Padres: Three key questions facing San Diego this season

We’re almost there. Opening Day is less than a week away. The Padres will take the field in front of fans at Petco Park on Thursday afternoon with their eyes set on a second-straight postseason berth – and maybe more.

San Diego emerged as the clear-cut winners of the offseason, not only in the National League, but all of Major League Baseball after assembling a rotation headlined by Yu Darvish and Blake Snell and locking up the best young player in the game in Fernando Tatis Jr. via a 13-year contract extension.

Now comes the tough part.

AJ Preller made all the right moves on paper. Now, it’s on those guys to go out and handle their business. Coming off the shortened 60-game sprint last summer, there will be adjustments as players get used to the grind of a full 162 games. There will be injuries. There will be ups and downs. But there are three stories to keep an eye on that will be key indicators as to how the season is going for the Friars.

Padres: Will Fernando Tatis Jr. feel the pressure of his new mega-contract?

If his spring training performance (.379/.438/.724) is any indication, Fernando Tatis Jr. isn’t feeling much pressure to live up to the record-breaking 13-year, $340 million contract extension he signed last month.

After an injury scare this week, Tatis returned to the lineup and promptly cranked his third home run of the spring, immediately silencing anyone who had doubts about his health heading into the season. But his all-out style of play comes with its fair share of risks. Paired with the weight of the hopes of an entire fanbase, he’ll no doubt feel some pressure this year.

That’s a given. He will feel pressure. But it’ll come down to how he responds to it. And right now, there’s no reason to think he’ll falter. This kid has shown he’s ready for it all time and time again in his first two seasons in the league. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on – because without Tatis Jr. at his best, this Padres team loses some of its signature swagger and substance.

Padres: Will the rotation be as good as it looks on paper?

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The crowning achievement of the offseason for Preller was bringing in a former Cy Young winner in Snell and a Cy Young runner-up from a year ago in Yu Darvish. That’s not to mention hometown kid Joe Musgrove and returning arms like Chris Paddack and Dinelson Lamet, who himself finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting a year ago.

On paper, it’s a rotation capable of going toe-to-toe with the best lineups in baseball. But Darvish is just a year-and-a-half removed from not being able to find the strike zone, Snell faces questions over whether or not he can work deep into games and there are serious concerns about Lamet’s continued health.

There was a stark difference between the 2019 version of Paddack and what we got down the stretch last season. It all boils down to whether or not he’s got his fastball figured out. What I’m saying is that, yes, this rotation looks like the real deal. But things could still go wrong. Thankfully, you’ve got depth in the form of the game’s best pitching prospect waiting in the wings.

I’m as optimistic as anybody when it comes to the San Diego Padres this season. But as a lifelong Cubs fan, I’ve also seen what unbridled optimism can get fans. Let’s hope the Friars come out strong and cruise this summer, en route to a deep October run.