While the Padres are extending guys not named Chase Headley, allow me to opine

This has been a strange summer.

The Padres sucked upon admittance to the warm season and now we sweat beads of optimism as we push through August. Strange.

As fans expected trades to color our summer the Padres have instead extended a core of players: Carlos Quentin, Huston Street, and now veteran clubhouse presence/role player type, Mark Kotsay.

Since the Padres are extending players not named Chase Headley allow me to make a suggestion . . .


I ask you first to read the following quotes:

"Understanding there's still growth to come makes what he's doing even scarier. He's so advanced right now, especially with the bat. He takes great swings. He has power from both sides of the plate. But the thing I appreciate the most is he's willing to listen and learn."

Hmm. Whose words are these? And of who does he speak?

"He wants to improve. After the first game he played, he asked me if he was setting up too early. He's asking about how to talk to pitchers to get them going the right way. He's open to advice. He doesn't think he knows it all, which is a huge asset to someone so young. Some young players who advance to the big leagues so fast feel like they know it all. That's his biggest asset . . . his capability to learn and understand and process information quickly and translate that into a baseball game. I think he's way advance (sic) beyond players his age."

I get the sense that you're an intelligent person. So you know who this quote is about and you probably have a decent idea of who said it. Let me give you a little more.

"The first thing I said about him in Spring Training after watching him swing the bat and catch a few bullpens was that I thought this guy was going to be an All-Star in the Big Leagues. It's just a matter of time."

Alright let's dispense with the quotes. Finalize your guesses. And continue reading . . .

These quotes appeared in Corey Brock's article, The Fast Track, in Issue #08 of the 2012 Blue Print.

The cover boy for Issue #08 was Yasmani Grandal and the above commentary was provided by . . .  if you guessed catcher John Baker then you're smarter than a guy who calls himself Ochocinco instead of Ochenta y Cinco to signify his football number.

While I have no problem denigrating the name of Chad Johnson/Ocho Cinco I'm not here to disparage Nick Hundley who may very well be a fantastic teammate. The problem with Nick Hundley however, is that he's a 28 year-old guaranteed $7M through the 2014 seasons. I don't know it with certainty but I  have to imagine that Nick still fancies himself as a starter more than he does a mentor to the youngster Yasmani Grandal. But it is Grandal who is a part of the future not Hundley.

When we look at the words of John Baker we see a guy who understands his role, a guy who knows that Grandal is the future, yet still wants to serve as his mentor. Baker went to Cal Berkley which means that, while he might smell like patchouli oil, he's definitely intelligent. Moving forward, I think that he and Grandal would make a fine team.

John Baker currently earns $750K and he's arbitration eligible. The Padres need to act now. Don't let Baker even get to arbitration. If Tom Garfinkel gives Baker a sales pitch with Huston Street standing over his right shoulder it's a done deal -- Baker will take the league minimum!

***

In all seriousness: I think Chase Headley will get an extension this winter and Nick Hundley will be traded. I also think the Padres would be wise to keep John Baker around to back up Yasmani Grandal. I'm not saying he deserves a full No Trade Clause, just that we shouldn't discriminate against catchers from Berkley who may, or may not, smell like they once made a living selling Jerry Bear t-shirts during Grateful Dead tours.

Everth Cabrera's bat flip and a Headley question

What a great still. Everth Cabrera comes up with the bases loaded and pounds the first pitch he sees, plating Yasmani Grandal with the winning run last nigh against the Reds.

 I love the confidence from ECab here -- look at that bat flip! He knows something that nobody else does . . .


Look at all those folks still sitting behind the plate. Must be the food coma that comes along with the price of a Sony Home Plate Club ticket.

I just found out the result of this game so I'm kind of excited. Waking up and watching the highlights on MLB is becoming my sad Time Warner Cable induced reality. I am adapting.

Glad to see that Latos pitched well without getting the win. He had a great quote that showed some maturity after the game:

"The rotation, everyone, has been pitching real well. It's baseball," Latos said. "I went out there in Cleveland and gave up seven runs and the team scored seven runs to back me up. Today was a grind offensively and defensively and pitching. Things didn't go our way today."

For a guy who always gets his maturity questioned that's a good quote. It's got your standard cliches but he also notes how his offense picked him up when he shit the bed in Cleveland. Good for him.

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A Headley Question

When people complain about Chase Headley they often cite his the following: he's terrible at turning water into wine, doesn't get clutch hits, he's more a false prophet than Savior, and he Ks too much.

Chase Headley does K a lot. Last night he went 1 for 3 with a walk, though strikeout was the mode by which Mat Latos retired Headley each time last night. Headley has now struck out 81 times in 356 PAs. That's one strikeout for every 4.4 PAs. Those are brutal numbers to look at but we can't dismiss his 50 walks and .374 OBP. Those numbers are good and they matter.

My question: Who does Chase Headley compare to in terms of ability to draw walks with a discerning eye but who also swings and misses with great frequency?

We have to keep in mind that there are plenty of guys who strikeout and walk with great frequency. They are called power hitters. Headley has 8 HRs and will likely finish with a career high this season but the total certainly won't be enough to qualify as power hitter.

Here's who I think of first: switch hitting Red Sox infielder, Mark Bellhorn!

Mark Bellhorn was the most frustrating guy to watch hit. He was brutal as a Padre but I'm thinking more of his time with the Red Sox. That was a guy who could get a walk but boy did he flail at pitches. In 2004 he came to the plate 620 times and K'd a whopping 177 (1K/3.5PA) of them while hitting a respectable17 HRs. But he also walked 88 times which led to a .373 OBP. I find these strikeout and walk totals to be such a strange dichotomy.

Who is Chase Headley? Will it even matter to Padres fans in a month?

Lost In Translation: Wilin Rosario talks about Yasmani Grandal's big game

I don't even know who Wilin Rosario is. According to his Baseball-Reference page he's built like a fire-plug (5'11" and 215 lbs), appears to have some power (13 HRs), and he's from the Dominican Republic (the place where Christopher Columbus landed and began subjugating natives).

He's also 23 years old.

This is significant because it probably indicates he has not been speaking English very long (likely 2006 when the Rockies acquired him). But maybe, just maybe, he speaks excellent English but provides odd quotes when he's half naked, wearing a towel in a locker room, and speaking to MLB reporters about a fellow catcher from the Caribbean . . .


After Yasmani Grandal's record breaking Saturday, when the switch hitting catcher's first two major league hits went for home runs from each side of the plate,  the Colorado catcher said the following to MLB reporter, Trey Scott:

And color Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario -- who hit a home run of his own in the fifth -- very impressed.

"I'd never seen that guy. The only thing I can tell you is he's strong, like me," Rosario said. "He's got power, too. He's a good hitter. That sometimes happens."

Wilin Rosario is modest. And completely unaware of history. "That sometimes happens"? Quotes can be really dumb. That sometimes happens.

Could the quote have been presented differently? Let's look at the Colorado wrap, written by MLB reporter, Thomas Harding:

"I'd never seen that guy," Rosario said of Grandal. "The only thing I can tell you is he's strong, like me."

Wilin Rosario is still modest. I like that. A lot. But the superfluous part of the quote was cut-out, a wise decision by Harding. Now, as readers, we have all that is necessary from Yasmani Grandal's rookie catcher counterpart in Colorado.

I also like that I am ignorant to the fact that Wilin Rosario lacks all sense of baseball history which is important. Well, it's not really that important.

Thomas Harding defeats Trey Scott in this round of game recaps! Where is Corey Brock, goddamn it?!