FanHouse MattBush

You might remember Matt Bush as the No. 1 overall pick in Major League Baseball's 2004 first-year player draft; he went to the San Diego Padres. You might remember him for being a colossal bust who was never even serviceable in the minors, to the point where the Padres just cut him before he was even 24 years old. More likely, though, you remember him for his trouble with the law, and, most likely, his crying-on-YouTube performance.

Tuesday, Bush had to face the consequences for his actions in the crying incident. He was arrested for drunken driving, vandalism and resisting arrest -- and this followed being arrested for drunken assault in February of this year. He appeared to be contrite and accountable -- kind of.

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

When it comes to the amateur draft, baseball isn't like football or basketball. There's almost unfathomable depth to the process and with that depth comes tons of uncertainty. It's not as much of a crapshoot as the casual observer thinks it is, but there's still plenty of noise.

When Ryan Leaf winds up coaching for West Texas A&M, we snicker. When Len Bias overdoses on cocaine and dies, we bow our heads and say what a shame. Tragic, spectacular or both, we know when highly touted NFL and NBA draft prospects flame out. It's not the same when Russ Adams or Matt Bush or Bill Pulsipher wind up out of a job.

For a former No. 1 draft pick, Matt Bush's career with the Padres was spotty at best, controversial at worst. Having already had two altercations with police (one within two weeks of being drafted), Bush has had his third strike.

His latest altercation with police, combined with the Padres needing roster room to sign Cliff Floyd has earned Bush, a shortstop turned pitcher when the Padres figured out he couldn't hit, a designation for assignment which will turn into an outright release if the Padres can't trade him within ten days.

After recording his 100th strikeout of the year, Khalil Greene took out his frustration on a storage chest in the clubhouse tunnel. And just like everything else that's gone up against the Padres this year, the storage chest won. Greene fractured his left hand and will miss the rest of the season. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"I don't know how to put into words the frustration level, how difficult this year has been," Greene said. "For me to do that, it's certainly not commonplace."

Greene finishes the year hitting just .213 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI in 389 at-bats, a far cry from last season when he hit .254 with 27 homers and 97 RBI. While it's a little ridiculous for Greene's season to end with a self-inflicted injury, the fact that he's back on the DL is hardly a surprise: since his rookie year, he's played more than 121 games just once in the past four years.

I'm curious: who do you think looks more foolish? Greene, for breaking his hand by attacking in inanimate object, or Matt Bush, the Padres' shortstop-turned-pitching prospect who "suffered bodily harm" (for the life I me I can't find a report saying what exactly he hurt) in a bar fight last month?

A bar fight is more of a PR headache, but at least there's a 50/50 chance Bush was reasonably provoked. Punching a storage chest? That's just dumb. Savvy veterans know that a bat to the water cooler is far more effective.

Back in 2004 the San Diego Padres used their first pick in the amateur draft to select shortstop Matt Bush. There was some concern with the pick at the time, because many people felt the Padres would have been better off going after Stephen Drew or Jered Weaver. The Padres were concerned about the bonus it would take to sign either of those guys, though, and instead went with the local product Bush.

They then gave Bush a team record $3.15 million signing bonus. Bush, then only 18 years old, then went out and celebrated his newfound wealth by getting into a fight at a nightclub in Peoria, Arizona. Bush was suspended for the incident but came back after a month off courtesy of the team, and after he plead guilty to disorderly conduct, trespassing, and underage possession of alcohol.

Well, last week Matt was in a bar that was only a block away from where the fight in 2004 took place. Bet you can't guess what happened.

Padres minor leaguer Matt Bush, drafted first overall in 2004, recently was involved in an off-field fight in which he suffered bodily harm, according to persons close to him. It happened near a pub/grill in Peoria, Ariz., across from the Padres' compound.