Padres camp report
PEORIA, Ariz. -- Five things to know about the San Diego Padres:
1. The cheers still echo: For the first time in club history, the Padres are coming off back-to-back division titles. And for the first time in club history, San Diego has finished north of .500 for three consecutive seasons. Part of the reason is that the Padres, who disappear sometimes offensively at home in Petco Park, have been strong on the road. They were 45-36 away from home last season -- in no small part because they scored 101 more runs (416-315) and batted 34 points higher (.279-.245).
2. Pitching and defense again will be the recipe. The Padres failed to add the middle-of-the-order hitter they wanted, settling instead for acquiring young third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff from Cleveland for second baseman Josh Barfield. They have high hopes for Kouzmanoff, though manager Bud Black will protect him early by hitting him lower in the order, somewhere around sixth. While he settles in, the Padres added Greg Maddux to a pitching staff that ranked first in the NL in ERA last season (3.87) for the first time in club history. Meanwhile, the Padres tied for second in the NL with a .985 fielding percentage.
3. The Padres need more games out of shortstop Khalil Greene, and if they get them, perhaps Greene's streakiness will dissipate at least a little. After posting a .349 on-base percentage in 2004, he slumped to .296 in 2005 before bringing it back up to .320 last season. "Some guys are streakier than others," Black says. "If the hot spurts last longer, which is always the hope, then he can really do some great things offensively."
4. No other general manager is as adept at building a bullpen as Kevin Towers. He correctly predicted the Padres would win the NL West last season based on the strength of their pen, and they should be solid again. Closer Trevor Hoffman enters the season as baseball's all-time saves leader (482) and at 38 had one of the better seasons in his career with an NL-high 46 saves and a .902 saves percentage. Cla Meredith was outstanding after being acquired from Boston (5-1, 1.07 ERA) and Scott Linebrink remains steady.
5. He doesn't have the name recognition of Maddux, David Wells or even Jake Peavy (who already has an NL ERA title and an NL strikeout title under his belt), but Chris Young was another great find last season. Towers acquired him from Texas, and Young, a 6-10 former Princeton basketball player, responded by going 11-5 with a 3.46 ERA. Odd thing is, Petco Park seems to favor every pitcher in the league but Young. The guy is lights-out in other parks, posting an NL-best 2.41 road ERA, and he's now 9-0 with 15 no-decisions in his past 24 road starts (6-0 in 15 road starts in '06).
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