Padres Press Clips Tuesday, January 15, 2013 Article Source Author Page Padres Insider: Gregerson picked for WBC; UT San Diego Center 2 crunch week for 8 Padres arbitration eligible Former Padres shortstop Hernandez dead at 63 MLB.com Brock 5 Ballpark Shines as a 'Utility Player' SBJ York 6 1 Padres Insider: Gregerson picked for WBC; crunch week for 8 Padres arbitration eligibles By Bill Center2:41 P.M.JAN. 14, 2013 Luke Gregerson got a personal call from Joe Torre last week with an invitation to play for Team USA in the third World Baseball Classic. “It was really sweet,” the Padres reliever said Monday morning. “He asked me if I’d be interested. I told him it was a ‘great honor just to be asked.’ I can’t wait to represent the country. It’s very cool.” The 28-year-old, right-handed relief pitcher will be the lone Padre on Team USA and one of three major league Padres playing in the WBC. Outfielder Chris Denorfia is scheduled to play for Italy and right-handed starter Edinson Volquez will be playing for The Dominican Republic. Gregerson said being selected for Team USA won’t change his preseason throwing program. “I’ll easy into it and maybe let it go a little bit more in my second or third spring training outing with the Padres before reporting to Team USA.” Gregerson was 2-0 with career-bests of nine saves and a 2.39 earned run average in 77 appearances with the Padres last season. He had 72 strikeouts while allowing only 57 hits in 71 2/3 innings. He also worked a career-best 23 straight scoreless innings from July 4 to Aug. 27 and had a 1.10 ERA and a .189 opponents batting average and all nine of his saves in 35 appearances after the All-Star break. Gregerson is 11-14 with a 2.92 ERA in 290 appearances over four seasons as a Padre. He has 288 strikeouts against 223 hits and 89 walks in 280 2/3 career innings. Opponents have a .215 batting average against Gregerson. It has been a big off-season for Gregerson, who became engaged in November to Lindsey Kuehner. Busy week for Padres Gregerson is one of eight, arbitration-eligible Padres who must reach a contract agreement with the Padres over the next three days or exchange 2013 contract numbers on Friday. 2 Topping the list of arbitration eligible Padres is third baseman Chase Headley, whose 2012 contract of $3.475 million will more than double and possibly approach $8 million given his break-out season. Also on the arbitration list are starting pitchers Clayton Richard and Volquez, relievers Gregerson and Joe Thatcher, shortstop Everth Cabrera, outfielder Will Venable and catcher John Baker. “I think we’ll sign a half or more of our arbitration-eligible players before Friday,” said Padres general manager Josh Byrnes. “We’ll be spending a lot of our time this week on the arbitration- eligible players.” Pitching search The Padres believe starting pitcher Tim Stauffer might not be ready to pitch until May, which complicates their plans to possibly sign the right-hander to a minor league contract. The Padres already have three other starting pitchers – Andrew Cashner, Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland – who won’t be ready at the start of the season. Their search is for pitchers who would be ready to compete for a rotation spot at the start of spring training. “Stauffer is not the perfect fit right now,” said Byrnes, who is still studying the possibility of adding a starting pitcher via a trade, even if the trade is made during spring training. Enzo Hernandez dead at 63 Enzo Hernandez, the Padres regular shortstop from 1971 through 1977, died Saturday at his home in El Tigre, Venezuela, of an apparent suicide. He was 63. A solid defender, Hernandez hit only .225 over seven seasons and 710 games as a Padre. He had two career homers and 113 RBI. In 549 at-bats as a rookie, Hernandez hit .222 with no homers and 12 RBI – ranking last in all three categories in the National League and setting a record for fewest RBI by any player with 500 or more at-bats. Still, Hernandez became something of a folk hero with early Padres fans, thanks to his nightly introduction at San Diego Stadium by public address announcer John DeMott: “Number 11! . Enzoooooooo Hernandez!!!” Padres notes 3 --Be Barnes, a member of the major league Padres original public relations team, passed away on New Year’s eve. Barnes first worked for the Padres of the Pacific Coast League from 1947-51 and later became the executive director of the San Diego Press Club. She rejoined the Padres in 1968 and retired in 1990. --The Padres have named 15-year major league veteran Burt Hooten (151-136 record) as the pitching coach at low Single-A Fort Wayne. Morgan Burkhart will serve as the hitting coach for the TinCaps, who are managed by Jose Valentin. --Alexi Amarista is 12-for-36 in the Venezuela Winter League playoffs. Jesus Guzman is hitting .250 with two doubles and two triples for five RBI in nine games for semifinalist Caracas. Minor league outfielder Corey Adamson leads the Australian Baseball League with a .352 average (37- for-105). 4 Former Padres shortstop Hernandez dead at 63 By Corey Brock / MLB.com | 01/14/13 2:14 PM ET SAN DIEGO -- Former Padres shortstop Enzo Hernandez died Sunday in an apparent suicide, according to Venezuelan media reports. Hernandez, 63, was found dead in his home of El Tigre, which is located about 210 miles southeast of Caracas, according to the newspaper Sunday Leader. According to the report, spokesmen for the El Tigre municipal police confirmed Hernandez's death but declined to provide details on the cause. Hernandez played seven seasons with the Padres (1971-77) after being obtained from the Orioles on Dec. 1, 1970, and finished his big league career with the Dodgers in 1978. Hernandez, a career .224 hitter, had a career-best 122 hits his rookie season in 1971. He also led the National League in errors (33) that season. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Hernandez qualified last in batting average (.222), home runs (zero) and RBIs (12) among all National League players his first season. Hernandez stole 129 bases in his career, including a career-high 37 steals during the 1974 season. But his best work came in the field, as Hernandez was regarded as a strong defensive shortstop. "He was solid-as-a-rock in the infield," said 1976 Cy Young Award winner Randy Jones, a teammate of Hernandez's from 1973-77. "He had pretty good speed, scored a few key runs for us. But he was a solid, good-range shortstop who was a lot of fun to play with." 5 Ballpark Shines as a 'Utility Player' MEETINGS: In Season Or Off, Petco Park Is The Place to Meet By Tom York Monday, January 14, 2013 Petco Park remains one of the best baseball venues in the country, but it is also one of San Diego’s most unique places for meetings and parties, both on game days as well as the off season. “It’s one of our goals to become more than a baseball stadium, and to utilize the facilities on a year-round basis,” said Brent Stehlik, senior vice president of ballpark operations for the Padres. The gatherings range from a modest “happy hour,” gathering for 40 to thousands who jam the field for concerts, film previews and other activities. Smaller events range from science fairs to music festivals. San Jose-based technology giant Cisco Systems Inc. held its annual Cisco Live! event at the stadium last summer, which attracted 8,000 to10,000 IT engineers and executives, who took over the site for various activities over three days. Stehlik notes that the stadium works closely with the San Diego Convention Center to provide off-site gathering points for those attending conventions and tradeshows, and those organizations that seek some time away from the crowds at the convention center. Building Is Best Feature The historic Western Metal Supply Co., a four-story red brick structure anchors the left field of the 42,500-capacity stadium and serves as a central focal point for the 75 meetings and events annually under the auspices of Petco Park Events, a unit of the San Diego Padres. “If you walk through the Western Metal Concourse on game day, you’d never expect that we could dress it up, and convert it into a really nice meeting space,” he said. “But we have been able to do that, and more.” “The building is one of the best features of our ballpark,” said Stehlik, who noted that the edifice features the open-air rooftop, with sweeping views of not only the playing field and stadium seating, but the towering skyline of downtown San Diego. The interior top floor includes the Hall of Fame Bar and Grill, which has been transformed into a place for parties, as well as more formal meetings, including sit-down dinners. The lower floors include suites with retractable walls, seven on one floor and five on another floor. He said retracting the interior walls can transform the floors into one open suite, with nice views out the window of the building. “We converted the concourse on the ground floor into a space where we had our holiday party this past year,” he said. “We dressed it really nice, brought in some heaters, and we transformed it into a beautiful space.” Five Clubs and Restaurants “You would have never known it was a concourse for a baseball stadium,” he said.