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| Meet Yonder Alonso: The new face of the San Diego Padres |
I honestly cannot make heads or tails of this team except that they will not compete for a division title this season.
That being said, I applaud their moves this offseason. Acquiring Yonder Alonso for Mat Latos was a sound decision and made Anthony Rizzo expendable to trade away. They used Rizzo to pick up pitching in the form of Andrew Cashner. They also acquired a middle of the lineup presence in Carlos Quentin. I also like the move to pick up Huston Street from Colorado. Between him and Micah Owings, San Diego added a good presence in their bullpen to account for the loss of Heath Bell.
On the other hand, the Padres picked up Mark Kotsay. Let me be one to say that he has played past the point of being a productive major leaguer. If the Padres They also picked up Edinson Volquez who has the makings to be a hell of a reclamation project.
The Padres are working on building a team that is built around their ballpark. The notorious death-trap for hitters should play into the hands of this pitching staff, particularly the newcomers. Between Tim Stauffer, Cory Leubke, Clayton Richard, Luke Gregerson, Dustin Moseley, Andrew Cashner, Huston Street, Ernesto Frieri and Micah Owings; the Padres have a pitching staff chock full of pitchers who are perfectly capable of putting up solid numbers at Petco. The issue with this staff, as well as the lineup, is the lack of star power that would put this team over the top.
As for the lineup, there's enough there to surprise some people. However, this is a lineup full of role players. This comes as no slight to these guys, who are all solid in their own right. I like the guys that are projected to be on this team and would love to see them compete into July. I can see it now. Kyle Blanks starts mashing homers like people thought he would when he came into the league. Carlos Quentin plays like he did in 2008. Yonder Alonso is all that and a bag of chips and combines with Blanks and Quentin to be a force in the middle of the lineup. Cameron Maybin steals bases like nobody's business. Orlando Hudson and Jason Bartlett puts up numbers akin to their 2009 campaigns. Nick Hundley plays a whole season. Chase Headley hits .300 and takes charge of the clubhouse.
That would be a fun team to watch, but that is not how things work in this league. All the last paragraph validates is that I have watched too many sports movies.
I commend Josh Byrnes on a great offseason that involved trading for some of the players he traded away as GM in Arizona. Byrnes has had a bad track record as a GM, but I feel that he is getting on the right track. I feel that despite losing Heath Bell and Mat Latos, he compensated by putting a product on the field that I can only consider progress. Unfortunately, San Diego is going to miss that star power more than a kid who is bad at Guitar Hero.
X-FACTORS:
Rotation: Edinson Volquez. If this man can have a good season without the use of PED's, the Padres have a new ace. If not, they have a new man to designate for assignment.
Lineup: Carlos Quentin. Honestly, there's about five X-Factors in this lineup. However, Quentin is the only one who has shown flashes of MVP-type production.
Bullpen: Huston Street. This could be Edinson Volquez as well, but he is currently projected to be in the rotation. Street will benefit the most coming from Denver to San Diego. I really like the idea of him pitching in Petco.
The Kids: 1B/OF Yonder Alonso. Now that he is out form under Joey Votto's thumb, he has a legitimate opportunity to be the franchise player in San Diego.
ROYAL LIST:
#33 1B Yonder Alonso. Refer to what I said in the "X-Factors" section.
#53 C Yasmani Grandal. Alonso's teammate at Miami. In 2013, the Padres will have the presence of Miami Hurricanes with none of the rap videos to boot. (NSFW)
#76 RHP Casey Kelly. This kid looks like a bust waiting to happen.
#78 2B Cory Spangenburg. No Scranton-Wilkes Barre, not that Cory Spangenburg. On a serious note, this kid has a lot of tools that are expected from an everyday second basemen.
#98 3B Jedd Gyorko. This name has the personality of a Forrest Gump haircut.
PROJECTION: 4th Place NL West
Intriguing moves make this Padres team enough to do better than Colorado. I was tempted to say they would finish better than the Dodgers, but I remember that Matt Kemp is going 50-50 this season.
That being said, I applaud their moves this offseason. Acquiring Yonder Alonso for Mat Latos was a sound decision and made Anthony Rizzo expendable to trade away. They used Rizzo to pick up pitching in the form of Andrew Cashner. They also acquired a middle of the lineup presence in Carlos Quentin. I also like the move to pick up Huston Street from Colorado. Between him and Micah Owings, San Diego added a good presence in their bullpen to account for the loss of Heath Bell.
On the other hand, the Padres picked up Mark Kotsay. Let me be one to say that he has played past the point of being a productive major leaguer. If the Padres They also picked up Edinson Volquez who has the makings to be a hell of a reclamation project.
The Padres are working on building a team that is built around their ballpark. The notorious death-trap for hitters should play into the hands of this pitching staff, particularly the newcomers. Between Tim Stauffer, Cory Leubke, Clayton Richard, Luke Gregerson, Dustin Moseley, Andrew Cashner, Huston Street, Ernesto Frieri and Micah Owings; the Padres have a pitching staff chock full of pitchers who are perfectly capable of putting up solid numbers at Petco. The issue with this staff, as well as the lineup, is the lack of star power that would put this team over the top.
As for the lineup, there's enough there to surprise some people. However, this is a lineup full of role players. This comes as no slight to these guys, who are all solid in their own right. I like the guys that are projected to be on this team and would love to see them compete into July. I can see it now. Kyle Blanks starts mashing homers like people thought he would when he came into the league. Carlos Quentin plays like he did in 2008. Yonder Alonso is all that and a bag of chips and combines with Blanks and Quentin to be a force in the middle of the lineup. Cameron Maybin steals bases like nobody's business. Orlando Hudson and Jason Bartlett puts up numbers akin to their 2009 campaigns. Nick Hundley plays a whole season. Chase Headley hits .300 and takes charge of the clubhouse.
That would be a fun team to watch, but that is not how things work in this league. All the last paragraph validates is that I have watched too many sports movies.
I commend Josh Byrnes on a great offseason that involved trading for some of the players he traded away as GM in Arizona. Byrnes has had a bad track record as a GM, but I feel that he is getting on the right track. I feel that despite losing Heath Bell and Mat Latos, he compensated by putting a product on the field that I can only consider progress. Unfortunately, San Diego is going to miss that star power more than a kid who is bad at Guitar Hero.
X-FACTORS:
Rotation: Edinson Volquez. If this man can have a good season without the use of PED's, the Padres have a new ace. If not, they have a new man to designate for assignment.
Lineup: Carlos Quentin. Honestly, there's about five X-Factors in this lineup. However, Quentin is the only one who has shown flashes of MVP-type production.
Bullpen: Huston Street. This could be Edinson Volquez as well, but he is currently projected to be in the rotation. Street will benefit the most coming from Denver to San Diego. I really like the idea of him pitching in Petco.
The Kids: 1B/OF Yonder Alonso. Now that he is out form under Joey Votto's thumb, he has a legitimate opportunity to be the franchise player in San Diego.
ROYAL LIST:
#33 1B Yonder Alonso. Refer to what I said in the "X-Factors" section.
#53 C Yasmani Grandal. Alonso's teammate at Miami. In 2013, the Padres will have the presence of Miami Hurricanes with none of the rap videos to boot. (NSFW)
#76 RHP Casey Kelly. This kid looks like a bust waiting to happen.
#78 2B Cory Spangenburg. No Scranton-Wilkes Barre, not that Cory Spangenburg. On a serious note, this kid has a lot of tools that are expected from an everyday second basemen.
#98 3B Jedd Gyorko. This name has the personality of a Forrest Gump haircut.
PROJECTION: 4th Place NL West
Intriguing moves make this Padres team enough to do better than Colorado. I was tempted to say they would finish better than the Dodgers, but I remember that Matt Kemp is going 50-50 this season.
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