The San Diego Padres have released veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds. The 37 year old Gold-Glover was acquired in the offseason from the St. Louis Cardinals along with $2 million in exchange for third base prospect David Freese. While Edmonds' health concerns were a well known issue, the outfielder's lack of production seemed to surprise the Padres and most of the rest of the baseball world. Those of us who had watched Jimmy for the past few years probably saw this day coming and I personally would have preferred it if Edmonds had retired after the 2006 season when his previous contract expired
In his prime, no one played a better center field or made more amazing plays in the outfield. I'll always remember the Edmonds home run in the 2004 NLCS against Houston in the 12th inning to send the series to game 7 (which the Cardinals would eventually win for their first trip to the World Series in my adult life). I've watched many games at Busch Stadium but I'm not sure I've ever heard it as loud as it was in that moment.
It appears unlikely that another team will take a flier on the injury prone body of Edmonds and this release could very well mark the end of the Edmonds erra.
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