PADRES PRESS RELEASE

Padres acquire RHP Huston Street and cash considerations from Colorado Rockies

Club designates OF Jeremy Hermida for assignment

DALLAS – The San Diego Padres today announced they have acquired right-handed pitcher Huston Street and cash considerations from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named later. In addition, the club has designated outfielder Jeremy Hermida for assignment.  Executive Vice President/General Manager Josh Byrnes made the announcements.

"We're happy to add a proven closer,” said Byrnes. “Huston is coming off three straight 20-save seasons in this division. He is excited to be a Padre and we are glad to have solidified this position."

Street, 28, is 30-21 with 178 saves, a 3.11 ERA (151 ER/436.1 IP) and 441 strikeouts against 111 walks in 417 relief outings over seven Major League seasons with the Oakland Athletics (2005-08) and Rockies (2009-11). The Texas native has appeared in 60-or-more games in five of his seven Big League seasons.  In 2011, he went 1-4 with 29 saves in 33 opportunities, a 3.86 ERA (25 ER/58.1 IP) and 55 strikeouts against just nine walks over 62 relief appearances for Colorado.

Originally selected by the Athletics in the compensation round (40th overall) of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Texas, Street became the first player from the 2004 Draft to reach the Big Leagues when he made his Major League debut on April 6, 2005 at Baltimore for Oakland.  After going 5-1 with 23 saves and a 1.72 ERA (15 ER/78.1 IP) in his first Big League campaign, he was named the 2005 American League Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.  Since being acquired by the Rockies in November of 2008, he has posted a 2.59 ERA (21 ER/73.0 IP) in 74 outings on the road, including 10 scoreless outings at Petco Park.

Hermida, 27, was acquired by the Padres off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on August 31, 2011.  In 20 games for San Diego last season, he hit .225 (9-for-40) with two doubles, one triple, one home run, six RBI and three runs scored.  Originally selected by the Florida Marlins in the first round (11th overall) of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, the left-handed hitter has hit .257 (511-for-1988) with 103 doubles, eight triples, 65 home runs, 248 RBI and 246 runs scored in 619 games over parts of seven Major League seasons with the Marlins (2005-09), Boston Red Sox (2010), Oakland Athletics (2010), Reds (2011) and Padres (2011).

Here it is the first part of December and already Ozzie Guillen got an early Christmas present as San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell agreed to a three year contract with the Miami Marlins.  Bell, who was speculated to be traded before the trade deadline last season, never got moved.  Many say that is because he would be a free agent at the end of the season, so it would be like renting a player. The Padres had better luck marketing Mike Adams who landed in Texas. The Marlins closer Leo Nunez has been found to be using a false name, hence he is not legal to be in the United States, let alone pitch. The Marlins who have be touted to be “spenders” this offseason are going to be spending nearly $9 million a year for three years for the three-time All-Star.  Bell, who a is a San Diego guy, loves the city, and lives there with his family will be moving to Miami to wear the new less than attractive uniforms.  Bell said he was happy in San Diego and was offered arbitration by the Padres just weeks ago, but he decided to pack up the truck and move to Miami, swimming pools, and Cuban cigars. (Sorry I went Beverly Hillbillies there). 

So the look of the 2012 Padres is not good. Who do they have to put “butts in the seats” next season?   Nobody.  Bell was it.  Unless the Padres sign four big name players in the offseason (which isn’t going to happen) the attendance at PetCo Park will plummet severely.  They are just barely a step over a minor league team when it comes to stats from 2011.  When 9 homeruns is your team leader, and 46 RBI the same,that is not a good thing.  Who will close games now that Bell is gone?  That my friend is the million dollar question.  Bell who took over the reigns when Trevor Hoffman left to Milwaukee, filled the bill nicely for the past there season.  In fact, he was always the highlight of the Padres organization. With Adrian Gonzalez leaving for Boston last winter, and Bell leaving this winter, who is the face of the franchise now?  Manager Bud Black, or maybe Chase Headley - who has been there the longest?  It will be a busy off season for new General Manager Josh Byrnes, who will have many sleepless nights trying to put together a squad that is well decent.  Good luck!

(PRESS RELEASE)

There were some outstanding performances this year in Major League Baseball.  However, one clearly stood out from the pack.

Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp was named the National League Stan Musial Award winner for 2011 in voting held by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Kemp received all 15 first place votes and completely dominated the rest of the voting field like he did in putting up almost a 40 HR/40 SB season for the Dodgers this year.

Coming in a distant second was Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun, who garnered most of the second place votes from the group.  Braun’s teammate, first baseman Prince Fielder, came in third.

Interestingly enough, even though Los Angeles pitcher Clayton Kershaw outpointed Philadelphia hurler Roy Halladay in the BBA’s Walter Johnson Award voting for best pitcher, Halladay received more points for the Stan Musial Award.

Over in the American League, there were more ballots cast, perhaps due to a more intriguing race.  When the dust had settled, though, Toronto’s Jose Bautista had held off Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury by a handful of points.

Bautista received eleven of the 22 first place votes and 225 total points, while Ellsbury received five first place selections and 200 points overall.  Detroit Tiger first baseman Miguel Cabrera came in third with 183 points and three first place nods.  He was followed by two of his Detroit teammates, including Walter Johnson Award winner Justin Verlander.

(PRESS RELEASE)

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs jointly announced Wednesday that Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod will leave the Padres, effective immediately, to accept positions with the Cubs. The Cubs have agreed to send the Padres a player to be named later as compensation.

Both the Padres and the Cubs intend to hold news conferences after the World Series. The Padres will announce Josh Byrnes as Hoyer's successor as executive vice president/general manager on Monday, Oct. 31. The Cubs will announce Hoyer as executive vice president/general manager and McLeod as senior vice president/scouting and player development at a date to be determined.

Out of respect for the World Series, both clubs have agreed to forego further comment until holding their respective news conferences after the World Series is complete.

(PRESS RELEASE)

You can debate whether Justin Verlander should be win the “best player in the league” award.  There was no debate on if he’d win the “best pitcher” version.

The Detroit Tiger ace was an unanimous selection for the Walter Johnson Award, given out by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Verlander was the top name on all 21 ballots, easily outdistancing Los Angeles of Anaheim starter Jered Weaver.  Weaver was a distant second, 80 points behind Verlander.  New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia came in third.

On the National League side, results were a little bit closer.  Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw beat out Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay 137-112.  Kershaw received 15 first place nods, while Halladay garnered eight.  Halladay’s teammate, Cliff Lee, finished in the show position.

Reading numerous message board, Twitter & Facebook posts from Padres fans lately has me realizing that a lot people have a severe case of DENIAL. Do you really think, that while the Cubs and Theo Epstein are crossing the t's & dotting the....lower case j's on his contract, that he's going to sit back and do nothing? Sure protocol may say that he can't call up these guys, but do you really think anyone abides by that rule? He knows the job is his and I can guarantee you that like any good business man, he has the majority of his front office team in tact with verbal agreements in place already.

Of course no one can comment on this just yet, due to said protocol. One person opens their mouth to early and it sends a ripple effect. Of course this includes Padres GM (for now) Jed Hoyer, who told Bill Center that he won't "comment on speculation". Much like I said yesterday on Facebook, the tandem of Hoyer and Jason McLeod or just Josh Byrnes will be leaving the Padres. When I met with Jeff Moorad in October of 2009 I wrote this....

First topic we discussed was the GM situation. I brought up the fact that I felt that the firing of KT was bad timing as the team was coming off a promising 2nd half. It’s almost like a step backward instead of a step forward like most people thought would happen in 2010. Like he’s said numerous times to the media he said that he wanted a more “strategic” GM instead of a “gunslinger”. He referenced Josh Byrnes over in Arizona as to the type of strategic thinking GM who plans out years ahead instead of flying by the seat of his pants each year. He wants a GM who is going to provide consistent winning baseball. I actually brought up the fact that when Byrnes took over in late 2005 the team actually got worse in his first season (2006) on the job, won the Division in ‘07 then proceeded to get considerably worse each year after (8 games worse in 2008 & 12 games worse in 2009) while also not having a single minor league team do well this year (not a single playoff berth among the entire minor leagues). He stated how injuries killed the Diamondbacks this year (Webb & Conor Jackson) & that a number of inside baseball people believe that they are going to be very good next season. I personally don’t see it considering I haven’t been to impressed with a single Josh Byrnes lead draft nor most of his top signings (Doug Davis/Eric Byrnes). And considering that the team has gotten worse each year instead of improving like young teams should be doing, but I’ll take his word on it. I then asked how the GM search was going and he sounded very positive but was tight lipped when it comes to names. To me it sounds like they’ve got the next GM picked out (my guess is Jed Hoyer will be the new Padres GM since Moorad talked so highly of Byrnes who is essentially cut from the same cloth) but need to wait until the playoffs end, but that’s just me speculating.

So the Fro's interview back in 2009 forcasted the Jed Hoyer hiring AND the Josh Byrnes love fest (not to mention eliminating the Sand unis & bringing in the grays)? Who would have thought? Tom Krasovic tweeted yesterday that Byrnes is "like a son" to Moorad and Darren Smith went so far as to call his shot.

With all that said, I would be very dissapointed if Hoyer & McLeod left. They basically just started the job & I'd like them to see their vision through. If not...well I guess let the Byrnes era begin.

What is going on in MLB GM land? The playoffs aren't even over yet and a few teams are already making changes. In a chain of events....Tony Reagins resigned as GM of the Angels, the Cubs fired Jim Hendry and Theo Epstein bolted from the Red Sox to take the Cubs job. Now what do these moves have to do with the Padres? Apparently a lot.

First of all, it was rumored that Bud Black is considered a candidate for the Angels GM job. A Manager moving to a GM role? That's just crazy talk right? Jeff Moorad even came out and said that “Bud Black can manage this club as long as he wants to,” But wait. That's where things became a little confusing for me. Instead of saying something along the lines of "he's under contract and we have not given permission to the Angels to speak with him" Moorad more or less said "we want him, but if he leaves it's not our fault" route. There hasn't even been any Black denials. Maybe there is some truth to all this. I personally think a great deal of Buddy. Speaking with him, you imediately realize how smart of a baseball mind he is. With former Diamondbacks manager AJ Hinch lurking as the Padres Assistant GM this actually doesn't seem to far fetched of an idea now.

Today, we have reports that due to Theo not being able to bring along any of his Red Sox staff, he is out on the prowl looking elsewhere. With current Padres GM Jed Hoyer, Assistant GM Jason McLeod and Head of Baseball Operations Josh Byrnes at the top of his list. It seems like no matter what, the Padres will be losing either Hoyer or Byrnes. Despite the outcome of the 2011 Padres season, I think Hoyer has done a great job as GM. He's only been on the job for 2 years and if the Cubs take him now then I think it will be a huge blow to the Padres. When Byrnes was hired, many claimed that it was all a part of Moorads plan to infest San Diego with his former Diamondback employees. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens next.

PS- This may (or may not) be a preview of the Padres new uniforms next season.....

(PRESS RELEASE)

In earlier voting this postseason by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel won the Willie Mays Award for top rookie handily while the American League race for that award was much tighter.  With the Goose Gossage Award, handed out to the best reliever, Kimbrel got to see how the other half lives, at least somewhat.

Kimbrel beat Milwaukee’s John Axford by 13 points in the votes submitted by the National League voters of the Alliance, accumulating 78 points and garnering 12 first place votes.  Axford, on the other hand, received 65 points on the strength of seven first place selections.  Kimbrel’s bullpen teammate Johnny Venters was a very distant third with nine total points.

The race in the American League was a little more anti-climatic as Detroit closer Jose Valverde gained 13 first place votes on his way to a league-leading 74 point total.  Two New York Yankees followed him in the voting, with Mariano Rivera receiving four first place votes and 56 total points while David Robertson gained 39 points for third.

It's that time again! The Baseball Bloggers Alliance get to pick their annual award winners. What is the BBA you ask? And what are these "awards" I speak of? I'm not really sure either, but the fine folks at the BBA gave me this press release to share with you.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 316 blogs spanning all 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Notably, though the Alliance’s awards come out well before their official counterparts, the BBA selections have matched those of the Baseball Writers of America in all but two instances in the past two years.  This, of course, does not include the Goose Gossage Award that is exclusive to the BBA.

The Padres Chapter consists of fellow blogs Left Coast Bias, Padres Trail (AKA The Chapter Leader), The Sacrifice Bunt, Avenging Jack Murphy, Websoulsurfer & the Friarhood. 

So now that you know (and knowing is half the battle), here are my picks for the Goose Gossage Award, given out to the top reliever (NL only).

I know football season has started already, but my mind in on baseball mostly.  Yes, my two favorite major league teams the Padres and the Angels are out of the playoff race (Angels as of Monday), but the playoffs start soon.  So who is the team to beat?  That is an easy one, the Yankees.  Are they the toughest team in the playoffs...no way!  I just hope they lose cause I can’t stand the Yankees.  Now, with that said, I hope the Phillies lose too.  Not that I have anything against them, but let’s face it, they are the National League Yankees, I mean look at that payroll.                

Beating the Phillies is easier said than done.  There are three mountains to climb to beat the Phillies.  Those mountains are named Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt, yeah let me know how that works out for you.  And the Phillies have been hitting the ball too.                

Who do I throw my support too? Even though I think the Arizona DiamondHACKs have a good team for many years to come, I am going to be cheering for the Brewers.  This is it for Milwaukee, it’s go time now or never.  Their big bat Prince Fielder said this will be his last year in a Brewers uniform, so they must win now with him being a free agent at season’s end.  Do the Brewers have the pitching?  Not really, I mean if they face the Phillies in the National League Division Series then they are screwed.  If they face Arizona or whomever the Wildcard team is (either St. Louis or Atlanta) then they have a shot. To quote Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber: “So you are telling me there’s a chance….”                

Over in the American League the Yankees, Rangers, and Tigers have solidified their spots in the playsoffs with a Wildcard race still happening between Boston and Tampa Bay.  I hope the Yankees lose in the American League Division Series (ALDS) against whomever. All my support goes to the Texas Rangers.  They got a taste of the big show last year, to only have that taste go sour when San Francisco won it.  They are out for revenge.  Do they have the pitching?  Yeah, more than the Yankees.  What about the Detroit Tigers? Well manager Jim Leyland has been around since dirt was invented and knows a thing or three about baseball.  He has a World Series win with the Marlins abut ten years ago.  They have the bats, and Justin Verlander.  Now if he was a robot and could pitch every day, they would be in good shape.  Don’t rule out the Tiger hitters.  They were ranked in the top five in the majors in batting average, on base percentage, runs, and slugging percentage.  The dudes can hit a ball.  They may just be the advantage they have in the playoffs.  The Yankees are the Yankees and have a legacy and luck on their side, I don’t see them in the World Series though.  Yes this has been one of their best franchise years with Derek Jeter reaching 3000 hits (first Yankee to do so) and Mariano Rivera becoming the all-time saves leader, but I think that ship has sailed, at least I hope so.  The Rangers need Josh Hamilton to be himself and swing a good bat.  They also were ranked in the top four in the above batting categories and have another shot to win it all.

In closing it’s baseball playoff time and I am ready.