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“Padres Fans-Keeping Score at Home”

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The wheeling and dealing continues, unabated, and so does the losing. This is San Diego Padres baseball as we know it today.

General Manager AJ Preller continues the trade merry-go-round.

The latest to exit, outfielder Melvin Upton, his contract, his attitude, his homeruns, his strikeouts. He and 16M cash going to the Toronto Blue Jays for a Class A-pitcher. We have lots of them around these days, Hansel Rodriguez, with high upside in the low minors.

It’s the fourth major trade of an established player by Preller in less than a month.

James Shields and 27M cash went to the White Sox in the deal for Class A-second baseman Fernando Tatis and former first round pick pitcher Erik Johnson.

Drew Pomeranz was dispatched to the Red Sox for Class A-pitcher, Anderson Espinoza, who like others, can bring the heat, at least in Class A-ball.

Fernando Rodney was sent to Miami for Class A-pitcher Chris Paddack, who has really impressive numbers, then again, in Class A ball too.

Preller’s Plan A to fix the ailing franchise didn’t work. The wild December 2014 treading frenzy brought in Matt Kemp and Wil Myers, then Justin Upton, relief ace Craig Kimbrel, Melvin Upton amongst others.

Now we are on to Plan B, and this has been expensive.

The Padres scorecard reads like this:

Melvin Upton for Rodriguez doesn’t look like much value right now, for scouts say the pitcher is years away.

Fernando Rodney for Miami’s Paddack looked good, till the young pitcher came off the mound with a forearm injury last night in Class A-ball. Again, a big distance between Class A and Petco Park.

The price they paid to rid themselves of James Shields was terrible. Fernando Tatis is very young, and in the lowest rung of minor league baseball.

Ditto for the Red Sox prospect, Espinzoa for Drew Pomeranz.

Granted, the mid-winter trade of Craig Kimbrell looks like a win-win, for outfielder-Manny Margot, and 2nd baseman Carlos Asuaje look close to being major leaguers, and pitcher Logan Allen and shortstop Javy Guerra are still to be developed.

Joaquin Benoit went to Seattle for young pitcher Enyel DeLosSantos.

And Yonde Alonso is at first base in Oakland, while young pitcher Jose Torres is excelling, but then again, in Class A-ball.

Two years into his tenure, Preller has only 5-veterans left on the roster he dealt for. Wil Myers, Matt Kemp, Jon Jay, Christian Bethancourt and Brandon Mauer.

He dealt away 14-veterans players in all these deals. Yonder Alonso..Seth Smith..Yasi Grandal…Rene Rivera..Cam Maybin…Jedd Gyorko…Will Venable..Alex Torres…plus the five most recent veterans shipped out.

Gone too are 13-of the more promising players in the farm system, a bunch of whom are on major league rosters now. You recognize Joe Ross, Treu Turner, Jessie Hahn, Zack Elfin, Casey Kelly, Jace Peterson, Mallex Smith, Matt Wisler, Rymer Liriano, RJ Alvarez, plus minor leaguers Joe Wieland, Max Fried, Dustin Peterson.

So that’s 27-players moved in all types of deals. Not a fire sale for sure, but no fireworks at Petco Park for a couple of years.

Preller has acquired what Baseball America calls “11-hot prospects” in all these transactions, and all but one are in the Rookie Leagues or Class A Ball.

Granted ownership let him spend 89M to sign 16-international players, plus 36-draft picks in the last month, and enormous investment, and a bigger ‘leap of faith’ to the deal maker.

The Padres decision to jettison most of their veterans, gives hope to the future, but what about today, tomorrow and a year from tomorrow.

We turn to August 1st with a team fighting to stay out of last place. Since the day they fired Bud Black and began this roster purge, Preller’s product is (85-113) with 60-more games left in the season. None of the haul of young players they got in all these deals, will be here on opening day of next season, so 2017 might well be like 2016.

The immediate future doesn’t look good. Down road yes, but getting from here, to there, a pennant contender, looks a long way off.

Let me be the first to congratulate Preller on becoming “Minor League Executive of the Year” for all his blue-chip Class A-acquisitions. His major league franchise doesn’t look very good does it.

You’ll be keeping score at home with alot more losses than wins for the near future. It’s the Padres way right now.

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“Cubs Win-Cubs Win-Cubs Win”

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I can still hear him in my heart, Harry Caray, the Hall of Fame Voice, shouting “Cubs-Win-Cubs Win”.

Of course he’s been gone awhile, and the Cubs didn’t win all that many games of importance while he was barking it out of the WGN booths at Wrigley Field.

But the Cubs did win with the early Monday morning trade to acquire Cuban relief ace Aroldis Chapman, and his 105mph fastball out of the bullpen, from the Yankees.

Chicago has bats, and the Cubs have arms, in the rotation, and now a rocket man coming ut of the pen to save games.

Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and John Lackey. That’s a pretty good four man rotation to run out there in the pennant race. Add Kyle Kendrick as a super utilityman, and last year’s 30-save guy Hector Rondon, and that’s alot of talent.

But Chapman is from another galaxy, solar system, with all world heat.

Keep in mind those bats are really something, from Kris Bryant to Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist to Addison Russell, Jason Heyward to Dex Fowler, and the host of catchers they have.

And the Latin American alumni chapter at Wrigley Field is impresive too.

What is most amazing, GM-Jed Hoyer and President Theo Epstien have made deals, and haven’t moved any of the crop of cornerstone young players off the roster.

Aside from the Starlin Castro trade with the Yankees, the Cubs still have Jorge Soler, Javy Baez, Aris Alcantra, Kyle Schwarber, Pedro Stropp and Wil Contreras with the big club. And they still have a sugar-cane truckload of prospects in the system.

They’ve been building for this World Series run for a long, long time. The Curse of the Billy Goat covers lots of years.

Now they have a pitcher with a lightning bolt arm as a closer.

More now than ever, fans at the end of games can shout “Cubs Win-Cubs Win-Cubs Win” and have it really mean somthing. Harry Caray would love that.

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“This-That & The Other”

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Padres..When you figure out this team, let me know. they have a really poor record, have spent the season trying to find the daylight while in the basement, are trading away many of their veteran players, and yet they have 17-wins this year against teams that were in 1st or 2nd place.

Padres…Must tell you, am very disappointed when I hear Padres players tainting comments about the trade deadline of welcoming a deal to a pennant contendor, especially when some of them are making the kind of money they are making and are out of the pennant race again.

Dodgers…I don’t know how they survive this loss of Clayton Kershaw, likely headed to back surgery. Hyun Jin-Ryu is on the DL with elbow issues. Chris Hatcher, the setup man is gone. Brandon McCarthy is ailing. Bud Norris is not very reliable. There’s nothing left at Oklahoma City to trust.

Angels…Everyone I know was rooting for Tim Lincecum in his comeback, but reality is set in. There is no oomp to his fastball. The hip surgeries have takena way his mechanics. In his last 24-innings, he has given up 30-runs, 50-hits, and allowed 63-base runners.

Chargers…There are two storylines to pay attention too. Joey Bosa is still unsigned. The club should pay him much of his 17M bonus money upfront. It’s the way business is being done these days. The agent is wrong if he thinks he can break new ground and get a team to get rid of off set language in contracts.

Chargers…Mike McCoy wasn’t to blame for that (4-12) debacle of a season..but he needs to be in the postseason this year to retain his job. When you have a potential Hall of Fame quarterback and your franchise has won just 1-playoff game in 7-years, from Norv Turner to McCoy, the current status quo cannot be any longer acceptable.

Chargers…Surprised at the UT poll on the Stadium situation that so many people have worked so hard on. Only 30-percent of San Diego voters polled say they will vote yes on the Stadium referendum-hotel tax increase. 40-percent say they will vote ‘no’ and 30-percent don’t know. And there is growing resentment over downtown-vs-Qualcomm, with only 26-percent wanting downtown and a high 66-percent favoring the Q-sight.

Rams…They are the first NFL team to open camp, with rookies rolling in on Tuesday, and vets reporting Thursday. Coming in, is the 1st pick in the draft, quarterback Jared Goff. Back for his second year, is bright young running back Todd Gurley. Then there is a pretty good defense. And of course , 70,000-season tickets for home games this fall.

Media…A good game gone off track on television. The Padres have a superb TV broadcast package, led by Dick Enberg and newcomer Don Orsillo. Sunday’s telecast was poor, with fill in Jesse Agler working with Mark Grant. Too much ‘ha-ha’ non baseball stuff. Way too much talk. Let the game breathe. and speaking of ‘bad’, the Padres social hour telecast is is filled with really poor content, inside jokes, and pandering. Talk baseball, there are a thousand stories in the naked city. Too much noise.

Media….Is there a better writer with a better grasp of all things Olympics, with opinions on the matter than the UT’s-Mark Zeigler? Exceptional coverage. He should be the LA Times lead Olympic guys.

Media..The UT hired a cub reporter Rob Harms to cover Gulls hockey. He sat in the pressbox watching ACC-basketball games on his computer, not really covering the AHL team very well. Now he’s gone back to the Carolina’s. The UT didn’t do a very consistent, nor quality job, covering the team. There are hockey writers in this markete they could hire.

Media….the AHL Gulls deserve a better radio deal than they had on ESPN-1700, which you cannot hear. Making fans listen off your website wasn’t very satisfying. The broadcasts need to be better.

Media..Congrats to Todd Leonard for exceptional coverage of the British Open, and all things surrounding the week of Phil Mickelson in Scotland. His byline was featured in the LA Times.

Media..Good Luck to Todd Adams, ex-Assistant Sports Editor at UT..now at Detroit Free Press….Jay Posner, with more resources, now running sports staff, with chance to have his guys do more enterprise stories than ever..

Media..Congrats to friend John Kentera, for job well done running the San Diego Sockers as GM, and good luck heading to work as an Administrative Assistant to classy agent John Boggs. The coach, bird dogging players, sounds good to me.

Media..Josh Lewin, who has been doubling doing Mets baseball on radio, and Chargers games, as an out of towner, moves West, swapping out baseball to do UCLA football and basketball this year.

Gulls…Will be interesting to see what they do in goal this year. Last year’s starter, John Gibson, became the parent Anaheim Ducks starter. Then veteran Anton Khubodin, who drove them into the AHL playoffs, signed with the Boston Bruins. Ex-Montreal goalie Dustin Tokarski, coming off a knee surgery is under contract, but they need more, unless they are bringing back veteran Matt Hackett.

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“NFL Removes Doctor-Too Little-Too Late”

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Chargers and NFL fans need to do one of two things. You need need to get a copy of the controversial book “League of Denial”, that traces the history of the NFL concussion crisis, and the lawsuit that triggered a 935-Million payment to retired players.

Or you need to get access via Netflix or other sources, and see Will Smith’s acting performance, in the very controversial movie “Concussion”.

Just to refresh your memory as you glance at the couple of stories written this week about Dr. Elliot Pellman, the longtime New York Jets lead physician, who was forced out by the league as head of their “Concussion Committee”.’

Pellman has been at the center of the lawsuit filed by retired players, over the NFL’s treatment, or lack of treatment, of players who suffered concussions, dating all the way back to the 1970s.

Pellman, who was the personal physician of then Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, was named to head the committee, that supposedly did all types of research, or so they say, and came to the conclusion, there were no inherent dangers to players suffering concussions in games.

He was part of an NFL paid team that authored 14-different white papers on brain trauma, and fought off the insinuations of the doctors, who discovered CTE, the tau protein, that showed signs of impending brain damage.

Pellman was not a neurologist. He stone-walled, and stood firm as a 30-year NFL employee, that players were not in danger, going back on the field and playing.

And because of that public league stance, we saw the tragic suicide of Mike Webster, the death of other Steelers offensive lineman, the more recent suicides of Junior Seau, Dave Duerson, André Waters and so many others.

It was only thru the efforts of the research team at Boston University, we discovered 90-of-94 deceased players, whose brains were studied, had concussions and had CTE, and died early deaths because of all that trauma.

You may feel good now that the NFL has settled the lawsuit, is funding on-going research at Boston University, and has set aside money as payments for players with Dementia, Alzheimers, brain damage,personality disorders, ALS, and more.

Money is also set aside for the families of players, who killed themselves.

But don’t feel good yet, for not one penny has been paid to the ailing, ill and in some cases, near-death players yet. It is still tied up in courts and law offices.

Pellman leaves the NFL, not necessarily disgraced, for he was never blamed by the league for mistakes. They hid behind the theory that modern sports medicine helped determine what CTE was, and what tau protein was, and what was happening to players, who got hurt.

Of course, if you buy that, then you also bought the tobacco industry about no connection to Lucky Strikes and lung cancer.

Life will go on. NFL camps will open. Players will continue to get hurt. The league will tell you stats that concussions are down, and rule changes are in, to help and protect the players.

But what they want you to forget are the families who lost fathers, and husbands, brothers and sons to suicide. They don’t want you to see the players with acute mental and physical problems now, the aftermath of the big hits.

And somewhere this morning, the retired, forced-out, Dr. Elliot Pellman gets up in his life of retirement and will go golfing, for all is well in his life. Not so for the suffering players of his era. How he, Paul Tagliabue, and even Roger Goodell can stand in front of a mirror and act that all is well in the NFL is beyond me.

Go find the book on Amazon. Go find the movie to watch. Tell me you believe the NFL, then, or now. The doctor removed doesn’t solve the hurt so many have. Removing the doctor was too little-too late.

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“Dodgers Blue-New Meaning”

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It doesn’t get much worse than this, especially when you are amongst the rich and famous, and have tried to do so many things right.

In a span of 24-hours, the Dodgers lost 4-pitchers, to a wide variety of injuries.

A certain death-blow to their pennant hopes, which had been on the edge all season long, because of prior injuries and surgeries, and long rehabs.

Clayton Kershaw, as great an arm as modern day baseball has seen, is down again, and now the rumblings are back surgery may be coming to solve a herniated disc situation, he has dealt with over the last four weeks.

An equal to Sandy Koufax, and the more moderrn Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, he has been an iron man as a starter for the Dodgers.

The statistics are staggering.

Pick any season, and they flash in neon lights.

Look at the career totals, (125-58) with a 2.39-ERA, (1,891-strikeouts) in (1,732-innings).

This is a huge loss, though pitchers have come back from disc issues.

The devastating Kershaw news came hours after pitcher Hyun Jin-Ry went back on the disabled list, with elbow problems, after just 1-start. This after 7-months or rehab work to recover from shoulder surgery, with its starts-stops-setbacks. They fear he may never be the same pitcher again.

Add to that the loss of setup reliever Chris Hatcher with an oblique, and the elbow surgery for a bone spur to ex-Braves pitcher Alex Wood, who has never been fully healthy, and this seems close to a death blow to Los Angeles in hopes of chasing down the first place Giants.

Starter Brett Anderson is still having his mail sent to the DL, not having recovered from his own arm surgery a year ago.

The Dodgers may be rich in payroll budget, they may have money to burn, based on the contracts they have eaten with all their failed Cubans, or the money paid to players they no longer wanted (Matt Kemp), but there is a limit to the adversity a franchise can handle.

They have young arms coming. Julio Urias is here, but is being monitored at age 19. Jose DeLeon might be the next to join the big roster.

And of course, with the trade deadline coming soon, they are rumored shopping up and down Yasiel Puig, in a package deal, to get a front line pitcher.

LA may be the 2nd biggest market in the country, may have the deep pocketed owners, but they can take only so many hits, and they have.

The atmosphere at Chavez Ravine probably is colored “Dodgers Blue”, but it has a different meaning now, than before.

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