San Diego Padres Season Preview

The San Diego Padres were one of the best pitching teams in the league last year with the combination of breakout young starter Chris Young and Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy, along side veterans such as Greg Maddux. They won 88 games, and finished tied for the Wild Card lead on the last day of the season with the then surging Colorado Rockies. The Padres faced their division rival Rockies in game #163, a one game playoff to decide who would go to the playoffs. Unfortunately, the surging Rockies were too much for the Padres to handle and they lost the game in 13 innings. As the Rockies eventually went on to the World Series, the Padres were left with a bitter taste in their mouths of coming so far, leading the division for so long, only to lose out in the competitive NL west on the last day of the season. This year doesn't look to be much better for them. The rest of the NL West has got even more competitive and the Padres have still done nothing to improve this horrible offense. Along with an aging bullpen, what does this all mean for the Padres? Here's a position by position look at your 2008 San Diego Padres along with a projection for this upcoming season.

Catcher

Projected starter: Josh Bard .285/5/52/42/0

Notable backup(s): Michael Barrett .244/9/41/32/2

Josh Bard is not known for his defense, but he's a great hitter. He's the type of guy that this offense starved team would love to see produce again like he has in the past. He's had a few .300 batting average season in the past and if this guy, who will likely hit near the middle of the lineup, could do that again, this offense would be much better. Barrett is a decent player for a backup catcher, but that all depends on whether or not he'll accept that role or be a distraction and ask to be traded.

First baseman

Projected starter: Adrian Gonzalez .282/30/100/101/0

Notable backup(s): Tony Clark .249/17/51/31/0