Before we get to Mr. Scruggs' comments during his "Newy and Richie" show on 105.3 FM in Dallas this morning, let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of Newy's and a loyal listener to his show.
That being said, I grew up as a San Diego Padre fan and lived in Southern California for almost eight years of my life. I spent a lot of Sunday afternoons at Petco Park watching the Padres and guys like Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, and Adrian Gonzalez.
With Trevor now in Milwaukee, Jake now a member of the Chicago White Sox, and Adrian Gonzalez possibly on his way out somewhere around the trade deadline, you have to wonder what there will be left to root for in San Diego.
Regardless of the facts that the last true "star" may be on his way out before the end of the 2010 season, there are still good players on this team that can make the Padres a contender in the NL West. These guys include Chris Young, Kyle Blanks, Everth Cabrera, and Mat Latos—young talent that shined during the 2009 season.
This morning, as I was listening to Newy's show as they were broadcasting live from the Texas Rangers' spring training complex, I heard Newy say that the Padres were "terrible." I'm not one to call out a guy like Newy Scruggs, someone who is very highly respected in the media community, but his comments were a tad off.
Last season, the Padres played the majority of their games without their top two pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young, both who were on the disabled list for a lengthy amount of time. Say what you want about making excuses, but if the Rangers had been without their top two pitchers last season, they'd be making the same excuses.
Although they were without Peavy and Young, the Padres were among the best teams in baseball the last few months of the season.
Going in to the 2010 season, the Padres will have a healthy Chris Young for the first time in three seasons. He's pitching without pain in his throwing shoulder and feels better than he has in a long time. A healthy Chris Young could mean 30 starts for the big 6'10" right-hander and it could mean an earned run average between his 3.12 in 2007 and 3.46 in 2006.
The pitching rotation, after Chris Young, has a lot of young talent with guys like Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, and Kevin Correia who stepped up as the ace of the staff after the injuries to Young and Peavy and finished the season with a 12-11 record and a 3.91 ERA.
Latos and Richard could be the keys to the success of the rotation. Latos, through his first five starts last season, was 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA and almost made Padre fans forget all about Jake Peavy.
As for Richard, who came over from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade, seemed to make his own mark in San Diego. After coming over, Richard went 5-2 with a 4.08 ERA and was unbeaten at Petco Park (4-0) with a 2.00 ERA.
Defensively, the Padres could have one of the best teams in the NL West. With the trade of Kevin Kouzmanoff to Oakland, it allowed them to bring Chase Headley from left field to third base, his natural position. It also will allow them to give Kyle Blanks the majority of the starts in left field.
Up the middle, the Padres have a great defensive combination with young shortstop Everth Cabrera, veteran second baseman David Eckstein, and at first base, you have Gold Glover Adrian Gonzalez.
Next to Kyle Blanks in the outfield, the Padres have a ton of speed to cover the vast outfield at Petco Park. They can put a combination of Scott Hairston or Tony Gwynn Jr in center field as well as Will Venable in right field, who showed a ton of potential last season both offensively and defensively.
While I respect Mr. Scruggs' opinion, I'll have to respectfully disagree.
While Newy is already on the "bring Adrian Gonzalez back to Texas" bandwagon, the Padres will ask for players that the Rangers may not be willing to give up, namely Justin Smoke.
Besides that, if you bring Adrian back to Texas, what do you do with Chris Davis?
While the Padres are 2-5 in spring training so far, I know you're not basing your opinion off spring training numbers are you Newy?
I know you know better than that.
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