Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Colt Morton’

I was checking

out the Minor League transactions on Baseball America and was pretty much caught off gaurd when I got to the Padres section.

What I found is that catcher Colt Morton was traded to the Seattle Mariners in return for cuture considerations. Morton was hitting just .222 with a home run and five RBI’s in 11 games with High-A Lake Elsinore. He’s been assigned to the Mariners Double-A affiliate, the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. Morton played in one game with the San Diego Padres in 2007 and nine in 2008. His Major League tours of duty includes 16 at bats with one hit and one RBI.

 The Padres have also outrighted catcher Jose Lobaton to Triple-A Portland Tuesday, removing him from the 40-man roster.  Lobaton was hitting .225 with two home runs in 27 Triple-A games this season.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Colt Morton Makes MLB Debut
• Colt Morton is Healthy and Making Most of His Spring
• Colt Morton Making His Case Known
• Barrett to DL; Colt Morton Joining Padres Roster
• Fill the Triple-A All-Star Game with Wizards
• Former Wizards Likely to Debut in 2009 – Part III

Padres catcher, Josh Bard will likely miss the remainder of the 2008 season. The Padres have reportedly decided that they will not offer Bard arbitration during the offseason and will likely non-tender him, effectively ending his tenure in San Diego. .

The means good news for former Wizards Nick Hundley and Luke Carlin. Hundley will  probably go into Spring Training as the candidate most likely to win the starting catching gig unless there is a trade or free agent signing – but either is not real likely. Carlin is likely slotted to be the backup catcher.

I gotta wonder if Colt Morton is in the mix in any fashion. Doesn’t seem real likely given that he barely got a chance earlier in the season.

With the news that the Padres will release second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and pitcher Brett Tomko to make room for Wade LeBlanc and Matt Antonelli, anyone can see that the Padres are already making plans for next year. This is the latest in a series of moves that have involved bringing minor league talent to the Padres, and many of them have included former Wizards.

I gotta think there will be many more moves in the remaining days of the 2008 season that could spell opportunities for other former Wizards, which should also make for an interesting Spring Training as the prevailing speculation is that the Padres will continue to slash payroll.

As part of a pitch to get Brian Giles to accept a trade to the Red Sox this past week, a Padres executive painted a stark fiscal picture for 2009, saying club owner John Moores might shrink the payroll to $40 million. [SignonSanDiego -August 9, 2008]

GM Kevin Towers denies this claim, but then again, he also hasn’t seen the budget for 2009 yet. Yet, the Padres already field one of the lowest salaried teams in Major League Baseball.

The Padres don’t have any large contracts on the books for ’09; Giles would be their most expensive player at $9MM unless they choose his $3MM buyout.  After that it’s Jake Peavy at $8MM, Khalil Greene at $6.5MM, Chris Young at $4.5MM, and Adrian Gonzalez at $3MM.  By my count they have six arbitration-eligible players, including Josh Bard, Heath Bell, Scott Hairston, and Jody Gerut [MLBTradeRumors.com].

There is also speculation that John Moores’ divorce is a factor that may adversely impact the team.

California is a community property state, which means Becky Moores — the soon-to-be-ex-Mrs.-John — is in play and there already are indications that player payroll will be cut significantly in 2009 (it’s just over $70 million this year). That’s why the Padres already have worked hard to trade Giles and pitcher Greg Maddux this season, positioning themselves for an early start on the payroll-shedding process [CBSSports.com].

So what does this mean for former Wizards who are trying to crack a big league roster? Certainly, the Padres are trying to add by subtracting. There’s the possibility that the Padres may try to move Khalil Greene and his $6.5MM salary, shich might provide a spot for Sean Kazmar, who made his debut just a couple weeks ago. But the rookie is now learning how to play outfield (a la Chase Headley) during this season’s Arizona Fall League. The move could merely be an attempt to get him more at-bats, or it could mean there is nowhere to play Kazmar in the infield.

Kazmar will join the Peoria Saguaros in the AFL with pitchers Greg Burke, Cesar Carillo, Mike Ekstrom, Wilton Lopez, first baseman Kyle Blanks and outfielders Mike Baxter and Chad Huffman. All of them except for Carillo are former Wizards. If Blanks keeps playing the way he has lately, San Diego may have to move him or Adrian Gonzalez or find a place elsewhere on the diamond for one of the two.

Like Kazmar, Brian Joynt, who played third this season with the Wizards before his promotion to Lake Elsinore will see time in the outfield.

Baxter will also get time at an unfamiliar position. The outfielder hit .270 with seven home runs and 47 RBIs at Double-A San Antonio and will get some looks at catcher. This season has seen three different former Wizards serve the backstop role. Luke Carlin and Nick Hundley have seen the most time between the three, which might suggest Colt Morton could be moved to another team during the offseason. the starting catcher, Josh Bard may not be around for 2009 either if the Friars think Carlin and Hundley can do the job.

Longtime closer, Trevor Hoffman has had some troubles while attempting to nail down games this year. There is divided opinion about whether it is time for a change or not. The Portland pitcher who produced the most saves this year, Jared Wells, is now in the Seattle organization (traded earlier this season). That may bring about an opportunity for Greg Burke, who will see action in the AFL and has collected 23 saves at Double-A San Antonio. Lake Elsinore doesn’t have anyone who is ready to fill that void. And while Jackson Quezada collected 27 saves on minimal opportunities in Fort Wayne, that is probably too big of a jump from Low-A to the MLB (but then again, it worked out well for the Royals and Joakim Soria).

All this should make for an interesting winter and 2009 Spring Training. There should be some names that are familiar to Fort Wayne fans on the San Diego Roster come opening day. The best part is that we have the whole month of September to see some of these great former Wizards make the most of their opportunities. Chase Headley, Will Venable, Wade LeBlanc, Sean Kazmar, Josh Geer, Dirk Hayhurst, Matt Antonelli, Nick Hundley have joined Jake Peavy on the parent club roster and maybe some others will soon follow.

When you factor in the former Wizards who are with other organizations, there have been nine former Wizards to debut at the MLB level. This ranks second only to 2002, which saw 11 prospects (including Jake Peavy and Oliver Perez) hit the big leagues. With about a month to go, I am sure we’ll see at least 3-4 more.

I’m predicting we’ll see Dale Thayer (P-Rays), Brett Dowdy (SS-Padres), David Freese (3B-Cardinals) this season.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to also see Jon Link who had 35 saves with the White Sox’s Double-A Birmingham Barons and was named the Southern League’s Top Reliever of 2009. He was one of 15 players, and the only reliever, named to the league’s post-season All-Star team and was the lone Baron selected. He was one save shy of the league saves record. But given the Sox’s playoff race, he’s probably a 2009 debut.

Anyone else have thoughts on the Padres prospective 2009 squad and/or which prospects we’ll see make their MLB debuts this season (whether they are in the Padres’ system any longer or not)?

After losing their pitcher and catcher to injuries in the same inning on different plays, you have to wonder what the Padres are gong to do for an encore. At the same time, usually reliable closer, Trevor Hoffman, has not been himself this season.

For the last few days, there has been some speculation about Padres GM, Kevin Towers, starting the process of big changes. The freak inning may have been the tipping point.

Denis Savage is reporting for MadFriars that Former Wizards pitcher, Jared Wells is expected to get a call-up from Triple-A Portland, where he “is 1-1 with nine saves in as many chances, posting a 5.85 ERA across 19 appearances.” Wells will become the 64th former Wizards player to make his way to the Major Leagues once he debuts.

He’ll be joined by Portland teammates, Mike Adams and Josh Banks and former Wizards catcher, Colt Morton, who made his MLB debut earlier in the season. The moves also saw former Wizards pitcher, Justin Germano, designated for assignment. I don’t understand that logic.

To suggest the San Diego Padres are having a bad season is an understatement. They’ve lost their last four games, have gone 2-8 in their last ten and now they find themselves 11 games out of first in their division as they sit alone with the worst record in Major League Baseball. Oh, and to suggest that the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks are playing “pretty good” would be just as equally an understatement.

You might think bright side is that they are only 7.5 games out of the wild card . . . but EVERY NL team is ahead of them. Now, I know the season is young and there’s still a chance they can turn things around; but I’ve also been a Cubs fan long enough to know when a team has lost all hope. And I am sorry San Diego fans, but you’re getting close.

I’m not one to relish miserable seasons for any team except the Yankees. But I do have to wonder if what this season has become could lead to opportunities for players the Fort Wayne faithful have seen in a Wizards’ uniform.

This season, we’ve gotten to see Colt Morton get called up . . . but he’s mostly sat the bench. We’ve also seen Justin Germano lose his spot in the rotation. But even then, Wil Ledezma was inserted instead of Josh Geer, Cesar Ramos, Wade LeBlanc or others.

I guess the fact that the Padres aren’t tapping into their minor leaguers jut yet could lead one to speculate that they are not quite ready to give up on the season, but last night, I started to think that they were taking their first steps. MadFriars reported that catcher Luke Carlin’s contract was being purchased to add him to their 40 man roster. But I am glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed that MF removed the story shortly thereafter (but it’s back so I really don’t know what’s going on with Carlin).

But now there is increased speculation that Jim Edmonds might be on his way out of San Diego. As Tim Sullivan suggests:

Maybe it signals some major moves, and in short order. Maybe it tells you that Padres management has resolved to change the story because it is resigned that it can’t change the standings.

I find it hard to believe that Michael Barrett’s eventual return and Jody Gerut (a bust with three other teams) could be the answer.

So what’s all this mean? What’s my point to this post?

I guess my point is that while Padres fans are probably downright pi$$ed about the season gone awry (and rightfully so), I have a more selfish outlook. When the Padres throw in the towel, they’ll become sellers and they’ll be opening roster spots for minor leaguers. Many of them are former Wizards. It means we might see the MLB debuts of many former Wizards.

At the same time, we might see some fresh faces in Fort Wayne as the result of trades. they’ll likely be PTBNL players, but hey, you never know when a team might give up on a Joakim Soria.

Let’s just hope they use their probable first-round pick a little more wisely than they have in their recent past.

Padres catcher, Michael Barrett was placed on the disabled list due to an elbow injury that sounds pretty rugged. The move makes room for Colt Morton, who was called up from Double-A San Antonio today.

It should be well-known that Colt Morton is one of my favorite Wizards. He made his Major League debut last September and earlier this spring, I wrote a piece about his power coming around and reporting to camp in good health.

While I don’t necessarily hope for an extended stint on the DL for Barrett, I do hope Colt gets the chance to turn a few heads and make for a very difficult decision when the times comes.

Good luck Colt!

The Padres’ Spring Training camp has a lot of players already. As one would expect given the length of San Diego’s player development contract with Fort Wayne, there are many former Wizards on hand. And, with the WBC looming, the Friars have called even more former Wizards into camp.

As Corey Brock reports:

infielder/outfielder Brett Dowdy and infielder Sean Kazmar — two players who are not on the 40-man roster — will join the team in case there is a need for bodies during spring games.

Both Dowdy and Kazmar are former Wizards. Also as expected, Kyle Blanks is going to get a lot of starts since Adrian Gonzalez is heading to the WBC:

“He’s going to get starts,” Black said. “He would have gotten starts on an alternating basis. Blanks isn’t going to play every day, he’s not going to be the Cal Ripken of Spring Training. He’s climbed the ladder to the point where he projects to go to Triple-A. He had a great year last year. He’s a guy who is approaching the Major Leagues.”

Former Wizards Drew Macias and Chad Huffman have also been working out at first and will see time there. Jose Lobaton, Colt Morton  will get looks at catcher as the team decides upon the backup to Nick Hundley, who seems to have secured the starting role. All three catchers are former Wizards.