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.

Edmonds returns to So Cal

So we finally got the answer to our CF problems - 37-year-old Jim Edmonds.

Huh, I think I liked this move five years ago but now I am not so sure. He hasn't played more than 117 games in either of the last two seasons and we saw what happened when Mike Cameron missed games last year.

The part of this deal that I like is that we have a proven CF (when he's healthy) and all we gave up was a 3B who was probably never going to make the big club, a deal I would make every time. But it has to be understood that this move is only a stop gap solution and hopefully Edmonds doesn't fall off this year like Vinny Castilla did when he was supposed to solve the problems at third for a season.

I don't expect Edmonds to be playing much longer but if he can pull out one final solid season (maybe like 2005 when he hit .263/.385/.533 with 29 homers and 89 RBIs), then this could be the makings of a good season for the Pads.

Plus with the additions of Randy Wolf and Tadahito Iguchi, the Padres seem to be quietly building a contender for 2008. While it may be fun to see the flashy signings of players like A-Rod, what most people often forgot is that it's the quiet kid in the corner of the room that is usually the most trouble. Hopefully that is us.

I think that by this point, most of us are willing to trust Kevin Towers and the moves he makes but you still have to wonder how much an old CF who has put his body through the wringer over the years with his amazing defensive plays has left to give his new team.

Barry Bonds, home run king

I don't make it a point to talk about non-Padres stuff often but I wanted to take a moment to talk about THE home run.

With the game on in the background and trying to get kids settled for bed, I came down with my three month old son right as Barry Bonds started his at bat in the fifth inning. No sooner did I sit down and start rocking my son when I heard the unmistakable crack of a home run.

You knew Bonds wanted to hit the home run at home so that he would actually be cheered and get to celebrate the achievement, but the one thing that may be overlooked here is the fact that this home run was actually a meaningful hit in a tie game.

Stopping play and knowing Bud Selig was not in attendance, it was obvious that Willie Mays was in attendance but the classiest part of the evening was the video message from Hank Aaron shown on the Jumbotron. Bonds then said a few words and actually showed some emotion and I think that if that was the guy portrayed in the media every day, he wouldn't be as hated by the baseball world as he currently is.

Baseball fans, and sports fans in general, like stars who are just as human as we are and when you hear the emotion coming from Bonds in short speech after the home run, he almost seemed like he could be a likable guy - if he wanted to be.

Regardless of whether he is guilty of cheating or not this was one of the moments that any fan watching the game will be able to recall (at least until A-Rod breaks the record) and one day I hope to tell my son about how we watched this moment of sports history together. Regardless of the man the moment is celebrating, it is definitely neat to be able to have a personal story to go with this bit of history.

And now baseball can get back to overhyping teams and players that matter, or will at least be a part of the pennant races.

Bonds brings chase - and baggage - to town

I may be in the unpopular minority here, and especially because I'm a Padres fan, but as Barry Bonds brings his quest for home runs No. 755 and 756 to town I have to say that whatever prejudices we may personally have against the man as baseball fans we have to remember one thing - he has never been found guilty in any way that would jeopardize his status with Major League Baseball.

As much as I would like to see the legitimacy of his record chase challenged we have to remember one thing - it is Bud Selig's fault (and maybe even the fault of those commissioners before him) that there is a dark cloud surrounding the chase of one of baseball's most hallowed records. If drug testing had been implemented back when the NFL brought it into their league, one of two things would have happened, Bonds would have achieved the record cleanly or he (and others who set home run records) would have been caught and would not have the home run totals he has now.

So as Bonds brings his chase to town I have two things going through my head: One, I hope Padres pitching can keep him homerless while he is in town so his home run doesn't have the potential to cost SD a game and two, as much as I don't want to I think it's time to start rooting for Alex Rodriguez to go on a tear because the more home runs he hits now, the sooner he can break Bonds record and bring legitimacy back to the record.

Stuck in the slumps?

How great was it to see Adrian Gonzalez pick up two doubles last night, giving fans more signs that he may finally be coming out of his slump?

Too bad for us that El Duque was on fire last night and kept Gonzalez on second after both of those doubles. I continue to see differing opinions online of whether the Padres really need that extra bat but I'll tell you, usually when a guy has a line like Hernandez's, you could have a lineup full of Alex Rodriguez's and it wouldn't have made a difference. Let's hope the Padres can pick up the rubber match tonight.

The one thing that worries me after last night's game though is that Jake Peavy is not as sharp as he was during the season. I don't know if this is just a slump but I would have thought that after the 2006 he had, karma would've let him avoid a slump until 2008.

The biggest worry about Peavy though is the fact that he is not the only one slumping. Greg Maddux can't seem to get people out, Gonzalez didn't hit much in June and now with Peavy not as sharp as he had been, it seems the Padres have to rely on fewer guys to carry more of the load - which usually ends in disaster.

Hopefully these are just the little mid-year hiccups great teams always seem to battle through before they make the a big playoff run. Think about it this way, St. Louis barely even made the playoffs before winning the World Series so if SD can get to the playoffs in one piece, maybe lady luck will bring the first pro sports title to SD with her.