Late Innings

This is the only fitting thing to do.

***

Manager Bud Black didn’t need to be sold on the idea of David Eckstein signing with the Padres.

Uh oh, you know where this is going.

During their first stint together in 2001, Eckstein —- who agreed to a one-year, $850,000 contract with the Padres on Thursday to play second base —- quickly made a strong impression on Black, then the Angels’ pitching coach. Black remembered that, because of an injury, the Angels asked the unheralded rookie, a 5-foot-6, 170-pound waiver claim, to switch from second base to shortstop during spring training.

Here we go… we’re getting warmed up folks.

Eckstein responded quickly, Black recalled, thus beginning a successful run in which he was the club’s shortstop for four seasons, including the 2002 World Series championship team.

Eckstein had as much of a role on their team’s success as the Rally Monkey did. Take that thought as you may.

“We had a coaches’ meeting, and Mike (Scioscia) asked Alfredo Griffin if he thought Eck could be a shortstop,” Black said. “Alfredo looked at Mike and said, ‘I don’t know about the arm, but let’s give it a shot.’ He put a ton of time in at short, did everything he could to adapt to making all throws. He did everything he could to make himself a shortstop in about a two-to-three-week period.

Arm? Check. Range? Check. Bat? Check. Wait a minute…

“It was great to watch.”

Says whom?

Now Eckstein, a two-time All-Star, hopes to make an equally large impression in San Diego. Saying he turned down bigger contracts, Eckstein was lured to the Padres by the promise of being their starting second baseman.

What “bigger contracts” did he turn down? He wasn’t exactly Boston’s Plan B after they lost out on the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes.

Eckstein said he nearly signed with the Padres for the 2008 season, but they had already made an offer to Tadahito Iguchi. Eckstein, who turns 34 on Tuesday, instead signed with Toronto and was later traded to Arizona, hitting a combined .265 in 324 at-bats.

Earning his 4.5MM salary with honor and pride (hitting two homers and stealing two bases in the process.)

“I knew (the Padres) couldn’t make the commitment financially, but they could offer the opportunity,” said Eckstein, who can earn an additional $150,000 in incentives. “There were definitely other offers out there, with probably more money, but I wanted the opportunity as everyday second baseman.”

What really happened was that Kevin Towers saw his rival Dodgers sign Juan Castro, and Towers made this move out of fear.

General manager Kevin Towers said the Padres’ pursuit of Eckstein last year was slowed by the mistaken belief that Eckstein wanted to stay at shortstop, and the club decided to offer Iguchi a contract first. By the time the confusion was cleared up, Iguchi was on the verge of signing and Towers said he “felt obligated” not to go back on his word. But a year later, Towers believes Eckstein’s addition will pay immediate dividends.

It didn’t also help that Eckstein was originally seeking a three year contract in excess of 27MM in total as well.

“You could hear it in David’s voice,” Towers said. “The enthusiasm and passion for winning baseball. You immediately make your ballclub better. Watching him from the opposing (side), he was a fierce competitor. He always found a way to make something happen.”

Yeah I agree. The Padres now have a “fierce” middle infield. What’s the over/under on whether they’ll lose 100 games this season?

Black is similarly excited to have Eckstein, who owns a .351 career on-base percentage. For a team coming off a season in which it finished with a .317 on-base percentage, its lowest since 1993, Eckstein could be the perfect fit.

Technically I can think of better “perfect fits” than Eckstein.

“First and foremost, he’s a good player and he’s going to bring an element to our club that we need,” Black said. “He has a knack to get on base. He’s a great handler of the bat. He gets big hits off good pitchers. And the way he goes about the daily grind of playing baseball, it’s going to be great for our younger players.”

Hahahaha, yeah right. It must be because David’s a “scrappy” player. Oh well. The only thing this move will do is make Jake Peavy waive his no-trade clause at a much faster rate than before… I’m so glad I’m not a Padres fan today.