Looks like Kevin Towers will remain a Padre (thanks to Nick G. for tipping me off in Wednesday’s comments). The Diamondbacks are expected to name Red Sox Assistant GM Josh Byrnes as their new GM today.

Towers is quoted in the U-T as saying, “The perception that Sandy and I can’t co-exist is totally false. Our working relationship has been very good.”

Towers, though obviously not without his faults (who is?), has done a lot of good for this organization. I’m glad to see him stay.

Other Stuff

• Padres lose their first two free agents. Minor-league catcher Nick Trzesniak, thought to be in the running for the backup job in 2006, has signed with the Rangers. Utility man Damian Jackson has signed with the Nationals.
• Seanez to become a free agent (Padres.com). Rudy Seanez quietly put together a brilliant season for the Padres this year. I hope they can bring him back for an encore.
• Profiler Ritterpusch sent packing (Orioles Warehouse). Apparently the O’s had a guy who did psychological testing on players, and he was quite passionate about it. I wonder how many teams do this sort of thing and to what degree.
• Grid game. I’ve been addicted to this for a while (thanks to a reader who shall remain nameless unless he chooses to reveal himself), now it’s your turn. My high score is 3424.

That’s all for now. I’m taking the weekend off. We’ll get back on track Monday with our review of the second base position. Guaranteed to be more fun than a paper cut to the tongue!