Towers Extended

The longest tenured GM in baseball is staying in San Diego through the 2010 season after getting an extension. Kevin Towers has put together 4 playoff teams, including the National League Champion 1998 installment, with major payroll restrictions. KT is known best for consistently assembling top notch bullpens that have long been a staple in the Padres organization. Towers has locked up young stars Jake Peavy, and Adrian Gonzalez over the last year and is now challenged with the task of signing shortstop Khalil Greene, who, through his spectacular glove work and powerful bat have made him a fan favorite. The official announcement of Towers' extension will come Wednesday.

Khalil's Days as a Friar Numbered?

The Union-Tribune has reported that attempts to reach a long term deal with shortstop Khalil Greene were non-starters. According to the article, Kevin Towers said,

“We approached them, they never approached us. But we heard back that they weren't interested in what we proposed.”

Towers goes on to insinuate that Greene may want to be closer to his family in Key West, FL due to health concerns (see map below). The Frairs have Greene under contract for the next two years. Reading between the lines, this would mean that this year (or part of this year) will almost certainly be Greene's last with the club unless some headway is made towards a long term deal. The Padre Front Office is well known to loath arbitration. The U-T estimates that the Friars have offered just $4M vs. Khalil's request of $5M ($4.9M according to Padres.com) in arbitrating his 2008 salary.

In other news, the Padres are likely headed to arbitration with Josh Bard and have locked up Wil Ledezma without facing arbitration.

The map below highlights the locations that Khalil may be considering after his stint with the Friars. Each location within the blue polygon represents a home field for a team that is geographically closer to Key West (noted with the house icon) than Petco Park. Different colors locations denote the different divisions in MLB. Switch over the satellite view and zoom in to check out each of the fields. Everything on the map is clickable!

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Cameron Close To Joining Brewers

Former Padres CF, Mike Cameron, is near a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. Cameron's arrival in Wisconsin would mean 2 starters would be switching positions, including 2007 ROY Ryan Braun from 3rd to LF while Bill Hall would slide into left after roaming CF last season. Mike Cameron, who will begin the '08 season serving a 25 game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance (2nd offensive brings about suspension), is being replaced by Jim Edmonds.

A Padres dreamer might want to think that by Milwaukee adding a CF in Cameron, Tony Gwynn Jr would become available via trade...whether that would actually be a good situation is another story...