Padres Splurge On Garland

A problem with bringing in Nady is that because of his arm injury (1) he isn't expected to be back until May and (2) Right now he is limited to 1b/LF. AGon is at first and the Padres need to find out what Blanks can do with everyday playing time and after first base, left field is by far the best place for him.

I agree with Steve, you have to find out what Blanks can or cannot do. Really the only place for a "big bat" is if the team could find someone that could play right or center.

The Garland signing is nice and depending on what Wade LeBlanc and more importantly Aaron Poreda does in Portland it could open up mid-season trade possibilities for Kevin Correia at mid-season.

Oh Craig, stirring the pot. We really need to let these young guys play in the OF and see what we have. The system has a ton of Corner OFs as well so we need to find out who can play and who can't. I would have loved to get Bedard, but Garland is the more reliable starter in the rotation right now.

Blanks > Nady
You would have to play Nady in LF, I would rather see Blanks grow and find out what we have instead of put X out there and hope he doesn't get hurt.

Hey, if you don't stir the pot, the stew doesn't cook right!

While I did pose the question on the podcast, you could hear that I came to the same answer you did. Garland's a better fit all the way around, and getting a player like him for 1 year, 5.3 is terrific value. For Garland to have a mid-3's ERA would not be shocking.

However, like I said on the podcast, Garland is a defense-dependent pitcher. More than the park effects, it's the infield plays turned behind him that make the difference. Can the Padres step up and play good defense around the horn?

Interesting question posed, Nady or Garland. However, I think with Cunningham being such a "top prospect" (55th in all of baseball last year, Blanks was 50) and Scott coming back (thrives against lefties and in PETCO, which is very rare) it really solidified the outfield in contrast to getting Nady, a player who didn't even play last year, per se'. Then in turn really took the pressure of rushing players like Latos, Stuaffer and Gallagher (depth) along with being a TRUE innings eating pitcher which the Padres truly needed. Also, An "insurance policy" in a way if CY is not quite ready and in some degree for Correia (coming off a career year).

For 4.7, great deal and the best available pitcher on the market IMO