Baseball Rumor News

Tim Brown reports that the Kevin Towers, GM of the Padres, has had enough. The Padres find themselves in last place, with the worst record in all of baseball, which would signal that extensive changes are necessary. To top it all off, Jake Peavy will now be headed to the DL, so things aren’t getting any better.

“I’m certainly not going to watch this for another four months,” Towers said.

Now that they find themselves so far out of first and only 40 games into the season, you would have to assume that San Diego is headed in the direction of a fire sale. The offense is so bad that adding one piece later in the season won’t make a difference. With that in mind, who might be on their way out of San Diego? Here are a few veterans that would be able to net the Pad’s some prospects that could help them turn things around in the future…

Greg Maddux: While Maddux has a full no-trade clause, it would seem likely that he would want to go somewhere that has a chance of actually competing. The future Hall of Famer doesn’t look like he has much left, but he could be used to eat up some innings somewhere. Atlanta has been rumored to desire a reunion with Maddux, and he could be a big draw for them if he closes out his career with the Braves.

Randy Wolf: Wolf is another vet that could be used to shore up a rotation for the playoff push. He might actually be more valuable than Maddux, as far as performance goes. He has pitched well, and if the Padres are moving into a rebuilding phase they won’t need him around. I would expect his ERA to jump quite a bit if he moves to a team with a more hitter friendly ballpark.

Brian Giles: Giles could become one of the best bats available around the trade deadline. Even with the rest of the offense struggling (and playing in that San Diego pitchers park) he is still batting .311, with 3 HR and 19 RBI’s. You would expect those numbers to look better if he was at just about any other park, so he could turn out to be a valuable trade piece.

Khalil Greene: The SS has struggled offensively the last few years, but a change of scenery could do him well. He is fantastic defensively, so teams may be willing to take a chance on his offense. He has also been the focus of many trade rumors over the last year, so there is clearly interest in him. Most notably, the Cubs and Blue Jays have inquired about his availability. At the moment, both of those teams seem set at SS, but you never know what will happen by the deadline.

- As far as the rest of the team goes, expect that just about everyone is available except: Adrian Gonzalez, Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Kevin Kouzmanoff. None of these guys are old enough that they wouldn’t figure into a rebuilt team a few years from now.