[kyleb]

The Padres' pitching is ridiculous - Peavy and Young are easy #1 and #2 pitchers on almost any team, Maddux gives you league-average stuff, and Wells probably has something left in the tank. The bullpen is clearly insane with Meredith, Linebrink, and Hoffman all being plus-plus relievers.

The defense is probably average or slightly above average with Khalil Greene and Marcus Giles being strong defenders up the middle, but Kouzmanoff is definitely one of the worst defensive third basemen in the game (scouts say his glove is completely unacceptable there and needs to be moved to first - impossible in San Diego due to Gonzalez). Mike Cameron is at least average in center field and probably above-average by most metrics, though Brian Giles isn't going to win any gold gloves at this stage of his career.

However, the offense isn't exactly great. Brian Giles is nothing more than a high OBP low SLG guy and a defensive liability in the field, Marcus Giles doesn't have the line drive power we saw a few years ago, and Kouzmanoff still has a lot of holes in his swing that scouts fear will be his demise. I really don't like the trade for Kouzmanoff, since Barfield was an outstanding second baseman and will be for the Indians for a long time, though I guess getting nothing from the hot corner for two years in a row is a bit frustrating.

All in all, the Padres are clearly one of the two best teams in the NL West (Dodgers being the other one), and should contend for the division title barring any nasty injuries. I say this as a person who bet on the Diamondbacks to win the NL pennant, so I'm being pretty objective here. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]