Monday is Hot Baseball Wife Day here at UmpBump, and this weeks honoree is Betzabe “Betsy” Gonzalez, the wife of slugging Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Together, Adrian and his wife recently established a charitable foundation, the Adrian and Betsy Gonzalez foundation, which aims to serve underprivileged youth in the fields of sports, education, and health.

More pictures after the jump…

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So since we last checked in, Padres first-sacker Adrian Gonzalez has continued mashing balls out of the park at a prodigous rate, and is currently on pace for 63 bombs this season despite playing half his games in the worst hitters park in the Majors.

But what is downright scary about Adrian Gonzalez’s 2009 campaign is that he has actually been unlucky this year on batted balls. His BABIP is only .246, well below his career mark of .312,  and seventh worst in the league, way down there with other down-on-their-luck hitters like Jimmy Rollins, Jay Bruce, and Garrett Atkins.

But whereas those other guys are all putting up pretty depressed stat lines due to their bad luck with BABIP, Gonzalez has an outstanding slash line of .281/.421/.638/1.059

It is amazing to ponder how crazy that line would look if Gonzalez were having even average luck this year on balls in play.

With the season one-third gone now, it’s become pretty clear which players were only slumping and which players actually just suck at baseball. And yet on every team there is at least one player which for foolish reasons, whether it be an over-developed sense of loyalty, a case of GM-player man-love, a reputation for grit and hustle, or a bloated contract, the team just hasn’t been able to pull the plug on yet. In this post, we have a look at each team in the National League with an eye for the one player who really needs to be cut as soon as possible.

Dodgers – RP Guillermo Mota: This guy looks permanently broken: he gives up too many hits, he doesn’t strike enough guys out, and he walks too many batters. His WHIP is an appalling 1.79 and he needs to be shelved somewhere.

Giants – 1B Travis Ishikawa: The main job of a first baseman is to hit, so when your first baseman is the worst hitter on your team, you are doing something wrong.

Diamondbacks – CF Chris Young: Chris Young was supposed to be one of those guys whose power and speed would somehow make of for his complete lack of any ability to get on base.  Well, now you have a guy whose power and speed have fallen off, but who is even less able to get on base.  It is unbelievable that Young is still on pace for well over 500 at bats this season despite his .220 OBP. He needs to be working out his suckiness in the minor leagues.

Rockies – 3B Garret Atkins: I’ve been advocating that the Rockies trade Atkins for two years now, while there was still some perception that he was a good player, but they waited too long, and now he’s basically untradeable. Few players have benefited more from Coors Field than Atkins, and Atkins also had the benefit of his personal peak coinciding with the Rockies high profile Series run in 2007. But he was always an extremely inadequate defender at third, and now his bat has disappeared as well, even at home.

Padres – 2B David Eckstein: GM Kevin Towers calls David Eckstein the MVP of the team so far this year. He couldn’t be more wrong. Eckstein was only barely adequate defensively and offensively when he was at his peak about 5 or 6 years ago, and now at age 34, he’s pretty much got nothing left.

Cardinals – SP Todd Wellemeyer: Todd Wellemeyer shows that maybe there are limits to what pitching coach Dave Duncan can do. Kind of. Actually, it’s pretty amazing that the Cardinals have gotten as much out of Wellemeyer as they have, considering he was nobody’s idea of good starting pitcher material. But with Mitchell Boggs waiting in the wings, there’s really no reason to keep Wellemeyer around.

Brewers – 3B Bill Hall: Bill Hall couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag right now. Sure, he hit 35 homers back in 2006, but he’s done nothing at all since then, and he still has no real position defensively. For some reason, Hall still has the image of a youngster who is still developing, but when you actually go look at his age you find out he is already 29 years old, and what you see, which right now is total suckage, is probably what he really is.

Cubs – RP Aaron Heilman: Heilman was once a highly touted prospect, and did manage to throw up a few good seasons, but it’s becoming more and more clear that he’s just not all that good. Nothing about his peripherals suggests that anything is particularly wrong. His velocity is the same as ever, as are his FB/GB rates, his home run rate, his K/9 rate etc., and his BABIP is a very modest .299. Heilman simply walks too many batters, posting an unsightly 6.26 BB/9, and until that changes (if ever), he needs to be in AAA somewhere until he can learn better control.

Reds – SS Alex Gonzalez: Gonzalez was once an elite defender at shortstop, which meant that his extremely weak bat could be somewhat justified, but now he is no longer anywhere near that class, and his bat seems weaker than ever at .209/.250/.302. He needs to be cut.

Erstad is still playing?

Astros – OF Darin Erstad: Yeah, I know, Erstad is supposed to be this super-gritty former football player (except he was only a kicker), but we are a decade removed now from his last actually good season in 2000, and I’m almost surprised to see that he is actually still on a major league roster. He’s hitting .137/.211/.196.  Why is this man still anywhere near a baseball diamond?

Pirates – OF Brandon Moss: Lots of people have mentioned how one good side of trading away Nate McLouth was that it has “cleared playing time for blocked prospect Andrew McCutchen.”  But hardly anyone mentions that one of the players who was allegedly “blocking” McCutchen is Brandon Moss, a corner outfielder who has been playing every day this season despite posting a .310 OBP and only a single home run.

Marlins – 3B Emilio Bonifacio: The fact that Emilio Bonifacio, who has no business being in a major league lineup at all, is actually batting leadoff for the Marlins, despite his .294 OBP, is an indictment of the entire Marlins coaching staff and front office.

Bonifacio whiffs again

Mets – C Omir Santos: It’s a joke that the Mets actually traded away Ramon Castro to clear a spot on the roster for this guy. It’s going to be fun watching as the numbers left over from his fluky hot start rapidly sink toward the Mendoza line.

Braves – OF Garrett Anderson: I laughed out loud when I heard that the Braves signed Anderson in the offseason, and I pretty much haven’t stopped laughing since.  The poor old guy has a .289 OBP to go along with a -15 UZR/150 in left field. At this point you could probably drag Bernie Williams out of the recording studio and run him out there for better production.

Nationals – CL Joel Hanrahan: You can anoint a guy your closer, sing the praises of his “live arm,” and run him out there in save situations as much as you want, but that doesn’t mean he is going to pitch like a closer, just because you really really want him to. In what may be the worst bullpen of all time, no reliever has done more damage in more high leverage situations than Hanrahan. His 1.90 WHIP (for an alleged closer!) pretty much says it all.

Phillies – P Chan Ho Park: Park has looked finished for years now, at least when you look at his peripherals. He managed to reinvent himself as a serviceable reliever in the pitcher-friendly NL West last season, fooling the Phillies into taking him on, but it’s kind of an understatement to say that his game does not play well in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. The Park-as-starter experiment was basically doomed from the get-go, but ironically, Park has pitched even more poorly this year as a reliever than he did as a starter. This man should be enjoying his retirement somewhere, not getting thrown to the wolves every other night.

Philadelphia Inquirer’s Don McKee thinks the Phils need to go all in for Jake Peavy.

Forget the talk that he doesn’t want to come here. Overwhelm the Padres with prospects and make a tentative deal.

Then ask Peavy whether he really doesn’t want to pitch for a contender he will make even stronger, in a packed modern ballpark with a party atmosphere every night and player amenities to die for?

Then see what he says.

The Phils could definitely overwhelm the Pads with a large quantity of prospects, but it’s hard to imagine San Diego being bowled over by the quality of the Phils’ top minor leaguers. Carlos Carrasco? He’s got a future as a major league pitcher, for sure, and his 58 strikeouts in 55 innings is impressive. But his 5.40 ERA is not. Jason Donald has a .299 OBP in triple-A this season. Lou Marson is hitting .230 and there are questions about his readiness to handle a pitching staff.

Ask Peavy if he wants to play in a modern ballpark? How about instead we ask him if he’d like to move from the most pitcher-friendly park in the major leagues to a bandbox where his numbers woud surely take a hit, as would his value the next time free agency rolls around?

How about we ask him if he wants to move as far away from his San Diego home as possible? If he’ like to leave the most forgiving fans in America for the most demanding fans?

Sure, it’s possible Peavy will OK a trade to Philly. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. And I certainly wouldn’t call it a “perfect fit,” as McKee does.

In the prime of his career at age 27, San Diego Padres firstbaseman Adrian Gonzalez is secretly having the greatest season of all time.

He is actually leading the entire Major Leagues in home runs with 15, two bombs ahead of Carlos Pena and Albert Pujols. That means he is on pace to hit 68 home runs this season, 5 shy of the record, which is a pretty amazing pace.

But what makes this all even more amazing is that Gonzalez plays half his games in Petco Park–the worst hitters park in the entire major leagues. Indeed, only 4 of his his 15 homers have been hit at Petco, the place where homers go to die.

Is Gonzalez going to be able to keep up his home run king pace?  Certainly not.  Petco is going to drag him down in the end.

But it is amazing to think of what Gonzalez’s numbers might look like right now if his team played in even a major league average ballpark, hittingwise.

I’ve got to admit I never expected the Padres to be leading their division, even if it’s only two weeks into the season. Given how bad the team was last season, and how little they did to improve this winter, it’s definitely unexpected.

Coming off a bitter divorce, the team’s owner decided to gut the roster and concentrate on a 5-year plan that, realistically speaking, projected the Padres to suck for a while. Sure, Jake Peavy stuck around, but that’s not due to the front office’s lack of effort in trying to trade him.

I gave the Padres a D in our hot offseason action series and I highly doubt anyone expected them to come out of the gate and lead their division. But here they are, in first place.

Pitching seems to be the secret to the team’s early success, particularly from Chris Young who’s 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA. Collectively, they’ve done quite well: They’re second in team ERA, fourth to last in earned runs, have allowed only four home runs, and are fourth in WHIP.

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You can’t blame Jake Peavy for his surprise at still being a San Diego Padre. All signs were pointing to Atlanta or Chicago as probable (not possible) destinations; and yet, with one week of spring training in the books, Peavy remains.

Back in December, I, like many of the people watching the Padres, thought Peavy would get dealt, and I based my “analysis” of their needs then on the premise that they would be able to land a few good prospects in return. Well, you can forget about it all.

Except, of course, that their other pressing needs remain relevant, Peavy trade or not. The Friars had an atrocious offense in 2008, and while the team made some moves, let’s not be hasty and say they’ve improved. They traded Khalil Green, their starting shortstop to St. Louis for a minor league pitcher, and though they signed David “GRIT” Eckstein, they’ll let him take over second base (vacated by the departure of Tadahito Iguchi) and either move Luis Rodriguez to short or give prospect Matt Antonelli a shot to start.

They signed veteran Cliff Floyd and traded Matt “F’n” Bush to Toronto for cash and a player to be named later (which apparently, has yet to be named). They also signed veteran catcher Henry Blanco to back up Nick Hundley, who’ll get the majority of starts behind the plate, and added outfielder Emil Brown as a spring training invitee.

These moves don’t exactly blow you out of the water, or even blow you anywhere near the surface of the water, but the reason for the lack of offseason action, for those who may not have been paying attention, is that the San Diego Padres are drastic cost-cutting mode. Their budget was slashed in half from 2008, which is a direct result of their ownership dilemma between John and Becky Moors.

Because of their on-going divorce and its financial ramifications, Moors was forced to sell the team. He finally reached a deal with former Diamondbacks CEO, Jeff Moorad, who’ll have five years to complete the transaction. Though the Padres will have new ownership, it’ll take a while before it takes over the actual running of the team. What that means for the on-field and front-office operations remains to be seen.

As far as pitching goes, their rotation retains their front-line starter in Peavy (now they just need to score him some runs). They’ll give Mark Prior another shot at pitching on the major league level and they reached a deal with Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican league for right hander Walter Silva, hoping he’ll earn a spot in the rotation. Even with these moves (or non-moves in Peavy’s case), pitching is still a work in progress, with several spots open in both the rotation and bullpen.

Notable acquisitions: Cliff Floyd, Henry Blanco, Walter Silva, David Eckstein

Notable losses: Trevor Hoffman, Tadahito Iguchi,  Shawn Estes

Projected lineup, rotation, and closer:

C Nick Hundley
1B Adrian Gonzalez
2B David Eckstein
SS Matt Antonelli / Luis Rodriguez
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
LF Chase Headley
CF Jody Gerut / Scott Hariston
RF Brian Giles

SP Jake Peavy
SP Chris Young
SP Cha Seung Baek
SP Josh Geer?
SP Wade LeBlanc?

CL Heath Bell

Offseason Grade: D

With a pool of young players, 2009 is shaping up to be the first of a 5-year plan for when new ownership takes over. It’ll be painful, but at least they’ve managed to be proactive in trying to field a team capable of winning more than 63 games. Right?

- Hot Offseason Index -

The San Diego Padres lost a grand total of 99 games last year. They were third to last in RBI, second to last in team batting average, and dead last in runs scored. Their pitching was arguably better, but only marginally; they were 10th in ERA and in batting average against, and they allowed the sixth most runs in the National League. All of which was a drastic departure from 2007, when the Padres pitching staff was the best in the league.

After such a disappointing season, you’d think the Padres front office would have a semblance of a plan to right the ship for next year, right? Well…

Take one of their lone shining moments, another strong year from 2007 Cy Young winner, Jake Peavy. His ERA (2.85) was good for third best, and his 10-11 record would’ve easily been way north of .500 had his team provided more run support (they scored 3.63 runs per outing). Surely they can count on him having another strong year in 2009, right? Well…

Peavy’s pretty much done with the team, as the cost-cutting Padres can no longer afford his $11 million salary. They’ve got a scheduled budget of around $50 million for 2009, and they’ve been actively shopping him. In fact, GM Kevin Towers wanted a deal in place before the free agent period began back in mid November. So fine – trade him– that ought to bring in some talented prospects to build around. Well…

Peavy’s still with the team, as the possible trade partners (Cubs, Braves, among others) have not offered the right deal/pieces for Towers to pull the trigger. Which in turn is hampering the team’s ability to make any other moves.

Much of what the Padres need will be addressed by the impending Peavy trade, whether the returns are in the form of a young starting pitcher, or more relief pitching, or perhaps, a young shortstop. And consequently, any further moves will be directly contingent on what they get in said Peavy deal; as in, what to do with Khalil Green and what kind of a deal the Padres could make if, for instance, Towers is able to coax Yunel Escobar from the Braves. But without moving Peavy there is no other first move, because, as of now, that’s what the Padres need to do.

But let’s not concentrate on the what-ifs, let’s get some facts out of the way. The Padres declined to offer Trevor Hoffman arbitration, signaling the end of his storied tenure with the team, and Mark Prior filed for free agency (but he may re-sign). So they need to solidify their rotation and their bullpen (remember, their pitching was the best in the NL in 2007, and way below average in 2008).

They also need to drastically improve their offense. Picking up Brian Giles’ option (lead the team in BA) is a good start, but they could use a run-producing outfielder (Giles collected almost as many RBIs as their other two projected starting outfielders, Scott Hairston and Chase Headly, combined). With Tadahito Iguchi gone, the Padres will give Matt Antonelli a shot at second base, but an upgrade there wouldn’t hurt.

Which brings me back to the budget. Depending on how you look at it, offense is where the Padres need to be focusing their offseason plans, but then again so is pitching, and several free agent, veteran pitchers have indicated their preference for San Diego.  Well…

While the budget hasn’t been set, and mlb.com reports it around $50 million, other figures indicate that it could be close to $40 million, which is a full $30 million less than 2008’s budget. I don’t know about you, but last time I checked, you can’t do much with $40 mil other than hope your prospects are the hottest commodity in the market. The Padres are free of bad contracts, and the low payroll gives off the impression that an opportunity to spend some money is on the horizon.

Well…

The team is currently caught in the middle of owner John Moore’s divorce and at this point it’s not clear what impact, if any, that’ll have on his majority stake, but there’s a very real possibility that his wife, Becky Moores will get the controlling majority.

Oy… You thought 2008 was bad…? It seems 2009 won’t get any better.

– What They Need Index –