Your East Coast Guide to the 2010 Padres

At the far southwest of our great nation lies a beautiful city. Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale’s…well, you get the point. In this beautiful city lies a beautiful baseball stadium, which some people know, seeing as it drew over 1.9 million visitors last year. In this stadium play the local nine, the Padres. Decidedly fewer people know anything about the Padres, at least I’m willing to presume. Quick quiz: how many players not named Adrian Gonzalez do you know who play for the Padres? I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about baseball and I was able to come up with two: Heath Bell and Tony Gwynn, Jr. If you were able to come up with more than that, congratulations, pat yourself on the back.

Many people forget that in 2007 the Padres were a Matt Holliday chin-scraping slide away from winning the wild card. Gone from that team are Jake Peavy, Trevor Hoffman, and Greg Maddux. I tried finding star offensive players other than Gonzalez from that team, but a partial Milton Bradley was as good as I got. That, if you recall, is the year he tore his ACL while being restrained from arguing with an ump.

We might as well start with the two bright spots on the 2009 team: Gonzalez and Bell. Gonzalez has developed into a star about as quietly as possible. Between playing on the West Coast and playing for a team that has been awful to not quite mediocre the last two years, the “East Coast Bias” has definitely overlooked Gonzalez’s development. Since coming over to the Padres in 2006, he has never hit below .277 and has seen his power numbers steadily increase. Last year he put up a line worthy of his all-star selection: .277 BA/.407 OBP/.551 SLG/.958 OPS/40 HR/99 RBI. However, with the great Albert Pujols and the very good Ryan Howard playing for National League contenders, Gonzalez will continue to find himself playing 3^rd string in the popularity contest. Given the expectations for the Padres, many wonder how long it will be before Gonzalez is traded. His contract through 2011 (2010 with a club option) is a steal, so if they trade him, the Pads better ask for a king’s ransom in return.

Heath Bell is currently the Padres’ closer. I say currently because in the wake of Joe Nathan’s elbow injury, rumors are swirling that the Twins may be interested in Bell’s services. For now, let’s just assume that Bell will be a Padre. Since Bell came over from the Mets in 2007, he has steadily become the Padres’ go-to-guy. Although he didn’t become closer until Trevor Hoffman’s departure in 2009, Bell played a huge role in the Pads 2007 bullpen, posting a 2.02 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. Those numbers increased to 2.71 and 1.12, respectively, in 2009, however there was one key addition: 42 saves. For a team struggling to re-establish itself in the competitive NL West, having a reliable closer is huge.

Unfortunately there are 23 other players who will need to contribute for the Padres to contend in 2009, and therein lies the rub. The Padres are counting on Chris Young on being their ace. Yup, the same Chris Young coming back from labrum surgery. The same Chris Young whose career high in wins is 12 and whose career ERA hovers around 4. The rest of the rotation is likely filled out by Kevin Correia, Jon Garland, Clayton Richard and Mat Latos. Correia, after 6 unremarkable years as a Giant, was serviceable last season. Jon Garland is somewhat of a mystery: his career ERA in no way corresponds with his impressive career win-loss record. Richard and Matos are too young to evaluate, but any positive contributions from them will be gladly accepted. As for the bullpen – I’ve never heard of any of their current arms. Seriously. So I’m not even going to go there.

According to their depth chart, their field will look like this:

C: Nick Hundley: Youngin’ whose never played more than 80 games or hit above .240

1B: Adrian Gonzalez: Enough said

2B: David Eckstein: He’s a gamer! He plays the game the right way!

3B: Chase Headley: Hit .262/12 HR/64 RBI in his first full season

SS: Everth Cabrera: Another young player – stole 25 bases in 103 games.

LF: Kyle Blanks: Probably the Pads’ best offensive prospect. Hit 10 HRs in only 54 games, though he did strike out 55 times.

CF: Scott Hairston: Well, there have to be some veterans on the team.

RF: Will Venable: Another young outfielder. May hit for less power than Blanks, but a better average.

So…yea. Those are the Padres. I’m sorry for the brief preview but there’s not much for an East Coaster to write about a young, at best mediocre, team from California. I don’t’ know much about their young players, but I find it nearly impossible to believe that this team will contend in the NL West. There are at worst 3 teams ahead of them (depending on which way the Diamondbacks decide to turn out). The Dodgers have been to the NLCS two consecutive years. The Rockies are built solidly for another Rocktober. Even the offensively challenged Giants have the pitching to contend. At least the fans have the gorgeous stadium to enjoy.