The Morning Friar – 3/2/11

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At 6-6 with a mitt-popping fastball, Mat Latos, 23, has a chance to stand head and shoulders above his peers.

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As they stand, the Padres are not in reconstruction mode like the Royals. San Diego missed the playoffs by a game last season and its starting pitching, bullpen and improved middle defense should keep it in the NL West conversation through a good chunk of the season.

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Of the 41 seasons the Padres have enjoyed, last season may have been the most painful. Finding new ways to show the standings would only serve to find new ways to visually represent the excruciatingly painful time that was last September in San Diego. But if you’re a sucker for punishment, Chris Spurlock at Beyond the Box Score obliges. Now that the team has finally traded away their slugging first baseman and lost their (only?) big bat, they are in rebuild mode, right? Maybe, except that we’ve had that thought before.

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