official offseason news, rumors, and discussion thread.

[padrefanforever]

Walker wont be released....he's too valuable a bench player for this team....our team payroll is about 59M, so financial sense be damned right now.....it's not killing us to pay a quality guy to back up 3 of 4 IF spots......I would think that Walker is a tradeable commodity come the break.....Walker/Linebrink is a nice place to start if you're looking to trade for a quality player.....also Walker does NOT belong taking reps at SS ever.....so let that thought die......

The question here is who do we get to back up SS......not the other spots in the IF.....basically who is better than Blum and plays the same spots as Blum....hell if Blum had a better bat he'd be the guy without question, but if he has to start for any length of time, he's a liability

[HollywoodLeo]

Walker taking reps at short can't hurt anything, and it'd let them know whether or not he can handle it.

If he proves to be horrible at short, then don't play him there.

[padrefanforever]

He can't...or it would be on his resume already....a 10 year player doesn't miss chances to show he can play a position......and IMO it can hurt....it can take away reps for a real possible fix at that spot....be it a guy from AA getting a shot or whatever.....Walker IMO has no business wasting team and his time taking reps at SS....he needs to focus on the spots he will be playing and not flights of fancy at spots he wont

[love_that_reefer]

Taking groundballs can't hurt either the team or Walker. Its ST and he is probably already doing it along with minor leaguers. He's paid to be a utility IFer and that's what those guys do. He hasn't been a backup until last season with Padres for a long time so that might have some barring on him not having it on his resume. Who knows? He might have played there in the minors. It wastes no ones time since he is probably getting many treps at first, left field, 3rd, second and probably SS.

[fetters]

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/playe...d-Walker.shtml

That link shows Todd Walkers games by position in the minors and majors. In his entire pro career he's appeared in 1 game at SS and it was only 4 innings.

However, I agree he at least deserves a look at SS during spring training. He probably wont have the range that you would expect from a SS, but if he's played every other infield position he at least deserves a LOOK at SS. The only thing he would really have to practice is turning double plays. He's an established veteran...fielding ground balls and making throws shouldnt be a problem for him anywhere in the infield

[love_that_reefer]

Plus it helps the offense which is a weakness right now for the Padres but in all likelihood Greene will be ready to go for the season opener so this is all really silly.

[HollywoodLeo]

If Kevin Kouzmanoff can hit for the Padres like he just did for me in MLB:07 the show our offense will be just fine

In all seriousness, everybody scoffed at Walker playing third base last year and he came in midseason without the benifit of reps in ST and did decent after a couple games of errors, though.

[FmrFresnan]

My first stop tonight is Circuit City to pickup MLB:07 The Show.....

[HollywoodLeo]

Kouzmanoff ranks pretty high in power on the game, #2 on the Padres squad right behind Russell Branyan.

[padrefanforever]

Sounds accurate to me........who has more power ?

[HollywoodLeo]

On MLB:07 the show Russell Branyan ranks highest in power for the Padres. Kevin Kouzmanoff 2nd highest.

[FmrFresnan]

I'm getting my feet wet with the game, but the graphics are awesome.....

[padrefanforever]

Yah HWood....I was saying it sounds accurate, who has more power than those two on this team ??? Kouz also said this am on the radio that he sees himself hitting 25-30HR's this year, and hitting for a high avg......at least he doesn't lack confidence cause at this level it's a huge part of the head game out there.....I'd love to see it