FriarBall: Did the Padres add enough this offseason?

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Did the Padres add enough this offseason?

Looking at the guys Kevin Towers brought in to help get this team back to the playoffs in 2008, I have two questions for readers:

1. Did Towers add enough to get this team over the hump (barring injury setbacks)?

2. Of the players that changed teams or were available this offseason, who would you have liked to seen retained or added to the roster (keeping in mind that A Rod or Johan Santana had no shot of coming here in the first place)?

My answers? For No. 1 I think that everything has to go right in order for it to work. Is that a generic answer? You bet. Is it meaningless? Not in the least. To elaborate, the Padres have talent and when guys like Randy Wolf and Mark Prior are healthy, they can be No. 2 starters. However, the reason they were available was because when was the last time either of these guys was a No. 2 starter? You get my point.

For No. 2, I would have liked to see Geoff Blum come back just because of his versatility on defense but other than him, I would have liked to see SD be able to retain Milton Bradley. At the very least he would have kept reporters and bloggers busy throughout the year. It would also be cool if we could sign a guy like Bartolo Colon, who is still out on the market. Granted, this violates my price range rule but between his injury-plagued '07, the horrible stats when he did pitch and the fact that he's 35 at the end of May, this has KT Bargain written all over it.

Now that you've heard my view, let me know what you think? Who do you think would have fit in well in SD? Get posting.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm okay with Blum leaving because guys like Oscar Robles and Luis Rodriguez should be able to fill his shoes. Totally agree about Bradley. He changed the complexion of the offense last year, and I really wanted to see him return. More depth at the back end of the rotation remains a priority, but for the most part, I think the club has done a good job of reloading for '08.

Jim Higgins said...

Geoff, I think you are right in regards to Robles and Rodriguez. It was just nice having Blum because we knew exactly what he was where as the new guys we are still figuring them out. Luckily we are not looking for them to fill a major role so even if they don't produce it shouldn't affect too much. And who ever has enough pitching? It's always nice to have more.