The Matty Bush Era

As most anyone who would read this blog is already aware, the Matty Bush era ended yesterday when the Padres DFA'd him to open a roster spot for Cliff Floyd. The move coincided with reports of a criminal investigation involving an alleged assault by Bush on some high school lacrosse players in El Cajon, CA, a suburb of the Diego.

This afternoon one of the Bevormo's advisors, Tam O'Flannel, a Red Sox fan and general baseball enthusiast, sent an e-mail seeking comment on the situation.

The exact text of my response, sent at 1:59 EST this afternoon, is below:

I think he's safely leading the argument now for worst #1 overall pick of all time, at least since 1965. He still has a chance to pass Brien Taylor and Steve Chilcott and make the majors, but that seems dubious. The kid is no doubt a straight up dickhead, possibly an alcoholic, and maybe even has some more serious personality disorders. It could just be a maturity question but, regardless, I thought the Padres handled it well in giving him a three strikes and you're out policy. It was time to be done with it.

I thought this blog post summed up Matty Bush nicely.

From a baseball ops standpoint, its probably the worst episode of both the Moores and Towers eras, with the handling of Trevor this offseason probably second, and the failure to protect Joakim Soria in last year's Rule V draft possibly third. That's just off the top of my head, there's no doubt been some other bad personnel decisions but those strike me as particularly heinous. The lesson I hope the Padres learned is twofold (1) building through the draft is the best way to build a mid-to-low market team, but (2) you can't be chintz on the draft. It's one thing if you pay for Stephen Drew and he busts, but to try to get a bargain at #1 and then have that player bust is a recipe for a PR, and baseball operations, disaster.

Going forward it is what it is. Matty Bush may catch on with someone and make the bigs as a relief pitcher. Apparently he has some very good stuff. But I think his leash is going to be very short and the fact he is a jabrone will be too high a hurdle. The Padres will move on and, under the policy began by Alderson, and hopefully continued by Moorad, will invest a ton of caysh in the draft and not shy away from spending on a legit high draft pick when they have one. For example, this June.

The one bright side of this whole episode is that the 2004 draft might not end up a total bust. The Padres drafted Kyle Blanks in the 42nd round that year.

And there you have it. That is this blog's view of the Matty Bush era as of 1:59 EST on February 6, 2009.