Padres GM Hoyer: "No team goes through a whole season without a rough patch."

XX Sports Radio: Jed Hoyer interview with Darren Smith (MP3)

• Wily Mo Pena has put up unbelievable numbers. He is on the Hoyer's radar screen.  "There's probably nobody in baseball that has more power than this guy." His career never got started in the right way. He's certainly making a push for a spot on the expanded roster. Perhaps he'll be with the club in September.
• "We haven't been playing well. We're 3-6 in the last 9 games. It feels like we're win one and lose two." Padres need to start playing well in preparation for the Giants series.  Hoyer doesn't want to comment on Jonathan Sanchez's guarantee to sweep the Padres.
• Hoyer thinks it'll take 91 or 92 wins to win the NL West.  "All four teams will be in it until late September."  It's hard to get high win totals with 4 teams in the race. Hoyer hopes that the last series of the season will determine the winner. The Giants are a very good team and they aren't going anywhere.
• Aubrey Huff is no question the signing of the year. He's definitely the Giants' most important player. The Giants are a different offense then the Padres played earlier in the season.
  
• They optioned Ryan Webb to Portland because Edward Mujica is out of options and would have been put on waivers where he would certainly have been claimed.  "Losing pitching at this point in the season is a bad idea."
• David Eckstein's lingering calf strain that just won't go away. "To be honest I thought he'd be back by now. I think he thought he'd be back by now." They don't think he can perform to the best of abilities with the tightness from the strain.  There is no time frame on him.  "We're hopeful in a week."
• Chris Young has thrown a good couple of sessions and is excited about the results.  The Padres are trying not to get their hopes up.  "He's a big part of this team." They're trying to bring him back as a starter. Any innings that he can pitch in September are gravy. "I hope it happens but we have to operate as though it might not."
• The Padres offense just never got going in the the last few losses. They didn't grind out at bats the way they need to. "No team goes through a whole season without a rough patch." The Padres will fight through it.
• Tim Stauffer can become a starter, they have no doubt that he can throw 60 pitches. They also feel very good about Cory Luebke as a starter.  They have options if they need a starter.
• Tonight is a big game for the Padres, they need to start playing well. "I think Wade [Leblanc] hasn't been as good as he was earlier in the year, but he's pitched a lot of games that we haven't scored for him."
• Mat Latos will probably start on Saturday. Over the course of the rest of the year they'll find time to get him some additional rest. "Without a question he's our stopper at this point and we want him out there as much as possible."
  
• "If we can get a better start out of a guy like Stauffer or Lubke we're going to give it a shot, but I think we feel good about the 5 guys that we're running out there."
• Hoyer is in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  He'll meet the team in San Francisco.