10 things to do while waiting for Spring Training:

1) Listen to the Mighty XX and turn it off every time you hear a woman's voice.

2) Read Tim Sullivan's column in the Union-Trib and pray it's about Baseball.

3) Watch Ken Burns' documentary Baseball.

4) While watching it, count how many times they say the word "Padres" (and you can't count "Podres").

5) Drive by Petco and rub Tony's knee.

6) Laugh every time you think about Kevin Towers signing Sean Burroughs to a Minor League deal in Arizona.

7) Buy a new road gray jersey.

8) Wonder how it seemed like Bruce Bochy was asleep from 1999-2006 and then suddenly woke up and won a World Series.

9) Listen to the old Kept Faith podcasts on iTunes and pray we get better.

10) Every morning wake up and thank God you got to watch Adrian Gonzalez in person for as long as you did.

Rub Tony's Knee

The folks over at Gas Lamp Ball have a good plan. Back in college there was a statue of a Tiger that was strikingly realistic when it came to testicles. We launched a campaign to try to change the color of the Tiger's balls, but didn't have the power of the internet behind us. Spread the word. Ease Tony's pain.

J.B. Smoove comes to San Diego.

Posted this last Friday: "While I'm on the topic of moves that seem inevitable, have we traded for Jason Bartlett yet?" Well, now we've got him. Our 2001 draft pick will finally play a game with the team that drafted him.

He's a slick fielder, his initials are J.B., it's all very obvious, I'm giving him the nickname of my favorite actor on Curb Your Enthusiasm -- J.B. Smoove. It feels good to have our SS and #2 hitter penciled in. And I'm obviously kidding about the slick fielder part, he's a butcher, so the nickname will have to be ironic, but it's too good not to use.

Jed Hoyer is continuing to take advantage of San Diego's great bullpen reputation in trades... by shipping off the guys who didn't really contribute to it being great. First with Mujica and Webb for Maybin. Now with Russell and Ramos for J.B. I like it. GAB is still in tact with Thatcher, Frieri and now Dustin Moseley backing them up.

Let's hope J.B.'s slash line in 2011 is more 2009 (320/389/490) than 2010 (254/324/350). And it's nice he's happy to be here. His quote: "It's something that if I could have chosen a team, that's definitely the team I would have chose."

Welcome to San Diego, Mr. Smoove. And thanks for bringing along a replacement for Mrs. Eckstein. Now if we can just get Mark Kotsay to replace Matt Stairs on the bench, the hot girlfriends and wives on the team gets a significant upgrade.

The Kenny Powers Career Path: Feat. Scott Williamson.

He gave us 11 innings of relief with a 7.36 ERA in 2006, but now the man who "laughed and joked" his way out of Major League Baseball is attempting a comeback in Mexico. Here's hoping he gets the same chance Kenny Powers will probably be getting in Season 3 of Eastbound and Down.

Click here to read the outcome of Scott Williamson watching too much TV HBO and thinking "he's still got it."

Emergency Podcast Now Up!

We gathered over the internet to record an emergency Kept Faith podcast about the recent Adrian Gonzalez trade.

We welcome in regular TKF contributor Joseph Chandler to help make sense of things.

Also listen as Travis once again loses his cool and calls out Yellowcard's Sean O'Donnell.

It's an episode full of sadness, regret and slight hope for the 2011 roster!

Download now and subscribe as things are beginning to get all discounty in San Diego!

Love,

TKF

Here comes Aaron? Here goes Adrian?

After I came to grips yesterday (read the post below) with potentially signing Aaron Harang, Bill Center's now reporting that San Diego's close to a deal with the former Red. MSNBC picked up the story, too. Brock picked up on it last night. And the conversation is going strong at MLBTR.

I'm not saying I paved the way for Harang's suddenly much closer arrival as a Padre, and I'm not saying I'm the source Bill Center is quoting either. What I am saying is that Harang sure knows how to get crazy on Halloween:

Count me as a fan not worried by the aggressive off-seasons of the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies. By this point, we all know the Giants success in 2010 was completely and totally rooted in using steroids (there's no evidence proving otherwise that Guillen wasn't supplying the whole roster). So now that we can write off their "World Series winning" season, everyone knows the NL West belonged to the Padres. We're the ones these teams need to catch up to.

Harang may not be as sure of a thing as Garland, but he has the potential to be a lot better if he's healthy. Maybin will be an upgrade over Tony Gwynn (R.I.P.) and Denorfia. Now if we can just figure out what our middle infield will look like (I want Bartlett!) and if Ryan Ludwick can just figure out what his swing looked like in St. Louis, then there's no reason why we can't continue to compete.

I was optimistic going into 2010, and if Hoyer makes the same type of late additions he made last year (Garland, Torrealba, Hairston Jr., The Cunster) over these next three months, then that optimism will roll right over into 2011.

Update: I posted this and immediately read an article from Gordon Edes about trade talks heating up between the Padres and Red Sox for Adrian Gonzalez. Maybe this explains our interest in Mark Reynolds. Let's hope Hoyer, Byrnes and McLeod can use their knowledge of Boston to get a ridiculous package if this goes down.

Preparing for Aaron Harang

Looking through the free agent list, is it inevitable that we end up with Aaron Harang? He's got all the signs of a pitcher on his way to Petco Park for a season. Former ace coming off an injury plagued season looking to rebuild value. San Diego native from Patrick Henry High School. Played college ball for the Aztecs. I'm not saying anything new here. But I am preparing myself for the guy who'll most likely round out our rotation next year.

The "coming off an injury" angle already makes Petco a place to pad his numbers for a season (see: Garland, Jon. Not that he was injured before, just that he wanted some Petco-size numbers).

And the "San Diego native" part (I do have one piece of scoop -- he's a fan of Luigi's Pizzeria in Golden Hill, saw him there last off-season), means a second discount.

His past three years have been ugly after pitching back-to-back 16 Win, 200+ K, sub-4 ERA seasons in '06 and '07... but those also included back-to-back 230+ inning counts. And Dusty Baker wasn't even there yet. If he was, it easily would have been 275+ innings.

I don't know how I'd feel about it. His numbers after '07 make me nervous. It's not like Garland where you knew what you were getting. If he's healthy (and Luigi's Pizzeria is not a place for healthy), then there's a chance we could see '06 and '07 Harang if we sign him. But if being in San Diego means extra trips to Luigi's and extra pounds to his 6'7", 260 lb. frame, then we'll probably be seeing the guy who's looked washed up since '08.

Here's hoping to the first Aaron Harang and a rotation of Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, healthy Aaron Harang, Tim Stauffer and Cory Luebke in 2011.

Just so it's clear, I'd rather spend the money on Brandon Webb, Erik Bedard, Brad Penny, or even Rich Harden. But Aaron Harang seems like the guy who'll end up giving us the biggest discount. And I've comes to terms with the fact that we're a team who bargain shops.

But while I'm on the topic of moves that seem inevitable, have we traded for Jason Bartlett yet?