Padres Re-Sign Brian Giles...

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according to KGTV evening news.

Lance: Leitner is reporting on AM 1090 that an announcement of a three-year pact is imminent.

Just a JPEG...

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More on Cameron & Nady @ BTB

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Make sure to check out Scotto's take on the deal at Beyond the Boxscore.

The "Free X. Nady" Movement...

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...has gotten its wish. In a trade I like quite a bit, Nady has been sent to the Mets in exchange for a guy who can really play centerfield, Mike Cameron.

Interesting commentary on the Padres' thus-far interesting offseason can be found at The Baseball Analysts.

Oddly enough, there's no mention of our signing of Geoff Blum there, nor will there be here.

Update [2005-11-16 21:25:09 by Richard]:





2006 Salaries

Texan Prospects

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I'll try to get the career stats for the other two up relatively soon.

Gerald Laird

I'm mildly impressed, but there doesn't seem too much to get excited about.

Giving Up Too Soon?

From an e-mail penned (by me) prior to the 2005 season:

" Years ago [Bill] James wrote that if the Indians were lucky, Thome would be the next Carney Lansford (remember Thome @ the hot corner?). He added that if they were REALLY lucky he'd be the new George Brett. What he actually became was a sustained version of the young Eddie Matthews, if we restrict ourselves to 3B. Or maybe even Schmidt, although if you adjust to league average Jim might not hold up as well... Point being, even those smarter than [Vinay Kumar] & I are doomed to failure when projecting the future SHAPE of a young player. Sean will be good, although right now he should hit 8th in a decent line-up. I'm hoping for Ken Boyer, before he fell off a cliff. If we're lucky, Brett. It's not beyond reason."

Yeah, I actually wrote that.

Castilla won't be better than average in '06. Neither will Randa.

But Burroughs might be. And we're not winning anything with either of the old guys manning the hot corner.

This is a year to find out which young guys can play.

Another Rumor from the Mill

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The Dallas Morning News among others has reported that the Padres and Rangers may be discussing a trade involving Adam Eaton of the Friars and Gerald Laird, Laynce Nix and Adrian Gonzalez of the Rangers.

To some this will sound like dealing an established Major League pitcher for three no-name minor league suspects. I don't see it that way. First, look at this past year's stats for Eaton:


He's below league average. He's proven to be injury prone. He's past his physical prime. Oh, and he's going to earn about $5M this next season. As for the unproven youngsters of the Texas farm system, here's their stats for '05.

All three mashed at Triple-A Oklahoma (though Nix only for a handful of games). Also, all three are believed to be above average fielders. Gonzalez has even been referred to as a future gold glover by some.

I like the look of the deal as is. Hopefully it can get done.

Lawrence for Castilla

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I think we can reasonably assume a few things from this trade. They are:

1) The Sean Burroughs experiment is over for better or worse.
2) Brian Lawrence was considered expendable due to either pitching in the farm system or pitching forthcoming in a trade.
3) Vinny Castilla's production relative to salary, in the view of the Padres, is greater than that of anyone available on the free agent market when you take into account the difference in salary between Lawrence and his replacement.

We'll have to wait and see what else the front office does this off-season in order to put this trade into some sort of context.

This past season Castilla produced at a higher level than any of our third basemen did. Brian Lawrence pitched quite a few innings, but was not particularly good. If it really was necessary to replace Burroughs and B-Law is not part of the organization's plans for the future, it makes sense to seek that replacement by moving Lawrence.

What The?!

The tiny mind of Kevin Towers continues to dazzle. We apparently now reside in a universe in which Vinny Castilla is more valuable than Brian Lawrence.

Both players are under contract through '06, with Lawrence costing a mere $300,000 more.
Lawrence also has a $5.7-million option for '07, with a $550,000 club buyout. In the spirit of the rapidly-approaching holiday season, KT saw fit to sweeten the deal with enough cash to pay the buyout. Because sometimes you have to dig deep to aquire a massive talent such as Castilla.

What this amounts to is Towers' condemnation of his own selection of Sean Burroughs in the draft, as well his signing of Lawrence to his current contract. When you add the public admission that signing Ryan Klesko and Phil Nevin to contract extensions was a mistake, it makes me wonder why the hell this man is allowed to run a major league baseball team.

Please excuse me, as I must go to the bathroom to squeeze lemon juice into my eyes.

Just wundrin'...

Richard: Click here for a table of park-adjusted Padre batting stats.

With the resignation of Theo Epstein and the inexplicable (this one makes me grin ear-to-ear) firing of Paul DePodesta, two bright young baseball minds are on the market.

The stepping down of Epstein, however, makes me wonder about the future employment of the greatest baseball mind of our time, Bill James.

Will the Red Sox retain his services?

And if a set-up man is worth $3-million in today's market, what might the Epstein-James tandem be worth?

Personally, I'd just hire James as my GM. I suspect his ego wouldn't allow him to refuse the challenge.

Mr. Alderson, are you listening?