Gonzalez likely sticking with Padres

Monday, September 7, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry

Maybe rock bottom for the Padres was the day that Trevor Hoffman left, or maybe it was when John Moores acknowledged that he was trying to sell the team. Or maybe rock bottom came at the lunch that General Manager Kevin Towers had with Jake Peavy in early July, when he told the All-Star pitcher that the Padres simply couldn't afford to keep him, and that he had to find a way to move Peavy's salary.

But no matter how the lowest ebb is defined, the Padres have moved on and moved forward, and the pieces are coming together quickly enough that San Diego is probably going to hang on to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for the 2010 season, after weighing trade offers for Gonzalez at the July 31 deadline. Success is in sight.

"I think we might be pretty good next year," Towers said the other day. "I know that sounds pretty crazy."

For Buster Olney's insight into why the Padres should be optimistic, how the Joba Rules are hardly just a New York thing and how the Rays have hurt themselves, plus tons of other new and injury updates, you must be an ESPN Insider. Insider  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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