The Official San Diego Padres Thread

[BatsareBugs]

Good Padres debut by Clayton Richard today. Although right now I don't like the Padres winning (can you blame me?).

[BatsareBugs]

I'm a little late on this one, so I'll just put my opinion out here instead.

With the Padres not ****ing up and signing Donovan Tate, Everett Williams, and Keyvius Sampson, it makes up for their inactivity in the international market this year as well taking a step in the right direction that if they're not going to sign free agents, put the money in drafts and development of players.

Obviously we won't see them for several years, and here's to hoping we have a first round pick that for once becomes a stud. The lower levels of the farm look very good on potential, now develop that potential to something useful.

[DTX3]

Honest question. Not trying to hate or anything, but is there any reason to believe Gonzo will be back? S.D. was ready to ship him out to the Dodgers of all teams, but we wouldn't give them what they wanted. I honestly don't see him in S.D. much longer.

[Marino]

Quote: Originally Posted by DTX3

Honest question. Not trying to hate or anything, but is there any reason to believe Gonzo will be back? S.D. was ready to ship him out to the Dodgers of all teams, but we wouldn't give them what they wanted. I honestly don't see him in S.D. much longer.

Like I said in the Gnats thread, the Padres won't do anything until at least 2011 or 12. While Gonzo and Blanks are going to be beasts, they have a mediocre lineup at best.

The pitching is very suspect right now. They need for Latos and Richards to step up and hope that the rest of the rotation can at least be decent.

Ownership cut so much payroll that the Padres are pretty much rebuilding from scratch, so it will take some time to build them back up.

[BatsareBugs]

Quote: Originally Posted by DTX3

Honest question. Not trying to hate or anything, but is there any reason to believe Gonzo will be back? S.D. was ready to ship him out to the Dodgers of all teams, but we wouldn't give them what they wanted. I honestly don't see him in S.D. much longer.

DTX, when the Padres were talking about trading Adrian Gonzalez, a few fans speculated that the Padres would consider such a thing since it seemed less like that Peavy would be moved given Peavy's contract and the horrible state this franchise is in due to new ownership and John Moore's divorce.

Obviously Adrian Gonzalez wants to win and he has stated it numerous times in the UT, even to the point that he admitted that he's a "defeated man" this season. It really is dependent on how things turn out the next couple of years, but I'm not sure what Adrian's current contract status is with the Padres (I think he's signed through 2011, but I'm not sure). I actually wouldn't be surprised if Adrian is traded, but the smart move would be to build around him because Kyle Blanks can't replace Adrian's defense and finding offensive players who can succeed here has proven to be tough.

My honest opinion, Adrian is a Padre until 2011, then either an extension is worked out if the Padres return to relevancy in the West, if not, he's traded.

[BatsareBugs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Marino

Like I said in the Gnats thread, the Padres won't do anything until at least 2011 or 12. While Gonzo and Blanks are going to be beasts, they have a mediocre lineup at best. The pitching is very suspect right now. They need for Latos and Richards to step up and hope that the rest of the rotation can at least be decent. Ownership cut so much payroll that the Padres are pretty much rebuilding from scratch, so it will take some time to build them back up.

That time table is about right optimistically if things work out.

However you may have to include Will Venable, he's surprising the heck out of some fans who criticized him for being too old and not having anything to offer. The Padres definitely need to decide on which on to keep, Headley or Kouz. Headley still has "potential", both players have very significant home/road splits, and is younger, but Kouzmanoff right now has the better offensive production and better defense.

The pitching, yes it is. The Padres have no ace and it is really dependent on how Latos, Poreda, Gallagher, and Inman develop. Richard doesn't project to be nothing more than #3 at best and Chris Young will likely never see better days on the mound anymore. The bullpen however, should still be good, but relievers fluctuate. However, Towers seems to have a knack at finding guy out of nowhere.

[Marino]

Yeah Venable has been surprisingly solid. I am not sold on Headley, he may be good but hey may not. More than likely SD will get a good pitching prospect out of the draft next year, and hopefully ownership will care enough to where this team will be able to stick together and build something.

[BatsareBugs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Marino

Yeah Venable has been surprisingly solid. I am not sold on Headley, he may be good but hey may not. More than likely SD will get a good pitching prospect out of the draft next year, and hopefully ownership will care enough to where this team will be able to stick together and build something.

Not sure about the draft, I just hope they go after a player with great potential as opposed to signability, which has been the draft MO and is mainly the reason why the Padres have not had any first rounders that were any good the past several years. I actually did want the Padres to draft Tyler Matzek.

As for Headley, I'm not sure what to expect out of him. He produced in the minors and had a decent rookie season, but this season he took a step back. I would prefer we trade him rather than Kouz because Headley is what he is right now, potential and lacks a position on this team given that we have better outfielders displacing him.

I'm interested to see what Moorad's group can do. Obviously they needed to show fans that they were willing to change the philosophy of the draft with picking Donovan Tate and signing Tate, Everett Williams, and Keyvius Sampson (when we traded Peavy, fans expected that not signing one of them would be a failure).

They have some pieces to work with next year, but with a lot of room for improvement. I hope they can trade Bell, as they don't need a closer if they aren't in any position to compete for the NL West and in the playoffs.