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PADRE OFFENSE NOT LACKING IN THE POWER DEPARTMENT posted 8/11/08 by Jason Martinez I've lost count of how many times that I heard this team referred to as the “punchless Padres” earlier this season. I’m sure I did it quite a few times myself. But a funny thing has happened over the last few weeks. The Padres have hit the most home runs in the national league (35) since the All-Star Break and are just one behind the Chicago White Sox for most in the majors. OK, so their batting average (.255) and on-base percentage (.322) are still far from desirable over that span but one thing is for certain. We can no longer say that the offense is the weak link of this team. For that distinction, look no further than the bullpen, which ranks last in the majors with 26 losses. The Padre ‘pen also sports a 4.41 ERA, good for 4th worst in baseball, ahead of just Cleveland, Texas, and Pittsburgh. Over the next few months, you’ll hear me mention Milton Bradley as player that the Padres should target with a three-year commitment to play LF or RF at Petco Park this offseason because I believe it would improve the team greatly. I’m sure most people would agree that his bat would improve any team. However, it isn’t out of the question that this current Padre team would be right in the thick of the NL West, despite their early-season offensive struggles, if it had a capable bullpen and a starting rotation that had been able to stay healthy. I’m not letting the offense off the hook because of their recent power surge. They are partly to blame for the bullpen struggles as they were not capable of putting teams away early in the season, which led the bullpen to be over-worked due to a lack of opportunities for non-pressure mop-up appearances. Every call to the bullpen came with the game on the line. A finger can also be pointed at the inability of the starting rotation to work deep into games. When the season is over, the offensive numbers will not look half as bad as a lot of people would expect. Will that be a silver lining in a bad season or just a bunch of misleading numbers that will give the front office reason not to upgrade the offense? Let’s examine. Jody Gerut, who’s led the resurgence with a .324 BA, 7 HR's, and 14 RBI's since the All-Star break, will likely be the CF going into 2009, which is already an upgrade over the beginning of 2008. And whether it’s Chase Headley or a Will Venable/Scott Hairston platoon, or someone else in LF, can it really be any worse than what they’ve started the season with either of the last two seasons. I know Hairston was part of the problem in April but the guy will be going into next season with a ton of confidence coming off of what will likely be a 20+ HR season. The catching situation has also been addressed with Nick Hundley, a huge defensive upgrade, as well as a hitter who is already showing much more extra-base power than either Josh Bard or Michael Barrett. Without making a single move to the current lineup, I’ve already pointed out three lineup upgrades for 2009. But why stop there? They’ll need another stop-gap at 2B, as Matt Antonelli has yet to prove he’s even ready for AAA. Edgar Gonzalez seemed like a nice fit until his defense was exposed and recently, his offense has taken a hit. Still, EGON will be a nice fit as a super-utility man at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF, and catcher. So GM Kevin Towers will have one obvious hole in the lineup to fill this winter. He’s 0-for-2 at bringing in a productive 2B the last two seasons. Third times a charm, right? OK, here’s my point. As much as I’ll be calling for the team to sign Milton Bradley this winter, it doesn’t mean that I don’t think this offense is good enough to win the NL West. I think they’d be one of the best offenses in baseball if they added Bradley. But for now, we’ll take it one step at a time. They are proving now that they’re capable of putting some runs on the board. Kevin Kouzmanoff appears to be one of those guys who gets better and better as the season goes on. Headley and Hundley are gaining valuable experience right now and should be much better in 2009. And the key to it all might be Gerut, who could be one of the more productive offensive CF’s in the league next season. Now if they can only find some useless relievers, then this team could be right back at the top of the division in 2009. |