There are some first time major league baseball managers who have it easy.  They take over a young team with no expectations and have a chance to mold them into World Series contenders over three or four seasons.  New Padres manager Bud Black does not have it easy.  The former Angels pitching coach not only has to replace Bruce Bochy, the Padres’ all-time leader in wins by a manager, but in his first season as manager he must guide a team that will be considered a disappointment if it falls short of winning a playoff series.

After two straight division titles--and two straight years of being bounced by the Cardinals in the first round of the playoff--the Padres are hungry for postseason success.  Their failure to make it past the first round in each of the last two years is one reason the team felt comfortable letting Bochy bolt to division rival San Francisco.  The pressure to lead the Padres to playoff success now falls on Black, a man who turned down numerous managerial jobs over the last few years before finally taking this one.  Black will have to deal with a Padre organization that will no longer be satisfied with just making the playoffs.  It wants to make the playoffs and win there for the first time since 1998.

Fortunately for Black and the Padres, the team has one of the most talented pitching staffs in the league and a spacious ballpark that makes them even better.  Last season, opposing teams batted just .249 against Padres pitchers, the best mark in the league.  Jake Peavy is the ace of the staff, and although he was inconsistent last season, the Padres expect him to regain the form that made him one of the best pitchers in baseball over the 2004-2005 seasons.  During that stretch Peavy had an ERA of 2.61, the second best mark in baseball after only Roger Clemens. 

Peavy will be joined in the rotation by Chris Young, Clay Hensley, Greg Maddux, and David Wells.  Last year the 6”10 Young led all the team’s starters in ERA (3.46) and WHIP (1.13), and if Peavy is the team’s #1, Young is the Padres’ #1a.  While Hensley’s numbers did not quite match Young’s, he made a smooth transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation, winning 11 games and posting a solid 3.71 ERA.

The 40-year-old Maddux was the Padres lone major free agent acquisition---the team shelled out $10 million to sign him to replace the departed Woody Williams.  San Diego can only hope Maddux pitches the way he did late last season, when, rejuvenated by a mid-season trade from the disastrous Cubs to the contending Dodgers, he went 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA down the stretch.  The 39-year-old Wells will be more of a question mark, although he pitched very well for the Padres last season after coming over from the Red Sox.  Should the beer and corn dog diet catch up with him, Wells could be replaced by Tim Stauffer, the #4 overall pick in 2003. 

The Padres starting pitching will be reinforced by one of the best bullpens in baseball.  All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman is back for his 15th season with the Padres, and he will anchor the bullpen as the closer.  Hoffman should have plenty of opportunities in the 9th inning thanks to the Padres plethora of quality right handed setup men: Cla Meredith, Scott Cassidy, Brian Sweeney, and Scott Linebrink all finished last season with ERAs under 3.60.  The best of the bunch is Meredith who, as a rookie last season, gave up fewer than 40 baserunners in over 50 innings, and had a microscopic ERA of 1.07.