JAY PARIS COMMENTARY: Hey Padres, where are the kids?

By JAY PARIS - Staff Writer | Saturday, May 10, 2008 5:00 PM PDT ∞

Jody Gerut started in center field against the Rockies on Friday night after being recalled from Triple-A Portland. Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle.

SAN DIEGO ---- A ticked off Padre Nation turns its seething eyes toward the team's front office. The season in which the Padres promised so much has dissolved into a downtown Dumpster dive.

That was evident again Friday night as the Padres squandered another decent Jake Peavy outing in a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

General manager Kevin Towers guaranteed changes when the Padres returned from a 2-7 pileup on the road.

And the maneuver ---- drum roll, please ---- is Jody Gerut coming to center field? Is that the joke or the punch line? An aged Jim Edmonds was the marquee name kicked to the curb, making room for Gerut, who arrived from Triple-A Portland.

The Padres decided time had expired in expecting the light-hitting, slow-footed, 37-year-old Edmonds to turn back the clock.

But is Gerut, who has played 60 major-league games since 2005, the answer?

"He isn't here to shoulder the burden of the club," manager Bud Black said.

Whew, good thing.

Now, what about the next big thing in Chase Jordan Headley? It appears His Airness isn't quite ready for prime time. That the landscape isn't right to plop Headley into this Rice Krispies lineup, which longs for a bat with pop rather than the usual snap and crackle.

Life isn't a bowl of cherries for Towers and Black, two guys who are easy to like. But their argument for not hollering for Headley doesn't go down easy.

"At some point and time, he will be here,'' Towers said. "But we didn't think it was an appropriate time right now to put him in a situation where expectations would be high and he would have added pressure on himself to turn this entire ballclub around."

Pressure? The Padres are buried in the NL West basement with the worst record (12-24) in the major leagues.

"I still think there is a learning curve,'' Black said of Headley, who has made the switch from third base to left field. "I don't know how big that curve is, but I think we saw a little bit of a transition for him getting off to a little bit of a rough start and now he has started to come on. He is feeling more comfortable in left field."

Good. But he should be getting cozy in the left field that abuts the Western Metal Supply Co. building, not the one with the soggy turf in Portland.

Headley went 5-for-5 on Thursday, raising his average to .304. The Padres went 5-for-5 Friday, as in a five-game losing streak to lower their winning percentage to .333.

"I don't think it is the proper environment right now to bring in a guy that we have touted so highly,'' Towers added. "And the fans expect that Chase will come in and play left field now and is looked upon as our savior to turn things around.

"As good of a player Chase is, and as good a hitter as we think he is, he's not going to make a huge difference right now with us jumping back into this thing.

"I don't know for sure, but I would imagine there would be some of that pressure if we put him in this environment right now."

Pressure? Headley is 24 and was billed, over and over, as being tough mentally. The spring training mantra was he could make the jump from Double-A, learn a new position, hit from both sides and turn cacti into palm trees.

But now the team needs a lift, the fans need a reason to keep attending ---- rows of seats behind home plate were vacant Friday ---- and the Padres need the buzz that Headley might bring.

Pressure doesn't bug 22-year-old Evan Longoria, the third-base phenom for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Pressure? The Diamondbacks' Justin Upton is 20 and hasn't gone bust.

Pressure? Tell it to the 18-year-old in Iraq dodging roadside bombs. Think he'd trade that for tracking major league fly balls.

Pressure? In San Diego, where the weather and media are equally mild? Where fans boo high beer prices but seldom flat performances? Do we have to pat and burp this 6-foot-2, 195-pound Headley forever?

"I don't think we are babying him," Towers said. "We want to make sure that we pick and choose the right time and the right atmosphere and everything to bring him into and for him to have the most success to reach his ultimate potential.

"I, as well as (team CEO Sandy Alderson) and even the coaching staff right now, think that the way things are going, there would be added pressure on him."

So what, when you construct a roster like the Padres.

The club doesn't sign high-priced free agents. The players the Padres acquire, through trades or free agency, are either deemed expendable by other clubs---- outfielder Scott Hairston ---- or come fairly cheap ---- second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

Towers usually makes a mark by hoodwinking an organization with a trade or two.

But the Cardinals were happy to rid themselves of Edmonds for good reason.

"We've been fortunate the last two or three years that we have been mostly successful with what we have done, it has worked out pretty well,'' Alderson said. "Nonetheless, it's kind of a high-wire act, but we certainly didn't expect this kind of start."

To date, the farm system has produced rows and rows of wilted crops. That will change, the Padres swear, but when it's time to pluck a bouquet, they pass.

Seems catcher Nick Hundley, second baseman Matt Antonelli and Headley will remain Beavers since the Padres are not eager to summon the kiddie corps.

There will be expectations whenever Headley arrives, and that's just baseball.

But the brand of baseball the Padres have produced ---- 18 losses in 22 games ---- got old fast. That's even more reason to go young.

"We do have a much better farm system, but we aren't at the point that we can harvest those players," Alderson said. "They are there, and it looks like we will have some good players, but they are not quite ready."

Ready or not, here they should come. Otherwise, the Padres' endless summer could be just that.

Contact staff writer Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com.