Matt Stairs sheds 40 pounds, makes Padres

Officially the Padres haven’t announced their Opening Day roster yet, but MLB.com’s Lyle Spencer reports that Matt Stairs has made the team as a left-handed bench bat. Stairs is one of my favorite players in part because he takes every swing like he’s trying to murder the baseball, in part because he’s fearlessly sported a curly mullet for most his career, and in part because I’m amused by a 42-year-old who loses 40 pounds on an offseason diet after playing 17 years as a fat guy. Stairs has had a remarkable career given that he didn’t play regularly in the majors until age 29. He homered 27, 26, and 38 times in his first three full seasons, knocking in 100 runs in 1998 and 1999, and has an .858 lifetime OPS with 30 homers per 550 at-bats against right-handed pitching. And if Stairs can homer for the Padres, he’ll become the first player in baseball history to go deep for 12 different teams. He’s also one pinch-hit homer away from tying Cliff Johnson’s all-time record of 20.