First off, I want to make this clear: I’m a big fan of Milton Bradley. He carried the Padres down the stretch in 2007, and I was disappointed he wasn’t resigned that offseason. That said, I have no idea what the guy was thinking while “fielding” big Kyle Blanks‘ inside the parker last night. Let me explain with a helpful diagram:

A couple notes that need to be mentioned: this screen was taken after the throw was made, so center fielder Kosuke Fukudome may have taken a couple more steps toward right, exaggerating his distance a bit. Also, the frame doesn’t show Bradley’s starting position, so he may have had to run a bit further than his arrow shows.

The ball was hit to left center, so it’s a bit understandable that Bradley wasn’t sprinting towards the landing spot on contact. But once it started rolling towards right, I have no idea how Fukudome could possibly beat Bradley.

Oh yeah, Kyle Blanks is the man. If you’re a loyal Sac Bunt reader, you would already know that. And someone should tell all those Cubs fans if they like their team so much they should just go home.

Melvin Update 8/19: Good news for us Bradley fans. That shot above is misleading. This view exonerates him a bit:

Still up for debate, as far as I’m concerned, is if the right fielder kicking back watching a well struck ball to left-center field is justified, before the ball landed and rolled to right.

And this happened twice.

The first full day of Major League Baseball in the year two-thousand and eight has come to a close. What have we learned?

If the Padres only thought about acquiring you, you’re good.

While my guy Hollywood Jim went hitless today (.000/.000/.000) and didn’t even get in the game, some of the names bandied about before he joined the team did okay for themselves:

Kosuke Fukudome went three for three with a walk, a home run, and three RBI. The home run came in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on and the Cubs down by three. If it wasn’t for Tony “Asshole” Gwynn, Jr., he would’ve been the hero in Chicagoland. But T2 came through in the clutch.

Nate McClouth went three for five with a walk, a home run, and four RBI. Although he did make a crucial fielding gaffe that allowed the Braves to come back and tie the game in the ninth. But the Pirates did come back, so it’s all good.

Luke Scott went one for three.

TSB’s guy, Milton Bradley, went oh for two with two walks. A .500 OBP. That guy just finds a way.

Scott Hairston, starting center fielder during tonight’s Astros/Padres competition, went oh for four. But Garfield did go two for three with a walk. He might not have been in the lineup without the Living Legend in center, so that’ll do.

Read more >> Options >>

No, not really. But that’s a hard headline to pass up.

The Union-Tribune is reporting that the Padres have lost out on Fukudome.

The Padres found out Tuesday night that they lost out in their bid for Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. The star outfielder is headed to the Cubs.

The Padres, rating Fukudome as the prime piece to their offseason plans, bid more than $10 million per season as part of a guarantee of at least three years. It was the most the club had offered a non-Padre since tendering a $55 million to $60 million proposal nine years ago to pitcher Kevin Brown, who chose to accept more than $100 million from the Dodgers.

While it would have been nice to have Fukudome, I’m almost relieved we didn’t get him. His centerfielding ability got a less than stellar review from Trey Hillman and his offensive ability does not project to be a player that would warrant the money the team was offering him. And considering we don’t know if he’ll be Hideki or Kaz, we may have just dodged a bullet.

Of course, we still have a hole in center and the options left on the market are dwindling. With that in mind, I propose three options the team could look into:

Mike Cameron

Yes, he’ll be suspended for the first month. And he usually takes a month to get his swing going, so he’ll be worthless until June. But he knows this team and he knows this ballpark and we know what we’ll be getting from him. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t type of deal. Not to suggest that Cameron is the/a devil, but you get the idea.

That, and he’s got style.

Jim Edmonds

Hollywood Jim could be a classic turnaround story. He’s already on the team’s radar and if he’s as healthy as he says he is, why not? If he bounces back to an average player by his standards, he’ll still be a middle of the lineup guy.

Matt Antonelli

Whaaaaaaaat?

I really can’t back this up (because I can’t find the link) but I recall reading Fuson or one of those guys say that Antonelli is such a gifted athlete that he might be able to handle center. Since second is such an easy position to fill, why don’t we at least find out?

Melvin Nieves to the Rescue: Tom Krasovic special from June, 2006:

The Padres are intrigued about his potential in center field. Antonelli’s foot speed, Fuson said, warrants a 70 on a scouting scale that tops out at 80, and center field is a thin position within the system.

I have a feeling this is a reference to a scouting report published elsewhere. I also haven’t heard anything about Antonelli in center more recently. I think it could make sense, but it’s quite the impossible call to make without much working knowledge of the guy.

We tend to hang our hats on these throwaway sentences without any background a bit too much, in my opinion.

Melvin’s unhelpfully vague suggestion:

Corner Power Guy / All D No Bat Guy

Grab a Willy Taveras type in center, then make up the power and obp loss in left. This might mean Chase Headley or Kevin Kouzmanoff, or it could involve dealing Headley for someone like Jason Bay.

You hate to trade the young, homegrown Headley, so signing Geoff Jenkins might make sense as a backup plan. Headley could spell Jenkins, Giles, and Kouzmanoff if he is even deemed ready for the bigs.

MB’s Top 30 Prospects (Friar Forecast)

Didn’t expect 2007 pick Kellen Kulbacki as early as 10, but who doesn’t love a high ceiling guy with a ton of power? You didn’t miss his admission that lists like these are mostly attention grabbers anyway, did you?

Matt Eddy’s Top 10 Padres Prospects (Baseball America)

Eddy points out that Kyle Blanks is the only Padres draftee not taken by the new regime’s VP of scouting Grady Fuson. I haven’t seen Steve Garrison, named at number 6 mentioned so high before. He came over with Will Inman, who landed in spot 7, in the Linebrink deal. Man, I love prospects.

Did stolen bases really hurt us last season? (sdpadsfan1)

New Padres Blog! I’m down with the attention paid to using facts to investigate a hypothesis. It’s a tough job, there’s lots to consider when analyzing raw data. Note to sdpadsfan1 blog readers: Don’t forget, catchers have no control over how fast a pitcher delivers the pitch.

Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft

So much for trading with Tampa for the top spot and grabbing center fielder Brian Barton, as rumored. Carlos Guevara and two others joined the Padres organization in the draft, and cost $50,000 a piece. They must stay on the 25 man roster all year, or offered back to their original team for $25,000.

“He’s got a great screwball, a great strikeout-to-walk ratio and is a guy who has nailed it at about every level,” Padres general manager Kevin Towers said of the 25-year-old who was 1-2 with a 2.32 ERA for Double-A Chattanooga last season, with 87 strikeouts in 62 innings.

Ray’s update: What’s the opposite of “Yosshaa”? (The Newberg Report)

And yet I could have made it through the weekend just fine without seeing this in a San Diego Union-Tribune article: “If [Kosuke] Fukudome chooses the Padres, he must adapt to an extreme pitcher’s ballpark, yet will draw less scrutiny than he would in Chicago. Former Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka, who retained a San Diego residence after the club traded him to Texas, recommended the Padres to Fukudome.”

Disappointing. Really disappointing.

We’ve been hearing about how our old friend Aki has recommended San Diego to Fukudome for a while now, but I never really thought about it from Texas’ point of view. If Heath Bell told someone we were going after that the Mets were a great team to play for, I guess I’d be a little upset. Except news that the Rangers are looking at Fukudome is news to me. Granted, I’ve gone back and seen that they’ve had “serious interest” in him, but what does that even mean? The Padres constantly have “serious interest” in players that they have no intention of actually signing. And if something like this slips past nerds like me/us, what are the chances that Aki is keeping up to date?

On top of that, Newberg writes almost 600 words in-between Fukudome mentions but comes back to finish his article with this:

Righthander Travis Hughes signed with Japan’s Yokohama BayStars.

Maybe Hughes can somehow get the word to Kosuke Fukudome that he’d attract less scrutiny in Texas than he would in Chicago, and that he’d get to adapt to an extreme hitters’ yard here.

Disappointed in Aki.

Stream of consciousness is something I’ve always felt missing in baseball blogs, so this is good to see.