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Odds & Ends: Padres, Burrell, Upton, Jays

By Mike Axisa [October 11, 2009 at 9:01pm CST]

Here's a few links to help you relax before starting the grind tomorrow...

Dan Hayes of The North County Times says that whoever takes over as GM of the Padres will inherit a favorable situation because the "40-man roster is loaded with affordable, controllable talent" and the team "should have a little spending flexibility this offseason." Plus it's San Diego, which is awesome.
Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times says that unless the Rays find someone willing to take on the $9MM left on Pat Burrell's contract, he'll be back next year. He also notes that Tampa would need to be "overwhelmed" to trade B.J. Upton, as you could imagine.
The Blue Jays will hire Nationals scouting director Dana Brown as a special assistant to new GM Alex Anthopoulos, according to Bob Elliot of The Toronto Sun. The Nats will interview Braves director of scouting Roy Clark on Monday according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman, potentially filling Brown's now vacant position.

Comments

Oh man I hope they don't steal Roy Clark away from us. He certainly deserves a shot but I selfishly want him to stay on and continue to churn out talent.

Posted by: bbxxj | October 11, 2009 at 09:17 PM

I would like to know who would be the front runners for the Braves opening in hopefully a little more then a year from now. No TP. Could Ned Yost be a candidate. I would imagine Roy could be an interviewee but i hope he has a strong understudy. Maybe Macdowell, although i don't know. who's contracts are up at the end of next year to interview? I don't know how strong Chido Cadahia would relate to the non-hispanic guys on the team, he could be a candidate (if he doesn't eat himself to the grave in the mean time.) did yost land anywhere after being let go by Mil.?

Posted by: Bravesfan13 | October 11, 2009 at 09:42 PM

The Padres 40-man roster may be "loaded with controllable, young talent", but that talent has very little in terms of ceiling other than perhaps Mat Latos. I guess Heath Bell counts, but other than Latos and Bell, none of those pitchers (Stauffer, Correia, Richard, etc.) are going to be front of the rotation type guys.

Blanks, Venable, Headley - nice players, but are any of those guys middle-of-the-order type hitters on a contender? Not in my book. Finally, while San Diego is one of my favorite cities to visit, the Padres aren't luring free agents until they build a solid base of young talent a la the rest of the teams in their division. Judging by the state of the farm system, they've got a long, long way to go.

Posted by: vtadave | October 11, 2009 at 11:03 PM

If Chino becomes the coach, I won't be a Braves fan. The man doesn't know the first thing about Baseball. I hope Eddie Perez is the manager. He knows how to manage a bullpen, he used to be a catcher, and he is hispanic... He is the perfect fit.

Posted by: Die-HardBravesFan | October 12, 2009 at 12:08 AM

Oh, well is he's hispanic then yeah, a perfect fit indeed.

Posted by: vtadave | October 12, 2009 at 12:24 AM

the Padres aren't luring free agents until they build a solid base of young talent a la the rest of the teams in their division. Judging by the state of the farm system, they've got a long, long way to go.

Posted by: vtadave | October 11, 2009 at 11:03 PM

ah that's cold dude. i'm good. there are some good young guys that are only going to be better next year. cameron you'll play for us won't you? how bout you bedard/sheets/abreu/vlad/dusch/garland/lackey/wolf?

Posted by: agonzo23 | October 12, 2009 at 12:44 AM

Pat Burrell's fall rivals that of andruw jones. Both could have been hall of famers, if their peaks had lasted a few years longer.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Burrell have an outstanding comeback next year, for some team.

Posted by: SleepyCA | October 12, 2009 at 03:32 AM

bell, kouz, n arm for bj. do it.

Posted by: agonzo23 | October 12, 2009 at 03:44 AM

bell, kouz, n arm for bj. do it.

Posted by: agonzo23 | October 12, 2009 at 03:44 AM

Since when would that overwhelm anyone? What would the Rays do with Kouz?

Posted by: jfish26101 | October 12, 2009 at 08:45 AM

I think an overwhelming package would be Blanks and Bell for 7
Upton with Pena leaving after the year or becoming trade bait to a power hungry team.

Posted by: bbxxj | October 12, 2009 at 08:59 AM

"Blanks, Venable, Headley - nice players, but are any of those guys middle-of-the-order type hitters on a contender? Not in my book."

Blanks and Headley show real promise. The problem is they are blocked at their normal positions by AGon (1B) and Kouz (3B) so the Padres are trying to make outfielders out of them.
The problem is, they need "speed" guys in the OF and Blanks and Headley aren't them.

If they can trade for a good, cheap, catcher, and one or two young, fast, outfielders, they will be in a pretty good position for several years.

I know the subject of trading Gonzalez isn't popular with Padres fans, but he could net them what they need to become a contending team going forward.

Posted by: A | October 12, 2009 at 09:25 AM

Rays need to move Upton for pitching. They will never complete with Sox and Yanks.

Posted by: rockford | October 12, 2009 at 09:30 AM

"They will never complete with Sox and Yanks."

Uh, 2008? The Rays, with their stockpile of young major leaguers plus minor league talent like Hellickson, Jennings, etc. certainly can compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. They just have, unlike the aforementioned teams, zero margin for error when shopping for free agents.

Posted by: vtadave | October 12, 2009 at 10:31 AM

Posted by: vtadave | October 11, 2009 at 11:03 PM

Blanks does look like he could be a middle of the order kind of hitter. The kid is 22 and has destroyed the minor leagues at every level he played and was looking like he found hisw stroke in the majors just before he got hurt.

Venable and headley look like they may be every day players but your right that they look more like 5, 6 or 7 hitters not 3 o4 4 hitters.

I'm guessing the Padres move Kouz, Bell and A-gon this off season and move young (if he can stay healthy) at the trade deadline. I think the team will be built around Latos, Blanks and possibly Decker in a few years.

Posted by: Steve | October 12, 2009 at 12:30 PM

I said it once, and I'll say it again.

Bell for Upton/Burrell

The Pads have some payroll flexibility, and they use it to buy low on two good players.

The Rays save more money so they can keep Crawford, and maybe pick up another FA. Oh yeah, they also get the NL saves leader.

Posted by: AngelsFan9 | October 12, 2009 at 02:42 PM

Bell for Upton/Burrell

The Pads have some payroll flexibility, and they use it to buy low on two good players.

Posted by: AngelsFan9 | October 12, 2009 at 02:42 PM

That move would work well for the Padres if they move Gonzalez and Kouz in the off-season and move Headley and Blanks to third and first respectively but I don’t see the Rays making that deal, I think they could move Upton for more and possibly move Burrell and only have to eat part of his contract.

Posted by: Steve | October 12, 2009 at 03:34 PM

angelsfan09-
you have to be mentally handicapped, how many articles in the past year have there been around the Rays have no interest in a 'traditional closer' and instead are focused on above avg bullpen arms that can get batters at both sides of the plate out. Sure you can have Burrell for Bell, but Upton, in the words of many an ignorant rapper 'you must not know bout us'. Upton last year in his worst year was more valuable than Ellsbury and has 3 more years of team control left. It will take Blanks and Bell just to get the Rays on the phone.

Posted by: CubFanRaysaddict | October 13, 2009 at 12:33 AM

Upton more valuebale than Ellsbury...LMFAO....really?? Ells has a better avg. only 2 errors and stole 70 bases this year..oh yeah, he hustles on every play and has no attitude unlike Upton...

Posted by: chowdah | October 13, 2009 at 10:53 AM

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Odds & Ends: Padres, Burrell, Upton, Jays

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