Know Your Enemy: San Diego Padres

In the offseason of 2014-15, Padres general manager A.J. Preller went on a spending spree, and the pundits declared they had "won" the offseason.

Unfortunately, that didn't translate into many wins for the Padres during the season. Then they sat out the trading deadline when they had dealable parts such as James Shields.

If you understand what this team is doing, let me know.

The Padres picked up some players this winter in a quieter offseason, but not big names as they did a year ago. Former Cardinal Jon Jay was acquired, presumably to start in left field, and ex-White Sox Alexei Ramirez will play shortstop. Fernando Rodney, who was briefly a Cub last year, was signed by the Padres and at least right now, is listed as the closer on their depth chart. That ought to be interesting. It's mostly by default as the rest of the relievers on that list are no-names.

The Padres' rotation will once again be anchored by Shields, who had a decent, but not great, 2015. Tyson Ross could wind up being the better pitcher, Andrew Cashner once again attempts to stay healthy (2015 was his first career season with 30 or more starts) and Carlos Villanueva is currently listed as their fifth starter.

Who knows? Maybe Matt Kemp turns back into 2011 Matt Kemp. Maybe Melvin Upton Jr. fulfills his promise. Maybe Wil Myers stays healthy (he did not play 100 games in any of his three big-league seasons) and turns into the player the Royals thought they were developing as a top prospect a few years ago.

Somehow, though, I doubt it.

The Cubs and Padres will meet May 9-10-11 at Wrigley Field and August 22-23-24 in San Diego.