[NYY #23]

The Padres are unexpectedly locked into a battle for first place with the Houston Astros, and it's debatable if we are pretenders and not contenders, but it's really a two team race in the NL West, so I can't help but think if we could get in to the playoffs, who knows what is going to happen.

So with that in mind I made another deal with the Dodgers. The initial offer was RF Gorman Thomas in exchange for catcher John Stearns, but after tweaking the deal it looked like this:

Going to LA:
C - John Stearns
RF - Rod Gaspar
SS - Mario Mendoza
MR - Bill Castro
1B - Tim Harkness

Going to SD:
RF - Gorman Thomas
2B/3B - Sal Bando
C - Barry Foote

While Castro is a reliever, he hurts the most since he was 4-0 with 9 saves and a 1.19 ERA at 23. The big piece coming back is 31 year old Sal Bando, who can play both second base and third base, two weak positions. Barry Foote will be a downgrade at backup catcher, and Gorman Thomas is loaded with power potential, but is hitting in the low .200's for the second year in a row.

For the month the Padres went 14-15, and finished the month a game back of the Astros. I worked really hard to add another pitcher, either another dependable starter, or reliever. The price was real high though, and I couldn't find any deal that I thought was worth it, so I was disappointing.

Our All-Star selections were Lynn McGlothen, Gene Tenace, and Dwight Evans.

Let's hope for a good month in San Diego.