Josh Collmenter followed up the solid performance from Brandon McCarthy last night with one of his own on Saturday against the Padres for the Diamondbacks' second win in a row.

For what it's worth, with the win tonight, the D-backs are no longer in sole position of last place in the division. Whether that means anything or not, it's a small victory in a season that hasn't been as exciting as one may have thought at the beginning of the year.

Although it was a brief outing for Josh Collmenter, he did what he had to do tonight against an inferior -- at least on paper -- Padres offense. The Tomahawk went 5 1/3 innings with only one earned run and handed it over to the D-backs bullpen, which shut down the San Diego bats for the remainder of the game.

Martin Prado had a sacrifice fly in the third, but Miguel Montero led the charge for the Diamondbacks offense with a two-run home run in the sixth off of Eric Stultz for the go-ahead lead.

And for the second straight game, Addison Reed recorded a save without giving up a run, hallelujah.

Although the Padres got on the scoreboard first tonight, their lead didn't hold. The Diamondbacks tied the game in the third before Miguel Montero put them ahead with a two-run homer in the sixth.

Chris Denorfia started the game well with a leadoff double. A ground out by Seth Smith and a sacrifice fly brought him home to give San Diego an early lead. One run wouldn't be enough to win the game, though. Ender Inciarte fired back with a leadoff single in the third. With one out, Inciarte stole second. That wouldn't have been a problem had Rene Rivera's throwing error not given him a free pass to third. Martin Prado's sacrifice fly brought him home to tie it up.

Eric Stults entered the sixth inning without having given up an earned run, but that was about to change. Paul Goldschmidt walked, and then Miguel Montero hit a two run shot to the right field porch. Stults stayed in the game for one more batter, but Buddy pulled him when he beaned Cody Ross. The bullpen held the Diamondbacks at 3, but once again, the offense just couldn't get it together.

Odrisamer Despaigne will try to replicate the success of his first start tomorrow afternoon. First pitch at 1:10 PM.

The game thread was really quiet tonight. I lead the conversation with 13 comments while A huevo picked up half of the 4 recs of the night.

Josh Collmenter and the D-backs bullpen combined for nine innings of only one run baseball to raise the team out of fifth place and ahead of the Padres for fourth.

Record: 35-48. Pace: 68-94

In an era where the norm is a 90+ mph fastball, it was rare to see Josh Collmenter and Eric Stults toe the mound against each other, with both not being able to reach 90 the whole night. With that said, both starters couldn't get through the sixth inning, yet Collmenter had the upper hand on the night, keeping the mediocre Padres' offense out of sync with his fastball-changeup-curveball triad of pitches for his seventh win of the season. The D-backs bullpen combo of Matt Stites, Oliver Perez, Brad Ziegler and Addison Reed closed out the remaining 3 2/3 innings to lift Arizona out of fifth place and leap frog San Diego for fourth.

The Padres got out to a quick lead when they were able to capitalize with a runner in scoring position with a sacrifice fly to center from Tommy Medica.

Arizona was able to fire back with one of their own in the third. Ender Inciarte led the inning off with a single, and then advanced to third on a stolen base-error combo from Rene Rivera. Two batters later Martin Prado hit a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at one run apiece.

The game came to a head in the sixth with a two-run home run off the bat of Miguel Montero to give Arizona a two run lead. The Padres' inability to turn the double play turned out to be a godsend for the Diamondbacks, as Miggy was able to cash in his 45th and 46th RBIs of the season. Later in the inning, with a bean ball to Cody Ross’ bad hip, the soft-tossing Stults’ night was over.

Collmeter’s night didn’t last much longer either, as he was out of the game after the first out of the sixth, with two hits allowed in the inning. But then the hard throwing Stites came in and stuck out two out of the next three batters he faced to end the inning with no damage done.

After a scoreless seventh from Oliver Perez, Brad Ziegler came in and made the game a bit interesting, allowing two runners to reach. But he ended up striking out two batters and inducing an easy ground out to Aaron Hill to end the eighth.

Aside from the one-out triple from Didi Gregorious in the ninth, the Diamondbacks offense couldn't get anything going against the Padres bullpen. Luckily, they didn't need to.

Somehow, miraculously, Addison Reed recorded his second straight save with no runs allowed, and Arizona is in prime position to swipe one more position in the standings tomorrow win another win and a Rockies' loss. Mediocrity is so close we can taste it!

Benny Rodriguez: Miguel Montero, 16.8%

Ham Porter: Matt Stites, 13.2%

Killin' me Smalls: Aaron Hill, -7.6%

Mike Bolsinger is on the bump tomorrow, looking to complete the sweep in San Diego. He's up against Odrisamer Despaigne, which means "Cool beans" in Spanish. Just kidding, not really.

Here's the GDT, congrats to 'Skins yet again:

Ranking and tiering the two-start pitchers for Week 14, including Danny Duffy, Collin McHugh and Jesse Hahn.

Week 13's recommendations didn't turn up any no-hitters, but two of my three picks earned wins in their first starts of the week. Bartolo Colon outdueled Scott Kazmir and dominated his former mates, holding the high-powered Athletics offense to one run on four hits and striking out eight over eight innings. Drew Smyly stepped up similarly for the Tigers, earning the victory and allowing no runs and striking out five in six innings. Unfortunately, my third suggestion, Wei-Yin Chen, wasn't up to the task, allowing eight runs in nine combined innings against the White Sox and Rays. Colon and Smyly are both on the schedule today.

Results (through 1/2 of Week 13)

30-17
7.06 K/9
2.39 BB/9
3.32 ERA
1.11 WHIP

Start!

David Price: Tue-@NYY (Kuroda), Sun-@DET (Porcello)
Jordan Zimmermann: Mon-COL (Flande), Sun-CHC (Arrieta)
Corey Kluber: Mon-@LAD (Haren), Sun-KC (Duffy)
Anibal Sanchez: Mon-OAK (Kazmir), Sat-TB (Archer)

Tier 1

Garrett Richards: Mon-@CWS (Noesi), Sat-HOU (McHugh)
Mat Latos: Mon-@SD (Hahn), Sun-MIL (Gallardo)
Scott Kazmir: Mon-@DET (Sanchez), Sat-TOR (Buehrle)
A.J. Burnett: Tue-@MIA (Alvarez), Sun-@PIT (Locke)
Jered Weaver: Tue-@CWS (Carroll), Sun-HOU (Cosart)
Alex Wood: Mon-NYM (Wheeler), Sun-ARI (Miley)
Tim Lincecum: Tue-STL (Gonzales), Sun-@SD (Hahn)
Jake Arrieta: Mon-@BOS (Peavy), Sun-@WSH (Zimmermann)
Henderson Alvarez: Tue-PHI (Burnett), Sun-@STL (Gonzales)

Tier 2

Danny Duffy: Mon-@MIN (Deduno), Sun-@CLE (Kluber)
Chris Archer: Mon-@NYY (Phelps), Sat-@DET (Sanchez)
Collin McHugh: Mon-SEA (Walker), Sat-@LAA (Richards)
Rick Porcello: Tue-OAK (Mills), Sun-TB (Price)
Zack Wheeler: Mon-@ATL (Wood), Sun-TEX (Martinez)
Jesse Hahn: Mon-CIN (Latos), Sun-SF (Lincecum)
Jeff Locke: Tue-ARI (Miley), Sun-PHI (Burnett)
Josh Beckett: Tue-CLE (Masterson), Sun-@COL (Friedrich)
Hiroki Kuroda: Tue-TB (Price), Sun-@MIN (Nolasco)
Taijuan Walker: Mon-@HOU (McHugh), Sun-@CWS (Noesi)

Tier 3

David Phelps: Mon-TB (Archer), Sat-@MIN (Deduno)
Wade Miley: Tue-@PIT (Locke), Sun-@ATL (Wood)
Jarred Cosart: Tue-SEA (Iwakuma), Sun-@LAA (Weaver)
Jake Peavy: Mon-CHC (Arrieta), Sun-BAL (Jimenez)
Drew Hutchison: Tue-MIL (Estrada), Sun-@OAK (Mills)
Ubaldo Jimenez: Mon-TEX (Saunders), Sun-@BOS (Peavy)
Marco Gonzales: Tue-@SF (Lincecum), Sun-MIA (Alvarez)

Not this week

Samuel Deduno: Mon-KC (Duffy), Sat-NYY (Phelps)
Yohan Flande: Mon-@WSH (Zimmermann), Sat-LAD (Haren)
Christian Friedrich: Tue-@WSH (Strasburg), Sun-LAD (Beckett)
Dan Haren: Mon-CLE (Kluber), Sat-@COL (Flande)
Brad Mills: Tue-@DET (Porcello), Sun-TOR (Hutchison)
Nick Martinez: Tue-@BAL (TBD), Sun-@NYM (Wheeler)
Hector Noesi: Mon-LAA (Richards), Sun-SEA (Walker)
Ricky Nolasco: Tue-KC (Shields), Sun-NYY (Kuroda)
Joe Saunders: Mon-@BAL (Jimenez), Sat-@NYM (Colon)

My Week 14 Picks

Danny Duffy, Royals
2014: 4-7, 67 IP, 6.99 K/9, 3.63 BB/9, 34.4 GB%, 2.69 ERA, 1.07 WHIP

Through 10 starts in the rotation, Duffy has been a tough-luck loser with six "Ls," but he's been fantastic in 58 2/3 innings of work, posting a 2.76 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 41 strikeouts. And, over his last five turns, the 26-year-old southpaw is 2-2 with a 1.71 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 7.96 K/9. Duffy has settled nicely into the Royals rotation, but he'll need to show better control to keep it going. In total, he's walked 27 batters in 67 innings, which could be especially damaging for a fly-ball pitcher. The left-hander gets a pair of road starts against the Twins and Indians in Week 14, with the latter being the more concerning of the two matchups. The Twins aren't a power-heavy team and Duffy's game should play just fine in Target Field, but the Indians could turn walks into multi-run disasters in Progressive Field. Cleveland rosters a lefty-heavy lineup, however, and Duffy has held lefties to .095/.159/.098 slash (that's not a misprint), so there's reason for optimism.

Collin McHugh, Astros
2014: 4-6, 72.1 IP, 10.08 K/9, 3.36 BB/9, 40.0 GB%, 2.86 ERA, 1.05 WHIP

With Dallas Keuchel day-to-day with a hand injury, McHugh is the default Houston ace (sorry, Scott Feldman). The right-hander has been solid all season despite living on the wild side (13 walks over his last 22 1/3 innings). McHugh, 27, owns an impressive 27.5 percent strikeout rate and 18.3 percent K-BB%, which would be the 16th best mark in baseball if he qualified. I expect McHugh to have his way with the Mariners, who are one of the least patient teams in terms of walk rate (27th, 6.6 percent). The Angels should be a tougher test, but he's pitched well against the Halos in two turns already, going 1-1 and allowing two runs in 12 innings (1.50 ERA) with 11 strikeouts.

Jesse Hahn, Padres
2014: 3-1, 10.72 K/9, 3.18 BB/9, 52.7 GB%, 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP

Hahn is a groundball pitcher playing half of his games in Petco. That's always a good start when on the lookout for potential streamers. I admit I didn't know much about Hahn before San Diego gave the 24-year-old right-hander the call from Double-A San Antonio. He's already picked up three wins in four turns, recording an impressive 27 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. I don't see Hahn posting 10 K/9 going forward, but he could give you somewhere close to eight. The rookie gets a pair of home starts against the Reds and Giants in Week 14, so he's a must-start among the widely available two-starters. Hahn pitched very well against San Francisco in his last start, picking up the win while allowing two runs on four hits and one walk and striking out eight in six innings.

Stats from FanGraphs.

Cincinnati's signing of Cuban right-hander Raciel Iglesias on Friday got me thinking about another Cuban in the news lately, Odrisamer Despaigne of the San Diego Padres. If you remember, he made his major league debut against the San Francisco Giants last week, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and zero walks, though he struck out just one guy. Despaigne makes his second big league start today against Arizona.

Despaigne is older than Iglesias, already 27 with eight years of Serie Nacional experience under his belt before he left Cuba. He showcased for big league clubs this past February, but nobody bit on him at the time, with his stuff described as "average". His best attributes were control and a diverse arsenal of junkball pitches.

Eventually the Padres signed him for $1,000,000 in early May. He made two starts for Double-A San Antonio after signing, fanning 12 in 7.2 innings but walking five and allowing four hits, but just one run. Moved up to Triple-A El Paso on May 27th, he made five Pacific Coast League starts, resulting in an ugly 7.61 ERA, giving up 36 hits and 20 runs in 23.2 innings with 29/13 K/BB.

That's not the kind of performance that screams "major league success upcoming" but small sample size and all, and he did post a 13/2 K/BB in his last 10 innings of work before his promotion. At age 27 his skills are what they are, so Double-A and Triple-A were more a matter of getting him back into pitching shape and adjusted to North America than typical developmental considerations.

His fastest pitch against the Giants was 93 MPH, with his sinker averaging 91. His secondary pitches ranged from 64 MPH into the mid-80s: curves, changes, some sliders, all from different arm angles. It's interesting that this worked much better in the majors than it did in the Pacific Coast League, though he was probably working some rust off in the minors. Certainly his control has been much better in his last three outings compared to earlier in the year, so I wouldn't dismiss him just because of the initial rough starts for El Paso.

Here's some video from his first start back at San Antonio, which gives you some idea about his style.






He takes the mound again today against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It will be interesting to see if they get a better read on him than the Giants did. I don't know if Despaigne will have consistent long-term success once the league gets a look at him, but he has some unusual tricks up his sleeve and could well have a useful run as a fifth starter or long reliever.

So maybe fourth place wasn't the goal we we're looking to be at in mid June, but anything is better than last place!

Quotes

"He hangs in there. He says out of big innings, and he did that tonight. He's improving big time."

-Kirk Gibson on Collmenter's outing

Daily D'backs

D-backs series win BTN - Arizona Sports 620

Montero's blast lifts D-backs over punchless Padres - dbacks.com

In Saturday night's game against the Padres, the D-backs catcher provided the biggest blow by pulling a two-run homer down the right-field line to lead Arizona to a 3-1 at Pecto Park.

Owings shoulder not better; visit from doctor to come - azcentral

Owings has been bothered by a left-shoulder injury and likely will fly back to Phoenix on the team's off day Monday to see a doctor.

La Russa plans tweaks for D-backs - Fox Sports Arizona

Change is coming to the Diamondbacks, of course. The only thing that is uncertain is the scope.

Montero throwing out more basestealers - azcentral

Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero wants runners to try to steal off him. "Try" being an operative word.

D-backs look for sweep of Padres - mlb.com game preview

Mike Bolsinger gets the start for the D-backs. He looks to keep his recent success going as he allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings the last time out against the Giants.

Around MLB

A's win very odd game -mlb.com

The A's never cease to amaze, even at the most trying of times.

Napoli's epic game winning homerun off Tanaka - mlb.com

After re-injuring his right knee on Saturday, the Athletics placed Josh Reddick on the 15-day disabled list and recalled first baseman Nate Freiman from Sacramento.

The Oakland Athleticsplaced right fielder Josh Reddick on the 15-day disabled list after incurring a right knee strain in Saturday's game. This is the same knee that he hyperextended on May 31 that led to his first trip to the disabled list. Since his return, Reddick was 5-for-11 with a triple, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts in 13 plate appearances. Overall, Reddick had been batting .229/.296/.358 over 196 plate appearances. The results of his MRI are not yet known.

In Reddick's place the Athletics recalled right-handed batting first baseman Nate Freiman from the Sacramento River Cats. The 6-foot-8 Freiman was .277/.361/.493 with 14 home runs, 37 walks, and 69 strikeouts over 346 plate appearances for Sacramento. He is for now likely to fit into the role he assumed last year as the right-handed portion of the platoon at first base, opposite Brandon Moss. Against left-handed pitching in Sacramento, however, Freiman is actually performing worse over a small sample size, with a line of .226/.330/.405 with 3 home runs, 13 walks, and 24 strikeouts over 97 plate appearances.

With Oakland all of last year as a Rule 5 draft selection acquired off waivers from the Houston Astros, who had selected him from the San Diego Padres, Freiman batted .274/.327/.389 over 208 plate appearances before an abdominal injury sidelined him at the very end of the season.

Freiman was instructed to travel to Miami yesterday afternoon, and is in this morning's lineup against the Marlins. Reddick's injury makes him the fourth player on a short-term injury list, joining Drew Pomeranz, Eric O'Flaherty, and Kyle Blanks. Freiman may not be with the club for too long, as Bob Melvin informed Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he expects Blanks to be re-activated when eligible to return July 8.

Greetings from the dizzy heights of fourth-place (by a couple of thousandths of W%, anyway). Can Arizona complete the sweep over San Diego this afternoon at Petco?

Mike Bolsinger RHP, 1-3, 4.78

Odrisamer Despaigne RHP, 1-0, 0.00

Diamondbacks Lineup

1. Ender Inciarte - CF
2. Gerardo Parra - RF
3. Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
4. Miguel Montero - C
5. Aaron Hill - 2B
6. Martin Prado - 3B
7. David Peralta - LF
8. Nick Ahmed - SS
   
9. Mike Bolsinger - P

Odrisamer Despaigne sounds like an entirely made-up name, like a Bond villain or something taken from a poorly-translated Japanese role-playing game for an obscure console. I keep thinking it should be an anagram of something that reveals his true identity, but all I've been able to come up with is "Gardenia moped rises", which doesn't appear to be much of a clue. Still, we'd be foolish to take him lightly, considering that in his major-league debut, he blanked the Giants for seven, holding them to four walks and no hits on the road. We haven't had a starter put up seven shutout vs. SF in over three years and 56 attempts, since Ian Kennedy in June 2011. So: be warned.

From the Diamondbacks' side, this marks the major-league debut, wearing #13, of Nick Ahmed  That number was previously worn with Arizona by (the presumably non-superstitious) Jason Kubel and Rodrigo Lopez, so let's hope Ahmed works out a bit better. A little surprised to see him start today. I'd have though the injury would mean Hill and Didi Gregorius would be the everyday starters, and Ahmed would be relegated to the Cliff Pennington role. Nick Evans can only watch - from the bench, naturally - enviously. Be good if we could finish off the Padres, complete the sweep and claim sole possession of fourth by the end of the day.

Odrisamer Despaigne (henceforth referred to as "Odie") was just terrible today. His ERA rose 0.66 points! Of course, it started at zero, and those points came on single run he allowed in 6.2 innings, but the narrative is that everything is awful and the sun will never shine again. I'm just working with what I've been given! Kidding aside, Odie managed the Diamondbacks pretty well, allowing 5 hits (all of them singles) and 4 walks. That's not the best WHIP ever, but a couple of double plays and a dearth of extra bases kept the snakes in check.

The only run Odie allowed came in the very first inning. Ender Inciarte led off the game with a single, then stole his way into scoring position. Miguel Montero hit a single to bring him home. That was it for the Diamondbacks, as Odie and the bullpen combined shut them out for the next 8 innings.

The Padres got back in the game in the fourth inning when Chase Headley drew a walk off of Mike Bolsinger. A one-out single by Tommy Medica put they tying run in scoring position and the winning run on first. Cameron Maybin brought Headley in with a double to right to tie it up. Alexi Amarista immediately followed up with a sacrifice fly to score Medica from third. It wasn't much, but enough to avoid the sweep.

Jesse Hahn takes the mound against former Friar Mat Latos tomorrow at 7:10 PM.

abara outcommented you all, but Jodes won the thread with 2 recs and a Breakfasttown shirt.

Mike Bolsinger gave up 2 runs in 6 innings but had no run support from his offense as the D-backs lost the series finale.

Record: 35-49. Pace: 68-94

The D-backs struck quick in the first as Ender Inciarte singled, then stole 2nd. After Paul Godschmidt walked, Miguel Montero singled to left field driving home Ender to give the D-backs the lead. Unfortunately, Aaron Hill and Martin Prado couldn't bring home Paul and that ended the biggest threat the D-backs would have the rest of the game. Despite reaching base in 5 of the 8 innings, the D-backs struggled against the Padres rookie.

After throwing 7 shutout innings against the Giants featuring a variety of pitch type and speeds that would make Bronson Arroyo giddy, Ordisamer Despaigne pitched another great game against the Diamondbacks. He mixed speeds well, and despite some wildness, induced 3 double plays to escape damage and long innings. Through 6 2/3 innings, he gave up 5 hits and 4 walks but outside of the 1st inning only 2 runners reached 2nd base.

Mike Bolsinger was great through the first 3 innings but it all fell apart in the 4th. After a leadoff walk to Chase Headley, Tommy Medica singled, Cameron Maybin doubled off the right field wall to score Headley and Alexi Amarista hit a sacrifice fly to score Tommy Medica. He calmed down and limited the damage to only 2 runs, but that was all the Padres needed. All-in-all, besides the one bad inning, he was effective despite some erratic control. He finished his day with 6IP, 2R, 4BB, and 6 Ks.

After the 4th, both offenses went into a coma and the only threat came from the Diamondbacks in the 7th. After 2 quick outs, David Peralta singled, Nick Ahmed singled for his first career hit putting runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. Roger Kieschnick replaced Mike Bolsinger but struck out swinging against Kevin Quackenbush to end the threat.

After that mini scare, the both bullpens shut the door and the Diamondbacks were denied the series sweep by the Padres. This series was a strange one, with the D-backs only scoring 6 runs and yet winning the first 2 games. YCPB I guess.

Good Guy: David Peralta, 11.4%
Bad Guys: Martin Prado -14.6%, Everyone not a relief pitcher or Paul Goldschmidt

Pretty decent turnout with 21 of you commenting 456 times. The lucky few include: Angry_Saguaro, BrokeNBattleX, Clefo, DbacksSkins, GuruB, James Attwood, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Marc Fournier, MrMrrbi, Rockkstarr12, SebSwo, SongBird, blank_38, freeland1787, hotclaws, makattack71, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, txzona, and xmet.

CotD goes to preston.salisbury, with this delightful quip about the double-play king himself, Martin Prado.

The D-backs have an off-day tomorrow but face the Pirates in Pittsburgh starting Tuesday.

The former Marlins GM is being considered by the Padres.

Last Friday the Padres conducted their first interview with a potential replacement for recently fired General Manager Josh Byrnes. Larry Beinfest was that first man interviewed in this search. Beinfest is a former GM of the Marlins, a post he held from 2002 through 2013. The connection to Miami should probably not be seen as a coincidence. Padres CEO Mike Dee was hired away from the Miami Dolphins last year and most likely had interactions with Beinfest when in Miami. The interview could be seen as a way for Dee to see what a familiar outsider and former GM would have to say about the club. It serves the purpose of using Beinfest as a knowledgeable sounding board for their situation as well as considering him for the position if the other candidates don't match up to his interview.

The Miami connection is not the only reason that the Padres would be interested in Beinfest. The team he was in charge of had severe payroll limitations and yet was able to win a World Series and acquire and develop a number of exciting players in that time. The Padres certainly do not have quite the payroll restrictions as the Marlins, but they are a small market team and would likely be interested in having a plan that includes acquiring and developing young players.

Looking back at the 2003 World Series champion we can assume that Beinfest had a little help along the way since he was hired in 2002. That is quite true. Players like Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Mike Lowell, Derrek Lee, Alex Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, Luis Castillo, Mark Redman and Braden Looper were already in the organization when he arrived along with a new ownership group. He was able to make some moves to help elevate the team to a championship level. Dontrelle Willis, Juan Pierre and Carl Pavano were all acquired before the 2003 season. However, all come with caveats. Willis was a prospect acquired when the team needed to dump Matt Clement's growing salary. Juan Pierre was included in a deal where the Marlins took Mike Hampton (and his salary) in exchange for some good players that were getting expensive only to dump Hampton's salary on the Braves for not much in return. Carl Pavano was acquired for another productive player whose salary was too high in Cliff Floyd. The roster appeared to be a juggling act by Beinfest. He was trying to keep a core in place while dealing players that were putting pressure on the payroll and getting contributors in return. That is certainly a useful skill to have, but it also requires already have a solid core in place. Beinfest also tried to capitalize on this team by getting closer Ugeth Urbina down the stretch, but it came at the expense of trading a prospect named Adrian Gonzalez to the Rangers.

After 2003, Beinfest had to break up the team that won the World Series over the next few years. So many young, good players on the same team with a limited payroll is bound to cause an issue. The team had a window open from 2003-2005, but never repeated 2003's success. Ivan Rodriguez and Braden Looper signed for more money elsewhere, Derrek Lee had to be dealt for a younger, cheaper option which became Hee-Seop Choi and Mark Redman was traded to free up salary. After 2004 Carl Pavano also left for more money, Brad Penny was traded and the pitching depth suffered even though the offense was helped by signing Carlos Delgado to a backloaded contract. Then the team really had to be revamped. A.J. Burnett left for more money. Delgado, Beckett, Pierre, Penny, Lowell, Castillo and Gonzalez were all traded. The payroll shrunk, but Beinfest found talents in those exchanges like Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco and paired them with homegrown talents like Josh Johnson and Josh Willingham. He also snagged Dan Uggla in the Rule 5 draft. However, other young talents like Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen, Jeremy Hermida, Jason Vargas and Sergio Mitre didn't pan out and the team struggled.

The team struggled for a couple seasons and traded superstar Miguel Cabrera and the fading Dontrelle Willis. However, the young talent that Beinfest did hit on proved to be another core to try and build around. The team was competitive with a low payroll from 2008 to arguably 2010. He picked up Jorge Cantu off the scrap heap who became a big contributor to those clubs. The bullpens were effective despite a low cost and many moving parts. The starting pitching still always had big holes, accentuated by the failure of Andrew Miller one of the big returns of the Cabrera trade as well as a string of 8 pitchers drafted in the 1st round between 2003 and 2008 that did not pan out. In fact, none of his 1st round picks from 2002-2009 achieved sustained success (although his 1st rounders from 2010-2013 do still look promising).

That competitive core was not as deep or talented as the one that was in place when the team won the World Series, so over the years some faded, some got hurt, some got traded for less-than-impressive-returns and the team was a 90 game loser in 2011 before it got its infamous cash infusion with a move to a new stadium in 2012. The team still had Ramirez, Johnson and Sanchez and had developed a young future All Star in Giancarlo/Mike Stanton. Even after buying some of the best free agents, hiring a champion manager and getting some pricey acquisitions in trades via trades the team collapsed and lost more games that year than the year before. Beinfest was forced to trim down again and got mixed returns for the expensive mess. Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez have done well. Jacob Turner has flopped. A number of others are still prospects, but with varying degrees of hope attached to them.

Technically, after the 2007 season Beinfest no longer had the title of GM. He was promoted to President of Baseball Operations, which appears on the outside to be the same role but with a better title. Before becoming the Marlins General Manager he came from a player development background with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners did indeed have a good farm system back then although many will forget since players like Shin Soo Choo, Rafael Soriano, Matt Thornton and Brian Fuentes were traded away and they produced players that did not have prototypical career paths like Joel Piniero, Gil Meche and Raul Ibanez. He likely also helped in getting their great return (Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia) from the Astros in the Randy Johnson deal.

That was basically the long form essay of trying to figure out what kind of GM the Padres would be getting in Beinfest. What you come back with is a very experienced baseball executive that is accustomed to having to make a lot of moves to deal with payroll restrictions. However, you also see someone who was dropped into a very good situation in Miami in the early 2000s and his subsequent moves and contending teams were built around the returns from that initial situation. That makes you question what the best he can do with a team that is starting off with far less talent. A GM that was involved in player development more recently than Beinfest might have some more innovative ideas about how to build a club than he would.

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers vice president of amateur scouting Logan White on Monday interviewed for the vacant general manager position in San Diego, the Padres announced today.

White has been with the Dodgers since 2002, running the June draft all 13 years he has been with the Dodgers. In addition, White headed the club's international scouting department from 2002-2012, and was a key figure in signing Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu, among others.

This isn't the first time White has interviewed for a general manager position. He interviewed with the Astros in 2007 and 2010, and also in 2010 with the Mets and Diamondbacks.

Prior to joining the Dodgers, White was a west coast supervisor for the Orioles from 1995-2002 and held the same position with the Padres from 1993-95. He was an area scout with the Orioles from 1990-92 and an associate scout with the Mariners in 1988-89 after his four years as a minor league pitcher in Seattle's organization from 1984-87.

Larry Beinfest, former GM of the Marlins, interviewed with San Diego on Friday. Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen will interview with the Padres later this week, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Padres fired Josh Byrnes on June 22, filling the GM role on an interim basis with a trio of executives: Omar Minaya, Padres senior VP of baseball operations, and assistant GMs A.J. Hinch and Fred Uhlman, Jr.

Former Friar pitches well, but Padres scrape by.

What we had tonight was a good old fashioned pitchers duel. And with a former Padre, who many did not want to see get traded, pitching against a young Padres phenom you would not want it any other way. Former Friar Mat Latos was brilliant only allowing 1 hit. Whilst youngster Jesse Hahn went 5 shutout innings while striking out a career high 9 batters topping his previous high of 8 he whiffed in his previous outing.

As with most pitcher's duels the game had its share of defensive highlights. In the first inning with one out and runner on first Cameron Maybin chased down a Joey Votto fly ball to make a sliding catch and double off the runner at first base. Carlos Quentin, making his first start in 5 days, crashed into the left field wall to make a grab in the 5th to rob Zack Cozart and in the 7th made a diving catch to rob Cozart again and this time possibly save a run. Cameron Maybin would get in on the action again with a running grab with his back to the infielder to make sure Skip Schumaker returned to the bench unhappy.

As mentioned the Padres only got 1 hit in the game, however they would not need one in the bottom of the 5th to score their only run. Tommy Medica started off the inning with a base on balls and then would swipe second base. Cameron Maybin and Everth Cabrera would follow that by hitting fly balls. The first moved Medica to third base and the second plated him for the decisive run.

Jesse Hahn labored a bit in this outing. He burned through 97 pitches in just 5 innings. His stuff was a little erratic, but it only led to 2 walks. He mostly just had to battle and earn each of his outs including those 9 Ks. Uncharacteristically the Padres gave him a lead before he was officially pulled from the game, so he got to tally his 4th major league win. Blaine Boyer continued his scoreless streak for the season with 1 shutout inning in the 6th to maintain his 0.00 ERA. After that the combo of Dale Thayer, Joaquin Benoit and Huston Street were able to put up zeros and close the game down.

The win streak ended when the bats went silent.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Mat Latos allowed just a single hit - a single - and just one run in his 7 innings of work tonight, striking out four and walking just a single Friar.  The San Diego Padres mustered just a single run off their former starter, and that didn't even come courtesy of their lone hit on the evening, as Latos kept the worst offense in the history of all time major leagues in check.  Unfortunately, the Cincinnati Reds' bats couldn't quite get their act together in a Petco friendly way.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Todd Frazier, who went 1 for 3 with a walk, a stolen base, and a deep fly ball that was a nearlydinger in the 8th; and Devin Mesoraco, who went 1 for 2 with a rope of a double and HBP.

Key Plays

• The one and only run of the game came in the Bottom of the 5th off Latos thanks to Tommy Medica, walks haunting, and a pile of Padres' small-ball.  Medica walked to lead off the inning, and he ventured to 2B via stolen base.  Medica then tagged and motored to 3B on a deep fly ball to CF from Cameron Maybin, and he scored on a sac fly from Everth Cabrera.  Reds trailed, 1-0.
• Despite loud outs hit by Joey Votto, Todd Frazier, Skip Schumaker, and Zack Cozart, a comical late inning strike zone to the likes of Brandon Phillips and Votto, and continual great pitching, the Reds couldn't muster more than three hits, none of which materialized as a run.  Reds lose, 1-0.

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New York could buy low on Chase Headley to improve its third base situation

According to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi, the Yankeesare scoutingPadres third baseman Chase Headley "regularly." Over the last week or so we've heard that the Yankees are targeting, almost exclusively, starting pitching, so this is the first instance of the team, publicly, targeting a bat.

Headley is in the midst of a career-worst season at the plate, hitting (entering last night's play) .204/.293/.327 with an 81 wRC+ through 61 games. Following his 2012 season, which saw him hit to a 145 wRC+, leading to a fifth-place finish in the NL MVP voting, Headley has battled inconsistencies and injuries (thumb in 2013, calf in 2014), which have hindered his performance considerably in the two years since his breakout campaign.

A free agent after the season, Headley could be an upgrade over the Yankees' current third base situation if he can even reclaim his 2013 form (113 wRC+). The Yangervis Solarte magic has appeared to run out and Kelly Johnson really hasn't proven to be anything more than a bench player; acquiring a guy with actual upside like Headley could give the weak Yankees' offense a jolt. If the cost is low (ie: none of the team's top prospects), it might be worth a shot.

Then again, it'd take more than just a rebound from Headley to get the Yankees above mediocrity: a new second baseman, right fielder, two starting pitchers, and even a reliever, would still be in order.

I haven't even written this post yet, but I'm already thinking about the sequel. It was so difficult to select just 19 cards of Tony Gwynn to feature; each of the hundreds of cards I leafed through has at least one great story of its own to tell. For now, I managed to cull 19 fairly offbeat cards of Mr. Padre that I haven't profiled here before,and set aside about 40 others to pick through for the next time. But before I get too ahead of myself, here are today's 19:

1. 1985 Drake's Big Hitters #14

I've always had an affinity for oddball cards, and this is one of my favorites. Mother's Cookies, Hostess and a host of others have packaged baseball cards with their confections, but none of their pastries featured prominently in an episode of Seinfeld.

2. 1997 Pinnacle Inside #56

By 1997, there were so many baseball card lines flooding the market that nearly every new one needed a gimmick to stand out. Pinnacle Inside made a name for itself by being the first baseball cards sold in cans. I have one of the cans featuring Gwynn from the following year. I was unsure whether to open it, so I polled my fellow Gaslamp Ballers whether I should, and abided by their ruling; it remains sealed.

3. 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #122

This was always one of my favorite cards as a kid; Upper Deck always had a penchant for getting the shots no one else was taking. As a testament to the kind of person he was, this isn't even the first card showing him signing for fans.

4. 1992 Score #887

Score's annual Dream Team subset was also renowned for its atypical photography. This is actually the most "normal" photo of any I've seen. Rickey had a penchant for showing up nearly naked each year, and the series was home to several iconic shots.

5. 1995 Pinnacle #93

Multi-exposure cards were another Upper Deck innovation, and it didn't take long for others to jump on board. It's done to great effect here and complements a well-designed set.

6. 1996 Pacific Crown Collection #198

As someone who has always taken exception to the "Why should I have to press 1 for English? I'm in 'merca" crowd, I of course have an abiding appreciation of Pacific and their Spanish-first bilingual issues. It didn't hurt that they made some of the most visually stunning cards of the time, this fairly subdued set notwithstanding.

7. 1999 Flair Showcase "#" Row 2, Seat 9

By the late-'90s, Fleer's upscale Flair line was unnecessarily renamed Flair Showcase, and the base set featured three distinct cards each of 144 different players. The three subsets were designated as "rows"; Row 1 was titled "Showcase", Row 2 -- seen here -- was "Passion", and Row 3 was "Power".

8. 2000 Bowman's Best #40

This is one of those cards that a scan doesn't do justice. Granted, it doesn't look bad here, like Topps Chrome cards tend to, but there's an iridescence that isn't captured. It did, however, do a good job of picking up the pocked and ribbed textures on either side, as well as the secondary photo.

9. 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess #43

The design of this card is so repellant to me, but the photo makes up for the garish nonsense. Just in case the random mish-mash of line segments and a spilled lava lamp weren't enough of a snapshot of the times, Skybox felt the need to get x-tra x-treme and wedge an 'x' into the word access. But once you get past all of that, what your left with is a picture of a master craftsman carrying his toolbox to the job site.

10. 1993 Leaf Heading For The Hall #2 of 10

Good call by Leaf recognizing that Tony was Cooperstown-bound barely halfway through his career. In fact, they were on point with nine out of their ten predictions, with Roger Clemens being the lone holdout.

11. 1995 Skybox E-Motion #187

In this set, each player was assigned a unique word describing them or that particular picture of them. In this case, they hit the nail right on the head when describing Captain Video himself.

12. 1995 Leaf .300 Club #13 of 18

This insert set commemorated the 18 active players with a .300 or better career batting average with a minimum of 1,000 at-bats. The numbering was seemingly random, as Gwynn's card is #13 despite him having the second-best career average in baseball at the time - .333 to Wade Boggs' .336 mark.

13. 1997 Donruss #407

By the time 1997 Donruss and its similarly themed Hit List subset rolled around, Gwynn had overtaken Boggs for the top spot; in two seasons he raised his career batting average four points to .337 while Boggs saw his slide three points to .333. Gwynn would remain the major league leader until he retired.

14. 1993 Pinnacle #289

This card has always seemed backward to me, but I suppose "Then & Now" wouldn't sound right.

15. 1999 UD Choice Mini Bobbing Head #24 of 30

This is one of the odder Tony Gwynn cards I have. It is meant to be dismantled and assembled into the strange offspring of a bobblehead and a paper doll. I might do that if I ever stumble into another copy, but this one will remain a card, albeit a weird one. On an aside, how un-Tony is that face he's making? I'd love to know the context there.

16. 2002 Upper Deck Vintage #234

Strangely, this is not even the only card I have of a Padre on a motorcycle; I have one of Ken Caminiti from a few years earlier. This photo was taken at Tony's retirement ceremony; at a quick glance I spot Jerry Coleman, Steve Garvey, Ryan Klesko, and Rickey Henderson. "Rickey gets on" indeed. He wasn't talking about other people's baseball cards when he said that, but he could have been.

17. 2007 UD Masterpieces #42

This is my favorite card from what might be my favorite set of the past ten years. UD Masterpieces was incredible to start with, but this dual issue takes it to another level. Not only are these two Hall of Famers who share so many parallels a perfect pairing, the execution is flawless.

18. 1992 Upper Deck #83

One of those aforementioned parallels between Gwynn and Ripken showed up in Upper Deck's 1992 Bloodlines subset. This card immediately follows one of Cal and his brother Billy, who were teammates at the time. While Chris played for a division rival at the time this card was made, he eventually joined Tony on the Padres in 1996.

19. 1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #27 (Silver Signature parallel)

To this day I am convinced that Tony absolutely would have hit .400 in 1994 had the strike not interfered, and nobody can tell me otherwise.

While there's no way of determining the 19 greatest Tony Gwynn cards -- there are others I like more than some of these at any given time -- I think these are 19 of the greatest. And so are the next 19. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some scanning to do.

Through last season, 11 Padres have hit below .200 in a season with more than 200 plate appearances. If the season were to end today that list would have 13 names, but since there's nearly half a season left we'll see how things shake out and not count Jedd Gyorko and Will Venable quite yet. Along with those two, there are a few other current Padres who are just shy of qualifying in one of the two categories. After last night's 0-3 showing, Chase Headley is down to .201 in 242 plate appearances, while Yasmani Grandal is batting .193 but has only been up to the plate 182 times so far this season.

But enough about those guys. If any of them keep flailing at their present level I'll add them in October. For now you have three minutes to name as many of the 11 players who finished a season with this particular indignity. As hints I've listed the year each player did it along with how many plate appearances he had that season. For your convenience, only last names are required. After your time is up, be sure to log your total in the poll and spoiler-proof your comments out of courtesy to those who haven't taken the quiz yet.

Generally it's a good practice to avoid analyzing pitchers that have thrown less than 50 innings in the majors due to small sample size issues. Obviously this holds true in the beginning of any given season, but it also pertains to guys called up in the middle of the year. Jesse Hahn, though, deserves some attention given how good he's been for San Diego.

Jesse Hahn was never meant to be the main target in the deal that brought Alex Torres to San Diego. The massive seven player swap saw five Padres head east to Tampa Bay while Torres and Hahn took a flight the opposite direction and joined the Padres. The deal was a massive one and it took a while for all of the details and players involved to be teased out. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish wrote up a complete report on the trade that includes bit on all of the players involved, including those San Diego shipped to the Rays.

The focus of this article, though, is the return the Padres got, especially Jesse Hahn, a sixth round draft pick out of Virginia Tech in 2010. Hahn wasn't the key return for Logan Forsythe (the main piece of the trade going to Tampa Bay); that would have been Alex Torres.

Torres himself recently made a lot of news for a non-performance related decision, but his effort on the mound has been top notch so far this season. While his control has left something to be desired (5.13 BB/9), Torres has pitched to a 1.89 ERA over 33.1 IP out of San Diego's bullpen. That still pales in comparison to the season that teammate Jesse Hahn has had in San Diego's starting rotation.

First, the stats. Over 27.2 IP in the majors Hahn has an ERA of 1.95 while striking out an impressive 11.71 batters per nine innings and walking just 3.25 batters per nine. After giving up four runs in his MLB debut, Hahn settled down to a 0.75 ERA, 0.875 WHIP, and 31/8 K/BB ratio over the following 24 innings. This run was capped off last night when Hahn threw a 5 inning gem (if such a thing exists) where he struck out 9 Reds over 5 innings. The Reds managed only 5 base runners (2 on walks and 3 on base hits) and failed to score a run against Hahn or any of the Padres' relievers.

Prior to being traded Hahn was the #6 prospect in the Tampa Bay system according to Baseball Prospectus, but that was the most bullish any outfit was on his upside. In aggregate Hahn ranked 26th among the Rays top prospects according to analysis by Beyond the Box Score's own Chris St. John. Needless to say, he wasn't considered a sure thing to contribute at the MLB level, and most saw him as a reliever in waiting.

Baseball Prospectus summed up the downsides for Hahn thusly:

24-years-old and yet to reach Double-A level; can overthrow at times; good control at present, but command within the zone is still loose; some sources think delivery and arm action better suited for the bullpen.

Baseball Prospectus

Hahn though, had some traits that could make you a dreamer. Jason Parks certainly bought in:

Hahn is legit, with a late-innings fastball that he can maintain into starts, a deep secondary arsenal that he can throw for strikes, and a good overall feel for pitching. Sources are mixed on his ultimate role, but I see a starter—and perhaps a very good one. He’s behind the developmental curve, and the Rays tend to barbeque their pitching prospects (low and slow), but 2014 could be the year that Hahn is pushed, most likely starting at the Double-A level.

Baseball Prospectus

This analysis has been spot on so far, as Hahn began 2014 in Double-A San Antonio's bullpen. He would quickly be moved to the rotation, though, and started building up his innings as a starter. Over 38.1 IP at Double-A, Hahn pitched to a 2.11 ERA and allowed only one home run to an opposing hitter. This was obviously alluring enough for the Padres to make the call to bring him up to the major league squad despite him having only thrown just 159.1 innings in the minor leagues.

Since being called up, Hahn has continued the three things that made him so successful in the minors. He's struck a lot of hitters out, attempted to minimize walks, and kept the ball in the ballpark (except for his first start against Pittsburgh where he gave up two home runs). Hahn has done this with what I'll call a traditional sinker-heavy approach. He's a ground ball machine with 2 out of every 3 balls in play off Hahn's sinker being ground balls, and another 50% of the balls in play off his four-seam fastball being ground balls. Those two pitches make up 81% of his first pitches to left-handed hitters and 77% of his first pitches to right-handed hitters.

If opposing hitters fall behind in the count, Hahn abandons the sinker in favor of pitches with better whiff rates like his change or curveball. He also tries to use his hard fastball as a strikeout pitch once ahead in the count.

Below is a chart that shows how Hahn's pitch usage changes based on the count and handedness of the batter with red boxes being increases of 10% or more over his baseline usage and blue boxes being decreases of the same magnitude. It's pretty clear how his preferences shift depending on who's ahead in the count.

Essentially Hahn goes after hitters early in the count trying to get ground balls and weak contact. Then once he's gotten ahead in the count he goes in for the kill, utilizing his curveball or change up, both of which have whiff rates over 40%. With 2 strikes on the batter Hahn goes to a curve or change 65% of the time against lefties and 44% of the time against righties. This approach is what has helped him keep his pitch counts under control as he's averaging just 14.54 pitches per inning over his past four starts despite striking out nearly 1.3 batters per inning.

There's one last point about Hahn that's worth noting as it could have a big impact on his ability to continue pitching well moving forward. Part of what makes Hahn so difficult to hit is that all of his pitches move, especially his fastball and sinker. That arm-side run makes him difficult to hit, but it could also make it more difficult for him to find the strike zone. As long as Hahn can continue to throw strikes with those pitches, he should be in good shape moving forward.

That said, let's take a look at something that I last discussed in my analysis of why Sonny Gray would become an ace. According to Beyond the Box Score's own Jon Roegele, the MLB strike zone ranges from 400 - 500 square inches in size. When Jesse Hahn releases a pitch, the ball could end up anywhere between 11 inches to his arm side from where you would expect it to 10 inches to his glove side from where you'd expect. From a vertical standpoint his fastball drops about 10 inches less than you would expect, and his curveball drops 10 inches more than you would expect. You can see all of these in the chart below showing his horizontal and vertical movement.

What is the result of this? Essentially any given pitch released by Hahn could end up in an area as big as 420 square inches based on the batters' expectation. That is, if the hitter is expecting a pitch right down the middle, that ball could move to any location within the strike zone based solely on the movement of Hahn's pitches. Granted, the movement will mostly be along the plane of his fastball and curveball, but that's still a massive amount of the zone for opposing hitters to cover.

Jesse Hahn has all of the tools to be an incredible success. This is only further enhanced by the fact that he pitches in San Diego, one of the best parks in baseball to make your home if you're a pitcher. If Hahn can continue to throw strikes and induce ground balls, he could easily become a mainstay of the middle of San Diego's rotation. He may not have the ace level upside of other young pitchers like Sonny Gray, but he can certainly prove his doubters wrong and become a valuable part of the Padres' rotation.

All statistics courtesy of Fangraphs,Brooks Baseball, and Baseball-Reference.

Jeff Long is a writer at Beyond The Box Score and Baltimore Sports and Life. You can follow him on Twitter at @BSLJeffLong.

Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake will toe the rubber in game 2 at Petco Park.

Following their second one-hit win of the season, our Padres look to lock up the series tonight in game 2 against the Reds. They didn't need much offense to get it done in the series opener, but hopefully they can give Ian Kennedy a little more wiggle room tonight as he takes the mound opposite Cincinnati's Mike Leake.

Kennedy hasn't been the sharpest tool in the Padres' pitching shed lately, going 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA over his last four starts. Though he racked up eight strikeouts in San Francisco last Wednesday, he also gave up four runs on nine hits while the Padres offense got shut out. On the bright side, Kennedy has been great against the Reds in his career. In five career starts opposite Cincy, he's gone 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA. However, his one loss against them came this season when the team traveled to Great American Ballpark in May. He gave up five runs on 11 hits in six innings that night.

Leake comes into tonight's matchup having won three straight starts and looking for a career-high fourth consecutive win. He's also coming off one of his more impressive wins of the season. Last Thursday in San Francisco, he allowed just one run on four hits in eight innings of work, striking out a career-high 12 batters along the way. Leake also faced the Padres in that May series, but got a no-decision as the Reds lost 2-1. He did pitch eight strong innings that night, though, keeping SD to just one run on two hits. He is still seeking his first win against our Friars, having gone 0-1 with a 2.66 ERA in four career matchups against them.

Our Friars ended the Reds' five-game winning streak last night. Tune in at 7:10 PDT to see if they can also put an end to Cincinnati's series win streak with another victory tonight.

The Yankees have been scouting the struggling third baseman.

The New York Yankees have been regularly scouting San Diego Padres' third baseman and impending free agent Chase Headley, per Jon Morosi of FOX Sports.

The Yankees, who are 2.5 games back in the AL East, are currently running out a third base platoon of Yangervis Solarte and Kelly Johnson. While Solarte still has a 108 OPS+ on the season, he has been dreadful since his blistering start. Since May 15th, the 26-year-old is hitting just .190/.271/.276. Over the past month alone, his OPS has dropped 88 points to a a season-low .746 mark. Johnson's performance has also dipped, as he is currently batting just .224/.300/.398 with a 92 wRC+ after posting a 101 wRC+ last season. Overall, the Yankees' offense has struggled, ranking 17th in the majors with a 93 wRC+ and 23rd with a 7.2 WAR. They've also hit just 69 home runs (22nd), which is surprising considering their offensively favorable home ballpark.

After posting MVP-like numbers in 2012 (7.2 WAR, 145 wRC+) and having another solid season last year (3.5 WAR, 113 wRC+), Headley has been awful this season. The 30-year-old has hit just .201/.289/.322 for a 79 wRC+ and .279 wOBA, though he has still been adequate defensively with a 5.1 UZR and three defensive runs saved.

While he has certainly struggled, Headley is a good bet to get better over the second half of the year as his .243 BABIP indicates some rather poor luck, and he has been hampered by injuries for much of the season. He also carries minimal risk for any acquiring team, as he is owed just about $6 million over the remainder of the season and probably won't require much more than a mid-level prospect to bring in.

The Yankees appear to not be alone among AL East squads looking at acquiring Headley, as the Toronto Blue Jayswere linked to him over the weekend. As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, Headley's market is "beginning to take shape", and there should be a substantial amount of interest in the Padres' star.