Sandy Alderson's offseason goal: Improve to 95-100 wins.

[HollywoodLeo]

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/...t=.jsp&c_id=sd

"Our goal in the offseason was to get from 88 wins to 95 to 100," Alderson said Thursday at PETCO Park, meeting with area media along with general manager Kevin Towers and new manager Bud Black.

...

"There are several ways to get there -- by improving your hitting, pitching or defense," Alderson said of the high bar he has set. "The obvious way was to improve our offense. We look at the starting pitching we have in the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation [as] the incremental improvement that is going to get us there."

We certainly have a pitching staff capable of doing so. The offense has the ability to do so, but there's a lot of questions involved in it. Really, on both sides of the ball.

- Will either Giles, hopefully both, return to form?
- Will Sledge/Cruz Jr get the job done in left? Or will KT trade for someone who will?
- Will Greg Maddux finally start to show his age?
- Will Wells stay healthy?
- Will Kouzmanoff live up to the hype?
- Will Bard succeed as the full time starter?

I'm going into this season like I did last year, with an open mind but no lofty expectations.

If the majority of the perverbial questions are answered this team could actually be somewhat of a powerhouse.

If the majoirty of them go unanswered they could be struggling to stay out of the cellar.

Here's to a successful '07.

[redsrbetter]

Will either Giles, hopefully both, return to form? Honestly, I think both of these guys have lost a lot of their talent. Marcus fell off as a lead-off hitter last season, so hopefully Terrmel Sledge can handle the top of the order. Both of these guys can hit, and it would be gret if they could get it back but I doubt it. Brian has lost his power and hit too many ground balls to the right side these days. Reminds me of Griffey. I honestly wouldn't expect these guys to have a huge effect on the lineup though.

Will Sledge/Cruz Jr get the job done in left? Or will KT trade for someone who will? I think they will hang in there, but a trade deadline deal will be nice.

Will Greg Maddux finally start to show his age? I have to say he already has shown flashes of it. You have to hope for a big early season stride, but expect a fall off later on.

Will Wells stay healthy? My guess, is no.

Will Kouzmanoff live up to the hype? Absolutely. He just hasn't had experience, but he will have a great season. I think he will be a good surprise to the lineup.


Will Bard succeed as the full time starter? I had no clue he was going to be. He had a healthy .338 AVg last year, but those numbers will not remain when he is starting.

Juat my thoughts, and good luck this season!

[realmofotalk]

- Will Sledge/Cruz Jr get the job done in left? Or will KT trade for someone who will?
The only thing we do know is that if they don't get it done, expect the Linebrink trade rumors to run en masse yet again.

- Will Greg Maddux finally start to show his age?
He already started to show his age when he was a Cub. Batters teed off him more often than they used to. However, he is still a competitive workhorse who last year showed that if he is motivated by being on a contending team he can anchor the pitching staff.

- Will Wells stay healthy?
No, Wells is still an overweight bastard, although he had promised that he "eats crap only on Sundays."

- Will Kouzmanoff live up to the hype?
Who knows. Sean Burroughs was once a highly touted 3b prospect, too, even more so than Kouzmanoff. The Indians G.M., Mark Shapiro, has a good eye for talent and maybe he knows a thing or two about both Barfield and Kouzmanoff that the rest of us don't.

- Will Bard succeed as the full time starter?
Based on what he has done with 300 at bats in a season in the past, the answer is no. Then again, David Ross showed some people that we can't always judge from a small sample size how a player will do.

[HollywoodLeo]

Bard had 249 at bats last year.

I'm more apt to trust recent history over history from 4 years ago.

At the same time, it was only one season in which he wasn't the full time starter, so who knows?

[DravenX]

Marcus Giles is not much of a lead off hitter. He has said he is more comfortable batting second than lead-off.

Maddux showed his age his last season with the Braves, which is why he went back to the Cubs. I would like to see him have a few more good years but the time is almost here for his retirement. I think he would be a great pitching coach.

[missionhockey21]

I think Maddux could easily have another few moderately successful seasons in PetCo, not to mention I think even though both Young and Peavy are fantastic established pitchers, he'll have an impact on those two (and the various other younger Padres pitchers.) He absolutely made the Reds look silly last year as a Dodger (which isn't hard, but still) and like mofo mentioned, he thrives on being with a competing team. Just look at his splits from last season:

SPLIT	ERA	W	L	Sv	SvO	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	BAA
Pre-All Star	4.49	7	9	0	0	18	18	110.1	123	61	55	13	20	62	.283
Post-All Star	3.88	8	5	0	0	16	16	99.2	96	48	43	7	17	55	.257

By Stadium	ERA	W	L	SV	SVO	G	GS	CG	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG
Wrigley Field	3.79	5	4	0	0	11	11	0	71.1	74	32	30	7	8	44	.268
Dodger Stadium	1.76	3	1	0	0	6	6	0	41.0	28	8	8	2	5	21	.199

He's a guy who turns it on when it's needed, and last year he was a strong home pitcher (as it was clearly shown in LA) and with going to another pitchers park, this should favor him in 2007.

As for Kouzmanoff, to be honest, I am not that thrilled on the kid. He was 25 and had a career year, I think he can hit and has the potential to be a solid MLB hitter.... but he's not particularly athletic nor does he have a ton of power. I am just concerned that he could be one of those prospects who finally figures out minor league hitting a bit later than all of his peers but never catches up to them in development to be able to hit MLB pitching. The one promising thing in his favor is that he did reach AAA for the first time last season without any regression (to speak of) from his hot AA start, then again I am not all too familiar with what type of league that is in terms of it's parks and talent of pitchers to hitters. He does have the potential to be a bit better than Barfield, but I think he's more of a question mark given his age.

[FmrFresnan]

Kouz doesn't have power? The kid hit a grand slam on the first Major League pitch he saw. I think Kouz is going to be a HUGE player for the Padres this season. As far as Maddux, I think with him pitching in a pitcher friendly park is going to help his numbers. Pitching at Wrigley is not a lot of fun when that wind starts blowing out, that ball flies when the wind picks up.

[missionhockey21]

I never said he doesn't have power, but I did say he doesn't have a ton of power. Look at his minor league career totals and the scout projections, then factor in he'll be playing in PetCo for half the season. Could he hit 15-25 homers? Sure, but if he exceeded that by much, I would be quite surprised. By that same token though I think if he lives up to the hype, there are going to be plenty of hits that go for two bases.

My predictions for power next season are (if he stays healthy and gets a full season of AB's): 31 doubles, 0 triples, 19 homers.

He does supposedly have fantastic bat speed so maybe his power is beyond what I am thinking it is.

[padrefanforever]

Well he did post better power #'s than Ryan Howard did in the minors....so who knows....I have a great feeling about this kid and think he's the real deal with the bat....the reports say he has soft hands, but defense is a ?mark....not sure how that works....but defense is something that can be improved....so I think this is a huge piece for us....and my prediction is 20-25HR's for Kouz

[realmofotalk]

IMO, if the Padres can get just a great rookie season from Kouz like the Blue Jays did from former A.L. ROY 3b Eric Hinske, they should be happy.

[love_that_reefer]

Ryan Howard hit 48 homers in 2004 between AA and AAA. How does Kouzmanoff have better power numbers? I agree with Mission on this one. Lots of doubles with around 20 homers. Expect a lot of errors at third as well. Maddux in a rotation where he is likely #3 might do him a lot of good.

[HollywoodLeo]

I'm not expecting much out of Kouzmanoff this year on the grounds that I try not to expect much out of any rookie.

Adrian Gonzalez was a pleasant suprise last year, hopefully Kouzmanoff will be one this year.

Didn't he DH all last year? That supports the errors prediction.

[redsrbetter]

From what I have read on Kouzmanoff, he can hit to all fields due to his ability to keep the bat in the zone for a long period of time. I predict he hits for a .300 AVG and hits 25 HRs. That is pretty solid for a rookie. It is something to build on.

My predictions do come from what I have read though as I have never actually seen the guy play. I also hear that he lacks foot speed on the defensive end which will shorten his range quite a bit. Sporting News says he will have to work hard to be an average 3B.

Hopefully he can be well worth the Padres decision to choose him over Barfield. But I see him as a middle-of-the -order threat in a couple of years.

[HollywoodLeo]

I wonder if Kouzmanoff can play outfield.

If he can, maybe we can put him in left and let Branyan play 3rd.

[FmrFresnan]

Look, we don't know what Kouz is going to do this season. If he starts hitting bombs all over the building, he's going to prove a lot of people wrong. If he becomes a more than decent defensive 3rd baseman, he's going to prove a lot of people wrong. I think he's going to impress a lot of people this season and I think we're going to see an All-Star in the making.