Gonzalez Would Like Strategic Off-Day

It wasn't that long ago that Adrian Gonzalez was leading the Majors in home runs with 24 and a batting average that hovered around .300. But in the past month, as the team continues to crumble and the Padres surely but slowly start to trade players that offered him the best protection in the lineup (and coincidentally are arbitration-eligible after the season) his offensive numbers have declined while his consecutive games played streak remains intact.

Yes, we know that Gonzalez is a few games short of tying and passing Steve Garvey for the Padres consecutive-games played record of 305 that doesn't honestly hold any significance, reverence or meaning to Padres fans or any National baseball records. But enough is enough already. Adrian is tired. He looks tired. He's missing pitches he would normally feast on. He's making errors on balls that are normally routine to him. But he's bristled more than a few times when media types have talked to him about whether it's time for him to take off. The Padres are all but mathematically eliminated. Unlike last year, they have a backup first baseman on their roster. There's simply no reason to throw him out there day after day at this point.

Yesterday, Phil Nevin was a special guest host back on the Padre BP show with Darren Smith and Randy Jones. Now Nev used to fight Bochy whenever he was told to take a day off. Not asked, told. Below are excerpts of their conversation after Nevin suggested it was time for Adrian, who is hitting .176 with 8 RBI over the past month, to take a day off.

"No. I know, I know but I want to be in there."

But Nevin made a very good point and asked Adrian if he'd rather have the consecutive games streak or hold the record one day for most home runs and or runs batted in by a Padre in one season and that gave him cause for thought because there's no dispute that he's been in an offensive funk lately.

"They are both good," said Gonzalez. "I’d rather say we win a championship but I don’t think either one, I mean they are both great to do. I’m not really looking at this streak as something I’m looking forward to or anything, so the streak is the fact that I want to be out there and playing, not because I want to be in the streak or be part of the streak or anything like that."

Nevin, who was a former first basemen during parts of his career with the Padres, reminded Adrian that sometimes the body just needs a rest with the pounding bigger guys like themselves take on daily basis. More importantly, he suggested that mentally getting away from the game and watching from the bench from time to time could do him a world of good.  

"I’ve talked to Buddy about that and I’ve told him if you’re going to give me a day, let’s pick a good day where maybe you can get back to back days where you know, you have a day off and then you have a team day off or maybe there’s a time coming up where you have two tough pitchers and we can piggyback them or something just so it’s not just one day. I don’t know. For me, I’d rather have back to back days to give my body some rest."  

Adrian indicated that he actually wouldn't be adverse to a few days off here or there, despite what he said at the onset of the interview, but for him, it's about the timing of the days off and getting a break against a tough lefty.

"Like I said, Buddy’s pulled me aside and asked me about it and I told him you know what, we’re really not in contention so if you want to give Kyle (Blanks) a couple of days, I understand he’s up here and he needs to get some games in too and all that. Don’t just pick any day. Don’t not put me in there against a righty that I feel pretty comfortable against or anything like that. Let’s pick a day with a tough lefty or a guy like I can think of coming up,  Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo is a guy that I really don’t pick up the ball well and I don’t see the ball off his hands. John Lannan with Washington is another guy that I struggle with so a couple of those guys, we face a guy and hopefully we face back to back days and overall, let’s just be strategic about this."  

Buddy Black has maintained all along that the team's not thinking about the streak whatsoever as they continue to pencil in Adrian's name daily on the lineup card. In a recent pre-game press briefing, he said that Adrian will get some days off in the second half especially as the Padres have a legitimate backup at first with Blanks.

That's great, but why I do think those day will come after he breaks Garvey's record?