Baseball in Fort Wayne

Most Padres fans have accepted the reality that the next phase of the San Diego Padres will not only be a dark one, but it will not include future Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffman. Padres Ace and former Wizard, Jake Peavy will also likely be gone.

Can we say REBUILDING?

Obviously, the Padres troubled future will provide some opportunities for up-and-coming former Wizards. Look to see several take the MLB field in 2009. And look for it early. There will be many open positions, and I suspect all of them (except maybe first base) are up for grabs in an “open tryout” of sorts.

But the one we can say with about 99% certainty that will be available is the closer’s spot. Let’s look at the in-house auditions:

Padres MLB Roster: Hoffman collected 30 saves. No other pitcher collected even one. Heath Bell and Cla Meredeth had 6 and 7 chances respectively, but failed to convert. Apparently there is not anyone on the current roster is ready to step into the role.

Portland (AAA): The team leader in saves on the Triple-A level was former Wizar, Jared Wells, with 20. But he’s now in the Seattle organization (for the moment anyway). After Wells was traded, Edwin Moreno took over the closer’s spot. He collect 18 to go with the 8 he had in Double-A; making for 26 on the season. John Madden, who led the Wizards with 20 saves in 2006, pitched in releif for Portland in 2008, but had no saves.

San Antonio (AA): On the Double-A level, we find one of the most likely choices for the closer’s gig in former Wizard, Greg Burke. The Duke University grad went undrafted and signed with the Padres following a tryout camp 2006. In jus this third year as a pro in 2008, Burke collected 23 saves and a 2.24 ERA. He struck out 92 hitters and walked just 17 in 84 1/3 innings. The second highest save total on the team was Moreno’s 8 (see above). With the Wizards in 2006, Burke pitched middle relief and had no saves. Double-A to MLB is somewhat of a stretch, but Burke was invited to the Arizona Fall League and is starting to draw attention.

Lake Elsinore (High A) and Fort Wayne (Low-A): At Lake Elsinore, R.J. Rodriguez and Wilton Lopez each had a dozen saves to lead the team. Lopez had the edge in ERA, 2.64 to Rodriguez’s 4.92. And while Rodriquez might appear to have the advantage in strikeouts, with 79 to Lopez’s 26, Lopez pitched in a third of the innings that Rodriguez did (30.2 vs. 99). With the Wizards in 2007, Lopez had no saves, while Rodriguez paced the team with 18.

In Fort Wayne, the closer’s role of 2008  belonged to Jackson Quesada, who collected 27 saves, a 2.12 ERA and 79 strikeouts to 19 walks in 63 innings pitched. While he looks promizing, he is less experienced. I’ve seen more than one exciting closer come through Fort Wayne who didn’t pan out in the Majors. Matt Varner collected 34 saves in 2005. Anthony Kozol had 21 in 2002, Mike Bumstead had 17 in 2001. Perhaps the most promising I ever saw was J.J. Trujillo, who set a then Midwest League record with 42 in 1999.

To my knowledge, none of those pitchers are in any of the MLB farm systems. Leo Rosales and Dale Thayer led the Wizards with 26 in 2004 and 25 in 2003 respectively. Rosales made his MLB debut with Arizon in 2008 and Thayer is on the verge after having been a Triple-A All-Star in the Tampa Bay system in 2008. Hwoever, neither are on a track to be a closer (Thayer is probably the more likely of the two).

All that said, it’s not unheard of for a Single-A pitcher to go to the big leagues the following year. Former Wizard, Joakim Soria did so. But something tells me, the Padres aren’t going to try it. Yet, speaking of Soria, maybe it’s possible for the Padres to make their own Rule-5 Draft steal like the Royals did when they snagged Soria.

Right now, my gut is telling me we’ll see Greg Burke get the first crack at taking hte mound in the ninth inning when the 2009 season kicks off.

Anyone want to agree or tell me why I’m wrong?

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