Southern League Blog

Bear Tracks :)

2005-08-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

Kennard Jones promoted to Portland.

The Season is over......

2005-08-30T18:07:00.000-05:00

I am going to just assume tonights game vs Carolina is the last game of the year for the Baybears due to Hurricane Katrina. I thought I would share some of my thoughts on Cory Smith

1. Cory Smith

If there ever was a time for Cory to produce it was this year. A new team, no help at Portland, and the struggles of Sean Burroughs at 3rd base offered Cory the chance to move up the depth chart along with explaining his 1st round selection in 2000 by the Indians.
Going into tonights game, Cory leads the Southern League in strikeouts. He also brought along his Upton like glove to Mobile with 34 errors.
I have no idea why the Padres did not experiment with him at another position throughout the year like they did with so many other players. I am sure the errors stayed with him throughout his at bats. When you consider the year Jake Gautreau had for the Indians, both teams got what they should have expected from the trade and both players did not improve.

Jake Gautreau - 18 HR 55 RBI 37 BB 81 K's OBP .325 / 409 AB
Cory Smith - 18 HR 72 RBI 45 BB 139 K's OBP .322 / 499 AB

I will be shocked if we see Cory Smith next year in Mobile. I think he will get the bonus baby treatment. Imagine Austin Kearns playing 3rd base. Smith is durable and comes ready to play but you shouldn't see Cory in San Diego anytime soon.

A Sad Year in Mobile....

2005-08-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

With 2 home games to go, it has been a very dissapointing year at the Hank. Its not the product on the field but rather the day to day operations or lack of that is the problem. More on this later.....
I started this site back in April. The purpose of this site is to inform you about minor league baseball in Mobile, Alabama along with Southern League in general. However, I may discuss autograph collecting to daily MLB events just so I have something to post about on a daily basis.
This year I plan on keeping up with several players that will playing in the AFL and may visit us through Mobile next year. The Padres are sending Josh Barfield, George Kottaras, Rusty Tucker, Craig Breslow, Michael Johnson, and one of other player to the Peoria Javelinas. The will be sending one other player to Peoria and I have a feeling its going to be Jared Wells which wouldn't be that bad of an idea. These players will be playing along side other prospects from the Brewers, Mariners, Orioles, Rockies Organizations. Looks like Barfield and Kottaras will see some good pitches batting around Prince Fielder and Nick Markakis.

Minor League Recap 5-7-05

2005-05-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

Moving On Up:

Tagg Bozied joins Mobile

Portland Beavers 4 vs Round Rock Express 8

Top Prospect Watch:

Mobile Baybears 7 vs Montgomery
8

The Baybears bullpen blows yet another one in 8th inning this time courtesy of Natanael Mateo. Jose Oyervidez was the starter and left with a somewhat crazy statline:

4 IP 5 BB 8K 5ER 4H 1 HR

The Baybears are now 11-19 on the season and remain five and half games behind Montgomery in the Southern League's South Division.

Top Banana:

Kennard Jones 4-5 ( 1 Double ) 2 Runs

Additional Stats:

Nick Trzesniak 3-5 2 RBI
Cory Smith 3-3 1R 2BB
Ronnie Merrill 1-4 1 HR 3RBI

Top Prospect Watch:

Paul McAnulty 1-4 1BB K

Season: .305 29 Hits 7 Doubles 1 HR 14 BB 13 RBI

Visalia Oaks 4 vs Lake Elsinore Storm8

The Storm are now 11-19 on the season and remain five and half games behind Montgomery in the Southern League's South Division.

Top Banana:

George Kottaras: 4-4 1BB

Additional Stats:

Khali Greene: 3-4 1R 2RBI

Top Prospect Watch:

George Kottaras: 4-4 1BB

Season: .309 25 Hits 8 Doubles 1 HR 11 BB 14 RBI 20K

Fort Wayne Wizards 3 vs West Michigan
Whitecaps13

Fort Wayne gets hammered due to its defense giving up 7 unearned runs on 3 errors.

The Wizards are now 17-11 on the season and remain half a game behind South Bend in the Midwest League's Eastern Division.

Top Banana:

Matt Bush: 2-3 2 RBI 1 BB

Additional Stats:

Christopher Kolkhorst: 2-4 1 Double 1 R 1 RBI 1 BB

Top Prospect Watch:

Matt Bush:: 2-3 2 RBI 1 BB 1 Error

Season: .212 22 Hits 4 Doubles 2 HR 8 RBI 5 BB 19 K 9 Errors

Update on former Baybears

2005-04-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

Todd Donavan was traded to the Dodgers organization a couple of days ago for former Florida standout Brett Dowdy. He will start the 2005 season playing for the Jacksonville Suns out in center field.

Gabe Ribas was cut by the Padres and is a free agent. Check out his final blog entry on the Eugene Emeralds website.

Clay Hensley was one of the 38 minor leaguers that tested positive for steroids ( or some other illegal drug ) this week. The Padres went the extra mile and flat out released Clay and I agree with that decision because it sets an example to its players that drugs in baseball will not be tolerated.

Throught the year, I will be keeping up with former Baybears.

2005 Mobile Baybears Roster

2005-04-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

Brian Whitaker
Travis Chick
Mike Thompson
Roger Deago
Michael Bumstead
Jack Cassel
Geoff Jones
Natanael Mateo
RD Spiehs
Rusty Tucker
Dale Thayer
Nick Trzesniak
Luke Carlin
Greg Sain
Ronnie Merrill
Luis Cruz
Corey Smith
Troy Cameron
Mike Richardson
Kennard Jones
Paul McAnulty
Casey Baker
Jason Clements
Nate Sevier
Craig Breslow

The 2005 Baybears should have one of the best bullpens in Minor League baseball

Finally A Update

2005-03-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Only 16 days until the start of the season. For some reason, this off season has gone by slower then past off seasons and I have for the 1st time in a long time caught myself wishing days to go by quicker. Anyway on to some Padres transactions and tidbits that are a little bit old but will effect the Mobile Baybears Opening Day roster.....
Padre signed LHPs Matt Lincoln and Jacobo Meque, RHPs David Jolliff, Agustin Marquetti and Phillip Polanco and 3B Troy Cameron. Sold RHP Salvador Arellano to Yucatan of the Mexican League. The Padres acquired the rights to 17-year old catcher Ramon Solis (for 250K) and 19-year old pitcher Rolando Valdez from the Mexico City Tigers, and invited both to Minor League Spring Training. Padres also purchased the contract of LHP Craig Breslow from the New Jersey Jackals.
Todd Donovan will start the season at Portland and the Padres top prospects to start out with the Baybears will be Sean Thompson and Paul McAnulty. We should know more after this Thursdays cuts.

Padres Sign A Couple of Aussies

2005-02-18T00:14:00.000-05:00

The San Diego Padres are making good of use of their frequent flyer miles by signing Australian players in clusters.
Recent signings include Clint Naylor, cousin to Drew Naylor , a right-hander in the Phillies organization. Naylor was signed as a left hitting catcher whom the Padres have had an interest in through his MLBAAP Academy career. Scouted by numerous teams , the Padres signed the converted pitcher to a 6 figure sum. Naylor will not join the Padres until next year after he completes high school.
Next up is John Hussey, a lanky right handed pitcher, that choose a rather attractive 6 figure contract along with a MLB scholarship plan over a scholarship to the University of Hawaii - Hilo. He will be reporting to Peoria for spring training next month.
Along with Hussey, the Padres also signed 19 year old Riki Paewai, a right handed pitcher who uses a 90 mph fastball with control to dominate his opponents along with his 6'2 height. He will report along with Hussey to Peoria.

My 2005 MLB Playoff Teams

2005-02-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

Going into Spring Training without taking into consideration any injuries or trades from now to open day.

NL EAST: ATLANTA BRAVES
NL WEST: ARIZONA D-BACKS
NL CENTRAL: ST LOUIS CARDINALS
NL WILDCARD: FLORIDA MARLINS
AL EAST: BOSTON REDSOX
AL CENTRAL: CLEVELAND INDIANS
AL WEST: LOS ANGELES ANGELS
AL WILDCARD: NEW YORK YANKEES

I think the Tampa Bay D-Rays and Milwaukee Brewers will be the two surprise teams that overachieve and the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are the two teams that will underachieve.

Potential 2005 Baybears Roster

2005-02-10T17:57:00.001-05:00

These are just estimates as to what the Opening Day roster will look like in 2005. This will be updated once Spring training get started.

C. Nick Trzesniak
1B. Paul McAnulty
2B. Peeter Ramos
3B. Corey Smith
SS. Luis Cruz
OF. Kennard Jones
OF. Jordan Pickens
OF. Todd Donovan

Bench: Joe Gerber 1B/OF
Bench: Joe Lima 2B/OF/3B
Bench: Skip Adams 3B/SS
Bench: Mike Richardson OF/C
Bench: Andrews Pagan C

SP: Clark Girardeau
SP: Jared Wells
SP: Mike Thompson
SP: Brian Whitaker
SP: Aaron Coonrad

RP: Dirk Hayhurst
RP: Nate Sevier
RP: Dale Thayer
RP: Geoff Jones
RP: Wilmer Villatoro
RP: Javier Martinez

Closer: RD Spiehs

Players that we saw last year in Mobile that will not be back with the Baybears for sure are: Rico Washington ( Signed with the Devil Rays ), Steve Watkins ( Signed with the Indians) Chris Rojas ( Signed with the Phillies ), and Jesse Roman was released. Jake Gautreau was traded to the Indians for Corey Smith. I believe Jason Clements retired.
Two Baybears were selected in the Rule 5 draft: Josh Carter to the Phillies and Marcus Nettles to the Expos. I do not expect either one to be returned due to their potential and the clubs that they went too.

Graphing At The Hank

2005-02-10T01:21:00.000-05:00

I got into autographing thanks to my manager while working at a Movie Gallery when I lived in Hoover, Alabama. He was always powdering his cards on his break and was always asking me along with my co-workers if we wanted to go with him. One day I gave in and he took me on a road trip to Chattanooga to go get Andruw Jones and from that point on I was hooked.
I figured todays post will sorta be a geared towards autographing and some tips if you come through Mobile.
I haven't been to that many baseball stadiums outside of Alabama, Atlanta, and couple of stadiums in Florida during spring training. One thing that I can conclude from my experiences at the Hank is that the employees at the Hank are not very autograph friendly nor is the stadium itself.

The following is my typical routine on how I go about getting my autographs at the Hank:

I prefer Thursday and Friday games over Saturday games. Smaller crowds and no kids. I will never again attend a day time game after my experiences last year. They are usually promoted around some YMCA daycare event and it can be crowded. The ideal time for me to arrive to get graphs is 2 hours before game time regardless of the scheduled starting time. This way I don't have to pay the $3 parking fee. I always park in front of the players parking lot out in right field. I have found that this helps me with autographing after the game along with exiting the stadium in a timely manner. The players parking lot is not big enough to accomadate all the players that planned on driving to the game that day and sometimes they have to park right beside me. This is basically the only time that I will not have a problem handing the players a stack of cards and tell them to sign what they can. After about 45 minutes of working the players parking lots, I will then go straight to the gift store and purchase my ticket. I purchased my tickets inside the gift store because they let you inside the stadium first along with handicap people and they close it 30 minutes before game time from outside the stadium. Here is the part where you are taking a gamble. If you are visiting the stadium, I strongly suggest buying a Stadium club ticket for $ 10.00 instead of a regular ticket for $6.00 . The ushers at the Hank have been instructed to check tickets of all ticket holders in the stadium club area and if you do not have a ticket you are either instructed to stand the hold time or move to a different area if the area is full. This rule came about due to sponsors of the seats complaining about them being used even in they plan on sitting in the luxury boxes. This means the chances of placing your items in the hands of the players in a comfortable manner have just been cut in half. This usually happens on Saturday more then anything and it causes a rather embarassing situation for everyone involved.
While inside the gift store, I will purchase a roster ( I never use the Internet or teams websites for roster ) for $1 . Don't bother wasting you time on a program if you just want the roster. It saves you $ 2 !!!! They gift store usually lets you in 20 minutes before the people standing outside at the gate and with this extra time I will sign up for drawings, buy a drink, and use the restroom before the lines get crowded. I usually do the visiting team the 1st game of the series and it also happens to be the easier side to get graphs.
By the time I get to my seat, game time is about an hour away, sometimes the starters that are charting the game will be in the bullpen or dugout messing around and I will get them to sign items. Soon afterwards, the starting pitcher and a catcher along with the pitching coaching will begin to stretch and start soft tossing. If they sign then that is one less person I have to get and if they don't I understand. I will then find a seat in the middle of the visiting section on the 1st row of the stadium club section away from alot of people and wait for the players to come out. The way the Hank is set up is that the players have to walk all the way from centerfield and they have to pass you ( facing you ) to get to their dugout or the bullpen. Even if this is not my seat, the usher will let me stay long enough to get the players I need because I purchased the stadium club ticket. I will get my cards out, my balls, and all my pens so that I dont waste any time or the players time stumbling along looking for stuff. Depending on the player, I do all sorta weird things to get his attention, but for the most part, he knows what I want. Sometimes I have to wait after they toss or stretch. After about 30 minutes of this and once the kids are asking to borrow my pens, I pack up and move down to the left towards the bullpen. The visitor's bullpen is so close to the BayBear Beach and Boardwalk that you can sit down in the chairs on the board walk and hand items to the players at eye level.
I usually don't have enough time to do the Baybears and its not like I am missing anything due to how the stadium is laidout. Whether it is the booster club having a meeting along the elevated walkway the players walk along or the rolled up field tarped, the home side leaves very little room for one to graph. The bullpen is 15 yards from the fieldhouse and is to far away to shout to players if they are not paying attention. The Baybears really dont have that long of a walk to the dugout and they usually come out in clusters. Finally, the Baybears started allowing their players to chart in the luxury suites behind home plate last year that require a ticket for entrance.
Okay, the game is over and the Baybears won. Now its time to rack up the graphs the easiest way at the Hank. The opposing team bus driver has been instructed to park the team bus in the players parking lot and not to block incoming traffic. Sometimes this is not possible and the bus driver is forced to park his bus 15 yards from my car. What I will do is rush out to my car and get my stuff that hasn't been signed and wait right out side the fence or 10 yards from the bus. The last Huntsville series I got to have a rather long talk with Tony Gywnn Jr's girlfriend and got to ask her all kind of interesting stuff. While I was getting other items signed through the fence by Ben Johnson and Sean Thompson she was holding my stuff for the Gwynn to sign. After awhile I got to know the bus drivers names, and they started pointing out players for me and calling the players off the bus to sign my items.
For the bus drivers that do park within the fence, I have found out that if you do not bother anything and behave yourself , security will ignore you for the most part and let you stand out by the doors of the fieldhouse and wait for the players to comeout. I was only asked to leave one time last year and that was due to some teenage girls asking the players to do stuff beyond the call of duty and the Jacksonville hitting coach Mr. Duncan reported them.
Also, sometimes on Sundays after games, the Booster club has a dinner for the players and sometimes they allow the public to attend which is very nice and easier to get autographs.
In conclusion, it is better to do the visiting team before the game, Baybears while you are waiting for the opposing team to exit the fieldhouse, and then the visiting team again has they are walking to the bus. I hope this helps someone who plans on attending a Baybears game.

Top Ten Prospects: San Diego Padres

2005-02-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

Baseball America released their Top 10 Prospect list this week and for the most part I am in agreement with the list in regards to the players that I saw last year. Mr. Kevin Goldstein answered a question I submitted to him during his live chat so be sure to check that out :)

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/04top10s/padres.html

I am really looking forward to seeing George Kottaras in Mobile and seeing what he is all about since I have not read one negative thing about his game yet. David Luciani has this to say about him from a fantasy point of view....

" Easily one of the least known top prospects I'll list, Kottaras doesn't so much have fantasy upside as I expect he's going to have a memorable career as a consistent player who hits 10-20 home runs a year with 85-90 walks over many seasons, for ten or fifteen years maybe. Twenty years from now, there will be catchers much lower ranked here who had markedly better single seasons but I believe Kottaras will be better remembered as having the more productive career than these others. If your interest is a player's single best season more than his career, Kottaras is one of those rare prospects where I'll tell you he is not your man. In terms of the career I project, he's going to have a good one.

http://www.baseballnotebook.com/essay.asp?esource=e_122804.asp&topt=Top%20100%20Prospects%20NL%20Hitters

He also says some nice things about Brad Baker and Dale Thayer:

7. BRAD BAKER, SAN DIEGO: Once a top prospect when he was with Boston, he was sent to San Diego in the Alan Embree trade back in 2002 and he's recovered nicely from a disastrous 2003 campaign that saw him post a terrible 5.68 ERA at Double-A Mobile. His change-up is one of the best in the minors and while he's not as hard a thrower as some closers, I expect he'll one day be a quite effective one and despite the limited velocity, he's not fully developed and I do think he'll eventually be a strikeout per inning guy in the majors. When I was comparing Osoria and Baker, I tried to decide who would have the better career and ultimately went with Osoria but I believe that Baker will have the best individual season between the two but won't have the same longevity to his career. Despite that, I expect Baker's graduation to be coming this season and for him to be an effective set-up man by the end of 2006 and a closer by 2007 or 2008.

9. DALE THAYER, SAN DIEGO: He and Osoria are no doubt the least known in the top nine. Thayer had a nightmare to start 2004, allowing seven runs in his first two innings but after that, he pitched 53.1 innings with a microscopic 0.68 ERA before getting promoted to Double-A Mobile. He throws around 90 MPH and his slider has come along quickly. His stuff remains underestimated and he's one of only two in the top ten who makes it for statistical reasons as his long-term projection is coming out quite high, higher than I would have noticed normally if I didn't do long-term analysis on the numbers. Look for him to end up as either a closer or a very good set-up man with a long career. As I say, he's making this list for statistical reasons and is one of the only ones here who doesn't have "scout loved" stuff so if you're into the so-called tools over numbers, he's one to skip.

http://www.baseballnotebook.com/essay.asp?esource=e_010105.asp&topt=Top%20100%20Prospects%20NL%20Pitchers

About The Baybears.......

2005-02-09T17:16:00.000-05:00

The Mobile BayBears arrived in Mobile with the construction of new Hank Aaron Stadium prior to the 1997 season. The team used to play in Wilmington, N.C has the Port City Roosters and were affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. We inherited the team from Wilmington, N.C. after the Southern League decided that playing on a college campus was not working. The ballpark, named after baseball's all-time home run king and Mobile native Hank Aaron, was built through the cooperative efforts of BayBears owner Dr. Eric Margenau, Mobile Mayor Mike Dow, and the Mobile City Council.
The BayBears, who have been affiliated with the San Diego Padres throughout their history, reached the playoffs in each of their first two seasons and won the Southern League championship in 1998. Hank Aaron Stadium used to be the the crown jewel of the Southern League but has recently been surpassed by the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium, and when it is finished Mississippi Braves Stadium. One fact that I will just throw out there: The Stadium is named after Hank Aaron and was built where he used to pick blackberries as a child. Over its 8 year history, Mr Aaron has only visited the stadium 3 times and I find that both odd and sad at the same time.
The Mobile Baybears have had a PDC ( Player Development Contract ) with the San Diego Padres throughout their history. The current contract was extended until 2006. From what I hear, the Padres are very generous to their affiliates and this kind of relationship is essential to the success of a Minor League team.
Last year, I did some research on my own while attending games and getting autographs. I have come to the conclusion that the average Baybear fan is not happy with the term "Baybears" . I have no clue why they choose that name or what exactly a bear does to be considered a Baybear. I imagine that is had to do something to do with the team wanting to present a positive image in a city that has some pretty high crime areas ( Think Washington Bullets of the NBA) along with thinking that it would pretty easy to market. Sadly, fans are more likely to buy a Atlanta Braves item in the gift store then a Baybear item and this can not not be a good thing. I have not seen one item sporting a Baybear logo that screams that I got to have this and that is something that needs to change. From the start, a lot of Baybear fans were worried that the team owners and front office would have voted to not rename the team and would have simply called the team the Port City Roosters because Mobile is considered a port city and it would have made sense somewhat. I have no clue if they have ever considered changing the name " Baybears" or even if the tax payers ( The Fans ) had a say so in the naming of the Baybears in the beginning. I would welcome the name change however.
Finally, a lot of fans that attend Baybear games have no clue that they are watching the future of Major League Baseball and the Padres. The Mobile Baybears are the Double A team for the San Diego Padres and I think AA baseball is the best level of the minor leagues to watch. The players on both teams are usually the teams Top Prospects and you are watching them when they are young and still in awe of playing professional baseball. You don't see this at the AAA level. One of the reasons why I like the Mobile Baybear being associated with the Padres is for the mere fact that the Padres for the most part use their minor league system the way how it was envisioned to work in the beginning. They have used their prospects to obtain missing pieces over the last couple of years ( Although, the Brian Giles trade made end up being the worst trade of the decade ) Over the past couple of seasons I have watched Jake Peavy, Sean Burroughs, Khalil Greene, and Freddy Guzman in Mobile before they went on to success in the majors. My view of how a farm system should work is that your AAA team should consist of minor league talent that is good enough to compete at the major league level and take the parents team place is something morbid happen to the pro team like a plane crash. The players at the AAA should be that good , but for the most part that is not the case and a lot of AAA fans are not getting the best bang for their buck like I am at the AA level. I have never attended a Single A game in my life, but I do know for a fact that the talent is no where near what you will experience at the AA has a whole. For the most part, the Padres are a small market team and should be dependent on their farm system to plug in holes from free agency. I imagine watching a Yankees minor league game is not the same knowing that their is a very slim chance that they will ever put on a Yankees uniform.

Welcome To My Blog

2005-02-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

1st , let me state that this board is in NO way associated, supported, or endorsed with the Mobile Baybears, San Diego Padres or Major League Baseball. All subject matter posted is my own thoughts.
Hello, My name is Chris and I am a huge Atlanta Braves fan. After reading that, you may be wondering why in the world I have associated my blog with the Mobile Baybears whose parent club is the San Diego Padres. The answer is really simple. They are my home team and the closest thing I have to experiencing a major league baseball game unless I want to request a four day weekend from work and drive 6 hours to Atlanta. I have another tidbit to share. The Padres are not even my 2nd favorite team. That title goes to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the American League. However, the 3rd team that I follow when the season is in session is the San Diego Padres and that is where the Mobile Baybears fit in.......