http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070727/news_1s27padnotes.html HOUSTON – The Padres were without a second baseman last winter when Mark Loretta made a personal pitch for himself. The two-time Padres Most Valuable Player offered his services for less than $2 million plus incentives. Advertisement “It was between when they traded away Josh Barfield and when they offered arbitration to Todd Walker and signed Marcus Giles,” recalled Loretta, who hit .285 for Boston last year. “I really wanted to come back to San Diego. I thought I was a good fit. There was some interest. And I pushed it a little bit because Texas and Cincinnati were also showing interest. But I never heard back.” The Padres opted to sign Marcus Giles for $3.25 million. Loretta eventually signed with the Astros, with whom he has started 70 games this season – at all four infield positions. Now there are rumors that the Padres might again be interested in Loretta, who turns 36 on Aug. 14. So, too, might be the Mets and Phillies, who have lost Jose Valentin and Chase Utley, respectively, this week. “I haven't heard anything other than the rumors,” said Loretta, who is hitting .296 with Houston. In three seasons with the Padres, Loretta hit .316 with 91 doubles, 32 homers and 186 RBI. In 2004, the first year of Petco Park, he had a career year, hitting .335 with 47 doubles, 16 homers and 76 RBI. He also became the only Padre other than Tony Gwynn to have 200 hits – 208, to be exact. Many believe Loretta would be a perfect fit for the Padres, who have been looking for a right-handed bat to give Adrian Gonzalez an occasional rest at first as well as help at second.
Whatevuh. I'll be surprised if Purpura gets his fat ass up off the couch to make any kind of a deal before 7/31.
I've been hearing this on the radio in San Diego for several days. People here are concerned that the Mets might raise the price to high (and now the Phillies being that Utley is out for awhile).
Agreed...I'm always leary around trade deadline time as I hope we don't make the wrong decision, just to do something...
I like Loretta, but I would be fine with trading him. Hell, Lamb should be getting alot more playing time than he is right now. If we trade Loretta then we can put Lamb at 1B instead of having Loretta there now.
I like Loretta myself but with the state of the club right now and 3 teams that definitely need his services. With that in mind that means they should keep bidding against each other and we might get some good prospects out of the deal. How long did we really think we would keep Loretta anyways. Get something in return for someone that is not in our long term plans
loretta has obviously been a highlight this year but if he can bring in some decent prospects you might as well move him.
there isnt much san diego can offer really. chase headley would be my first choice. 3B with good plate discipline and has started to hit for power. only in AA, but he could make the jump IMO to the majors. polished college hitter who has the ability to draw 80+ walks and possibly hit 25-30 homers. philly has michael bourn new york has heilmann, pelfrey, and humber
I keep checking into clutchfans with the hope that Purpura has done something... trade Loretta, Lamb and Jennings now - especially Jennings. Seriously... do something up there besides bending over for Ensberg and Lane.
I would hope Loretta's playing 1B to showcase him for trade. Otherwise he's just another guy keeping Burke on the bench.
That would work . I'm a big Loretta fan . Hes a good consistent Billy Spiers type . He can just hit better .
Sign him in the off-season. Loretta would be a nice pickup for a number of teams still in the race. Loretta's a veteran and would understand the need for the Astros to get some talent back.
I think that's great. We trade Loretta...get value, and then sign him to a deal in the offseason. It's about time that the Astros were on the other end of the trade shaft.
And on the very day you posted this... http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...t_id=2113338&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou Good call.
that's an awesome quote from lamb. so we could trade him for some prospects and then get him back next year if we needed him. how great is that guy? i love loretta and lamb but i'm so confused about the future of this team that i don't even know what the right move is. do we sign these guys and be a buyer in the winter again or do we ship off as much as we can to develop any kind of farm system while at the same time wasting oswalt, berkman, and lee's prime years? i feel this team can be a whole lot better than this but how much i don't know. never been so unsure about the astros.
