San Diego Padres hurting on, off the field

Pity the poor San Diego Padres.

Not only will they probably have MLB’s worst record over the second half of the season; they also have more than half of their payroll on the disabled list.

And that’s not good for an organizational that cut its payroll to $45 million this year (second lowest in the majors.)

The Padres have $25.475 million sitting on the DL in:

Pitcher Jake Peavy, $11 million
Outfielder Brian Giles, $9 million
Pitcher Chris Young $4.625 million, and
Second baseman David Eckstein, $850,000

And that’s not to mention three others who have been out all (or virtually all) season costing another $1.679 million:

Outfielder Cliff Floyd, $750,000
Pitcher Shawn Hill, $500,000, and
Pitcher Cha Seung Baek, $429,000

All told, these seven veterans are costing the Padres about 60 percent of their payroll for not even playing.

The Padres also traded away their second-best hitter in Scott Hairston ($1.25 million) this week in a further salary dump.

Sadly, this is a team whose only direction seems down … on and off the field.

Greg Maddux: At a loss for decisions

It took Greg Maddux five starts to go from career win No. 349 to No. 350.

In six starts since, he has gone from No. 350 to stuck on No. 350.

Just call him Mr. No-Decision of the Padres ... until Sunday’s 7-3 loss at Cleveland, that is.

Maddux had five straight no-decisions until Sunday, joining a list of frustrated pitchers who had quite a string of consecutive no-decision starts in 2008:

Shawn Chacon, Houston, 9
Adam Eaton, Philadelphia, 6
Scott Baker, Minnesota, 5
Kason Gabbard, Texas, 5
Shawn Hill, Washington, 5
Maddux, 5

Thus far, Maddux is just 3-5 with a 3.31 ERA.

He’s rarely more than a 5 or 6 inning pitcher nowadays, so it doesn’t help that the bullpen always seems to collapse behind him.

Maddux is one of the best decision-makers on the mound; too bad he can’t get a winning decision nowadays.