Saturday afternoon linkage…
- Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune reflects fondly on Kevin Towers' 14-year tenure with the Padres. "Whatever you might think of his baseball decisions," Sullivan writes, "no one in the game can work a room more charismatically."
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News believes J.P. Ricciardi's biggest blunder — "and the one that most likely did him in" — was not trading Roy Halladay this summer. Other infractions of the Ricciardi era include massive contracts tendered to Vernon Wells and B.J. Ryan, and the trading of Jayson Werth for Jason Frasor.
- Tom Krasovic of Inside The Padres is beginning to hear names for the Padres' GM opening. Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer is a new one.
- Kevin Cowherd of the Baltimore Sun doesn't understand why the Orioles opted to pick up manager Dave Trembley's 2010 option. "I don't understand," Cowherd writes, "how you stand pat with your manager after another horrible collapse that includes a 13-game losing streak and a possible 100-loss finish."
