Just in time for St. Patty’s Day: The 2011 McSan Dieg O’Padres Preview

by Sports goggles 4 lyfe on Mar 18, 2011 12:13 AM EDT

A year ago, San Diego took the NL West by storm through the first 4 ½ months of the season holding a 6.5 game lead over the eventual World Champion Giants on August 27th only to choke away their playoff hopes and end up sitting at home watching the postseason with a respectable 90 wins under their belt.

Coming off a 90 win season, you would think the 2011 season would be the perfect time to add a little payroll, fill some roster holes, and make another run at it. Not so for the Padres, gone is former face of the franchise Adrian Gonzalez, gone are former middle of the rotation starters Chris Young and Jon Garland, and gone are starting infielders Miguel Tejada and David Eckstein. All in all it seems that in 2011 there's going to be something stinky in San Diego and its not the fish tacos.

Having unveiled new "digital camouflage" jerseys, the

Padres hope fans won't be able to see them sucking

Hitting

San Diego spent their off season attempting to replace the gaping hole in their offense left by the departure of former all-star, Adrian Gonzalez . The Padres added Orlando Hudson at second, Jason Bartlett at shortstop, Brad Hawpe at first base and Cameron Maybin in center field. As a whole, those 4 awesome additions added up to a whole pile of disappointment in 2010 and will be asked to make up the lost offense of A-Gon. The best returning offensive option for the Padres is Ryan Ludwick who hit all of .211 last season for San Diego. If any of you Red fans are looking for familiar faces in the offense, look no further than outfielder Chris Denorfia; but lets face it, he's no Chris Dickerson.

Starting Pitching

Starting pitching will undoubtedly be the strength of the Padres in 2011 since they play in Petco Park, which resembles the Grand Canyon more so than a National League baseball stadium. Mat Latos and Clayton Richard are expected to anchor the rotation, both coming off solid 2010 campaigns. Two former Reds from the golden era of Cincinnati pitching, Aaron Harang and Dustin Moseley, have also been added to help shore up the middle of the rotation. What could possibly go wrong there?

Bullpen

Arguably the best pitcher on the staff resides in the Padre bullpen in the form of closer Heath Bell. Bell was an All-Star in 2010 and figures to once again be a premiere closer in the National League. Statistically, San Diego had the best bullpen in the NL last season and as long as they stay healthy should come close to duplicating their bullpen numbers from a year ago.

2011 San Diego Padres look to take queue from actual Catholic Padres and molest

opponents into submission

Overview

Most of the experts have San Diego staying in contention once again in the NL West. The way I look at it, the Padres starting pitching doesn't come close to that of the Giants and their offense isn't anywhere near as potent as the Rockies, and even the Dodgers seem more well balanced than the Friars. Fortunately for San Diego they're in the same division as Arizona, so they're more or less guaranteed not to finish in last place. I can easily see a resurgent Aaron Harang recapturing his Cincinnati glory years and leading the Padres into a solid 4th place finish, just like the good old days.

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Comments

I don't really understand the Padres moves this offseason

I expected them to take a Reds-like approach and just tweak a few things here and there, but I don’t see how this current team can be terribly successful in a relatively tough division.

Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get. ~Homer Simpson

by Hawkeyegirl96 on Mar 18, 2011 8:51 AM EDT reply actions

To be fair to them, their star first baseman was a year away from FA

instead of just entering arb like ours. So they had a choice of either going all out to win this year or getting a return on him.

I think they probably could’ve gone for it this year but they chose to rebuild.

"Penus, stale beer, and day old hot dogs. Love it"--justin007000

by nycredsfan on Mar 18, 2011 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

I really think they should've held on to him

He means too much to that team. His OPS+ last year was 152. Next best among the starters was a 104. Their offense was bad with him; it will be awful without him.

Every team should be able to sign one guy to big money (and it’s not like San Diego is a tiny market). Gonzalez is the perfect franchise representative for them. Aside from being really good, he’s from San Diego and will draw interest from the hispanic community. His statute could’ve been next to Tony Gwynn’s one day, but instead they chose to get a package of good but not outstanding prospects. It was a poor baseball decision and a terrible PR/business move.

by ken on Mar 18, 2011 9:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Completely agree

A player like that is not one you let go of. I wonder if the Pads will be able to even get back to being able to compete for awhile without him.

by pack_fan on Mar 18, 2011 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I also agree wtih Ken

The Reds don’t have a large budget, but they were able to keep Dunn, Harang, Arroyo, Phillips, Bruce, and Cueto all past their cost controlled years.

Red Reporter: Driving that train high on cocaine.

by justin007000 on Mar 18, 2011 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed

Padres screwed the pooch with that decision

by Highlifeman21 on Mar 19, 2011 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions

But most importantly

it’s Friday!

Still not a candidate.

by Gray on Mar 18, 2011 10:04 AM EDT reply actions

I'm so glad you linked to that

My theory kids were telling me about that this morning. Strong contender for worst song lyrics of all time

"Penus, stale beer, and day old hot dogs. Love it"--justin007000

by nycredsfan on Mar 18, 2011 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

And the video might be even worse.

Still not a candidate.

by Gray on Mar 18, 2011 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions

That chick has quite possibly the worst voice ever

Give me the Cure or maybe Loverboy for a Friday song anyday!

Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get. ~Homer Simpson

by Hawkeyegirl96 on Mar 18, 2011 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions

It's really a perfect storm

of a mediocre voice, an apparent inability to dance at all, and incredibly inane lyrics.

Oh, and lots of autotune.

Still not a candidate.

by Gray on Mar 18, 2011 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

i can't watch the video right now & i wasn't aware of this song until these posts

but can the lyrics really be any worse than that “fireworks” song?

Made from 100% Recycled Awesome,

by 'tHan on Mar 18, 2011 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes

The bridge of this song is a kindergarten calendar lesson. Top that, ICP!

Press spacebar to die!

by Charlie Scrabbles on Mar 18, 2011 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't know the fireworks song, but I'm going to say yes.

Actual lyrics:

Yesterday was Thursday. Today it is Friday. We we we so excited; we so excited. We gonna have a ball today! Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards.

Still not a candidate.

by Gray on Mar 18, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Front seat back seat front seat back seat

I’ve gotta decide which seat to ride in.

"Penus, stale beer, and day old hot dogs. Love it"--justin007000

by nycredsfan on Mar 18, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

That part confused me.

There wasn’t any room in the front seat!

Still not a candidate.

by Gray on Mar 18, 2011 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey!

That girl has feelings too!!!

"People don't kill people. Burning oreo packages kill people."

by crolfer on Mar 18, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

women have feelings?

Red Reporter: Driving that train high on cocaine.

by justin007000 on Mar 18, 2011 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

x

"People don't kill people. Burning oreo packages kill people."

by crolfer on Mar 18, 2011 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions

I can't imagine a more apt description

mediocre is almost being kind. And the “at all” really should be bolded or underlined for some kind of emphasis. Because, really, she makes it apparent that she cannot dance at all. But a near-perfect description, Gray.

by kcgard2 on Mar 18, 2011 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Ha ha

Back in my own teen years, there were some rather pointless singers who became “classic rock icons” because, well, just because.

HERE’S ONE

"I tend to piss people off a great deal though." -- BTCoop71

by johnu1 on Mar 19, 2011 1:55 AM EDT up reply actions

And yet the song is in the top 100 iTunes chart...at no. 31

Bart: "Dad, what's a Muppet?"
Homer: "Well, it's not quite a mop, not quite a puppet, but man... (laughs, then pauses) So, to answer you question, I don't know."

by ChiDa on Mar 18, 2011 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions