Written by Jonathan Leshanski (Contact & Archive) on March 05, 2010
The Padres don’t expect to compete this year, but they do hope to improve as their youngsters grow into Major League talents. Guys like Mat Latos, Clayton Moore, Will Venable, Kyle Blanks, Wade LaBlanc, Nick Hundley and Evereth Cabrera are slowly beginning to show what they can do, and that they belong here. It’s going to be a bumpy ride with a lot of ups and downs. One of the big downs is team payroll which has fallen to about $40 million, one of the lowest in the Majors. Â
Tony Gwynn Jr. will try to provide some good karma for the Padres in 2010.
Photo by SD Dirk, used under creative commons license.
Rank: Fourth in the NL West – 20 Games back
Home Park: PETCO Park
Taking the Vow:
C – Yorvit Torrealba (Free Agent from Rockies)
C – Dusty Ryan (Trade with Tigers)
UT/OF – Jerry Hairston (Free Agent from Yankees)
OF – Scott Hairston (Trade with A’s)
OF – Aaron Cunningham (Trade with A’s)
OF – Matt Stairs (Free Agent from Phillies)
RHP – Jon Garland (Free Agent from Dodgers)
RHP – Radhames Liz (Waiver claim from Orioles)
Leaving the Order:
C – Henry Blanco (Free Agent signed with Mets)
C – Eliezer Alfonzo* (Released, signed with Mariners)
3B – Kevin Kouzmanoff (Traded to A’s)
IF – Edgar Gonzalez (Released, signed in Japan)
IF – Luis Gonzalez* (Released, signed with Indians)
OF – Brian Giles* (Free Agent, signed with Dodgers)
OF – Cliff Floyd (Released, unsigned)
RHP – Walter Silva (Released, unsigned)
RHP – Cha Seung Baek (Released, unsigned)
RHP – Mike Ekstrom (Claimed on waivers by Rays)
RHP – Shawn Hill* (Released, signed with Blue Jays)
* Signed minor league deal
Strengths:Â Loads of Young Talent, Bullpen, Adrian Gonzalez.
The Padres don’t have a lot going for them at the moment but they are planning on getting there. They are coming off a nice little 37-25 run to end the season in 2009 and hope to build on that, although it seems fairly unlikely due to both inexperience and what frankly looks to be a fairly weak team. However the Pads are holding to their guns and following the model of teams like the Twins and Rays, in taking the time to develop a home grown core.
And their system is loaded with guys who’ll make an impact in the big leagues one day, but they aren’t all going to grow into solid players at the time. That means a lot of growing pains, with some flashes of brilliance thrown in.
The Padres one big strength is their bullpen where Heath Bell offers the only marquis name on the pitching staff. They’ve also got the talented but injury prone Mike Adams who posted a sub 1.00 ERA in 37 appearances last year, and Luke Gregerson who finished with a 3.74 ERA in 72 appearances last year (but had abominable road splits). Complimenting them are Edward Mujica and lefty Joe Thatcher. They are more than capable of protecting what few leads the offense can hand to them.
Their other strength is Adrian Gonzalez, one of the true elite first basemen in the game. Gonzalez can do just about anything with a bat, and odds are he won’t be a Padre for too much longer. He’ll be a free agent after 2011, but with the Padres already cutting costs, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him dealt midseason this year. Gonzalez has already said he won’t give the Padres a home-team discount.
Weaknesses:Â Everything.
There is just too much wrong with the Padres to address in a couple of paragraphs. Outside of Adrian Gonzalez and a good bullpen they don’t have a lot to brag about. They are offensively challenged, they don’t have any elite starting pitching and most of their starters are mediocre to suspect at best. They do have some up and comers there including Clayton Richard and Mat Latos, but it’s unlikely that the team will get enough out of the youngsters to make a difference in 2010.
Potential Lineup – Expect a lot of platoons here, so the lineup should be very variable.
CF – Tony Gwynn Jr./Scott Hairston
2B – David Eckstein
1B – Adrian Gonzalez
3B – Chase Headley
LF – Kyle Banks/Jerry Hairston Jr.
RF Will Venable/Scott Hairston
C – Yorvit Torrealba/Nick Hundley
SS – Evereth Cabrera
Rotation:
Jon Garland
Chris Young
Kevin Correia
Clayton Richard
Up for Grabs (Mat Latos?)
Closer:
Heath Bell
One Question which Needs Answering:
Can the Padres generate enough runs that their pitching actually becomes relevant? They might be able to play a decent enough game of small ball (since they have some speed) but they’d need to see an increase in plate discipline for it to make a huge difference.
Prediction:
The Friars will be hard pressed to match last season’s overall numbers and are likely to reside the western cellar as they get some seasoning. Odds of that increase dramatically if they decide to sell off Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell mid-season, but even with both players anchoring their respective positions this isn’t a good enough team to hope for more than a fourth place finish at best. Dead last is probably a better guess though.
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