Unlike most of you, I didn't have the luxury of suffering through another frustrating week of Padres baseball. Mercifully, the only baseball-related information I was able to acquire on my cruise amounted to a quick score (not even a box or a line with it).

So we're 12-20, the worst team in baseball. There's got to be a reason for this, right? Everyone looks at the Front Office and blames them for not building a good team. But let me tell you something.

It is not the Front Office's fault that we have the worst record in baseball.

Read that again.

It is not the Front Office's fault that we have the worst record in baseball.

Here are my reasons:

1. For the most part, we are the same team we were last year. We have effectively only replaced two position players, Cameron and Giles. While Edmonds is an obvious step back, Iguchi should be a step forward. Our rotation only has one change (and Wolf > Wells), while our bullpen has only seen a few new faces. The core group of guys remains the same. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the Front Office could predict that the team would fail to play up to their career averages. Bard has been terrible. Khalil has no power. Giles can't get on-base to save his life. Hairston was apparently nothing more than a fluke. Thatcher appears to be a fluke as well. Hoffman has struggled. K-Cam is getting lit up worse than TTG on Cinco de Mayo.
2. The starting rotation. It's been nails. Germano has been a question mark, but he's our fifth starter. CY seems to finally be getting back in stride and Peavy and Maddux have been more of the same from last year. Wolf has dazzled.
3. Bud Black is an idiot. Some would say that the Front Office should be responsible for this, but Black didn't look quite so ineffective last year. Sure, he made a few questionnable moves, but for the most part, it was a brilliant rookie campaign. This year has been quite different. He's using the wrong people at the wrong times. He's not even using half the people on his roster. Just as they shouldn't be blamed for not predicting the utter collapse of the team, the Front Office cannot be blamed for failing to predict that Black would stop adhering to logic and reason.

There is one thing the Front Office is culpable for. The farm system is currently not in a place where we can recover from a disastrous start. Whereas other teams have players they can patch in when their players struggle, we have nothing. We're about another year out from any meaningful production from our farm guys, and to the team's credit, they've done their best to remedy this. The farm system is better than it's been, but the horrible management of the system from 2000 through 2004 has left us severely crippled right now.

But as we sit here broken hearted, lets make sure we target the right people with our criticism. The Front Office COULD HAVE NEVER predicted that the team would stop playing to it's average production. They cannot be held responsible for the utter failure of the (mostly) same personnel that excelled last year. The players have played like shit Rally Backs, and our manager seems like he's letting the tidal forces of the moon influence the majority of his decisions. This team sucks right now, but it's the team's fault. There are things that Kevin Towers, Sandy Alderson, et. al could have done better, but they don't play the games on the field.

In short, blame Canada.