Khalil Greene Trade Is Good For The Cardinals...and Greene.

The San Diego Padres have agreed to trade shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals for two players, according to media reports.  The Padres are likely to get pitching in return for Greene, but more importantly, they will shed the $6.5 million salary he is due next season.

Honestly, I’m a Padres fan (hard to say these days), and I believe the Cards got a good deal in this trade.

For those of you who do not follow the Padres, let me share something you probably don't know about. I'm sure that most of you haven't heard about the franchise’s ridiculous hitting “philosophy” that CEO Sandy (Moron) Alderson has been force-feeding the team.

Offense in San Diego has plummeted since Sandy came on board with this nonsense.  Essentially, his “philosophy” mandates hitters to simply focus on the count and the situational statistical probabilities ONLY during an at-bat.

This means in certain counts and situations the players are instructed to IGNORE what the pitcher throws them. It's a completely bogus plan and has not worked even in the slightest. It has players completely baffled at the plate trying to process too much information and then try to “turn on” their hitting ability when the count and situation say its O.K.

I know this sounds absolutely hard to believe, but its true. Three hitting coaches in the past three years (two fired, one resigned), and countless examples of veteran and rookie players looking absolutely confused with a bat shows it.

Watching the team stare down straight fastballs for called strike three 6-8 times a game certainly says the plan isn't working. The whole “philosophy” is absurd.

That said, I think Khalil being traded to the Cardinals and getting to go back to the major leagues is a good thing for him and the Cards.  He can go back to being a real big-league baseball player, and approach hitting the way every real team does…except for the Padres.