Plunk Everyone

Khalil Greene had been hit by 32 pitches in his career with the San Diego Padres - just 3 plunks short of tying the Padres career HBP record of 35, held by Gene Tenace since 1980. But Greene was traded yesterday, to the Cardinals, which means he won't be breaking any franchise career plunk records any time soon. This brings up several obvious questions - were the Padres trading him to keep Gene Tenace's record intact, or did they ship Greene out of town due to his slow progress toward that record? Or, did they need to get him out of the way because they expect Kevin Kouzmanoff to break the record in 2009, and having Greene near the record at the same time might be too confusing for fans, or create too much of a media frenzy with everyone wondering who will be the first Padre to get hit by 36 pitches in his career? (Kouzmanoff has 25 in just 2 years with the Padres.) If the intent was to protect the Gene Tenace record, will Kouzmanoff be put on the block after he gets hit by another 5 or 8 pitches? And how exactly have they gone this long without having anyone get hit by more than 35 pitches? Don Baylor got hit that many times in 1986 alone. Craig Biggio got hit almost that many times (33), just in games against the Rockies, who weren't even in the same division. Clearly the Padres need to do something to become the sort of team that inspires a little more personal sacrifice then they've been getting from most of their players.