Eckstein to DL. Padres still win.

And here I thought it was only the 15-day DL.

That's right. The "heart and soul" of Friar Nation is injured. In his place comes Will Venable. Let's get a quick head count on our Major League outfielders:

Gwynn (Jr.)

Hairston

Cunningham

Venable

Denorfia

Durango

Stairs

How...many...outfielders...can one team have? A little consistency is all I want. But with Eck out, it's looking like the trade deadline focus might shift to a middle infielder over an everyday outfielder. Meaning: the Miguel Tejada era may be on the horizon. It's scary. It's not what we want. It's not what we need. But it may be what we get.

My hope is Jed makes a call over to the D-Bags. It'd cost more in terms of prospects, but trading for Kelly Johnson over Tejada is like trading for something good over something bad. And when/if/I don't even care if Eckstein comes off the DL, Johnson could take over everyday in LF, leaving CF and RF for a history-making seven-man platoon.

One last thing. For all of Eck's know-how and the team touting their 41-30 record when Eckstein's starting, this also means the team's 14-8 when he's not starting. This also means nothing either way. Don't show off a stupid number if it's irrelevant. Forgive my Eckstein frustration. But I'd prefer a second basemen and someone hitting in the two-hole who scores more than 31 runs by July 22nd and gets on base at a better clip than .326, which describes approximately 80% of every other starting second basemen. Guys with stats like Eckstein who "play the game the right way" (a favorite of Eck-defenders) aren't players, they're coaches. And for the foreseeable future, little Davey will be exactly that: An extra coach on Buddy's bench.

And while I'll credit Eckstein on his '06 World Series MVP, I'll also credit him his horrific performance in the NLDS and NLCS of that year. He showed up for the World Series, but he also did everything he could to stop the Cardinals from getting there.

Eckstein to the DL. An excess of every-other-day outfielders. Not wanting Miguel Tejada. Wanting Kelly Johnson. Eckstein to the DL meaning nothing to us winning. This post has it all. For any TKF readers disgusted at my disgust for Eckstein, Dallas' Eckstein man-crush outweighs my distaste... and he puts up more articles here than I do.

Little Leaguers of America, this is how to be a baseball player. Davey said so.