the dump's sportslog - baseball analysis |
|
|
Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.
syndicate us (XML)
the other site thedump.org baseball resources aaron's baseball blog at home plate bambino's curse baseball america baseball blogs baseball interactive baseball junkie baseball musings baseball news blog baseball primer baseball prospectus baseball-reference batter's box bronx banter clark & addison clutch hits cub reporter dan lewis dick allen's dodger thoughts doug pappas blog dugout dollars elephants in oakland espn.com - mlb for rich or sporer futility infielder game chatter hardball times humbug indians report jeremy heit's julien's mike's baseball rants mlb center my d-rays blog newberg report no pepper only baseball matters replacement level rich's baseball beat rob neyer seth speaks some calzone the prospect report the raindrops the transaction guy transaction oracle twins geek universal blog uss mariner wait til next year will carroll's offseason GM recaps Baird(KC) Bavasi(SEA) Beane(OAK) Beattie(BAL) Beinfest(FLA) Cashman(NYY) scoreboards espn.com mlb.com talk to us matt barnard dan stein write to us matt barnard dan stein general feedback buy these books book of bball lineups moneyball nbjhba win shares blogroll us Archives 
|
3.08.2003
Phil Nevin out indefinitely Obviously, this is disappointing for the Padres and their fans, as Phil Nevin is an All-Star caliber player who helps that team a lot when he's playing up to his capabilities (as opposed to last season). As he's no longer a young player at 32, there's some question as to whether or not it's in anyone's best interests to have a guy who the organization has so much invested (4 years, $34 million starting in 2003) in diving for batted balls in Spring Training games, as was the case here, but I guess that's a moot point now - he did and the damage is done. In truth, the Padres are pretty well prepared for this kind of situation with the embarrassing amount of quality of corner mashers they have on the way up. This article (the one linked to at the top of this entry) indicates that the man to fill in might well be Xavier Nady, which doesn't sound so bad to me. Nady got in 85 games (315 AB) at AAA Portland last year and posted a line of .283/.329/.422 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs after smoking A-ball at Lake Elsinore earlier in the season (to the tune of .278/.382/.580 with 13 homers in just 45 games). Basically, if he's not ready now, he's probably not far off and is plenty capable of handling left field from a defensive standpoint. If this injury gives the 24-year old Nady an opportunity to develop and prosper at the major league level, there's something positive to take away from this. Of course, I'm not advocating the Padres hand him the job...but let him go out this spring knowing he's got a shot and let him win it. Brian Buchanan's also a reasonable option to give an everyday job in left. Slated to be the Padres' fourth outfielder to open the season, Buchanan put together a nice stretch for San Diego last year after coming over from Minnesota, posting a .293/.363/.543 line (admittedly in just 102 plate appearances). At 29, there's not much to indicate he's ever going to be much more than what he is now, but it seems perfectly reasonable that if you gave him 500 at bats (not that I'm saying this is the best move) he could hit you close to 30 homers and post a line somewhere in the ballpark of .260/.335/.470. Either way, the Padres should be able to handle Nevin's injury. That's not to say that they'll be able to replace the level of production he gave them in 2000 and 2001, but it's certainly possible his replacement(s) could get pretty close to the unspectacular .285/.344.413 line he posted in 450 plate appearances a year ago. Let's hope he's back as quickly as possible. - |