Almost Perfect?

I’m batting a thousand! So the Padres acquired Bud Black and I’m excited to see what he can do. I’m not having any of this “a pitcher doesn’t know how to manage” b. s. either.

I am however bummed about the Barfield trade . I liked that kid. I envision shades of Alomar. Now I know Mets fans could care less, but before he got there he was a pretty fine ballplayer, which seems to be lost on Mets fans. I remember when he was traded and always held out hope that when he was a free agent he would re-sign with the Padres but no such luck. I will always hate Joe McIlvaine for that trade. It seems however this regime is taking the same approach that it’s easier to find a second baseman then a third baseman according to Sandy Alderson. It’s also been said because he’s a Scott Boras client that that may have had something to do with it. Note to Padres if you don’t want Scott Boras clients on your roster don’t draft them. I can’t really blame them, I think the game will be a better place when that guys out of the game. None to soon in my opinion, but that’s a rant for another day. I’m also thinking they may have made the trade with an idea of flipping the pitcher they got (Andrew Brown) in a trade for Sheffield. that might be wishful thinking, but I am a Padres fan after all.

 

I called it!

My predictive powers are coming to light

 

Petitte and Clemens

Is anyone else getting tired of the Amos and Andy show? It was bad enough when Clemens would be play the will he won’t he game with us. Now we’ve got his buddy Andy in the act too. All the rhetoric about family and being close to home. If I were an Astros fan I’d be really annoyed that these two guys are using the threat of retirement and the ghost of the Yankees to drive theior price up when they clearly want to play in Houston. And then there are the reports of Petitte’s religious connection with Drayton McClain. And the Jason Grimsley accusations. Uggh. I hope they both retire and we won’t have to hear about it.

 

For anyone curious to get a look at the Japanese pitcher causing all of the commotion, check it here:

 

Slow News Day

Not much to write about today. Still a few days before the free agent world starts to heat up. There is talk of a Jake Peavey for Heilman/Milledge/Owens package floating around. Joel Sherman had it then the Metropolitans dissected it. I’m not really going to spend any more time on it because there isn’t much more to be said. Besides, we all know that its just the kind of thing that fills an early November baseball column.

The only other news I have to report, and I have a good source on this, is that Omar Minaya was overheard trying to get someone to waive a no-trade clause over the phone while at Willie Randolph’s daughter’s wedding. Also notable was Wade Boggs chewing tobacco and using his champagne glass as a spitoon. Classy. Also in attendance, Yogi, Torre, Mariano, and Mazzilli.

 

Padres management search

So now that I had a week to mope around with what seemed like a constant soundtrack of peanuts “Christmas Time Is Here” while doing the sad walk.

I’m now excited about the possibilities of the manager search for the Padres.

Personally I’m hyped for either Bud Black or Trey Hillman. With the success of bringing what was an apparent joke of a franchise to a Japanese title he might just be the man we need. However for some reason I really like the possibility of Bud as the new manager of the 2007 Padres. I don’t know what it is, I just think being one of the right hand men to Mike Scioscia for the past half dozen years or so he’s ready for the hot seat.

As much as I like Ron Washington something tells me he won’t be the ideal candidate for the Padres. Ron seems to be the type of manager that’s not too keen on being told by upper management on how to run the game on the field and won’t be a token figure on filling out the lineup card and handing it to the umpires before each game. I think his likely destination will be the Texas Rangers where management gives the impression that they know their job is to supply the players and allow the manager to move the pieces. I just don’t see the new Sandy Alderson run Padres taking that approach.

Which brings me to ask that I’m not sure why the Padres are interviewing Dusty Baker as impressive as his resume is, he seems to be a more expensive and dare I say it, better field manager then Bochy. It must be a token interview to appease MLB’s preference for a minority higher. But he also doesn’t seem to be the type that will take to the behind the scenes string pulling of upper management.

So I’m thinking the choices boil down to Bud or Trey and with Trey’s recent success in Japan giving him a little leverage in salary, the new manager will be Bud Black. Let’s hope that whomever it is that the Padres do the unthinkable and finally bring a championship to a city that hasn’t had it’s fair share of sporting success.

 

You Tube

Chris Wilcox over at Miracle Mets dug up a funny You Tube video on his Miracle Mets Blog. Definitely worth checking out for a laugh. I love how Gary Carter has a mug that says “Gary” on it. Cuz you know he really did.

Well Chris, I’ll see your You Tube video and I’ll raise you one. If you haven’t already seen it, check out this genius who recreated game 6 of the ‘86 World Series using video from Nintendo’s RBI baseball. Here it goes…

My partner has a whole arsenal of Earl Weaver audio that hopefully he will share links to as well…

 

More on Mota

Brooklyn Met Fan has an alarmingly honest admission of guilt from Guillermo Mota on his blog.

Mota, to his credit, basically fessed up: ““I have no one to blame but myself, I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB’s suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable…To my teammates and the entire Mets organization, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans everywhere, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don’t blame you. I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake.” BMF gives him credit for taking it like a man unlike most including Rafael Palmiero who dragged Miguel Tejada into his own mess.

I can’t even believe it. I expected a whole rigamaroll about how he didn’t do anything that is illegal in his country, yada, yada, yada. I hope that guys like Sosa and Palmerio look at this guy who was no kind of a star and realize that they got out classed by a middle reliever. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having him back after he took this much responsibility.

I also don’t think that his vast improvement was due to the roids. I think it is psychological. I think he was mixing his pitches better with theMets. I also think the friendly confines of Shea probably helped a bit too. Maybe I’m naive. Anyway, congrats to Guillermo on being a man.

 

Guillermo Mota on the Juice

Well, well, well. MLB just announced that Guillermo Mota has been suspended 50 games effective opening day, for violating the leagues steroid policy. He was all but guaranteed a very good offer to return to the Mets, now I wonder how they will handle it?

This has got to be the worst news that Aaron Heilman could imagine. Mota was his ticket either to the Mets starting rotation or to being traded to a team he could start on. Now he will most likely head straight back to the Mets bullpen.

Would you resign Mota under any circumstances after this? I just don’t know.

 

Phillies & Soriano

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the Phillies will offer “big money” to Soriano. Good. Take him. I can’ imagine the Phillies sign both Soriano AND Aramis Ramirez and I think Ramirez is a better fit in Philly.