Hey Padres, show Adrian Gonzalez the money
The San Diego Padres announced Monday that they have extended manager Bud Black through at least the 2013 season. A wise move given that Black has the historically mediocre Padres leading the National League with a 54-37 record (as of yesterday). Now, I think it’s time for the Padres front office to get serious about resigning stud first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
With a four-game lead in the NL West, even the notoriously cheap and value-driven Padres will not be looking to move Adrian Gonzalez before the July 31 trading deadline. Obviously, the Padres will be taking a “win-now” approach at the deadline, but why not also look to win in the future?
You’ll need to fill the seats in Petco Park to do that, and the Padres have this problem since moving into Petco, as its downtown location is not convenient to much of the San Diego market. Still, the attendance at last Sunday’s home game against the Cincinnati Reds was roughly 25,000. That is an absolute travesty for a first place team after the All-Star break on a weekend game.
Petco Park’s location aside, San Diego has historically struggled to fill seats. A big reason for this is the lack of consistent star power from season to season, and in turn a lack of consistently winning teams. While the Padres pitching staff leads major league baseball in ERA, the team traded away big name pitchers Jake Peavy and Trevor Hoffman in recent years. Now, Adrian Gonzalez is the only player capable of filling the stands in Petco Park.
Adrian Gonzalez seen here at the 2010 All-Star Game. Can the Padres front office find a way to resign the face of the franchise? (Jason Branch)
Living in San Diego, I know that Gonzalez really is the only draw for the hometown fans. Despite the fantastic pitching staff the Padres have this season, great pitching is not the most fan-friendly attraction when compared to watching home run hitters slug it out.
Gonzalez, like Gwynn, is also a native of the area, and for the Padres to not be able to keep him would be devastating to the entire city, especially the few and proud die-hard Padres faithful. Gonzalez is very popular in the Latino community — both in SoCal and across the border in Mexico.
Another prominent Latino baseball player, Fernando Valenzuela, spent the first 10 of his 17 major league seasons with Los Angeles Dodgers, and he energized an entire community’s interest in baseball. To this day, the legacy of Fernando’s Dodgers career lives on as the better part of the Latino community’s baseball fans in SoCal and Mexico are Dodgers fans, even in San Diego — despite the city’s closer proximity.
If the Padres resign Gonzalez, they have the potential to tap into a very important fan base and, most importantly, fill more seats at Petco Park.
Before Gonzalez, the Padres last true offense star was Tony Gwynn, and he retired in 2001. (As impressive as future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman was, he never did not have a huge impact on attendance.) Now, the Padres have a chance to secure Gonzalez’s star power for the better part of this decade if they are willing to open up their checkbooks. By investing in Gonzalez, they might consistently producing winning teams and one day it’ll be no trouble to fill the stands.
The Padres have an opportunity right now to lock up Gonzalez and become the franchise San Diego fans hope they are. The Padres are a small market team, but the only way they will be able to combat this problem is to pay star players when they are fortunate enough to get them. With Monday’s extension of Bud Black, the Padres took an important step towards that goal. The real key, however, is resigning Gonzalez.
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