Mat Latos Became a Red and The Tri-Tip Was Cold

The other day I finally ponied-up for a Baseball Prospectus subscription. I'd been meaning to do it for sometime and now that it's the only place to read Ducksnorts it has become even more imperative.

It was Kevin Goldstein's publication of his top eleven Padres Prospects however,  that forced my hand. Goldstein's overall evaluation was that the Padres have accrued tremendous depth at their minor league levels. Awesome! Is there anything better than spending money and having an expert tell you what you want to hear? I felt like I was in . . . Las Vegas.*

I did leave the reading of this article with concerns, though.


While the system has depth it lacks superstars on the horizon. Sorry. I'm greedy.

The projections for starting pitchers also caught my eye. Reports of Erlin, Weiland, and Kelly all sounded good, with big league arrival times coming sooner than later but they all project as #3 starters.

Sorry. I'm greedy. And I want more.

The only thing that assuaged my concerns was the notion that the Padres already had an ace in the fold in the form of Mat Latos. With Latos as the #1 perhaps the inclusion of three # 3 starters could still do the trick. Happy again was I.

Almost immediately I began to hear rumblings of a Latos trade.

This didn't make sense to my simple mind. With no stud in the system, why do it? The only thing I could think was that the FO thought Latos was a bad gamble moving forward. Kind of understandable I suppose. There have always been the maturity questions. Issues of the head, coupled with the propensity for pitchers' arms to fall off their bodies, could be reason enough to move the talent. I also thought it was more an issue of the Padres listening rather than actively shopping him. Whatever. I am simple.

Yesterday I went to eat tri-tip, an annual tradition. Before I could even get to the dinner table to find that the tri-tip was cold and undercooked, I got out of the car and checked my phone. Mat Latos was no longer a Padre. I was genuinely surprised. By both the undercooked tri-tip and the departure of Latos. Tri-tip needs to have the edges charred just right. The edges weren't charred just right, though. And Latos was gone. I couldn't make sense of it all.

 Fans generally react poorly to such news, especially Padre fans who have seen players in recent history leave for unknown quantities. There were those who expected me to absolutely tEAR ThE INTerrrNETS aPArt!

I opted for a more measured response. For the most part, I decided to wait. And I decided to read...

(Part II)

*Read between the lines.

In Case Of Emergency Use Stairs

There was no emergency last night (hey! We're on a winning streak!) but Matt Stairs still got the start.

When I saw the starting line-up in the afternoon I figured he must have had HUGE numbers against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo (only 2-4 actually) for Bud Black to sacrifice so much defense. Not that big of an advantage for Stairs but the band box ball park probably had a lot to do with the spot start; a good location to get Stairs some confidence with his swing.

Let's look at the reality of the situation more closely.  Matt Stairs was brought to San Diego for two reasons only: pinch hitting and to DH during inter-league games this summer.  He was not brought here to get that many starts at 1B or in the OF.  Defense is simply not one of his assets. So just how bad is Matt Stairs defense? I'm not quite sure but here's how Baseball Prospectus qualified it as I flipped through their 2010 annual last evening:

"With absolutely no defensive ability, his days as an effective bench weapon are over, but the threat of the long ball from his Ruthian swings is likely to merit a bench spot somewhere...."

ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSIVE ABILITY!!! Such condemnation of Matt Stairs' shortcomings.....I laughed out loud when I read it. No matter. God Bless Kevin Correia. The Padres destroyed the Reds in game 1, 10-4, to remain in first place. Their winning streak stands at 7 and their record is 10-6. Matt Stairs' defense was not required on Friday night.

NOTES:
*BTW--Stairs went 1-4 with a 2 run 2B.
** I didn't see how Stairs did in LF. I only saw the game when the Padres were scoring. When I realized Correia was no-hitting the Reds going into the 6th I decided to give this game my full attention. I was then notified that the timeless musical Annie was going to be started.....due to previous promises and all. On an evening where the 1st no-hitter in franchise history might have been thrown??? Absolutely not! I was not going to let Annie become my "Heidi game" so I protested until I got my way. The females of the house relented......and then Correia promptly surrendered a 2B. 'Twas Annie on a Friday night ....
***"In Case Of Emergency Use Stairs" was a T-shirt printed in Philadelphia when he was a more productive pinch hitter. Good stuff.