Next Year Predictions

by justdave on Dec 28, 2008 1:37 PM PST

I got in to a rather heated argument with some of my buddies in the wee hours of Friday night / Saturday morning about the prospects of our 2009 San Diego Padres. Their position was that next year's Padres were in position to be one of the worst teams in the history of Major League Baseball. Mine was that it will be next to impossible for us to be as bad as we were.

The reasoning was as follows:

We were terrible last year and have done absolutely nothing to improve. If anything, our team will deteriorate with the potential loss of Jake Peavy and Giles' abuse issues. Our starting rotation is a joke, with two major league pitchers (for the time being) and three also-rans that would be better off in AAA. The middle of our infield is a giant question mark, which doesn't help matters at all. Oh and our coach is a buffoon.
We were hit by an inordinate amount of bad luck and poor timing last season. Our hitting would only step up when our pitching collapsed, and vice versa. Our young kids will have had some extra time to mature. Our outfield platoon is promising, with Gerut and Venable giving us something exciting to root for. Heath Bell could make a fantastic transition to the closers role and give us some consistency in the 9th.

I could go on and on, but i figured I'd stop rambling and put this up to a vote... so with that being said.

Poll

Will the Padres be better or worse than last year?

Better. The Padres can only improve on last years atrocity. 2009 will be a foundation for a successful 2010 run.

40 votes

Worse. We have two starters (for now) and three PTBNL's as our rotation. We have exactly one bat. Our right fielder beats those who are not inappropriately tan. I hate my life.

27 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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Comments

Put it in the books

82-88 wins next season.

2009 San Diego Padres. Not as bad as Aztec Football!

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Dec 28, 2008 3:21 PM PST reply actions

i was gonna say 75-85 but i like your thinking.

pooping not

www.wellbelowthemendozaline.blogspot.com

by justdave on Dec 28, 2008 4:08 PM PST up reply actions

You guys are nuts!

While I’m a Giants fan by day, my wife is from SD, and I’m kind of a closet Pads fan (I root for you when you’re not playing my team). That said, even if things go really well, I can’t see the Friars doing any better than 70-75 wins. They just don’t have the umph. Peavy, Gonzalez, and not much else, sadly. At least you guys have the most elegant stadium in baseball (yes, I like it more than AT&T park, although I do think that our waterfront location is kickass).

The 2008-2009 offseason is driving me sane!

by hairball on Dec 31, 2008 4:39 PM PST up reply actions

We shall see

Brady Hoke, Al Borges, and Rocky Long. Aztec football is back!

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Jan 1, 2009 2:17 PM PST up reply actions

At this point

we don’t even know anything about next season;s team. We don’t know half the players that will be on the roster. So it’s a little early to make any kind of educated guess, but if you want just a random guess, I’ll say we’ll do worse.

We’ll be doing our annual Gaslamp ball prediction the day before the season starts.

by jbox on Dec 28, 2008 6:14 PM PST reply actions

yeah i was just looking for shots in the dark

pooping not

www.wellbelowthemendozaline.blogspot.com

by justdave on Dec 28, 2008 9:47 PM PST up reply actions

Too early in the offseason to make a prediction...

but I’ll say with confidence that we’ll be better than 63-99.

"If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself." - Bob Dylan

by JollyWaffle on Dec 28, 2008 7:34 PM PST reply actions

I agree its too early, BUT

I just have a feeling that we will do better than last year.

I’m hoping for an 08 Giants type performance, where nothing is expected of us, but we end up respectfully placing in the middle of the division with some prospects on the rise.

The main thing we need to hope for is getting the financial situation of the club turned around by 2010 or soon thereafter.

Keep teh Faith!

by TJB on Dec 28, 2008 11:01 PM PST reply actions

Good call

I think next year will actually be more enjoyable since expectations are so damn low. When they suck, it will be like, “Yeah, they’re supposed to.” When they do well, it will be a pleasant surprise.

by Phantom on Dec 29, 2008 8:24 AM PST up reply actions

I agree that they will do better in 09 than 08

But I dont think they will be able to match the Giants 08 performance because they don’t have the young stud pitchers that the Giants do.

I’m thinking they will win 70-75 games or so they will start very slowly and struggle to score runs but they will really start showing big steps of improvement at the end of the year. I also think we will see Hunter Kulbaki and Inman in spetember.

by Grey Suit on Dec 29, 2008 10:28 AM PST up reply actions