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“Padres Clubhouse-You’ve Been Traded”

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Everyone around the country is talking about them, the Padres, and the trading deadline, that comes up at 1pm on Wednesday.

The Padres, the players, the manager, they’re not talking about it, at least not much for public consumption.

But every baseball insider thinks the Padres should trade, or will trade for, New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndegaard. The names being floated range from hot young pitching, to struggling veterans and more.

A bunch of teams will be buyers. A select few sure look like sellers. The Padres could be one or the other, or could sit tight, and just continue to play the kids they have spent so much money on.

What’s it like to have your named tossed around in all these trade rumors?

I asked Padres reliever Craig Stammen, the senior member of the pitching staff, who has been thru a lot of these trade deadline scenarios. Interesting candid answers to my questions.

CLUBHOUSE….It’s harder on the older players, because they don’t know what other teams think of them, or what their own club really thinks of them. The younger players, they don’t know because they have not been thru this. If you get dealt, leaving teammates is hard.

THE STANDINGS….If you are on a team out of contention, those type of teams make these kind of deals. Take a veteran player, send him to another club in a pennant race, get younger parts to build with. Trade impending free agents, you can’t sign, for prospects. It’s the way the business is right now. If you look at the pennant races, you do think about what a team would do, who they would get.

A FAN….I love baseball, I play baseball, I’m a fan of baseball. Do I play GM and wonder what I’d ask for in a Noah Syndegaard trade, no. But it’s fun, if a guy gets dealt, to figure out how he helps a team. I pay attention to see who gets traded where and then what other teams do in response. I’m a fan.

THE MEDIA…There’s a lot of noise out there. I’m a fan, so I like to read about the teams and players. You have to take the attitude, if your name is out there, I’m glad to be wanted. I don’t have ups and downs, I’d rather concentrate on who I have to get out the next time I pitch in this Orioles series. I watch ESPN for game highlites and pay attention to the stories. Do I live on twitter or the internet, no.

TEAMMATES…Some guys get caught off guard. Some get upset. Brad Hand was like that, caught off guard.. Other wives rallied around his wife to help her pack and deal with move to Cleveland. Chase Headley’s wife was 8-months pregnant when he was moved tot he Yankees. Some guys are shocked by it. Families are leaving friends and moving, and it’s hard on them. I go to a clubhouse and meet new guys. Wives and kids go to cities as strangers.

AT HOME….My wife is 8-months pregnant-due next month, so we have talked about ‘what if’ and how we’d handle it. The reality, I have no control over this, so let’s not worry. It’s tough on a family. I have a clubhouse, they have to leave a home.

MOVING….The teams take care of everything, that’s part of our union deal, packing, moving, paying for things, your apartment lease.. But when you have schools and kids, it’s complex, families take care of that, especially just weeks before kids start classes..

NEXT 24 HOURS….The phone might ring, it might not. It’s part of baseball. I like this team, we have so many good young starting pitchers, I’d like to see this grow. It’s fun to look around this clubhouse, and to watch the kids grow. It’s amazing we have 10-potential starting pitchers now, starters who could be in the rotation a long, long time. They are learning to be their best when they have to be their best. It’s baseball.

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