The Padres\u2019 rebuilding philosophy in becoming a contending team is to draft well and develop players through a productive farm system. Few, if any, will be free agents. General manager Kevin Towers, speaking at a Feb. 12 Hall of Champions Sports at Lunch event, said it is the desire\u00a0of the new management team to go in that direction. Manager Bud Black, also appearing, assured the audience\u00a0that this year\u2019s team will be a vast improvement over last year\u2019s 63-99 disappointment. “We spent more money than we ever had in the amateur draft,” Towers said. “Last year we had as strong a signing class than anyone in baseball.\u00a0We spent $5 to $6 million in international signings. “The free agency market is hurting because of the economy. The players who are in arbitration right now are in better shape.” Towers agreed that it was the desire of the new ownership team to stress building a strong farm system to reach its goal. John Moorad, who heads the syndicate\u00a0that is buying the team, will move in as the CEO, replacing Sandy Alderson.\u00a0It\u2019s a position he previously held with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Padres will audition 21 of their leading minor leaguers when they join the 40-man Spring Camp roster. Among those being showcased will be hard-throwing pitchers Wade LeBlanc, Josh Geer and Cesar Ramos. Towers and Black pinned last year\u2019s problem on a bullpen that could not deliver between starter and closer. “Our middle relievers let us down,” Towers said. With eight to 10 fighting for five spots, he feels that problem will be shored up. However, the Trevor Hoffman “closer” gong will have to be replaced this year by a Bell \u2014 Heath Bell. Towers said that trimming the budget closer to $40 million was the primary reason for letting Hoffman and Khalil Greene go.\u00a0A big chunk remains since the deal with the Chicago Cubs for pitching ace Jake Peavy fell through. The current payroll is believed to be $44 million, with eight players guaranteed $32 million. Some of\u00a0the other 17 may be bordering on the major league minimum of $400,000. Instead, Peavy will resume his No. 1 starting assignment, followed by Chris Young.\u00a0 “Third, fourth and fifth spots will be determined by the end of spring,” Black said. “There are expectations every year,” Towers added. “But look what happened at Tampa Bay. It\u2019s hard to pick a favorite in the Western Division since everyone is loading up on pitching. “Overall, we have to stay healthy, have less strikeouts, more contact players, steal some bases and do some drag bunting.” Black regards the acquisition of utility man Curt\u00a0Floyd\u00a0from Tampa Bay as a big plus. “He has post-season experience (with the Mets and Rays) and could be the team leader we didn\u2019t have last year,” he said. The third through fifth starters will be determined following spring drills. Towers said it\u2019s going to be different without Trevor out there. “Bell is a little more of a crazy animal…and doesn\u2019t lack confidence,” he said.\u00a0“He feels he can take off as Trevor did.” It would appear the opening lineup is locked in place, with Adrian Gonzalez at first, newcomer David Ecksten at second, Luis Rodriguez at short, Kevin Kouzmanoff at third and Chase Headley, Jody Gerut and Brian Giles in the outfield with Nick\u00a0 Hundley behind the plate. Looking at the position players, Black said, “We\u2019re going to be OK. On the bench we still have some spots open.” There could be speed on the base paths on the horizon, assuming Will Venable nails down a utility role and Everth Cabrera can snag a spot. “We\u2019re excited about Cabrera, a rule 5 selection,” Black said. The 23-year-old shortstop stole 73 bases in the minors last year. Black was encouraged about ex-All Star\u00a0pitcher Mark Prior\u2019s progress after a second shoulder surgery.\u00a0 “He\u2019s throwing free and easy and his location is good.\u00a0A couple rehab starts in Elsinore and he can be back by the middle of May,” Black said. “Get 70 games out of Jake and CY (Chris Young) and bring in Prior,” he added with spring optimism.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Padres\u2019 rebuilding philosophy in becoming a contending team is to draft well and develop players through a productive farm system. Few, if any, will be free agents. General manager Kevin Towers, speaking at a Feb. 12 Hall of Champions Sports at Lunch event, said it is the desire\u00a0of the new management team to go […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Padre \u2018dads\u2019 look to spring with high hopes","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11593,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-no-images","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}