Reactions to Mike Adams, Ryan Ludwick, and MLB’s Trade Deadline

It took a few days to digest it, but here we are, the writers of The Kept Faith, reacting to the trade deadline and the entire 2011 Padres baseball season.

Batting leadoff, Joe:

The Adrian Gonzalez trade has left me deeply disappointed in baseball. The most troubling aspect is not that the Padres traded away one of the best hitters in the game, but that it was the right decision. Baseball is built in such a way that it makes sense for a small market team to let its best players leave. As a result, I don’t give a flying fuck that Mike Adams got traded. It has also left me with no real desire to write about the Padres. Why invest my time when the system is built to prevent the Padres from assembling a winner? That’s where I stand at this moment. I’m sure when next season rolls around I’ll be excited, but in the meantime, baseball needs to change. Salary caps, salary floors. It’s time.

Also, the Padres need to move the fences in. Petco is a ridiculous park and if the system were to change and we got another Adrian Gonzalez, he would leave too.

Next, TKF’s founder/creator/savior, Nick:

I really was hoping for the end of the Heath Bell Era. I wanted to get rid of him and put Adams in as the closer. It really sucks that the only thing people will remember about the 2011 Padres is that Heath slid into the back of the mound at the All Star Game. His sense of humor is not my thing. More importantly, I like my closers to be dark, quiet and mean. Adams could have been that. He is all yours, Nolan Ryan. Instead of forgettable minor leaguers, would you just come to San Diego and kick the shit out of Heath Bell Robin Ventura style? That would probably help the faithful more than prospects.

Let’s hear from Dallas:

Why did we trade Mike Adams? I thought we were trading Heath Bell. I was ready and willing for that. We let a solid closer go who made $2.4 million a year to keep a peaking closer who makes $7.2 million a year. Oh. Okay.

Is it too early to miss Kevin Towers?

I’ll be the first to admit that I am shocked I have zero interest in watching O-Dog or Bartlett or Headley play, but it’s the truth. I really don’t care about them because none of them will be Padres past 2012 – and really they shouldn’t be! Trade them all and bring up nothing but prospects. Let’s do what the Pirates did for the last five years: Build something that we can afford for the next decade. We can grow with these players and root for them. Right now our team looks like second tier free agents playing in a first rate stadium for a last place team with no hope for next year. I’ll keep the faith, but I’m definitely a little more Judas right now than Noah. Heath Bell sliding into the mound during the All-Star Game did two things:

1) It showed that we do not have a Major League team in San Diego, and
2) It made the Padres look like this…

It’s over. Rebuild. Maybin is the only thing worth my time.

Now, Josh:

I’ll take on my role as TKF’s lone optimist. I love the Mike Adams trade. I loved the Adrian trade. I’m a rare mix of depressed Padres fanboy, and supporter of a ‘salary cap free’ MLB; even though I know a cap would, probably, help the Padres. I like that Hoyer and his crew have to think, draft, trade, and build differently than teams like the Rangers and Red Sox. It’ll be more exciting when (when!) the Padres win the 2014 World Series. (You read it here first.)

We couldn’t afford Adrian. I get it. We could afford Adams, but if you can turn a 33-year-old reliever into two guys who might be starting soon, do it every time. (To the doubters, I’m taking action on either Wieland or Erlin starting 2012 in the rotation.)

Our team operates on another level than teams that can afford Adrian, or trade for luxuries like Adams. I’m fine with that. We had five good years with Gonzo. Four with Adams. The hope now is that these trades for guys like Rizzo, Kelly, Wieland, and Erlin will give us another four or five years of multiple Adrian-types at the same time, spread throughout the roster. The only reason we had Adrian in the first place is because we ditched this guy and this guy. Let’s keep that trade-wheel rolling until it brings more consistent winning. We came close this time. We’ll come closer next time.

I wonder if Travis is missing Luddy…

I couldn’t be happier that my least favorite Padre in history (Ludwick) is gone. The bitter taste is still lingering – like chugging an old beer with a mold ball in the middle.

But at least he’s gone.

And because we hate ourselves, let’s finish with some thoughts from TKF’s resident Padres heckler/Giants fan…

We’re not that different, are we? We’ve both had dreams shatter in front of us this season. While Padre fans are having to endure another notch in the unendingly long belt of failure and heartbreak, I have to deal with the reality that I will NEVER be able to wear a Zack Wheeler alternate home jersey on Orange Fridays. But am I okay with it? I am, because the Giants pursued and acquired arguably the biggest name in the batter trade market. Now the question remains, can Beltran get the job done, and, how does he look on pay cable*?

*cause we have a TV show.

Does this David Foster Wallace-ian post excuse us for largely sitting on the blog bench this Padres season? No, it doesn’t? Well at least we haven’t gone all Paul DePodesta on you and left the blogosphere without saying a word. Fuck that guy.