Bad News/Good News
The Phillies officially have their first injury scares of the 2005 campaign, with 3b David Bell and pitcher Vicente Padilla calling the doctor. Bell's back is acting up again, while Padilla has arm pain that some of my friends on Philliesphans are already certain is left over from last year; Ed Wade, for his part, is calling it "mild tendonitis," but I suspect that, as usual, he speaketh out of his posterior.

While losing either guy would be a blow, Wade's Monkey's-Paw-ish good luck could be his saving grace yet again. In the past, I've written that but for some bad decisions by free agent pitchers he was courting--rejected offers by, among others, Andy Ashby (2000), Aaron Sele (post-2001), Tom Glavine (post-2002), Jamie Moyer (ditto), and last winter Kevin Millwood, who turned down a three-year, $30 million contract--and various injuries suffered by prospects he'd foolishly dealt away, from Adam Eaton to Derrick Turnbow and Miguel Ascencio--Wade's failings as a GM would be much more visible to the world; instead, the misfortunes of others have obscured his bad judgment. This time, the felicitous mistake might prove to be the arbitration bungle with Placido Polanco. Wade offered arbitration hoping that Polanco would reject it, sign elsewhere, and yield the Phils some badly needed draft picks; instead, he accepted the offer, reportedly on bad advice from his agents, whom he then fired. Now, Polanco looks to step into the third-base job if Bell can't answer the, um, bell.

The 22 year-old righty Gavin Floyd is the most likely fill-in for Padilla. Floyd probably could use more minor-league development time, but wouldn't likely be a disaster. Still, I'd probably rather see reliever Ryan Madson get a shot at the rotation, with Floyd possibly sliding into Madson's 2004 role of long/situational reliever. Best yet, though, would be Padilla coming up with a clean bill of health and finally starting to fulfill his vast talent. Wade did take pains to point out that the pitcher had told team officials about his arm discomfort early, with implied praise for the maturity thus shown.