Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez will eventually end up with another club, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The reality of a seven- or eight-year deal at more than $20MM per season in a market as small as San Diego remains a long shot. If Gonzalez, who is under contract through 2011, reaches free agency, he'll be preferred over fellow slugger Prince Fielder, who is also in that free agent class. Let's see what else Cafardo has for us..
- Orioles infielder Ty Wigginton's right-handed bat and versatility make him attractive to the Yankees, Reds, Rays, and Angels. Wigginton likes playing in Baltimore but wouldn't mind being in a playoff race.
- A major league source wonders if Roy Oswalt will get too picky about to which teams he would approve a trade. We've already heard that Oswalt won't approve a trade to the White Sox or Tigers. One talent evaluator says that Oswalt can succeed in the American League.
- That same talent evaluator told Cafardo that Ted Lilly will encounter problems with a move to the American League. Therefore, he would make more sense for a team like the Mets, who are said to have interest.
- Twins catcher Joe Mauer has been playing through a few undisclosed injuries, in part because he feels the need to live up to his enormous contact. The club has been dangling catcher Wilson Ramos in a trade for a prime pitcher but they're now less inclined to deal him due to concerns about their franchise player.
- The Red Sox watched Mark Prior throw in Arizona, but a team source says that they won't sign him.
How many “pieces”, can Cafardo possibly have on Adrian this year? Take a nap.
“How many “pieces”, can Cafardo possibly have on Adrian this year?”
365.. its not a leap year is it?
Adrian is staying a Padre IMO. They’ll pay him what he deserves and is gonna bring SD a championship.
Sarcasm? You do realize their payroll this season is $37.8M, right?
Oswalt is too picky. Detroit or Chicago has to be better than pitching for the Astros as of late.
I’d love to see San Diego lock up Adrian for the long term. You know what you’re getting from him every year, and he’s one of the only guys who hits great in that ballpark. I really want to see these small market teams start to spend some money and have their star players stay with them instead of just ending up in NY, Boston, Philly, Chicago, etc. This team has been solid in the past and the division is always winnable so they should try and make a good run for the next few years.
I think Gonzalez will eventually not be a Padre. San Diego has to develop a new technique to stay competitive in a small market (Might want to look at Twins, Rays, and A’s.)
Where does this “small market” stuff come from when talking about San Diego? San Diego is the 8th largest city in the US… bigger than San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Denver, and Seattle, just to name a few. Are these cities “small market” as well?
That’s a great point, but a ton of the revenue comes from TV deals. I’m guessing that, while San Diego’s population is larger than those cities, their TV ratings are drastically lower….probably because unless the Padres are playing well, there’s a hell of a lot more to do in San Diego than, say, Detroit.
Because San Diego’s draw is limited to… San Diego County. You have the Dodgers and Angels to the North, and the Diamondbacks to the east. That combined with a lot of transplants living in San Diego makes for a relatively small market.
Right. There’s no SeaWorld in the Detroit.
8th largest market whose attendance averages 53% of capacity. Also, comparing the SD market to SF and Boston is really not even an apples to apples comparison. SF is a 7 square mile city whose metro area provides a gigantic portion of the fan base. Same goes for Boston in relation to the New England area. Small market is a descriptive term that incorporates more than just the population of the city the team resides in. Look at Oakland…the coliseum is roughly 15 miles away from AT&T Park and they are consistently labeled a small market team.
And as Soxman noted, the Padres have competitive forces going against them such as someone preferring to gaze at gorgeous women in bikinis on the beach rather than taking in an afternoon ballgame.
San Diego is actually 28th largest market in the US (as opposed to largest cities). It is pretty far below most of those markets you mention.
I’m thinking its possibly because, similar to what the Angels were, they are a “small market” team because they “think” like a small market team. Since Moreno took over the Angels is there any doubt they are no longer a “small market team”? Conversely, Frank McCourt seems to run the Dodgers like a small market team, shedding payroll and not signing any (or very few) “stars”. How long will it be until they are labeled “small market”?The point I am trying to make is that in a lot of instances owner’s use the “small market” label as an excuse not to spend money on their team, and I feel San Diego is doing just that.
Odds are, the Padres deal Gonzalez this winter or next year, getting a legitimate OF prospect that is near-ready for the majors, then they slide Blanks to 1B, as they had originally intended.
Also, the Twins need to call Ramos up to back Mauer up NOW. If he’s playing through injury to live up to that contract, he’s going to get hurt and never live up to it.
Bring Ramos up, and give Mauer a few days of DHing or days off altogether.
The Red Sox should sign Prior to a contract. Make it full of incetives so if he doesn’t give you anything than it was worth a chance. He used to have really good stuff and even if it’s not as good anymore he can still learn how to pitch and mix it up and be an effective pitcher.
And why would Lilly encounter problems in the AL? He held his own just fine before signing with the Cubs, and his best year was in the AL East with Toronto when he posted a 5 WAR year.
Could be because he throws in the mid-80’s these days, with not a great deal of movement on his breaking pitches. It’s one thing to pitch against offensive power houses like Pittsburgh and Houston; quite another to take on the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox