November 2009
Padres season-ticket holder: “These tickets are gold.”
Hope everyone had a good holiday week.
It’s nearly time for the Winter Meetings, where the action will pick up for sure for the Padres. I’ll be leaving on Sunday and, as usual, will give you the rundown from Indianapolis on Padres.com and Twitter: @FollowThePadres, your stops for all things Padres.
Anyway, I wrote a story last week about the bump the team is experiencing in season-ticket sales. The team passed 71 percent on their season ticket renewals last week, well ahead of the 55 percent mark from all of last season. Additionally, they’ve sold more new season tickets so far than all of last year.
In a down economy and with a team that has had two consecutive losing seasons, that’s pretty impressive. What’s the draw? Fans told me it’s the tickets themselves and the chance to get seats that would not normally be available to them.
“Tickets were available that I wouldn’t dream would be available,”
season-ticket holder Dan Holsenback said. “I am 10 feet from the owner’s box. My son is two
years and nine months old. He’s a little wiggly for baseball now, but
he won’t be in a few years.
“These tickets are gold. There’s not much upgrading I’ll ever need to do.”
– Corey Brock, Padres.com, Twitter: @FollowThePadres
Your Padres holiday reading …
Happy belated Thanksgiving. Here’s a few story links from the past few days from MLB.com and Padres.com, your one stop for Padres coverage.
My colleague Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com takes a look at the Padres Minor League system. A nice primer on the top guys in the system.
Two holiday-themed stories: One takes a look at David Eckstein and his background and why it’s always been easy for him to give back to others.
Also, the Padres were heavily involved in charitable endeavors this past season. Take a look here at what they were up to.
The Padres have three nominees for the This Year in Baseball awards. One is my favorite, the bee incident with Kyle Blanks. Anyone else like that one?
The Padres added a new pitcher, one they claimed off waivers from the Orioles. Looks like this guy has a live arm but is erratic. Let’s see what six weeks with pitching coach Darren Balsley can do for the guy.
– Corey Brock, MLB.com @FollowThePadres
Padres announced Spring Training schedule …
Here’s a story I posted on Thursday night about the Padres Spring Training schedule for 2010.
For a link to the schedule itself, click here.
– Corey Brock, Padres.com, Twitter: @FollowThePadres
The Padres announced their 2010 Spring Training schedule on Thursday, one that has them opening with a familiar foe.
The Padres will play their annual charity game against the Seattle
Mariners on March 4 before officially starting the Cactus League season
the following day with another game in Peoria against the Mariners.
This will be the Padres’ 17th spring in Peoria.
San Diego pitchers and catchers are set to report to the Spring
Training facility Feb. 18, with their first workout set for the
following day.
Position players are scheduled to report on Feb. 24 with the first full-squad workout set for the following day.
The Padres will play a 32-game Spring Training schedule, with
Channel 4 in San Diego schedule to televise five of those games. All
Spring Training games, with the exception of the charity game, will be
broadcast on XX 1090, the Padres’ flagship station.
Games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during Spring Training will be covered live in Spanish on XEMO 860 AM.
The Padres will close Spring Training with two games in
California, one in Anaheim against the Angels on April 1. The following
day, the Padres will face with Class A affiliate in Lake Elsinore.
The Padres open the 2010 regular season on April 5 against the
Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. The home opener is set for April 12
against the Atlanta Braves.
Tickets for all Padres games at the Peoria Sports Complex will
go on sale on Saturday, Jan. 9, at 8 a.m. PT. Tickets may be purchased
online at padres.com, via phone at 800-677-1227 or in person at the
Peoria Sports Complex.
Individual game tickets are priced from $6 to $23 with
discounts available for group purchases and season ticket packages. For
more information, contact the Peoria Stadium Box Office at (623)
773-8720.
Padres with money to spend? …
I had lunch with new Padres general manager Jed Hoyer on Thursday and it sounds like the team will have some money to spend in free agency, even though the payroll, once again, is going to be in the $40 millions, much like it was a year ago ($43 million).
The Padres have moved some big contracts off the books in the last year — Jake Peavy and Brian Giles — and even though they could end up paying their arbitration-eligible players like Heath Bell, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Kevin Correia and Mike Adams in upwards of $12 million, they figure to still have money to spend.
Here’s a story I wrote for Padres.com on Thursday about the team as free agency is set to start at 9 p.m. PT. today.
– Corey Brock Padres.com, Twitter: @FollowThePadres
A Padres primer for arbitration …
It’s time to turn an eye toward one of the Padres important off-season tasks: Deciding what to do with their four arbitration-eligible players: Pitchers Heath Bell, Kevin Correia, Mike Adams and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.
I should rephrase that a little. The decision isn’t so much what to do with these guys, as I think it’s pretty obvious the team will tender each of them. But it stands to reason that several of these guys, especially Bell, Correia and Kouzmanoff, are likely in line for significant raises.
The reason you tender all of these guys, of course, is because they all factor in the future of the team. And none of the four players are going to break the bank, with Bell in line for the biggest bump.
How does arbitration work? Basically, players with three to six years of Major League service time are
in their arbitration years. Once they reach six years, they can qualify
for free agency.
Here’s a look at the service time (years and days) of the Padres up for arbitration and what they made last season (base contract):
Mike Adams, 3 years, 19 days ($414,800)
Heath Bell, 4 years, 99 days ($1.255 million)
Kevin Correia, 5 years, 27 days ($750,000)
Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3 years, 3 days ($432,000)
I will say the Padres will probably save some money with Kouzmanoff because he didn’t win the Gold Glove this week. We’re not talking a lot here, but I’m sure that would have been good for a bump, even more so if the team went to arbitration with him.
Want more information on how this process works? Padres exec Paul DePodesta tackled it last year and did a far better job explaining it than I can, and, of course, it has a Padres slant.
My guess? None of these guys make it to arbitration and deals get done before the start of Spring Training. Bell might be a little sticky, but he wants to be here and is thankful for the opportunity the team has given him.
– Corey Brock
What will the Padres do with Adrian Gonzalez?
On Wednesday, San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez won his second Gold Glove Award, though his conference call with reporters centered more on his future with the team more so than any 3-6-3 double play he started in 2009.
For the record, the Padres don’t have to
do anything with Gonzalez. He’s under contract for the next two years
and might be the biggest bargain in the game, as the team will pay him
$4.75 million in 2010 with a club option of $5.5 million for 2011.
Yes,
Gonzalez, whose value by Fangraphs for 2009 was rated as $28.4 million,
which was 10th best among all position players in the game, is a
immense value, which is why new Padres GM Jed Hoyer really doesn’t have
to do anything in regards to Gonzalez.
For now.
But Hoyer
told MLB.com on Wednesday that he’ll meet with Gonzalez’s agent, John
Boggs, sometime next week in San Diego. Both sides have said it will be
more of a meet-and-greet session and anything akin to an exchanging of
numbers.
But it stands to reason both sides will have at least a better idea of where the other stands after the meeting.
Are
the Padres interested in extending Gonzalez? Does he want to play this
current contract out and eventually become a free agent? Gonzalez said
that he wants to see what the team will do this off-season to improve
itself.
Gonzalez’s value has never been higher and if the Padres
believe they won’t be able to afford him at the end of this deal or
that they can’t make an extension happen, will they decide to move him
now, getting a package of prospects and/or Major League-ready talent
that can help them contend quicker in the National League West Division?
Stay tuned. This could get interesting.
– Corey Brock
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