Padres Organizational Lineup

As a mini-preview of the Padre prospect rankings through June that I will run tomorrow and Thursday, it occurred to me today that putting together a Padre Organizational Lineup might be an interesting exercise in looking at which players throughout the Padre system are truly performing this season.

What is a "Padre Organizational Lineup," you ask? Simply put, it's a starting lineup, position-by-position, of the Padres who have most dominated their position so far this season. What makes it interesting is that the lineup is determined based on performance measured against one's league peers. In other words, Kevin Kouzmanoff's performance is measured against other Major League third basemen, while Logan Forsythe's performance is measured against other Cal League (now Texas League) third basemen. So even though Kevin is farther along and (probably) a better big league third basemen than Logan, Logan's likely going to be the one to make this team at the Hot Corner.

So without further ado:

1. CF - Brad Chalk .305 1 37 .359 (20 bags) - Probably should go Scotty Bombs here but I wanted a prototypical leadoff man and I'm not putting Ced Hunter or Tony Gwynn, Jr. in this lineup.

2. 2B - Lance Zawadzki .316 13 55 .402 - I'm moving Lance to 2B because of the dismal performance by Padres 2B this season. Actually, Eckstein and Sogard have been okay, but I'm looking for some pop here.

3. 3B - Logan Forsythe .332 8 32 .480 - This is the toughest call in the entire system because you have Darnell in High A and Kouz has started to hit. I should probably put Darnell at third, move Logan to second and put Lance at short, but I really want the SS I have here (see below).

4. 1B - Adrian Gonzalez .269 24 47 .414 - The Franchise. Craig "Craigers" Cooper is having a season, but no way Adrian doesn't make this squad.

5. LF - Kyle Blanks .283 12 38 .393 - I feel like I'm selling out putting Kyle here because he hasn't dominated this season, but he looked good last week with the Padres and his numbers are pretty solid for AAA. If Luis Durango was still hitting in the .340s he'd probably have left field locked down.

6. RF - Mike Baxter .352 5 54 .424 - Very excited to see what Mike is going to do this September in San Diego.

7. SS - Beamer Weems .301 2 26 .476 - Go ahead, you make the case to keep him off this team. I just couldn't. He reportedly has the best glove of any SS in the Padres system and, for Heaven's sake, his OBP is out of this world. Until Beamer somehow shows me he can't hit higher level pitching, he's on my team.

8. C - Mitch Canham .271 2 31 .353 - Finding a catcher must be difficult because the Padres don't have one at any level this season who is dominating. Canham is holding his own at AA and that is respectable.

9. SP - Mat Latos 7-1 1.28 38/9 K/BB ratio - A few candidates here but Latos gets the call. I'd probably go Anthony Bass as my #2 and Cory Luebke as my #3, with Peavy and Nick Schmidt rounding out the starting five.

Closer - Heath Bell 3-1 1.39 36/12 22 saves - What a beast. Bryan Oland made it marginally interesting.

And there you have it.

Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Moneyball Movie Script

Finished reviewing Steven Zaillian's December 2008 draft of the Moneyball script.

I'm not gonna lie. I enjoyed it. Paul DePodesta (pictured above) has a key supporting role in the proposed film, as he did in the book, and he, among other characters, has plenty of choice baseball-related conversations, the kind only about a couple hundred thousand baseball fans around the country would really have any interest in watching play out on screen. It's probably for that reason, at least in part, the movie is not going to be made.

Had they shot Zaillian's script, however, methinks my fellow Padre fans would have been a bit perturbed at the final few scenes. I'll summarize the final moments of the script below and you can ponder on them at your leisure:

1. Beane and Red Sox owner John Henry standing at home plate at Fenway with Henry reaching a deal to hire Beane away from the A's, while Bill James looks on from one of the dugouts eating a salami sandwich;

2. DePodesta later calling Henry and convincing him to agree to trade Kevin Youkilis to the A's as part of the deal to hire Beane; and

3. Beane telling DePodesta he's changed his mind and is staying in Oakland and the A's aren't getting Youkilis. DePodesta is disappointed for a second but then says there's a guy in AA Mobile who the Padres don't realize "what they've got." A guy named Jason Bay. Then the movie fades to black as Beane and DePodesta continue to discuss moves for the '02-'03 offseason.

Pretty dicey ending if you ask me. For one, I'm pretty sure Kevin Towers was well aware of Bay's talent. And two, even if he wasn't, I'd rather have Scotty "Bombs" Hairston now than Jason Bay anyway.

They should make a movie about Scotty Bombs.

Now that's something I'd pay to see.

Michael Jackson

I don't make music videos, but if I did, I'd try to make them like this.

Shamon.

What's The Zooker Been Up To? Just Getting It Dun Is All.

Coach,


You've really been getting after it these last few weeks. And by "it" I mean young high school boys.


Just kidding. I mean that's a true statement but I didn't mean it that way. What I mean is you've been getting after it on the recruiting trail as of late and again showing your unequaled prowess in that area of your chosen profession. Just in the last 10 days or so you've added to a 2010 class that already included Chandler Whitmer, Shawn Afryl and Corey Cooper, these three beasts:

1. Daniel Easterly, S, Cass Technical HS, Detroit, MI



Daniel is a 6'4" 197 pounder out of Detroit. He is known as an athlete and a hard worker, two qualities you have to love in a player. Plus, you never want to discount the toughness of a kid who comes out of Detroit. Just ask my advisor, Tatt Mareeco, a native of Flint, Michigan. Tatt is not that tough in his own right, but he knows a lot of guys that are.

2. Mark Wilson, MLB, Lincoln HS, Tallahassee, FL




Mark is a 6'2" 225-pound linebacker who is currently dominating the Tallahassee area. I don't need to tell how many beast athletes play football in Florida, and I'm glad to see you trick another one of them to leave the state of Florida and come to Champaign. Don't get me wrong, I think Champaign is awesome. But that's got to be a hard sell to a 17-year old who grew up around palm trees. Anyway, Wilson is a monster. Nice job.

3. Dexter McDonald, CB, Rockhurst HS, Kansas City, MO



Dexter is a 6'2" 180-pound corner from the great city of Kansas City, Missouri. That's another sneaky tough city. Any place where Eddie Griffin and Ernest Hemingway used to hang out - not at the same time mind you - is a pretty tough place. Dexter is yet another top athlete you've brought into the fold at Illinois and, since he has only been playing football since his sophomore year of high school, his chance at high upside is intriguing.

Well done, Coach. Well done.

Best,

Bevormo

My Favorite Football Card II

The 1961 Fleer Jack Kemp. I don't own this bad boy yet but I'm planning to throw down soon and pick one up. After all, it's a financial recession. Why not invest what little dispensable income you have in small pieces of paper with pictures of dudes?

I will say, though, that this card is choice. In fact, that's exactly the pose I would have had, had I ever been asked by the Fleer Company to pose for a sports card.

Speaking of Kemp. What a beast. There's nothing quite like the old AFL.

Not to mention, Kemp was so much cooler than this gas bag.

Lake Elsinore Storm Starting Rotation: The K-Men

Dear Lake Elsinore Storm Starting Rotation (Messrs. Kluber, Hefner, Luebke, Pelzer and McBryde),

That's quite a rotation you guys have at Lake Elsinore this season. I was perusing the Internets this morning, reviewing some minor league statistics, when I noticed that you guys have some monster stats down in the Cal League. WHIP, wins, innings pitched, ERA, all that jive.

But what really jumped out at me were the number of Ks you've all amassed. And I'm not talking about just one guy getting a bunch of Ks and carrying the rest of the group. I'm talking about a consistently high number of Ks down the line from each and every one of you.

Let me lay out the numbers though I'm sure you all already know them:

Corey Kluber (pictured above): 93Ks, 1st in the Cal League
Cory Luebke: 80Ks, 3rd in the Cal League
Jeremy McBryde: 76Ks, T6th in the Cal League
Wynn Pelzer: 76 Ks, T6th in the Cal League
Jeremy Hefner: 75Ks, T8th in the Cal League

I'm no mathmetician, but that looks to me like the entire rotation is in the top 8 in Ks in the Cal League. None too shabby.

From this point forward I'm dubbing you the K-Men. It's like the X-Men, except far less creative and interesting.

Good luck in the second half. Perhaps a couple of you will make the move to San Antone.

Best,
Bevormo

[Update: 8:40 PM EST: I was thinking about this some more and I thought of a comparison. You five guys are all in the top 8 in the Cal League in strikeouts. What, I just asked myself, would the Padres rotation look like if they had 5 of the top 8 strikeout pitchers in the NL? The answer? It's these five beasts:

Tim Lincecum: 125 Ks, 1st in NL
Johan Santana: 97 Ks, 3rd in NL
Dan Haren: 96 Ks, 5th in NL
Yovani Gallardo: 93 Ks, 6th in NL
Josh Johnson: 88 Ks, 8th in NL

Yeah, I'd take that rotation.

Incidentally, despite missing a couple starts, Peavy is seventh in the NL with 92 Ks.]

Khalil Looking Better

Khalil,

I'm happy to see you've been playing better of late. In fact, you're 5 for your last 10, with 3 bombs, 5 ribeyes and 5 runs scored.

I hope you continue to hit many bombs and play awesome in the field.

Best,
Bevormo