30 Teams In 30 Days

San Diego Padres:  Jake Peavy Is Still Their Employee

(Over the next 30 days, BERNing on Sports will be previewing every team in the Majors, yes, even the Royals.  Only one a day, every day, so try not to get too hooked.)

Jake Peavy's Still A Padre

The only thing anyone heard this off-season regarding the Padres (other than their blockbuster free agent signing of catcher Henry Blanco) was whether former Cy Young award winning ace Jake Peavy would be wearing a new uniform come opening day.  First we heard about a potential deal to Atlanta, then the rest of the off season seemed to be a game of chess between Cubs GM Jim Hendry and Padres GM Kevin Towers.  Nothing ever happened, despite the fact he was found drunkenly singing "Go Cubs Go" at the winter meetings and he was signing autographs with "Go Cubs" below his name.  He has since denied this, because he was drunk enough that he probably doesn't remember, but it was quite a scene at the Las Vegas Hilton and the Bellagio last December.  Now that Peavy apparently isn't headed anywhere and he'll remain the Padres ace, that's means they have a good chance to win at least once every five days.  Twice when you consider that Chris Young is apparently healthy again and ready to go as well.  Not a bad one-two punch for a team that lost 99 games last year.

Peavy and Young, But Who Else?

Do the Padres have five starting pitchers employed for 2009?  I'm really not so sure.  After the aforementioned Peavy and Young, I suppose Cha-Seung Baek pitches the third day of 2009.  After that, who?  Yahoo Sports only has three pitchers listed in this rotation, which cannot be right, unless San Diego's pending ownership change has gotten so bad that they're trying to go with a three man rotation 1930s style.  Better judgment suggests they might put Kevin Correia and Shawn Hill on the back end of the rotation, or pitchers of the like, and that tells you all you need to know about the lack of pitching depth on this team.  Not to mention that long time closer Trevor Hoffman now gets his mail forwarded to Milwaukee and the Fathers will likely have to settle for Heath Bell as the closer.  Yikes.

Where Hitters Go To Die

Remember the Brian Giles that played for Cleveland and Pittsburgh?  He was one of the best hitters in the game.  The one that has played for San Diego over the last six seasons is half the player he was before.  Credit that to playing in the cavernous Petco Park, allege that he was a steroid user, do whatever you want.  But this guy hasn't hit more than 15 home runs in any of the last four years.  He's gone from great hitter to "walk machine".  Other than Adrian Gonzalez, who is apparently so good this ballpark can't do him in, there's no one in this lineup that stands out as a guy who will have a significant impact on their offense.  Kevin Kouzmanoff seems to be developing into a nice player, but can he be the right handed hitter the Padres could sandwich into the lineup between Giles and Gonzalez?  Probably not.  This offense stinks, flat out.  And it will continue to stink, unless everyone in the lineup has a career year.

Moorad Takes Over

According to sources in San Diego, Jeff Moorad's ownership group, which currently owns 35 percent of the team, is going to be taking over the decision making for the Padres even though their transition to majority ownership may not officially occur for a few years.  What does this mean for the product on the field?  Well Moorad did a nice job running the Diamondbacks previously, as they made the playoffs and rebuilt with a young lineup in 2007.  San Diego is hoping for the same thing.  But the Padres will be strapped for cash over the next couple of years while things are in transition, and this could mean San Diego will eventually dump big contracts like Peavy's and others to the first taker.  Stay tuned.

Bold Predictions

1. San Diego won't be nearly as bad as last year, and with Peavy and Young atop the rotation they may hover around the .500 mark until mid-season.  But at that point they'll realize they can't contend with either the Dodgers or Arizona and they'll dump Peavy and maybe even Chris Young.
2. Kevin Kouzmanoff will hit 30 home runs this year.  He'll also drive in a hundred runs.  His offense however, will be the least productive in baseball.
3. The Padres will trade Brian Giles at the break to a contending team.