Apparently, the reason the Padres have won all these games the first two weeks of the season is that they needed the postgame handshakes.
To introduce themselves to one another.
"We really don't know each other," right fielder Brian Giles told FanHouse, "and I think it's important for us to get off to a good start, have fun with the game and get some confidence in our team."
While it's hard to believe the hot start will last -- "We're going to ride it as long as we can. I really couldn't tell you if we're for real or not," general manager Kevin Towers said -- at least it validates somewhat the rapid turnover in San Diego.
Of the 25 players on the current roster, 12 had never played for the Padres before this season. Half of those 12 were picked up in March.
"We were introducing ourselves, it seemed like, every other day in spring training," outfielder Scott Hairston said.
It has been a "rough" year-plus in San Diego, Towers admitted. Owner John Moores' nasty divorce led him to look for a buyer for the franchise and cut payroll. The team lost 99 games in 2008 and, in Towers' blunt estimation, "rolled over" the rest of the way after a 22-inning loss on April 17 because of a lack of clubhouse presence.
Once the season ended, the Padres had an ugly falling-out with their most popular player, closer Trevor Hoffman. As Hoffman was bolting for Milwaukee, San Diego evaluated the trade market for ace Jake Peavy, leading to more uncertainty.
Towers believes a resolution to the ownership issue in late March -- former agent Jeff Moorad, who had been running the Diamondbacks, bought a share of the club and will eventually control it -- helped the players relax.
But Towers didn't relax all spring, not after seeing his pitching staff and "horrible bullpen." At one point he told his wife, "Usually you're at 30 (players) trying to get down to 25. I'm at about 15 trying to get to 25.
"The other 10 are somewhere out in the Grapefruit League or the Cactus League that aren't here yet. Somehow we've got to find them."
So on his Sunday night conference calls with the team's pro scouts, Towers stressed pitching. Keep an eye on, he said, pitchers who are out of options, or non-roster guys with opt-out clauses, or Rule-5 picks who might end up on waivers.
"It's the first time in my 14 years I said, 'I don't care to hear about a position player,' " Towers said. "Every Sunday night it was, 'Who's out there? Who's available?'"
"It was panic because we didn't like what we saw that we had."
Towers was scanning the waiver list every day, hoping some power arms would fall to him. Then in mid-March he put in a claim on Marlins righty Jesus Delgado, only to see Seattle get him. Towers decided he couldn't wait on waivers any more.
So he signed Duaner Sanchez (released by the Mets), got Luke Gregorson from the Cardinals (as a player to be named in the Khalil Greene trade), signed Shawn Hill (released by Washington) traded with Florida for Eulogio de la Cruz and acquired Edward Mujica from Cleveland.
All in 2 1/2 weeks.
"Kevin was pro-active, man," manager Bud Black said. "His scouts were on high alert for arms."
Said Hoffman: "K.T. has a tendency of being able to find arms, that's for sure."
The changes continued into the season. On April 10, San Diego claimed Luis Perdomo off waivers from San Francisco – even though Towers and Black didn't even see Perdomo throw until last Wednesday, when he became the fifth Padre this year to make his big-league debut.
"It's the most diverse team we've had in a long time," Towers said. "We've always been kind of the blonde, blue-eyed surfer boys from San Diego. Now we're truly Los Padres."
Said a scout who monitored San Diego in spring training: "It wasn't good. ... I don't think they're done (tinkering). It wasn't a good-looking club in the spring. (The Padres' start is) kind of unexpected."
So before the season began, Black told his team, "Let's have some fun, go out and prove some of these people wrong."
Amazingly, the chewing-gum-and-bailing-wire relief corps has helped fuel the hot start. The Padres bullpen has a 2.52 ERA, and San Diego had won every game in which it had a lead at any point.
"We have some really good arms in the bullpen, and we believe in them," Hairston said.
While the Padres should come down to earth, and the NL West basement, the start has at least increased the confidence in the clubhouse.
"This division is going to be open, wide-open," Giles said "It's inconsistent, and whoever stays the healthiest and plays the most consistent baseball is going to win this division."
Towers can't really expect his team to do that. Then again, what can he expect?
"For us it's kind of exciting," Towers said, "because we don't really know what's going to happen."
Overheard and Understood
• Commissioner Bud Selig keeps a close eye on attendance figures, even more so this year in light of the economy. "We're off to a decent start," he said, "but it's way too early for that. I want to watch it for a month or two. Then I'll be able to make a judgment."
• One scout said Boston's David Ortiz, off to a tepid start (one extra-base hit, .209 slugging percentage), has to adjust his approach to make up for diminished bat speed. "Ortiz has to decide: is he going to be a 30-homer guy and hit .250, or does he want to hit 20 and have productive at-bats on a regular basis? It looks like he's really got to cheat to get to some balls."
• Under new general manager Jack Zduriencik, Seattle is focusing its pro scouting efforts on the low minors for two reasons: (1) the Mariners figure it's easier to judge big-league players on statistics and video, but low minor-leaguers need to be seen in person; and (2) if they fade from contention, they may be trading some veterans this summer, and they will want to target high-upside prospects from lower levels.
• Mike Hampton's eight strikeouts Wednesday at Pittsburgh were his most since July 7, 2003 -- so long ago that he struck out eight Expos that day.
| Chart of the Week | |
|---|---|
| Bobby Abreu is within 50 hits of becoming the ninth player with 2,000 hits, 450 doubles, 1,000 RBI, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. The others: | |
| Players | Years |
| Ty Cobb | 1905-28 |
| Tris Speaker | 1907-28 |
| Willie Mays | 1951-73 |
| Paul Molitor | 1978-98 |
| Rickey Henderson | 1979-2003 |
| Barry Bonds | 1986-2007 |
| Roberto Alomar | 1988-2004 |
| Craig Biggio | 1988-2007 |
| Source: baseball-reference.com | |
• A scout who has seen the Orioles said "a lot of teams would wish they had those arms in the [bull]pen." He cited Chris Ray (back from injury), Jim Johnson and Danys Baez, who "is throwing the ball decent again."
• Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller threw the only Opening Day no-hitter on April 16, 1940, and he can still recall details. "There were only a little over 14,000 people in the ballpark, it was a bad day," he said last week on a Hall of Fame conference call. "It was cold, it was windy, it was cloudy and in the lower 40s and before the game was over the high 30s. It was a miserable day. The only people who were warm were the two pitchers and maybe the catcher because we were moving around. Everyone else was freezing to death. If you hit a ball on your fist, it gave you a handful of bees. ... I only struck out eight, which wasn't that many for me at that time."
• The Marlins' bullpen looks like a liability, one scout said, and especially misses the veteran presence of Joe Nelson. "He can fill a lot of different roles, and he can get outs," the scout said.
• Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday became the youngest pitcher (21 years, 27 days) with a 13-strikeout game since Oliver Perez for San Diego in 2002.
• Texas' Omar Vizquel is the first big-league player to play shortstop in 21 different seasons.
• Of Gary Sheffield's 500 home runs, he has hit the most in a Dodgers uniform (129) and the most off Tom Glavine and Jamey Wright (six each). He has homered in 40 different parks. An irony: Sheffield's 500th homer Friday night came in front of Milwaukee's Trevor Hoffman; the two were traded for each other on June 24, 1993. "Not straight up, obviously," Hoffman said.
• Prospect watch: A scout called right-hander Jarrod Parker, Arizona's first-round pick in 2007, "special." Parker, currently in the Single-A California League, throws 92-97 mph with an 80-84 mph slider and a good changeup. "Lights-out," the scout said. "Front-line potential." A sleeper in the Cal League is Angels left-hander Trevor Reckling, a former eighth-round pick who turns 20 next month: "A great pick for them. He's got a chance to be a real strong middle-of-the-rotation starter."
• Less than two weeks into its 12th season, Arizona became the second-fastest franchise to 30 million in paid attendance. Colorado reached 30 million in its ninth season (2001).
