Prospect Reports are starting to come out...

John Sickels at minorleagueball.com has his prospect report out on our boys, and for the first time in a LONG time the Padres system gets a pretty glowing review... Below are the first 14 on his list, follow the link above for the rest of his write up.

"by John Sickels on Jan 17, 2012 12:05 PM EST

1) Yonder Alonso, 1B, Grade B+: Acquire in the big Mat Latos deal with the Cincinnati Reds. His style of hitting should fit better in San Diego than Anthony Rizzo's. I expect Alonso will hit for average, post a strong OBP, and provide at least moderate power.

2) Yasmani Grandal, C, Grade B+: Also acquired in the Latos deal. Needs more polish on defense, although he has the tools to thrive and I'm optimistic about his glove. Like Alonso, he should provide a solid OBP with moderate power.

3) Rymer Liriano, OF, Grade B+: You can make a case to rank him above Rizzo, although they are very different players. Five Tool/Seven Skill potential is obvious, and he made strides with the strike zone last year. Scouts love him and the numbers are catching up.

4) Jedd Gyorko, 3B, Grade B+ : I believe in the bat and he can handle third base. Should hit for average, post solid OBP, with at least moderate power.

5) Robbie Erlin, LHP, Grade B+: Extremely close between Erlin and Wieland, but I'll go with Erlin due to lefty premium and nine month age edge. I know he doesn't have a blistering fastball, but the guy has superb command of deceptive stuff, plus pornographic statistics. Should do well in this ballpark.

6) Joe Wieland, RHP, Grade B+: Hard to believe they got Wieland and Erlin for Mike Adams. Like Robbie, Joe's fastball plays past it's velocity due to terrific command and impressive secondary pitches.

7) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade B+: Baseball America seems oddly reserved about him, but he looks great to me, other Midwest League sources are very positive, he throws hard, his stat profile is strong, and he's athletic.

8) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B: Borderline B+. Kelly will rank ahead of Erlin and Wieland on most lists, and I might be undergrading him a notch, but there are some things here that hold me back from a higher grade. He didn't dominate Double-A despite repeating the league, his secondary stuff isn't as refined as Erlin/Wieland, his fastball isn't consistently faster, and he is a full year older than Erlin and almost two years older than Sampson. He still looks like a fine mid-rotation starter but I don't see him as a potential ace. I'm thinking about this grade and this one is far from final.

9) Cory Spangenberg, 2B, Grade B: Borderline B+: On-base machine with some gap power and 70-speed. Needs to polish defense but pure hitting skills are sharp. He was a slight overdraft at 10^th overall but not by a terrible amount.

10) James Darnell, OF-3B, Grade B-: I like the bat a lot, but age and positional questions preclude a higher grade. Should be a solid run producer.

11) Joe Ross, RHP, Grade B-: Could theoretically be the top pitching prospect in the system a year from now. More advanced than brother Tyson at the same age, and has a higher physical upside than the pitchers ahead of him, but let's get some data first.

12) Brad Boxberger, RHP, Grade B-: Another part of the Latos deal. Very live arm, took well to bullpen role last year. At worst he should be an effective middle reliever, and if his command holds up he has a chance to close.

13) Jaff Decker, OF, Grade B-: Seems to improve his physical conditioning every year, even stole 15 bases in '11, strong throwing arm. Patient to a fault, needs to find balance between aggression and passivity. Could put up huge numbers at Tucson.

14) Austin Hedges, C, Grade B-: Superior defensive catcher. Scouts have mixed opinions about his bat; some think he can hit for a decent average with touches of power, others don't think he'll hit enough to play regularly despite his glove. Not enough objective data yet to have a sabermetric opinion, although most catchers with a similar plus-glove/questionable-bat profile coming out of high school don't make it. If he hits, will rank much higher next year.

This was already a very deep farm system, but adding Erlin and Wieland in the Adams trade was a masterstroke. Erlin, Wieland, Kelly, and Sampson is an exciting quartet, Joe Ross could be the best of all once he gets some innings in, Bass and Oramas are not slouches, and there are a large group of solid bullpen arms ready in the near future. That doesn't even include live-armed pitchers in the "others" list like Castro, Cates, Lollis and Portillo who have high ceilings albeit with question-marks. Hernandez and Reyes could also help sooner than expected.

There is also the core of a strong offense here, with Rizzo, Darnell, Gyorko, the enigmatic Decker, broad-skilled Tekotte, and overlooked Belnome ready or almost ready for extensive major league trials. Tools hound Liriano has a high ceiling and put some things together in '11. If Donavan Tate stays on the field long enough to learn baseball, he still has star-caliber tools. Galvez, Peterson, and Rincon would all get a lot more attention in other farm systems.

All told, this is a very rich system with exciting players at all levels."

He seems to have done a fairly good job, and of course the order of the prospects is left up to opinion, but overall he seems to have them in pretty fair positioning. Good job John!

TPichierri - Planet Padres Writer

Play Ball !!!

2008 Season is Upon us

A warm Santa Ana breeze blowing out of the east, the smell of freshly cut grass, the buzz kids running around in little league uniforms, endless chatter that only the promise a new season brings, then the crack of the bat, and the fanatical cheering that follows ....... This can mean only one thing........

The 2008 MLB Season is here !!

I have shirked my duties for an entire year and I do appoligize for this, please give me a mulligan (if I can borrow a term not MLB related). I am gearing up for my annual pilgramage to Peoria AZ to watch our beloved Padres play, and so my best to give what updates I can on the future of the clubs prospects. I will be there during the time when many of our players are in China during that historic trip, so I'll do my best to get to as many players as possible, and will include as many shots of the goings on as I can.

This site is now linked with a friend of mine who is starting to break into the biz. Please check out my friend Todd Kaufman and his baseball takes at http://prosportsbeat.com/ . He was selected to be their MLB coorospondant/sports writer of sorts, and I wish him the best of luck and continued success.

Ok more to come........soooooooon..........

BATTER UP !!!

Padres Spring Training 2006

Well we made if to and from Spring Training in Peoria, AZ. We arrived early on a Thursday morning and had time to grab some lunch before heading over to the sports complex for a Padre game. As you can see mama and Dominic were ready to go.

Every year we get a picture of us with the statue of a little leaguer, and this is the first year that Dominic is getting his taken..... Next year's picture will give us a really good idea how big he's actually getting.... What a great time this simple trip is.....

Paul McAnulty is a Padre 1b and OFer, who will start the year in Portland but be brought up as needed to help fill in. He was so excited to see Dominic, that he stopped talking and signing and came right up to him and had to get a good look at the boy. Dominic was wearing a Padre jersey, Padre hat, and matching sunglasses. He looked pretty damn superfly.....I have to admit...

Dominic's first arrest....lol....This officer couldn't stop talking about and to Dominic once he saw him. It seemed to be the theme of the week for us........Everywhere we went people were stopping us to look at the little man who was just a trooper. Some people even wanted his picture, not ours mind you, just his.... lol whatever!!! He just smiled and put on his best for each shot.....We'll probably see him on some Gerber poster one day....lol

Over all it was a good trip, I'd say probably a week short, but a good trip. The weather was very nice, not too hot, and we avoided the rain, so it worked out great....

So there is only one thing left to say.....

GO PADRES !!!

The word is "Potential"

It's the potential of this years Padre team that we the fans need to look at. We all know they are just applying stop gaps until next year when the insanity of back loaded contracts comes to an end. So they went out and signed and traded for some serious veteran potential. Our lineup hasn't had a true power threat in years, and now has a few. This can be a blessing or could go down as a diseaster since the power hitters we have are all old men.

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-Potential output

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Mike Piazza 37 years old - 30+ HR's / 100 RBI / .290 BA

Vinny Castilla 38 - 25+ HR's / 90 RBI / .280 BA

Ryan Klesko 35 - 20+ HR's / 80 RBI / .290 BA

Brian Giles 34 - 20+ HRs / 90 RBI / .300+ BA

Mike Cameron 32 - 20+ HR's/ 75 RBI / .270 BA

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This is the potential of our "powerhitters" that we have to look at for this up coming year along with the young talent we already have in place like Kahlil Greene etc......... this team should score 200 more runs this year than we did last year, and if they aren't careful they will win back to back division championships...........of course that would be fine with me :)

Gearing up for Baseball season

Well it's that time of the year again. When the smell of fresh cut grass mixes with the scent of hotdogs and beer, and some guy yelling " GET Y'ER ICE COLD LEMONADE, Heeere" echos through the air.

Yes sports fans that's right........

IT'S BASEBALL SEASON.........

Pitchers and catchers start reporting over the next week, and position players in two. Spring Training camps are brushing out the cobwebs and preparring for another invasion by fanatics destine to get that "one great picture" or " one elusive autograph" that will live on in their families forever. Me personally, this year, it's a photo that I'm after ! I am going to do my very best to get a picture of my now 12 week old son taken with future Padre great Kahlil Greene. We have a nice placque of Greene suspended above his changing table along with various other sports memoribilia, however Dominic has been transfixed on Kahlil Greene's placque ever since he saw it. This wall mounted sports memory has three spots on the side now being occupied by his various rookie cards, but I plan to replace one of those with the picture I'm seeking. So wish me luck in my quest, it actaully will start tomorrow when I'm taking my family, accompanied by my buddy Chris, to Friarfest at Petco Park. Greene will be there, and so will we.......

So............... PLAY BALL !!!