2008 San Diego Padres Outlook
2007: (89-74), 3rd place
Manager: Bud Black (2nd Season)
Key Arrivals -
OF - Jim Edmonds
2B - Tadahito Iguchi
P - Randy Wolf
P - Mark Prior
1B - Tony Clark
Key Departures -
OF - Mike Cameron (to MIL)
OF - Milton Bradley (to TEX)
2B - Marcus Giles (to COL)
IF - Geoff Blum (to HOU)
OF - Terrmel Sledge (released)
Projected Starting Lineup -
C - Josh Bard, Michael Barrett
1B - Adrian Gonzalez
2B - Tadahito Iguchi
SS - Khalil Greene
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff
LF - Scott Hairston
CF - Jim Edmonds
RF - Brian Giles
Projected Starting Rotation -
1 - Jake Peavy (R)
2 - Chris Young (R)
3 - Greg Maddux (R)
4 - Randy Wolf (L)
5 - Justin Germano (R)
***Mark Prior (R) could join the rotation in mid-May
CL: Trevor Hoffman (R)
SU: Heath Bell (R), Cla Meredith (R)
2008 Outlook:
Coming off a disspointing finish to the 2007 season, which saw the Padres lose their final 3 games to miss the playoffs, San Diego is looking to bounce back in 2008. The Padres made several significant offseason moves, which they hope will help them contend again in the pitching dominated N.L. West.
The strength of San Diego’s team will once again be it’s starting pitching, led by last season’s Cy Young winner Jake Peavy. Following a down season in 2006, Peavy reemerged last year, dominating the National League with a 2.54 ERA and a league high 240 strikeouts. Peavy, however, pitched poorly in the NL Wild Card play-in game, allowing 6 earned runs in San Diego’s 9-8 loss to Colorado. San Diego will need Peavy to put that performance behind him, and return to the Cy Young form he showed for most of 2007. 6’10 Chris Young quietly had an outstanding season in 2007 for San Diego, and he will once again pitch behind Peavy in the rotation. The former basketball star at Princeton allowed only 118 hits in 173 innings last year, while pitching at a 3.12 ERA. Young was slowed by back injuries during the second half of last season, and San Diego will need a healthy Chris Young in 2008.
Veteran Greg Maddux continues to be a solid big-league starter, and even though he is no where near the Cy Young pitcher he once was, expect another productive year from him in the middle of the rotation. San Diego is hoping off-season acquisition Randy Wolf can stay healthy in 2008, and be a solid contributor for the Padre rotation. Wolf moves over from division rival Los Angeles, and has shown the ability to be a quality starter at the Major League level. San Diego also took on the rehab project that is Mark Prior in the off-season. There is no question he has the ability to be a good big league starter, but he has not shown he can stay healthy, which is why the Cubs released him. If the Padres get lucky with Prior, he could turn out to be a fantastic acquisition, but that is wishful thinking.
All time-saves leader Trevor Hoffman returns to anchor the Padre bullpen. The veteran continues to be a productive closer, and San Diego will rely heavily on him to finish close games in 2008, since they will be in many low scoring contests. Manager Bud Black will have many quality arms to go to in his bullpen in 2008, as he did in 2007. Set up-men Heath Bell and Cla Meredith both threw well last season, and will help get the ball to Hoffman in the 9th. San Diego will also look to Kevin Cameron, Wil Ledezma, Justin Hampson, and Michael Gardner to provide quality innings from the bullpen.
The big question for San Diego will once again be, Can they score enough runs to win? They added veteran Jim Edmonds to roam the spacious center field at Petco Park. Edmonds is not producing like the player he once was in St. Louis, and moving to San Diego will not change that. He can still go get the baseball, but he has also battled injuries recently, and he MUST stay healthy for San Diego. Joining Edmonds in the outfield will be Brian Giles and Scott Hairston, seriously! Expect prospect Chase Headly to see some time in the outfield early in the season, and potentially take over the every day role early in the year.
San Diego will put out one of the best defensive infields in the game, with Khalil Greene and acquisition Tadahito Iguchi up the middle, and Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff on the corners. Expect the Padres to pick it up well in 2008, but their pitching and defensive will struggle to overcome the lack of runs they will be able to produce. Catcher Josh Bard had the highest batting average last year of all the returners at just .285, and Gonzalez’s 30 home runs was the top total. The Padres will need Gonzalez to continue maturing into the power hitter Florida projected when they selected him first in the draft almost a decade ago, as he is the only true power threat in the lineup. Expect a lot of the same from San Diego this year, good pitching and defense with a frustratingly poor offense.
2008 projection: (84-78), 4th place
Team MVP: Chris Young
Also, check out our NL West preview with links to our team outlooks for each of San Diego’s division foes.
Rosenblogger
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