Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Justin Germano’

After throwing the historic first pitch when the Dodgers and Padres matched up in China to kick off the 2008 season, former Wizard Justin Germano must have decided he liked pitching on foreign soil. The right handed former Wizard has signed as a free agent with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Japan.

Germano went 0-3 with a 5.98 ERA in 12 games with the San Diego Padres in 2008 before being released. Reportedly, Germano will join the Hawks starting rotation along with former Texas Rangers pitcher, Kameron Loe.

After losing their pitcher and catcher to injuries in the same inning on different plays, you have to wonder what the Padres are gong to do for an encore. At the same time, usually reliable closer, Trevor Hoffman, has not been himself this season.

For the last few days, there has been some speculation about Padres GM, Kevin Towers, starting the process of big changes. The freak inning may have been the tipping point.

Denis Savage is reporting for MadFriars that Former Wizards pitcher, Jared Wells is expected to get a call-up from Triple-A Portland, where he “is 1-1 with nine saves in as many chances, posting a 5.85 ERA across 19 appearances.” Wells will become the 64th former Wizards player to make his way to the Major Leagues once he debuts.

He’ll be joined by Portland teammates, Mike Adams and Josh Banks and former Wizards catcher, Colt Morton, who made his MLB debut earlier in the season. The moves also saw former Wizards pitcher, Justin Germano, designated for assignment. I don’t understand that logic.

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.

Matt Latos, who signed for $1.25 million with the Padres last May, has recovered from shoulder soreness. The Padres will keep him in extended spring training and then he is expected to report to the Wizards. “He threw a lot of pitches” in two innings Thursday, said Grady Fuson, vice president of scouting and development. [source: SignOnSanDiego]

Intentional Blog On Balls has a nice look at Justin Germano.

Michael Cuddyer looks to return on Sunday. He dislocated his finger on April 4 when he slid headfirst into third base and collided with Royals third baseman Alex Gordon.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s struggles have dropped him from the second spot in the order down to number seven. Josh Barfield is at Triple-A Buffalo and would love to take his job back. But after a hot start, he’s hitting just .175 in his last ten games, including an 0-13 streak in his last three games.

Former Wizards catcher, George Kottaras had a career game for Triple-A Pawtucket (Boston). “The former Olympian hit a pair of homers and drove in a season-high five runs as the Pawtucket Red Sox beat the Louisville Bats, 8-2, at Louisville Slugger Field to earn a split of Monday’s doubleheader.” Kottaras was selected by San Diego Padres in 20th Round (595 overall) of the 2002 draft and played in Fort Wayne in 2004 where he produced the highest batting average of his minor league career (.310) over 271 at-bats. He was traded to Boston in 2006 as the “player to be named later” to complete the David Wells trade.