Happy Saturday. Usually don’t come here on the weekends, but what the heck.

Lots goin’ on, let’s get started.

Maybe I should rename this blog Padre Roster Moves. Nah, can’t write a theme song around that.

• C Gary Bennett off DL
• C Michael Rivera back to Portland
• OF Gary Matthews Jr. claimed off waivers from Baltimore
• OF Jason Bay up from Portland
• OF Mark Kotsay to DL
• OF Shane Victorino designated for assignment

What’s not to like here? Well, except for Kotsay going to the DL, but he was hurt so what are you gonna do? Bennett is healthy again, which should help the pitching staff (3.42 ERA with him behind the dish according to ESPN, 6.56 with other catchers). Matthews is a monumental improvement over Victorino, and Bay should do an adequate job in center till Kotsay’s return.

Bay, who after a torrid (.370/.495/.765 in 81 at-bats) April had struggled mightily (.217/.295/.261 in 69 at-bats) in May, knocked a solo homer off Arizona closer Matt Mantei in his big-league debut. Who knows what to expect from him in the short term. Anything can happen in 50 at-bats. But he’s certainly a step up from Victorino or Brian Buchanan. Speaking of Buchanan, this appeared in my in-box from good friend Medea’s Child after mentioning the possibility that Big Buck might see time in center:

Actually, I kind of like Buchanan. A Buchanan/Matthews platoon might be surprisingly productive, if you’d be willing to live with the occasional bad defense vs. lefties.

Just to be clear, I like Buchanan quite a bit myself. But not as a center fielder. Or a left fielder. Or a first baseman. He’s a DH biding his time in the NL. Buchanan is a good hitter who can hit the ball a long way, but thanks to some pretty nasty injuries earlier in his career, he really doesn’t move around all that well.

As for Victorino, Kevin Towers probably should have his keys to the Rule V draft taken from him. Much like former-Chargers GM Bobby Beathard’s habit of trading up in the draft to pick a guy everyone else had slotted three rounds later, Towers’ adventures in speculation have grown tiresome. The idea here is to field a big-league ball club. If you have to jump a stud prospect like Jake Peavy or Xavier Nady from time to time, so be it. But you don’t let them ride pine the entire year. So why should a kid who doesn’t have that kind of potential be allowed to rot on the bench in the hope that three years from now he might become the next Gene Kingsale? Guys like that can be found on the waiver wire all the time (see Matthews, Gary Jr.).

I’m not picking on Victorino. He did the very best he could in a difficult situation, but was in way over his head and being asked to do too much. Nothing that transpired here is his fault. He was put in a position to fail, and that’s exactly what he did. With luck, he’ll be able to resume his career with the Dodgers and maybe turn into a productive player at some point. I wish him nothing but the best.

Silver Linings

No sense in reporting on the games these days. Pads lost again, big surprise. Now it’s just a matter of finding silver linings. Here are a few:

• Bay’s first big-league homer
• Carlton Loewer: 95 pitches in 6 1/3 innings
• Ramon Vazquez: single, double, and walk
• Sean Burroughs, logging some time in the #3 hole; even in a game where he doesn’t get a hit, this is good to see
• Kevin Walker and Jay Witasick rehabbing at Elsinore; they’re not pitching particularly well, but they’re pitching

It ain’t much, but you take what life gives you.

I’m outta here. Tom Waits will have to wait (pun intended) another day.