--Greg Maddux is serving as a Padres spring training instructor and could remain with the team as an evaluator during the season. Maddux, who retired as a pitcher last December, said he might one day become a coach. "I love baseball," said Maddux. "It's what I've always done and it's all I really know."

--OF Emil Brown, 34, who has a career .258 average, has signed a minor league contract with the Padres. Brown played 13 games with the Padres in 2001. The Padres signed Brown for outfield depth because Scott Hairston could be playing for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

--2B Edgar Gonzalez said he will probably pass up a chance to play for Mexico in the WBC to remain in the Padres spring training camp. With David Eckstein the runaway front-runner in the battle for second, Gonzalez is trying to win a job as a utility infielder. He hadn't been assured a starting job with the Mexican team.

--RHP Walter Silva has been recommended to the Padres by brothers Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez. Silva, 32, had a 4.21 ERA with Monterrey in the Mexican League last season. Silva has been pitching for only seven years.

BY THE NUMBERS: 1993 -- The last season in which the Padres failed to draw more than two million fans. The Padres are projecting 1.8 million to 2 million fans in 2009, although the club is bracing for lower if the team and the economy don't improve.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I have a hard time being cliche. In years past, I've probably said too much. Those who are around me a lot know that. I just try to tell the truth. I tell you guys how I am feeling. I tell you not necessarily, I guess, what they want everybody to read in the paper." -- RHP Jake Peavy on how his candid statements over the years have sometimes gotten him in hot water with Padres officials.