San Diego Padres
2015 Win/Loss Record:
74-88, 4th in National League West
Last Postseason
Appearance: 2006
Last World Series
Championship: None
Key Arrivals: Christian
Bethancourt (C), Jon Jay (OF), Drew Pomeranz (P)
Key Departures: Joaquin
Benoit (P), Jedd Gyorko (2B), Yonder Alonso (1B)
Manager: Andy
Green, 1st year
Overall Review: The San Diego Padres
were 2015’s off-season champions, having spent a lot of money to bring in
players they thought were going to lead them to the postseason. But as has been
seen before, attempting to stock your team with talented players doesn’t always
lead to success and the Padres underachieved finishing 4th in the
NL West. Manager Bud Black was fired and replaced with Andy Green, who was the
third base coach for the Diamondbacks a year ago.
During this off-season, the
Padres dumped a lot of their high-profile players, including trading pitcher
Craig Kimbrel to the Red Sox for a handful of prospects. While some of the
players who disappointed last year are still around, they will look to improve
on their performance, but will be hard-pressed to challenge for the division
title this year.
Offense: Not one everyday player for
the Padres hit above .300 last year. In fact, the highest batting average went
to Yonder Alonso (.282) who will be with the Oakland Athletics in 2016. Of the
returning players, third baseman Yangervis Solarte hit .270 while smacking 15
homers and adding 63 RBIs. As far as the power hitters go, outfielders Matt
Kemp (.265, 23, 100) and Melvin (formerly B.J.) Upton (.251, 26, 81) led the way but will have
to improve on their averages.
One player to keep an eye on
will be first baseman Wil Myers. After playing parts of two seasons with the Tampa
Bay Rays in 2013 and 2014, Myers came to San Diego last season. In 60 games, he
hit .253 and added 8 homers and 29 RBIs. Myers has all the potential to be an
All-Star player but must prove he can play well for an entire season. He has to
avoid the injury bug that has plagued him for the first few seasons of his
career and stay in the line-up every day.
Pitching: As far as the rotation goes,
James Shields will be the ace of the staff, but needs to improve on his 2015 to
justify the huge contract he signed as a free agent before last season. Of
course, some more run support will help him as well. His win/loss record was
13-7 and he had an ERA of 3.91 while striking out 216 batters in 202 1/3
innings. He will be joined by Andrew Cashner who had a rather unimpressive 6-16
record with a 4.32 ERA and 165 strike outs. The dark horse of the staff could
very well be Tyson Ross who had a decent season (10-12 record, 3.26 ERA and 212
strikeouts.) Like Shields, Ross would have a better record with improved run
support from the Padres’ batters.
In the bullpen, 39 saves left when
Kimbrel was traded to Boston. Brandon Maurer is pencilled in to be the Padres’
new closer, but he doesn’t have a save in the big leagues and had only three in
seven minor league seasons. In 2015, Maurer posted a 7-4 record out of the pen,
with a very respectable 3.00 ERA and he struck out 39 hitters in 51 innings.
Bullpen help will come from Kevin Quackenbush (3-2, 4.01, 58).
 |
| Outfielder Wil Myers |
Prediction: The bad news is the Padres
won’t crack the top three in the division in 2015. With the Giants and Dodgers
with their stacked lineups leading the way, and the improving D-Backs looking
to make a move, the Padres have to be thankful the Rockies are in their
division. That’s the only thing keeping San Diego from finishing in the
basement. Another fourth place finish is on the horizon.
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