The reason his numbers are slow to improve is because they were especially low in April. But better than last April.

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I would have worked hard to sign Bradley. But maybe he would gone away anyway, because of the luxury of the DH.

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http://itmightbedangerous.blog.....ay-gm.html

… which asks you/us to “Plan GM” … specifically …

Given the state of our current team, our organization as a whole, and the entire division, what would you do?

… and includes a poll which currently reads that 88% of 734 voters would be “sellers” (and that’s what got my vote).

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http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/pl.....n4sLqFCLcF

… OK, now I see that in May and June, his OPS was .822 … which I’ll agree is “quite good” … it just didn’t seem like that’s what was happening …

I’m not convinced he’s 100% healthy right now … I head one of the guys on 1090 last night or this morning mention that his double last night coulda/woulda/shoulda been a triple if he’d been healthy … just for example …

Also, from the couple of times I’ve seen him on TV recently, he sure seems to be in a pull-only mode … ‘cept for the double he rip’d down the RF line in the 9th inning of that last D-backs game … so perhaps I’m just getting too down on KK as a result of the poor performance with the bat from several others in the lineup …

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So, what I’m left to ponder is what’s been touched on a bit here today … make moves now for 2009 or 2010 or 2011?

It’s clear to me that the Padres’ ownership and management works towards having a team each year that is most likely to compete for the division and/or wild card while minimizing the risk of having a season which is as bad as 2008 has turned about to be (which begs an obvious question) … which says to me that what they are really doing right now is investigating options to make the 2009 team as good as possible within their risk (and budget, obviously) constraints.

I wish they’d have more of an attitude of “plan for a run at a World Series” … but I understand both how risky and hard that is. Perhaps they even think that’s what they are doing … perhaps that *is* what they are doing … but that’s sure not what it looks like to me.

I don’t claim to know what it takes to make and execute such a plan … it took Boston *many* years to figure out how to do it … clearly the Yanks have struggled doing it lately … so it’s not just a money issue … and I’m not even sure that the Twins nor the A’s have such a plan (I think they are just better at the “be a good team every year” model) … and the Tampa Bay model has many of its own risks and downsides (ex. sucking bad enough and long enough to have so many high draft picks that you almost can’t avoid creating a team that seems to be young and talented enough to make a run at several World Series’) …

I guess I’ve always thought that the key was to keep having a good team and be ready, willing and able to buy the right free agent hitter at the right time … a Bonds-type … a Vlad-type … a Manny-type. They are few and far between … so perhaps this is the Padres’ plan … they just have not yet found the guy they want … I was OK with it not being Carlos Lee, nor Soriano … (and we all knew it certainly wasn’t Barry Zito ) … it seemed like it might have been Miguel Cabrera … who might it be in the near future?

In the mean time, the team tries its best to stay poised … to take a few shots at drafting or signing and developing that guy …

I think the things that have hurt the 2008 Padres, beyond the oft-mentioned injuries (Jake, CY, Bard) and regressions (KG, Bard, Barrett, bully) are the events from 2007 which led to not retaining Jenga and Cameron …

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Ambres has never been given much of a chance to play in the majors on a regular basis so it would be good to see him get a chance to play everyday, like they’ve done with Jody Gerut. Of course, there isn’t a spot for him unless Giles is traded or DL’d for an extended period, or if Kouzmanoff is traded, which would open up LF.

#46@LynchMob: Based on KT’s track record with relievers, I was expecting much more from Guevara. Nine walks in 12.1 innings in mop-up duty is pretty brutal. You expect some wildness from a rule V guy like Kevin Cameron, who throws in the low 90’s with movement. But Guevara doesn’t throw harder than mid-80’s. I was not impressed at all. Since they’re keeping him, he’ll have a chance to prove otherwise at Portland.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....=280708125

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