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“Padres-Clothes Make the Man-But Not the Team”

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GQ Magazine lays it all out infront of you. The lattes in men’s fashion clothing…the snazzy suits, the color combo ties, the plaid shirts, the pointed dress shoes.

GQ should do the same to major league baseball’s wide array of uniforms.

Ah the great debate this summer, the Padres uniforms, and its choice of colors.

Not a lot of debate of losing streaks, who’s hot-vs-who’s not, not even trade rumors, or trade reaction to the Brad Hand to Cleveland deal.

No it’s about uniform colors.

The Padres began life with the ‘Taco Bell’ look. Brown and Mustard yellow.

Sometimes the design layout was acceptable, many times it was not.

It was followed by brown, with pinstripes, and then brown and white with yellow and orange piping.

Then came the blue uniforms, in all shades of blues, and different lettering depending on the year.

We had blue-white-orange, a nice touch. Blue pinstripes, with orange piping, In fact, the snazzy look was the one team wore when it went to the World Series.

That was followed by a wide array of bad blue choices.

Blue and White.

Throwback designs from the old Pacific Coast League days.

Blue and Sand colored piping, with road uniforms that looked like pajamas..

We fast forward now to Blue and Cream White, a rather bland look, almost equal to the bland last place teams the fans have had to endure’

And now ownership is deep into debate with fans in focus groups, about ‘bringing back the brown’. Brown and gold, maybe brown pinstripes, but surely not chocolate brown and mustard yellow.

The Yankees and Dodgers designs go back to the 1930s. The Cardinals birds on a bat dates to the 1940s. The Giants colors and script have remained the same. So has the ‘swinging red socks of the Red Sox.

I personally like the Blue-White-Orange pinstripes. A bit of a Yankees look, but color included.

What I’d really like to see would be a first place team wearing the new uniforms.

Tony Gwynn wore all the colors in his Hall of Fame career. It’s the man in the clothes that makes the difference.

But I guess I can ask for only so much in any given year from the people at Petco Park.

Clothes make the man, maybe. Better players would make for better baseball in San Diego, regardless of whether it was dressed in brown, blue or whatever.

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Padres-Logos & Colors:

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“Golf-Where Are We Going?”

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The British Open is over, and the end result was really anti-climatic.

The course didn’t play all that tough. The weather, that normally blows in off the North Sea, never arrived.

The stars we are accustomed to seeing dominate, didn’t.

The Who’s Who we are normally used to seeing atop the leader board, were placed by the Who’s That?

Whether they like it or not, it appears a changing of the guard is happening in Pro Golf, and it’s not good. Not good compared to what we have experienced.

Francisco Molinari won the Open going away, the first Italian ever to win a Grand Slam event.

He stood strong as some of the other new names wilted under the pressure.

The kids Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner fell apart in the final round.

But maybe the bigger story is what’s happening to the bigger names we have all come to watch, follow, cheer for on the tour.

Tiger Woods had a rock solid 4-days, and in fact had the lead as he teed off for the 11th hole, but promptly self-destructed with bad iron play. But a 5th place finish is credible considering all he has been thru. He doesn’t seem capable of dominating a tourney ever again. Good player but greatness gone.

Phil Mickelson never got rolling, and you wonder if he will ever, ever win a golf tourney again. Personality counts, but game day play just isn’t the same.

Dustin Johnson may have been ranked number 1-in the world, but his streaky play continues. He didn’t even make the cut.

Jason Day, a former number one ranked star, has battled back problems, and seems a shell of what he was just two years ago.

Jordan Spieth had health injuries, and is not the dominant player many thought he was about to become a year ago.

Rory McIlroy’s wrist injuries seem to limit his dominance, some weeks good, others not so good.

Anybody seen much of Bubba Watson lately?.

It’s just a weird feel.

Look at the leaderboards on the final round of the tourney’s this year, and you need players to present their ID cards at the door.

2018 has given us these winners: Armour…Cook….Steele….Catlay….Kizziri….Kodaira….Wise.

Know any of them? No.

For the sport that gave us Byron Nelson and Sammy Snead…..the Golden Bear and Arnie’s Army…..Sevie and the Shark….plus Phil & Tiger…..this feels and looks like a very different time on the Pro tour.

Maybe another superstar int the sport will emerge before the end of the tour schedule.

Who that is remains to be seen. Because now the fans are not just yelling ‘in the hole’…they are also uttering ‘who’s that?’.

It’s what the PGA Tour is about to become.

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AJ Preller Comments-Padres-Indians Trade

Francisco Mejia-Report to AAA-El Paso
We like the bat…defensively behind the plate
Can play 3B-OF…but still as catcher
Scouted in Arizona Fall League all thru spring
22-year old switch hitting catcher
Huge arm-can swing bat-will work on defense

Mejia bat-combination of hitter and power..gap-to-gap
Good hitter could grow into power hitter
50-game hit streak-demonstrates lots ability
Switch hitter-moves ball around-does not strike out

Cleveland was adamant they had to have 2-pitchers for Mejia
Quality for quality trade.

Will take new few weeks to evaluate at El Paso
Take a look at him at AAA at catcher then decide on callups
Want him to catch everyday in PCL.

Mejia wants to catch-he is a positive-headstrong confidence-ability
He knows he is a hitter first..but knows he can catch
Any thoughts 3B-OF are down the road-want him to catch at El Paso

Austin Hedges-we think a ton of him-flashed all ability we’ve seen
This was a value trade for a premium prospect-those are hard to find
Mejia gives us lots of options at positions
We have two of best catchers under 25-years of age
This is a down the road trade

Scouts looked at comparable prospects from other clubs
We have been scouting Mejia since spring training
Spent 10-days talking with Cleveland
We valued Mejia as best prospect of all teams talked about

Brad Hand gave us consistency in his performances over 3-years
No longer skeptical how good Hand would be
Kirby Yates becomes a closer for now
Our scouts have found bullpen pitchers over the years-will do again.

Brad always had talent-hi draft pick with Marlins
Found a home working with Andy Green-Darren Balsley
Always had stuff-had to find consistent role
Grew as talent from waiver claim to All Star
We gave him opportunity..he made most of it.

Jose Castillo-Matt Strahm will have opportunities to step into roles.
We have arms in AAA-AA that will get a look over 2nd half of year
We are looking for next Brad Hand-Adam Cimber

Yes we will have questions for 40-man roster in off season.
Confident between now December will manage 40-man roster
We will have lots of discussions of deals prospects for major leaguers
Industry views our minor league level with respect.

We have fruitful system-quality players coming
Want to ber realistic-won 5-series in a row
Focus big picture goals-what we see in the system
More young players coming last two months
Big league level is what it’s all about-but we know big picture.

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“Dodgers Blue–Lots of Green”

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The rich get richer in baseball, because they have the money.

The Dodgers outbid 4-other teams, and traded for Orioles All Star shortstop Manny Machado.

They fill a gaping hole in the infield, created when Corey Seager needed elbow surgery early in the year.

Somehow, the leadership of the last place Orioles, didn’t get any ready-made major league players for Machado, in the final year of his contract. Maybe that’s why Baltimore is some 42-games below .500 in the standings at the All Star break.

They settled for 4-prospects from Class A ball, and a Triple A-journeyuman infielder.
Do you know how far away Rancho Cucamonga is from Baltimore? And I’m not talking miles, I’m talking talent.

How could Baltimore make a deal that did not include a cornerstone young major leaguer. LA still has P-Walker Beuhler, OF-Yasiel Puig, OF-Joc Pederson,, OF-Alex Verdugo, and P-Julio Ulias. The Orioles got none of them in the package.

They wound up top rated young OF-Yusniel Diaz, a .300-hitter with 20-homers, and highly regarded in Class A. A Cuban prospect who was given a 15M-signing bonus package a couple of years ago.

The Birds also got Class A-pitchers, Dean Kremer (5-3)….P-Zach Pope (1.04-7 saves)….3B-Ryan Banner (.296-20HR) ….and veteran AAA-3B-Breyvic Valera.

The deal looks like armed robbery in LA.

Of course the Dodgers will have to find a way to sign Machado to a big free agent contract extension, shelling out big money to him, much like they will have to. to keep iconic pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers have a history of being bold at the trading deadline. Last year they traded for Texas P-Yu Darvish in a deal that cost them top young outfielder Willie Calhoun. Dervish helped get them to the World Series, but then went down in a flames, got hurt, and left for the Cubs as a free agent.

Prior to that, LA made deals a couple of a years ago at the deadline for starter Rich Hill and outfielder Josh Roddick from the A’s for two top minor league pitchers..

LA’s deadline trades include deals for Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, all in deals with the Red Sox in years gone by..

No one has forgotten the arrival of Manny Ramirez, in a short rental, that was spectacular acquisition. You remember Mannywood in Hollywood?

Insurance policy pitchers Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson were also LA late additions in other years.

It’s the law of the land. Big money clubs, willing to take on salaries, made these type of deals to drive home a chance to go deep into postseason. It drives home the brutal disparity that still exists in the game, big market-vs-small market. The 197M payroll LA has compared to the 75M the Padres put out on the field.

The rich get richer, and the poor, in this case the Orioles, get poorer. So do a lot of other franchises, who cannot compete at this level, including the swing-and-miss Padres, whose mail is still being sent to ‘last place-National League West’.

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:Baseball-If I Were King”

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The All Star Game was about big plays, Home Run Derby, the Futures Game, and the leaders of the game sounding off.

Tony Clark, head of the Union, and Commissioner Rob Manfred both had lots to say yesterday about the state of the game.

I will have my say now about what they’re saying.

DESIGNATED HITTER…..Makes alot of sense to me to have the DH in both leagues. Some will argue same rules in the game for both the NL-AL. I say there’s no excitement in having National League pitchers, with a combined batting average of (.077) coming to the plate eight times a game. The DH allows you to keep great players in the game (Albert Pujols) to do one thing hit, even if they cannot do other things, fielding, very well. Why not add 15-quality veterans to NL rosters. Makes the game better?

THE SHIFT…..Alot of barking about what analytics have done to the game, never more so than the defensive shift. Five years ago, it was employed 2,400 times in a season. This last year, the shift was employed 36,000 times bymajor league managers. And hitters, against the shift, hit a combined (.234) last year. It’s taken some of the electricity out of offenses.

HOW TO CHANGE IT…Do you ban it completely, I would, but baseball is talking about allowing a 3rd infielder to stand behind 2nd base, and the 1st and 2nd baseman cannot be on the outfield grass. Maybe all three fielders have to be on the dirt, and no one in the outfield. This will be debated, unless you outlaw it completely.

PACE OF PLAY….The :20 pitch clock is coming. The new rules to speed up the game, linmiting mound visits, cutting time between half innings, has worked. The games, that were at (3:05) last season are at (2:59:30) this year, and the games seem quicker. Adopt the minor league pitch clock, that is working down there, up here and further refine the game.

PITCHING CHANGES…Cannot tamper with anything that interrupts the strategy of the game. You cannot outlaw the Bruce Bochy rule (use 3-relievers in an inning)…just like you shouldn’t outlaw pitching matchups (lefty-vs-lefty) things like that. Managers have only so many arms in the bullpen, don’t tamper with how they use them.

25 MAN ROSTER….With the injury factor growing, especially with pitchers injuries, shouldn’t baseball consider a 26-or-27 man roster for the entire season. It helps with the wear and tear factor for sure. especially with staffs likely to go to twelve pitchers for team. And the Union should be happy, two more major league roster jobs per club, that’s 60-new jobs a year.

40 MAN ROSTERS….Who cares how many are on your protected list. Expand it to 50 players on the protected list, so therefore you can call up and send out players, without the juggling act of putting guys on waivers. It halps GMs do their job, and gives managers more access to players. Look at the DL list, (Angels have 17-on theirs) and tell me it wouldn’t make the job better for front offices and players.

EXPANSION….It should come, but building stadiums have to come before expansion comes. MLB needs to be in the stadium construction business like the NFL. Pro football’s G-3 loan funds have helped alot franchises get stadiums built. MLB needs to be a partner to solve the A’s-Rays crisis in Oakland and Tampa, the expand to 32-teams..

EXPANSION CITIES…..The economy and life is different in Quebec now, and Montreal would be an ideal city. So possibly would be Portland and Charlotte. Now everyone wants to pile into Las Vegas. Mexico City seems a long shot, but it is a huge market. But the economy, the culture, and the safety issues all need to be evaluated. And of course (see last paragraph) the prospective cities have to get new stadium. Nobody wants to go back into Olympic Stadium in Quebec, and Azteca Stadium does not work in Mexico.

DRAFT PICK TRADES…..MLB is different than the NFL-NBA-NHL. You cannot trade draft picks. You can legislate laws, you are trying to legislate intelligence in baseball? Why not allow picks to be traded for veteran players? Makes the game more interesting. Helps teams that want veteran players. Allows others to stockpile young talent, that may or may not develop.

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