Baseball Odds: The San Diego Padres made a major splash in the off-season getting high profile stars like Matt Kemp and Justin Upton. Will all of their moves be enough to get them into contention in the National League West against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants and the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers?
Major Moves by San Diego
The Padres have gone all-in for the 2015 season as they have added Kemp, Upton, Wil Myers, Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks on offense to go along with Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson on the pitching staff. The Padres were last in the league in runs scored a year ago, so the new players should provide an immediate scoring boost.
Kemp, Upton, Myers, Norris and Middlebrooks join second baseman Jedd Gyorko and possibly Seth Smith in the starting lineup. The middle of the order in particular looks like it could be really good with Kemp, Upton and Myers. Last season the Padres didn’t get much power as their leading home run hitter had just 15.
Kemp and Upton combined to hit 54 home runs last season and Myers has good power as well. The problem for the offense will still be Petco Park, which is a pitcher’s park. Only one player, Adrian Gonzalez hit more than 40 home runs at Petco Park.
Rotation Still Strong
The Padres didn’t have to give up much in terms of starting pitching so they have the makings of a good rotation with Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy. Cashner had a 2.55 ERA, Ross had an ERA of 2.81 and Kenney was at 3.63. The Padres were fourth in the league last season in team ERA at 3.27. The team added Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson in the off-season and if those two players are healthy then the team has a good starting five.
Playoff Chances
The Padres won 77 games last year and lost 85. The Padres are still behind the Dodgers in terms of talent in the National League West so realistically the team is competing for a Wild Card. And in the National League that looks very possible. Last year the Giants and Pirates got the two Wild Card spots with 88 wins each. The Padres need to win 11 more games in 2015 than they did a year ago to reach that number.
The 2015 San Diego Padres won’t look much like last year’s team as only two regulars in the lineup, Jedd Gyorko and first baseman Yonder Alonso, are in their same position from a year ago. The Padres could definitely be in contention to make the playoffs in 2015.
