yagsy
12-02-2006, 04:08 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/canepa/20061202-9999-1s2canepa.html
GM Towers not about to get caught up in trading frenzy
UNION-TRIBUNE
December 2, 2006
Reading it, I nearly swooned like a Sinatra bobbysoxer. The Padres were thinking of trading No. 1 starter Jake Peavy and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox for left fielder Manny Ramirez?
It had to be a bad joke, and I guess it was. Padres General Manager Kevin Towers sure didn't find it hilarious.
“(Expletive) no,” he said. “God, I don't have enough time in the day to keep knocking this (manure) down. It's talk radio. It's crazy. Lunacy. Neither player has been offered in a trade, I can assure you that.
“I can honestly tell you, in my discussions with the Red Sox, they haven't brought them up, nor have we offered them.”
Now I certainly am not anti-Ramirez. He's one of the great clutch hitters of his generation, and the Padres need all the clutch they can muster. Manny Ramirez hits with runners in scoring position.
But he is 34. Peavy, despite last season's disappointment, is but 25. A bounce-back hardly is impossible. He still has stuff. Gonzalez is 24, and besides being one of the best fielding first basemen on earth, he batted .304, with 24 home runs and 84 RBI. No way the team wins its division without him. He should be around for a long time.
The problem I have – and fans have – with the Padres during the offseason's first month is that they haven't done much, other than trade second baseman Josh Barfield and acquire a couple of pitchers and a minor league third baseman. They've cleared up $30 million in salary, and CEO Sandy Alderson vowed they were going to spend it. So far, it's gathering interest.
“We're not going to sign players just to sign players,” Towers said. “We had interest in (second baseman Craig) Counsell and they tried to shake the tree and we backed off. Adam Eaton pitched 60 innings last year and just got $25 million. Randy Wolf had Tommy John surgery and just got $7.5 million to $8 million from the Dodgers.
“We're not going to get caught up in that frenzy. The market just went nuts. We're going to be patient and hope it settles down. This is crazy.”
Can the Padres handle Ramirez?
“Financially, yes,” Towers said. “But we're not going to do something crazy and plug one hole and open up two others. We could have signed (Alfonso) Soriano, but we weren't willing to go 10 years.”
So, is free-agent lefty Barry Zito off the table?
“No,” the GM insisted. “Nobody's off the table.”
Off their rockers, yes. But what (little) the Padres have done so far isn't cutting it. . . .
If Albert Pujols hit as well as he makes sense, he'd be batting .125. . . .
GM Towers not about to get caught up in trading frenzy
UNION-TRIBUNE
December 2, 2006
Reading it, I nearly swooned like a Sinatra bobbysoxer. The Padres were thinking of trading No. 1 starter Jake Peavy and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox for left fielder Manny Ramirez?
It had to be a bad joke, and I guess it was. Padres General Manager Kevin Towers sure didn't find it hilarious.
“(Expletive) no,” he said. “God, I don't have enough time in the day to keep knocking this (manure) down. It's talk radio. It's crazy. Lunacy. Neither player has been offered in a trade, I can assure you that.
“I can honestly tell you, in my discussions with the Red Sox, they haven't brought them up, nor have we offered them.”
Now I certainly am not anti-Ramirez. He's one of the great clutch hitters of his generation, and the Padres need all the clutch they can muster. Manny Ramirez hits with runners in scoring position.
But he is 34. Peavy, despite last season's disappointment, is but 25. A bounce-back hardly is impossible. He still has stuff. Gonzalez is 24, and besides being one of the best fielding first basemen on earth, he batted .304, with 24 home runs and 84 RBI. No way the team wins its division without him. He should be around for a long time.
The problem I have – and fans have – with the Padres during the offseason's first month is that they haven't done much, other than trade second baseman Josh Barfield and acquire a couple of pitchers and a minor league third baseman. They've cleared up $30 million in salary, and CEO Sandy Alderson vowed they were going to spend it. So far, it's gathering interest.
“We're not going to sign players just to sign players,” Towers said. “We had interest in (second baseman Craig) Counsell and they tried to shake the tree and we backed off. Adam Eaton pitched 60 innings last year and just got $25 million. Randy Wolf had Tommy John surgery and just got $7.5 million to $8 million from the Dodgers.
“We're not going to get caught up in that frenzy. The market just went nuts. We're going to be patient and hope it settles down. This is crazy.”
Can the Padres handle Ramirez?
“Financially, yes,” Towers said. “But we're not going to do something crazy and plug one hole and open up two others. We could have signed (Alfonso) Soriano, but we weren't willing to go 10 years.”
So, is free-agent lefty Barry Zito off the table?
“No,” the GM insisted. “Nobody's off the table.”
Off their rockers, yes. But what (little) the Padres have done so far isn't cutting it. . . .
If Albert Pujols hit as well as he makes sense, he'd be batting .125. . . .