So, we’re going to leave this one real open-ended. In fact, I’m not going to provide any direction. Let’s hear ‘em.
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If we were in any other division we would not have made the playoffs..with that said, I still think it was a decent season, one that I enjoyed living out of the area via MLB’s subscription service..
We need pitching..please dear lord deliver us a couple of first rate starters..our pen was great for the most part..Otsuka wasn’t as good as last year but Linebrink was solid..Trevor as usual was da man..we need pitching more than anything else..
This team reminded me of the one that went to the WS against the Yank$.I loved that team and their heart..
I would like to see the majority of the guys back..they need a couple seasons together..Klesko is worthless and has been for a couple years now..he’s the only one I want GONE..sorry if that upsets any fans..his defense is horrid and he can not hit the long ball as advertised..of course he wants to stay in SD..who wouldnt at the end of your career..
we play “small ball” pretty well but do need some speed.
I can sum it up in two words: disappointment and frustration. Disappointed that the Pads were not as good as last season when I felt like they were (but then again maybe the ’04 team was not as good as their 87 wins). Frustrated because I feel like the organization continues to stumble about in search of a plan and because several players didn’t take the steps forward that I was hoping for.
I was happy to make the play-offs and go to only my third playoff game in 30 years, but I felt like this team was missing something all season, whether it was simply more power or better pitching or something more intangible. The Pads seemed tight all year, playing not to lose. I am hoping, at the very least, that Alderson can bring a direction to the organization. One thing’s for sure, it will be a much different squad that shows up in Peoria next February, but that’s a conversation for next week.
dusty: Thanks for the comments. I hold out some hope for Klesko on offense, but it will require some serious re-engineering of his game. On defense he’s a liability anywhere and it’s all about damage control. As you say, hopefully the Pads can upgrade the pitching next year.
Bruce: I hear ya. I still think if this team stays healthy they duplicate the 87 wins of ’04. But all things being equal, I’ll take 82 wins and a playoff spot over 87 wins and nothing. Do others feel that way?
Personally I’m disappointed in many respects but also proud that this team never gave up. The same could not be said of a lot of the clubs that represented SD between playoff appearances.
Also, there were some really magical moments (what a horrible phrase, but applicable here) like when Khalil hit the grand slam off Cordero. Stuff like that will stay with me for a long, long time.
I get the feeling this is one of those seasons I’m going to end up appreciating more 10 years from now than I do now.
Geoff: I agree with you that had they been a bit healthier, they probably would have come close to winning 87 games. Not taking anything away from the accomplishment of winning the division and making the play-offs, my sense of disappointment lies mainly in that I expected the team to build on those 87 wins this season instead of taking the step back they did, especially after the way they played in May. It was almost like chinese water torture to watch this team stumble during the final 4 months. We all knew that ther were capable of playing better, but they never really did. That’s why this season feels like a letdown at the moment. Still they should be commended for hanging together. They managed to play just well enough to win a key game here and there to hold off their sorry competition.
Inevitably I will return to HALF FULL status as the offseason progresses. I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of plan Alderson will implement, but worry that our bad contracts will prevent any kind of meaningful changes this year.
I still can’t get over the fact that we will be allocating so much (>30%) of the payroll to average or worse pitching.
Thought on the season: What a long, strange trip it was (with apologies to the Dead).
I was pleased, for the most part, with the off-season adjustments made by Towers, and they played out well during the season. He did a fine job of strengthening the bench and the bullpen. However, I was very disappointed in the way the starting pitching was handled, or mishandled, imo. Replacing Wells with Williams was a wash, I thought, but ended up being a downgrade (although I don’t know if you can fault Towers for that). The inability or unwillingness to go out and grab a #2 starter, I felt, was going to hurt us, and it did. I really didn’t feel Williams, Lawrence, or Eaton could be looked at as a #2 and the best thing would be to sign someone to fill that role behind Peavy and push those other three guys down into spots they’re better suited for instead of trying to plug the #5 spot with guys like Darrel May and Tim Redding. If Eaton had stepped up his game, things might have been different, but he didn’t. And he was injured, which brings us to another topic.
Injuries definitely played a role this year, but they decimated the rest of the west, too. Losing Loretta and Hernandez for extended periods was a big blow, although Olivo did a fine job of filling in behind the dish and Towers’ bench did an admirable job of filling in for Loretta. Too many games were lost to leg injuries for Dave Roberts; too many games were lost for Khalil; too many games lost for EY and Eaton. Well, you get the picture.
The next strange occurence was the mystifying downturns experienced by so many players. The stoic and stable Greene was not someone I expected a sophomore slump from, but how else to explain his defensive performance? His offense was down as well, but his defensive slump was much more dramatic and inexplicable to me.
Loretta’s power utterly disappeared, and it happened before the thumb injury so I don’t think it was solely attributable to that. Perhaps he turns it around without the injury, but pre-injury he had 0 HR, 5 2B, and an SLG around .350 in 160 AB’s; not good.
Sean Burroughs, wow! Sure, no one should have expected him to breakout and start driving the ball, but did anyone expect his BA and OBP to plummet and even his 2B power to disappear?
Nevin and Klesko both experience huge drops in performance. Sure they both experienced a decrease in power last year, but Klesko’s could have been injury related and both suffered from Petco’s effects; however, they both maintained fairly solid BA and OBP numbers. Heck, Nevin’s EQA was still .298 in 2004 and Klesko’s .301! I would not have been surprised to see some dropoff from 2004, but I did not expect anything near the drop we saw on the field this year.
So we won the West for the fourth time in franchise history and I was able to attend the first playoff game in Petco history! Two things I’m very stoked about. Being swept made it bittersweet, but I’m happy we were there. The Padres fought it to the end, too, as Geoff noted. The team has character, which I respect and appreciate, it just doesn’t have enough talent to overcome huge deficits given up by poor starting pitching and poor defense.
Here’s to an exciting off-season. We have a lot of free agents (Randa, Jackson, Sweeney, Seanez, etc.), as well as several crucial free agents (Hernandez, Giles and Hoffman). I am very interested to see how this will be handled, and I’m excited about having Sandy Alderson in charge. Go Padres!!
I just hope they don’t do something stupid like pay Hoffman more than $3.5M.
Dusty, in a different division, the Padres would have had a different record.
They would have played different teams.
I think Pat summed up the season pretty well.
The season started on low notes when the Dodgers jumped up to a 12-2 starts and the Padres were nowhere close to them at 7-7. April’s team ended with 11-13 record.
Definitely not what I thought how the season should had started. Maddeningly so, considering the lineup wasn’t that different from previous season’s. Then, May came and the Padres were very good. I thought then, that the team was going to be alright. Not as good as May’s but definitely better than April’s.
So much for the optimism. The rest of the season was just as maddening as April and twice as frustrating. If it wasn’t for the bench players and the bullpen, the season was going to be even worse for me.
I thought the Nady experiment should have started earlier and Phil might still had contributed as a player every other day. Who knew Phil was going to be so bad, and who knew Bochy was so in love with him and not so confident in Nady despite X’s good start. I wish Nevin my thanks and all the best for he was the show during the low years. Then, having Klesko not performing was doubly frustrating and seeing Loretta getting hurt sliding to first base was stirring me crazy. Seeing Sean Burrough stumbled was sad.
The good thing was, Ramon was still hitting (until he decided to take an early surgery, thus leaving the team with no starting catcher)and calling games well. Getting Olivo and having him performed so well was one of the good moves made by KT. Robert Fick subbing as catcher and playing well was another highlight. Giles were as great as we’ve come to expect him. DJ playing with fire and being a teammate was a good development both for him and the team. Seeing Sweeney batted in a pinch was still amazing as he came through again and again.
Having to witness the Tim Redding/Darrell May games were just torture (even with the Santana game win). Having Brian Lawrence tacked with losses despite his good earlier starts was not good either. As it turned out Brian was completely unlucky (as his 1-0 loss in Coors indicated) before completely losing his confidence and pitching ability. He even managed to pass along his condition to Woody right as Woody was coming off the DL. Losing Eaton was devastating to the team as he was the winningest pitcher going onto the DL. Seeing Reyes pitched was painful.
Peavy emerged as the ace of the staff and having the three at the end of the bullpen was just awesome. Getting Seanez, Hammond and Astacio were some of the moves that paid off well. Getting Park in place of Nevin worked well too as the Padres were scoring loads of runs for Park in most of his starts. Losing Germano and Chick for Rent-A-Randa was awful as Randa wasn’t performing up to expectations in San Diego. Hoffman got to be second all-time in saves, Craig Breslow got to be the find of the season, Oxspring got his cup of coffee, and Hensley got his audition to be in the starting spot next year.
Despite all that up and down, the Padres made the playoff, clinching by beating the hated Giants with cheater in the lineup. The fact that the team didn’t play rollover only added to the frustration of the season. The Padres could have been better.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda…that’s how it went. There’s hope for next season for the team can only get better. Right? Sure the team can get worse but getting better is nicer. Well, I choose to believe the Padres will get better as that is the goal for every team going into a new season.