Padilla an ace Rangers can’t discard

• Jen talks more about Brandon McCarthy on Blogs Like a Girl.

ARLINGTON — I did not understand a single word Texas Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla said Friday. I freely admit this is not ideal for an interview.

Not his fault. My Spanish is muy awful.

Thanks to Al Dia reporter Carlos Nava, though, who kindly translated, I learned that Padilla is indeed as crazy as advertised. He says he loves pitching at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

He loves the heat, says it is good for his arm. He likes this Rangers team going forward. And he doesn’t even hate the park, noting it is no more hitter friendly than, say, Philly.

Of course, what a guy says has to be balanced by what you see. In other words: How is he pitching?

Padilla is the Rangers’ best. Who am I kidding? He is their ace as Kevin Millwood struggles through another season of just OK. Padilla most definitely should be an All-Star.

So, naturally, there is talk about trading him.

It is the usual media stuff, for now, about how his value is at an all-time high and how the Rangers need to unload him along with Millwood, Milton Bradley, Gerald Laird and anybody else with value for prospects to help in that always nebulous future.

And if the Rangers do this, they are idiots.

"I have no plans to," Rangers GM Jon Daniels said when asked specifically about dealing Padilla. "I foresee no scenario with a fire sale."

Of course, there is a lot of time until the trade deadline. JD may change his mind. Nolan Ryan may change it for him. Padilla, Bradley, et al. may be on the block come July 31.

And this would be a huge mistake.

These Rangers may not be a good team, but they are as close as they have been in a long while. They are on the come, with young players like Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, Ramon Vazquez, Eric Hurley and now Chris Davis, helping pump hope that, maybe, the future is closer than previously thought.

Did you get a load of Davis on Friday, in an 8-7 win against Philly?

The kid from Longview looked pretty promising, jacking a homer to the opposite field and with his defense at first base. He is exactly what Rangers shortstop Michael Young was talking about before the game, the young talent fusing with a veteran core to create a team that he believes is on the verge.

"I think anyone who watches this team for even a small period can see we are not far away. We are close," Young said. "When I say we are really close, I mean within the very near future. We are ready to be able to make a very serious run and sustain that run for a long period of time."

It is worth noting Young is not a company man. He’ll say if things stink or he will say nothing at all. And Young sounded as optimistic as I have heard him in a long time Friday, certainly more so than back in spring training, when he had a "here-we-go-again" feel.

He and his teammates have fought their you-know-whats off to stay in spitting distance of a chance. And they deserve better than the usual bloodbath at the trade deadline.

This is not to say there will not be tough decisions.

There is still a decent gap between plucky and legit contender. What the Rangers have to decide is how best to get from A to B.

Trading Padilla is not the way. For starters, it relies on the fallacy that the minors are littered with pitching versions of Hamilton, Murphy and Davis who are ready now.

Sorry, folks, the promising young arms are here in Hurley, Luis Mendoza, Scott Feldman and Kason Gabbard.

Everybody else is two years away, at least, with Matt Harrison being the possible exception. There are also the walking wounded, Thomas Diamond and Brandon McCarthy, but relying on them is silly. Diamond is a ways away, and McCarthy is a painfully slow healer, as evidenced by his latest setback in which he is once again off the mound in Arizona.

"Why would we want to move pitching?" Rangers manager Ron Washington asked when asked about Padilla.

Good question. Very good question.

And why move your best pitcher, with a year left on his contract, an option for another and who is one of like 10 people who actually like pitching in The Ballpark?

"If I get a vote, no," Wash said. "We need pitching."

I think I heard that before from Ranger types, a couple of million times since almost Day 1 and by a lot of the same people who are screaming to trade Padilla now.

Does he have a little crazy in him? Yes.

And I love this about him, a good pitcher is a little crazy. What he has proven this year is he has control over his out of control and has 10 wins with a chance for 11 today.

I did actually understand Padilla once on Friday. No apparently translates easily. He responded with a strong "no" to my question about hearing his name in trade rumors.

No, as in he does not pay attention.

"I don’t read newspapers, I don’t even go on the Internet, so that doesn’t bother me," he said. "There are always rumors in the major leagues, but that’s just what they are, rumors."

And that is what they should stay, rumors.

Translation: Do not be idiots and trade your best pitcher.