I don't know what ya-all's problem is - I go to Petco, the Padres win. Tonight's 3-2 victory moves the Padres 4-2 when I'm able to attend. Here are tonight's random thoughts:
- Loved Cameron Maybin's hustle on his first-inning double. Think he might have seen Harper double just past shortstop in Sunday's game against the Phillies? Also was it just me or did Maybin need about 4 strides to make it from first to second? Speed never goes into a slump.
- I think people were seeing the ball well out of Drew Pomeranz's hand. Yonder Alonso's single to score Maybin was smoked, and almost took the young Rockie hurler with it into CF. Edinson Volquez's drive found Pomeranz, although Drew recovered to throw Volquez out. That line drive would eventually force Pomeranz from the game with a right leg quad contusion, but not before he clobbered a 3-1 Volquez fastball off the facade in LF. That was a shot, people.
- Friday's theme of weirdness continued. We saw another wild pitch, another passed ball, another runner caught stealing, and the weirdest play of all, Rockies catcher Rosario out trying to advance on a ball just barely away from Nick Hundley. Rosario was out by 3 feet. And BZ to Orlando Hudson for keeping the tag on Cuddyer and throwing Cuddyer out when his momentum carried him past the bag.
- Chase Headley's slide to score the Padres third run was exemplary. He's safe IMHO even if Rosario holds onto the ball.
- Nothing kills a rally like Hudson and Jason Bartlett striding to the plate. They were a combined 0-4 with runners on, and stranded 5 in scoring position between them. San Diego should have blown this game open in the third inning.
- I'll be the baseball is a big as a beach ball to Alonso right now. Everything he hits is a rope. One will never prove it but it sure looked like Colorado pitched around him in the fifth inning, even though Jesus Guzman was on first base.
- Headley's caught stealing earlier in the fifth looked like a busted hit and run, busted because Guzman didn't make contact.
- Gotta love the Padres bullpen, the lone bright spot on this team. They threw 3 2/3 no hit ball, striking out 6, to preserve Volquez's first win with the club.
Jeff Suppan goes tomorrow, his opponent is still TBD (at least as of 5pm Monday). I won't be back in the ballpark until sometime next week, but the Padres don't need me to win - do they?
Showing posts with label Cameron Maybin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cameron Maybin. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Padres extend Cameron Maybin
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| Looking forward to lots of this over the next 6 years. In that uni would be a nice touch too. |
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed in the club announcement, other than to say the contract runs through 2016 and includes a mutual option for 2017.
"Cameron has certainly emerged as a core player,” said Byrnes. “During his time with the Padres, he has impressed us with his play and with his character. He has shown us that he is committed to the Padres, and we are happy to secure his rights through 2017."Maybin, 24, enjoyed a breakout year in his first season with the Padres, establishing new career highs in nearly every offensive category, including games, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI and stolen bases, en route to being unanimously chosen as the Padres 2011 MVP by the San Diego Chapter of the BBWAA. He started 132 games in center field and led the team in runs, triples, stolen bases and multi-hit games.
Thoughts: Maybin is seen as a core Padre going forward, and with good reason. He plays a premium defensive position well in a ballpark that requires athletic outfielders to cover it's spacious facilities. Last season Maybin's defense saved 11 runs (Dewan plus/minus) and placed him third amongst all MLB CF in that category. Not burdened by fear of management holding a quick hook if he didn't produce, he enjoyed his finest season at the plate, and became the 8th Padre to ever steal 40 bases in a season.
The deal buys out all of Maybin's arbitration years, plus the first (and probably second) year he'd be eligible for free agency. Interestingly he's currently the lone player under contract for 2014, much less 2016. That piece of trivia notwithstanding this is an excellent move by the Padres. Now we an put whoever we want in LF and RF because Maybin can cover center from gap to gap.
Update: The SDUT is reporting the deal as 5 years/$25 million, with the option year being worth $7 million if he returns in 2017. Maybin was worth 4.7 WAR (Fangraphs) in 2011 which equated to ~$21.1 million. If he plays at that level during this contract, Padres got him at a bargain price.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Game Reflections - #44 vs Brewers
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| Hmmm. 5 Infielders. Will it work? |
Off to a rough start as Aaron Harang walked Corey Hart and allowed a single to Ryan Braun. After Braun stole second, it looked like the Padres would be down early again. But Harang wriggled out of it, getting Prince Fielder to pop to short and Casey McGehee hit back to the box.
We missed part of the first inning while eating at the Hall of Fame Grill inside the Western Metal building. The Nachos were good. Unfortunately for me, something in the chicken set off a nasty case of heartburn which made for a rather uncomfortable next 6 innings. It was not food poisoning; I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction. Sucked to be me.
The Brewers would only get one more runner to third, Fielder in the fourth inning, as Harang settled down and worked 8 scoreless innings.
On the other side of the ledger Chris Narveson was as good as Harang. Narveson worked 7 1/3 innings, and the Padres only got 2 runners to third off him (Denorfia in the third, Maybin in the seventh).
Without a lot of offense, this game was quick. 1:45 in we were singing 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game". Milwaukee took Narveson out in favor of Kameron Loe, who worked around McGehee's error.
When I got home I found two tweets from Cameron Maybin expressing some frustration with the official scorer. During the seventh inning, he hit a hard ground ball that McGehee bobbled, and beat McGehee's throw to first. It was ruled an infield single. After the game the official scorer reviewed the play and changed it to E-5. The tweets have since been deleted.
I'm not saying Maybin did anything wrong. It was an emotional moment and I appreciated the candor. I will say that when I saw the play live I thought it was E-5. Maybin is a very fast man, but if McGehee fields that ball cleanly Maybin is out by a step. In my opinion the official scorer got it right after his review. Also, he would not have reviewed the play unless someone asked him to.
Ludwick led off the ninth with a soft single, but the game turned on Black's decision to pinch run for him. I liked the aggressiveness there, playing to win at home. Because of that, Brewer pitcher Marco Estrada spent a lot of time trying to keep Eric Patterson close at first. Pitchout, ball high, then another ball as Patterson stole second. With a 3-0 count on Hawpe the Brewers walked him intentionally.
The rest was predictable. Maybin laid down a pretty bunt to move the runners over with 1 out. Headley was intentionally walked to load the bases. Kotsay came in from left to play the infield, but it didn't matter as Orlando Hudson hit the first pitch he saw to right, driving Hart back and plenty deep enough to score Patterson from third.
A nice win and a series split with Milwaukee. The Padres are now 1-0-2 in their last 3 series, their best stretch of the season, after splitting 2 game sets with Arizona and the Brewers. They open the Inter-league portion of the scheduel tomorrow when Seattle comes to town.
We did a Podcast tonight. It's short - 19 min long - but it can be found here.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Game Reflections - Game #19 Vs Phillies
Went to 2/3 of the game last night. We left after 6 1/3 innings (a) to beat traffic, and (b) because you can only sit through so much offensive futility. Some impressions.
1. I tweeted last night about 'another SD home game, Padres no-hit through 3 again." That's not entirely correct. What is true is the Padres have gone hitless the first time through the order twice, and I've been in the ballpark on both occasions. Including last night's home game, the Padres have gotten their first hit of the game:
3. It becomes frustrating to watch our offense routinely unable to either drive runners in from third, or to hit for extra bases. It becomes even more frustrating to watch opposing teams come in and hit the crap out of the ball. I'm am beginning to believe part of the problem with the Padres is psychological. They continually hear about this ballpark and how it is a pitcher's park, and how you can't hit the long ball here. Whether or not you believe it, it eventually seeps into your consciousness. Other NL teams don't have to listen to that over and over again about their home ballpark, or about the park they come into. They just hit; and seem to have better results in San Diego than the Padres do.
4. This team really misses Jerry Hairston Jr. How many times did we see him come to the plate last year, with the team down early, and hit a home run or start a rally? From a perspective with no access to the clubhouse, it seems his leadership helped steady the 2010 Padres. I don't see any evidence that type of leadership is present on this team. Every 3 run deficit feels like game over; there's no sense the Padres can claw their back into those games.
Case in point - leading off the fourth Jorge Cantu had a 14-pitch at bat. He eventually struck out, but it felt like a moral victory. You know you're offense is struggling when a 14-pitch strike out feels like a victory.
5. Cameron Maybin flat-out misplayed Ben Francisco's HR ball. I initially thought he just backpedaled into the CF wall, but after seeing the replay he took a good route to the ball. It seemed live he had no idea how close to the wall he was when he was trying to catch the ball. If he jumps that's an out.
Ludwick? Overran it, but Polanco was out a third and the blue blew the call. Denorfia? Looked like he lost it in the lights initially, because he didn't break on the ball at all.
Padres try again tonight - Richard vs Hamels.
I did have a Podcast last night - it can be heard here. Two errata to correct from the discussion - I said last night was the fourth time the Padres had been shut out, that's wrong; I forgot about their Monday shutout at the hands of the Cubs. I also said last night was the first time someone other than Moseley had been shut out, and that's also wrong; Tim Stauffer started that same game Monday. The Astro/Padre game I reference during the show happened on July 2, 2010, and indeed ended 3-0.
1. I tweeted last night about 'another SD home game, Padres no-hit through 3 again." That's not entirely correct. What is true is the Padres have gone hitless the first time through the order twice, and I've been in the ballpark on both occasions. Including last night's home game, the Padres have gotten their first hit of the game:
- First inning - twice
- Second inning -four times
- Third inning - once
- Fourth inning - once
- Fifth inning - once
3. It becomes frustrating to watch our offense routinely unable to either drive runners in from third, or to hit for extra bases. It becomes even more frustrating to watch opposing teams come in and hit the crap out of the ball. I'm am beginning to believe part of the problem with the Padres is psychological. They continually hear about this ballpark and how it is a pitcher's park, and how you can't hit the long ball here. Whether or not you believe it, it eventually seeps into your consciousness. Other NL teams don't have to listen to that over and over again about their home ballpark, or about the park they come into. They just hit; and seem to have better results in San Diego than the Padres do.
4. This team really misses Jerry Hairston Jr. How many times did we see him come to the plate last year, with the team down early, and hit a home run or start a rally? From a perspective with no access to the clubhouse, it seems his leadership helped steady the 2010 Padres. I don't see any evidence that type of leadership is present on this team. Every 3 run deficit feels like game over; there's no sense the Padres can claw their back into those games.
Case in point - leading off the fourth Jorge Cantu had a 14-pitch at bat. He eventually struck out, but it felt like a moral victory. You know you're offense is struggling when a 14-pitch strike out feels like a victory.
5. Cameron Maybin flat-out misplayed Ben Francisco's HR ball. I initially thought he just backpedaled into the CF wall, but after seeing the replay he took a good route to the ball. It seemed live he had no idea how close to the wall he was when he was trying to catch the ball. If he jumps that's an out.
Ludwick? Overran it, but Polanco was out a third and the blue blew the call. Denorfia? Looked like he lost it in the lights initially, because he didn't break on the ball at all.
Padres try again tonight - Richard vs Hamels.
I did have a Podcast last night - it can be heard here. Two errata to correct from the discussion - I said last night was the fourth time the Padres had been shut out, that's wrong; I forgot about their Monday shutout at the hands of the Cubs. I also said last night was the first time someone other than Moseley had been shut out, and that's also wrong; Tim Stauffer started that same game Monday. The Astro/Padre game I reference during the show happened on July 2, 2010, and indeed ended 3-0.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Cameron Maybin to the Padres
On Saturday last the Padres acquired Cameron Maybin from Florida for "Home Run Ed" Mujica and Ryan Webb. You may have seen this.
The first question I asked myself was why did the Padres trade some of their pitching depth for a guy at a position...where they have a lot of depth already? So I took a look at some numbers.
Maybin has played most of his career, and all his time with Florida, as a centerfielder. It's reasonable to expect the Padres plan to line him up in center for 2011. That means Tony Gwynn Jr, Will Venable, and Chris Denorfia are probably looking for another position to play. How good a CF is Maybin? Well:
Based on the defensive numbers above I would argue Gwynn Jr is a better defensive CF than Maybin. Only Range Factor/9 favors Maybin, which interestingly enough was quoted in the SDUT article announcing Maybin's acquisition:
Over 610 PA Maybin has posted a .246/.313/.380. Over 1054 PA Gwynn Jr has .244/.323/.314. We can say Maybin has more power based on the slugging percentage, but otherwise they are the same hitter. So this isn't about the offense.
Was the trade be about salary? Maybin has just over one year major league service time (according to Cot's Baseball Contracts and my extrapolation), and Gwynn Jr has just over 3. Again according to Cot's, both are arbitration eligible for 2011 (note: I may be reading the data on Cot's wrong, so apologies if I have indeed misinterpreted it). I don't understand how Maybin is arbitration eligible with only 1 year service time, but that is what the data says.
Based on the arbitration status for both, this probably isn't about the salary. Both players have above-average gloves but below-average bats, so their arbitration cases would be very similar.
Maybin is 4+ years younger than Gwynn. Maybe that's what this is about.
Sometimes I wish I had access to the analytical tools the Padres use to evaluate players, because from my perspective, they acquired a new starting center fielder with no appreciable upside from their current starting center fielder.
Complicating things is the Padres already crowded outfield. Besides Gwynn Jr, Venable, and Denorfia, San Diego also has OF Kyle Blanks, Ryan Ludwick, Aaron Cunningham, Luis Durango, and Scott Hairston to choose from (and what about Matt Stairs?) Clearly the club can't carry all those players, so someone or several someones are not going to be playing in SD next season. If I was a betting man, I'd suspect Gwynn Jr, Hairston, and Stairs are gone, Blanks goes back to first base, Cunningham to the minors, and the Padres keep Ludwick, Venable, Durango and Denorfia.
The first question I asked myself was why did the Padres trade some of their pitching depth for a guy at a position...where they have a lot of depth already? So I took a look at some numbers.
Maybin has played most of his career, and all his time with Florida, as a centerfielder. It's reasonable to expect the Padres plan to line him up in center for 2011. That means Tony Gwynn Jr, Will Venable, and Chris Denorfia are probably looking for another position to play. How good a CF is Maybin? Well:
- By UZR/150 (fangraphs): -4.4 (2010), 13,5 (2009). He played 8 games in 2008 and 15 games in 2007, so too small a sample size to use.
- By Dewan plus/minus: -7 (2010), +6 (2009).
- By Range factor/9 (baseball reference): 3.11 (2010), 2.70 (2009). League average was 2.59 and 2.60 respectively.
- UZR/150: 32.9, 14.4
- Dewan: +23, +19
- Range Factor/9: 2.12, 3.03.
Based on the defensive numbers above I would argue Gwynn Jr is a better defensive CF than Maybin. Only Range Factor/9 favors Maybin, which interestingly enough was quoted in the SDUT article announcing Maybin's acquisition:
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Maybin last season had the highest range factor of any National League center fielder who played at least 70 games. Maybin had a 3.10 score per nine innings. By comparison, Tony Gwynn had a 2.12 score.Was the trade about improving the offense? Doubtful. For the 2010 season, Maybin's .234/.302/.361 (.299 wOBA) line was not much better than Gwynn Jr's .204/.304/.287 (.276 wOBA). I thought perhaps Maybin would be the leadoff hitter the Padres need to find, but based on that OBP he is no improvement at all.
Over 610 PA Maybin has posted a .246/.313/.380. Over 1054 PA Gwynn Jr has .244/.323/.314. We can say Maybin has more power based on the slugging percentage, but otherwise they are the same hitter. So this isn't about the offense.
Was the trade be about salary? Maybin has just over one year major league service time (according to Cot's Baseball Contracts and my extrapolation), and Gwynn Jr has just over 3. Again according to Cot's, both are arbitration eligible for 2011 (note: I may be reading the data on Cot's wrong, so apologies if I have indeed misinterpreted it). I don't understand how Maybin is arbitration eligible with only 1 year service time, but that is what the data says.
Based on the arbitration status for both, this probably isn't about the salary. Both players have above-average gloves but below-average bats, so their arbitration cases would be very similar.
Maybin is 4+ years younger than Gwynn. Maybe that's what this is about.
Sometimes I wish I had access to the analytical tools the Padres use to evaluate players, because from my perspective, they acquired a new starting center fielder with no appreciable upside from their current starting center fielder.
Complicating things is the Padres already crowded outfield. Besides Gwynn Jr, Venable, and Denorfia, San Diego also has OF Kyle Blanks, Ryan Ludwick, Aaron Cunningham, Luis Durango, and Scott Hairston to choose from (and what about Matt Stairs?) Clearly the club can't carry all those players, so someone or several someones are not going to be playing in SD next season. If I was a betting man, I'd suspect Gwynn Jr, Hairston, and Stairs are gone, Blanks goes back to first base, Cunningham to the minors, and the Padres keep Ludwick, Venable, Durango and Denorfia.
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