Post by AztecBill on Aug 25, 2011 8:00:02 GMT -8
Aug 24, 2011 23:11:44 GMT -8 @tecpride00 said:
Since the All-Star break, the Padres have been scoring plenty of runs, so even with this line-up, I could see much optimism for next year and no reason that the Padres will perform better offensively to start next year. Of course it depends on Hundley staying healthy , Blanks hitting early in the season as well as he hits late in the season, etc
We're scoring runs because Guzman and Blanks have been hitting the snot out of the ball. I doubt Guzman is capable of hitting .330 for an enitre season.
And Venable and Hundley and Maybin. And don't forget we are still missing Headley, who has been our best hitter this year. Logan Forsythe and James Darnell haven't come close to matching Headley's numbers.
The foundation of this team's offense is sufficient to score enough to win next year. We are very young so expecting improvement (or at least maintaining excellence) is not out of line.
We do not need Guzman to continue at this pace. We need Guzman or Rizzo to win the job and produce. We need the loser of the 1B battle to be a key bench component backing up 1B, 3B, LF, RF. If Guzman wins the job Rizzo backs up those positions by playing 1B and allowing Guzman to fill in. Baseball is full of examples of a young team playing well in August and September as a prelude to winning the following year. This is what we are seeing.
One other thing that is overlooked is the defensive improvement. The Padres had a terrible defense in the first couple of months of the season. Recently they have been playing much better. The Padres have only given up 3 unearned runs in August (so far). In April and May they gave up a total of 28. A big part of winning in 2010 was a very good defense.
Ironically, I see the bullpen as the place for the most needed improvement. Without Towers magic can our "rebuilt" bullpen next year be any good?