MVN: Most Valuable Network

The San Diego Padres enter today's amateur draft with history on their side.  But it's not good history.  It's more like the kind that the phrase about learning or repeating was made up to address.

If you need a reminder of exactly what I might be talking about, well... Matt Bush has a court date today.  Remember Matt Bush?  The first overall pick in the draft?  A move that just about everyone not employed by the Padres believes was motivated by a desire to avoid anyone represented by Scott Boras? He was supposed to playing shortstop at Petco by now.  Instead, he is entering a plea bargain.  Meanwhile, one of the prospects that San Diego passed up on that year, Stephen Drew, just left San Diego with his Arizona Diamondback teammates.

How about Mike Ivie? Of course, that's ancient history and at least he made the majors.  Okay, how about Kevin Nicholson, Mark Phillips and Vince Faison?  More recently, taking the "safe route" after college pitching even seems to be a Friar stumbling block.

Sure, it would be nice to have SDSU's Stephen Strasburg, but even if the Nationals were that stupid, he would get snatched up at number two and the pads are number three.  Too bad.  It would have been great to see him stay in town.

But the Padres are going to have a shot at some exciting players and all the talk out of the front office seems to indicate that it is time to take a bit of a risk again.  Donovan Tate, considered by many to be the premier position player in this draft, is likely to be available.  The problem is that the Padres don't want to waste a high pick on a guy likely to go to college and Tate has signed a letter of intent to play QB at North Carolina.  If for some reason the Seattle mariners pass on Dustin Ackley, who is coming out of college and doesn't have that leverage, expect the padres to snatch him instead.

If Strasburg and Ackley go 1-2, as most expect... then the question needs to be asked.  Take a chance on a Boras client that can skip to college for a year or more?  Or go for one that has already done the college thing? USC shortstop Grant Green fits an organizational need.  It wouldn't be shocking to see them go in that direction.

On his blog, Paul DePodesta discussed some of the rationale behind sending Jody Gerut to Milwaukee for Tony Gwynn Jr. As always, I love his honesty. Two Lines that stick out: "Money - Nobody likes to talk about it, but the fact is that dollars must factor in our decision making." "Other - It would be silly to ignore the fact that Tony Gwynn Jr's father is Tony Gwynn.' As you read through, you'll see his explanations make a lot of sense. The Padres don't have a lot of talent, either at the major league level or in the minors. They also, are a low budget team. That means that every move must be maximized, every dollar squeezed; and you like to see that Towers and Co. have a plan for what they are doing.... Read more

The Padres tried to continue their ten game winning streak, but a great individual effort from the Diamondbacks Max Scherzer put them down early and this time they could not quite pull out the comeback.Scherzer did it with his arm, striking out five of the first six Padres he faced and ten overall.  He did it with his bat, driving in two runs.  He kept the Padre offense in check, scattering six hits. Kevin Correia of the Pads matched him early and the game was scoreless through four.  But then Correia got touched up and the D-Backs built a six run lead.But the way this team has been playing, it takes an almost heroic effort to keep them down.  And when the Diamondbacks hero of the night ran out of gas, the Friars exploded.Going into the eighth down 6-0, San Diego chased Scherzer with a couple of runs, including a... Read more

No, Friar Faithful, that is not an old headline.  The San Diego Padres came back in the bottom of the ninth to sweep the Giants and win their sixth game in a row and Tony Gwynn scored the winning run.Tony Gwynn Jr., who used to go by Anthony in San Diego, was traded from Milwaukee to his hometown earlier today and walked in a pinch hit appearance in the bottom of the ninth, scoring the winning tally in a 3-2 victory when Scott Hairston singled him home.This was a day that looked sad for Padre fans earlier.  If we take isolated pieces of info and string them together, think of how bad this day could have sucked.The Padres reach an agreement to trade Jake Peavy to Chicago. Jody Gerut, one of the few bright spots of the last eighteen months, is traded for a kid that can't seem to stay... Read more

The 2009 Amateur Draft begins June 9 with the Padres picking third overall. Washington is a virtual lock to draft local legend Stephen Strasburg and Seattle seems to have their sites on UNC 1B Dustin Ankley (who will play CF in pros). This leaves a number of prospects for the Padres to sort through. GM Kevin Towers apparently likes Donovan Tate, a CF from Carterville H.S. (Ga). Tate is athletic with excellent speed and defensive range. His running, fielding and arm strength already score high ratings. His biggest flaw has been plate discipline but he could project to an above average hitter with some decent power. His commitment to baseball and signability have also been questioned, as he has committed to UNC to play quarterback.   There are a number of excellent pitchers after Strasburg to sort through: Tyler Matzek (LHP, Capistrano Valley High School), Shelby Miller (RHP, Brownwood High, Tx), Tanners Scheppers... Read more

Padres prospect Kyle Blanks made his debut in left field last week for Portland, and figures to continue to see action there. He's a minor league 1st baseman who won't see the field for a National league team with Adrian Gonzalez on the roster. Adding some corner outfield experience is an excellent idea, but Chase Headley is blocking him there. One can only hope that the Padres view Headley as the long-term 3rd baseman, and don't see a future with Kevin Kouzmanoff in it. Blanks is a masher, who projects to have 30-40 homerun potential at the major league level. His minor league numbers are quite good, though he has struck out at a high rate as he adjusts to AAA. Don't expect him to contribute in 2009. While he may enjoy a cup of coffee in the majors this year, expecting production from him yet may be far fetched.... Read more

Following Kevin Towers comments that the team had been "embarassing" over the 24 game stratch where the team went 4-20; the San Diego Padres completed a 3 game sweep of the visiting Cincinnati Reds Sunday. Jakre Peavy threw a complete game, allowing just one run on four hits, striking out eight and walking zero. Only rookie Chris Dickerson was able to put the bat on the ball well against Peavy, going 2-4 with a double and a solo homerun in the 6th. The Padres brought in just over 79,100 fans for the series. They open a 3 game home series with Giants on Tuesday with Chris Young oppossing Barry Zito. Hopefully the Padres can get a couple wins in this series and carry some momentum into the weekend hosting the Chicago Cubs. That will be an important home series as far as attendance goes for the Padres, as that may be the determining... Read more

It's now been a month since the Padres hot start ended. Reality is setting in and setting in fast. At 13-22 (.371 Win %), the Padres are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for worst record in baseball. Their 131 runs scored are second fewest, Arizona has 129. Their team ERA is 14th of 16th in the National League, aided by the most pitcher friendly park in the majors.    This really isn't news. The Padres entered the season as one of the least talented rosters. GM Kevin Towers was quoted by ESPN's Jayson Stark as saying, "With a couple of weeks to go, my wife asked me if it was going to be tough to get down to 25," Towers said. "I said, 'Down to 25? I'm trying to get up to 25.'"   The baseball statistics aren't the most frightening numbers about the 2009 San Diego Padres. Those would... Read more

Wow.  The only thing better than the Padres start is being able to laugh out loud at the idiocy of ESPN, who have the Braves ranked #1 on a day they lose to the Pirates 10-0 and have the Friars ranked 14th on a day they hang the first blown save in a Phillie uniform on Brad Lidge.The San Diego sunshine boys are 9-3 and still leading the NL West along with the Dodgers.  The thing is, the Dodgers have been playing Colorado and Arizona while we've been playing the Mets and Phillies.  This may sound a bit hypocritical coming from a guy who is basically asking for respect for a team that lost 99 games last year... but come on!  Who do you think are the better two opponents?  The World Champs and the team with Jose Reyes and David Wright, maybe?   Huh?  Yes, ESPN... I am talking to... Read more

For the Mets, everything was set up perfect.  New ballpark and a doormat coming to town to open it with a sweep.  At least, that was the script if you cared to believe the hype.  But something went wrong.The San Diego Padres continue to defy expectations.  The writers, amateur and professional, thought it would take 20 games for the Friars to win 7.  Especially considering that three of their first four series (Next up, the World Champs) were against teams expected to fight for division titles.  Even the Giants were expected to beat up on the Padres, especially with Cy Young winners starting two of the three games.Opening night at Citi Field, and the ballpark opens the way no other ever has.  Jody Gerut hits a dinger on the third pitch of the night. And Adrian Gonzalez hit a shot too.  At one point, the Friars led 5-1. But according... Read more

The first-place San Diego Padres rode strong efforts from pitcher Chris Young and catcher Nick Hundley to beat Tim Lincecum and the Giants at Petco Park 6-1.  The sweep of San Francisco and a four game split with Los Angeles has the Friars on top on the NL West with a 5-2 record as they head east to New York to open the Mets new ball park.Young pitched seven innings of four hit ball and allowed only one unearned run while his batterymate Hundley had four hits.  Oddly enough, his late RBI single was almost a letdown, since he had started the day withh a single, double and triple.  This gave him a chance to be the first Padre to ever hit for the cycle, but that milestone will have to wait for another day.Chase Headley hit his second home run of the season, a two run shot to the... Read more