Morning Coffee with Mark Whelan: What are the New Padres Going to Look Like?

Yonder Alonso, Jedd Gyorko, and Everth Cabrera are rehabbing in El Paso. Chase Headley is getting game-winning hits for the Yankees. Huston Street has moved a couple of hours north up the 5. Cameron Maybin is all hopped up on goofballs.  Jeff Francoeur , Chris Nelson, and Yon-hair-veese Solarte are on the ML roster and all started yesterday. Chris Denorfia is pretty likely to be playing in another part of the country, or should I say, continent, soon.  Whether Joaquin Benoit and Ian Kennedy are still around on August 1 is anyone’s guess.

It’s getting harder to keep track of our Padres.

So what are we looking at for a starting lineup once everyone is healthy again? Maybe something like this, although Bud Black will likely turn it upside down and shake it most days.

SS Cabrera

CF Venable

1B Alonso / Medica

LF Medica / Quentin

C Grandal / Rivera

2B Gyorko

3B Solarte

RF Francoeur

OK, so we’re not going to go 62-0 the rest of the way with that lineup.

But more interestingly, what might we be looking at for next year’s team? Without making any guesses about free agent signings, here’s one possibility that includes only the players currently in the Padres system.

SS Trea Turner (Top draft pick is currently 16-for-36 with 4 steals with a 1.123 OPS at Fort Wayne)

2B Taylor Lindsey (Previously the number 1 prospect in the Angels organization)

RF Seth Smith (Very happy they signed a 2-year deal.)

LF Tommy Medica (Born to be a cleanup hitter. 30 bombs)

1B Yonder Alonso (You’ve gotta believe he’s going to hit again.)

3B Jedd Gyorko (A return to 2013 form, plus a little extra due to his maturing as a player. Moves back to third base.)

C Austin Hedges (Padres top overall prospect is ready to make his mark on the baseball world.)

CF Maybin (I got nothin’. The “hopped up on goofballs” line is the best I can do.)

Bench: Little Ninja, Will Venable, Yangervis Solarte, Yasmani Grandal

Pitching Staff:

SP1 Andrew Cashner

SP2 Tyson Ross

SP3 Ian Kennedy

SP4 Odrisamer Despaigne (That no-no is coming.)

SP5 Jesse Hahn (Starts the season as #5 starter, ends up finishing 4^th in Cy Young voting.  Cash and Ross are 2 and 3. Hey, what do you want? Kershaw is still in the league.)

Bullpen:

Tim Stauffer, Matt Wisler, Alex Torres, Nick Vincent, Blaine Boyer

Setup: Dale Thayer

Closer: Kevin Quackenbush.  (Chooses Disco Duck as his theme song.)

Who’d be the 25th player?  Quentin? Cabrera? Frenchy? I know, Johnny Manziel!

I can see us winning about 95 games with that team.