6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

On July 31, 1997, the White Sox executed their infamous White Flag Trade, which signaled their surrender of that season. Sending Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernández to the Giants, the Sox got a number of quality players that, three years later, helped them to a division pennant. But at the time it was viewed by Chisox fans as throwing in the towel at a time when the club was a scant 3.5 games back of Cleveland in the standings. That's pretty depressing, but there are times when you must recognize that "win now" is futile.

The Cubs are well past that. And as my friend Al Yellon has repeatedly observed, the Cubs persist in running minor leaguers out in spring training well past the point when other teams normally would have reassigned them to minor league camp. All true, yet I see a certain, limited, possibly delusional amount of method to Theo Epstein's madness: it strikes me that a couple of things are possible, and maybe both simultaneously:

• He has no faith in the 25-man roster, and so wants to see what the next generation is capable of against major leaguers.
• He is showcasing minor leaguers most likely to figure in trades.

It seems to me the second is much less likely than the first, given the Cubs are widely known to be in rebuilding mode, but if you are going to post a throw-in, why not give him some exposure? A risk worth taking, in other words.

If that was the point of today's outing for Hunter Cervenka or Neil Ramirez, it did both a brief glimmer of good, and therefore the team; but the frustrations of the 2014 Cubs are quite obvious. It strikes me likely they will lose 100 games, which will set a postwar record for that franchise of losing 90 games or more three years running for the first time. (The last time they had done that was 1928-1930.) It is genuinely disturbing that one of the game's marquee clubs should get beaten down so; but the world is different since Theo took over the club, as this Grantland piece ably demonstrates. While I remain a Dodger partisan in the National League, I am here with my wife to watch the Cubs, and root for them. We count the days until they return to competence.

MLB.com box

Labels: cubs, padres

It's been a long offseason, and I've felt little to nothing newsworthy to write about; the Angels moves are largely an afterthought of two consecutive offseasons of disaster, between the Pujols and Hamilton contracts, with only the former ending before the decade does. Whether, as Matt Welch intimated in his writeup in this year's Baseball Prospectus, this is the fault of owner Arte Moreno or of GM Jerry Dipoto, the contracts are now inked and indisputable and due, sunk costs. It is not insignificant that the Angels have two of Grantland's 15 worst contracts in MLB.

But it is now Go time for the Dodgers. If the Angels have bad player deals, it is because their shiny new Fox Sports contract enabled them to spend stupidly and big. The Dodgers decided they needed to one-up the Angels, and in an effort to do so, launched their own cable TV network. In this, they followed the Yankees, who created YES Network in 1999. But, as happened in San Diego (also this), and to a lesser degree, Houston, the Dodgers now find their own greed locking them away from the fans they claimed they wanted to reach.

The cable operator is optimistic that it will have wide distribution by the time the Dodgers' regular season starts March 22.

"We're coming off a tremendous season and interest in Dodger baseball is at an all-time high," Time Warner Cable Sports President David Rone said.

But that may be wishful thinking.

Many distributors are upset about being pressured to carry a new sports network in a region that already has several similar channels, including not only Prime Ticket but also Fox Sports West, Pac-12 Los Angeles and Time Warner Cable's SportsNet and Deportes.

"It is really hard to understand why everyone needs their own channel when they didn't need one before," said Andy Albert, senior vice president of content acquisition for Cox Communications.

Those channels, along with ESPN, cost customers as much as $20 a month whether they watch them or not. The Dodgers channel threatens to dramatically increase that figure.

I will not be surprised to learn there is a considerable amount of pushback among the cable operators, who weary of downside cable-cutting should prices escalate too high. And there are signs that we have reached the moment of collapse.

Joe Kennedy, the bootlegger and patriarch of that political family, famously got out of the stock market when even cabbies and shoeshine boys started giving him stock tips. So we begin to suspect the jig is up on cable TV networks when the likes of icon YES Network sells itself to Fox. Why might they do such a thing?

One of the next things on the YES Network's to-do list is to negotiate a new carriage contract with Time Warner Cable, one of the largest cable operators in the New York metro region. Time Warner Cable has said the channel's distribution agreement is about to expire.

Some have speculated that the negotiation process could be ticklish because Fox and Time Warner Cable have clashed in the past. Fox lost the rights to televise L.A. Lakers and Dodgers games after Time Warner Cable agreed to pay the teams substantially more than Fox had been paying.

In other words, the Yankees still get the benefits of operating a RSN without the headaches of having to extract revenue from cable operators. This, to me, is the rats leaving the sinking ship -- with the Dodgers viewing such a ship as their salvation. One expects one of those views will prevail, and it isn't the Dodgers'. Well, it wouldn't be the first time the Bombers proved better than the Bums.

Labels: angels, astros, dodgers, padres, tv, yankees

Alex Taberrok at Marginal Revolution tries to sell the standard-issue cable TV spiel that non-sports consumers aren't being ripped off by cable TV pricing practices:

Here is where the LA Times and the others go very wrong – they reason that $30 of the $40 charged is due to sports so each person is paying $7.50 for football ($7.50*4=$30) and $2.50 for Top Chef ($2.50*4=$10) and, therefore, the Top Chef viewer is being ripped off because 3/4 of their bill is going to support programming they never watch!

...

Conceptually it’s much clearer to say that each person is being charged $10 for the programming that they most want to watch.

Yet this does not change the underlying truth that the bill is still what it is! More of a sports fan's bill goes toward the things they prefer to watch, while less of someone who likes "Top Chef", say. The LAT article can be found here:

So far, people seem willing to pay. But the escalating costs are triggering worries that, at some point, consumers will begin ditching their cable and satellite subscriptions.

"We've got runaway sports rights, runaway sports salaries and what is essentially a high tax on a lot of households that don't have a lot of interest in sports," said John Malone, the cable industry pioneer and chairman of Liberty Media. "The consumer is really getting squeezed, as is the cable operator."

A key concern is that the higher bills driven by sports are being shouldered by subscribers whether they watch sports or not. National and local sports networks typically require cable and satellite companies to make their channels available to all customers.

"I pay $98 a month for cable and half of that is for sports?" said Vincent Castellanos, 51, a fashion stylist who lives in Los Feliz. "I've never once gone to a single sports channel. I wasn't even aware I was paying for it. I want my money back. Who do I call?"

As much as Taberrok might like to elide this, he can't ignore what's happening in San Diego with the Padres, which is a precursor to the whole house of cards falling down.

Labels: padres, tv

I have nothing to add to this; the offense stank, though it is worth noting in passing that both Ryan Langerhans (shoulder, injured trying to field John Baker's double) and Vernon Wells (right thumb, sliding into second base in the second) are likely candidates for the disabled list, and neither player flew to Oakland. Perhaps that's a net positive, given that this blog's official position is that Wells needs to be cut, and Langerhans had little or no value on either offense or defense. Gosh, you mean the Angels might be forced to run Bourjos and Trout and somebody else (*coff*Mark Trumbo*coff*) out there in the starting lineup? Wow.

The Angels lost this one, predictably, in extras. I missed the ending. The Angels are back in the division cellar where, sadly, they belong. Does Mike Scioscia need firing? I can't tell, and don't immediately support it; but I wouldn't reject it out of hand, either. At this point, such a move would largely be symbolic, but if it meant the team would clean house on the idiotic offensive strategery, I would be all in favor.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, injuries, padres, recaps, rumors, stupid ideas, transactions

Fangraphs reckons Albert Callaspo as the goat in this one, mainly for failing to make outs in critical situations. Shortly behind him was recent hero Mark Trumbo, who went 0-for-4; you allow for such nights if they don't become too commonplace. And while it's tempting to say "Albert Pujols, another 1-for-4 with a meaningless single", his outs were made to right field. So, progress?

The puzzler for the Angels, though, was the man on the mound, Dan Haren, who looked lost against the National League's second-worst offensive team. If you can't blank the Padres, something is terribly wrong, and last night's start was a continuation of the "Where's Haren" picture book the Angels have suffered from all year. Meanwhile, Dodgers castoff Eric Stults baffled the Angels, which isn't all that difficult these days. I haven't looked at their numbers against lefties, but it's none too surprising.

Finally, there was a perhaps significant oddment in the final out. Erick Aybar — he of the 4-for-4 night, a lone spark among a dead collection of rally killers, missing the cycle by a home run — reached on an infield single as the tying run. With two out and the winning run 90 feet away, Mike Scioscia left late inning defensive sub Ryan Langerhans in to hit — instead of sending in Vernon Wells, who had not started and remained on the bench. Scioscia used the odd justification that

"Langerhans had been swinging the bat well," Scioscia said.

In his last nine minor league games, Langerhans had batted .179. He had not batted since May 13.

It's so crazy it begins to sound like an upraised middle finger to Jerry Dipoto — "I'm still in charge of the lineup!" — or maybe early onset dementia. When you have a guy who — at least theoretically — could win the game with one swing of the bat, why aren't you using him?

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, ex-dodgers, padres, recaps

Mark Saxon of ESPN reports that the Angels have traded minor league INF Alexi Amarista and RHP Donn Roach for Padres RHP reliever Ernesto Frieri. Amarista hit .292/.337/.419 last year with Salt Lake as a 22-year-old, predominantly at second base. Roach had a 2.16 ERA this year with high-A Inland Empire, a 6.3 K/9, and an outstanding 9.67 K/BB ratio. As for Frieri, he had a 2.71 ERA last year in 59 games, all in relief, with a 10.9 K/9 and a 2.24 K/BB ratio. I like this deal for the Angels and the Padres, as the Pads get some kids with good upside, and the Angels get a solid relief man.

Labels: angels, padres, trades, transactions

I have thus far resisted talking much about the Dodgers, of whom I expected little this year, but their 9-1 start after today makes that impossible. You can insert homilies about it being early and all, but Jon sounds the right note that neither the Pirates nor the Padres are going to play .100 ball all year long. We rightly need to celebrate this achievement, even if it is short-lived.

Despite what turned out to be a locally bad outing for Clayton Kershaw — his three walks surrendered in the sixth doomed his chances of getting a win — he nonetheless wasn't terrible. The game's highlight surely had to be the 2-5-6-3 triple play turned in by a quick-thinking A.J. Ellis. Dee Gordon, in the middle of that, later hit a two-out walkoff single to end the game. It may not last, but it's fun while it's going.

As a sidebar, here's a 2007 piece by Colby Cosh on the topic of Jackie Robinson:

On conventional offence alone, he would be a credible Hall of Fame candidate -- but he created his runs while playing mostly at the key defensive position of second base, and he probably won as many games without swinging the bat as any non-pitcher who ever played. His baserunning feats are the best-known part of his game. Teammate and Brooklyn hero Johnny Podres tells a story of Robinson reaching first base, announcing to Cub pitcher Sad Sam Jones "I'm stealing second, Sam," breaking with the next pitch, and immediately doing the same thing at third and home, shattering Jones' nerves so badly with his soft-spoken threats that the hurler concluded the sequence with a wild pitch. It's the kind of tale that gets told often by old ballplayers, and it may not be literally true, but it is universally agreed that Robinson's basestealing exploits had a crippling effect on the opposition. He was also a superb bunter, and despite the early knocks on his unpolished defence -- the Dodgers played him at first for a year before switching him to the pivot -- his fielding statistics have held up to analysis at four different positions, and he was clearly in a near-elite class with the glove at second.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Labels: dodgers, padres, recaps

The Wall Street Journal did us all a very nice public service by coming up with some numbers I have wanted to see for some time, and that is, revenue per cable subscriber. In the interests of providing this data past whatever expiration date exists on that story, I here reproduce a table therein:

Team	Network	2011 Subscribers (millions)	$/subscriber
Yankees	YES Network	12.0	$2.80
Braves	SportSouth	8.7	$0.57
Rangers	Fox Sports Southwest	8.1	$2.66
Mets	SportsNet New York	7.4	$2.38
Angels	Fox Sports West	7.1	$2.66
Dodgers	Prime Ticket	5.8	$2.33
Red Sox	New England Sports Network	4.1	$3.35
Phillies	Comcast SportsNet Philadelpha	3.1	$3.03

The surprises, of course, are that the Dodgers have less market penetration than the Angels. (The lower per-capita price is a direct function of their current TV deal.) Regarding the Dodgers' next contract, the article makes this unbelievable bit of speculation (as usual, emboldening is all mine):

Analysts say a Dodgers network could command a monthly fee of about $3.50 per home beginning in 2014 and reach a market that could stretch as far east as Las Vegas and north to San Luis Obispo.

That could translate into nearly $300 million in revenue annually before the network sells a single ad spot. Another bonus: Proceeds from regional sports networks aren't subject to baseball's revenue-sharing rules, which seek to maintain competitive balance among the MLB's 30 teams.

I say that's unbelievable because of the news from BGR (nee Boy Genius Report) that one million US adults discontinued cable TV service in 2011, representing more than a third of the estimated 2.65 million who have done so since 2008. The trend of cable-cutting is accelerating, but these ridiculous deals presume that the costs of RSN contracts will continue to be amortized over a larger customer base. That seems implausible if satellite and cable TV viewers continue to conclude those services aren't worth the money.

Update: Deadspin, whom I find myself with increasing respect for these days (they have been on the side of the angels in both the Michael Vick and Penn State stories), has a fantastic piece about this very subject that echoes my feelings about the situation, and provides additional clarification:

We're now learning that that cable providers are tired of RSNs' bullshit and perfectly willing to yank telecasts. Non-fans—against their will—subsidize telecasts for fans. Consider the MSG-Time Warner standoff in winter (and what's going on in San Diego now). According to reports (because none of this is transparent), Madison Square Garden wanted Time Warner customers to pay a 53 percent increase on its $4.65-a-month fee. That's $7.11 a month—or $85.32 a year, from every Time Warner subscriber in New York—for the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and Devils. Time Warner naturally balked, and might have held out longer if not for Jeremy Lin. In San Diego, Fox Sports San Diego is reportedly seeking a 400 percent fee increase from Time Warner Cable. Time Warner wisely has said no.

MLB could also face competition from First Row Sports or some other outlaw streaming enterprise. The pirate feeds don't cut out nearly as much as they used to, and, so far, the feds haven't been able to sue them out of existence.

As for a customer revolt: One gets progressively likelier, as cable prices climb while the economy lags and the market develops viable alternatives. One doesn't need cable anymore to fall under a screen's spell. There's Netflix and Hulu, video games are better than ever, and there's all kinds of other stuff to watch on the internet. Why should someone who buys cable just for the occasional movie write the Knicks such a big check? As the bills get bigger and bigger, people will check out. As for FCC intervention—forcing à la carte cable, or some such thing—it's not likely, but it's not impossible.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: angels, dodgers, padres, tv

The book on the Cubs this 2012 is that they'll need an awful lot of things to go right for them to even hit breakeven, which, among the Wrigleyville faithful, will amount to something like an impossible dream. The soberer thinkers among them seem to have scoped out a 71-win season as the greatest likelihood, which is to say a long, dreary spring and summer lie ahead. The offense has little to offer in the way of legitimate thrills. Save for young Starlin Castro (whom Al Yellon recommended the team long-term recently), the team's young position players largely fall into the placeholder category.

The good news, such as there is of it, is that the team's downside due to creaky veterans is somewhat limited. The lone bad Jim Hendry-era deal appears limited to Alfonso Soriano, who will haunt the lineup (or at least the payroll) through 2014. Marlon Byrd, not a liability but not really a star, has one more year on his contract, this one, as does the surprising (but not overwhelming) Ryan Dempster. Even more good news — perhaps the best in generations — came from the exodus of Theo Epstein to Chicago following a tiff with ownership in Boston. With an unmistakable "we're getting the band back together" vibe, he hauled in Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod, both who had only briefly been running things in San Diego as the team's GM and AGM, respectively.

"I had low expectations — and they were dashed!"
— my friend Genny Dazzo

Something very like that happened with the Cubs yesterday, who committed two errors, both of which were followed by runs by the Padres. What surprised me immensely was that starter Travis Wood was charged with no unearned runs. Is this the opposite of homer scoring? However you call it, Wood seemed to me to be beset by much worse numbers than he really deserved, and pitched reasonably well the first time and a third or so through the order, his plunking of Will Venable notwithstanding.

That said, it was a Padres split squad he succumbed to, and that team is notably not going to be very good, either. They finished last in the NL West last year at 71-91, a record the 2012 Cubs might even envy if things go really badly for them. One spring game is never going to tell you the whole story for an upcoming season unplayed; the whole point of the exercise is hope. For the Padres, much of that has to come from the crazy rich $1 billion/20 year TV deal the team unexpectedly pulled off in February. For the Cubs, it's all about the draft and international signings. Neither team has much real hope for winning 2012, and only limited aspirations the year after, either.

MLB Box

Labels: cubs, padres, recaps, spring training

Apparently came the news last week that Jeff Moores withdrew his bid to buy the Padres on the heels of a rescinded vote by MLB to approve his ownership. According to a Maury Brown article in today's Baseball Prospectus, that's because — surprise! — Bud Selig didn't have the votes to get it past ownership, and in particular, because it was opposed by shadow commissioner Jerry Reinsdorf. The interesting outcome is that Jeff Moorad actually may yet end up keeping the team, thanks to a rich TV deal.

Labels: padres, tv

Per MLB.com's Barry Bloom, the Padres are about to sign a $1 billion/20-year TV deal with Fox that will create a regional sports network in San Diego. I have to wonder that, over time, these deals will instead become crippling hamstrings, especially if inflation heats up.

Labels: padres, tv

NBC Sports' Hardball Talk passes along a report from the Sports Blog Nation DRays Bay that Arte Moreno, Angels team president John Carpino, and Rays GM Andrew Friedman were seen having dinner in a St. Petersburg restaurant.

If that happens, it would be the third GM ganked this year from that chair and into another one, as Bleed Cubbie Blue reports Jed Hoyer will leave the Padres to become the Cubs' GM. How this happened I have no idea, but it seems ridiculous to me that the smaller market teams are letting bigger market teams just yank their GMs like that. (I assume the Rays gave the Angels permission to speak with Friedman. If not, it could be considered interference.)

Labels: angels, cubs, padres, rays, red sox, rumors

Padres blogger Woe, Doctor has a fascinating look at Buddy Black's tenure as Padres manager, as well as giving voice to a rumor I have heard elsewhere, that the Angels might be looking at him as a possible GM candidate. They could do worse, I imagine, but his prime asset is his stoicism:

“Bud Black can manage this club as long as he wants to,” Padres CEO Jeff Moorad said Wednesday. “He’s a perfect skipper for the Padres in the near term as well as the long term.”

And, while it might be speculation on his part, Tim Sullivan revealed what he believed is Black’s greatest strength – his silence:

With two years remaining on his Padres’ contract, and two more years of club options thereafter, Black already has more job security than most major league managers. Though his hiring predates both Moorad’s and Hoyer’s arrivals at PETCO Park, Black is not some holdover desperate to hang on, but a low-maintenance leader who never complains about payroll, ballpark dimensions or decisions made by his bosses.

Via Geoff Young on Twitter; some days ago, Geoff officially hung 'em up at Ducksnorts, one of the best-named blogs I know of. Geoff says he'll keep writing for BPro, and that's a good thing.

Labels: angels, front office, padres, rumors

The Price Of Winning: Angels 8, Rays 5

The Halos chased David Price after only four and a third innings; he was wild from the start, though not overly so. The wonder was that he only walked one batter, yet he seemingly careened from three ball count to three ball count, riding the edge of peril the whole night. The Angels' offense was accordingly locked in, tying the game on Mark Trumbo's three-run jack in the fourth, a high fastball that Trumbo utterly crushed.

Perhaps the best part of the night was watching Vernon Wells get a hit and drive in a run, though not on the same play. Anything in the offense department now is gravy for Wells, who increasingly was looking like a lost cause.

Ervin Santana's night wasn't the catastrophe of his prior start, but neither was it as bad as some of his other road starts, and he held on for his first win of the year. Scott Downs made his first appearance since returning from the DL, and pitched a scoreless seventh. Fernando Rodney actually looked pretty good despite giving up a solo homer to B.J. Upton, and Jordan Walden nailed down the save with a clean ninth, pitching around a leadoff double to catcher John Jaso. A really nice win; combined with a 3-1 Oakland win over Texas, the Angels are once again tied for first.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Dodgers Squeak Past Pads: Dodgers 3, Padres 2

First, I should mention that Andre Ethier's 1-for-4 night extended his hitting streak to 25 games, putting him in a six-way tie with Paul LoDuca, Willie Davis, Steve Sax, Buzz Boyle, and Harvey Hendrick. One more, and he takes third place all by himself; the next step is 27, attained by Duke Snider and Joe Medwick, with the franchise crown belonging to Willie Davis again, with 31.

The Pads this year go from merely inept to tragically incompetent, trailing the league in runs scored, and being almost half the league's leader, St. Louis. Luckily the Padres have the best pitching in the league, which they need because their offense scores so few runs. Unsurprisingly after tonight, San Diego is 9-17, the worst record in the division and tied with Houston for the worst record in the majors.

Ted Lilly surpassed Clayton Richard, the Dodgers getting the winning runs on solo blasts by Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe. The Pads came close to tying it late, as Jonathan Broxton nearly blew another save; fortunately (and I missed this), ex-Padre Tony Gwynn, Jr. saved the game with a great catch.

ESPN Box • Dodger recap

Labels: angels, dodgers, padres, rays, recaps

We arrived in Tempe yesterday surprisingly early yesterday, around 8:00 PM local time. That was pretty good considering we left home sometime between 12:00 and 12:30. The weather this time is warm, but not punishingly so; the 100+°F we routinely saw some years back in the Year Without Spring isn't in town, thankfully.

The Cubs played reasonably well this time — for maybe one inning in nine, but the rest of the time largely stank it up, Jeff Samardjia notwithstanding. The big offseason acquisition from the Rays, Matt Garza, turned out to be something of a catastrophe who only lasted three innings and gave up as many runs. But that was nothing next to Braden Looper's two-inning career burial that resulted in an earth-shattering eight runs in two innings, including a grand slam to nowhere-near-that-bitchin' Pads third baseman Chase Headley. My bet is that Looper, apparently off Tommy John repair, may yet have some miles in him, but they are not close to the majors, and Headley, who may yet start for the Pad People, is not the slugger he evinced today.

So spring. Al Yellon has more for the Northside faithful.

MLB recap

Labels: cubs, padres, recaps

Per Craig Calcaterra; the former Padre worked for the Brewers for the last couple years prior to hanging 'em up. He'll take a front-office job with San Diego. Even though he was an arguable Hall of Famer, I'll remember him most vividly for the 4+1 game in 2007, in which he gave up back-to-back homers to Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson, two men who are no longer Dodgers.

Labels: brewers, padres, retirements

• The Dodgers signed Rod Barajas to a one-year, $5.33M deal.
• The Padres have traded star slugger Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, pending a physical and contract extension talks. The Pads will get prospects Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Reymond Fuentes.

Labels: dodgers, hot stove, padres, transactions

• Belated: Buster Posey (NL) and Neftali Feliz (AL) won their leagues' respective Rookie of the Year awards.
• Manager of the Year awards went to Ron Gardenhire (AL) and Bud Black (NL), the first time I can remember when both awards went to managers whose teams did not make it to the World Series.

Labels: awards, giants, managers, padres, rangers, twins

The Dodgers' lone run came on an error, but the night was Clayton Kershaw's; his 111-pitch masterpiece was the best start of his career, forty-five years and five days away from Sandy Koufax's perfecto.

In a wholly forgettable season, I'll take that.

The Dodgers have relegated themselves to playing spoiler, even on their own TV broadcast bumper ads, and they managed that on a night in which the Padres beat the Rockies 7-6 in a perilous game that had the Rockies with the tying run in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

So the Pad People are back to a game and a half ahead of the Giants. It's not elimination, but it at least is saying the Dodgers ain't wholly dead, either. Congratulations, Clayton, you've done a man's work, sir.

Update: Via Jon Weisman on Twitter, Aaron Gleeman notes that Kershaw's record is historic, there being only two pitchers in history to strike out more than a batter an inning while recording 75 games or more before age 23, the other being "Sudden" Sam McDowell, the Cleveland ace of the 60's. Impressive company.

ESPN Box

Labels: dodgers, giants, padres, recaps, rockies

Their home park was converted to a soccer field, and with little interest in the Portland, Oregon area, the move, putting a Padres franchise only 30 miles away from Petco, would hopefully stimulate interest in both teams, as well as reducing travel costs for tranfers to and from the major league club. (But to and from other minor league parks? Wow.) So far, no concrete plans have developed about a stadium there, though.

Labels: minors, padres