San Diego Padres

BaseCast: Winter Wonderland

1
COMMENT
Say Something »

By Andrew Johnson 2/05/2010 6:00 PM ET

It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy, right? BaseCast.

Spring training is just around the corner, but there are still plenty of loose ends to tie up.

On this edition, FanHouse's Ed Price joins me to discuss Justin Verlander's new extension, Joe Mauer's pursuit of his own, the growing signs that the Padres will trade Adrian Gonzalez and much more.

Listen in below.

6
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Matt Snyder 2/04/2010 4:00 PM ET

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

While they have a pretty solid franchise in place and several other stars (including former MVP Justin Morneau), Joe Mauer is the Minnesota Twins. He was born in St. Paul, Minn. His senior year, he was selected by USA Today as the National Player of the Year in both baseball and football for Cretin-Derham Hall High School (St. Paul), in addition to being an All-State basketball player. Then, in the 2001 MLB draft, Mauer was picked first overall by his hometown Twins over more ballyhooed prospects Mark Prior and Mark Teixeira.

It didn't take long for Mauer to reach the majors. He hit .308 in 2004 as a 21-year-old rookie. Since then, he's made three All-Star appearances and won two Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers all while racking up a .327 career batting average and .408 on-base percentage. He can run, handle the pitching staff and has added power to his repertoire. In 2009, he won his first AL MVP. And he's still only 26.

Simply put, Minnesota's favorite son is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. What a shame it would be if he played part of it away from the Twin Cities, a possibility with free agency on the horizon. He's only under contract through 2010 and if the Twins can't lock him up long term before he hits the open market, they'll likely be buried in the bidding process by the Yankees or another large-market team.

3
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Tom Fornelli 2/03/2010 12:27 PM ET

San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is one of the best in the game at his position. Not only can he hit 40-plus home runs in a place like Petco Park, but he's also won two Gold Gloves for his defensive work at first base. He's also pretty cheap, as he's scheduled to make only $4.75 million in 2010.

Which is likely the only reason the former No. 1 pick is still playing in his hometown of San Diego. Gonzalez has a club option on his contract for $5.5 million in 2011, but once he hits free agency he's likely to command a contract similar to what Mark Teixeira got in 2009, which is why his agent, John Boggs, seems confident the Padres will trade Gonzalez before then.

0
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Josh Alper 1/26/2010 6:15 PM ET

With less than a month to go until spring training finally begins, the list of free agent pitchers is getting smaller and smaller. Right-handed starter Jon Garland signed with the Padres, a move announced by team president Tom Garfinkel on Tuesday afternoon.

Garland went 11-13 with a 4.01 ERA in 33 starts during the 2009 season. He started the year with the Diamondbacks before moving to the Dodgers on August 31st. He had a decent month-plus with L.A., going 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA, but didn't make a postseason appearance.

Garland is guaranteed $5.3 million, a major league source told FanHouse, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX is reporting that this deal is for $4.7 million with a $600,000 buyout on a $6.75 million mutual option in 2011.

1
COMMENT
Say Something »

By Matt Snyder 1/17/2010 4:55 PM ET

The Oakland A's have traded Scott Hairston (back) to the Padres along with Aaron Cunningham for Eric Sogard and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. With the deal, the A's are apparently thinking of moving oft-injured Eric Chavez across the diamond to first base.

Kouzmanoff is the centerpiece of the trade here. He's a 28-year-old third baseman who has hit .263 and averaged 20 home runs a season in his three full years in the majors. He has been hurt by playing in San Diego's cavernous Petco Park, as his career OPS at home is .674 compared to .805 on the road. Of course, in moving to Oakland, he's still going to be playing home games in a pitcher's park. The main value of Kouzmanoff is defensively, as he has good range and compiled an NL-record .990 fielding percentage last season.

4
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Jeff Fletcher 12/10/2009 1:15 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- Picking a winner among the NL West teams is easy, since only one of them -- the Diamondbacks -- did anything of consequence this week. The rest of the teams sat quietly and left Indianapolis without much change to their rosters. Although the Giants, Rockies and Padres may simply have plans for later in the winter, it has become clear to baseball people that the Dodgers are hamstrung financially because of the looming divorce between owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.

1
COMMENT
Say Something »

By Matt Snyder 12/09/2009 10:30 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wednesday afternoon at the annual Winter Meetings, the eight managers who had not yet given an interview session took the podium to field questions for a half-hour from in-house media. Eighteen others had already been there on the previous two days -- we posted about these sessions for both Monday and Tuesday -- and Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Ron Gardenhire and Charlie Manuel were not present.

• Even if the Rockies let Jason Marquis walk -- which they probably will, though it's been reported they are open to bringing him back -- they are incredibly wealthy with starting pitching. Manager Jim Tracy discussed a strong five-man rotation of Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Jorge de la Rosa and Jason Hammel, but also mentioned the options they have in Esmil Rogers, Jhoulys Chacin, Samuel Deduno and Greg Smith. Smith in particular seemed to excite Tracy, in terms of how he'll come back healthy in 2010. Remember, the 24-year-old left-hander had a 4.16 ERA in 190 1/3 innings for Oakland in 2008. Simply put, there is absolutely no need to spend the money they'll have to in order to retain Marquis.

7
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Ed Price 12/04/2009 12:00 PM ET

If you like trades, pay attention.

They may zip past next week in Indianapolis like cars in the Indy 500.

Baseball teams can use the economy as cover to slow the free-agent market, so the action at the annual Winter Meetings, which run Monday through Thursday in Indianapolis, could be mainly of the swapping variety.

How about a team built around ace Roy Halladay and slugger Adrian Gonzalez? Well, they both seem likely to be moved this offseason.

Both players want to play for contenders and to get their wish they need to leave Toronto and San Diego, respectively. Both will fetch a nice haul of prospects.

0
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Tom Fornelli 12/03/2009 1:00 AM ET

If there has been a major sporting event in the United States over the last 40 years or so, odds are that Dick Enberg has covered it at some point. Be it a Super Bowl, March Madness, Wimbledon or the Olympics, Enberg has been there. Now it seems that he'll be returning to doing play-by-play for a baseball game for the first time since working the booth for the California Angels in 1985.

The San Diego Padres are expected to announce that Enberg will be hired to do play-by-play for the team starting in 2010. The deal has not been officially announced yet, but the team is expected to have a press conference on Thursday at Petco Park.

2
COMMENTS
Say Something »

By Matt Snyder 11/21/2009 10:00 AM ET

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

About halfway through the 2009 season, the San Diego Padres looked poised to be among the worst teams in baseball. They were 38-62 and being outscored at an alarming rate. All of a sudden, though, they seemed to put some things together. In their last 62 games, they won 37 (a .597 winning percentage). There seems to be a foundation of youth in place, though they aren't yet ready to compete with the Dodgers, Giants or Rockies in the NL West.

The biggest issue is their offense. It's been well-documented it's tough to score runs in their home park because it sucks the power out of anyone. True to form, the Padres were last in the NL in slugging percentage and 13th in home runs. Still, it's not just the ballpark. Their .321 OBP was 12th in the NL, which was a major they scored fewer runs than everyone in the NL except the Pirates.

More Footprints in the Snow

Get the latest sports news from FanHouse wherever
you are and however you want it.

San Diego Padres News

Customize
- ALL
- News
- Blogs
Powered by Relegence Over 3,000 Sources
- Real-Time Headlines: Customization
  
  Relevancy Filter: Select the subject relevance you want to view.
  
  Relevancy:
  
  Broad
  
  Medium
  
  Specific
  
  Source Filter: Select the news and information source list you want to view.
  
  News Sources - - Edit Source Selection >
  
  All News Sources
  
  None
  
  Blog Sources - - Edit Source Selection >
  
  All Blogs Sources
  
  None