Posts tagged Bud Black at FanHouse

Special note for Fanhouse regulars: Today's Dugout is taken from a story that happened a few days ago, so if you're the type who can only process immediately new information please direct your attention to whatever shows up above this posting.

Now! Earlier this week we learned an important lesson: If Albert Pujols hits a line drive into the middle of your face and it not only doesn't kill you, but you can wake up the next morning without any mental retardation, you are immortal. Chris Young should throw himself off the side of a building to see if it stuck, and if it did, he should use his newfound powers to fight crime in the old city. Oh, and as a secondary note, if you SEE Pujols hit a line drive that hits somebody in the middle of the face, don't stand in front of him when he's trying to run. It's not going to end well for you. Just move out of the way. You might get the business from your teammates or booed by the fans, but at least you'll be able to move around for the next eight weeks.

After the jump, old news and its new lessons.

There is so much freaking room on the San Diego Padres bandwagon these days, it is kind of awkward. You could jump on the back, look around and you might not even see General Manager Kevin Towers. And with the recent news that Jake Peavy is bound for the disabled list, it should come as no surprise that there are shake-ups a-plenty coming around the bend. Assuming you base that on Towers' little post game freak out last night.

'We're bad, no question about it,' Towers said Monday. 'You can't just say it's early in the season. I haven't seen any signs in the last couple weeks that lead me to believe or our fans to believe we're going to turn this thing around.

'It's up to the guys in this clubhouse. I am certainly not going to watch this for four more months.'

[...] 'You're looking for even a little bit of progress,' Towers said. 'It's like Groundhog's Day, over and over.'

+1 for the Bill Murray reference. -10 for throwing your squad under the buss and acting like it's not your job to assemble the team. But wait, there's more!

'I hear morale is good, but I can't believe it's good,' he said. 'When you hear the morale is good, then we've got major issues. If morale is good, then they have no expectations of getting better. That's not what championship ballclubs are about.

'Morale should be horrible right now.'

What rules the shouting!!! Sorry, I got caught up in the late 90's slapstick references. Look, Towers is panicking and lobbing Bud Black's nearly fired corpse underneath the nearest set of moving wheels. It's kind of embarrassing, yeah, but what do you expect? The guy wants to protect his job.

The news just keeps getting better for the Padres, owners of the worst record in baseball, as it turns out the elbow issue that caused Jake Peavy to miss his start Monday will send him to the DL, possibly for an extended period of time.

Apparently, no one's really sure just how long he will be there either.

Manager Bud Black said the club has no timetable for Peavy's return.

"Hopefully," Peavy said Monday night, "this will be a short stint. Best-case scenario, maybe I miss a few starts."

A hiatus of at least six weeks could be more like it, based on Peavy's other stay on the DL, a six-week term in 2004 because of a tendon strain near his elbow. Peavy said this ailment is closer to the ligament than the 2004 ailment was. "That is a concern," he said.

Peavy's injury -- "short stint" and "few starts" really don't jive by the way -- buys GM Kevin Towers and manager Bud Black some more time. Yankees expected, the Fathers are probably the biggest underperformers of the 2008 season so far, and both guys are on the hot seat. Now, with the staff ace sidelined, they can at least claim some sort of excuse. It is still very likely that you see a firesale of the veteran talent and some early callups from the farm system though, as this season is basically white-flagged as of today.

Fantasy Spin: Nightmare for Peavy's owners, but you just can't do much at this point other than hold onto him. He's a Cy Young winner and one of the best pitchers in the game when he's healthy, so unless you're getting full value (you won't) or at the very least a decent return (good luck with that), trading him is not worth it, given the lack of timetable.

Major League Baseball announced the All-Star coaching staffs as selected Terry Francona and Clint Hurdle today. Assisting Francona with the AL squad will be Tigers manager Jim Leyland and Yankees manager Joe Girardi, in addition to the rest of his Red Sox staff, while Hurdle picked Padres manager Bud Black and Mets manager Willie Randolph, in addition to his Rockies staff, to help with the NL.

The selections seem completely arbitrary: as my collegue Pat Lackey pointed out over email, it seems odd that Black is getting the honor given that San Diego currently has the worst record in baseball and completely collapsed down the stretch last year. The selection of Leyland is equally confusing given Detroit's slow start.

Not to go all Dusty Baker on you here, but I tend to think that regardless of how many pitches the guy on the mound has racked up in a game, if he is throwing a no hitter, he deserves a chance to stay in there and keep toeing the rubber until either he gives up a hit, he throws the no-no or his arm falls off. Bud Black does not see things from the same point of view that I do. From his MLB.com chat with the fans, re: Randy Wolf:

crittergp: Would you have pulled Randy Wolfe [sic] yesterday after 7 innings if he had still been throwing a no hitter?

Black: Good question. Yes I would have. The reason being, first of all, Randy's pitch count was getting to that point where I felt he was being pushed physically. The early innings were quite taxing on him. Coming off shoulder surgery in September, I didn't deem it necessary for him to try to throw a no-hitter at the expense of risking a pitcher who might be tiring into his 130th to 140th pitch to go nine innings. In the back of my mind, I was hoping for a combined no-hitter, but it is so tough to throw one at any level.

Bear in mind now, that the San Diego Padres, in the history of their franchise, do not have a no hitter. And Randy Wolf would have gotten one too, were it not for those nosy Baseball Tonight kids. (Quick aside: is there anything worse than their constant look-ins at no-no's? Could you possibly jinx them anymore, Karl?)

Actually, I guess in this case, he wouldn't have. Granted, Wolf does not seem like the type of guy that's going to keep a team off the board for an entire nine innings -- especially a team like the Rockies -- but he came darn close. And Black's line of thinking is pretty reasonable actually. Wolf had 112 pitches through seven innings (with one hit, obviously) but you gotta think he'd be pretty furious getting pulled only six outs off such a huge accomplishment.

Your answers are probably no, and no for the Rockies, but yes for baseball. In Monday's live blog of the game, Mullet noted that Matt Holliday said post-game he had no idea if he touched home upon scoring the game-winning run on a Jamey Carroll RBI sac fly in the 13th. Ever the Rockie hater, Mark Kiszla led his column saying Holliday still hadn't touched home. He also offered this quote from Holliday:

"The umpire called me safe, that's all I know," Holliday said in a Rockies clubhouse drenched in champagne. "I don't even know what happened on the play, to tell the truth."

Padre manager Bud Black said he thought Holliday did touch the plate, but Black was probably still in shock that Trevor Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, had blown consecutive playoff berth-clinching opportunities. With so much riding on one call, I say instant replay was necessary to make the proper judgment.

Tim Kurkjian on ESPN argued after the game that instant replay would have ruined the great reaction and celebration in Denver. True. But the Padres got jobbed in a game they never lost. If Holliday's called out, that's a double play, and Hoffman just needs to get Hawpe out to send it to the 14th. It's also ironic that none other than Rockies manager Clint Hurdle was calling for instant replay earlier in the year. Were instant replay in effect, Garrett Atkins would have been awarded a home run in the 7th, and the Rox would have had the game-winning run taken away in the 13th.

The biggest complaint people have about Milton Bradley is his attitude: it's not a matter of if he's going to explode, it's a matter of when. The second biggest complaint about Bradley is his complete and utter inability to stay healthy: it's not if he's going to get hurt, it's when. On Sunday, Bradley displayed his amazing versatility by combining his two biggest faults into one spectacular turn of events:

Bradley reached on a two-out single, then said something to umpire Mike Winters. During the course of Kevin Kouzmanoff's at-bat, it escalated into an argument and Padres manager Bud Black came running out.

Bradley went after Winters, was restrained by coach Bobby Meacham, then was ejected. Bradley continued to go after Winters. Black tired to restrain Bradley, grabbing him by the jersey and pushed him to the ground. Bradley grabbed his right knee and had to be helped off the field.

Yes, that's right: he literally hurt himself by getting angry and defying authority. Has a player ever summed up his entire career more succinctly with one play? I'm not kidding, Bradley's entire Wikipedia entry needs to be erased and replaced with a video of this exchange: it defines his entire essence.

In case you've been blinded by Jake Peavy's incredibly stellar performance in '07, or you have a short memory, you may forget that the right-hander has been an injury concern for most of his career. While he hasn't suffered a serious injury such as Tommy John or rotator cuff surgery, he has endured several smaller injuries. Last year, Peavy pitched with a tired arm due to his participation in the World Baseball Classic and was a shadow of himself. The previous year, he pitched a playoff game with broken ribs. And in his ERA title campaign of '04, Peavy dealt with several tendon and oblique injuries. Simply put, Peavy's been working hard this year to shake the label of being a fragile, albeit dogged, starting pitcher.

So, not to get all Monday Morning Quarterback on you, but was it a good idea to jeopardize Peavy's health for a midweek series game in early September when you already have a comfortable wild card lead? It's not as if the Padres are on the outside where their only shot at the playoffs is to win the division. If that were the case, then I would understand bumping up Peavy -- you need all the games you can get against intra-division opponents in that situation. But when you're already controlling your playoff fate, and all you need to do is continue winning -- regardless of your opponent -- then why bump Peavy up? That element of the decision is what makes me skeptical.

Furthermore, now that Peavy has been bombed, his confidence could be shaken, and although he claims he was perfectly healthy and fresh for the start, he could have been tired out by it. In essence, Peavy could have ruined himself for the playoffs. I know Bud Black believes in bumping pitchers up going back to the '02 World Series. Big difference though. If it's a matter of all or nothing, that's when you bump your ace up. From what I've read, it seems like Bud Black let Peavy's desire to pitch cloud his better judgment. It's not that I disagree with the concept; I just disagree with this particular circumstance.

Just exactly what a team in a pennant race wants to hear -- that one of its best pitchers will be missing a start (and possibly more). Considering the Padres are battling with the Phillies for the wild card (amongst others), it's only fitting they would have their ace go down a day after Cole Hamels hit the DL. Luckily though, Bud Black says the injury seems as encouraging as it can get:

"They came up with a couple of spots on his back that might be the problem with the pain and soreness," Black said after Wednesday's 7-5 victory over the Mets. "He will pitch again this season. This doesn't look to be a long-term thing."

Black called the news "somewhat encouraging," indicating that Young, who leads the Major Leagues in ERA (2.12), will miss Sunday's start, though that might be the only start he misses.

"I don't think it will be a DL as of now," Black said.

The injury has kept Young from reaching his typical velocity, and is also likely a product of the oblique injury he sustained last month. This is a huge blow for San Diego considering they are hanging onto the wild card by a thin margin and that Young has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. They better hope he only misses one start, and that he's able to give them at least six innings when he returns, otherwise they'll be hard-pressed to hang onto the wild card spot.

Previously at FanHouse:
Your Latest Cole Hamels Fact: He's Hurt (But Chase Utley Is Coming Back Soon)
Chris Young Placed on DL