According to ESPN, The Padres are just average

 The Padres offseason report card came in today. If I was a kid and this was my report card, I would have made up some lame excuse to why it never made it home.

Anyways, thank you highly qualified ESPN analysts for letting me know the team with the projected 4th lowest payroll has room to improve.

ESPN Offseason Moves: D, The Pitiful Padres: C-

Yes, the Padres didn't go out an do what they wanted to. They came out after last season saying they need a starting pitcher or two to complete a rotation but failed to do so. To be honest though, I am confident in the rotation. We have a lot of young and great arms in the mix right no, and for a team that went 6 games under .500 last year using 15 starting pitchers, imagine what we could have done with a solid rotation through 2012.

The Padres may not be done though. According to Corey Brock of MLB.com, GM Josh Byrnes said:

"There is a chance we can solve [the rotation] with our own guys," San Diego general manager Josh Byrnes said. "The thing about the offseason [is] … we haven't pursued guys just to add bodies. But if we feel there's an upgrade, someone with upside or a long-term guy, then OK. But we're comfortable with seeing how our guys look. There might be a need [to add a pitcher] but there might not be."

Additionally,  there are a few more arms out on the market currently looking to find a home in 2013. Including Kyle Lohse, Roy Oswalt, Dallas Braden and Chris Young.

Okay, alright, Lohse (16-3 in 2012) will not be a Padre and I find it hard pressed for the Padres to go after 35-year old Oswalt and his usual high contract demands that surround. Braden could be a potential who they could get for cheap. He only made $3.3M last year in a season he only had 18IP. Young, on the other hand, could be a great move for fan moral. He is a consistent arm who can win some games and keep you in most others.

Chances are though, if I am in the front office, I stick with what I got and run a craps shoot with my 10 potential starters.

                                            I heard he is still looking for a contract in 2013...

ESPN Position Players: C+, The Pitiful Padres: C+

PROJECTED LINEUP
SS Everth Cabrera
RF Will Venable/Chris Denorfia
3B Chase Headley
LF Carlos Quentin
1B Yonder Alonso
CF Cameron Maybin
C Nick Hundley/Yasmani Grandal
2B Logan Forsythe/Jedd Gyorko

So, the Padres didn't score a lot of runs last year (4.0/game, 10th in NL), but I will use the old cliche of "Petco Park". Let us not forget they are moving the fences in 10ft which could provide for a little more offensive production. To analyze the lineup:
Cabrera, solid defense, lack of offense. Basically, we know what to expect.
Venable/Denorfia: Solid defense, and an upside on base-paths  Both can run decently well and Denorfia hits nearly .300 and puts the ball in play. Get on base for the big boys.
Headley: Coming off a near MVP season last year, we can only hope he replicates his numbers.
Quentin: Only played 86 games and made his impact known. A full season with fences in? HIGH potential for some offensive surge.
Alonso: Only 9 HR's in his rookie campaign but showed a lot at the plate. He will have people on base in front of him to drive in some runs.
Maybin: After bad first half, he hit .283 in the second half. Keep the swing up. At 26, still has a chance to be sucessful.
Hundley/Grandal: Game 51 we get a hitter back. Hundley plays great defense, but too many holes in his swing.
Forsythe/Gyroko: Logan hit .273 last year and an upgrade form Armarista. Gyrokos 30 bombs in Tucson hopefully can transfer to the bigs.

I feel the lineup will be better than last years based on potential. One year more experience for the rookies and a chance to erase last year for the likes of Maybin and Hundley.

ESPN Pitching: D+, The Pitiful Padres: C

I stated my opinion before. If the Padres don't get hurt, they have 10 potential arms. 6 under last year with a platoon of starters.

ESPN Overall: C, The Pitiful Padres: C

Ok, so I am a little biased and think all of my Padres are going to be All-Stars this year like Huston Street was last year. Last year, the team surprised some people. We had a MVP finalist and Gold Glover in Headley, a pleasant surprise from rookies Grandal and Alonso and a great effort from an ailing staff. I don't (realistically) expect any World Series this year, but .500 is not out of the question.

Only two secure pitching spots? Let the Hunger Games begin!

And may the odds be ever in your favor.

The Padres opened up spring training yesterday with an astonishing 36 pitchers, all fighting for spots on the roster. Right now, according to Corey Brock, Padres beat writer, only Eddy Volquez and Clayton Richard have secure spots in the starting rotation for this upcoming year.

For a team that had 15 different pitchers start a game in 2012, this means that 13 of those starters from last year are now going to be fighting for 3 slots in the 2013 rotation. Who will they be?

Lets examine, first off, the 13 candidates:

RK	Player	Team	W	L	ERA	G	GS▼	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	WHIP
1	Richard, C	SD	14	14	3.99	33	33	0	0	218.2	228	110	97	31	42	107	.267	1.23
2	Volquez, E	SD	11	11	4.14	32	32	0	0	182.2	160	88	84	14	105	174	.236	1.45
3	Bass, A	SD	2	8	4.73	24	15	1	1	97.0	89	59	51	10	39	80	.243	1.32
3	Marquis, J	SD	6	7	4.04	15	15	0	0	93.2	94	53	42	14	28	79	.258	1.30
5	Stults, E	SD	8	3	2.92	18	14	0	0	92.1	86	36	30	7	23	51	.249	1.18
6	Ohlendorf, R	SD	4	4	7.77	13	9	0	0	48.2	62	44	42	7	24	39	.304	1.77
7	Werner, A	SD	2	3	5.58	8	8	0	0	40.1	45	26	25	5	14	35	.285	1.46
8	Wells, K	SD	2	4	4.58	7	7	0	0	37.1	41	23	19	6	20	19	.283	1.63
9	Kelly, C	SD	2	3	6.21	6	6	0	0	29.0	39	23	20	5	10	26	.322	1.69
9	Suppan, J	SD	2	3	5.28	6	6	0	0	30.2	34	19	18	4	13	7	.281	1.53
11	Cashner, A	SD	3	4	4.27	33	5	0	4	46.1	42	23	22	5	19	52	.244	1.32
11	Luebke, C	SD	3	1	2.61	5	5	0	0	31.0	28	10	9	1	8	23	.233	1.16
11	Wieland, J	SD	0	4	4.55	5	5	0	0	27.2	26	16	14	5	9	24	.245	1.27
14	Moseley, D	SD	0	0	9.00	1	1	0	0	5.0	5	5	5	1	2	4	.263	1.40
14	Stauffer, T	SD	0	0	5.40	1	1	0	0	5.0	7	4	3	1	3	5	.333	2.00

Of those, as said earlier, the first two are your #1 and #2 guys on the roster, and you have a few that made spot starts out of the bullpen, so we can eliminate them. Now that leaves us with with about 5 other real potential candidates.

According to Padres.com, this is the depth chart. I think #3 is most likely correct as Stults put up a solid 8-3 record with a sub 3 ERA and should be a lock in the rotation, but after that, I feel these pitchers are literally battling for the Hunger Games trophy.

Time to make your case. Lets start with Tyson Ross.

Ross came to the Padres this offseason in a trade with the A's where the Friar got him and infielder A.J. Kirby for Padres utility man Andy Parrino and lefty Andrew Werner (if you had him in your Padres 2013 starting rotation pool at work, scratch his name off the list).

In Ross' three big league seasons with the A's, he has put up, well lets say, less than stellar numbers. He boasts a 6-18 record with a 5.33 ERA and 1.60 WHIP (including last years 2-11/6.50/1.80). How the Padres project him in the starting rotation? It is beyond me. So far, he hasn't posted anything significant besides a 6.18 K/9IP that would give me any indication he is ready for an instant slot into the rotation. I know I am not Buddy Black, but I would ship him down to the bottom of my list as of now.

Next, Anthony Bass.

This guy is one of my favorites. It may be because I tweet with him on occasion or the fact my girlfriend and him share an alma mater (GO WAYNE STATE WARRIORS!), but he didn't come off such a hot season last year neither. Posting a 2-8 record with a 4.73 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Not exactly eye popping numbers either, but Bass does have an upside. He is only 25 and last year was his first real big league experience. He had 80Ks in 92IP giving him a 7.42K/9IP. Bass walked 39 runners last year, so if he can get his control down, and focus in around the strike zone, in theory, his Ks will go up and his walks will go down. Based on potential, Bass has my nod at the #4 spot in the rotation.

#5 spot, now who to put in? A rookie or a veteran. That is the argument for this slot as Casey Kelly battles Jason Marquis. To keep inline with the Hunger Games theme a career tribute vs. Sector 12 (I am sorry if you don't read the books, go get some SparkNotes to fully understand this post).

Marquis came over midway through last season and started 15 games for the Padres going 6-7 with a 4.04 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. Once again, not eye popping, but solid numbers for a number 5. He has been consistent his whole career and the Padres did just throw him a $3 million/1-year deal, showing they have confidence in the 34-year old and have invested in him to be a starter.

Casey Kelly is a question mark. In 6 starts, Kelly went 2-3 with an above 6 ERA. Whatever. He is a rookie and a highly touted one at that. But, that being said, is he ready to make a roster spot? The Padres have him tagged as #6 and what I feel should should be opening day starter for the Tucson Padres. He has potential to do great things, as any 1st Rd draft pick does, but I don't think he is ready to do them quite yet.

So as far as opening day goes, my pitching rotation as head coach of the Padres (well if I was....) would be: Richard, Volquez, Stults, Bass, Marquis.

Still, it is to remain a mystery until everyone is through with rehab. Right now, the 23-year old Joe Wieland, former promotional jersey giveaway Cory Luebke and the fireballin', deer huntin', potential game closin'? Andrew Cashner are all out, but all 3 have started games for the Padres. Could one of them land in the rotation? Definitely. Let us fans hope that every pitcher pitches amazingly in hopes of not losing there spot, because right now, we have about 10 guys for 5 spots.

Again, let the odds be ever in your favor.

I know Jennifer Lawrence isn't in our rotation, but would that be awesome?

Go Padres.