Padres get Piazza

J.R. Hudson

J.R. Hudson

Spirit Animal
So my Padres get Mike Piazza at $2M and an $8M Option in 2007.

Now, I love Piazza. I've been a fan of his his entire career but he has not had a productive season since 2002 where he only hit .280 but had 33 dingers.

The Padres have always sucked and have a talent for picking up so called Marquee players '...they think can still contribute.'

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And as far as the Padres being Defending National League Champions ? They got lucky they were in the **** division
 
Piazza needed to be in the American League so he wouldn't have to play a position. His best days are past him but I'm sure he'll contribute something offensively. The league will run wild on the Pads, though. :thumbsup:
 
The sad thing may be I just might have to become a fan of another team. In the almost 30 years I've been a fan they have done absolutely nothing:

World Series titles: None
NL Pennants (2) 1998 • 1984
West Division titles (4) 2005 • 1998 • 1996 • 1984
Wild card berths: None

Now, 1998 was thrilling. Very exciting and only to be followed up by a firesale and last place finish the next year. The fact is; their ownership has always sucked, their management has alway sucked.

I don't know

The Mets have always been cool, Boston. Maybe the Nationals. PAdres jst annnoy every single year.
 
It's never been a secret that I eat breath and sleep Yankees baseball. Growing up in the Bronx I was hand fed Yankees stories at bedtime. I was pissed when Piazza's agents were looking at the Yankees because we really don't need him, but I'm really suprised to hear that he went to an NL team.

The Padres are going to be a good team in '07, you have two really strong prospects who have a lot of potential at short and catcher.

The NL west is going to be really weird this year. LA got stronger, San Diego is sort of on the fence, and San Fran is a huge wild card. If Bond's returns to his horse sperm shooting form and leads the league with a .937 OBP then they have to go to the #1 spot. It's going to be a great season...

For the record, my preseason predictions:
AL East - NYY
AL Cen - MN
AL West - Oak

NL East - NYM
NL Cen - STL
NL West - LAD

Wild cards: I pick Chicago in the AL and Atlanta in the NL (ironically, this is what I picked last year also...)


EDIT:
By the way, we're 17 days from pitchers and catchers reporting
 
I'm a long time Dodger fan. LONG before I ever moved to Southern California. It was Koufax/Drysdale that turned me into a fan and somehow I just stuck with them, especially after I move here. The Padres have always been a tough opponent for the Dodgers. I don't like American League baseball...designated hitter sucks, period. But if I had to pick an American League team, it's always been the Red Sox. I was always a Yaz fan. The '67 World Series was a heart breaker. Then they played in the Greatest World Series ever against the Red in '75.
 
TheYankee said:
For the record, my preseason predictions:
AL East - NYY
AL Cen - MN
AL West - Oak

NL East - NYM
NL Cen - STL
NL West - LAD

Wild cards: I pick Chicago in the AL and Atlanta in the NL (ironically, this is what I picked last year also...)


EDIT:
By the way, we're 17 days from pitchers and catchers reporting
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Reasonable picks. I think the White Sox will repeat in the AL Cen, though. And even with the amount the Mets have improved, it's incredibly hard to bet agains the Braves.

Spring Training can't get here fast enough. Imagine, no sports since October :evil:

John - it was about time you discussed a REAL sport. :thumbsup:
 
Last season after the acquisition of Beltran and Pedro (who I still can't bring myself to like) I picked a NY NY subway series. Obviously with the Met's pulling up the rear and my Yankees late start on the season that didn't happy, but once again this year I'm thinking a NY NY subway series.

On a different note: last season my father and I went on a road trip to 5 ballparks in five days. We just got done planning our trip for this year, and while we originally were going to go check out the west coast stadiums, I've always wanted to go to the BBHOF, so this year we're going to cooperstown and then catching the Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday Yankees / Indians series at the stadium...

I'm so excited, but it's still five months away (fly out on June 10th)
 
By the way, I think they way over paid for Piazza with the option year. I think he was really hoping for a 2-3 year deal, but only an AL team could do that because Piazza needs to be a DH. Honestly, prior to the Thome trade I thought Piazza would end up with the ChiSox. I think the teams who should have looked more seriously at him are MN and Tampa. Tampa could have really used his experience with all those kids down there and MN has good pitching, but Hunter's health is a huge question mark and they could use a decent bat.

The funny thing about Piazza is he has never been a good catcher. He can call a game but his arm has been weak for a long time and he isn't putting up the offensive numbers he once did. That all being said, I played catched in college (back when I still had a right knee) and Piazza has the best swing plane of any player since Donnie Baseball (Mattingly, for non baseball fans).

If you watch Piazza come through the strike zone his shoulders are always level, and he moves his wrists through the strike zone just ahead of the head of the bat. This helps him turn on an inside pitch. The other thing that a lot of people don't give Piazza credit for is his ability to take the ball the other way. He actually brings his wrists through faster and leaves the back head back and can bloop it.

The other cool thing about Piazza is early in his career he used an interlocking pinky grip to leave a small gap in his fingers and the bat, this helped him bloop it over the shotstop. As he became more of a power hitter he changed his grp.

(Yeah, I'm slightly obsessed with baseball)
 
TheYankee said:
He can call a game but his arm has been weak for a long time and he isn't putting up the offensive numbers he once did.
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I watched him here in LA. His arm has ALWAYS been weak. That was the rap on him, he couldn't throw out runners. But he's gotta be the greatest hitting catcher ever.
 
Blaine said:
But he's gotta be the greatest hitting catcher ever.
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Statistically, yeah, he has a lot of jacks. The problem with him is his arm and knees.
I can only imagine the pain he has from 20 years playing on those knees. I played from 6-21 and I've had five surgeries and am always in pain.

LA is set up nicely with Normar playing for free to try to build back up his reputation. He's going to be a great utility person for you, in fact, I wish that we had gotten him.

Last year Piazza wasn't much, about 400 AB's and .250 BA. The worst part was his OBP (I've become a Moneyball fan) at like .300.

Then again, lots of players go through slumps, two years ago I was cursing our $100M contract with Giambi and I'm actually sitting here rendering stuff for my sci fi wearing his jersey.

EDIT:
Actually, I just noticed that Piazza did have 19 long balls last year. I'd say in a part time utility position in the NL (time split between off the bench PH, maybe 30-40 starts at catcher, and maybe 20+ starts at first base) Piazza will get about 200-250 AB's and should hit about .250-.260 with 12 HR's. You heard it here first!
 
Yeah, I'm renderng some stuff on a long short I did a while back. There's a lot of hope here with Colletti and Grady Little running things and all the new players. Some good decisions were made this year.
 
I stil think if you had allowed that Kimberly or whatever woman to become the first female GM in baseball then the Dodgers would have been the talk of baseball
 
Yeah, Kim Ng. She worked for the Yankees for a while. But it's better to be talked about for the talent on the field and not because of the sex of the GM. She probably would have done a fine job and she DOES deserve a chance. I guess it just wasn't her time.
 
She worked in player development for the Yankees, but I think that the sex of the GM is an important issue. The LAD could have paved a new frontier in promoting her, but I agree that it may not have been her time.

Either way, on paper, who do you think the strongest team is going into the season?
 
I love baseball Blaine ! But tennis for me is a true gladiator sport (More on that in a moment). Now I found more people to talk sports with !

Ya know Yankee; I have heard that about Piazza his entire career (The average catcher part) and I have always felt that not a good rap on Mike.

He is definately the best hitting catcher in the history of the game. Piazza was a Rookie of the Year, a career .989 FPCT and all this from the last player drafted in 1988 !

Think of Mike's offensive numbers and the venues he's played in. Not like he's been hanging out at Coors Field his entire career. The year he was runner up to MPV Larry Walker; neither team went into the post season that year and the Dodgers had a better overall record than the Rocks.

Look at Ivan; the perrenial GG

Granted Ivan has played in like 200 more games than Mike but look at thier fielding percentages .912 Ivan and for .926 Mike; This being Total Chances and putouts. Mike leas this category ! Not bad for someone who can't make the throw !

Mike does have some error issues though:

Ivan makes an error every 15.747826086956521739130434782609 games played while Mike makes one every 12.903225806451612903225806451613.

However, this suddenly seems neglible after 1000's of games played.

I bring up Ivan purely for Gold Glove comparison. Anyway; underrated I always thought. (Yay! Baseball is coming !)

My favorite memory ? When Clemons threw the broken bat at him; that was a tense scene there ! I was hoping Piazza would bum rush Clemens and break his ass in two ! What a great series that was! So much closer than a 5 gamer would indicate.

My son is just starting T-Ball this month so it's been fun lately getting out there and shagging. I played 2nd base (With some minor stints at Catcher, 3rd and Short) until I was 19 and then suddenly stopped playing for no reason whatsoever.

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Tennis? One of the true mano e mano sports with no coaching; just you and him. So cerebral and so intense. Every point so crucial. So much pressure. So many combinations of power, finesse, speed and grace within a matter of seconds ! Tennis rules !
 
TheYankee said:
Either way, on paper, who do you think the strongest team is going into the season?
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My heart wants to say the Dodgers but realistically they're improved but certainly not the best on paper. Year in year out the Yankees seem to have the best team money can buy. Did I mention I don't like American League baseball? The Mets are probably the most improved over the winter but I don't see them as the best on paper. And I think we got the better of the Seo/Sanchez trade, although I HATED losing Tifany. That may come back to bite us. Somehow I keep coming back to the White Sox. With their pitching (the Yankee's biggest weakness) it's hard to bet against them.

John_Hudson said:
Granted Ivan has played in like 200 more games than Mike but look at thier fielding percentages .912 Ivan and for .926 Mike; This being Total Chances and putouts. Mike leas this category ! Not bad for someone who can't make the throw !

Mike does have some error issues though:

Ivan makes an error every 15.747826086956521739130434782609 games played while Mike makes one every 12.903225806451612903225806451613.

However, this suddenly seems neglible after 1000's of games played.

I bring up Ivan purely for Gold Glove comparison. Anyway; underrated I always thought. (Yay! Baseball is coming !)
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Offensively, no doubt about it. He's the best. You can't just look at statistics for defense. Ivan was just able to do so many things behind the plate. Mike throwing ability was his Achillies' heal. I was terrible watching other teams run at will against us. A catcher with an arm like Ivan affects the game in ways that Piazza couldn't. To begin with, the pitcher can concentrate on the hitter more because they know their catcher has a gun. With Piazza, the pitchers had to be hyper-aware of the runners. Beyond the arm, Piazza defense was pretty good but give me a canon behind the plate. :thumbsup: And, of course the ability to call a good game.

btw, I played catcher from the 7th grade through HS.
 
Nice take Blaine. You're right. Runners dont advance so easily against Pudge.

I wonder how Mike's production would be if he played outfield or 1st his entire career ?
 
The White Sox did give up El Ducque though. Let's not forget that he's the one that got them through that bases loaded situation with the Red Sox. They also added Vasquez, which bothers me. This guy has such a good reputation, but has never delivered.

Piazza's production if he had been a 1st baseman all his life, that's hard to say. He would have had a harder time getting to the big leagues because catchers are always in demand. He might have had a longer career had he not caught, but instead of being an exceptional offensive catcher he would have been an average player.

Either way, I'm still amazed he went to the NL.

Now regarding Pudge, the guys got a cannon and is one of the best all around catchers in the game. I think the same of all the Molina brothers, but the problem with the Molinas is that their offensive is inconsistent.

In general, my take on baseball (from a playing and coaching little league perspective) is you want a catcher for defense. You want him to throw out at least 75% of all running attempts (that's a minimum) and to keep passed balls to an average of 1 for every 45 innings caught. Catchers are your defense, but a catcher also needs to be the smartest guy on the field. He is the one who researches the other team and calls the game. In that regard, Piazza is a great catcher.

The ultimate problem is that catchers like Piazza and Possada are also called upon to produce offensively. If I am a GM I will take a catcher who can give me 140 games and hit .200, 60rbi, and 8-10 jacks a year. That's my idea of a good catcher.
 
John_Hudson said:
I wonder how Mike's production would be if he played outfield or 1st his entire career ?
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Who knows, John? The guy has/had a monster bat. I've got to believe he would have brought that same bat with him to a different position, but who really knows what forces he used to motivate himself coming through the Dodger organization? Catcher was his ticket to the bigs. He may never have made it all things being equal at a different position.

TheYankee said:
In general, my take on baseball (from a playing and coaching little league perspective) is you want a catcher for defense. You want him to throw out at least 75% of all running attempts (that's a minimum) and to keep passed balls to an average of 1 for every 45 innings caught. Catchers are your defense, but a catcher also needs to be the smartest guy on the field. He is the one who researches the other team and calls the game. In that regard, Piazza is a great catcher.
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I am in agreement about the importance of a cather's defense. I would gladly give up offensive production from a catcher to get the defense you laid out. Of course, it doesn't hurt if a catcher can provide a little punch. While Piazza is the best offensive catcher of all time, both Pudge and Johnny Bench were GREAT catchers. I would take either over Piazza because of their defensive abilities. Bench revolutionized the position of catcher. How many players can say that about their position? Bench at catcher, Ossie Smith at shortstoop and Brooks Robinson at third base.

Piazza would have had a longer career at another position, and should have changed earlier in his career but he got caught up in the number game. On the other hand, he may have toiled longer in the minors had he played a different position.

TheYankee said:
The White Sox did give up El Ducque though. Let's not forget that he's the one that got them through that bases loaded situation with the Red Sox. They also added Vasquez, which bothers me. This guy has such a good reputation, but has never delivered.
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I think the White Sox still have perhaps the strongest team on paper, maybe the Cardinals (I think they may be a bit weak on the mound) but we know games aren't won on paper or at least ONCE in the last four years the Yankees would have taken home the hardware. :thumbsup:
 
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