With three wins in their last five games, and an apparent ace on their staff in Andrew Cashner, the Padres may be better than anyone expected. But would that even be considered good?
After stumbling slightly to start the season, the Padres have started to pick up steam. And with Friday night's shutout by staff ace Andrew Cashner, we may have to concern ourselves with the idea that the Padres might actually be... good?
Now "good" is a relative term, of course: in this case, it's less "flags fly forever" and more "contend for a playoff spot". Within that context, "good" certainly doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for the Padres, despite preseason projections that had them somewhere between the worst team and the least good team in the NL West. Our own predictions had "some of the older players get hot and find their way to contenders at the trade deadline in return for the players that will make this team interesting again" as the team's best case scenario.
However, with a relatively young roster (28.8, tied for 15th in MLB), and at least two players -- stalwart third baseman Chase Headley and catcher Yasmani Grandal -- showing either the track record or the potential to be serious contributors, this could finally be San Diego's year. Or, for them to at least be better than our worst case scenario of "yet another 76-86 season, not bad enough to clean house, not good enough to have hope for the future."
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With Cashner -- who has built on last season's excellent 3.09 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 175 innings pitched with a 1.21 ERA/0.81 WHIP so far in 21.0 IP -- the team seems to have a legitimate ace to build around. The team also has hope that Everth Cabrera can both be the shortstop of the future and build off his surprise All-Star Game appearance from last season.
Cabrera hasn't disappointed, either, hitting .350 in his 40 ABs so far this season. While his OBP tracks only slightly above that, his slugging percentage has continued its upswing since his second year in the majors. All this might be for naught, however, if the teams in front of them are able to live up to their potential.
Between the free-spending Dodgers and the free-spirited Giants, the struggle to simply get a Wild Card berth out of the division will likely pose a serious challenge. But the Padres should be able to surpass the upstart Diamondbacks and perennially disappointing Rockies as they try their darnedest to get into the playoffs.
And while it's far too early to come to any definitive conclusions about what the Padres may do for the rest of the season, their relatively surprising start has proven one thing for sure. For baseball in the spring, hope is eternal.