The sky is falling, Sochi is safe, hell has frozen over and the San Diego Padres are back on Time Warner Cable.
In a press release by Fox Sports, the sports channel announced that the Padres and Time Warner have come to an agreement ending a two year struggle that at times was just as red as Bob Costas' eye while announcing the Olympics.
The boys of summer will once again return to the small screen on Fox Sports San Diego.
It couldn't have come at a better time, well, before the 2012 season would have been better, but I digress. The March 30 premiere of the channel on Time Warner is also the first day of the Padres baseball season, although they will debut on ESPN against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For the 20 percentile of the county that is a consumer of Time Warner Cable, some may not know who is on the roster. In fact, there is a lot of positives entering the 2014 season.
In the offseason, the Padres added talent to its roster and should help the team compete for a playoff spot.
Long gone are the days of the Gregerson, Adams and Bell in the 7-8-9 slots. The new trio of relievers are Alex Torres, Joaquin Benoit and Huston Street. Benoit signed as a free agent and Torres was sent over from Tampa Bay in a trade involving Logan Forsythe.
With no more GAB, bring on the TBS.
A major blow to the starting pitching staff was the injury to Cory Luebke. Luebke missed most of 2012 and all of 2013 following Tommy John surgery. Complications from the surgery recently flared up and he elected to get a second surgery thus missing the 2014 season. But luckily for the Padres, there is major depth at the position.
With the injury to Luebke, the starting five seems to be set in stone. Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy and Josh Johnson will all be in the mix as the ace of the staff. Tyson Ross and Eric Stults will round out the rotation. Ross progressed nicely from the end of last season finishing his final 13 starts with a 3-4 record and a 2.93 ERA. A stark contrast from his time in Oakland where he piled up a 5.33 ERA going 6-18.
Several more pitchers are waiting for their chance to contribute consistently at the big league level. Those pitchers are top prospect Matt Wisler, Burch Smith, Robbie Erlin, Joe Wieland and Casey Kelly.
On the offensive side, the Padres added the left handed bat they desperately needed in Seth Smith. Smith was acquired by Oakland for fan favorite Luke Gregerson. At the time, the trade seemed lopsided in favor of the A's but it may not be as bad as many people make it out to be.
The chances that Gregerson walked after this season was likely, and holding on to him to only pitch the seventh inning wasn't helping our offense. Smith brings a .265 career batting average and experience of being in the playoffs, a feat not many on this team can say.
Along with Smith, the rest of the outfield looks to stay healthy and build off of what they accomplished last year. RF Will Venable may have finally reached his potential as he joined the 20/20 club with 22 home runs and 22 steals. Venable may not be a platoon player anymore if he can continue to build off of his success.
Outfielders Chris Denorfia, Cameron Maybin, Kyle Blanks and Carlos Quentin should also contribute if they can stay healthy. Maybin, Blanks and Quentin seem to always be on the disabled list and the teams success may verge on how healthy the outfielders can stay.
In the infield, nothing really changes from last season. All Star Shortstop, Everth Cabrera, and catcher Yasmani Grandal both return from their performance enhancing drug suspensions. Yonder Alonso and Jedd Gyorko on the right side of the infield should provide constant doubles and put pressure on opposing pitchers.
The wild card of this team will be Chase Headley. The question of will he sign or won't he will be on everyone's mind entering the season. If Headley can regain some of the promise he showed during that magical year in 2012 where he 31 home runs and led the National League in RBI's with 115, then rest assured, Headley will want to get paid, if not in San Diego, then somewhere else.
As it stands, the Padres will be dark horses to contend for the division and they have an outside shot at a wild card spot. At least it will be on T.V. Good night everybody and hopefully we could hang a star on the season.
- Follow me at @CTMstatehornet on Twitter. Find my articles on The State Hornet website at http://www.statehornet.com/. For some visuals of Sac State athletics and concert photography, check out http://www.amylanephoto.com/ and be sure to check out the blogs section.
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