When general manager Kevin Towers made a 50 percent makeover of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man spring roster, he had four things in mind.
Key points of his wheelin’ and dealin’ were defense, power, character and the future. He’ll put those theories to the first tests when the bell rings for spring training games in Peoria, Ariz., March 3.
After they get acquainted, it’s up to manager Bruce Bochy to field a unit that hopefully will defend its division title and push on to a formidable role in the playoffs.
He discussed his trade motives recently to a luncheon audience at the Hall of Champions, where he mentioned acquisitions of Mike Cameron, Vinny Castilla, Adrian Gonzales, Bobby Hill, Walter Young and Mike Piazza.
“We felt this team needed a makeover,” he explained. “It wasn’t an exciting ball club (last year). So now, we’ll put not only a contender on the field but a much more exciting ball club with leadership and character.”
He said with Petco Park’s spacious outfield with the biggest gaps in baseball it was vital to improve the defense and “cut down those triples and doubles to singles. Troy Hoffman will be excited about that.
“Bringing in Mike Cameron is huge for us, so, in effect, with Dave Roberts and Brian Giles we have three centerfielders in the outfield at the same time.”
Getting back to character, he said, “We’ve heard some incredible stories about Chris Young, who’s 6-11 and a former Princeton basketball player. He’s intelligent and a fierce competitor on the mound.
“Vinny Castilla is a young infielder with tremendous numbers, realty good numbers for a pitcher-friendly ball park while Walter Young , at 6-5 and 325 pounds, tips the scales a bit at first.”
The question in the mix is Piazza. Can he improve upon his off season performance with the Mets last year? Still, his 19 homers were one more than team leader Ryan Klesko. Piazza will bat cleanup, play some first base and be a designated hitter against American League teams.
“We hope he can catch between 90 and 100 games,” said Bochy. “But that’s up to him.”
In defense of his 24 percent rating in throwing out runners, Bochy said it’s up to the pitchers to keep the runners close to the bag. “It takes two seconds to get the ball to second but the pitcher has to get it to the plate in 1.3,” he said.
Towers said he felt last year there was a void in true leadership and now “we have guys with a swagger presence.”
He conceded that “we do have an older ball club, but we did acquire a lot of young players with which to build a future. We’ll have one of the youngest teams next year.
“We’re excited about Gonzales. Good swing, good defender and long term for the future at first. Outfielder Terrmel Sledge (not on the 40-man roster) is our every day player of the future.
“It was felt there was a need for depth in the minor league system. We don’t want to be in a position of always rebuilding, like in the past.
“In two or three years, we’ll have the best farm system in baseball and in the long term we should have fun teams to watch.”