/2B/OF	26	AAA	OAK	6th	135	.284	.373	.354	3	56

		Age	Level	Org	Drafted	G	IP	ERA	WHIP	BB/9	K/9
Beau Jones	P	23	AA	TEX	1st	34	52.2	2.91	1.27	5.1	11
Michael Dubee	P	24	AA	PIT	18th	46	77.1	2.21	1.073	2.4	7.9
Jay Buente	P	26	AAA/AA	FLA	14th	34	48.2	3.14	1.315	4.4	10
Michael Broadway	P	23	AAA/AA	ATL	4th	40	53.1	4.39	1.425	4.2	9.6
Brad Meyers	P	24	AA	WSN	5th	6	30.2	1.47	0.978	2.1	10
Jason Rice	P	24	AA	BOS	11th	48	60	2.85	1.25	4.5	11
Eammon Portice	P	25	AA	BOS	12th	40	93	4.65	1.366	2.4	9.3
Pedro Beato	P	23	AA	BAL	1st	43	59.2	2.11	1.14	2.9	7.5
Wynn Pelzer	P	24	AA	BAL	9th	32	114.1	4.25	1.653	5	8.1

Brad Meyers was highly regarded and off to a great start last year, but injured his foot after just 6 starts. Meyers could potentially be a useful back of the rotation starter in the future, but not next year. Wynn Pelzer is the same Wynn Pelzer we traded for Miggy last year, and I think would have a very good chance of being a useful reliever. Even after a down year in 2010 Pelzer is ranked by Baseball America as the Orioles 6th best prospect going into 2011. I don't know why the Orioles can't find a way to fit Pelzer and Adams on their 40 man rosters, but I guess that's their problem.

For those unfamiliar with the rule 5 draft, the wiki article here is pretty helpful. Basically a player is eligible after 5 years in the minors if they were obtained when they were 18 or younger and after 4 years if they were 19 or older. The draft order is the same as it is for the regular June Amateur draft, that is from worst record to last. So we will be something like 22nd this year. A player that is chosen costs $50K and must be kept on the team's active roster for the next season or else offered back to the original team. Not every team picks a player and typically about 15-20 players are chosen in all. Most players chosen are pitchers since it's easier to hide a pitcher in a bullpen for a year than a position player on a bench.

Who knows what Hoyer and Co. will do, if anything, in this year's rule 5 draft, but there is possibly a diamond or two in that rough. With the trade and free agent markets being as thin as they are at middle infield this year and our need for at least one more reliever the rule 5 draft could be a means of the Padres filling a need on the cheap. Who knows maybe Hoyer could find the next Dan Uggla or Joakim Soria.