You all heard the news because you don't go to bed as early as I do over here on the right coast, but Elliott needed a changing and I figured I'd check out what's going on. I'm bummed to be sure, but after learning about the price on the contract, it's tough to fault the Padres for not getting too caught up in the bidding war. Let's be honest, if every star out of Japan turned into Ichiro, then guys like Tadahito Iguchi would be commanding the big pay-... oh wait. Caught myself. Ha!

My assessments since all of you appear to have been talking about this for a while:

• Sorry 19 51, rooting against Fukudome now is hardly bandwagon. I side with the other Gaslamp Ballers on this one. That dude is a f_cking Cub now. Hope he enjoys America. Hope he hates his time in f_ckin' Cubbie blue. The Padres are Cub Busters and it's our sworn duty to dislike the Cubs. 1984, bitches!
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• I like Iguchi a lot. And I like the idea that Antonelli get some minor league looks in the outfield. Outfield's easy to play, dude. Everybody knows second base is the skill position. If Manny Ramirez can play the outfield, seriously... Anybody can play the outfield. Iguchi fills a need. Edmonds or Geoff Jenkins can fill another need while we convert Antonelli/Headly/Kouz to the outfield.
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• I asked Jonny Dub to write a diary about the Season Ticket Holders Night. The diary itself is decent, but once again, there's some random ass photo of Jonny Dub eating a piece of pizza that didn't need to be there. I mean, really. Jonny Dub's working on a really terrific story for Gaslamp Ball right now, and I worry that it's going to be filled with photos of himself eating pizza and miss out on the actual story. In regards to the diary, I get a little irritated when Padres fans are so weird about needing to get a big bat. Grow up. Home run hitters are so late 90s.
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• The Sac Bunt perspective. I agree with RL that the Padres should make a decent effort to reacquire Cameron. Edmonds now turns into a solid option for a year. I think getting Cameron back plus a stop gap while he serves his suspension and then utilizing grabbing one of Edmonds/Bay/Nady/Jenkins seems like the best solution. I could see a combination of those guys being pretty solid.
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• The Tales from the Heliosphere perspective plus extra recap of season ticket holders night. See, Jonny Dub? Quality recap. No picture of himself eating pizza. No pictures of Pad Squad Andre either, so it's a wash. More solid recap here... Including the fact that the WBC would be returning to Petco in 2009. Huzzah! A few more quotes here. I heart Paul DePodesta.