27-year old lefty swinging RF Will Venable is a tease. He has good power and speed but at the end of the day he just isn’t very consistent. Venable has played in 103 games for the Padres this year and he is 71 of 313 (.227 avg, .714 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 11 homers, 46 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. Venable just oozes talent and hopefully he’ll put it all together soon for the Padres as they need all hands on the deck if they are going to hold off the Giants and win the N.L. West.

The Padres have designated 26-year old righty starting pitcher Cesar Carrillo for assignment. Carrillo pitched in 3 games (all starts) for the Padres this year and he was 1-2 with a 13.06 ERA and a 2.71 WHIP. He gave up 16 hits (4 homers) and he walked 12 batters in only 10 1/3 innings this year for the Padres. Carrillo also pitched in 27 games (all starts) in AAA-ball this year and he was 5-14 with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. The Padres saw enough of Carrillo to know that he wasn’t ever going to help them much.

When the Padres signed 30-year old righty Jon Garland it raised my eyebrows a little bit. It told me that the Padres saw themselves as contenders and they were right about that. Garland has started 26 games for the Padres this year and he is 13-8 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He has been a nibbler as he has walked 71 batters in 157 2/3 innings but he’s missing a lot of bats as he has given up 138 hits. This is the 9th straight season that Garland has won at least 10 games. The younger pitchers on the Padres have been learning tricks from the 30-year old Garland and that’s a good thing too as signing him was a outstanding move for the team.

The Padres are probably going to put IF/OF Jerry Hairston on the 15-day D.L. soon as he will likely need to rest his strained right elbow for a couple of weeks. Hairston has played in 115 games for the Padres this year and he is 104 of 417 (.249 avg, .667 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 10 homers, 50 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. The thing the Padres will miss the most about Hairston is his versatility as he can play all over the field.

UPDATE: (8/29/2010) - The Padres have placed Jerry Hairston on the 15-day D.L. They have recalled Everth Cabrera to replace him on the roster. Cabrera played in 64 games earlier this year for the Padres and he was 40 of 196 (.204 avg, .558 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 1 homer, 22 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. The Padres need Cabrera to play better this time around.

36-year old righty swining SS/3B Miguel Tejada and 31-year old righty swinging outfielder Ryan Ludwick are both swinging the bats well for the Padres. Tejada has played in 18 games for the Padres so far and he is 22 of 74 (.297 avg, .763 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBIs. He might not have the power he once had but he can still hit for average. Ludwick has also played in 18 games for the Padres and he is 16 of 63 (.254 avg, .782 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBIs. Ludwick is giving the Padres the power bat they have needed for a long time behind Adrian Gonzalez.