Padres Interested In Loretta, Iguchi
The Padres have gotten a woeful .244/.315/.328 line out of their second baseman, most of it from Marcus Giles. They're starting to work Geoff Blum in more often, but it's a clear area for an upgrade.
The two names on the radar, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, are Mark Loretta and Tadahito Iguchi.
Iguchi's slugging percentage is down this year, mostly from an awful May. But he still represents an upgrade on Giles.
The more versatile Loretta is hitting .297/.373/.390 this year; he's done a nice job drawing walks. Loretta pushed to sign with the Padres, but Kevin Towers stood him up. Now the Friars have come crawling back. The problem is that the Phillies and Mets have sustained injuries to their second basemen and could get in on him.
Yeah, I get to peddle more Astros trade options!!!
I guess I should apologize to everyone for my long, somewhat ranting posts. But since I am fully convinced that Purpura is scared of his own shadow after getting fleeced for Jennings, I figure my posts are about the Astros will come to making an actual trade this year.
The Padres are also in the market for a starting pitcher. Any hope of packaging Loretta and Jennings for a guy like Headly or Antonnelli? Headly would be a nice fit at 3rd for the Astros and Antonnelli could step in for Burke in the next couple years when Burke is a FA.
Another target might be Hensley. His stock is down this year, but the Astros could definitely use another SP for next year. Might be worth taking a chance on when all they give up is a soon-to-be FA.
Posted by: mymrbig | July 27, 2007 at 01:36 PM
oops, supposed to say "Purpura is SO scared of his own shadow" and "my posts are about AS CLOSE as the Astros will come to making an actual trade this year."
I don't know much about the Padres farm system, other than that it was one of the worst in the majors coming into this season. Inman might be anothet good target for the Astros.
Posted by: mymrbig | July 27, 2007 at 01:38 PM
Chase Headley would be a great pickup for the Astros. We definately need some sort of a solution at 3B. Ensberg definately is not the answer and Lamb looks to be more of a 1B/DH rather than a true 3B. I would honestly settle for a Jennings/Loretta to San Diego for Chase Headley and a minor league pitcher. Jennings isnt going to re-sign here and I doubt Loretta does anyway, so I dont see the problem in giving up 2 guys who wont be back next year for a 3B of the future.
Posted by: Brian | July 27, 2007 at 01:42 PM
the only reason i dont see us trading headley is because we have just as big of a black hole at 3rd base as your astros do....i mean ensberg is better then burroughs who was supposed to be so big and kouzmanoff is decent at best, im not sure if hes a long term solution though.
Posted by: deadbeat17 | July 27, 2007 at 01:48 PM
Pardon my french, but that's bullshit that Kevin Towers gave a utility role to Geoff Blum instead of Mark Loretta. Blum is a hack who gets hot for all of 3 games at a time and we're lucky if that happens 2-3 times a year.
We need to bring Loretta over and fix this mistake by dumping Blum.
With Kouz becoming entrenched at 3B, Headley is expendable. Personally, I'd trade Headley for Loretta & Jennings as that gives the Padres a nice push for the WS this year. Loretta & Jennings should each at least by Type B FA's with Jennings maybe being a Type A, having their help for this year plus the draft picks would be worth giving up Headley for.
Posted by: WestCoastBias | July 27, 2007 at 01:55 PM
While we're on the Padres, I'm a little bummed that we didn't take Oliver Perez & Heath Bell for Linebrink last year when it was offered now that we've gone on traded him. They could have still traded Ben Johnson & Jon Adkins for Royce Ring and another RP. By the way Mets fans, how are Johnson & Adkins working out for you???
Posted by: WestCoastBias | July 27, 2007 at 01:58 PM
We'd rather not talk about it :)
Honestly, it sucked to see Heath go, but he was given many opportunities to show he belonged in the majors, and couldn't get it done. Good periphs, crap results. Glad to see he put it together somewhere.
Posted by: JerseyMetFan | July 27, 2007 at 02:02 PM
If Towers can swing another trade or two with Jon Daniels the Pads should be set for the next decade.
Posted by: Bourne's_Identities | July 27, 2007 at 02:16 PM