Unlike the previous two positions, second base will be the wild card for the Padres last year. After the failure of Marcus Giles to secure the position last year and having to rely on the now-departed Geoff Blum, SD went out and signed Tadahito Iguchi for 2008.
A quick refresher on Iguchi - he spent last year with the White Sox and the Phillies - hitting .267/.347/.400 combined with 9 HR and 43 RBI. His HR total was half of what it was the year before despite moving from one hitter-friendly park to another. Those expecting his HR numbers to bounce will be sadly disappointed as he has lost some of his power due to his age (he is now 33) and the rest will go due to his new home park (like we need to repeatedly bring this up but what the heck).
Good news for us is that Iguchi is not known as being a power hitter anyway. What we should see from Iguchi this year are numbers similar to last year, which will also include a handful of stolen bases. The numbers won't blow anyone away but at least with Iguchi we have a pretty good idea of what we are getting.
The main part of this deal though is the fact that his presence allows Matt Antonelli another year to prepare for what should be a solid major league career. If that extra year really makes a difference, I am okay with Iguchi keeping the seat warm.
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