Headley's Portland apprenticeship is a matter of dollars and
sense  Kevin Towers' official position is that his motivation is
not money, that the Padres' reluctance to promote the prolific
Chase Headley relates to factors other than finance.  That claim
is pure poppycock, of course, and if it weren't it would
indicate inexcusable negligence. There are many ways to
rationalize Headley's prolonged apprenticeship in Portland, but
the one that makes the most sense is monetary.  Were the Padres
to promote Headley right now, they could incur millions of
dollars in unnecessary arbitration expenses come 2011. Millions.
To pretend that money is irrelevant is ridiculous; to actually
believe it would be irresponsible.  Yet that's been Towers'
stubborn stance as his ballclub has bottomed out. The Padres'
general manager has repeatedly said dollars have nothing to do
with Headley's Triple-A tenure, that it's about acclimating the
erstwhile third baseman to left field, about postponing roster
decisions on outfielders who h