As a journalist, I was slightly embarrassed.

As a fan, I was confused.

For those that aren’t insiders the trade that sent Mat Latos to the Cincinnati Reds and netted four prospects for the Padres was way off the radar.

It was a trade that many in the industry heralded as a ‘win’ for the Padres.

Then what came next was baffling.

The stone throwing and mudslinging ensued. Latos was knocked for specific incidents that weren’t corroborated by more than one person. His ‘maturity issues’ were cited by a source in the organization and his departure was marked by his alleged negative attitude on the mound and in the clubhouse rather than his great three season with the major league team.

Personally I didn’t have an issue with the trade, they got four good prospects in return and frankly the Padres aren’t in a position to compete in the playoffs for a few years so trading an ace No. 1 starter isn’t going to do much to a 90+ loss team.

I did have a problem with the Padres front office and how they handled the rumors and said mudslinging.

Just the other day Pads General Manager Josh Byrnes went on XTRA Sports 1360 and said if Latos maturity was an issue, “I don’t think it is a character issue.”

Really?

It would have been nice and a smart PR move to shout this from Palomar Mountain the moment you traded him.

Sure. Internally it MIGHT have been a factor in making the decision to trade him, but it shouldn’t and hopefully wasn’t the only reason for trading him.

Instead of letting the media speculate, which we are quite good at, you should have come out and gave an alternative explanation for the trade.

Perhaps, four good prospects are more valuable to the franchise in the long term than an elite pitcher is.

Perhaps, you saw what happened to Jake Peavy after he got traded and worried that Latos would develop injury problems and no longer be an ace.^[1]

Perhaps, Latos didn’t fit into long term plans, the Padres are going to reset and build the team like the Tampa Bay Rays. And now was the best time to get the most value for him.

And those are just four ideas, the Padres have an entire PR team to come up with the reason why.

The point is there was no reason to let the media run wild with the idea that Latos may or may not have some sort of issues that made him less valuable to the Padres.

I have been in the clubhouse as a member of the media twice, once I was in a group of reporters interviewing Latos after a start. Because I was around him once give me the platform to voice my opinions on his attitude on the mound and in the clubhouse? No.

It was a good trade that might help the Padres in the future. Let’s leave it at that and leave the mud throwing to children.

Personally I didn’t have an issue with the trade, it improved the Padres farm system while trading an asset that wouldn’t win many games playing with the current team. And we can’t forget the clique “pro baseball is a business.”

I did have an issue with media types taking what a source said and an isolated incident and formulating Latos maturity level using those two metrics.

Who cares what, if any, issues Latos has^[2]. It has very little relevance to his on the field performance. Fine, he is a bit of a hot head when pitching, when Peavy was still in town we loved his fire.

Plus, having worked the beatI can tell you, there is only so much you can learn about a person on the field during practice in games and while interviewing. As much as you do learn about the players, a complete personality profile is something you don’t know.

As for being a negative influence in the clubhouse, I find that a little over rated. Unless you have a Milton Bradley, or Gilbert Arenas in your locker room the team is going to be fine.

I have been in the clubhouse as a member of the media twice, once I was in a group of reporters interviewing Latos after a start. Because I was around him once give me the platform to voice my opinions on his attitude on the mound and in the clubhouse? No.

It is silly and unnecessary to go on a witch hunt and burn Latos at the stake as he is leaving town.

Latos had a great run in a Padres uniform and because of the trade scored the team some great prospects. Let’s leave it at that.

1: This is one of the more legitimate excuses, look what happened to Peavy, they could say they don’t want to sign Latos long term then fall off because of injuries. Though, at some point the Padres are going to have to take a risk otherwise they will never be a great franchise.

2: Did the Padres front office forget about the reasons they hesitated to sign Latos after drafting him? Yep, then there was some maturity issues, so if you felt he had made enough improvements in his personal life to sign him, why is it such a big deal now? There hasn’t been a major incident that would lead us to believe he had regressed to his college days.

Top four games in the NFL this week

San Diego Chargers @ Detroit Lions: The Bolts need to win out and have some help to get into the playoffs while the Lions are looking to keep their spot in the playoffs. The deciding factor: Can the Chargers patchwork offensive like keep Philip Rivers on his feet in the face of the fierce defensive line the Lions have. And can the Bolts defense keep Matthew Stafford and Megatron in check.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys: Can you believe the Eagles are 6-8 and still have a chance of making the playoffs? Neither can the Eagles. If Mike Vick can play the whole game without suffering any injuries the Eagles offense will be able to outpace the Cowboys offense. The deciding factor: Vick and Tony Romo, can Vick have one of his classic great game s combining his running ability with his great receivers and will Romo choke in a pressure situation.

Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers: The Packers just lost their first game to the Chiefs and the Bears are struggling since starting their backup quarterback. The deciding factor: Can the Packers bounce back after their first loss dating back to last season.

Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints: A rematch of the week nine battle of division foes. In the first match up the Saints won by a field goal in overtime. This time however the Falcons will rebound with a offense that has since started playing up to its potential. The deciding factor: Which defense will step up and stop the two high scoring offenses.

Observations from the week that was Dec. 16-22

One of my biggest pet peeves when watching sporting events on television is when the ambient crowd noise is louder than the commentator. If I wanted to hear people cheering I would have gone to the game, I want to hear what they are saying about the game. Turn down the crowd noise please.

As I said in my last column, I love the Clippers^[3]. Here is some good reading on the team.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo…

I would just wiggle a loose tooth, but this works too.

For the record

Chargers 31, Lions 24

3: I jumped on the bandwagon last year, this year I will start following the team more closely and might take a trip up to L.A. to watch a game.