Break Up the Padres

Published: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:28 PM PDT

E-MAIL STORY

The Padres are 11-15 in one-run games this year in what’s becoming a last-place season. Imagine if they had re-signed Milton Bradley, who is leading the American League with a .323 average for the Texas Rangers.

Yeah, good thing they didn’t sign him, I say. You want a franchise to be indebted to a border-line lunatic like Bradley?

Bradley’s bat in the middle of the lineup could have been responsible for turning around that 11-15 record in one-run games to 15-11.

That would boost the Padres, who are last in the NL West at 32-51 entering a series that begins Monday at Colorado, to 36-47. Instead of being last and 9 1/2 games out of first place, as they are now, the Padres would be just 5 1/2 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks (41-41).

Bradley’s bat no doubt would make other bats around him better, and that might be just enough to fool the Padres into thinking they can continue to win with the nucleus of their lineup.

It’s bad enough some San Diego fans booed Trevor Hoffman the other day. You want to follow a franchise that cheers Milton Bradley?

Remember that scene last year when he tried to throw first base coach Bobby Meacham out of his way to get at an umpire before manger Bud Black charged out of the dugout to throw Bradley to the turf?

Good thing his ability to hit a baseball keeps that hair-trigger temper off the streets.

Being grateful to a player like Bradley for winning a division title would be as pathetic as San Francisco fans cheering Barry Bonds for all the great memories. Of what value is success when you’ve lost your soul?

The Padres’ season has been a major disappointment for many reasons. The starting pitching and bullpen haven’t matched last season. If shortstop Khalil Greene, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and outfielder Scott Hairston hit like they did last year, the Padres wouldn’t be leaving so many runners on base and striking out so much.

And that’s not even including catcher Josh Bard and what a disaster it turned out to be to sign Jim Edmonds.

How Adrian Gonzalez has managed to knock in 67 runs in this lineup should have him leading the voting for the All-Star Game.

But the NL West is so bad this year, the Padres could get back in the race if they added a player before the trading deadline or had the bats of Greene and Kouzmanoff come alive.

Still, no matter how well the season might turn out, the Padres know by now they can’t rely on this nucleus for another year. They have to find more speed, power, athleticism and consistency.

The Padres got a lot of mileage out of this nucleus with NL West titles in 2005 and 2006 and coming with in a playoff loss to the World Series-bound Colorado Rockies (32-50 this year, by the way) from a 2007 wild-card berth.

There was nothing wrong with the Padres’ front office expecting this year’s lineup to be competitive. It was realistic to expect Greene and Kouzmanoff to hit like last year.

But another year of Milton Bradley would have postponed the Padres’ inevitable need to re-tool their lineup to fit spacious Petco Park.

-- TOM SHANAHAN

7 Comments so far on this story...

I, for one, did not expect Greene to hit like he did last year after the Padres changed his batting stance. Now he looks like he doesn't have a clue at the plate, way to go staff! You changed the sweet swing of Sean Burroughs and where is he today? Hoffman just needs to retire, he's making a fool of himself and is an embarrassment. It's really sad to sit in the stands and listen to boos when I've appreciated Trevor for so many years - the time has come to hang it up, please!

Posted by Jan Lord | reply to this comment
June 30, 2008 11:43 am

Folks, here is the bottom line on the Padres. Before the City of San Diego built Moore's his new stadium he said that the Pads would be competitive, competitive and championship are two very different things. To compete in the NL West doesn't take much in the way of players or money.The front office is run by a bunch of number crunchers who go after players who come cheap and fit their statistical model, using on base percentage as one of their main reasons for signing players. Rather or not these players are first rate baseball players doesn't enter into the equation.The number crunchers are not baseball people and wouldn't know a real player if they saw one. What they hope for is that these second tier players have career years all in the same year and make the playoffs. Baseball on the cheap is what it is.

Posted by zollner | reply to this comment
June 30, 2008 3:09 pm

Kouz is hitting 272 at the halfway point. Last year it took a red hot 2nd half for him to finish the year at 272. Kouz is not the problem. If Greene finishes the year as a Padre, I'll be shocked. He wants to play in the east in one of those hitter friendly band boxes.

Posted by Kirby | reply to this comment
June 30, 2008 9:55 pm

Kouz hits into too many double plays, strikes out too much and has only 36 RBIs. Those aren't good numbers for a No. 5 hitter.

Posted by Mack | reply to this comment
July 1, 2008 8:44 am

Oh, yeah, the Padres were really smart to not sign Bradley. I mean, Bradley is only having a 'career year.' So who needs his .320 BA, 17 HR, 51 RBI and 51 RS when you can have a Paul McAnulty (.203) or Scott Hairston (.233) in left field instead?! Is Bradley a hot-head? Yep. And that would hurt the Padres exactly how?? Maybe he'd wake some people up. Also, I'm so pleased that the Padres are paying such a big part of Jim Edmonds' salary so he can look better in a smaller ballpark. Alderson and Towers really are generous guys, don't you think? $1 hot dogs and $1 soft drinks in July, eh? How about free tickets?

Posted by Allan in SR | reply to this comment
July 3, 2008 1:57 am

Keep Peavy, Bell, Headley and the Gonzalez brothers and scrap the rest. Force Hoffman into retirement. That said, the Padres' nickeling and diming goes way back beyond Moores; Padres ownership has always been just like the rest of San Diego - chintzy and wanting something for nothing - and it's caught up to them. No wonder the Friars are a historically horrible franchise. The Chargers are doing things right, but they'll leave San Diego in the next few years and win a Super Bowl as the San Antonio Saddle Sores.

Posted by Poppa | reply to this comment
July 3, 2008 8:20 am

zollner hit it right on the head. Moores never promised us much; we just read more into his statements than was there. The Pads are in last place in the worst division in baseball. Does that make them the worst team in the majors? Uh....yeah. Attendance is starting to show some dissatisfaction, so maybe there's hope, but Moores has shown he's more comfortable with lawyers and accountants in the front office than baseball men, and he won't pay his players much. Look for Kevin Towers to walk the plank at the end of the year. He doesn't fit in; he's an ex-player. That may explain Towers' tirade toward the team about a month ago. He knows who's going to be the sacrificial lamb.

Posted by Billy B | reply to this comment
July 4, 2008 7:34 pm

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