Baseball in Fort Wayne

To suggest the San Diego Padres are having a bad season is an understatement. They’ve lost their last four games, have gone 2-8 in their last ten and now they find themselves 11 games out of first in their division as they sit alone with the worst record in Major League Baseball. Oh, and to suggest that the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks are playing “pretty good” would be just as equally an understatement.

You might think bright side is that they are only 7.5 games out of the wild card . . . but EVERY NL team is ahead of them. Now, I know the season is young and there’s still a chance they can turn things around; but I’ve also been a Cubs fan long enough to know when a team has lost all hope. And I am sorry San Diego fans, but you’re getting close.

I’m not one to relish miserable seasons for any team except the Yankees. But I do have to wonder if what this season has become could lead to opportunities for players the Fort Wayne faithful have seen in a Wizards’ uniform.

This season, we’ve gotten to see Colt Morton get called up . . . but he’s mostly sat the bench. We’ve also seen Justin Germano lose his spot in the rotation. But even then, Wil Ledezma was inserted instead of Josh Geer, Cesar Ramos, Wade LeBlanc or others.

I guess the fact that the Padres aren’t tapping into their minor leaguers jut yet could lead one to speculate that they are not quite ready to give up on the season, but last night, I started to think that they were taking their first steps. MadFriars reported that catcher Luke Carlin’s contract was being purchased to add him to their 40 man roster. But I am glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed that MF removed the story shortly thereafter (but it’s back so I really don’t know what’s going on with Carlin).

But now there is increased speculation that Jim Edmonds might be on his way out of San Diego. As Tim Sullivan suggests:

Maybe it signals some major moves, and in short order. Maybe it tells you that Padres management has resolved to change the story because it is resigned that it can’t change the standings.

I find it hard to believe that Michael Barrett’s eventual return and Jody Gerut (a bust with three other teams) could be the answer.

So what’s all this mean? What’s my point to this post?

I guess my point is that while Padres fans are probably downright pi$$ed about the season gone awry (and rightfully so), I have a more selfish outlook. When the Padres throw in the towel, they’ll become sellers and they’ll be opening roster spots for minor leaguers. Many of them are former Wizards. It means we might see the MLB debuts of many former Wizards.

At the same time, we might see some fresh faces in Fort Wayne as the result of trades. they’ll likely be PTBNL players, but hey, you never know when a team might give up on a Joakim Soria.

Let’s just hope they use their probable first-round pick a little more wisely than they have in their recent past.