San Diego Padres pitcher Mat Latos caused quite a stir this week when he criticized the rival Giants for their in-season offensive overhaul, accomplished largely by picking up cast-offs from other teams."Baseball works in funny ways," Latos told CBSSports.com. "The only way I could honestly put it is, we could be like the Giants and go and change our whole lineup, put guys with 'San Francisco Giants' across their jerseys. We didn't.
"We added two guys (Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick). We've been the same team all year. We haven't just gone and grabbed guys from other teams."
Among the Giants' midseason acquisitions are outfielders Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen and Cody Ross along with infielder Mike Fontenot, all of whom were acquired either via post-July 31 trades (Guillen and Fontentot), straight waiver claims (Ross) or in free agency (Burrell).
Ross wasn't too pleased with Latos' shot at the Giants.
"It's asinine to say, 'We're a close-knit group and this is our team,'" Ross told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Every team goes out at the trading deadline and tries to make a deal. It's very rare for an organization to say, 'We don't need any improvements. We're as good as we're going to be.' Every team looks to improve, whether it's one, three or five guys."
Added Ross when asked if he was invested in the playoff run as longer-tenured Giants: "I'm just as excited as they are. I'm finally on a winning team and getting a chance to go to the playoffs."
Latos is just 22, and his comments display a youthful exuberance that can sometimes cross the line into recklessness. The Giants operated well within the rules in acquiring the four hitters listed above -- two of whom the Padres just as easily could have landed (Guillen and Burrell). Now Latos has given each of them a little extra incentive -- as if they needed it -- to knock his team from the postseason this weekend when the Padres head up to San Francisco to close the regular season.
Ross wasn't the only player displeased by the comments. One veteran Padre told the North County Times that what Latos said was "just not smart."
Latos is scheduled to start on the season's final day.
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