man, im wondering if there are any padres fans left? this team is gunna be horrible this year....i do however get to watch a real AA team in the L.E Storm....will update you all on the upcoming players...
Pads are going to shock a lot of people this year - they have much more potential than some give them credit for :yes:
This team won't be great but they'll be better than last year. (Yes, I know, not saying much) Lake Elsinore is A-ball. The AA team is in San Antonio.
Agreed. I'm not holding my breath for two reasons, though 1) A surprise run would require a lot of ifs to go our way, mainly surrounding talented but unproven players like Blanks, Latos, and Richard all having breakout years. I do like all the speed the team is showing in ST, though. But let's wait and see if that translates to the regular season. 2) With Moores still having a stranglehold on our finances the leash will probably be short with Adrian, meaning if it even looks like they'll be slipping away he'll be gone. That being said, I agree that the potential to surprise is there. It just requires a lot of things to go our way and, with the payroll factor, they can't afford a slow start.
As for the finances, I see this year as an opportunity for the organization. They don't have to pay the majority of their players much just yet b/c most of them are still too green to have earned a solid payday. So it's a chance to keep payroll low for now, not overspend and possibly have a little more cash flow on hand to use in the future... Moorad is a sports guy, he knows that being an owner isn't about making $$ all the time and the value of spending wisely to build the right team and a winner. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt for now, especially with the changes that have already been made. I'll miss KT cause he was awesome but I'm really liking Hoyer and this fast, athletic, scrappy club we have going on if anything they will at least be more fun to watch and give other squads in the NLW some heartburn in 2010.
I'm not trying to dog on Moorad here. The problem is, he doesn't have full control yet and Moores might force the issue to keep the team's value down while he's still in his divorce issues. I might be wrong, but I don't think Moorad has full control until 2012. You're right about a lot of the players still being green possibly working in our favor, though. The main cog of everything will be Adrian, however. Without Adrian we're not winning jack this year.
I will say this much, I like that Moorad is a baseball guy and Jed has a good resume so if they have to trade Adrian (as well as Bell), while it would kill any little hope we have this year, I think they can get a good return on him to help set us up for the near future.
Sorry I didn't mean to imply you were dogging on Moorad. More just expressing my opinions b/c I haven't had an opportunity to do so yet :lol: Moorad is now a full 50% owner, IIRC he's a bit ahead of schedule for taking over the team... Moores may very well be pushing to keep payroll low, but at least for this year, it's an option without hurting the team and there is time to figure out the Adrian situation. The Pads aren't going to part with him for anything but a big profit and if that deal doesn't come to fruition - I wouldn't be that surprised to see him get his payday in SD, especially if the team has a legit shot at contending in the near future. That said... I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Adrian go sad, but not surprised. Such is the life of a fan of a mid-market team...
