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BAD OFFENSE + BAD BULLPEN = ONE LONG AND PAINFUL SEASON by Jason Martinez sdpadrefan.com posted 4/30/08 Having the worst offense in baseball is nothing new for the Padres. Ask Dave Magadan or Merv Rettenmund, former hitting coaches turned scapegoats for a struggling offense each of the last two seasons. Having one of the worst bullpens in baseball is something new for the Padres. The bullpen has been the main reason the team has been able to put together four straight winning seasons despite having below average offenses. Now that the bullpen is stuggling, the offensive struggles are being magnified greater than ever. With the team 6.5 games out of the wildcard race, they still have a chance to turn things around and could very well be battling for a playoff spot after the trade deadline*. I said there's a chance, but maybe only a one in a million chance with this current team. They are simply not as good as they were last season. Last year's acquisition of Milton Bradley appeared to be the final piece to an offense that was the downfall to the team's quick exit from the playoffs the previous two years. The one missing piece to the puzzle was finally in place. Brian Giles was doing very well as the leadoff hitter. Bradley, Adrian Gonzalez, and Mike Cameron were a formidable heart of the lineup. Khalil Greene, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Josh Bard were all hitting their stride towards the season's end, heading into the playoffs. Scott Hairston was becoming a force off of the bench. Then Cameron got hurt. Then Bradley got hurt. We all know what happened after that. Sure, it was fun for Padre fans to think about all of the potential outfielders they could bring in to replace Cameron and Bradley this past offseason. And even if Hairston was given a chance as the everyday left fielder, we were excited about that, too. After all, if his homer total of '07 was projected over a full season, he'd hit like 80 homers as a starter, right? In the end, it appears the best move would have been to re-sign Bradley and Cameron (it turns out they were both affordable), take their lumps in April while Bradley recovered from knee surgery and Cameron served a 25-game suspension, and then go forward in May with the best lineup this city has seen in years. Instead, they have taken their lumps in April and have no answers for how the team is going to improve going into May. Sure, they'll improve over the course of the season. A few guys will get hot, then they'll get cold again. At the end of the year, it will all come back to this team needing to improve greatly on offense. We can only hope that Kevin Towers is as sick as his fans are from watching these guys try to score runs. If he was, I'm not sure how he could go much longer without making a move or two or four. I understand that there is no quick fix and KT's hands are tied to some extent due to a lack of payroll flexibility and lack of prospects to trade but sitting back and doing nothing while this team stinks it up day after day is not going to cut it. Not when the bottom line for any business is putting fans in the seats and, for a sports team, winning ballgames is also pretty important. At this point, I'd be happy with promoting a AAA reliever to replace any one of the struggling three or four relievers on the current roster. Anything, please! *Note: I'm not talking about the NL West race until further notice. If anyone noticed, the D-Backs, who are already very good at every aspect of the game, called up Max Scherzer, their top pitching prospect. Debuting in relief yesterday, Scherzer threw 4.1 perfect innings, striking out 7 or 13 hitters faced, while throwing fastballs clocked up to 98 mph. Yes, Arizona is scary. |