Another Year of Pitching Duels: The last couple years, I’ve been on record saying the San Diego Padres were a couple legitimate bats away from being favorites in the National League. But year after year, those bats don’t come. Instead, the team relies on a bunch of veteran role players to fill holes. While the pitching staff of this team remains among the game’s elite, an awful offense is keeping this team from being true World Series contenders.

Bats. Padres CEO Sandy Alderson has attempted to carry over the blueprint he used to build winners in Oakland. He’s a fan of inexpensive guys with good on base percentages. However, you’ll find few of those in this lineup. While the infield is full of young talent, San Diego’s Opening Day outfield is arguably the worst in baseball.

1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez, a former #1 overall pick and San Diego native, has flourished with the Padres. In his second year with the team, Gonzalez hit .282 with career highs in homers (30) and RBIs (100). Despite playing in a pitcher’s paradise, his left-handed bat has emerged into one of the league’s best at the position. Now if only he could avoid a month long slump that has plagued him the last two seasons. Across the diamond, 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff overcame a terrible start to post solid rookie numbers of .275-18-74. With a full season under his belt, Kouz should be hearing far more “Koooooz” than “Boooooo” in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »