• Ben Davis. Took a while but doing just fine; read the follow-up I posted a few weeks ago.
• Rafael Medina. Poor command and poor conditioning have stalled his progress. Now 26, Medina sports a 3.72 ERA in 38.2 innings of relief work at Memphis, the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate. He did see some time in the bigs, with Florida, in 1998 and 1999, posting a 5.96 ERA in 90.2 innings. Unless he quickly turns things around in a big way, Medina's likely missed his window of opportunity.
• Gabe Alvarez/Todd Erdos. The 27-year-old Alvarez returned to the Padres organization briefly in 2000, finally making his San Diego debut and finishing 2-for-13 before being released at the end of the season. Currently at Chattanooga, the Reds' Double-A club, Alvarez is hitting .255/.369/.456 in 263 at-bats. Playing mostly third, and some first and outfield, he's committed 28 errors in 77 games. Alvarez has career .222/.289/.357 numbers in 266 big-league at-bats over parts of three seasons. Erdos has a 3.23 ERA in 39 innings at Pawtucket, Boston's Triple-A club. Like Alvarez, Erdos resurfaced in San Diego in 2000, posting a 6.67 ERA in 29.2 innings. Over parts of four big-league season, the 27-year-old Erdos owns a 5.70 ERA in 77.1 innings. Both of these guys could still see part-time duty in the bigs before they hang 'em up.
• Matt Clement. Clement was a fixture in the Padres rotation in 1999 and 2000 before being traded to Florida this spring along with Eric Owens and Omar Ortiz for Mark Kotsay and Cesar Crespo. Clement's stuff remains electric but he still hasn't found the command he needs to become a front-end guy. Now age 26, Clement has a 5.23 ERA in 94.2 innings with the Marlins in 2001, bringing his career ERA to 4.90 in 494 innings. He's still young enough to turn things around but he hasn't really progressed much since he was in Double-A four years ago. Right now he looks like he's following in the footsteps of Andy Benes and Joey Hamilton. There's no shame in that; it's just not where I thought he'd be by now.
• Mike Darr/Gary Matthews. Three years ago I compared Darr to Garrett Anderson, Shawn Green, Dave Martinez, Todd Hollandsworth, and Al Martin. First off, apologies to Green, who has turned out to be significantly better than the other guys in that group. Second, Darr hasn't developed any power. The comp to Martinez actually isn't too far off but it is pretty disappointing. In 170 at-bats with the Padres this year Darr is hitting .312/.398/.353. Only 7 of his 53 hits have gone for extra bases, and all of those are doubles. For his career he's now hitting .286/.365/.378 in 423 at-bats. Darr's still only 25 years old, and he's a big, strong kid, so there's still some upside here. Unfortunately, with Kotsay making himself comfortable in centerfield, Darr is most likely relegated to the unenviable task of replacing Tony Gwynn in right. I'm not sure he'll hit enough to keep a job as a corner outfielder but we'll see. As for Matthews, he's seen a lot of time with the Cubs this year, hitting .237/.348/.407 in 194 at-bats. He's a year older than Darr, and he's got Corey Patterson to contend with, but after a slow start, Matthews has played very well both offensively and defensively this year. In 386 big-league at-bats, he's now hitting .218/.320/.347. At age 26, Matthews has to keep producing; he's always a week or two away from the bench, but it looks like he's at least given himself a shot at becoming a big-league fourth outfielder type. My earlier comparison to Brian McRae isn't looking too far off right now.
• Buddy Carlyle. After compiling some dominant numbers in the minors, he made it into 11 games with the Padres in 1999 and 2000. In 40.2 big-league innings he posted a poor 7.08 ERA. Then, at the age of 23, he inexplicably was shipped off to the Hanshin Tigers. I can't find any stats on him over in Japan but here's an interesting article about Carlyle's experience so far in the Central League. This guy really impressed me back in 1999, and I think he still has a legitimate shot at a big-league career.

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