2006 San Diego Padres Season
The 2006 San Diego Padres season was the 38th season in franchise history. The Padres captured their second consecutive National League West crown, with a record of 88–74, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers by virtue of winning the season series 13–5 against the Dodgers. The 2006 season also marked the end of Bruce Bochy's tenure as manager of the team, after 24 seasons overall, 12 seasons as manager (1995–2006), winning 4 division titles (1996, 1998, 2005, 2006). The Padres were eliminated in the 2006 National League Division Series by the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, losing 3–1. Offseason * November 18, 2005: Xavier Nady was traded by the San Diego Padres to the New York Mets for Mike Cameron. *December 2, 2005: Pete Laforest was selected off waivers by the San Diego Padres from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. *December 5, 2005: Brian Giles was signed as a free agent with the San Diego Padres. *December 7, 2005: Dewon Brazelton was traded by the Tampa Bay ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National League West
The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed for the 1969 season when the National League expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos. For purpose of keeping a regular-season of 162 games, half of the teams were put into the new National League East, East Division and half into the new West Division. Within each division, the teams played 18 games each against their five division mates (90 games), and also 12 games against the teams in the opposite division (72 games), totaling 162 games. Geography Despite the geography, the owners of the Chicago Cubs insisted that their team be placed into the East Division along with the teams in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Also, the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted that team to be in the same division with their natural rivals of the Cubs. The league could have insisted on a purely geographical alignment like the American League did. But ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Xavier Nady
Xavier Clifford Nady VI (; born November 14, 1978) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman. Nady played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, and the San Diego Padres. The St. Louis Cardinals originally drafted Nady in the fourth round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft (134th overall) after he was named Northern California Player of the Year in his senior year of high school (but he did not sign professionally at that time). Nady attended University of California, Berkeley, where he set the all-time Pac-10 Conference record for career slugging percentage (.729) for the California Golden Bears baseball team. Professional career San Diego Padres Nady was drafted in the second round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft by the San Diego Padres (49th overall). Nady signed a major league contract and became the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Doug Mirabelli
Douglas Anthony Mirabelli (born October 18, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000), Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers (2001), Boston Red Sox (2001–2005), and San Diego Padres (2006) before returning to the Red Sox (2006–2007) to end his 11-year career. He batted and threw right-handed. Mirabelli was a career .231 hitter with 58 home runs and 206 runs batted in in 566 games. While with the Red Sox, he was well-known as the catcher#Personal catcher, personal catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. He was part of the Red Sox' World Series championship teams in 2004 and 2007. High school and college After leading Valley High School (Nevada), Valley High School in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas to two state baseball titles, Mirabelli was originally selected by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth Round (159th overall) of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft, 1989 Major League Baseball amateur draft, but ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Free Agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules. Types Terms Unrestricted free agent Unrestricted free agents are players without a team. They have either been released from their club, had the term of their contract expire without a renewal, or were not chosen in a league's draft of amateur players. These people, generally speaking, are free to entertain offers from all other teams in the player's most recent league and elsewhere and to decide with whom to sign a contract. Players who have been bought out of league standard contracts may have restrictions within that league, such as not being able to sign with the buy-out club for a period of time in the NHL, b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mike Piazza
Michael Joseph Piazza ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1992 to 2007. He currently serves as the manager of the Italian national baseball team. He played most notably for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, while also having brief stints with the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics. A 12-time All-Star and 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner at catcher, Piazza produced strong offensive numbers at his position; in his career, he recorded 427 home runs—a record 396 of which were hit as catcher—along with a .308 batting average and 1,335 runs batted in (RBI). Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers in the 1988 MLB draft as a favor from Tommy Lasorda to Piazza's father. He was the last player selected and signed in his draft class to play in the Major Leagues. Initially a first baseman, Piazza converted to catcher in the minor leagues at Lasorda's suggest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Embree
Alan Duane Embree (born January 23, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. Embree played for the Cleveland Indians (1992–1996), Atlanta Braves (1997–1998), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998), San Francisco Giants (1999–2001), Chicago White Sox (2001), San Diego Padres (2002 & 2006), Boston Red Sox (2002–2005), New York Yankees (2005), Oakland Athletics (2007–2008), and the Colorado Rockies (2009). He batted and threw left-handed, and was used as a left-handed specialist. High school Embree attended Prairie High School in Brush Prairie, Washington and was a letterman in football, basketball, baseball. In baseball, he won All-Conference honors. Embree won a state championship in baseball at Prairie High School. Due to a shoulder injury, he did not pitch during his senior season. Over the final three seasons of his high school career, he hit .400. Professional career From 1992 through 2004, Embree had posted a 28-28 record with a 4.38 ERA and seven saves in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Terrmel Sledge
Terrmel Sledge (born March 18, 1977) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and the former assistant hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yokohama BayStars. Prior to being hired by the Cubs, he was the hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers in the Texas League. Playing career Sledge's major league career began in 2004 with the Montreal Expos. He batted .269/.336/.462 with 15 home runs and 62 runs batted in in his rookie year. On September 29, 2004 he was the final out at the last Expos home game when he popped out to third base in 9-1 loss to the Florida Marlins On October 3, 2004, he recorded the final RBI in Expos history when he drove in Jamey Carroll in a game against the New York Mets. Sledge moved with the team to Washington, D.C. the following season as the Expos relocate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chris Young (pitcher)
Christopher Ryan Young (born May 25, 1979) is an American former professional baseball player and current general manager of the Texas Rangers. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from to for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. Young was a 2007 National League (NL) All-Star player as a member of the Padres, and was a member of the 2015 World Series winning Kansas City Royals team. After his playing career, he worked for the Major League Baseball front office before becoming the General Manager of the Rangers in 2020. At the age of 25, Young made his MLB debut on August 24, 2004 with the Rangers. He had previously excelled in basketball and baseball at Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas, and Princeton University. Young helped Highland Park reach the Class 4A Region II basketball final in 1997 and the Class 4A Texas state basketball final in 1998. He tossed a no-hitter in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adrián González
Adrián González Savín (born May 8, 1982), also known by his nicknames "A-Gon" and "Titán", is a Mexican-American former professional baseball first baseman He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets. González was born in the United States, but was raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, until 1990, when he returned to the United States. He played for Mexico in the 2006, 2009, 2013, and the 2017 editions of the World Baseball Classic and the 2020 Olympic Games. González was the first overall pick in the 2000 MLB draft by the Florida Marlins. He was traded to the Rangers, and made his MLB debut with them in 2004. He was traded to the Padres after the 2005 season, where he was an All-Star selection three times and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner. He was traded to the Red Sox after the 2010 season, and was traded to the Dodgers in August 2012. After playing for the Dodge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. In 2020, the Rangers moved to the new Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Arlington after having played at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) from 1994 to 2019. The team's name is shared with a Texas Ranger Division, law enforcement agency. The franchise was established in 1961, as the Washington Senators, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after the city's first AL ballclub, the History of the Washington Senators (1901–60), second Washington Senators, moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins, Twins (the Washington Senators (1891–99), original Washington Senators played primarily in the National League during the 1890s). After the season, the new Senators moved to Arlington, and debuted as the Rangers the followin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Akinori Otsuka
(born January 13, 1972) is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher who coaches for the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was formerly the set-up man for the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers. He was also the closer for Japan's 2006 World Baseball Classic winning team. Otsuka threw a low-90's 4-seam fastball (tops out at about 94 mph) that is very straight, along with a hard, late-breaking slider. He employed an unorthodox pitching delivery wherein he lifted his lead leg up very slowly, tapped his glove, then fired to home plate, making his pitches look faster coming out of his hand and thus harder to pick up. NPB career MLB career San Diego Padres Otsuka came to the United States after several years of pitching in the Japanese League when his former team, the Chunichi Dragons, used the posting system to solicit bids from MLB clubs for the right to negotiate with him. The Padres offered the top bid, and signed him to a three-year contract on Decem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adam Eaton (pitcher)
Adam Thomas Eaton (born November 23, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000 through 2009 for the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Colorado Rockies. With the Phillies, Eaton was a member of the 2008 World Series champions. Early career High school Eaton graduated from Snohomish High School in 1996 where he went 8–0 with a 0.67 earned run average (ERA) as a senior, and earned second team High School All-America honors from ''Baseball America''. He was named to the All-America First Team by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings. Ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Pacific Northwest by ''Baseball America'', Eaton was scheduled to attend the University of Washington, but was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies with the 11th pick in the first round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft. Minor leagues After signing, the Phillies assigned Eaton t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |