1) His BABIP was the lowest it’s ever been in his career while his P/PA were the highest they’ve ever been. Those two factors imply some sort of bad luck. But yes, he had a horrible year at the plate. Also, he was still on pace to hit 15 HRs, which was his yearly average outside of 2007. Had Khalil hit 15 HRs (as he was on pace to do), he would have been tied for the 5th most HRs by a SS in the NL behind H. Ramirez, J. Hardy. S. Drew, and J. Reyes. Not exactly non-existent.

2) Khalil made a more determined effort to go the oppposite way in 2008 as a way to fight-off the sliders. But then again, complaining about Khalil flailing at sliders is like complaining that Kouz chases high fastballs in. It happens. They’re flaws in their game. (BTW, does anybody have batted ball data that shows Khalil’s percentage of balls ro rightfield this year as compared with previous year?)

3) Not so sure about this. The Padres realize that they have no credible solution at shortstop if they get rid of him. Khalil obviously does not meet the team’s ideal criteria. Until the team gets a viable shortstop alternative, I’m willing to be that they’re not trying to get rid of him nearly as vehemently as you think.

4) Agreed. But how exactly does this impact Khalil’s value in the open market? Have you ever heard of Pacman Jones? His behavior clearly hasn’t scared anyone off in the NFL. Even Manny’s antics weren’t enough to scare off the Dodgers. I agree that it’s dumb the team is trying to recoup salary, but I can’t figure out why you threw this in as proof that nobody wanted Khalil.

5) He’s signed for one more year, but how does this make teams not want him? Ever heard of the 1-year rental? Most players are traded when they have 1-year or less left on their contract.

So, in summary, I’m trying to figure out what the hell you were arguing here. Did Khalil have a bad year? Absolutely. Is that scaring teams away? I doubt it. But baseball is very much a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport. I’m sure that the Padres (and other teams) value Khalil much more than the trade ideas that are currently being floated. Hell, Khalil’s name has come-up in trade rumors fairly consistently since 2006. Teams have a good sense of Khalil’s value and are trying to use his horrible 2008 as a means to get him on the cheap. The Padres are wise to refuse any offers for Khalil unless they equal his true value (somewhere between 2007 and 2008, likely closer to 2007).

Teams want Khalil. They just want him for pennies on the dollar. It would be dumb to sell low on him.