Padres News: My Take of the Padres after 32 games
After the disappointment that 2015 proved to be, many Padres’ fans weren’t expecting much from the Friars in 2016. Let’s take a look at the Padres after one fifth of their games have been played.
The first series was pretty much the worst possible way to start a season. The visiting Dodgers made the Padres look like a single-A team, setting all kind of records for an opening series. At that point I thought the season was over, that was obviously a bit of an overreaction, but after the beating the Pads took over three games at home I believe I was justified to think the way I did about this team.
The team has played better after that embarrassment and there are signs that may indicate that a turn around might not be impossible. There are many factors so far so let us take a look at who or what has been good and bad so far in 2016 for the San Diego Padres.
Good
We all knew that Myers was a very talented hitter, I mean the guy was the rookie of the year in 2013. The only question with him is whether he can stay healthy for a full season. So far we’ve seen what Myers can do when he’s healthy and that has been a fun sight for Padres fans.
The Padres have a tradition of having some of the majors best closers over the years. Weather it was Trevor, Heath Bell or Huston Street, as a Padres’ fan you could count on the closer to be solid. 2016 was supposed to be an exception, after all Rodney had flamed out in both Anaheim and Seattle, but so far the guy has been lights out. Padres fans enjoy seeing Rodney shooting arrows through the night sky after closing out games at Petco Park.
The back of the rotation was a mystery when the season began. Tyson Ross and Robbie Erlin were injured early in the year and that complicated things. Andrew Cashner and James Shields are not pitching well right now. and you can make the argument that Pomeranz has been the Friars most reliable pitcher. He has shown great control so far in 2016 and looks to be a solid young pitcher.
Bad
James Shields
Last season Shields was supposed to be the teams’ ace, but he struggled all year-long. Many fans were hoping that he would turn it around this season, but so far that hasn’t been the case. His velocity is down and he no longer has the stuff to put batters away consistently. When you factor in the contract that he owns, there’s no question that he is the Padres biggest disappointment so far in 2016.
So that’s what I’ve seen so far this season as the team heads to Chicago to play the all-mighty Cubs. Let’s hope the guys take their 4th straight series in the friendly confines of Wrigley. Not an easy task but the team has had moments of greatness mixed in with inferior play.
I am a lawyer that loves everything San Diego!
I agree with you on Shields and pomerantz and Meyers I think the biggest problem with this team if they can’t get rid of the Dead weight they have with these big contracts Upton and Kemp have played better this year so far but norris is down and not hitting his defense is also suspect this year this team just doesn’t seem to get the big hit when it’s needed I don’t know if they’re putting too much pressure on themselves but something seems to be wrong when they come up and can’t score a run with men on third base with less than 1 out I am concerned with all the injuries this team seems to continually have hamstrings and quad r problem for this team and they’re not doing enough stretching are they doing too much weight training are they not sprinting enough if you got Rule 5 players on the team and you’re just trying to hold on to them and not playing them it’s a waste of bench space they need to play blast and Janikowski more so you can find out what they can do