MLB Preview: San Diego Padres

The 2007 season was a season of missed opportunities for the San Diego Padres as the club was one strike away from making their third playoff appearance in four seasons. The team only needed to win one of their last three regular season games to clinch a playoff spot, and lost two of those three games in extra innings.

The season is even more disappointing when you consider how much the rest of the NL West has improved, and it's hard not to believe that the Padres window of opportunity may have closed.

Now it's time to answer three questions about the 2008 San Diego Padres.

(1) Will the Padres get any contributions from Mark Prior or Randy Wolf this season?

The Padres had a relatively quiet off-season but did make some headlines by signing Mark Prior to a one year contract. The team also signed the less heralded Randy Wolf to take the 4th slot in the rotation. The team will need to get contributions from one, if not both of these veterans to remain in contention in the NL West.

Prior of course was given a plaque in Coopertown by Cubs fans after energizing the club to within one game of the World Series in 2003. Prior was as dominant as any pitcher in baseball during that season, and has since suffered a myriad of injuries that have kept him out of baseball for over a season. Prior appears as if he will be fully healthy my the middle of May, and if that's the case the Padres may have gotten the biggest bargain in baseball by signing him to a four million dollar contract this season.

The team will have to be cautious with Prior, as the Cubs rushed him back to the mound on numerous occasions, which in the end kept him off the mound for a significiantly longer period of time.

Randy Wolf spent last season with the Dodgers, and got off to a great start as he posted a solid 3.41 ERA during his first 11 starts, but during the 2nd half of the season he suffered some setbacks with the Tommy John surgery he underwent in 2005, and his numbers went down considerably.

The Padres are hoping they will get the Wolf from the first half of the season as he posted solid strikeout numbers, and uses a devastating curveball to keep hitters off balance.

The top of the Padres starting rotation is as good as there is in baseball with Jake Peavy and Chris Young anchoring the rotation. The team was held back last year when Young went down due to injury as nobody was able to step up and pick up the slack. The Padres are hoping one, if not both of these former stars is able to do so this year.

(2) How big of a liability is the Padres outfield?

The biggest weakness on the Padres in previous years was the lack of power their outfielders provided to the lineup. That still is the major question this club has to answer as they lost Centerfielder Mike Cameron to the Brewers. The club hopes it filled Cameron's void by acquiring Jim Edmonds from the Cardinals this Winter.

Edmonds is coming off an injury filled season, and has broken down the previous two seasons for the Cardinals. Edmonds is 38 years old and is being asked to roam one of the biggest center fields in the Majors. Petco park is a doubles and triples paradise as many balls that are home runs in other parks, end up landing in the spacious gaps at the ballpark.

The decrease in range for Edmonds is a huge concern for the club, as the Padres rotation consists of a lot of flyball pitchers. The starting rotation may notice very quickly the effect that Mike Cameron had on their success during the previous two seasons.

Edmonds is already banged up this spring, and if he is not able to go the club has very little options in the farm system, and may have to acquire someone like Coco Crisp. Crisp would be a perfect fit for the Padres ballpark, and is quite honestly an acquisition they should consider.

The Padres OF also consists of Brian Giles, and Scott Hairston. Giles had knee surgery during the off-season, and is also no spring chicken in right field. Giles does give the Padres a hitter with a solid approach at the plate as he consistently is amongst the leaders in OBP. Giles has lost a significiant amount of power since coming over to the Padres, and instead of becoming the cleanup hitter the Padres desired, he is now a mainstay at the leadoff spot in the batting order.

The left fielder for the Padres is expected to be Scott Hairston, Hairston had a number of clutch home runs for the Padres last season. Hairston would have been a legend in San Diego had Trevor Hoffman not blown the lead against the Rockies. In the top of the 13th Hairston blasted a two run homer to give the team the lead, that was given up by Hoffman in the bottom of the inning.

Hairston is not expected to hold on to the job for long as Chase Headley is expected to win the job at some point during the season. Headley came up as a third baseman in the organization, but was moved to LF to keep Kevin Kouzmanoff at 3b. Headley provides the club with a much needed source of power, as he displayed that power during a successful stint in Spring Training. Headley will start the season in the Minors, but by June the team should have at least one source of power coming from the outfield.

(3) Did the window close for the Padres after last season?

Small Market teams like the Padres have a much smaller window of success than teams like the Red Sox and Yankees. The Padres generally aren't very active in the free agent market, so they rely on the development of their farm club, and shrewd acquisitions of GM Kevin Towers for their success.

The Padres still have a lot of solid pieces from which to build from, they have two of the games best pitchers in Jake Peavy and Chris Young. They also have one of the games best defensive shortstops in Khalil Greene, and a solid first baseman in Adrian Gonzalez.

The team also consistently has one of the best bullpens in the game, as Towers has had success finding gems like Heath Bell throughout his tenure with San Diego. Despite all of that the Padres are in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, as teams like Colorado, Arizona and Los Angeles have built three of the better farm systems in baseball.

The Padres still have an adequate farm system, but the team doesn't have nearly the amount of potential superstars as their competitors. Chase Headley should provide the club with much needed power, and be able to contribute in Left Field for years to come. The team doesn't have many power arms in their minors, and that is something that could hold them back as Clayton Kershaw, and Franklin Morales are going to be dominating hitters in the NL for years to come.

The Padres still have the necessary talent to contend, and if the team can get some much needed help in the outfield they may in fact become the favorites in the division. The club will also need some help at the back end of the rotation, and if Mark Prior is able to resemble the pitcher he was with the Cubs, The Padres may have the best rotation in the majors.

Those are still some big questionmarks, and unless the team changes it's free agent philosophy, this may be their last chance in years at contention