Day One of Spring Training is in the books.  We here at RJ's Fro would like to thank the San Diego Padres for their hospitality and warm welcome.  Check out our twitter (www.twitter.com/rjsfro) for frequent updates this weekend.  We just wanted to let you know that we are all alive and safe and enjoying some spring baseball.  We will post a summary when we get back but here are some highlights of yesterday:
1. Drove 6 hours
2. In-n-Out pitstop
3. Picked up credentials and talked with Bud Black for about 10 seconds
4. Hung out in the press box and learned about the pitch recognition software Pitch FX from Matt @ MLB.com
5. Caught up with my old and new pals Eduardo "Chico Beau" Ortega, Dave "Shmarcus" Marcus, Juan Avila, Darren Smith, Corey Brock, Dan Hayes, and the legendary Jerry Coleman!
6. Fat Tires...nothing like a 7 dollar beer at a Spring Training game
7. RJ's Fro Fastest Pitcher Contest - Winner TBD
8. Largest urinal in the history of urinals - see twitter
9. Padres beating up on the Dodgers all night.  Will Venable hitting a Doug Mirabelli-esque shot to dead center.  Dusty Ryan taking James McDonald deep for a three-run shot.  We looked pretty good last night.  I like the aggressive leads off first and Antonelli is still hitting like a champ.
10. Post-game at Salty's with some killer chips and salsa and $1.99 Pacificos (wtf?!?)
11. The Alaskan Bush Company - no comment

Now on to Day Two in Glendale to see the Pads take on the White Sox and Dodgers for a double header!

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Our good buddy Randy Jones just announced that himself and "The Bulldog" Joe Tutino, will start doing a weekly internet talk radio show. Starting this Tuesday from 1PM-2PM people can call in and ask questions (1-877-474-3302). They are off to a great start with their guests too as Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry will join then in their inaugural show. The show will be at wsRadio and they also have a Facebook fan page so go become a fan and then tune in to the Godfather this Tuesday!

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I just found out that we were not only nominated for #InfluenceSD's Best Use of New Media in Sports, but we are currently in 3rd place! It's a pretty cool thing. I guess having 2 Facebook pages, 2 Twitter accounts & 2 websites is finally paying off...haha. Follow this link here and then click on the arrow next to the RJ's Fro logo once (you click on it twice and it cancels out).

Thanks!

SDPads1

PS-Sorry for the lack of updates lately but there is going to be some MAJOR site news coming real soon!!

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SDPads1 NOTE - I'd like to introduce everyone to my buddy Marshall. He joined the Fro team just in time to experience the whole Spring Training trip this past weekend. I had a crazy week work wise, home wise (moving sucks!!!), band wise & site wise, so I'm still working on my Spring Training round up but should have that up soon. Anyways, enjoy Marshall's first post and welcome him to the Fro Family!!

RJ’s Fro attended the first weekend of Spring Training. While hanging out in Peoria, the Fro enjoyed all the amenities that come along with a Press Pass. We walked through the practice fields, watched batting practice, and “worked” from the press box during the game. We had a quick chat with Padre Manger Bud Black and snapped pictures of Heath Bell signing autographs for the fans. All in all, the Fro had a good weekend.

It’s been a week since we got back from Arizona and there’s one thing that I can’t get out of my head: the lack of Padre fans!!!

While watching the Padres/Mariners game on Friday, I noticed was there was a lot more applause when the Mariners scored then when the Padres did. This happened during the Saturday game as well. If I had to guess, I would say that there were more then twice as many Mariner fans as Padre fans. That got me thinking: Why are there so many more Mariner fans in PEORIA, ARIZONA?

San Diego, CA to Peoria, AZ: »353 miles
Seattle, WA to Peoria, AZ: »1441 miles

It’s obviously not geographical.

Padres (2008-09) 138 wins
Mariners (2008-09) 146 wins

The quality of the teams is pretty even over the past couple of years.

San Diego County » 3 million population
Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue » 3.3 million

It’s doesn’t have anything to do with population. Are there really that many displaced Washingtonians in Arizona? Or do Mariner fans really travel that well? I mean they’re not exactly the Yankees or the Red Sox.

RJ’s Fro will be going to Spring Training again at the end of March and we hope to see a lot more Padre fans this time. Don’t worry San Diegans, the weather in Arizona this time of year is just as good as it is at home! So pack up your board shorts, sandals and Padre gear and show a little support for your team!!!

BTW…If you happen to be driving by the McDonald’s in Gila Bend and get the urge to eat as many Chicken McNuggets as you can in one sitting, just keep driving. IT’S A BAD IDEA!!!

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Part 2

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So I was reading my daily Padres blogs today and Friar John had a story about the Padres dedicating their 41st Little Padres Park today and it just so happened to be right in my neck of the woods....Santee. I've never been to one of these things before so I figured... what the heck the great Randy Jones is going to be there, so I'll go and check it out. It started at 4:00 and I got off work a little early, so thinking ahead I drove by there around 3:00 to check it out and see how packed the place was. There was a long line of cars entering the parking lot so I figured I'd walk there to save me the hassle. Now I'm not a big fan of walking places, but I'm a bigger non-fan of hassle. I got there a little before 4 and immediately see that the parking lot had plenty of room and realize that the kids at the elementary school must have gotten out of school next door when I previously drove by. Awesome. Little rug rats were running around all over the place having a ball. I immediately started scanning the crowd of people and spotted RJ and talked with him for a while. Johnny Midnight AKA John Weisbarth was also there covering the event for Postgame that will air tonight on Channel 4. He was busy doing important stuff though so I didn't bother him (right away). The Friar and 2 Pad Squad members were running around greeting all the kids too. After a while Padres owner Jeff Moorad & President Tom Garfinkel showed up. Garfinkel said hi briefly before he had to go to the chairs and Moorad just passed by everyone and went straight to the chairs. They all talked at the podium for a bit then did this little ceremony thing where they poured some Petco Park dirt right in front of home plate. Not sure what this was all about, but apparently they do it at all of these things. After this the kids lined up and ran the bases and then the whole group posed for a photo behind home plate. I turned away for a second and apparently Moorad and Garfinkel time warped or something because they were no where to be found. RJ was being a trooper and was signing every last autograph for the kids. Finally as I saw Weisbarth wrapping things up to leave I approached him and introduced myself and chatted for a bit. Overall it was a pretty cool event for the kids and it's good to see the Padres do so much for the community. For a more detailed look on today's events check out this story from Padres.com no comments

A little over a week ago, Padres pitchers and catchers made the yearly pilgrimage out to the middle of no where to a little place called Peoria, Arizona. Yeah I know that’s crazy talk, I’d never heard of the place either but I Googled it and it actually does exist! That means 33 players were mandatorly summoned to the desert. Now as some of you may know, I’m going to be making the trip out to Spring Training this week, so I figured now might be a good time to see who exactly is out there. So as I searched the roster to see if Joey Hamilton was still on the team, I realized I had better start doing a little homework on these guys. This will be Part 1 in my “RJ’s Fro: Who the hizzy is at Spring Tizzy-2010 version, Volume 1 Pitchers & Catchers” but that may be a little long so let’s just go with my Pitcher & Catcher Roster Predictions for now.

40 Man Roster
Pitchers (23)
#37 Adams, Mike (MLB) Set-Up
#21 Bell, Heath (MLB) Closer
#26 Carrillo, Cesar (AAA-Portland)
#29 Correia, Kevin (MLB) SP #3
#39 Frieri, Ernesto (AAA-Portland)
#63 Gallagher, Sean (MLB) RP
#27 Garland, Jon (MLB) SP #2
#64 Garrison, Steve (AA-San Antonio)
#57 Gregerson, Luke (MLB) RP

#52 Italiano, Craig (AA-San Antonio)
#38 Latos, Mat (MLB) SP #5
#49 LeBlanc, Wade (AAA-Portland)
#65 Liz, Radhames (Another team)
#45 Mujica, Edward (MLB) RP
#59 Perdomo, Luis (AAA-Portland)
#44 Poreda, Aaron (AAA-Portland)
#34 Ramos, Cesar (AAA-Portland)
#33 Richard, Clayton (MLB) SP #4
#55 Russell, Adam (MLB) RP
#46 Stauffer, Tim (Another team)
#54 Thatcher, Joe (MLB) RP
#58 Webb, Ryan (MLB) RP
#32 Young, Chris (MLB) SP #1

Catchers (3)
#04 Hundley, Nick (MLB)
#11 Ryan, Dusty (AAA-Portland)
#02 Torrealba, Yorvit (MLB)

Non-Roster invitees
Pitchers (4)
#66 Castro, Simon (A-Lake Elsinore)
#73 Luebke, Cory (AA-San Antonio)
#76 Pelzer, Wynn (AA-San Antonio)
#41 Worrell, Mark (AAA-Portland)

Catchers (3)
#68 Canham, Mitch (AAA-Portland)
#70 Collins, Michael (Another team)
#72 Stewart, Chris (Another team)

OK I think everyone can agree that the major league catching is set with Nick Hundley & Yorvit Torrealba taking the 2 spots with Dusty Ryan & Mitchy Slick Grand Slam Time taking the spots for the Beavers. Michael Collins and Chris Stewart are both long shots. I think they’ll either be dealt or released when all is said and done. That is unless the Beavers keep 3 catchers to start the season.

Next up are the starters. Obviously Chris Young, Jon Garland & Kevin Correia are locks for the first 3 spots. I’m also assuming that Clayton Richard would be a lock too, after all he DOES have a bobblehead this year. So that leaves 1 spot open for either Mat Latos, Tim Stauffer, Cesar Ramos, Cesar Carrillo, Sean Gallagher or Wade LeBlanc. Realistically I see Latos, Stauffer, LeBlanc & Gallagher being the only true options at this moment since Ramos & Carrillo can both benefit from a full ‘healthy’ season in Portland. Point blank the job should be Latos’ to lose. If he has a horrible Spring then he’s starting the year in AAA. If he has a so-so Spring and no one completely out shines him, then the job is his. If the Padres want to save some money, well then that’s a completely different story all together. I know there has been talk of limiting his innings this year to around 150. Great idea, but bottom line is whether he’s in Portland or San Diego, those innings are still going to count towards that number. Being a #5 starter on this team will not only give him some more major league experience under his belt, but it will also allow the team to skip one of his starts every now and then. They can also let guys like Edward Mujica or Gallagher fill in on occasion. Of those players I previously mentioned, both Gallagher & Stauffer are both out of options. I don’t see them getting rid of Gallagher. He did well out of the bullpen at the end of last season and also struggled with injuries last season, so I see a move to the bullpen for him this season and then getting a starting nod when needed. Stauffer on the other hand I don’t see sticking around. As much as I rooted for the guy, after he was honest about his injury when we drafted him and took less money, things just haven’t quite fallen into place for him here. Although he did show signs of getting things together last season, so we’ll have to wait and see if he can carry it over into the Spring and completely outshine other players. LeBlanc, despite showing signs of promise last season, still has options left and will be starting the year in AAA  with Carrillo & Ramos making a pretty decent staff in Portland.

Now onto the bullpen! Obviously Heath Bell (barring trade) & Mike Adams (barring injury) are locks for bullpen spots but that leaves another 5-6 spots (depending on if they carry 12 or 13 pitchers) for the other guys. Despite starting out the year with tons of holes in both the rotation and bullpen last season the Padres finished with quite a few solid arms on the roster. I think Luke Gregerson based on his performance last season is a virtual lock. Also as I previously mentioned I see Gallagher moving to the pen at least to start the season. It also appears that after having a less than stellar 2008 season, Joe Thatcher seems to have fixed his flaws. 2009 saw him bounce back and forth between Portland and San Diego but one thing remained constant……he got out hitters. He finished 4th in the league by only allowing 7 of  his 43 inherited runners score. Plus by him making the team it would give us that lefty out of the pen and most importantly, he wouldn’t make the team just because he was a lefty but because he actually earned it. I also previously mentioned Mujica. He is also out of options and had a solid year with the Padres last season. He also gave them the option to have a bullpen arm get a spot start every now and then. Will he still be needed to do that with Gallagher in the pen? Perhaps not, but consider before he was summoned to start the final 4 games of his season he was sporting a 3.51 ERA as opposed to the 3.94 ERA he finished with. He deserves a spot in the pen this year due to his lively arm. Mark Worrell just came off of surgery so he’s not going to be in the majors this year and everyone else just needs more time in the minors. So based on the process of elimination (great way to scientifically determine things huh?)  the final 1-2 spots will be up in the air between Stauffer, Adam Russell & Ryan Webb. Stauffer has to really shine this Spring Training to win a bullpen spot. Russell and Webb both showed that they belong in the bigs last season so I’m giving the nod to them both. Sorry Tim but you were my final cut in both the 5th starter spot & the final bullpen spot if it’s any consolation.

MLB
Starters-Chris Young/Jon Garland/Kevin Correia/Clayton Richard/Mat Latos
Relief Pitchers-Ryan Webb/Adam Russell/Joe Thatcher/Edward Mujica/Sean Gallagher/Luke Gregerson
Set Up-Mike Adams
Closer-Heath Bell

Catchers-Nick Hundley/Yorvit Torrealba

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I made a special guest appearance on our good buddies The Friarhood radio show last night. We talk all things Fro & go through the Padres lineup position by position. Go check it out and while you are there check out the rest of their site. They have a really cool Cory Luebke interview that they just did and I love the Mark Mud Grant interview.

Friarhood Radio w/RJ's Fro

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I was on Twitter today and something caught my eye from Dan Hayes of the North County Times…..

DHayesNCT: Mitch Canham has a little bit of a rapper in him. You can find the song on the Internet if you look hard enough.

A rapping catcher? I have to hear this! I typed in the words Mitch Canham Rap in Google and hit search. Apparently I didn’t have to look that hard because it was the first thing listed on Google. Go check out “Mitchy Slick Grand Slam Time™“. Yes it has the trademark on it….wait a second does that mean I have to pay him for posting this? Ahhh crap. Oh well check it out here….it’s pretty damn cool. My personal fav is “Still Ballin 07″.

PS-I wonder if him and Khalil would have rap battles with each other?

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So in case you missed it: recently it was reported that the old Showley Brothers Candy factory on 900 K St (see picture) was purchased by a group controlled by Padres owner Jeff Moorad for $5.71 million. A few days before that purchase was announced, Padres President Tom Garfinkel was on our good buddy Hacksaw's radio show and the subject of a Padres Hall of Fame was brought up. He did say in that interview that they would like to create one at some point in the future. I remember back when Petco was first getting built the original intent was to have a Padres Hall of Fame in that building. Obviously due to all the delays and set backs that hasn't happened though. The building has been getting restored all these seasons though and is now completed so I asked Garfinkel recently if the building purchase & the recent Padres Hall of Fame comments were related. He stated that as of right now they aren't sure what they are going to do with that building but they have "lots of ideas" & would like to "activate the Park more". It would be nice to have one main spot, that is reachable by all the fans, that can house all the Padres memorabilia from all the past years. Whether it be a Padres Hall of Fame or a new restaurant, I actually can't wait to see what they have in store for that building and will be keeping an eye on this situation. **For more info on the history of the candy factory there is a pretty cool video on You Tube that San Diego Insider did on the building.

 

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