I really think the Padres should bring in Rod Barajas or Yorvit Torrealba to start behind the plate because they have one of the worst collections of catchers in the majors right now. 26-year old righty swinging Nick Hundley will likely be the starter by default. He played in 78 games for the Padres last season and he was 61 for 256 (.238 avg, .719 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 8 homers, 30 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Hundley did not make up for his lack of offense on defense. He made 6 errors and had 7 passed balls in only 74 games behind the plate last season for the Padres. He only threw out 15% of the runners trying to steal on him last season but Padres’ pitchers did like to have him behind the plate as they had a 4.00 ERA when he caught.

25-year old righty swinging Dusty Ryan will be the likely back-up for Hundley this year. Ryan played in 12 games for the Tigers last season and he was 4 for 26 (.154 avg, .459 OPS) with 1 run scored and 4 RBIs. He also played in 63 games in AAA-ball last season in which he was 52 for 202 (.257 avg, .814 OPS) with 25 runs scored, 10 homers, 35 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Ryan didn’t make any errors for the Tigers but he did have 1 passed ball in 78 2/3 innings behind the plate last season. Ryan did throw out 2 of 6 (33.3%) runners trying to steal against him last season and Tigers’ pitchers had a 3.89 ERA with him behind the plate.

27-year old righty swinging Chris Stewart was signed as a minor league free agent and he will likely start the year in AAA and get a call to the Padres is the need arises. Stewart played in 78 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 65 for 232 (.280 avg, .716 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 1 homer and 18 RBIs.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D-

UPDATE: The Padres have signed 31-year old righty swinging catcher Yorvit Torrealba to a 1-year deal. He played in 64 games for the Rockies last season and he was 62 for 213 (.291 avg, .732 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 2 homers and 31 RBIs. Torrealba will battle Nick Hundley for the starting job behind the plate this spring. He didn’t make any errors behind the plate in 64 games for the Rockies last season and he had two passed balls. Torrealba did have throwing issues as he only threw out 8% of the runners trying to steal against him last year but Rockies’ pitchers had a 4.37 ERA with him behind the plate.

The Padres have signed 33-year old right swinging 2B/SS/3B/OF Jerry Hairston to a 1-year, $2,125,000 dollar deal. He played in 131 games for the Reds & Yankees last season and he was 96 for 383 (.251 avg, .710 OPS) with 62 runs scored, 10 homers, 39 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Hairston has now played in 1,029 games in his major league career and he is 822 for 3,178 (.259 avg, .701 OPS) with 448 runs scored, 49 homers, 291 RBIs and 58 stolen bases. Hairston will be reunited with his brother Scott who was re-acquired by the Padres in a trade with the A’s over the weekend. He will serve as the super utility man for the Padres in 2010 playing all over the field.

The Padres have traded 28-year old righty swinging 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff and 23-year old lefty swinging 2B Eric Sogard to the Oakland A’s for 23-year old righty swinging OF Aaron Cunningham and 29-year old righty swinging outfielder Scott Hairston. Kouzmanoff played in 141 games for the Padres last season and he was 135 for 529 (.255 avg, .722 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 18 homers and 88 RBIs. He played 3 years for the Padres appearing in 440 games in which he was 430 for 1,637 (.263 avg, .745 OPS) with 178 runs scored, 59 homers and 246 RBIs. The Padres will likely bring Chase Headley in from the outfield to replace Kouzmanoff at 3B. Sogard was the Padres’ #17 rated prospect coming into the 2009 season according to Baseball America. He played in 117 games in AA-ball last season and he was 134 for 457 (.293 avg, .771 OPS) with 79 runs scored, 6 homers, 51 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Scott Hairston will likely battle for the new opening in RF for the Padres. He played in 56 games for the Padres last season and he was 59 for 197 (.299 avg, .891 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 10 homers and 29 RBIs before he was traded to the A’s. He played in 116 games overall last season with the Padres & A’s and he was 114 for 430 (.265 avg, .763 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 17 homers, 64 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He has now played in 460 games in his major league career and he is 351 for 1,393 (.252 avg, .758 OPS) with 170 runs scored, 58 homers, 162 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. You can tell the Padres like him by bringing him back so quickly after trading him. Aaron Cunningham will likely battle with Will Venable in CF which could lead to a platoon. Cunningham played in 23 games for the A’s last season and he was 8 for 53 (.151 avg, .456 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs. He has much better in AAA-ball last season and he played in 83 games in which he was 101 for 334 (.302 avg, .851 OPS) with 62 runs scored, 11 homers, 48 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He has now played in 45 games in his major league career and he is 28 for 133 (.211 avg, .609 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 2 homers, 20 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Cunningham was a highly thought of prospect for the A’s and the Padres will give him every chance to live up to his ability. This is a trade I like for both teams.

Tony Gwynn Jr. is now on the Padres but his dad was the best player in team history. Gwynn Sr. played all 20 of his years in the majors with the Padres. He played in 2,440 games in his major league career and he was 3,141 of 9,288 (.338 avg, .847 OPS) with 1,383 runs scored, 135 homers, 1,138 RBIs and 319 stolen bases. Gwynn is #1 all-time for the Padres in games played, hits, runs scored, batting average, RBIs, stolen bases and many more categories. He is also #4 all-time in homers for the Padres despite not hitting for a lot of power. Gwynn played on 15 All-Star teams in his career and he won 5 Gold Gloves in the outfield. Gwynn led the N.L. in hits 7 times including 5 seasons with over 200 hits and he also led the league in runs scored 1 time. Gwynn is in the Hall of Fame where he will always live as a San Diego Padre.

The Padres of 2010 will likely look much like the team that finished the season playing pretty well in 2009. If the Padres started playing next week the starting line-up in the field would look like this:

C-Nick Hundley
1B-Adrian Gonzalez
2B-David Eckstein
SS-Everth Cabrera
3B-Kevin Kouzmanoff
LF-Kyle Blanks
CF-Will Venable
RF-Chase Headley

Personally I think the Padres should keep Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff for the 2010 season as the N.L. West does not look great this year. Who knows….if Headley and Blanks hit the way many think they can the Padres could be a sleeper to make some noise in 2010.