Sez Me …
What’s in a name? Not much — especially if you have one of little consequence, one not even immediate family members may recognize.
Randy Elliott, Mike Ivie, Jay Franklin, Mike Lentz, Brian Greer, Joe Lansford, Jeff Pyburn, Frank Castro, Jimmy Jones, Ray Hayward, Jerry Green, Thomas Howard, Kevin Garner, Robbie Beckett, Scott Sanders, Greg Anthony, Dustin Hermanson, Matt Halloran, Kevin Nicholson, Vince Faison, Gerik Baxter, Omar Ortiz, Casey Burns, Mike Bynum, Nick Trzesniak, Mark Phillips, Jake Gautreau, Cesar Carrillo, Cesar Ramos, Kyler Burke, Nick Schmidt, Kellen Kulbacki, Drew Cumberland, Mitch Canham, Corey Luebke, Danny Payne … OK, I’m stopping here.
Know who they are?
These guys — minus many for space purposes — were all drafted in the first round by the Padres. And the great majority of them never made the big league club.
Padres drafts date back to 1969, and they have taken one great player in the first round. That was Dave Winfield, who left for the Yankees when San Diego could no longer pay him.
My favorite remains Ivie, a catcher who couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher.
In the history of drafting by the four major sports, no team can match the Pads for upper lottery ineptitude. Face it, no franchise comes close.
It’s pathetic, is what it is. Even former Pads scouting director/great guy Bill “Chief” Gayton once told me it was “embarrassing. I mean, you luck into players.”
Granted, among all sports drafts, baseball’s is the greatest crapshoot. And the Padres have drafted a few good players in the first round — and in other rounds (Tony Gwynn was a third-round pick). They also took current center fielder Jackson Merrill in the first (as a shortstop), and although currently slumping, he has promise.
They did draft C.J. Abrams No. 1 — before trading him to the Nationals, where he’s been on an All-Star Team.
President of baseball operations A.J. Preller, who made his bones with international players, recently took high school right-handed pitcher Coleman Borthwick in the first round.
Coleman is 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, a big kid with a lot of promise. I hope he does well. I hope he makes the trip to Cooperstown.
But, judging by this team’s history, if I were Coleman, I might think about running an El Paso Chick-fil-A in five years. …
The Pads’ playoff drive ended Friday night in Kansas City. Just awful. …
I don’t believe Major League Baseball players should compete (for the first time) in the 2028 L.A. Olympics. Shut down the sport completely for 11 days? …
Will there still be an All-Star Game, when players get about four days off? Still at 162 regular season games? The World Series will end with people watching Thanksgiving football. …
MLB Players Association interim chief Bruce Meyer calls baseball’s ad to promote a salary cap “perverse.” I don’t know about “perverse.” But I know it isn’t going to do any good. …
The union exists to get as much money as it can and benefits for the players. Owners exist to make as much money as they can for themselves. Call it a stalemate, but the MLBPA ain’t throwing that cap chip back onto the table. …
The Home Run Derby was on Netflix. Just had some painting done. I didn’t have to pay to watch it dry. It was better. …
Sorry. Maybe you aren’t a fan, but I am. The Derby has had no power since Chris Berman provided the real entertainment. …
I still don’t know who Jordan Walker is. …
Twenty-seven strikeouts in an All-Star Game. Fifteen of the 30 NL batters struck out. Baseball in 2026. …
The All-Star Game is a dinosaur. Pete Rose seemingly was the last player who cared about it. It has one foot in the grave and another on black ice. …
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs: “You can’t name a No. 2 better than me.” OK. We’re just a few weeks from the start of camp. Why are you still a free agent? …
That’s a lot of teams who don’t think he’s the No. 1 No. 2. …
The NFL has suspended Cardinals director of college scouting Ryan Gold for allegedly leaking 2026 draft information and making parlay bets. A good job you worked years to get isn’t good enough? …
The Seahawks have been sold to a group headed by 49ers’ part-owner Vinod Khosla for $9.612 billion. In 1997, Microsoft magnate Paul Allen paid a then-extravagant $194 million for them. The NFL is the new oil. …
In case you’re wondering, that’s a 4,854.62% increase. …
Hear tell Josh Allen throws up before every game. Big deal. So did Bill Russell. Bill won 11 NBA titles. Super Bowl titles for Josh. Zero. Puking doesn’t always work. …
My father didn’t speak French — close; he was Genovese — but after losing to Spain, I didn’t hear one Frenchman say what dad always did: ‘Can’t win if you don’t score.” …
But the French did admit one thing: They stunk. …
FIFA strongman Gianni Infantino is in favor of expanding the World Cup from 48 teams — already too many — to 64 in 2030. He wants everybody in. More teams, more Benjamins, more stupidity, more chaos. …
It would be something, though, if the Vatican had a team in this thing. Infantino would no longer be the Highest Authority. …
Lionel Messi took the quarterfinal off. But he usually comes alive — after standing around — when he has a chance. He rebounded in the semis. …
I’m Sgt. Schultzing. I know nothing about the Cup being rigged in Argentina/Messi’s favor. But the Argentines were better than the Brits in the semis. …
Argentina had the ball 88% of the time. England mother-henned a 1-0 lead. Did. Really. …
Tied World Cup matches should not end in shootouts. …
The only problem I had with Switzerland was that it wasn’t rooting for anybody to win. …
But the Swiss outplayed the Argentines. …
Ace goalie Volkmar Gross could kick a soccer ball from “here” to wherever “there” is. …
It appears Caleb Wilson is another basketball player whose game was suppressed at North Carolina. And Dean Smith’s not around to do it anymore. …
Philly’s ace Zach Wheeler felt “disrespected” when snubbed by All-Star pickers and then refused to go when a spot came open. Reminds me of Garry Templeton’s all-time quote when he was named a backup: “If I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin’.” …
Face it. Tennis isn’t the same when the U.S. isn’t good enough at it. Star power speaks a different language. …
“Gone with the Wind” will be released in 4K. Another way for me not to watch it more than the one time I have. …
Scotland’s Josh Kerr smashes the world mile record with a time of 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds. That’s running two 1:51.33 880s back-to-back. Digest that for a few years. …
I don’t care where LeBron goes. …
It’s not surprising King Charles didn’t call the Royal and Ancient to reverse its two-shot Open penalty on Bryson DeChambeau. …
Our leader: “The R&A is absolutely rigged.” …
Vitas Gerulaitis lost 16 straight matches to Jimmy Connors. When he finally conquered Jimmy, he said: “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.”