Padres get better (also older and fatter)

As expected, David Wells will continue his baseball career, signing with the Padres for one year. He’ll make between $3 and $7 million. Now, if he can just stay healthy for an entire season.

Wells, bearer of a career 4.07 ERA, has journeyed over a good portion of the Major Leagues. Starting in the Toronto system, his stints were as follows:

Toronto
Detroit
Cincinnati
Baltimore
New York
Toronto
Chicago
New York
San Diego
Boston
San Diego

His greatest success came in New York, where he won a World Series championship with the Yankees in 1998. He went back to the series during his second stint in New York in 2003. That was when he famously bragged about his lack of conditioning, only to become injured during the Series, paving the way for Jose Contreras and Enrique Wilson to blow the game (and ultimately the series) for the Yankees.

Jeff Samardzija, meet Drew Henson

Friday was quite the slow news day in baseball, so it’s a good thing that the Cubs handed Jeff Samardzija . Also included in Mr. S’s deal is a full no-trade clause and team options 2012 and 2013.

This sounds vaguely familiar. There was an incident like this, I believe, in 2001. What was the guy’s name? Drew Henson or somethin’. What ever happened to him? I mean, he did well for himself in baseball, right?

Of course, this isn’t to say that Samardzija will meet the same fate. However, his numbers in college aren’t entirely impressive. Players develop at different times, and a full dedication to baseball may benefit Samardzija. So, as you can see from the back and forth in just this paragraph, it’s one big gamble. And the Cubs have $12.5 million on black.