Team Snapshot - San Diego Padres

C - With Nick Hundley as starter and Henry Blanco as backup the Padres are in OK shape at catcher. Nothing flashy, nothing too powerful but stable and cost effective.

1st - Adrian Gonzalez is a star in the making. With no real protection in the line-up for him - I'd look for his walk numbers to go up and maybe his home run totals to go slightly down. If your fantasy league doesn't penalize for strikeouts then Gonzalez could be a good choice at 1st base in a deep position. At mid-season - I wouldn't be surprised to see Gonzalez dangled as trade bait. He's under contract until 2011, he's cheap and the Padres are well stocked at 1st in the farm system. Gonzalez could garner them a top pitching prospect or two if done right.

2nd - Scappy McScrap Scrap

SS - Luis Rodriguez puts the replacement level player idea into real world testing.

3rd - Kevin Kouzmanoff had just a .694 OPS post All-Star game last season and is coming off of shoulder surgery. Maybe they should change his nickname from "Kooz" to "Red-Flag"?

LF - Chase Headley is a 20-HR a year guy waiting to happen but it won't be this year.

CF - Jody Gerut is penciled in as the starting CF for the Padres. Jody Gerut.

RF - The Padres picked up Brian Giles $9 million option for 2009 because they thought that it would be difficult to find a hitter of his caliber for $9 million. Bobby Abreu signed a one-year deal with the Angels for $5 million and is a much better hitter. I've never liked Brian Giles.

DH - They don't have the DH in the NL but the Padres signed Cliff Floyd anyway.

Starters - The Padres have Jake Peavy, Chris Young and the comeback story of Mark Prior plus a bunch of guys who have never been in my kitchen.

Bullpen - Heath Bell takes over as closer and is probably the one real fantasy sleeper on the team.

The Padres on paper are an awful offensive club but with some interesting starting pitchers to watch. The projected over / under for win for the team is 67.5 and I'd take the under as I can easily see this team devolving into a 100-loss team (especially if they trade Jake Peavy mid-season).