My god are these guys hard to watch. So frustrating! Hundley's always been a streaky hitter, but this year it's just been one long streak - down, down, and further down.

I feel like as long as he cant hit, Baker would be my primary catcher. Interesting that Hundley had 2 hits a few nights ago, then got a day off.

I get why they trolling Hundley out there....he handles the pitchers well and throws out runners. You can stomach one light hitter in the lineup (usually middle infielder though). Maybin is the bigger concern. He's now below .200 and he's falling quick and looking awful doing it. He's swinging and missing sometime by a foot. Send him to AA. I'm a LOT more comfortable with an outfield of Quentin, Venable and Denorfia. That's about an 80 point improvement. Maybin's basestealing and defense are a moot point because he can't make contact and is an absolute abyss in critical game situations.

I'm not a fan of Blake Tekotte. I'd like to see Matt Clark or Dan Robertson get a roster spot....even if it's just as pinch hitters and spot starts.
DW

The can't send Maybin down, he does not have any options left. There have been squaks that he is not very coachable. Perhaps a seat on the bench until he becomes coachable might be a solution.

hmmmm, not coachable?..thats a first for me. Who said this?

I saw Kouzmanoff and Headley go thru what he's going thru, and Black stuck with both of them, when other decisions could've been made.

I hate that Maybin is struggling, but if Buddy was able to grit his teeth thru Chase and Kouz struggling, then he should do the same for Cam.

If a player is struggling but working his asszz off and listening to the coaches and trying to make adjustments you feel good about sticking with him - if he's not listening and doesn't have the right attitude then you don't stick with him

I have not heard anything specific on Maybin but twice I have heard broadcasters intimate that there may be a problem that he doesn't have his head in the game at times and is not showing an ability/willingness to make some changes

The Coach John Kentera hinted at it one night and on another occassion Scanlan hinted at it - in fact Scan went so far as to say that if he has options left he should be sent down if for no reason other than a wake up call that he has to earn his right to be here....

""It's my understanding Maybin has refused to make any adjustments with his lead arm," the scout said. "He's got his elbow stuck almost in the strike zone and he's blocking off his back half. You can't get the back half of your body into it if the front half is stopping it." The problem isn't unusual, he said."

http://insidethepadres.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-and-preview.html

that article was interesting, especially this,:

""The Padres still have no margin for error," the scout said, "and because of it, in the fifth inning, Bud Black has to play the game like it's in the bottom of the ninth every inning.""

but of course black is THE problem...

as far as maybin being uncoachable, that's surprising. i thought the ut articles about him last year painted him in a good light as far as working on his defensive game, etx

It is frustrating, and what I am seeing this season is that opposing teams have glaringly obvious "pitching plans" for both Maybin and Hundley. Their lack of success is very similar. In their at bats both players always see off speed pitches low and away, but in or near the strike zone. For Hundley it appears that sliders slightly away are a major problem, he misses them by a foot. It's not that Hundley is off balance or anything, he just flat out does not see the pitch at all (although he does seem to see, and lay off, change-ups.). For Maybin it seems that they can throw curves, change-ups and sliders pretty much down the middle as long as the are a little low (his timing and balance are way off on off speed pitches). Hundley has major problems with swinging at high strikes, particularly two seamers up and in. Maybin swings at a lot of high strikes, makes contact, but grounds out toward second A LOT !!! His first at bat against the Astros last night was a perfect example. All that being said leaves us with why they swing through any kind of fastball that comes straight down the pipe whether it be 89mph or 96mph. When the opposition knows they can stay safe and get strikes on these guys just throwing junk near the plate, all of a sudden a fastball, even a misplaced, or FAT one, becomes their "tricky" out pitch rather than a primary pitch. It's almost like the opposition pitches to these guys backwards relative to other players.

I have not heard the decension rumors as well, but what gets on my nerves is the same thing I used to see with Khalil Green...no hustle. If you hit a groundball to the left side or a come backer to the pitcher, he should be hustling his *** off, but many times I have watched him loaf it down the line. I can deal with a struggling ballplayer, but not one that won't give the effort. Someone needs to get in his ear, bench him, something...but on this team, not hustling cannot be tolerated.

We always seem to have multiple guys that lack the discipline of MLB hitters. As soon as they get 2 strikes on them its likely they will Chase a pitch out of the zone. That's just a bad habit that can't really be taught, and other teams avoid that player when they see the warning signs.

that's kinda true of most mlb hitters...

"but of course Black is THE problem..."

AGREED.

Help wanted: Need strong baseball manager. OR - One that will AT LEAST play the best
(most productive) eight players.

For my money - Quentin and Guzman are playing RF & LF EVERYDAY and you can platoon
Deno and Veable in CF. Yeah, yeah we lose some defense. Ahh - last I looked were in last place.

LOL - The one trade Hoyer made that I thought was good.
Turns out, Rays knew what they were doing.

Hundley has fallen into the same category as Venable....unable to live up to potential/wait until
next year.

The problem with Quentin playing everyday is his knee still is a bit cranky. Andy or Mud mentioned it the other night on why he had missed 2 straight games.

"but of course Black is THE problem..."

AGREED.

What seems obvious is that if a team is looking for a "walk the line" , "yes" man toward the FO and always says the "right" thing, THAN black is your guy.. IF a team is looking for a real leader and actual "manager". That is not Black.

I just do not sense or see the word LEADER anywhere near his name.

Hey don't be so hard on him. Everyone has their bad times. He might start doing better after the All-Star Game.

"Hundley has fallen into the same category as Venable....unable to live up to potential/wait until
next year."

Until Quentin came back, those two had been our best players. Time to wake up and adjust for park factors.

Kouz and Headley never fell this far. Kouz had the one awful beginning to a season but snapped out of it by the All Star break. Maybin is sliding the other direction with no sign of coming out of it and he's hurting the team in key situations. This team could stomach it if he were the only one on the team hitting like this but the combonation of him and Hundley in the same lineup is a complete offensive killer. They can't do it....

I guess if you have to keep Maybin on the team, only play him when you start Baker. Venable and Denorfia need to make this difficult on Maybin.
DW