Injury Update from San Fran

Very quick post here today.

Michael Barret is going to be placed on the 15 day DL after hearing a "pop" in his throwing elbow in yesterday's 8-4 win against the Giants. The Padres are not ruling out a ligament tear which, if that is the case, will likely shelve Barrett for the season. Fingers crossed here. The Padres have recalled Colt Morton from Double-A San Antonio. This is likely to mean more playing time for Josh Bard and will put an early test to the Padres supposedly strong farm system of catchers.

The "mystery smudge" on Peavy's right hand has become somewhat of a national story. Rome is Burning and PTI discussed it yesterday and now it appears that umpires will be paying special attention to Jake on the mound. To me this remains a non-issue as it appeared to be no more than dirt and rosin but, in the era of baseball in which we find ourselves it is no surprise that any thing out of the ordinary is being analyzed to this degree.

AGon went 4-5 yesterday! And against Matt Cain which is no small feat! Well done AGon.

Road trip continues tonight in San Fran. I will miss the game as I have an appointment with one Mr. Bruce Springsteen in Anaheim. Baby, I was Born to Run!

Trade Winds are Blowing

Ding! Ding!

Welcome to San Diego Michael Barrett. The much maligned Chicago Cub catcher has been traded to the San Diego Padres today for Rob Bowen and a minor leaguer (Kyler Burker from Single A). Many know Michael Barrett more for his punches then his catching, having been in the infamous fight with A.J. Pierzynski (pictured) and of course his fight with Carlos Zambrano eariler this year. He was also in a supposed shouting match with Cubs starter Rich Hill earlier this year.

Now, what does this do for the Padres? Well, obviously Josh Bard is not performing up to the .333 avg he had last year, currently batting .253. Worst of course, is that Josh Bard has more often than not found himself in the number 5 hole with that .253 avg. Certainly, if you want to look at an entire body of work, Barrett is an upgrade offensively, batting .287 for a career at Wrigley with a home run every 21 at-bats. Petco is no Wrigley. No short fences, no wind to help push the ball out, just deep alleys. So, are the Padres getting the hitting for avg and power Barrett or the 5-33 slumping Barrett that shoved the Cubs starting pitcher? One hopes for the former and perhaps a change of scenary will do the trick.

The next issue of course is Josh Bard. Who is the Padres starting catcher? Finanicially speaking, the Padres are only paying $700,000 for Barrett with the Cubs picking up the rest of Barrett's salary ($2.2 million still due) so it's not a slam dunk that Barrett steps into the starters role. What's more, how will Barrett and his hot head match with the Padres pitchers such as Jake Peavy. Certainly, anything that disrupts this rotation is devasting. At the same time Josh Bard has not been hitting as hoped and is not performing stellar behind the plate (dropped ball at the plate last night is only one of many examples). But, he is catching the best pitching staff in the majors so he must be doing something right.

Overall, the Barrett trade is an upgrade in offense, a draw on defense and a very large question mark on temper. Maybe Barrett just needed a change of venue. Maybe playing for a winning team will do him good. Maybe not. But if the Padres pitchers don't match well with him, Barrett has to go.

Finally, let's hope this is not the move Kevin Towers had planned to protect Adrian Gonzalez. I don't think it is as the talks had just begun a few days ago (presumably when San Diego was in Chicago). My bet is Kevin Towers is still mulling ideas over. The Padres catching core offensively has been dismal and this looks like an inexpensive way to potentially fix it...hopefully, not at the expense of the pitching staff. I give Towers the benefit of the doubt, after all, he brought Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Bard, and Cla Meredith here for next to nothing.

Coming Up:

Boston Series Preview Tomorrow. How Big Is a Series in June Really?