I saw this little nugget in an mlb.com story:

He currently has a 0.96 ERA in the Dominican Winter League.

"He" is Luis Perdomo, a Rule 5 pick of the San Francisco Giants last year who was cut at the end of spring training and ended up with the Padres. Perhaps he'll also end up being a bigger steal than Everth Cabrera.

But he's not the only Padres' gem polishing his game in Latin America this winter.

If any of you saw an earlier post I did this week, you'll remember me taking a shot at Radhames Liz, and getting his name transposed. I apologize on both counts. In a tiny sample of four games and 13.2 innings in the Dominican Winter League, Liz has struck out 13, walked four and compiled an ERA of 0.66.

And for those of you who inferred that the Padres know more about what they're doing than I do, well, you were surely right. Liz is playing for Estrellas de Oriente, the same team Eulogio de la Cruz is playing for. The Padres, who picked Liz off waivers, just put de la Cruz on waivers. He has an ERA of 27.00, though in the tiniest of sample sizes -- 2.1 innings over three games. He has walked three and struck out one.

And as Corey Brock noted a few weeks ago, Luis Durango is also in the Dominican league. He has his OBP at .409, though his avg has dropped precipitously over the past couple weeks, down to .315. He has also stolen 10 bases and been caught thrice. He has had 127 at-bats in 37 games.

Those are the Padres in the Dominican league, at least. I don't have time to check the rosters of the Mexican, Puerto Rican or Venezuelan leagues. Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow.

As it stands now, the Padres are ineligible to participate in Friday's draft of unprotected minor-leaguers. Only teams that have space on their 40-man rosters may participate, and the Padres topped themselves off a week-and-a-half ago when they claimed some guy named Liz off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles -- a guy named Liz with a 7.50 career ERA. Yikes. Perhaps Rule 5 participation is now considered a form of dumpster-diving that has no place in an organization that thinks strategically.

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First, allow me to illustrate what nomal human beings look like:

Adrian Gonzalez -- .244 average at Petco, .306 on the road (his home run splits are 12-28)

Everybody's favorite Rule 5 pick -- .230, .276 (his stolen base splits are 5-20)

Chase Headley -- .208, .305

Will Venable -- .215, .299

Kyle Blanks -- .216, .288

Kevin Kouzmanoff -- .220, .287

David Eckstein -- .232, .286

Nick Hundley -- .236, .241

Have you noticed the reality? Nobody born on this planet hits better at Petco than they do everywhere else, though Nick Hundley sucks almost as much everywhere else as he does at Petco. But we'll forgive him since he's a pigeon-toed catcher.

So how do you explain Tony Gwynn hitting .279 at Petco and .261 on the road?

Perhaps this is why the Padres front office, and by that, I mean the guy who got fired, is so high on the obese Tony's son.

I just learned to like Skinny Tony a whole lot more.

who can get on base with his speed. Luis Durango basically steals a victory Thursday afternoon, days after the big call-up from double-A. Shows he's someone who in the future might help a club that plays in Petco. Gives an indication that he might be someone who could benefit from some September at-bats for a team that is going nowhere.

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A few thoughts about Friday's moves ...

Bad luck losing Arturo Lopez like that. Perhaps the Padres saw enough of him to know that he faces long odds of ever establishing himself in the majors, but I figured the Padres had seen enough of 2B Matt Antonelli (.175, .298, .282 this year at triple-A, .215, .335, .322 last year at the same level) to make the same judgment. Antonelli was the Padres' 2006 first-round draft choice (No. 17 overall), though, and I'm sure keeping him is simply considered orthodox decision-making in major league circles. ...

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We know that Everth Cabrera's tour of the Padres' minor league system is over and that he's on his way to the parent club beginning Friday night. We also know that unlike most Rule 5 guys, Cabrera has earned his way onto the big-league roster. That is if you can earn anything during a 14-game "rehab" stint.

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It looks like the Padres' shortstop position is about to be upgraded. Luis Rodriguez seems to have finished his rehab stint (4-14 with a homer in four games at Lake Elsinore). But perhaps there's some bigger news. Everth Cabrera, the 22-year-old who is expected to be the Padres' starting shortstop before the end of the season, is on fire.

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