Like most fans out there, I was completely fine with the Vicente Padilla deal. He cost the prorated league minimum and has pitched well thus far. However, I do have a problem with the high wire act he seems to do every game, and it's reflective of his general skill.
In Jon Garland's case, while I would like to be content with his performance, I believe Tony Abreu was a stiff price to pay, especially with the guys like Charlie Haeger already doing well.
That said, why in the hell didn't the Dodgers make right on one of the most lopsided trades in history and bring Pedro Martinez back for far less than he is worth? Not only does Martinez actually have the cachet to put butts in seats and sell jerseys, he has also been a damn good pitcher this year. Martinez is averaging 89 mph and is regularly hitting 92 mph on his fastball. That kind of stuff is more than enough given his always dynamic change and slider.
Seriously though, the dude has just 6 walks to 34 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings pitched this year, and it's good for an otherworldly 5.67 K/BB ratio. Of course, that isn't even close to Pedro's heyday, when he was putting up better than an 8 to 1 ratio, but it's still good enough to rank him among the best in the game if he had been pitching all year.
Now why didn't we sign him again?
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