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CAN THIS PADRES TEAM BE FIXED? by Jason Martinez sdpadrefan.com posted 5/06/08 Does anyone really believe they are going to improve by bringing up some players from AAA? Come on. As good as Jody Gerut has been in Portland, he's probably not going to spark the team as much as Milton Bradley did when he came over last season. Chase Headley would be a nice addition, but let's face it. He's probably going to struggle at time, as most rookies do. What about a trade of a veteran player like Khalil Greene that would bring back a young center fielder in return? Give me a break. If they were going to trade Greene, they would have done it when his trade value was at its peak, coming off a 27 HR, 97 RBI season after last season. What are they going to get for a guy batting .220 with 1 home run 32 games into the season? That's probably not even good enough to get them Felix Pie and his .231 batting average from the Cubs. The only players on this team with any trade value at this very moment are Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Heath Bell, and Adrian Gonzalez. All untouchables, in my opinion. Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf could have value but the Padres cannot effectively replace those pitchers and they are not quite ready to give up on 2008. I guess what I'm trying to say is, 'don't expect a trade that is going to bring back anything more than what baseball people call fringe prospects'. It's not going to happen. Kevin Towers knows it. Even top minor league prospects, such as Headley, Matt Antonelli, Nick Hundley, and Wade LeBlanc, have lost market value after poor starts in AAA. I believe I've answered my own question. No, this Padres team cannot be fixed. At least not completely. Too many holes to patch up. Many issues will have to be addressed in the offseason. A better question might be, can this Padres team recover and get back into the wildcard race by the trading deadline? I believe they can. They're currently six games behind the Dodgers and Cubs. A minor roster shakeup should happen in the next few days. It's not going to fix the team but it could light a fire under a few veteran players and get this team going in the right direction. Remember, they still have one of best starting rotations in baseball. They're one or two consistent arms away from being a solid bullpen again. It's a long season. Anything can happen. Stay tuned. |