Jbox and I were considering going on strike to support the Hollywood writers, but then we realized that people probably wouldn't notice our absence anyways. Therefore... Onward and upward!!

• From the comments in the post just below this... I haven't seen the calendar, but if Heath Bell didn't get his own month and Michael "Never Saw His Own Cubs Bobblehead" Barrett got one, then my bet is that Heath Bell will be the talk of constant trade rumors next season while racking up the Holds regardless of whether Towers trades him or not. Bell is the bait... Sledge is probably the switch.
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• New Padres blog 322 Feet has a good analysis of whether we should pursue Barry Bonds. 322 touches on it a little bit, but I've gotta believe that even as laid back as Padres Fan is, the bigger question isn't his production, but how huge of a PR nightmare Barry Bonds would be. Petco draws so many visiting fans and transplant fans that I wouldn't be surprised to hear chants of "Sellouts" in our own ballpark. Not to mention that Padre Fan was the fan who really gave it to Barry to the tune of throwing syringes out onto the field.
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• Also, whenever Barry's in town, we shut down the Padres Store patio area and the sections just above it. I like those areas and I'd hate for the Padres to have to shut them down every game Barry starts just because I want to throw bags of urine at him.
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• Ducksnorts has an interview with Steve Poltz. Jbox has a Padres Rally card from 2006 that's signed by Steve Poltz. It's also signed by Mark Grant, Kurt Bevacqua and Pad Squad Catherine. How much does something like that fetch on eBay? That's gotta be one of a kind.
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• Friar Forecast has a spreadsheet of the Padres contracts through 2013. You can view it here. It'll be a nice resource for heckling in the coming years. Hey A-Go! We're not gonna be paying you no 4.75 million in 2010 to strike out looking! Hey! I know how much money you make! The chart goes to 2013, but I'm interested to see how back loaded the contracts will be seeing as the Cox Cable deal will be up in 2011 (I think) and that should an extremely significant source of baseball funds for the team.
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• Bleed Cubbie Blue has a writeup of the BlogWorld Expo. Al was just as impressed by Mark Cuban as I am. I'd love to have an owner like Mark Cuban in Major League Baseball. Somebody who'd give bud Selig well deserved fits and who has the exact right personality for a team owner: Savvy enough that he'd care about the business side of the club (aka won't overspend on stupid contracts), but passionate enough that he would nevertheless be something of a "hobbyist" owner. Also, we'd be able to email him, like all the time.

Finally, here's a photo of me and Elliott. Elliott's wearing his Padres cap and if you look closely, he's also wearing a Gaslamp Ball Retired Numbers Onesie as made by Pad Squad Steph. That thing is for 3 to 6 month olds, but Elliott's filling it out nicely. When people say he's "healthy", we actually know that they mean "fat". Elliott's dad is still sporting his Vegas moustache.