Adrian Gonzalez

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, San Diego: Anytime a hitter has a BABIP as low as Gonzalez', I am prone to think it must be fluky. Then again, given the depleted state of the Padres' lineup, I thought maybe there was another source behind his .245 rate. I assumed that Gonzalez was not getting many good pitches to hit, a theory that his 19 percent walk rate supports. Better yet, according to the Fangraphs website, Gonzalez is among the bottom 20 batters in terms of the percentage of pitches seen in the strike zone. As it turns out, seven of these 20 hitters, including Gonzo, have BABIP rates of .280 or lower.

It looks like Gonzalez' owners should just start resigning themselves to a second half replete with homers, walks and easy outs, but repeat after me: correlation is not causation. Just because Gonzalez and his compatriots aren't getting many pitches in the zone doesn't mean that they are doomed to low batting averages. Five of these seven low-BABIP batters possess flyball trends that would likely lead to subpar BABIP rates in any event, pitch-arounds notwithstanding. Only Gonzalez and Aubrey Huff have profiles that suggest they are due to produce higher batting averages going forward. Even without protection, Gonzalez should revert back to being a .280 hitter as soon as better luck starts to kick in.

FantasyNews.CBSSports.com

Why not make the padres totally unwatchable.

As a local native and lifelong fan of the Padres, he can see it. He can see how it could help in the long run for the Padres to trade Adrian Gonzalez, getting everything they can for their best player, one of the pre-eminent sluggers in the major leagues. Indeed, if he also were the club's general manager, Adrian Gonzalez might trade himself.

“To a certain extent, I don't disagree with people who say the best thing for the Padres is to go out and get a bunch of people for me,” said Gonzalez. “If you're looking at it from an ownership standpoint, I think there's a lot to it, just because of where the team is and everything.

“Would I want to be traded? No. Is it to a team that has a chance to win the World Series? I'd have to be intrigued by it. Know what I mean?”

sdut

Adrian Gonzalez’s trade value :: Friar Forecast

Gotta give some love to the soulsurfer once in a while. Even when he is wrong.

I just lost a bar bet. Cost me an Arrogant Bastard and a shot of Makers Mark. I was arguing that there was no way that Kevin Kouzmanoff has more hits than Adrian Gonzalez. After all Gonzalez is an All Star. The best Padres player by far.

And Kouzmanoff? Well, he has been so bad that the Padres can't even trade him. Guess what? Kouzmanoff has 80 hits and Gonzalez has 77. Yes, I know that Adrian has 24 home runs and Kouzmanoff only has 12. But with 12 more home runs, Adrian only has 5 more RBI and he has had 16 more people on base in front of him than Kouzmanoff.

In other words, Kouzmanoff has done a better job of driving in runs. Kouzmanoff is hitting 40 points better with runners in scoring position.

Websoulsurfer

Ya Think?

Las Vegas doesn't have much confidence in Brandon Inge winning Monday night's Home Run Derby in St. Louis. Inge has 21 home runs, tied for fourth in the American League with Minnesota's Justin Morneau and the Yankees' Mark Teixeira. But Las Vegas odds-makers pit Inge as Monday's underdog. Lasvegassports-odds.com lists Inge as its biggest underdog of the Derby's eight participants, with odds to win at +950, which means a bet of $100 could earn the bettor $950 if Inge were to win. The favorite ..

• St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, is a +200.
• Philadelphia's Ryan Howard is second at +240,
• Milwaukee's Prince Fielder at +325,
• San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez at +465,
• Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena at +550,
• Texas' Nelson Cruz at +750,
• Minnesota's Joe Mauer at +800 and Inge.

detnews.com

I am not a fan of the all-star game either. I may have caught glimpses of them on the television in seasons past, but I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down and watched the all-star game. Maybe it was the Bary Bonds/Torri Hunter bear hug game, and that probably had more to do with Barry, than the all-star game itself.

I am not a big fan of baseball's All-Star Game, how it has evolved into what it has become, which basically is inconsequential, despite Commissioner Bug Selig's ridiculous attempt to make it meaningful. Still, no matter what I think, write, say or do, it isn't going away. The All-Star Game will be around as long as the sport survives, because baseball is a cockroach. Step on it. Poison it with drugs. It won't go away.

If the All-Star Game is to remain, then the proper people, despite the popularity contest it has become, should be a part of it. Do it right, which isn't always a possibility for baseball. Despite their obvious travails, the Padres will have two players representing the National League in next week's All-Star Game in St. Louis, closer Heath Bell and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. They were not voted in by the fans, but the players, and there's something to be said for being recognized by the guys working the other side.

Nick Canepa

With Adrian Gonzalez's OBP on the rise, that'll simply create more RBI opportunity's for Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Kouzmanoff has a history of being a second half player .. This is a plus, plus.

If a walk were as good as a hit, Adrian Gonzalez's slump would seem like a streak. The Padres' prolific first baseman has lost 37 points of batting average since May 16, from .302 to .265, but he's accumulated so many bases on balls during this span that his on-base percentage has actually improved.

So San Diego's favorite rhetorical question – Why does anyone dare to pitch to this guy? – has recently received the appropriate response: When in doubt, you don't.

“The last 3½ weeks or so, I've noticed a change in how they're attacking him,” Padres manager Bud Black said yesterday. “I think you can look at pitch sequences, types of pitches, pitchers coming out of their own style, doing something different than what they usually do, (but) during the course of an at-bat, you can tell they're being cautious.”

sdut

nooooooooo. Pleease no.

Adrian Gonzalez was injured sliding into 3rd base and was forced to leave the game in the 4th inning of the San Diego Padres 4-3 win over the Houston Astros at Petco Park tonight.

While we still do not know the extent of the injury that the Padres are calling a strain, losing Gonzalez would be the capper on a season that has been plagued by injuries to key players such as Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Scott Hairston and Cha Seung Baek. The Padres currently have 9 players on the DL and are on pace to equal last seasons MLB record 1244 player days on the DL.

Websoulsurfer

I don't know if I would go top three, but it is sure nice to see it written down somewhere .. :)

There are many other improvements to his game that have gone largely unnoticed. His skills have grown significantly each season and this is by far his best. His walk rate has increased slightly each season before 2009, but in 2009 it has jumped to a league best 19.7%. This is better than even Adam Dunn and Albert Pujols. His career rate stands at 10.4%, but it has been 311 PA and has been above 15% for most of the season. He also has 10 IBB, which are not included in BB%.

While his walk rate has spiked his strikeout rate has steady and is even slightly below career levels. If not for the low BABIP at .253 he would easily be hitting over .300 and have an OBP around .450. Where will his power settle is the big question. He has gone from 11-16% HR/F in Texas and SD from 2005-2007, but jumped to 23% in 2008 and many thought this was above his skill in Petco Park. This year he currently holds a 32.5% HR/F, which is far ahead of the next hitter Mark Reynolds at 26.9%.

He would easily be a first round pick in 2010 if he continues this for the rest of the year. If he was moved to a hitters park he would challenge a top 3 pick consideration. If you are in a keeper league and hold Gonzalez then you have to expect first round talent to move him. I wouldn't move him unless you really got a top talent back for him.

Roto Savants

You can only keep the 2009 MVP down, for so long, ya know? :)

A wise and humble man noted early today just how good Adrian Gonzalez is.That's no secret to the Mariners, of course. In that weak Padres' lineup, he leaps out. Don Wakamatsu said the Mariners game plan was to not let Gonzalez beat them -- to basically pitch around him. And then he noted sadly that they let him beat them.

Gonzalez was 4-for-4, including an RBI single in the first, a game-tying homer in the sixth (despite a valiant effort by Franklin Gutierrez to snare it over the wall), and a two-out double in the 10th that prceded Kevin "You Can't Spell His Name Without 2 K's" Kouzmanoff's game-winning single off the man Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News-Tribune has likened, in haircut, to George Jefferson, Miguel Batista.

"It's easier said than done sometimes," Wakamatsu said of attempting to pitch around Gonzalez. "When I was in Texas, we went into a series [against the Angels] where we didn't want Vladdy [Vladimir Guerrero] to beat us. He hit six home runs. Sometimes, when you try to be too careful, you end up making a mistake."

Seattle Times Newspaper