San Diego Padres Designate Former MLB Star Nelson Cruz
The San Diego Padres had high hopes for this season, aiming to win the World Series. Unfortunately, they have been disappointing so far. In a surprising move, they decided to remove Nelson Cruz, a seven-time All-Star, from the team on Tuesday.
This season, Nelson Cruz didn’t perform as well as expected. He had a batting average of .245 and hit five home runs with 23 runs batted in during 49 games. Padres manager Bob Melvin explained that it was a tough decision to let Cruz go.
Melvin praised Cruz’s influence in the team’s clubhouse and his respected reputation around the league while talking with the reporters. He described Cruz as a great leader with qualities that were exactly as advertised.
Melvin’s words read, “Obviously a tough one. He’s a big impact in the clubhouse. Across the board, throughout the league, the respect that he brings, playing against him from afar, it’s fantastic. He comes as advertised — leadership, all of the above.”
However, according to Melvin, the Padres needed more versatility in their lineup. He further added, “We have a couple guys in he and [Matt Carpenter] that basically just DH. We needed to be able to give some guys some days off a little bit more, need a runner off the bench, need to have a little bit more versatility. So unfortunately we had to make this move today.”
With a current record of 39-45, the Padres are hoping that by making this change and allowing new talent to emerge, they can turn things around and have a more successful season.
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