I finally did .... yesterday when it came out that the Texas Rangers put Vicente Padilla on waivers, I vaguely remembered a similar situation from a few years ago, when the Rangers surprisingly gave up on one of their starting pitchers early in the season. I finally figured it out.

In early June, 2005, Ryan Drese was designated for assignment by the Rangers - he was 4-6 with a 6.46 ERA at the time (he was also the opening day starter). About two weeks before that, he and catcher Rod Barajas fought in the dugout, during a game in which Drese was pitching. It seemed at the time that the demotion had as much to do with Drese's pitching as it did with the fight with Barajas (but I might be wrong about that).

When the news about Padilla came out, the first thing I thought of was, There has got to be more to this story. He had back-to-back one hitters just a month ago, so why was right now the breaking point? Obviously, the news came the day after Padilla plunked Mark Teixeira twice, but Padilla's been doing that for years. I was guessing that there had to be some sort of confrontation between Padilla and a coach, the manager, or another player about how he continues to hit opposing batters (and by doing so, puts his own batters in jeopardy).

I'd be interested to know if you remember Drese's release from four years ago, and if this situation with Padilla reminded you of that.

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