I know. I know. You all want Strasburg. You've got your crushes all lined up and you've all called dibs on the IheartStrasxx username. Does that mean we should root for a loser in the Race for the Strasburg? HECK NO!
The great thing about Padres fans is that we've learned how to send a message to ownership. We're not Cubs fans or Red Sox fans. We're not fans who spend our hard earned dollar supporting a losing cause. We don't let the front office get away with putting crap out on the field. This is our team, regardless of what Sandy Alderson says in his 1090 interviews. We were here before him and we'll be here long after Alderson's taken the Baseball Commissioner job.
The thing I worry about if we get Strasburg is that we'll need a 100 loss season to do it. And maybe this team doesn't deserve less than 100 losses, but at the same time 100 losses means that 2009 will be the "rebuilding" year. So the next time we'll even get the opportunity to go after that rad free agent (or three) that we've all been wanting will be after the All Star Break as we wait for the next round of sellers.
I, for one, don't want to see our young talent piddle around with nothing expected from them. They need to get it in their heads that the Padres new philosophy is playoff contention every year. With the product that we've got right now, we're in for some better baseball and the chance to play spoiler this year. I say we spoil every piece of pie that our rivals think they're about to enjoy. We become that team that ESPN talks about as being dangerous and a real threat to bounce back in 2009.
Maybe we get Strasburg and maybe we don't. Maybe we deserve a hundred losses and maybe we don't. I'm no judge and jury. But I can tell you this, we won't sell out our season to buy some pipedream future! And that, my friends, is called integrity. That's called courage. Now that's the stuff baseball fans should be made of.
IF I WAS THE MAN I WAS FIVE YEARS AGO, I'D TAKE A FLAMETHROWER TO THIS PLACE!!!