It has not been a good spring for the San Diego Padres. First Trevor Hoffman was sidelined for at least half a season with shoulder surgery, and now comes news that Phil Nevin will miss the entire year after separating his shoulder making a diving catch in a spring game. If you believe bad things come in threes, you might want to avoid Ryan Klesko in your roto drafts later this month.
I should feel sorry for the Padres organization, but I'm having difficulty, because I don't see why Nevin was out in left field in the first place. Nevin was a perfectly fine third baseman when the organization decided that Sean Burroughs, who'd never played a game in the major leagues, was important enough to bump Nevin over to first. Burroughs flamed out last season, but he's back for another try, and this time Nevin was moved to the outfield, where he hadn't played since a 12-game sojourn in 1999. I wouldn't blame him if he unleashed some serious venom on the organization in the next few days.
Kevin Towers gained a lot of respect, particularly in sabrmetric circles, for his deft assembly of a promising young team on a shoestring; some of that shine is now fading. You can't blame the GM for injuries, but you can question his shifting of established stars to make room for overhyped rookies; maybe this is a little karmic payback in action.
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