insidethepadres

Ownership intrigue

2012-01-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

Jeff Moorad's attempt to gain "control" ownership of the Padres hit a snag last week when Bud Selig and a cadre of club owners tabled a vote on whether Moorad could increase his group's 49-percent stake in the club. Selig said financial concerns had to be resolved, even though the money is in escrow.

A major league source has told this blog that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf spoke against Moorad to other owners. Reinsdorf long has had Selig's ear, making him one of baseball's most influential owners.

It's not clear why Reinsdorf is opposed to Moorad replacing John Moores as "controlling" owner of the Padres, although Reinsdorf is known to have viewed him with skepticism when Moorad was a player agent.

Among Reinsdorf's friends is Jerry Colangelo. When Colangelo lost his job as the Diamondbacks' top baseball executive, it was Moorad who replaced him. Among Reinsdorf's top officials with the White Sox is Rick Hahn, who worked for the same sports agency that Moorad and Leigh Steinberg headlined.

Another owner who doesn't send holiday cards to the Moorad residence is the Diamondbacks' Ken Kendrick, as I wrote several months ago.

The sale's holdup, however, may owe to more than a personality clash.

Two major league sources told this blog that MLB doesn't want Moorad's group to pay off Moores with money from the Padres' next TV deal.

No dice, MLB has also said, if Moorad wants his partners to front a short-term loan to complete the purchase, in return for TV money at a later date.

Precedent is on Selig's side. Last year, the commissioner vetoed an attempt by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to get an advance on a TV deal with Fox and use it to pay off debts.

Generally speaking, MLB views TV money as a valuable resource that is applied to a team's baseball operations, not to buying a club.

For his part, Moores was angry enough with the sale's holdup that he cast the lone vote against ratifying Selig's contract extension.

In the end, Moores likely will get his money (unless the whole sale is scuttled and, absent another buyer, Moores were to remain long term as the majority owner, a bizarre and unlikely result).

It's still unclear, though, whether Moorad, who also is the Padres' CEO and Vice Chairman, will gain ownership control once the team is sold, even if it is to Moorad's 12-person group.

Should MLB look to Moorad's partners for a designee who would meet with other owners' approval and represent the club at the league level, Ron Fowler could emerge as a candidate.

Fowler is the only member of Moorad's 12-person investment group listed on the Padres' board of directors. The San Diego businessman is said to be one of the group's deep-pocket investors.

For what it's worth, Fowler impressed me when he owned the San Diego Sockers during their glory years in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He's a straight shooter. He knows how to lead.

And as far as I know, Jerry Reinsdorf doesn't have him in his crosshairs.

Trade with Cubs

2012-01-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

The Padres made a trade with the Cubs today. Anthony Rizzo heads to Chicago along with Single-A pitcher Zach Cates. To the Padres go pitcher Andrew Cashner, who joins the back end of San Diego's bullpen, and minor league outfielder Kyung-Min Na.

Evaluators from two other clubs told this blog what they thought of the deal.

"It shows how much value (Rizzo) has lost over the last year," said a National League man, noting that Rizzo was a key piece in the Adrian Gonzalez trade 13 months ago.

An American League scout likes Cashner more than Rizzo, saying the right-hander's "big arm" is more predictable than Rizzo's "big bat." He prefers Cates to Na.

For more on the trade, go to my Twitter feed @tomkrasovic.

Quentin

2011-12-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

I'm pressed for time...so if you want my take on today's Padres-White Sox trade, go to my Twitter feed @tomkrasovic. Have yourself a happy, safe New Year's eve.

From my Twitter feed

2011-12-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

American League scout: "Padres just killed the Reds in that deal." (@tomkrasovic)

So long, Latos

2011-12-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog, you aren't surprised that the Padres today traded Mat Latos to the Reds for pitcher Edinson Volquez and three prospects. Other clubs sensed at the winter meetings that Latos, 24, was available and that the Padres weren't interested in locking up their young ace to a long-term deal. Although the Padres weren't shopping him -- inviting teams to make offers -- the Tattoed One was available, as I wrote here a week ago. Reds general manager Walt Jocketty and Josh Byrnes made a deal that looks like it should help both teams, with Cincinnati looking for prompt returns.

Here, following, are several thoughts about the trade:

* Latos deserves credit for having been a strong performer over the last two years, particularly in 2010. To some extent, he overcame maturity issues that caused him to tumble in the amateur draft and inspired much skepticism among Padres insiders early in his minor league career.

* The job just became tougher for Latos. Any pitcher who leaves the Padres is leaving the best pitching environment in baseball. The breadth and depth of this fact, I believe, still gets underestimated by a surprising number of people in the major leagues, not to mention fans and media. Not only is Petco National Park an extreme pitcher's park, the consistently temperate weather is a nice bonus, and offenses in the National League West are generally subpar. What's more, Padres trainer Todd Hutcheson and his assistants are among the best in the majors at maintaining pitchers' arm strength and flexibility, said well-traveled pitchers Woody Williams and Greg Maddux. Statistical splits don't tell the whole story. Petco boosts and maintains confidence, which often is critical for a young pitcher. The forgiving conditions also reduce wear and tear on arms. As Latos moves to the NL Central, where the ballparks are smaller and the weather far more testing, the training wheels will come off. Latos wouldn't be the first former Padres pitcher to miss Hutcheson. Trevor Hoffman considered Hutcheson vital to his career success.

* The Padres will not admit it, but they still had doubts about Latos's intangibles. To his credit, Latos matured greatly two years ago and grew into one of the elite starting pitchers in the National League. This is a pitcher who, when in good form, has four "plus" pitches. But Latos remained a high maintenance personality who could grate on nerves over the long season, despite the best efforts of a manager, Bud Black, whose No. 1 strength is grooming pitchers. In 2010, teammate Chris Young was an apt mentor to Latos. A former basketball star at Princeton, Young has a strong team ethic. Also, the 6-foot-10 Young is willing to rebuke teammates if the situation calls for it. Young was with the Mets last year, and some within the Padres organization say Latos would've benefited if Young had still been on the team. When Latos was struggling in the first half of the 2011 season, Hoffman spoke with him. Hoffman encouraged him to be a good teammate. Speaking of his own experiences, Hoffman said he found that pulling for other teammates helped get him through his own tough times. Latos responded with a strong second half.

* Many times last year, I thought Latos pitched to his ERA more than he did to trying to win a game. There is a distinction.

* First baseman Yonder Alonso likely has the most upside of the prospects coming to the Padres. He also has played left field, but is limited there. Left fields in the NL West are among the most difficult to defend. The best spot for Alonso, to be sure, is first base. This trade signals that this Padres front office isn't sold on Anthony Rizzo, who showed no improvement late last season after his second promotion from Triple-A.

* Because they are deep in pitching prospects and Petco National Park is so forgiving, the Padres should still be optimistic about their pitching. But none of their advanced prospects has as much "pure stuff" as Latos, and aside from Casey Kelly, who projects as a No. 3 starter, none can match his athleticism. The Padres have a potential frontline starter in Joe Ross, the second of their first-round draft picks last year. But he is three or four years away from reaching the major leagues. The failure to sign Karsten Whitson seems more significant today.

* Latos soon could command huge salaries if he produces like he did in 2010-11.

* I doubt that the shoulder flareup that Latos reported late last spring training had any bearing on this trade. The Padres shut down Latos largely to build his confidence after a bumpy spring training. Jed Hoyer told me that the club didn't give Latos an MRI exam.

Winter buzz

2011-12-10T13:32:00.001-08:00

Mat Latos isn't untouchable, Chase Headley is available and John Moores still has high-ranking admirers within major league baseball. Those are Padres tidbits told this blog by baseball people who were at the winter meetings.

The Padres are not shopping Latos, their homegrown ace who only two seasons ago was one of the elite starting pitchers in the National League. But, somewhat surprisingly to this blog, other clubs seem to think he's not cemented to future Padres rosters. Put another way, other clubs don't expect the Padres to lock up Latos the way the Rays just secured 22-year-old pitcher Matt Moore, who received a $14-million contract on Friday. It could be that new Padres GM Josh Byrnes has come into the job with an open mind about which players are part of San Diego's long-term core. After talking to the Padres, one club began gathering information on Latos, who turned 24 on Friday.

It's not surprising that the Padres are open to moving Headley, which doesn't necessarily mean he'll be dealt before the team falls out of playoff contention next season. Headley will be getting expensive for the low-payroll Padres, in part because the Alderson Gang promoted him too soon, which allowed him to qualify for Super Two arbitration. For his sake, I hope Headley ends up in the National League Central. It's conducive to hitting. Headley faced many unusual obstacles early in his career, a few of them not of his doing. He toughed it out, made adjustments and had a pretty good season in 2011.

Higher-ups at the meetings praised Moores, the Padres' majority owner since December 1994. No surprise, that. Moores is close to Bud Selig. He's also a sharp businessman who advocated for smaller-revenue clubs leading up to three collective bargaining agreements. By the next winter meetings, Moores may no longer be the Padres' majority owner. Entering this offseason, he had sold 49 percent of the club to Jeff Moorad's group as part of a five-year sales plan announced in March 2009.

Bell to Marlins

2011-12-01T22:09:00.001-08:00

The next time this blog throws a log in the firepit, he'll also burn a notepad in honor of Heath Bell.

The Loveable Kook jazzed up the bland Padres. At times, he wore thin with Old School types and a few teammates, but beneath the goofiness was a guy who loves baseball, knows baseball and believes baseball should be entertaining. Above all, he was a heck of a pitcher for the Padres. His toughness during the pennant races of 2007 and 2010 was special. Bell didn't scare. That's what most impressed me about him.

Over the years, I've seen several of San Diego's sports teams wilt on the bigger stages. Bell, I think, would've done well in the playoffs or a World Series. I hope he gets a chance to find out, and if he does, I hope his fastball is still humming. The Padres not getting to a postseason in his five years wasn't his fault. For how little it took to get him in a trade and his value well above cost, it's an organizational failure that the club never reached the playoffs with Bell.

The three-year, $27 million bet the Marlins are making on Bell looks pretty risky. Then again, scared money doesn't win the World Series. I think back to the 2003 season, when the Marlins were ridiculed for using young talent to acquire relief pitchers. At the time, several teams were ahead of them in the wild-card race. Relievers are an erratic species, generally speaking, and overly lusting for them has burned many teams. But the relievers the Marlins invested in were vital to their run to the playoffs and the World Series victory over the Yankees later that year.

As for the Padres, I think draft pick compensation was the way to go here, although I've always believed Bell when he said he'd take less money to stay in San Diego. In fact, a few offseasons ago he and Kevin Towers agreed to a discounted two-year deal but Sandy Alderson nixed it. Let's say Bell would've accepted $25 million to stay with the Padres. I'd probably still rather have the two draft picks, given where the Padres are. I doubt the closer's performance will be the difference between making the playoffs or not in 2012.

I also think Petco National Park accentuated by National League rules is Miracle-Gro for relief pitchers. That's not to say Bell will be easily replaced. Bell was more than a "fungible" reliever. He wasn't a Petco creation, either, although I think the ballpark helped him build confidence as a young reliever and lessened his wear and tear over the years.

This, I believe: A reliever who can limit walks and keep the ball out of Petco's left field seats is on his way to having a fair measure of success. Again, that's not the same as being an elite reliever.

Is building an effective bullpen in San Diego one of the tougher front-office tasks in baseball? It shouldn't be.

It'll be interesting to see how long it takes the Padres to develop another strong closer. We're used to seeing them here. Since 1994, when Trevor Hoffman was getting his feet wet, the Padres have usually received good or great seasons from whoever was closing for them. Even in 2003, when Hoffman was recovering from shoulder surgery, Rod Beck filled in by cashing all 20 of his save chances. What did it cost the Padres to get Beck? Only a few dollars. He was pitching in Triple-A for the Cubs and begged them to release him. The Cubs didn't ask the Padres for any players. As for Bell, the Padres didn't have to do a lot of arm-twisting to get him from the Mets. The way Towers told it, Omar Minaya, then the Mets' GM, was happy to move Bell and was eager to get surplus outfielder Ben Johnson.

Hoyer and Bell

2011-11-22T13:58:00.001-08:00

Jed Hoyer's decision to hold Heath Bell past the trade deadline is looking better by the day. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reports the new labor pact makes Bell a "modified" Type A free agent. In other words, good for the Padres, good for Bell. The club still stands to get draft pick compensation if Bell declines arbitration. Bell wins because bidders likely will be more numerous than under the old labor terms, as the signing club will not forfeit a draft pick.

Of course, Bell can choose to stay with the Padres by accepting ~~declining~~ arbitration. In doing so, the Loveable Kook would likely spurn a giant pile of cash (and further affirm his nickname).

As the Padres mulled Bell's future four months ago, what advance knowledge of the CBA did they glean? I put that question to Hoyer today. Here's what he said:

"We checked with MLB several times to make sure the compensation system wouldn't be eliminated after the 2011 season. The value of the picks was the crux of our decision not to trade him in July or August. In our minds (and many people were involved in the decision), we never were offered anything all that close to the value of the draft picks in return.

"I think the process was very thoughtful," Hoyer said, "and I hope the Padres get the draft pick value that the club deserves. And if Heath chooses to accept arbitration, the teams retains the value of the player for another season. Both outcomes are positive for San Diego."

In short, the new CBA makes it even more likely that Bell will be playing elsewhere in 2012.

If Bell signs with another team, the Padres will publicly thank him. They'll acknowledge that, hey, Heath commanded more money elsewhere than "made sense" for their $54 million payroll. The economics, indeed, will give them ample public relations cover. But I think it'd be the outcome they've wanted for some time.

Brown

2011-11-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

Any baseball team can wear blue or red. The daring and distinctive choice is brown. What can brown do for you, Padres? It's earthy vibe can set you apart from the pack, yet not seem a gimmick. Choose Padres brown, and connect to your funky past.

Brown chic is within your reach, Strategic Thinkers, although only if you exile your inner wonk. While you're at it, lose the road duds, OK? The wannabe Yankees road look fell flat.

Tomorrow when you unveil your new uniforms, I suppose if you want to be true to your pitch, we won't see any names on the back. Because it's the name on the front that counts, especially when Gonzalez is gone and Freese is a Cardinal and you owe the O-Dog $7.5 million.

Here's the thing. The Padres should wear brown and the Chargers should wear powder blue. If our teams can't get the easy part right, how do they expect to win a World Series or a Super Bowl?

On the record

2011-11-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel had plenty to say about new GM Josh Byrnes and the front office reshuffling. Here's my story, which also confirms A.J. Hinch in the power structure here.

Q&A, Jason McLeod

2011-10-30T23:21:00.000-07:00

As a boy, Jason McLeod liked baseball uniforms of brown and yellow. Others could have springtime in Paris. Twelve-year-old Jason preferred springtime in Yuma, the desert town where the Padres trained and where McLeod's father, a Marine, was stationed.

Padres games on television prompted Jason to grab a pencil and notepad. For reasons still not clear to him, he charted the work of Padres pitchers.

The Padres had wandered baseball's deserts since joining the big leagues in 1969. Here, in 1984, they returned the boy's affection by rising to the World Series.

Ten years later they hired McLeod, then 22 and coming off two years as a minor league pitcher with the Astros.

He worked as an intern in baseball operations and spun it into full employment. Went on to coach in the farm system. Scouted high school and college players in Southern California.

Unassuming and friendly, the native Hawaiian had a gift for people. He was befriended by two future Hall of Famers who played for the Padres, Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman. He also clicked with another young staffer in baseball operations, Theo Epstein.

The baseball world opened up further to McLeod when he met Jennifer Moores, the daughter of Padres owner John Moores and a presence in the Padres' community relations department. In time, they were married. Impressed by the young couple, Moores said his daughter would inherit the team someday and that his son-in-law would be prominent in the club's baseball hierarchy.

The marriage didn't work out, but McLeod found his way to baseball prominence nonetheless. By 2004 he was working for the Red Sox under Epstein, who had become Boston's general manager.

Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholtz -- those Red Sox stars were among the future Sox regulars whom McLeod drafted.

Although he celebrated World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, San Diego and the Padres tugged at him. When Epstein's assistant Jed Hoyer became GM of the Padres in November 2009, McLeod boarded a plane to Lindbergh Field and was put in charge of scouting and development.

Now, McLeod is again leaving the Padres. He's off to Chicago to tilt at windmills with Epstein and Hoyer, who will head baseball operations for the Cubs.

McLeod's decisions over the last two years will be felt at 19 Tony Gwynn Drive for many seasons to come. Draft selections on his watch such as Jedd Gyorko, Austin Hedges, Cory Spangenberg and Joe Ross are part of why Baseball America's Jim Callis tells this blog the Padres' farm system soon likely will have its best ranking since 2002.

The presence of Anthony Rizzo, Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes in San Diego's farm system bears McLeod's fingerprints, too. McLeod drafted all three players for the Red Sox and collaborated with Hoyer to bring them to the Padres in the Adrian Gonzalez trade.

This blog chatted recently with McLeod. Here, following, are the questions and answers:

Q. You're taking a job with the Cubs. Do you have a masochistic streak?

A. (Laughs) Of course, I know the history. It's kind of a perfect storm, if you will, with the timing of Theo going there and what was happening or not happening here.

Q. It's not easy for you to leave, is it?

A. It's bittersweet. I really believed in what we were doing here. San Diego is my hometown. I love being here and working for this team. I am excited about what we were doing with our draft and the farm system.

Even though Baseball America didn't give us a top-five for our draft this year, I think they're wrong. (Padres farm director) Randy Smith has done a great job in Latin America. I like what we're doing. To have to leave San Diego is really tough. But we leave with our heads held high.

Q. You are a great grand-nephew of Carl Hubbell, the Hall of Fame pitcher. Hubbell broke in with the New York Giants in 1928. Do you know he was five years old when the Cubs last won a World Series?

A. Holy Cow. Geez Louise. It's crazy. I probably didn't meet him until his early 70s, and his arm was permanently turned in because of all the screwballs he'd thrown.

Q. Hoyer still had two more years on his contract. Had he stayed, would you have stayed?

A. If there was a commitment to Jed to be the GM here, it would have made it very hard for me to leave. (The Cubs offered Hoyer a five-year contract, which the Padres declined to match.)

Q. Do you have any friends with the Cubs?

A. Obviously Theo. Peter Chase, the media relations director, we worked together in Boston. I had the opportunity to spend some time with the Ricketts family last week. Being around them, I couldn't be more excited about an ownership group. They're quality Midwestern people who want to see the Cubs do well and want to be part of something special. I'm really excited to work for them.

Q. You're also leaving behind some Padres folks who are close to you, aren't you?

A. (GM) Josh (Byrnes), (V-P of professional scouting) A.J. (Hinch) -- I consider those guys friends. Bud Black, Dave Roberts -- that (major league) staff, it's a special group of guys. Not only the coaches, but everyone -- (strength coach) Jim Malone, (trainer) Todd Hutcheson. Awesome guys.

Q. Drafting players is your strength. The Cubs have a director of scouting, Tim Wilken, who had a good track record for drafting players for the Blue Jays and has run five drafts for the Cubs. What role will you and he play in the draft?

A. I think that's still to be determined somewhat. Theo told Tim he'd be reporting to me. Timmy is one of the most respected evaluators in the game, as he should be. Over the years, he's been so open, and I've grown to have a pretty good relationship with him. On the road, we've had dinner together and talked baseball. He's someone in the game I respect tremendously. He's someone you want to ask questions. Essentially, 'Man, how have you done this?' I talked to Tim quite awhile recently. We have a really good relationship. I'm going to give him my ideas on how I would like the department to run.

Q. Before they hired Epstein, the Cubs extended the contract of their farm director, Oneiri Fleita, for four years. What's your relationship with him?

A. I didn't know Oneiri as well. He's had a lot on his plate here. He's been running the minor leagues, all of Latin America, international. It's a little similar to what Randy Smith has been doing here. I got to spend a few days with Oneiri (last) week in Chicago. He's a really nice guy. As we get our feet on the ground, I'll share my vision for the department and my thoughts at what we can do to be efficient, effective.

Q. Will you attempt to hire Padres scouts or minor league staffers?

A. You always try to get the best staff you can in place and hire the most talented people. That's really going to be a conversation that's between Jed and Theo and (Padres president) Tom (Garfinkel) and (CEO) Jeff (Moorad) and Josh over here. I'm sure there will be some restrictions on who we can or can't take. There are talented people over here. But at the same time, the Padres aren't going to let you raid their organization of the best and brightest.

I'm so proud of those (Padres scouts and minor league staffers). I thanked them for all the hard work, and the culture they've created.

Q. How much player talent is in San Diego's farm system?

A. We got talked up a lot in Boston because of the successes we had over there, but I don't remember having the volume of players that I consider legitimate prospects as I do now with the Padres. Now, a lot of them are below the Double-A level, and a lot of things can happen when they're making their way. To me, I think the Padres have one of the top five or six minor league systems in baseball. They might be better than that, for all I know. I'm really excited about that.

Q. What do expect from Gyorko and Rizzo in the next few years?

A. It's unfortunate that Anthony Rizzo struggled the way he did this year when he came to the big leagues. Certainly Rizzo's major league experience didn't go the way he or we thought it would. I believe in him as a player. He's 22 years old. I think he's going to be fine, and I think he's going to be fine fairly quick.

Jedd Gyorko is one of those players, he just hits, and he's a baseball player. You may be seeing him up here late next year. I think Jedd Gyorko is an everyday big leaguer who is going to hit. He's playing third, and I think he can stay at third. He's a thicker-body guy in the lower half. That's going to be an area of maintenance for him. But he's got soft hands. And he can really hit. He looks a little unorthodox, but, man, he can really whistle the bat through the strikezone. He can stay on the breaking ball, and he can pull the fastball.

Q. Does Cory Spangenberg stay at second base?

A. I think he does. Yeah. He played third base all year at his junior college, more based on need. So, getting him back over to second professionally, and playing him there...

The best way for me to describe Cory is, you know how Hunter Pence plays? He may look a little goofy, but he's a really good player. Cory is like that. You think you're watching someone in the 1940s who just plays baseball and hasn't been coached to look a certain way. But this guy rakes. He's a blazing runner who doesn't look like he is. He's a legitimate 70 runner with strength to drive gaps. I know when we drafted him, some people in the industry said he was just a signability guy. He fell to us.

Q. I heard the Padres rated their top draft pick in 2010, Karsten Whitson, as the best high school pitcher in all of the draft. He opted to go to Florida and had an excellent freshman season. Do you regret not signing him?

A. You're right. He was our guy. I really took a liking to him the prior summer. I love Cory Spangenberg. But I am still disappointed about Whitson. He is still the one who got away. Because the process was right. We evaluated him, we got him. Unfortunately, there was an agreement that went away. What can you say? He'll be a stud again, assuming he stays healthy.

Q. What do you know about the Cubs farm system?

A. From afar, it doesn't look like they have a depth of talent, although they did spend a lot in the draft this year, and I know they've got some high-ceiling guys with some risk. It SOUNDS likes it's a little more middle of the road system. Certainly there will be players who are in the big leagues in the near future who do well. (Brett) Jackson. (Trey) McNutt. Junior Lake is playing well in the Fall League.

Q. Among Padres prospects, who is a sleeper?

A. I like Juan Oramas, the left handed pitcher in San Antonio. He's probably the one guy that sticks out who is a sleeper.

Q. You and Theo were in a rock band in Boston. Will it be reunited in Chicago?

A. That remains to be seen. You've got to try to set a good example first. Theo actually plays music. I hack it up when I hop on the guitar. I'm sure we've got a lot of long hours in the next few months. The offices in Wrigley Field are extremely small when you compare them to San Diego and Fenway. There's not as much room to goof around. But I'm sure we'll find some time.

Q. Tell us about 1984, when the Padres and Cubs met in the League Championship Series?

A. I was living in Yuma. My dad was stationed there, a career Marine. I was 12 years old. And for whatever reason I got into charting pitches. I remember lying on my living room floor with a legal-sized lined notepad, and I would write down every pitch the Padres threw. I do remember going crazy, I'm going bananas when Garvey hit the bomb. My mom was a huge Padres fan, and I'm high-fiving my mom.

Then came the World Series, and it was 1-1 going to Detroit. I actually had the 12-year-old naivete to think we could sweep the Tigers in Detroit.

Q. What do you think of the chances we'll see a Cubs-Padres rematch in 2014 or 2015?

A. That'd be great. I would love it. That would be a lot of fun.

Freeeeese

2011-10-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

The sight of David Freese bashing his way into World Series lore on Thursday wasn't a wholly pleasing one for Jason McLeod, the former draft overseer for the Red Sox and Padres. "Freese," McLeod told this blog, "is one of my bad moves."

The story of how Freese entered professional baseball is a familiar one. Padres director of scouting Bill Gayton, heeding area scout Bobby Filotei , chose the slugger from South Alabama in the ninth round of the 2006 draft. The Padres then signed Freese for less than $10,000.

What isn't commonly known, though, is that McLeod and the wealthy Red Sox, attempting to exploit a loophole in Freese's draft status, set up a $90,000 deal to get the third baseman, only to have it nixed by the commissioner's office.

"His draft year, he was a fifth-year senior, and we thought we could sign him before the draft," McLeod said. "We actually agreed with him on a signing bonus for $90,000 and sent it to the commissioner's office."

No dice, MLB ruled. Freese had to go through the draft. "We said, 'OK, we'll draft him in the seventh round,' " McLeod said.

In the sixth round, a Red Sox aide reminded McLeod about the plan to select Freese in the next round. McLeod, influenced by a scout's admiration for other players, decided he could chance waiting until the ninth round.

Gayton had hired McLeod into his first scouting job in 2002, had trained him to study ballplayers. When Gayton selected Freese in the ninth round, 273th overall, in Boston his protege let out a scream. "Bleepin' Padres."

Freese wasn't thrilled with the turn of events, either. "He was livid," McLeod said, noting that Freese's signing bonus with San Diego was a sliver of what the Red Sox were prepared to pay.

Ten picks later, McLeod select Ryan Kalish, a high school outfielder from New Jersey who is now on Boston's 40-man roster.

Thursday night in St. Louis, Freese's game-tying triple and game-winning home run, along with the game's other dramatic swings, prompted comparisons to the epic home run by Carlton Fisk for the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.

McLeod was happy for Freese, although he couldn't help but be reminded of the draft-day whiff. "You never heard of the guys I took in the seventh or eighth round of that draft," said McLeod, now with the Cubs. "Yours truly said, 'I'll take Freese in the ninth.' "

Chris Gwynn

2011-10-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Padres have lost one of their top-level scouts, Chris Gwynn, who will become farm director of the Mariners. Dan Hayes of the North County Times first reported the story today. This blog spoke with Gwynn, who has a good reputation not only in San Diego but throughout the major leagues.

As San Diego's director of player personnel, Gwynn scouted players at all levels: some 90 players for the 2011 amateur draft, Padres minor leaguers, minor leaguers with other clubs, amateurs in the Dominican Republic and big leaguers here and in winter ball. For trade purposes, the Padres sometimes dispatched Gwynn to scout players.

Gwynn has wanted to run a department, and Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik is putting him in charge of Seattle's farm system.

The younger brother of Tony Gwynn and a former San Diego State outfielder drafted 10th overall by the Dodgers in 1985, Gwynn spent parts of 10 seasons with the Dodgers, Royals and Padres. His tie-breaking, two-run double at Dodger Stadium in the last game of the 1996 season led to the Padres' first National League West title since 1984.

As his playing career wound down, Gwynn decided he wanted to learn scouting and player development from the ground up.

He wasn't elated to return to bottom of a food chain, but his parents had taught him and his two brothers not to miss any steps when getting an education.

The Padres hired him as an area scout in 1998. He also managed a team of future prospects in Los Angeles.

"I started from the bottom," Gwynn said. "Not that I'm trying to pat myself on the back -- I enjoyed learning every bit of what I needed to learn. It was hard. I wouldn't change a thing."

In 2004, the Padres promoted Gwynn into a job as a national cross-checker of amateur players.

He interviewed in 2006 with the Diamondbacks for their director of scouting job, which went to Tommy Allison. At the time, Arizona's managing general partner was Jeff Moorad, who had represented Gwynn as a player. The general manager was Josh Byrnes, now San Diego's GM.

Kevin Towers expanded Gwynn's scouting role three years ago, after the Red Sox interviewed him for a job within their baseball operations department.

Today, Gwynn's departure comes a few days after GM Jed Hoyer and director of scouting and player development Jason McLeod accepted jobs with the Cubs. Gwynn, for his part, said he doubts the three departures portend upheaval within San Diego's scouting ranks.

He described Byrnes as "a smart guy," expressed gratitude for support from Moorad and assistant GM Fred Uhlman Jr., and said he expects the farm system to continue its rise.

In place, he said, is a talented, dedicated group of scouts. He considers Padres scouting director Jaron Madison one of baseball's bright young executives.

"Jaron did an outstanding job of hiring scouts," Gwynn said. "He's a good judge of talent and a great judge of character, and he works his ass off. A lot of people don't realize how good Jaron is.

"Scouts are treated well by the Padres," he said. "The scouts are ready to flourish. They already are flourishing. I think the Padres are in good shape."

With Seattle, Gwynn inherits a farm system thought to be on the rise.

"The Mariners have a middle-of-the-pack farm system, which is saying something considering that they promoted Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda to the majors this year," Jim Callis, the executive editor of Baseball America, told this blog. "The strength of their system is pitching, starting with Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton."

Time spent observing Padres farm director Randy Smith will pay off in his next job, Gwynn said.

Gwynn will also draw on lessons from his days as a minor leaguer with the Dodgers, who then were developing prospects such as Mike Scioscia, Steve Sax, Raul Mondesi, Mike Devereaux, Mike Marshall, Tim Crews and Henry Rodriguez.

"Coming up the Dodgers' system, I had to figure out how I can utilize my talents," he said. "Most everybody could play. I think it was the best thing ever coming up in that system at that time."

Hoyer

2011-10-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

What caliber of GM is Jed Hoyer? Will he turn the Cubs into World Series champions? What grade does his performance in San Diego rate? Why are Padres fans angry at his departure, which should be made official by early next week when Josh Byrnes is announced as his replacement?

As a guest of a radio station in Chicago today, I answered those questions and others. Better put, I tried to answer them. Hoyer's time here was brief -- too brief to fully reveal his capabilities and limitations. Here, following, are several thoughts on the Doogster Era and what's next for the 37-year-old GM.

Energetic. Smart. Thick-skinned. Those are some of the adjectives I used to describe Hoyer today.

Above all, he is energetic. If his salary was pegged to hours worked and time spent thinking about baseball and potential trades and signings, the Padres got their salaries' worth. I doubt any other GM will outwork him.

Hoyer showed himself adept at gathering and sifting information from a variety of sources. He struck me as deliberate. He never sounded sentimental when talking about Padres players, a good thing. When talking baseball, he gave vivid examples from both the statistical and the scouting realms. He's a baseball junkie. When he talks about baseball, the effect is that of torrents of information competing for expression.

Hoyer wasn't overly sensitive, a good sign going into Chicago. Take his reaction to this year's team. Told that it was dull and not worth the price of most tickets, he didn't disagree. He accepted responsibility for the leadership void among players as well.

He seemed more interesting in getting things right than having people think him right. For example, he didn't blame Karsten Whitson for not signing with the Padres two summers ago. Instead, he explained what he, Hoyer, would have done if given a second chance to sign the first-round selection of 2010.

Hoyer will reunite with Theo Epstein, another former Padres exec who left to work for a big-market club. Their Red Sox tenure coincided with World Series championships for Boston in 2004 and 2007, and the goal is to lead the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

This time around, however, the job looks much more difficult than the one confronting Boston's front office in the early 2000s, although the National League Central is weak compared to the American League East.

The Red Sox were immensely talented when Epstein and Hoyer teamed up in 2002, both on the field and in their baseball and business operations. Awaiting Epstein and Hoyer were players such as Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe and Nomar Garciaparra. The Cubs, by comparison, are vastly inferior. Hanley Ramirez was in Boston's farm system, enabling the Sox to trade for Josh Beckett, an ace who helped them win a World Series. The Cubs have no prospect as enticing as Ramirez.

The Cubs and Hoyer also might lack an executive of the caliber of Larry Lucchino, although Epstein could qualify if he can apply his rare intelligence to matters beyond baseball.

Epstein's friends in the media often portrayed Lucchino, the Red Sox president, as an obstacle to Epstein more than a resource for him. Both men are bright, bold, demanding and highly ambitious, so the creative friction that resulted wasn't surprising. I saw evidence of it in San Diego, even when Epstein, then in his mid-20s, was handing out game reports to us scribes in the pressbox.

Some five years ago, empowered by a World Series championship that ended the so-called Curse of the Bambino, Epstein won a power struggle with Lucchino. Of late, I'm told, Epstein sensed Lucchino was trying to reclaim turf by making inquiries on potential managers.

Even Epstein, however, would acknowledge that he has learned much from Lucchino. For all his bluster and despite his over-reaching, Lucchino should be regarded as one of the better executives in major league history. Wherever he has worked -- Baltimore, San Diego and Boston -- big returns have ensued, both on the field and on the balance sheets. Lucchino identified, promoted and cultivated two of the current game's better GMs, Epstein and Kevin Towers, and when Jeff Moorad hired Josh Byrnes as Arizona's GM and Hoyer to succeed Towers here, he cited Lucchino's imprint as a plus.

A few years after Lucchino left the Padres, Towers said the organization suffered, calling it rudderless. More to the point, Towers said not having Lucchino as a savvy if ornery presence made him a less effective GM. Towers was six years into the job. "A lot of smart people have left Larry's side over the years only to find that he did more to make them smart than they realized," said another National League official who knows Lucchino well.

If Hoyer is supported in Chicago by a business side as capable as that in Boston circa 2002-07, I'll be impressed. Sox employees included high achievers such as Charles Steinberg, Mike Dee, Sam Kennedy and Janet Marie Smith who supported and made possible some of baseball operations' endeavors.

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts' acumen as a steward of a baseball club is still mostly an unknown. Epstein and Hoyer were fortunate to work for Red Sox owner John Henry, who was prepared to pay to renovate Fenway Park by himself.. Ricketts may have a billy goat farm sooner than the state of Illinois or Chicago gives him the money to overhaul or replace Wrigley Field.

Another factor in Boston's success was Henry's willingness to protect Epstein, Hoyer and others in baseball operations from the wrath of Bud Selig whenever the Red Sox "busted slot" in signing draftees, at a time when several other clubs refused to do so. The guess here is that Epstein deserves part of the credit for educating Henry on why it made sense for the Red Sox to exceed the commissioner's office guidelines on signing bonuses. Epstein knows how to make well-reasoned, empirically supported cases for going above market rates for draftees, provided scouts persuasively make a case for it. But it also takes an owner willing to pay huge sums to teenage ballplayers, and to defy the same man who made his ownership possible -- Selig.

What grade does Hoyer's performance with the Padres rate?

An I for incomplete. Positives include the trade for Cameron Maybin and several major league moves in the 2009-10 offseason such as the signings of Yorvit Torrealba, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Jon Garland. Under Hoyer, the Padres also vastly increased their number of amateur and professional scouts who could give them more insights into high school players (whose statistical profiles are largely irrelevant). Mirroring the Red Sox approach, Hoyer exceeded slot to sign high school draftees such as Austin Hedges and Joe Ross. To that end, Hoyer empowered Jason McLeod, who oversaw scouting and development.

The failure to sign the right-hander Karsten Whitson, drafted ninth overall in 2010, wasn't entirely on Whitson or his advisers. The Padres had rated Whitson the best prep pitcher in the draft and one of the top three players available. Part of a GM's job is to get such a player signed. Both Hoyer and McLeod may have misread Whitson and how some of their words affected him.

Hoyer's acquisition of Ryan Ludwick in the 2010 playoff race backfired, although another summer import, Miguel Tejada, was an upgrade on both offense and defense. In the same summer, Hoyer decided against trading for Cody Ross, who was made cheaply available by the Marlins before they put him on waivers. Ross had advocates within San Diego's organization and went on to help the rival Giants win the West and the World Series, as if touched by the baseball gods.

Many of Hoyer's buy-low moves last offseason didn't work out, including the signings of Brad Hawpe and Jorge Cantu, among others. Then again, the GM was working with the 27th-ranked payroll and didn't have sturdy talent coming from the farm system.

"Jed is finding out what it's like to be a small-market GM," an American League exec said in July.

I'm reluctant to blame Hoyer for the two-year contract given Orlando Hudson because Hudson's former agent is Moorad.

When Hoyer replaced the Gunslinger as GM in November 2009, he inherited a few big leaguers whose value far exceeed their cost: Adrian Gonzalez, who was under contract through 2011; Heath Bell, whose rights the Padres controlled through the 2011; and setup ace Mike Adams, not eligible for free agency until November 2012.

Hoyer's trade of Adams three months ago for two Rangers minor league pitchers will be better evaluated within a few years. Bell is still with the Padres, pending resolution of ongoing negotiations.

Hoyer held onto Gonzalez for the 2010 season, and the first baseman responded with a big year as part of the team's surprising run to 90 victories.

With Gonzalez entering his walk year and determined to test free agency unless he got a deal he couldn't refuse, Hoyer dealt him to the Red Sox for three prospects and utility man Eric Patterson, who for the Padres did more harm than good, both on the field and for team chemistry.

Despite Gonzalez's talent, Hoyer's list of potential trade partners was a small one owing to the huge cost in talent and treasure. The Tigers and Cubs showed only mild interest. The Red Sox were prepared to offer Gonzalez $154 million to buy him out of free agency, which along with their farm system made them perhaps the only realistic suitor.

Nevertheless, I wrote from those winter meetings that Hoyer should've obtained a big leaguer to go with the three prospects he acquired. Make no mistake: For years, the Red Sox had lusted for Adrian Gonzalez. And the Red Sox had made it known in July 2010 that infielder Jed Lowrie was available. The Padres didn't go after Lowrie in the Gonzalez talks because they didn't like him for Petco National Park. Also coming off an injury-plagued with the Red Sox was center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. This year, a Padres official said the club could've had Ellsbury if it had insisted on him.

I think Epstein out-negotiated his former protege in the Gonzalez talks. For the Padres, the trade will be defined by how prospects Antony Rizzo, Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes perform. None, at present, is viewed by non-Padres scouts as a good bet for stardom. Among some scouts, Fuentes needs a bounceback year to regain prospect status..

I've heard from several Padres fans who say they feel betrayed by Hoyer and angry with Moorad for allowing him to leave.

In time, those feelings should fade. Hoyer isn't spurning the Padres as much as he's seizing a rare opportunity.

Compensation

2011-10-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Regarding reports that the Padres will receive no compensation for losing Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod to the Cubs. I have NOT confirmed that to be true. For what it's worth, I think it more likely than not that the Padres will get player talent, money or both. I have confirmed an ESPN Chicago report that Hoyer asked for and did not get a five-year extension from the Padres. At the time, Hoyer had a five-year offer from the Cubs. The conversation was amicable, according to the Padres.

Arizona West

2011-10-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

With Josh Byrnes set to take over as general manager, the Padres' front office makeover is best understood by residents of Pacific Beach, La Jolla and Del Mar.

The Zonies are taking over.

Just as Arizonans flood San Diego's coastal neighborhoods every summer, former Diamondbacks executives have over-run Padres HQ.

At this rate, we might see cactus in the bullpens.

Don't sweat it, Padres fans -- it's a dry heat.

Joking aside, the overhaul up top, which dates to 2009, is more about human nature than a desire to escape searing temperatures. Power brokers in baseball, like those in other industries, often place "their people" in key positions. It doesn't always happen immediately, but it usually happens.

First to follow CEO Jeff Moorad from Phoenix on the westbound Interstate 8 was his former president, Tom Garfinkel.

That two key members of Moorad's inner circle, Josh Byrnes and A.J. Hinch, remained in Phoenix owed likely to the hefty contracts that bound them to the team. Arizona's last-place finish in 2009 began to loosen those ties. When a miserable first half to the 2010 season cost Byrnes and Hinch their jobs, they were as destined for San Diego as the summer tourists. Byrnes, in fact, was at Petco Park one week after his dismissal. Jobs with the Padres were created within a few months for him and Hinch, Arizona's former farm director whom Byrnes had thrust into the manager's job. Promotions into vice-presidencies soon followed.

The same habit of a baseball boss acting to reunite with "his guys" created the GM vacancy that Byrnes will soon fill. Jed Hoyer, several reports indicate, will join his former mentor and boss with the Red Sox, Theo Epstein, the presumptive head of baseball operations for the Cubs. A scouting overseer will also be needed if Hoyer's assistant GM, Jason McLeod, departs, as expected by this blog, to work for his friend Epstein. Whether Hinch fills that role or not, he seems assured of residency in Moorad's inner circle. Byrnes is known to also admire scout Tom Allison, who ran his drafts in Arizona.

Now that Moorad has put the band back together with help from Epstein, what kind of music should we expect to hear?

The Dbacks of Moorad/Byrnes were one-hit wonders, winning the National League West in 2007. As Byrnes told this blog last month, Arizona's teams in 2009-10 "stunk," yet Byrnes's deeds and Moorad's investments also contributed to the NL West title won this year by the Snakes.

Byrnes won't have as many payroll dollars to spend as he did in Phoenix. (UDPATE) As to whether the Padres will get compensation from the Cubs for the loss of Hoyer, Moorad declined to say today. "We're still working on things," he told me.

Fun fiction

2011-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Imagine this chat on the speaker phones at 19 Tony Gwynn Drive:

Theo: Jeff, what are my chances of hiring Jed or Josh, maybe both of 'em?

Moorad: Tell you what, Theo. Not gonna happen. These guys are staying, unless you can guarantee it's not a lateral move. Even then, we'd need compensation.

But, Theo, we'd be open to moving Orlando Hudson. He's due $7.5 million next year. Compared to what you paid Lackey and Crawford and what you owe Soriano and Zambrano, the O-Dog's a bargain. Besides, we didn't get a big leaguer to go with prospects in the Gonzalez deal. We're not rolling over on this one, Theo. Even if we may look like a Pacific Coast League franchise, we're not one.

Dial tone.

Moving on?

2011-10-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reports Jed Hoyer might leave the Padres to become general manager of the Cubs, allowing him to reunite with his former mentor and boss, Theo Epstein. Succeeding Hoyer as GM would be Josh Byrnes, Heyman writes.

Padres execs didn't respond to queries from this blog. At any rate, Heyman's report makes sense.

Hoyer is close to Epstein, and as GM of the Cubs, he'd spend $90 million more on player payroll than he does here.

If Hoyer departs for Wrigley Field, I expect he'd take with him Jason McLeod, who oversees San Diego's scouting and player development. Epstein and McLeod are best friends, and when Epstein left the Padres nearly 10 years ago, McLeod followed him to Boston not long after.

Epstein speaks well also of Byrnes, who worked for him in Boston before becoming GM of the Diamondbacks. Last week, a major league executive told me the chance was good Epstein would hire Byrnes.

Let's say Padres CEO Jeff Moorad has to decide which exec he would prefer as GM, Hoyer or Byrnes. My guess is Byrnes would get the nod. Moorad hired Hoyer as his GM and guaranteed him a salary through 2013 with a club option for 2014.

But the CEO's regard for Byrnes is pure platinum. Moorad was part of the executive team that installed Byrnes as Arizona's GM after the 2005 season, and it was Moorad who gave Byrnes an eight-year extension. The length of the deal left other GMs astonished.

Another favored exec of Moorad's is A.J. Hinch, whom he hired along with Byrnes last offseason, not long after they were fired by the Dbacks. "Josh and A.J. are like Jeff's sons," a Dbacks player told me last year.

If McLeod goes to the Cubs, don't be surprised if his powerful job is filled by Hinch, who was Arizona's farm director when Moorad ran the Dbacks. Moorad also has long been said to view Hinch as a potential GM.

Freese

2011-10-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

David Freese, meet Jason Bartlett.

Three years after Bartlett started at shortstop in the World Series, Freese will start at third base in this World Series.

What else do the left-side infielders have in common? Both were drafted for the Padres by Bill "Chief" Gayton, and both were traded by the Padres as minor leaguers.

The Gunslinger sent Bartlett to the Twins for Brian Buchanan.

The Freese trade was even worse for the Padres. The player they got from the Cardinals, Jim Edmonds, performed so badly that the Padres cut him and ate most of the $6 million in salary.

Now Freese is the toast of St. Louis, having won MVP honors in the League Championship Series after batting .545 with three home runs and nine RBI in the six games. This season, he batted .297 with 16 doubles and 10 home runs in 97 games.

Today, I asked Gayton about Freese, a ninth-round selection out of South Alabama in 2006.

Gayton said scout Bobby Filotei "really liked Freese's bat and thought he would be a good defender."

Padres scouts thought Freese a bargain then.

"He was a fifth-year senior that was in a bind because (South Alabama) was on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament or still in the playoffs when the closed period began," said Gayton, who has scouted for the Cardinals the last year-plus. "Had he been eligible to sign prior to the draft, he would have actually received more money. But more than anything, Bobby liked him, and for whatever reason, he slid down in the draft and we selected him."

Sandy Alderson said that the two biggest mistakes of his Padres tenure were Joakim Soria's exposure to the Rule V draft and the Edmonds trade. The club's belief that Chase Headley would grow into a starter at third base influenced the decision to use Freese to acquire Edmonds, Alderson said.

The stories of Freese, Bartlett and Soria are a reminder that when a franchise signs an amateur player, it's only the starting point in getting value out of that player.

Repeating myself here, I believe player development gets short shrift from draft analysts and others who evaluate draft decisions. A lot goes into developing minor leaguers into big leaguers -- not a Padres strength for many years.

Just as getting traded to the Padres as young big leaguers benefited Adrian Gonzalez and Cameron Maybin, the move to St. Louis suited Freese. The righty is surrounded by able hitters, including righty stars Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday.

"Down the stretch, he's been healthy, getting comfortable in the majors and in the city where he grew up," Gayton said.

Lackey

2011-10-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

John Lackey, bless his soul, is a pariah in New England.

For the Padres, this shouts opportunity.

Play nice and offer to help the Red Sox rid themselves of the 33-year-old stinkbomb of a pitcher.

Lest you think this blog ingested silly pills, a Padres official tells me the idea of exploring a Lackey deal "is not farfetched at all."

For starters, every Red Sox fan I know would celebrate if Lackey is sent to the Better Coast, more so if he's deposited near Alcatraz or off the coast of Tijuana. The righty not only had a 6.41 ERA last season, he is still owed $45.75 million over the next three years, and if the Boston press is to be believed, Lackey was one of the clubhouse skunks who fouled the team's chemistry.

Clearly Lackey must leave Boston, and clearly the best place for him to revive his career is San Diego.

Petco National Park would pump him full of confidence, as would the absence of Yankees, Rays and Blue Jays hitters.

Bud Black and Lackey are chums, Pepe Negro having nurtured him in Anaheim when Lackey was pitching the Angels to a World Series title and inducing the gullible Sox seven years later to sign him to a five-year deal for $82.5 million.

But this trade isn't really about Lackey and the 4.40 ERA and 170 innings he'd give the Padres.

It's about the wealthy, farm-rich Sox sweetening the pot so that the deal benefits San Diego. Here's how:

One, pay most of Lackey's $15.25 million salary each of the next three years, plus the filthy $500,000 assignment bonus that a trade would trigger.

Two, take on second baseman Orlando Hudson and his ridiculous $7.5 million guarantee OK'd by his former agent, Jeff Moorad. (So what if he'd be blocked by Pedroia? Let the Sox sort it out.)

Three, send the Padres a young big leaguer or a good prospect, or two. The amount of Lackey's salary assumed by the Padres would depend on the quality of the young talent.

And if the Smartest Man in Baseball isn't willing to satisfy them, the Padres can walk. Let Lucchino and others within The Matrix contemplate the sights and sounds of Red Sox fans, after a winter of marinating in vinegar, booing Lackey even before he reprises his home ERA of 6.65 and slug rate allowed of .487. Veteran pitchers who want to pitch for the Padres tend to be in ample supply, another reason the Padres can move on if the Sox don't meet their price.

Black, Angels

2011-10-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tracy Ringolsby of FoxSports.com suggests that Bud Black might appeal to the Angels as a general manager.

Here's what a major league executive told this blog: "Makes some sense. The owner likes him -- plus he has the relationship with Mike Scioscia."

Responding to an e-mail query from this blog, Black said: "Just speculation. Not commenting on it."

Black was Scioscia's pitching coach in Anaheim for seven years before the Gunslinger hired him as manager Bruce Bochy's replacement entering the 2007 season. With the Padres leading the National League West in July 2010, the Strategic Thinkers gave Black a three-year extension that guarantees his salary through 2013 and includes club options for 2014-15.

Under Jeff Moorad, all three Padres clubs have ranked in the bottom four in major league payroll. Moorad says the payroll will rise next year to about $54 million, which will be near the bottom.

The Angels likely will have a payroll of more than $100 million and are in a four-team division.

With the Indians, Black worked in the front office, and he's comfortable with both scouting and statistical methods to evaluate personnel. While working for the Angels, he commuted from Rancho Santa Fe, where he still lives.

I see Black as more likely to stay than to go. He has told me a few times that he's encouraged by the Padres' young pitching, plus the pitching prospects acquired for Mike Adams, and others such as Double-A righty Casey Kelly and Single-A ace Keyvius Sampson. He also has changed the station-to-station approach to baserunning that prevailed under the Alderson Gang to a go-go approach similiar to that with the Angels.

Black's strong relationship with Scioscia, however, would make him and the Angels at least contemplate a potential reunion.

Talent will out

2011-10-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

When an athlete trumps the experts, take notice.

The Padres' Mat Latos, for example. In the summer of 2010, Latos trucked along as the best pitcher in all of the majors or close to it, despite being only 22 years old. Only two years earlier, Latos was known as an immature hothead who couldn't say healthy.

Cam Newton is on a similar joyride for the Carolina Panthers, months after several pundits labeled him a likely bust.

Newton was too raw at reading defenses, the football men said. Skeptics croaked doom after watching Newton labor in explaining to ESPN's Jon Gruden how he called plays for Auburn.

"Old School" football men saw Newton's grounding in the spread offense as another obstacle.

So far -- and it is still early -- they're all wet.

Newton is one of the NFL's more promising quarterbacks. He's reading defenses, hitting targets near and far and limiting mistakes. Few rookies are more exciting.

For what it's worth, a quarterback guru on the West Coast isn't surprised by Newton's glow. Norv Turner gleaned in August that Newton was on the verge of surprising the outside world.

Turner had inside information. Carolina's offensive coordinator, Rob Chudzinski, was Turner's assistant head coach with the Chargers in 2009-10. Turner's son, Scott, is on the Carolina staff, which is headed by another former aide to Turner, Ron Rivera.

"Listening to those guys talk in August in visiting with them, no, I'm not surprised by what he's done," Turner said.

Nor did Turner get fogged by Newton's affiliation with the spread offense.

"People are too caught up in systems," he said. "Good players are good players. They play in a system. The best players I've been around can play in any system you want to put them into. Sometimes, there might be a little bit of an adjustment. But over the long haul, guys that are good players are going to be fine."

I don't want to stretch Turner point here; nevertheless, it's a point worth remembering when discussing the distinctive challenges of Petco National Park and player development in baseball. Good players are going to be fine.

What's next?

2011-09-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Padres execs previewed the upcoming offseason; here's my story on it.

Familiar move

2011-09-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Randy Ready's dismissal today was as surprising as a sunny day in San Diego, and that's not a knock on Ready. As I wrote here, Ready is the fifth Padres hitting coach to lose his job in the last five-plus years.

Moneyball and Fuson

2011-09-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Reading or watching Moneyball, you would think Grady Fuson drafted Curly, Larry and Moe, not Hudson, Mulder and Zito for the Oakland A's.

You would've thought statistical analysis drove Oakland's improbable success, less so the three frontline pitchers Fuson chose from colleges in the South, Midwest and West after drawing on scouting reports and some statistical profiles.

If the characterization bothered Fuson, who worked for the Padres from 2005 through 2009, I've never sensed it.

"I was big on statistics," Fuson told me last week, "but at the same time, there was a balance on how we did things with the A's. You could tell statistics were certainly being used in a much higher part of the evaluation scheme -- but the stars of that club were still signed through the draft or international scouting."

Fuson knows a good story when he reads or sees one. Moneyball, like most everything Michael Lewis has written, is a good story extremely well told. Nor does Fuson confuse Hollywood with C-Span.

"The movie obviously is bringing things from the book back to fruition to some degree," he said, "but, hey, it's a movie."

His lone gripe about the book Moneyball was the mocking of a few A's scouts who worked for him. And he winced when executives with other clubs came off as dopes.

"When it was all said and done," he said, "I think the thing that bothered people the most were certain comments that took personal hits at people."

When Brad Pitt persuaded Hollywood to make the book into a movie, Fuson heard from Ken Medlock, the actor assigned to play him.

"He did all of the talking," Fuson said, laughing.

Later, the moviemaking took an unexpected turn that touched Fuson's friend Tom Gamboa, a former instructor in the Padres' farm system. Moneyball's director had Gamboa play one of the scouts in a scene in which Billy Beane, then a star outfielder at Mt. Carmel High in Rancho Penasquitos, works out for several major league clubs in 1980. The pay wasn't bad -- $300 per day plus another $700 if Gamboa's lines made it past the editing room. The kicker: Gamboa, in fact, was at one of Beane's workouts 30 years ago but had forgotten about it until the scene jogged his memory, Fuson said.

Fuson hadn't seen Moneyball when we chatted last week, but he associates Lewis' book with good times in the late 1990s through late 2001, when the Rangers hired him away from the A's.

"When I think about it now, it means more about a time of winning," Fuson said. "Oakland just had this very good run during that period of time. And let's face it, it would never have taken place without Zito, Mulder and Hudson."

Fuson defined Moneyball, the philosophy, as "trying to find ways to strive for excellence in the evaluation process."

"Everybody is trying to strive for that, and everybody has different ways of doing it," he said.