A Day in the Life - Padres Style

Friday June 12, 2009

On the day the San Diego Padres find out that their ace is sidelined for a month, the pitcher that took the mound tonight against the Los Angeles Angels showed why Peavy is so critical to their season.

Starter Chad Gaudin gave up 10 hits 8 earned runs in just 3 innings pitched in the 11-6 loss.

On Saturday, in the place of the injured Jake Peavy, the Padres will have to send Josh Geer to the mound. While Geer may be a fine #5 on most staffs, he is far from an equal or even close to equal replacement for Peavy.

6 or even more times over the next month plus the Padres will be forced to send a pale shadow of Peavy to the mound.

So what becomes of the season now?

The Padres will undoubtedly lose more of the games Peavy's replacements will pitch than those that Peavy would have thrown.

Peavy's injury does mean that the Padres will probably find no takers on the trade front prior to the July 31st trade deadline. Now before the cheering starts, it does not mean Peavy cannot still be traded this season or in the off season. It just means that if he does not come off the DL before the end of July, he can't be traded before the end of July.

Peavy can still be traded after July 31st by placing him on waivers. If he (and what is left on his contract) clears waivers, he can then be traded. Even if he is claimed, the Padres can trade him to the claiming team.

Of course Peavy still would have a full no trade clause and could once again put the kibosh on any trades he does not approve of. It is doubtful teams, including all AL teams, that he has said he does not want to play for will not try making a waiver claim on him.

Well the day was not a total loss. There was some good news.

Shortstop Luis Rodriguez returned from the DL. Although he went 0 for 3 with 3 k's tonight, LRod is miles ahead of Josh Wilson both at the plate and in the field.

Brian Giles went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .200 for the first time since April 10th.

Kevin Kouzmanoff continued his hot streak going 3 for 5, hitting his 6th home run of the season, and driving in 3 runs to raise his total to 31. Kouz has gone 8 for 16 with 10 rbi over the last 4 games.

Cliff Floyd got both his 1st start (at dh) and first hit of the season. If he can get hot over the next few games at DH during interleague, he may just be valuable trade bait.

All of that is interesting and at least somewhat encouraging, but Peavy hitting the DL for a month put a bigger pall on the day than the June Gloom.

Well, as Porky Pig would say, thats all folks.