Are you as shocked as I am? The San Diego Padres have new players. And I don’t mean just minor league players who are call ups. I mean new IMPACT players, that can change the way the Padres are looked at around the Majors. For those who don’t know by now, although I doubt you don’t, the Padres have got Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, James Shields and Will Middlebrooks. All of these players are a significant upgrade to what the team had last year. According to Corey Brock of MLB.com the Padres will have 11 new players on their 25-man roster going into this year’s spring training next week! What’s crazy about that is, it’s almost half of the roster, that’s right! Half.
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Let’s recap those 11 players that have been added to the Padres’ roster this off-season, and get ready, cause the list is fairly long: Shawn Kelley, Brandon Maurer, James Shields, Brandon Morrow, Derek Norris, Tim Federowicz, Clint Barmes, Will Middlebrooks, Justin Upton, Wil Myers and finally my favorite player the team has gotten this off-season, Matt Kemp! Is that enough to make your head spin? It certainly is for me! I can’t believe how many good players the Padres have on their roster this year, it’s amazing.
I haven’t seen this type of off-season, as long as I have been a Padre fan, which is about 20 years. The other crazy thing is, that the Padres didn’t trade anybody from their starting pitching rotation, and in actuality, the rotation got better! How A.J. Preller was able to pull that off, I have no idea, but I am certainly glad he did! The Padres with all of their new faces are being talked about as being a possible Wild Card team which I don’t disagree with. They have made more moves than anyone else in the majors this year, and all the while they just continue to get better, which is amazing.
So will the Padres be contending in 2015? I think so, and so do a lot of others, but all of our speculation and thoughts don’t mean anything. It all comes down to how they play on the field, but on paper they are great. We will find out ladies and gents. If you want the latest Padres news, make sure to keep checking back with us here at Friars On Base as we cover all things Padres, all the time!
Next: James Shields Has Opt-Out Clause In Contract
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