Stovetop On High

The latest team to express interest in Padres lefty Randy Wolf is the Houston Astros. Although the Astros are stuck behind the Cubs, Brewers and Cards in a tough NL Central, they are rumored to be in serious talks with San Diego. The Astros were forced to place staff ace, Roy Oswalt, on the 15 day DL and must feel they need to add to their rotation to keep pace in the Central.

Padres switch hitting catcher, Josh Bard, is due to come off the DL as early as this weekend and is said to be immediately placed on the trading block. The Friars brass finally seems feed up with Bard's inability to throw runners out. FF feels that the remainder of '08 should be used, in part, to evaluate younger players including Luke Carlin and Nick Hundley, who are both struggling at the plate while improving the defense at the position.

Extent of Barrett Injuries Still Unknown

The graphic scene of 95mph pitch glancing off Michael Barrett's bat into the bridge of his nose left many Friar fans gasping. Initial reports indicated a broken nose, but it is now known that he also has multiple face fractures as well. Until swelling subsides, doctors will not be able to fully judge the extent of his injuries, but early concerns regarding a concussion seems misplaced. Barrett suffered a concussion that kept him out for 19 games last August and there is always a concern at the potential of multiple concussions. Such an injury forced former Charger Stan Humphries into retirement. FF wishes Barrett well and hopes to see him back in uniform this season. One of the many unfortunate aspects of this freak accident was that Barrett had started to come alive at the plate, batting over .300 over his last 7 games.

Few could have foreseen a team with "two starting catchers", Josh Bard and Barrett, having to recall both catchers from their AAA club; but that will now be the case with heralded yet struggling Nick Hundley scheduled to join Luke Carlin on the big club (see previously linked Union Tribune article). Hundley had a big 2007 season at AA San Antonio, posting 20 bombs and 72 RBI in 373 at bats to match a .247 batting average. He's struggled moderately at AAA Portland in 2008, posting a .736 OPS that is about 8% lower than his 2007 performance. Much has been made of this drop off, but this seems relatively normal upon advancement to AAA. FF would like to see Bud Black lessen the pressure on the pair by taking a page out of Bruce Bochey's "How to Handle Catchers Handbook". As we've droned on about before, FF believes that catchers need frequent rest to excel. Hundley is supposed to be an offensive threat, so we'd love to see him get the more than half of the starts, with late inning defensive relief from Luke Carlin. That said, if history tells us anything, Bud Black will burn out both and end up with another pair of struggling backstops.

Friars Run Out Of The Bronx

The Padres spoiled another solid start by Josh Banks who gave up just 2 runs and was on the wrong side of a 2-1 tally. The Friars could not cash in during the 2nd inning after loading the bases with no outs. Two strike outs and a runner cut down at the plate on a passed ball helped the Yankees escape the inning and preserve the 3 game sweep.


Friar Facts


The Yankees scored their first run without the benefit of a hit as a walk and 2 stolen bases set up a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1. The game winning run was also scored after Derek Jeter stole second and scored on A Rod single. The Padres catchers are, once again, a distant last in throwing out base runners. The Padres have allowed 98 of 111 runner to steal successfully. The 98 SB's against is 29 more than the second worst in baseball.

Padres KO Kuroda

The Padres had to be worried this offseason with the Dodger's acquisition of Japanese phenom Hiroki Kuroda. After a decent start, Kuroda's shutto has gotten the Tom Selleck treatment, this time with a back-to-back bombs from Brian Giles (to right center at Petco) and Adrian Gonzales (another opposite field shot), kicking off a 9-0 ass-whoopin'. Giles' shot gave Jake Peavy, making his first start since straining his forearm in mid-May, a 3 run lead, with A. Gone adding his 59th RBI of the season (he would eventaually add number 60). Gonzales' little big brother remained hot, with 3 more hits to boost his average to .322. The only Padre not to get in on the action was Kevin Kouzmanoff, who is in the midst of a major slump that has drawn his average down to .254. Bud Black had Peavy on a pitch count of about 90, but Jake would only require 72 to beat LA in 6 innings (4 punch outs, 3 hits allowed, 0 walks).

Notes:

• Luke Carlin managed RBI number one for this career with a first inning fielder's choice. He would then force in a run via a walk in the third.
  
• The Padres are now 8 games under .500.
• Joe Thatcher was optioned back to AAA Portland to make room for Peavy's return.
  

Carlin Moves to 3-0

Luke Carlin is a rabbits foot for a struggling Friars team, moving to 3-0 as a starter with the club's 4-3 win over the Cubs on a rainy Tuesday evening. Shawn Estes made his first start out of the rotation's 5 hole, earning the win (the 100th of his career) while allowing 3 earned runs over 5 1/3 innings; he overcame a leadoff bomb from Alfonso Soriano and was then spelled by another excellent relief outing by Cla Meredith. Heath Bell bridged the 8th inning, handing the ball the Trevor Hoffman, who posted his 7th save of the season with crisply located fastballs. Khalil Greene provided the major jolt for Bud Black's club, a 3 run homer that added on to Jody Gerut's RBI double in the 4 run 4th. Edgar Gonzalez made his first major league start, playing a shaky hot corner, but pounding out a couple of solid knocks. Adrian's big (little) brother runs the bases hard, reminding FF of the kind of effort that Eric Owens once displayed at the Murph (Gerut also reminds us of Mr. Owens' hustle). In all, the Padres have turned thing around to provide a glimmer of a hope for restoring the seemingly lost season, winning three of their last four.

Monday: More Moves

The San Diego Padres are performing a face lift on a team that was in drastic need of a new identity. Prior to taking the field against the Chicago Cubs and their ace Carlos Zambrano the Padres will announce their 4th roster move in as many days. San Diego will call up Edgar Gonzalez to take the place of Rule V draftee Callix Crabbe. Typically, Rule V picks must be offered back to their original team (Brewers). However, the Padres still like what Crabbe brings to the table and will try to work out a trade to keep the speedy, versatile player. This transaction will reunite brothers Adrain and Edgar Gonzalez, who were inseparable during Spring Training. Older brother Edgar will assume the utility infielder role and brings a .293 average and 4 bombs to the Friars. San Diego has had many brother tandems in the past that include:
Tony and Chris Gwynn; Roberto and Sandy Alomar; The Brothers Giles; and Trevor and Glenn Hoffman.

Bard Hurting

Catcher Josh Bard is expected to return to the starting lineup on Monday in Chicago after receiving a cortisone injection in his surgically repaired throwing wrist. Newcomer Luke Carlin is scheduled to make at least 3 of the next 7 starts behind the dish for the Friars.

Fathers Win On Mothers Day; Take Series

The Friars not only won a game Sunday, but they won a series for the first time in 9 tries! The Pads have played baseball with a certain crispness that has been lacking this season. San Diego got a strong outing by Chris Young and some power off the bats of Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene leading the Friars to a 6-1 victory. The majority of the players in both dugouts used the pink colored bats as part of MLB's Mothers Day/Breast Cancer awareness.

Friar Facts:


Tadahito Iguchi is starting to turn it up a notch as the Friars 2nd baseman continues to play stellar D, and added 3 knocks and his second stolen base in as many games.

Luke Carlin made his second consecutive start and he responded by smoking a double down the right field line for his first Major League hit. Carlin also gunned down a runner attempting to steal second.

Jody Gerut picked up his first hit since returning from Portland. Although it was his only hit of the series, Gerut made solid contact consistently and hit into some loud outs.

The newest Padre (and that's saying something lately), Bryan Corey, tossed a scoreless 9th inning. San Diego announcer Mark Grant noticed that the reliever pitches with his right (push off) foot directly on the rubber. It appears that Corey only uses the balls of his feet and toes to push off.

Kevin Kouzmanoff garnered FF praise on the first play of the game when he charged, fielded and threw out Rockies speedy leadoff man, Willie Tavares, on a bunt attempt.

Carlin Called Up; Morton To AA

In a much anticipated and reported move the Padres have purchased Luke Carlin's contract from Portland and sent Colt Morton down to AA to get some playing time. FF is happy on multiple accounts with this move:
1). It finally happened
2). Colt Morton finally got a MLB base knock
3). Maybe Carlin will provide a manager Bud Black a back up backstop that he will actually place in the line up...thus provided Josh Bard an inning or 2 off every 3 weeks.

UPDATE II: Catcher Carlin to the Friars

UPDATE II: MadFriars.com has updated their original article (link below) to note that this move will likely take place after Thursday's game.

UPDATE: It appears that news of Luke Carlin joining the Friars was not accurate, as the article has disappeared (see the first link below) and no news of this move has come from additional sources.

MadFriars.com is reporting that Luke Carlin's contract has been purchased by the Padres. This presumably means that Kevin Towers has decided to try a new tactic to prevent Josh Bard from wearing down to nothing. The prior attempt, adding Colt Morton from AA ball to the MLB roster, has been a non-factor. Manager Bud Black has sparingly used Morton while Josh Bard has struggled through the stress of catching every day. Since Michael Barrett went down with an elbow injury on April 8th, Bard has started 22 contests to Morton's 3.

Graph from FanGraphs.com

Friar fans witnessed first hand former catcher and manager Bruce Bochy's approach of giving catchers constant and regular rest. After entering the game in which Barrett was injured, Bard produced well, increasing his batting average from .278 to .324 (7 games). However, from game 8 on, he has seen a near constant decline to .216, highlighting Bochy's concern over the ware and tear of baseball's most strenuous position. FF understands that Black was likely trying to keep his best overall catcher in the game during the club's struggles, but this work load likely contributed to Bard's rough month. Hopefully, the addition of Carlin will boost Black confidence, helping the club and Bard to right themselves. Like Bard, Carlin is a switch hitter. Carlin is well regarded for his defensive skills (tossed 36% of running in 2006). While off to a solid offensive start this season, he has a .245 career minor league average. Nonetheless, this is an example of some attempt to mix things up, so FF fully supports it. We'd also rather see Morton play somewhere that will result in regular playing time.