If the Padres keep giving it away, the Yankees should go on taking it

The Yankees should continue the sack of San Diego. Having already relieved the floundering San Diego Padres organization of one of its depreciated assets by acquiring third baseman Chase Headley for a utility infielder and a low-level minor leaguer currently more arm than pitcher, the Yankees apparently plan to keep going. On Thursday afternoon, Fox’s Jon Morosi reported that the Yankees, on the hunt for starting pitching, scouted San Diego’s Ian P. Kennedy in Chicago last night. If the Padres are going to keep dealing off pieces at bargain prices, the Yankees probably should look beyond their ol’ pal Ian to some of San Diego’s other underappreciated properties, Balboa Park, say -- or Will Venable.

Kennedy is familiar to the Yankees, having been their first-round draft pick in 2006 and a cup-of-coffee starter with the big-league club from 2007 through 2009. He got his most thorough trial in 2008, was mercilessly bombed amidst numerous injuries, and annoyed the faux-General Pattons in Yankees management by giving up five runs in two innings and then saying things like,

“It’s the first bad outing I’ve had since the All-Star break, so I’m not going to look too much into it. I felt like I made some good pitches. I’m not too upset about it. What was it, a bunch of singles and three doubles? I’m just not real upset about it. I’m just going to move on and I’ve already done that.”

To be fair to the pinstriped Pattons, a little more humility in that situation would have helped. It was August; it might have been Kennedy’s first bad start since the All-Star break, but it was his first major league start since May, and so it seemed just a bit entitled. It also wasn’t particularly situation-aware. The Yankees were on their way to missing the playoffs for the first time in what was, for a lot of fans, living memory, and he had just helped drop them to 6.5 games behind the Rays and three games behind the wild card. Ian isn’t one of those Kennedys -- he was born in California -- but he sounded as if, should this whole baseball thing not work out, he could simply retire to a lawn chair at Hyannis Port. This kind of attitude made him very, very popular with Yankees fans, except, you know, backwards.

Surgery to relieve a blood clot in Kennedy’s pitching shoulder kept him sidelined for a good chunk of 2009. That winter, the Yankees made him part of the three-team trade that netted them Curtis Granderson, Kennedy going to the Diamondbacks in the deal. He pitched well for them for two years, climaxing with a league-leading 21 wins and a 2.88 ERA in 2011. He was a league-average pitcher in 2012, and last year he was depressing enough (5.23 ERA in 21 games) that the D’Backs sent him to the Padres for no one in particular.

Kennedy has been a bit better this year, though somehow he’s been hit hard in the pitcher’s haven that is Petco Park and done most of his best work on the road. He’s been durable, making 22 starts and throwing 135 innings, and he’s throwing harder than usual, sitting around 92 mph rather than his Arizona 89, striking out nearly 10 men per nine innings. Jon Heyman has reported that the Padres have said “they would need to be overwhelmed” to move Kennedy, but who knows what overwhelmed means to a Padres executive?

Kennedy is 29 and about to get more expensive; his last arbitration go-round will come this winter and he’ll be a free agent after next season. There is a good chance the Padres won’t have a productive use for his services in the next two years and should probably move him before he reverts to his crunchy, hittable state of the last couple of years. He’s making $6.1 million this season, hardly prohibitive given the current price of pitching.

From the Yankees’ point of view, arrogant ol’ IPK (Who may have matured, right? Some of us do, some of us never do) is a heavy fly-ball pitcher who would seem ill-suited to the current Yankee Stadium, but hell, everyone is unsuited to the current Yankee Stadium, and though Chase Whitley’s last start was good (six shutout innings against the Rangers, seven hits, no walks), you can’t count on that happening again -- the Rangers are this close to being a 100-loss team with a severely depleted offense.

That said, the Yankees may be marking up the wrong broccoli, or at least picking at too small a piece. Yankees right-field production is the lowest in the American League at .245/.285/.347 and ranks 28^th in the majors as well. Alfonso Soriano has been released after the death of his bat, Carlos Beltran has been a major disappointment and of late has been restricted by injury to designated hitter, and Ichiro Suzuki simply cannot play every day anymore. Even when a recent hot streak raised his averages to .306/.354/.333, there was no real production there. In any case, a 1-for-24 snap has erased even the small satisfaction of that batting average.

Will Venable of the Padres is having a miserable year at 31, hitting .208/.264/.298. There’s been a foot injury, but maybe it’s just misery. He’s also only a career .251/.315/.416 hitter, but that doesn’t account for Petco. He’s a career .239/.310/.409 hitter at home, .273/.333/.452 hitter on the road. A left-handed hitter, he’s also a career .262/.327/.449 hitter against right-handed pitching. Finally, he’s long been a defensive standout.

As with Kennedy, Venable is heading into his final year of arbitration and then will be a free agent after the 2015 season, so he’s a short-timer. At this age, that’s not a bad thing. He’s making $4.25 million this year, which is the kind of money the Yankees don’t bother to dig out of the sofa cushions.

In losing Headley, the Padres dropped only $2.45 million off of their $78 million Opening-Day payroll. Dealing Kennedy and Venable could amputate over $10 million more. When it comes to dealing any of their few quality prospects, the Yankees should just say no. However, if the Padres’ stance on Kennedy proves to be mere posturing, then the Yankees have little to lose and a division or wild card spot to claim. And if the Padres really do want an Aaron Judge or the like for Kennedy, maybe they can get Venable anyway and can finally stop trying to wring more life from Ichiro’s wonderful, but now sadly diminished, bat.