We’re not sure why we’re fascinated by the news that David Eckstein might sign with the San Diego Padres. Maybe it’s his overall scrappy play (he’s pictured, right, and if he didn’t teach Nick Punto everything he knows he certainly tried). Maybe we’re curious why the news of a possible signing of a 34-year-old middle infielder who will be paid relative peanuts (or so the story says) gets the No. 5 spot in the coveted top 10 “headlines” on ESPN.com.

Or maybe it’s these two paragraphs:

Padres general manager Kevin Towers has told reporters that the team could sign a middle infielder by the end of the week. Several reports have suggested that veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel is a leading candidate to land in San Diego. But the Padres prefer Eckstein, who turns 34 next week and is almost eight years younger than Vizquel.

The Padres also regard Eckstein, who has a .351 on base percentage, as a better fit near the top of their order.

So the basis of comparison is a 42-year-old? Hey, that .351 OBP (lifetime) is a little better than last year’s Major League average. But what about OPS … uh-oh. Eckstein has a career OPS of .712. The average OPS for a No. 2 hitter in the NL last year was .754. Even the average No. 7 hitter was at .733 in the NL last year.

But there’s no accounting for taste … or grit.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.