San Diego Padres should give Drew Macias a shot

Did you know that the San Diego Padres have a player with a .667 slugging percentage and an on base percentage of .435?

No, it’s not Adrian Gonzalez, Tony Gwynn or anybody else on the current major-league roster.

The man with the big stats and big bat is outfielder Drew Macias, who’s currently playing for the Triple-A Portland Beavers.

So, why, might you ask, would the Padres have a player with such potential in the minor leagues?

That’s a good question … without a good answer.

Sure, the left-handed hitting Macias has a very small sample this year with 18 official MLB at bats and five walks (not a bad percentage, walking more than 20 percent of the time.)

What’s really of note is that Macias has four doubles and one home run in those 18 at bats; meaning he has gotten an extra base hit in nearly 30 percent of his at bats.

OK, these aren’t nearly enough at bats to judge Macias; so why not give him a try to find out for sure if he’s for real?

The Padres currently have youngsters Will Venable and Kyle Blanks playing in the outfield … at least part-time. Neither has exactly set the work on fire, fitting in with the rest of the downtrodden team.

Macias did set the world on fire earlier this season. So why not see if he can do it again on what has turned into MLB’s worst hitting team?

Padres need to cut ties with Giles, Floyd

The San Diego Padres need to get on with their youth movement and cut ties with Brian Giles and Cliff Floyd.

Without a doubt, Floyd will be the easier choice.

He was brought in at a salary of $750,000 to be a designated hitter at American League parks. The Padres finish interleague play June 28 at the Texas Rangers, so getting rid of Floyd after then should be a no-brainer … unless the team wants to keep a guy batting .125 with no extra base hits who is incapable of running the bases.

Giles will be a much tougher decision.

First of all, he’s making $9 million this year. The Padres would have to eat well more than $5 million of that to cut him now. (And, yes, they could have bought him out in the offseason for $3 million.)

But who knew he would be batting .191 on June 19 with two home runs … not to mention the fact his arm is now well below-average for a right fielder?

Giles may be declining because of age. Or his descent could be due to the mentor factor of going through an ugly lawsuit with his ex-girlfriend where all sorts of woman-beating accusations have come out against Giles.

The Padres need to find out if Drew Macias can be their right fielder for the future.

In a small sampling earlier this season, Macias was leading the team with a .435 on-base percentage. Additionally, all five of his hits (four doubles, one home run) were for extra bases.

Sure, they are bringing up spring training sensation Kyle Blanks this weekend. Sadly, they will probably discover that they are rushing him … especially as a true first baseman playing the outfield.

The Padres will likely finish last with or without Giles and Floyd. It’s high time they discover what the future holds with players such as Macias.