It finally happened on Saturday: The Padres activated Cliff Floyd from the disabled list. I joke a little here because this is something we’ve been talking about since Opening Day, really, and especially the last few when it became apparent he was getting closer.

So, Floyd is here and, probably will get an at-bat tonight in the role the Padres intended to use him when they signed him to a one-year, $750,000 contact in early February. Drew Macias, as I’ve said countless times here, a player I like, was sent back to Portland.

Hey, I love Portland as well, but Macias has probably seen enough of the Rose City to last him for a while. I think he’ll be back at some point. He’s certainly showed he can play at his level.

As for Floyd, Padres manager Bud Black said Saturday that there won’t be any limitations in how he’s used, though don’t expect to see him in the field. The Padres would likely turn to Chris Burke and Edgar Gonzalez to see time in the outfield in a pinch before asking Floyd to do so.

As for Floyd, his knee, the one that needed draining last month, is playable. There is still pain there but it’s not anything that will prevent him from swinging the bat or turning on a ball. He’s dealing with it and likely will for a while.

The hope, of course, is that Floyd can provide a little thunder off the bench for the Padres. I can see him getting one at-bat a night and, when the Padres head to Anaheim for Interleague play on June 12, he’ll likely be the designated hitter.

What does Floyd have left? Will he be an upgrade over Tony Clark, who essentially filled this role a year ago until the Padres traded him back to Arizona after the All-Star break. I know there are those who would have preferred that Macias stayed. I can’t argue against that.

So what are your thoughts? Do you want to see a week of Floyd before passing judgment? Or would you have preferred Macias stayed and got the at-bats Floyd is going to get?

Cheers, Corey

A year ago, during the Padres free-fall, general manager Kevin Towers repeatedly dipped down to Triple-A Portland and waded into the waiver pool for potential upgrades to the roster, anything to stem the flow of one loss that followed another.

Remember Sean Henn? How about Bryan Corey, Jared Wells, Brett Tomko, Brian Falkenborg. I could go on here but I think you get the point. This was a bad team and Towers, tired of seeing the same results, did what he could to improve the roster.

Of course, those guys weren’t the answer and, in many cases, weren’t much better than those they replaced.

That brings us to this season.

The Padres are preparing to make some roster moves in the coming days where they will add players to the 25-man roster, players who should upgrade the roster. Unlike 2008, the Padres are more or less dealing from a position of strength, not weakness.

“The people who are coming back should make us better,” Towers said
this week. “There’s going to be some tough decisions, some guys who
were a part of this run (10-game winning streak).”

Cliff Floyd will likely join the team in Denver, which means Drew Macias is likely heading to Triple-A Portland. As I’ve stated time and time again here before, I like Macias a lot. I think that he can produce at this level. If he is indeed the one to go, he’ll back back. This is a case where Minor League options make him the most expendable.

Now we can argue the merits of what Floyd has to offer and that Macias might give you the same offensively, but Floyd is being paid $850,000, has a track record and figures to be a nice bat off the bench for manager Bud Black.

Another move that could happen sooner than later is the addition of reliever Mike Adams to the bullpen? Remember, Adams was Black’s MVP from the bullpen for 2008 (yes, and that includes Hoffman and Bell) when he had a 2.48 ERA and was one of the few bright spots on the team.

Adams is working his way back from labrum surgery in October. He hasn’t had any setbacks along the rehab trail and figures to make this bullpen, this improved bullpen, only better. Like the Floyd move, this addition should help the team.

We’ll see eventually how these two help the team, but it’s safe to say that Towers feels a lot better about these moves than the ones he made a year ago.

Cheers, Corey

Did anyone see this coming? Drop six in Houston and Chicago, staring at a 13-22 record with the Reds, Giants and Cubs coming to town, each with at least two formidable pitchers on the mound against the Padres team that has struggled mightily on offense?

Did you see eight consecutive victories? I sure didn’t, only because I hadn’t seen this run of quality pitching from this bunch since, well, the first 12 games of the season and even then it wasn’t nearly this good.

Numbers to crunch: In this blissful run, San Diego’s starting pitchers have a 2.22 ERA. The bullpen has a 0.34 ERA. Those are pretty sick numbers. Teams just don’t do this kind of thing, especially with teams who have as many unproven arms in the bullpen as the Padres do.

It’s a nice sample size, to be sure, but let’s not fool ourselves. This can‘t last forever. And you know what? That’s fine. Because these guys, Mujica, Burke, Gregerson, have shown they can indeed get Major League hitters out. OK, Burke doesn’t have the greatest sample size but I like his makeup and love how much his ball moves.

0.34? Wow.

The hitting scares me a little and it has since, well, Opening Day. How often do you see a team hit .198 over eight games and never lose once? Again, that doesn’t happen. But read between the lines a little. Look at the hits they are getting. Three chances with runners in scoring position on Saturday and two hits, the two-run double by Giles and a two-out single by Chris Burke.

Let’s face it: The Padres have run into some pretty good pitching this week. Volquez, Arroyo, Harang, Zito, Sanchez, Lincecum and Zambrano. I don’t think they would want to do that all over again, do you?

That brings us to today. Well, beyond today. The Padres head out for a six-game road trip to Arizona and Colorado starting Monday, two teams below them in the standings, two teams having all sorts of trouble of their own.

Is a 4-2 trip out of the question? Certainly not, even if the pitching slips a little — they can’t keep this up — and the hitting picks up (it should on the road).

Cheers, Corey

Apparently, Padres manager Bud Black held a team meeting in Chicago after Thursday’s 11-3 loss to the Cubs. It was a meeting where, as closer Heath Bell said Friday, “Bud was a little heated.”

Hey, it makes perfect sense.

The team had lost 20 of 24 games going into Friday’s game, a game the Padres would win 5-3 over the Reds, getting their first victory by a starting pitcher (Kevin Correia) in a month (April 16).

The fact that the mild-mannered Black apparently raised his voice or whatever he did behind closed doors is a little interesting, but not surprising. I’m not entirely sure it’s newsworthy … though some of my colleagues might disagree.

I guess it makes for good newsprint … Black rips team, team goes out and wins. What if the Padres had lost last night? Does that diminish the impact of Black’s message? No, not at all. Would this meeting have been written about as much as it was? Probably not.

So, in my mind, it’s not really news.

Don’t get me wrong. I would love to have been a fly on the wall inside that cramp, dank visiting clubhouse in Chicago to hear what Black had to say. And I certainly don’t think it’s wrong to ask players or even the manager himself what the general message was.

But that’s the business of the manager and his players. I understood why someone from a local television station asked Black twice about the meeting on Friday. Black respectfully declined to comment, as he should have.

I think the fact that there was a meeting, that there had to be a meeting is more so the news here than the message delivered. That thing had gotten so bad that Black had to have such a meeting is news, not what he said behind closed doors.

I think we can all guess what he had to say. Play better. Maybe in different words, but that’s the message. Play better. I’m just not going to beat him over the head to get him or the his players to repeat that message.
 
Cheers, Corey

And so it’s started, the Kyle Blanks experiment. The Padres top Minor League prospect, from the lot of position players, has advanced from taking fly balls before a game to doing so during games.

Blanks played his first game in the outfield for Portland on Sunday, handling the only fly ball hit his way. We’re still not sure how often the Beavers will run Blanks, normally a first base, out to the outfield, but I imagine it will be a few times a week.

Unlike Chase Headley, the converted third baseman, Blanks didn’t get the benefit of getting a chance to work in the outfield in Spring Training like Headley did in 2008. Of course, the team had already decided Headley was moving at that point.

So what does this all mean? I’m wondering the same. The Padres need offense. Blanks can hit and has done so at every level.

But he’s 22 and hasn’t played a full season at the Triple-A level. What’s more important to you at this point? Getting him up here to San Diego, stick him in the outfield and see what you have or letting him develop?

I think for the betterment of Blanks and that of the team, in the long run, he needs to stay put in Portland. He’s by no means setting the league on its collective ear. There’s good pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, experienced pitchers. He needs to see that. More of that.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers, Corey

Welcome to Houston, where it’s very muggy outside and very cool inside, as the roof is shut here at Minute Maid Park, where the Padres are playing the first of three games against the Astros, a team that is struggling worse than the Padres.

I’m sitting here watch Chad Gaudin pitch — pitch carefully, I might add — as those Crawford Boxes down the left field line look much MUCH closer than 315 feet. No, this is no place to pitch, not over the course of a season.

Which makes the task laying in front of Saturday starter Kevin Correia even more difficult. Not only must he try to keep the ball in ballpark here and not awaken the train that rolls above left field but he must pitch well to hang onto his spot in rotation.

Correia is 0-2 with a 5.92 ERA in five starts this season and is coming off a start where he allowed five runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest start of the season. He hasn’t thrown enough strikes, hasn’t pitched well out of the stretch and simply hasn’t shown the Padres enough.

So keep an eye on this start and the one Cha Seung Baek will be making Saturday with Portland on an injury rehab assignment. If Baek can get stretched out enough to 90 or so pitches, if his stuff looks good, you might see him sometime next week — in the rotation.

Cheers, Corey

Now that we know Manny Ramirez will be out for 50 games, ironically just long enough to return in time to face the Padres — yes, their luck — we’re wondering what it all means for the Dodgers and this division.

My quick guess? The Dodgers win the NL West by 10 games instead of 20. There, I said it. I think their offensive, obviously, will take a hit without Ramirez in the lineup. How could it not? That said, I think they’ve got enough to win this division and I like their pitching. I always have.

Anyway, I got the chance to talk to a few Padres today and manager Bud Black about Ramirez. Here’s what a few of them have to say.

“From a personal side, it’s disappointing. He’s a focal point for our industry. When something like this happens, it hurts the game. He arguably the best offensive player in our division. That makes their lineup a little different. How much? You don’t know because you don’t know how the other guys will respond.”

From pitcher Jake Peavy:

“I want an even playing field. You see that there’s no favorites being played. That shows you that  baseball is serious about what they’re saying and doing. I’m happy that we’re heading in the right direction. I believe in punishment. If he’s guilty, then Major League Baseball is doing the right thing, if not, then I’m sure they’ll look into it.”

“I’ve said it before, that’s one of the best Major League lineups I’ve faced. You take Manny out and put Juan Pierre in there, it’s not the same lineup … that has nothing to do with Pierre, he’s a good player. They’re a great baseball team from top to bottom. Manny makes them a lot better than they are. I’m sure they’re going to feel the effects of it. There’s no doubt that not having Manny in the lineup changes the dynamics of their team.”

From pitcher Josh Geer, who allowed a home run on April 30 to Ramirez:

“It bothers me a little bit. You never really know the true story. It could have been the doctor’s fault. I haven’t looked too much into it.  You can’t really judge people, it could be the doctor’s fault. You hate to see that, if he’s taking steps to enhance his performance.”

From Padres manager Bud Black:

“From a personal side, it’s disappointing. He’s a focal point for our industry. When something like this happens, it hurts the game. He arguably the best offensive player in our division. That makes their lineup a little different. How much? You don’t know because you don’t know how the other guys will respond.”

Cheers, Corey

The headline is a little misleading because, well, I know exactly what a slump feels line. I’m not so far removed from the 2008 season that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to watch these Padres lose more than they win.

As a journalist, of course, we have to be objective. Really, it matters little to me if the team wins or loses. My job is to tell the story of how/why it happened. I will say, though, that I much rather watch good baseball than bad baseball.

I don’t think any of us (myself included and the fans) ever had any grand illusions (delusions?) that this team was ever going to keep up that early-season pace where they went 9-3 and everything went their way …. strong bullpen work, timely hitting, scoring in bunches.

I was asked yesterday on 1360 AM about what’s a bigger disappointment: The failures of the bullpen recently or the lack of timely and situational hitting. As bad as the bullpen has been in this fitful stretch, you’re dealing with guys like rookies Edwin Moreno, Luke Gregerson, Luis Perdomo who have never pitched at this level before and others like Edward Mujica who don’t have vast Major League resumes.

And while a handful of these guys pitched well early, you have to be able to show you can do the job over the long haul. These guys aren’t there yet. I imagine is a daunting proposition for these rookies, pitching for their jobs, trying to get acclimated to facing Major League hitters. I don’t imagine that’s easy.

I think the hitting, or lack thereof, is the bigger disappointment. As I sit here Tuesday, these Padres have a lineup that has Brian Giles hitting .153, Kevin Kouzmanoff hitting .227,  Jody Gerut hitting .230. Nick Hundley (.238) and Luis Rodriguez (.237) are also struggling, but in the case of Giles/Kouzmanoff/Gerut, there’s a history there that shows these guys have/can do better.

The lack of production with runners in scoring position has been obvious. It certainly was in a four-game sweep (the wrong end of a sweep, I might add) against the Dodgers last weekend. The team simply can’t win if they’re 4-for-29 with runners in scoring position, no matter how good the pitching is (and it was, with Jake Peavy and Chris Young).

What can we expect moving forward? For starters, more lineup juggling, trying to find the right combination. Don’t expect to see Giles sit for any prolonged periods of time. It’s just not going to happen. It’s a track record thing and, of course, a contract thing (he’s owed $9 million this season).

I would expect to see reliever Greg Burke up from Triple-A Portland at some point, possibly sooner than later, to help a bullpen that needs it. Gabe DeHoyos is another interesting name but he’s walked seven in nine innings and the last thing the Padres need is another reliever who has a tendency of putting runners on base.

In short, the best fixes, the most immediate fixes, are in the clubhouse already.

Cheers, Corey

Update: Talked to Towers today. If there’s going to be changes, it will be more along the lines of bringing up pitchers from, say, Triple-A Portland. The Padres just don’t have any money to make deals and certainly don’t want to part with any top Minor League prospects.

San Diego general manager Kevin Towers is a pretty amiable guy. He smiles a lot, tells good jokes and tells even better stories.

There has been few times in my three seasons of covering the team when he’s looked visibly angry. I remember he had one last season in May after the team had lost and was 16-30 and looked bad in doing so.

“You’re looking for even a little bit of progress,” Towers said at the time. “It’s like Groundhog’s Day, over and over.”

Towers wore a little bit of that same scowl after Friday’s 8-5 loss to the Dodgers. Granted, it’s now May 1 and the team is 11-11 and by no means out of the race like they were a year ago at this time.

But the message was abundantly clear: Towers doesn’t like what he sees.

I’m sure he didn’t like the fact that despite chasing starter James McDonald from the game after just 1 2/3 innings the Padres couldn’t win. That doesn’t happen often folks. Your starter gets runs early, it usually means a long night.

Or he could be upset that the Padres were handcuffed by Jeff Weaver, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Las Vegas. Weaver, who didn’t pitch at all in the Major Leagues in 2008 after being bounced in Seattle after a bad 2007, tossed four scoreless innings in relief.

Or he probably didn’t like the fact that the Padres were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and that they left 11 runners on base. This was a problem last season and while it has gotten somewhat better in 2009, it’s still an issue.

And he couldn’t have liked the error by Nick Hundley in the seventh inning that allowed the go-ahead run to score on a play where a throw from the outfield got past Hundley and Luke Gregerson, backing up the play.

Of course, I’m sure he didn’t like what he saw from that rebuilt bullpen that shined early in the season but has now fallen on hard times, allowing 26 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings over the eight losses in their last 10 games.

Again, it’s May 1 and I don’t expect Towers to come out and promise changes like he did that day in May a year ago. But, at the same time, I don’t see him sitting around and watching the team struggle like they have (lost eight of past 10 games) either.

What happens next? We’ll see.

Cheers, Corey