McAnulty deserves a chance

I know, I know, a lot of you are going to see the title and say "what is this guy thinking," but you're going to read it anyways aren't you?

I watched a lot of highlights and spoke to a lot of people who attended spring training last year and I kept hearing them say "I'm impressed with Paul McAnulty." I'd see a highlight of him running down a ball in the outfield, making an over the shoulder catch and really hitting the ball well. My first thought was, "he's going to force the Padres hand on this one." Well, he did, but not the way I had hoped.

PMac started the year in San Diego, but never got any regular playing time and only a few pinch hit appearances, a role he struggled to get used to. He was sent to Portland not long after, and that's where he remained for most of the season. Am I a big PMac fan? Absolutely. Does this make me biased? Maybe. I just think he earned a shot to show the Padres that he can be an every day guy.

A good friend of mine, and fellow Padre fan, Todd and I had a discussion about PMac earlier today, and I know he's going to shake his head at this article, but he disagreed with me that Mac was an every day player. He says Sledge outplayed Mac, and we all know how that experiment turned out. Not only did Sledge do absolutely NOTHING, but after having a hot first month, Jose Cruz Jr. didn't help matters much either. So, why not being Mac back up and give him the shot he earned during spring training?

I've come to the realization that Mac is probably more suited to the American League, especially with the DH, but I'll still be one of those fans that thinks he picked the short straw and, subsequently, got the short end of the deal. I'm hoping Mac will do the exact same thing that Jack Cust did after he was traded to Oakland, hit the cover off the ball. Cust was another one of those guys I wanted to see get a shot with the Padres, but I kept hearing that he was an inept outfielder. So, the Padres traded him to Oakland and Cust starting hitting HR's left and right, to the tune of 26 in 350+ at bats...not to shabby if you ask me.

So, if this is the last few days that we see Mac in a Padres uniform, I wish him nothing but the best to whatever team he moves on to. But, I hope, and I know I'm grasping at straws here, but if he hits the cover off the ball and plays great defense, I hope the Padres give him one more shot to prove himself.