MLB Team by Team: 2008 San Diego Padres

One thing you may not want to do if you know a San Diego Padre fan this year is ask them if Matt Holliday touched the plate. The Padres had the misfortune of being the first victim of fate on the Colorado Rockies' path to the World Series.

So, San Diego enters this year with last season's Cy Young Award winner as their ace and pretty much the same nearly non-existent offense in place. How far will these pieces take them this year?

OFFENSE: D

The Padres' woes at the plate are a product of their division: win with pitching. Last season, their big threat on offense, Milton Bradley, was taken out by his own temper and manager Bud Black. This season, they'll rely on aging former All-Star Jim Edmonds to provide a spark, as well as scrappy second baseman Tadahito Iguchi to go along with Adrian Gonzalez at first base and Brian Giles in right field. If Edmonds can stay healthy, he can be productive, but even so, he's not going to be enough to make a huge difference on the scoreboard.

PROJECTED LINEUP: 1 Iguchi 2B 2 Hairston LF 3 Gonzalez 1B 4 Kouzmanoff 3B 5 Giles RF 6 Edmonds CF 7 Greene SS 8 Bard C 9 Pitcher's spot

STARTING PITCHING: B

Jake Peavy can do no wrong of late. Last season, he made a case not only to take home the Cy Young, but the MVP award as well (19-6, 2.54 ERA, 240 strikeouts in 223.1 innings), because, let's face it, where would the Padres be without him? Behind him, they've got a solid number two in Chris Young (9-8, 3.12), and a still productive three in first-ballot Hall of Famer Greg Maddux (14-11, 4.14). Four and five will be a little shaky in Randy Wolf and injury-prone Mark Prior, the former blue-ribbon, can't-miss (paste your superlative here) of the Chicago Cubs, but still a sight better than many teams' four and five. The rotation, barring injury, is in good shape for San Diego.

PROJECTED ROTATION: Peavy, Young, Maddux, Wolf, Prior

BULLPEN: C

Here's a case of could-be-better, could-be-worse. Trevor Hoffman (42 of 49 in save opportunities last year, 524 career) is still Trevor Hoffman, and he has two solid set-up men in front of him in the persons of Heath Bell (6-4, 2.02 ERA) and Cla Meredith (5-6, 3.50). There are quite a few young arms, rookies Carlos Guevara and Michael Gardner among them, that could go either way, and Wilfredo Ledezma will be trying to put a rough 2007 (7 homeruns in 59.1 innings between Detroit and San Diego last year) behind him. On the rare nights the starting pitching breaks down, the Padres are still in pretty decent shape.

CONCLUSION

This is the year where the lack of offense will really hurt the Padres. Their pitching is good, however, the Arizona Diamondbacks, overall, are slightly better in that department. The Los Angeles Dodgers offense is looking pretty good this year, and those pesky Rockies are still in the mix as well. There's just too much talent in the West to try to get by on pitching alone, even if you have Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux, and Trevor Hoffman.

PREDICTION: 82-80, fourth in National League West