Lefty starting pitcher Dave Dravecky was a darn good pitcher for the Padres. He pitched in 199 games (119 starts) in his six years with the Padres and he was 53-50 with 10 saves, a 3.12 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. His best season with the Padres was in 1983 when he made the N.L. All-Star team. In 1983, Dravecky pitched in 28 games (all starts) in which he was 14-10 with a 3.58 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Dravecky is #4 all-time in ERA in Padres’ history (3.12), #6 in WHIP (1.20), #6 in complete games (23) and he is tied for 8th in shutouts (6). Dravecky’s life and career took a downturn after he left the Padres. On October 7th, 1988 he had surgery to remove a desmoid tumor from his pitching arm. That kept him out of the majors until August 10, 1989 when he made it back to the show with the Giants. Five days later he snapped the humerus bone in his left arm on a pitch to Tim Raines. That was the end of his pitching career. On June 18th, 1991 Dravecky had his left arm and shoulder amputated. He kept his head up and wrote a book called “Comeback”. It was a outstanding, uplifting book and I would suggest that anyone who thinks they are going through rough times should read.

Rumors swirled all winter long that the Padres were going to move 27-year old lefty swinging Adrian Gonzalez. The Padres resisted and he will reward them once again in 2010. He played in 160 games for the Padres last season and he was 153 for 552 (.277 avg, .958 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 40 homers and 99 RBIs. His home road splits on homers is what gets other teams really excited about him as Gonzalez only hit 12 homers and home and 28 homers on the road last season. The Padres have no reason to think that Gonzalez won’t give them at least his average season for them which consists of 94.3 runs scored, 32.5 homers and 100 RBIs. Despite making 7 errors in 156 games he is a solid defensive player.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: A

The Padres have designated 26-year old righty reliever Mike Ekstrom for assignment to make room on the roster for Jon Garland. Ekstrom pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Padres last season and he was 0-0 with a 6.38 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. He also pitched in 42 games (1 start) in AAA-ball last season in which he was 4-2 with a 1.73 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. Ekstrom pitched two years for the Padres working in 20 games (0 starts) in which he was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP. The trade-off of Garland for Ekstrom is huge for the Padres.

UPDATE: The Rays have claimed Ekstrom off waivers.

The San Diego Padres sign 30-year old righty starting pitcher Jon Garland to a 1-year deal worth $4.7 million bucks with a mutual option for 2011 worth $6.75 million bucks with a $600,000 buyout. Garland pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the D-Backs and Dodgers last season and he was 11-13 with a 4.01 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He has now pitched in 311 games (288 starts) in his major league career and he is 117-102 with 1 save, a 4.42 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Garland will give the Padres a workhorse starting pitcher to top the rotation. Garland couldn’t have picked a better place to sign a 1-year deal because of how big Petco Park is. This is a win-win deal for both the Padres and Garland.

The Padres have signed 41-year old lefty swinging OF Matt Stairs to a minor league deal. He played in 99 games for the Phillies last year and he was 20 for 103 (.194 avg, .735 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 5 homers and 17 RBIs. Stairs has now played in 1,761 games in his major league career and he is 1,333 for 5,040 (.264 avg, .839 OPS) with 752 runs scored, 259 homers and 881 RBIs. I like this signing for the Padres as Stairs still can provide some thump off the bench.