San Diego Padres

Many people picked San D to win the west last year but no one expected them to do it with an 82-80 record. In fact that was a drop from the 87 win season in '04 which only got them third in the west!

Pitching

Last year the Pads won a poor division by a negligible margin and I am convinced the reason why they managed to stay in first was the fact they could send Jake Peavy onto the mound every fifth day. In 203 innings Peavy struck out 216, walked just 50, had a WHIP of 1.044 and an ERA of 2.88 which deserved better than the 13 wins he got but he turns 25 at the end of May and most pitchers hit their prime aged 27-29. Boy is he on the verge of being truly special.

Chan Ho Park had a nightmare spell in the homerun haven that is Arlington but he’s now in pitcher friendly Petco and if his confidence hasn’t been totally shot then he could be a good bet for a big comeback reminiscent of his days in LA.

The rest of the rotation has plenty of options with the club hopeful that Clay Hensley can make the leap into the rotation and Woody Williams can shake off a disappointing year and get back to being the stabilising presence he was before. Tim Stauffer, Seth Etherton and Shawn Estes will also battle it out at the back of the rotation.

The bullpen doesn’t look as strong with the loss of Akinori Otsuka but with the always dependable Trevor Hoffman closing and Scott Linebrink nailing it in the eighth they won’t be worried too much.

Defence

Mike Cameron would make almost any outfield a good one. He has great range and a great arm and makes spectacular plays routinely and should have plenty of opportunities to show that off in the expansive Petco Park. Brian Giles, Ryan Klesko, Dave Roberts and Freddy Guzman will give Cameron plenty of strong support.

The infield will be strong too with Vinny Castilla one of the best at the hot corner and Khalil Greene always good value at short. If Josh Barfield can beat out Mark Bellhorn the infield will be as good as any in the NL, if Bellhorn gets in then…well…it will be half good.

Mike Piazza will make George Kottaras look good when he makes it to the big club. Piazza’s struggles behind the plate have been well documented for a long time so you don’t need me to tell you he couldn’t throw out Long John Silver even if he left his peg leg at home and that factors in the fact that Long John Silver doesn’t actually exist.

Offence

Petco has driven Padres hitters mad since it opened its doors and guys like Giles and Klesko have seen their power numbers seriously hampered as they combined for 33 homeruns last year and they used to be the sort of hitters who could hit that many by themselves every year but don’t be fooled these two are still a strong presence in any line-up.

Josh Barfield and Mike Cameron instantly up the athleticism of the side and should bring some much needed speed into the offence. They have the power to get plenty of doubles too but while the club can bank on more speed from two of the fastest guys in MLB in Eric Young and Dave Roberts, it also can boast two of the slowest in Bellhorn and Piazza. Bellhorn can be relied on to work pitchers even if he’ll be amongst the top of the league in K’s if given the chance but Piazza is way beyond his best and doesn’t even hit too well anymore and will likely struggle in home games.

Rookie Watch

Josh Barfield comes from good baseball stock as the son of the great Jesse Barfield and can look unorthodox at times but he has a good combination of power (gap power at Petco) and speed and should do well. He will be joined in some fashion by Clay Hensley who did well in a late season call up (1.70 ERA in 23 relief appearances and one start) and has a good shot at claiming a spot in the middle of the rotation. He doesn’t have the greatest stuff but he seems to find ways to be successful.

Freddy Guzman could make the team although likely as a bench player. He has blazing speed but injury robbed him of last season and there are some questions about whether his arm is still good enough to play regularly.

Management

He’s had an up and down time during his time but Bruce Bochy comes back for his twelfth year. He’s had his detractors but he has taken the team to a World Series and three division titles so its hard to really doubt him.

Kevin Towers continues as GM where he has been hit and miss with his free agent signings (honestly why has he picked up Piazza?) and has also been hamstrung by budgetary constraint when it comes to drafting prospects but you can’t deny that he has done well considering with Jake Peavy a product of the system.

Outlook

They have built a team that should be very hard to play at home and there’s enough variety and depth of talent that they could be better than last year and last year they won the West.