Scotty Doesn't Know..

Scott Hairston was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Oakland Athletics for two Minor League pitchers, right-handers Ryan Webb and Craig Italiano, as well as a player to be named, also a pitcher, on Sunday. Hairston had no clue, after learning about the trade, he said "It was out of the blue." And it was, Hairston just came off the 15-day disabled list last week, a stretch in which the Padres went (5-11) in 16 games without his service and protection for Adrian Gonzalez. The Padres were (5-8) with Hairston back in the line-up and were so far only (5-7) with Hairston before General Manager Kevin Towers decided to throw in the towel during the 8th inning of Sunday's game against the Dodgers, a game in which the Padres scored 5 runs in the 9th inning to force extra innings before losing in 13 innings.

The point is, the Padres are terrible without Hairston and bad with Hairston and the Padres are sticking with the former, choosing to be terrible without him. The Padres have not only thrown out this year and next, but maybe a few extra years as well. On top of that, it doesn't seem like they want fans coming to the ballpark any longer. Sure the Padres were bad, but all-star Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell are still worth watching. Without Hairston, Gonzo saw his league lead in home runs disappear and Bell rarely got called on to come into the game in save situations. So if not for the season, the Padres should have kept Hairston to at least fill the seats because fans come to see Gonzalez hit and without Hairston, he can count on seeings ball after ball on top of the occasional base on balls.

Hairston also was a fan favorite (he was a 2009 WBC representative for Mexico) and enjoyed his time in San Diego as evident by the descriptions that reporters gave saying he choked up when talking to them, especially when asked about his time in San Diego. Although as a Padres fan I am not happy with the move, based on how the Padres chose to play this chess game, they had to do it. Hairston was inked for 1 year at $1.25 million and although that pays him more than half of the player on the 25-man roster, it was well within their budget. What they should have done was signed him to a longer term contract for about the same salary per year but did not want to take the gamble during a season in which there was an ownership change and attempted payroll sell-off. He is not eligible to become a free agent until 2011, but through arbitration will likely command a larger salary than the Padres would like to pay.

So Kevin Towers did what he could with the restrictions that he was given and instead opted for 3 unproven youngsters with potential and cheaper contracts in the range of $500,000 for the next 6 years. Padres fan might hate the deal now, but to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we will only have to go back as far as 2005. After a career year from Adam Eaton and a productive year from set-up man Akinori Otsuka, both were shipped off to the Texas Rangers for Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez, and Termel Sledge. At the time, fans were outraged at this move, but currently this has to be looked at as one of the best trades in recent memory and the best that Kevin Towers has made. Gonzalez quickly became the cornerstone of the franchise while Young has proven to be an effective, elite pitcher and No. 2 starter when healthy. So although fans might not be showing up to the ballpark as often as before, let's hope Adrian Gonzalez sticks around and these 3 arms from Oakland turn out to be gem, even if it's just one and this trade can be declared a winner.

Also, fans should see that after this past month, pitching depth is what the Padres need, they have outright lost games early on due to poor pitching.

So goodbye Scotty, goodbye 2009, 2010, hello 2011?