Padres Cheap? Who'd of Guessed?

It is the time of year when your team is so far out of the race, they start trading away those short term players to benefit the future of the club at the expense of the present. As a Padre fan, this is not an uncommon occurrence. We have had the privilege of enjoying three years in a row of being on the other end. We have enjoyed three straight years where the last game of the season was very important.

Regardless of the outcome in those years, I am thankful as a fan for at least that much. It is hard to expect more in a league like Major League Baseball, in a city like San Diego. However, we are right back to the a trade deadline on the selling side of things, and we did the usual; we gave away our commodity for almost nothing in return, because all we wanted to do was save a few dollars (in pro baseball standards at least).

I won't complain about losing Randy Wolf, because thing to do. It sounds like they jumped on the first offer ahead of the deadline in order to get him and his whopping $4 million salary out the door. We landed a pitcher how has a losing record in his 4 year minor league career, including 5-9 with a 4.41 ERA this year in AAA. It wasn't Chad Reineke that got the deal done, it was Wolf's contract.

The Padres are willing to take a $1 million gamble on Prior, but they will take table scraps to get rid of $1 million of Wolf's salary. That is being cheap. I think the only reason Gregg Maddux is still on the team is because the Dodgers were too busy signing one of the best hitters possibly to ever play baseball. I can't doubt that they would have gotten the same kind of deal. Maddux is getting more than Wolf was, but I for one am glad he is still here.

I love Gregg Maddux. He was an idol of mine growing up (to date myself) and I would love for him to be a part of the Padres organization for as long as possible. If he wants to play next year, we should pay him to do so. If he doesn't want to play, I would hope that he would stick around and take some sort of role with the organization whether it is a full time coach or one that comes from spring training and plays the role of a "consultant." I may be way off here, but I would hope that the better the relationship stand with Gregg, the better chance the Padres have of keeping him in any kind of role with the club; and I know that any club will benefit from having Gregg Maddux as part of their organization, no matter where he decides to apply his brain and personality.

Good Start for Henn

I recently came accross a nice article about how terrible the Milwaukee Brewers' organization has been with examples by year. Well, in 2003:

Glendon Rusch starts 19 games. He wins once. Once. Let us repeat that: One win in 19 starts. One.

So I have decided this is actually a positive for the Padres. Sure, they gave Rusch another shot in the bullpen, but at least they didn't give him 19 starts. He was a bum, we all new it, so we went out and got Sean Henn to take his place. Henn got the call last night in a game already out of site for this offense (7-1) and proceeded to walk 3 give up 3 hits and 5 earned runs. Not ideal, but we won't judge on first apearances.

On a bright note, Gerut hit is first home run of the year (and as a Padre), in a 2 for 3 showing with 2 walks as well.

I am a little worried about Wolf after his 4th poor outing in his last 5 starts. The Pads actually led this one for a few minutes at 2-1 in the middle of the 5th, before things fell apart for Wolf and the cubs scored 6 in the bottom of the inning.

I enjoyed the two game winning streak, though, and it is still early May, so lets not mail it in yet. It would be nice if the Pads cared more about winning then having to pay Headley, but what can you do?

I will leave you with another quote from the Woe is the Brewers article:

1990: The Brewers do stick to their guns. Brock is still playing first base even though he hits just .248 with seven home runs in 367 at-bats. Sheffield moves to third base and later accuses the organization of racism by choosing to play Bill Spiers at shortstop over him. He would later say, "The Brewers brought out the hate in me. I was a crazy man. … I hated everything about the place. If the official scorer gave me an error, I didn't think was an error, I'd say, 'OK, here's a real error,' and I'd throw the next ball into the stands on purpose."

Is It Too Early To Join The Wolf Pack

After a somewhat rough Spring Training I think most of us were still hopeful that Randy Wolf would find his form of a few years ago, before he started having shoulder problems. Everyone in the League knows that he was at least a very capable pitcher at one time, but his signing this year after his second straight surgery was a bit of a gamble.

I was happy to get one of his starts in Spring Training and enjoyed watching a pitcher that doesn't have anything exactly dominant, but knows how to dictate a game. He joined the right staff, in getting to work with one of the best pitchers of all time at squeezing as much success as possible out of the least amount of raw talent.

I didn't want to jump out with an article on the guy after just a start or two, and three isn't much better, but after his show on Tuesday, it was too much to resist. His first two starts were very similiar, giving up 4 hits, 1 run, 2 BB and 5 Ks, then 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB and 4 Ks but getting no run support. A 2.25 ERA with 9 Ks to 3 BBs and an 0-0 record is a good start and a good indicator that he is feeling good.

That is really all we can hope for is that he is feeling good, because we know he can get guys out. Tues, he showed what he can do when he is feeling really good, and that was 7 innings with 1 hit, no runs and 9 Ks. He gave out the free pass 4 times, which means he wasn't at his best, and if you ask me, that is a good thing. I look forward to seeing him when he is at his best.

Randy said it best when he said "it was fun to be out there, competing again and being healthy." That's all we can ask for. As for his new home with the Padres, it sounds like he is just as happy to be here as we are to have him here.

"The situation I'm in here, I'm more than happy here. The teammates I have, the city and everything. ...... It's been a great choice. Looking back on it now, I couldn't be happier," said Wolf, who is fourth in the Padres rotation, and pitching like the ace a lot of teams wish they could have.

Lets hope I didn't jump the gun, and this is just the beginning of a great thing.

Wolf Would Rather Play in Southern Cal than Philly? Naaaaa

So Randy Wolf started his career as a Phillie, and really made his career (to this point) in the city of brotherly love. After serving as the team representative, and All-Star season, and three years of a four year $22.5 million contract, Wolf need surgery. After a $9 million salary to rehab in 2006, he took his free agency to Southern California.

The Phillies were upset that he didn't resign with the team that paid him through his rehab, but understood that he wanted to play for the team he grew up adoring and following with his late father. Surgery came again (after a solid 9-6 start) and free agency followed once more.

Once again, he decided to stay in So Cal. Both times the Phillies tried to bring him back and both times he chose NL West clubs. Can you blame the guy? As he puts it, "there are a lot of reasons. West Coast, close to home. Obviously, pitching in a little bit more friendly of a ballpark [for pitchers] helped out. And just playing against these guys a lot last year, I felt like it was a good opportunity. It's a great division to pitch in, to play in and it's up for grabs."

General Manager Pat Gilllick says, "maybe it's a blessing in disguise." I agree, and I hope the blessing is for the San Diego Padres.

It was a risk to sign a guy coming off of two straight surgeries, but he has proven he can be a big time pitcher, and what better situation can you be a part of. There is no pressure to be anchor at the top of the rotation, and you are pitching in a friendly ballpark with a Hall of Fame closer wrapping things up. Not to mention Kevin Towers' knack for building rock solid bullpens.

His first start in Friar blue was a little tough, but that is what Spring Training is for. Here is one guy that thinks the blessing is on the Padres.

Thanks Pat.

For more quotes and the full story from the Philly side, check out The Philly Daily News.