I’m coming at this from more of a sim angle, but here are a few Padres to keep your eye on in 2008:
- Kevin Kouzmanoff — His overall numbers (.275/.329/.457) don’t jump out, but bear in mind that he got off to a miserable start. Kouzmanoff hit .309/.362/.511 from May 7 to the end of the season. Although he won’t repeat that performance, at age 26, he’s a good bet to improve on his rookie campaign.
- Brian Giles — Giles played much of the year hurt, and underwent knee surgery after the season. After returning from the disabled list at the end of June, Giles hit .268/.367/.454 the rest of the way. Assuming he’s healthy (risky proposition for a guy who turns 37 in January), expect a slight rebound in ‘08. Also, if he gets traded, his value could jump: 12 of Giles’ 13 home runs last year came away from Petco Park.
- Scott Hairston — Again, his full-season line (.243/.313/.452) doesn’t tell the whole story. Hairston hit .287/.337/.644 in 31 games with San Diego (and darned near was the season’s hero with his dramatic home run that put the Padres ahead late in Game #163). He turns 28 in May and should see a fair amount of playing time in San Diego next year. Keep expectations low and try to snag him late; you could see nice returns.
- Heath Bell — Not really a sleeper after his breakout season, but if Trevor Hoffman should falter, Bell is next in line to close games.
Down on the farm, second baseman Matt Antonelli and third baseman Chase Headley are the best bets to have an impact in 2008. Antonelli has less of a roadblock, while Headley is more big-league ready as a hitter.
Happy hunting!
Entries (RSS)
November 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
[...] Padres Sleepers for 2008 (Crooked Pitch) [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
[...] Padres Sleepers for 2008 (Crooked Pitch) [...]
July 20th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Hi,
I’m reaching out you to tell you about a tool that’ll help you increase your user base and blog traffic. We at RootZoo.com, a vibrant sports community, just launched our NewsPulse section, a constant stream of the best sports stories from all around the internet, including sports blogs, news sites, and more.
We have a few free widgets that’ll increase your exposure. Similar to Digg and other sites, when stories are voted up on our platform, they rise to the top and more users see them. Including any one of our widgets in your template will allow your readers to submit your story on our site. We also have an external widget that’ll let your own readers vote the story up in our section.
I’d encourage you to begin submitting all of your articles to the section for three reasons:
1) Free exposure to more readers and increased referral traffic to your blog.
2) Search engine benefits, leading to increased search engine traffic. These will be dofollow links, meaning that your article title will directly link to your site and the anchor text (and tags on the page) will help to build keyword relevancy in the search engine ranks.
3) The sports fans at RootZoo will really enjoy your work. I’m writing to you because I know that you produce quality work consistently and I know that introducing our readers to your writings will results in a win-win for everyone.
We have a blogging tools page that’ll make it really easy for you to include the right code based on your blog settings. Most importantly, this will give your readers (many who probably already visit the site) very easy access to submitting your articles to the NewsPulse. Make sure to select the tab that matches up with your blog type (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) and the submission process will be dynamic and easy.
http://www.rootzoo.com/news_pulse/widgets
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and we really look forward to working with you. You have a great blog that I know our readers will love. If you have any questions about this, don’t hesitate to ask me as I’ll be more than glad to help.
My best,
Bryan Kalb
Director of Affiliate Relations
http://www.rootzoo.com
‘Home of the Sports Fan’
bryan@rootzoo.com