San Diego Padres: Jake Peavy, the Draft and Other Random Thoughts

With all the trade talk that surrounded 28 year old right hander Jake Peavy, not only during the offseason, but the recent rumors that he was headed to the White Sox, the last thing you would expect is to see a column by Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com saying he'd be surprised if Peavy was traded before this offseason.

But, that's exactly what Rosenthal has on his mind in his column this morning. Though I respect Rosenthal and his opinion, I doubt that the Padres are done looking for suitors for the ace of their staff. If the White Sox came calling, don't think the Dodgers, Angels and Cubs won't come calling as well, not to mention the Yankees if Andy Pettitte continues to falter. Any of you Padre fans interested in the Yankees sending Pettitte back in a deal that included Jake Peavy?

I've gone back and forth on the Padres trading Peavy. I've been upset about it, but then when Jake takes the ball, knowing full well that he wasn't 100% and was battling the flu, I want to rip his head off for never giving his team a chance to win even before the threw a single pitch. I know he wants to get the ball every fifth day, but he needs to know when he's not going to do this team any good.

Moving on to today's MLB Amateur Draft, set to get underway at 2:45pm PST. There's no drama about who the first pick in the draft is going to be as the Nationals have made it clear that they are set to take San Diego State right hander Stephen Strasburg. The question that everyone has on their mind about his selection is, will the Nationals have him in the majors before this year is out? Make no mistake about it, that would be the worst decision the Nationals could ever make as a franchise.

Can he pitch in the majors right now? Absolutely, the problem is, he's already had a full season playing for San Diego State. Do you really want to chance him suffering a serious injury in 2009? I believe the Nationals are going to be smart and let Strasburgh sit and watch the remainder of the 2009 season and join the team when spring training opens in February of 2010.

As for the San Diego Padres, they will have the third pick overall and that has been a subject of contention thus far. The Padres' front office has kept tight lipped about who they are going to select, but reports have them interested in Donavan Tate, a high school third baseman who has already committed to play football and baseball for the University of North Carolina as well as current Tar Heel first baseman Dustin Ackley.

There are two problems with both of the players they are interested in. If they select Tate, they may not get him because he's already committed to play two sports for North Carolina. As for Ackley, the Padres have to hope and pray the Mariners pass on him, but that's unlikely. To see the draft preview for the San Diego Padres, you can click here and see other players the Padres could be interested in as well as previous top picks and where they currently are.

Now onto my final thoughts and we'll close with this. The Padres have a few important decisions to make come the end of this season. They need to figure out if they can or want to re-sign Adrian Gonzalez long term, something I believe they need to do.

They need to trade Kevin Kouzmanoff and move Chase Headley to third base which is his natural position. The Padres may have already had calls on Kouzmanoff but have not had the right deal brought to them.

You can hang on to Kouzmanoff and trade him at the end of this season and that will allow top prospect Kyle Blanks to have a full season at Triple-A Portland, especially getting experience in left field. Doing that will allow the Padres to see his progress during spring training next February and possibly have him as the starter in left field come Opening Day 2010.

The next move that absolutely needs to be done is signing second baseman David Eckstein to at least a two year deal, because he's shown just how much of a spark he can be, especially after hitting a game tying three run home run on Sunday in the bottom of the ninth. The Padres really don't have a better option in their minor leagues, so I can't see why they wouldn't do that.

They need to take a good look at their pitching staff because decisions are going to need to be made. I don't expect Chad Gaudin or Kevin Correia to be back in 2010, nor would I expect Cha Seung Baek to return to the team. The guys they need to look at are Josh Geer, Wade LeBlanc, Walter Silva, Josh Banks, Will Inman and Cesar Ramos. These are guys that are going to be the future of the Padres' rotation, three of six guys could fill out the last three spots in the starting rotation next season.

Lastly, I don't expect Brian Giles to be back next season. I just can't imagine that the Padres will bring him back for another season, especially since we're almost half way through the third month of the season and he has still not gotten his batting average over the Mendoza Line (.200). That being said, look for Drew Macias, Will Venable, Vincent Sinisi and Scott Hairston to battle for the center and right field spots, assuming Kyle Blanks will be in left.

It's going to be a busy offseason for this team, one that could be a whole lot more interesting than we've seen in years past, especially with new ownership. Does that mean this team will spend more money? I wouldn't be so quick to think that and I wouldn't be so quick to just start spending wildly. I would sign the right players that will make an impact on this team and have the right role players. Doing that will make this team competetive in 2010, especially if they make the right draft picks during the 2009 draft and their farm system continues to maek progress.