But Eckstein signs with Padres

January 15, 2009

Well, it looked like shortstop Omar Vizquel would be signing with the Padres. All the reports appeared that way. But guess what, the Padres pulled one on us. This afternoon, they signed shortstop David Eckstein instead. He was one of the names that had been floating around, but boy did it look like Vizquel was going to get it! Oh well. I actually like this addition better, because Eckstein is much younger (David is 34; Omar is 42). Now, you know that the Padres are going low-budget this year, right? It is supposed to be around $40 million, maybe less. And Eckstein is not a spring chicken, and he’s had some time in the majors. But his salary for this one-year contract just makes me laugh. How much is he getting? $850,000. Yeah. That’s them cheap Padres. I mean, that is a lot of money. But considering what the players get these days…I just think it’s pretty funny.

Thing is, the guy wants to play second base. We do not need another second baseman. Apparently, David signed with the Padres because they offered him the chance to play second. I just don’t understand this front office. Now they are saying that Luis Rodriguez and Chris Burke will get most of the time at short. OK, whatever. But what about the guys like Edgar Gonzalez? He’s worked hard to get up here. He had been in the minors for 8 years before making his major league debut last year. I guess we’ll see more clearly what the team is going to look like in Spring Training.

We also picked up a former Rays pitcher, Jae Kuk Ryu, off of waivers. Can anybody tell me how to pronounce that? There’s not much info on him, but he will definitely get a look in Spring Training for the bullpen most likely. What’s up with my Padres? They’ve signed four players this week. I guess they’re getting ready to play some San Diego baseball!    

Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies Tagged with david eckstein, jae kuk ryu, padres