Take the Padres

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

As a gambling addict, the recent banning of online gaming within the states has taken a major toll on my personal life. My pocket book, ironically, is typically a little thicker, however. Still, a recent trip found me in Reno, Nevada and inevitably streaking to the sportsbook. With football season finished (sorry, I’m not quite at a degenerate level ready to bet on the Pro Bowl), I mostly browsed futures bets. With the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns a little too heavily favored (5/2), I moved along seeking more of a long-shot wager with a potential increased payout. I headed to baseball.

To my surprise, I didn’t agree with many of the posted odds to win this year’s World Series. The Blue Jays at 15-1? I wouldn’t take that bet even if it was for them to finish second in the AL East. Nine teams fell in the 10-1 or lower odds range, including the Cubs (9-1?!). I like what the Braves did to their bullpen over the offseason, so their 30-1 mark was interesting, but the Padres listed at the same 30-1 long shot really caught my eye. Listen, I’m a Giants fan and will be rooting for them this season, but they have no business being favored (10-1) by this much over San Diego. I walked into the casino thinking San Diego as the clear NL West favorites, but apparently, the bookmakers disagreed.

Really, 30-1? This is the same team that won their division back-to-back seasons right? Am I mistaken, or does the rotation not feature Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux, Clay Hensley and David Wells? The bullpen, by the way, consists of Trevor Hoffman, Scott Linebrink and Cla Meredith. They did lose Mike Piazza, Dave Roberts and Josh Barfield but countered with the additions of Kevin Kouzmanoff and Marcus Giles. Terrmel Sledge and Josh Bard arguably are upgrades anyway.

It’s true, San Diego is missing a premiere bat in the heart of the order, but still, Khalil Greene is a breakout candidate (like every year over the past few seasons), and Brian Giles, Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez round out a solid lineup without a glaring weakness. On the surface, Bud Black seems like a more than competent new manager, and let’s not forget, 85-88 wins are usually enough to win the pathetic NL West. The Padres aren’t my World Series favorites, but since they have one of the easiest paths to the playoffs, I would clump them in the top 5-8 range. At 30-1, there isn’t a better futures bet out there. Take the Fathers.


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13 responses to “Take the Padres”

  1. Alex Avatar

    How do I reach you guys to discuss swapping links? Or better yet, each mentioning eachother’s blogs in a post?

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Alex – I e-mailed you.

  3. Dodger Fan Avatar
    Dodger Fan

    I agree; SD has the pitching to at least have a shot and at those odds, might as well take them. Remember entering last postseason when everyone picked them to easily beat St Louis round 1? Now they are afterthoughts?….That said, LA is going to win the NL West!

  4. Mr. Tintle Avatar
    Mr. Tintle

    Marvin Harrison 5, Mary J 4

  5. djpegleg Avatar
    djpegleg

    I’m glad to hear that the odds are good enough for you to find space in your sporting heart to root for my Padres, but since you are a SF fan, I have a question for you: Who is going to close for the Giants? I’m in the final rounds of a slow draft and I wouldn’t mind taking a flyer on a saves canidate in case Benitez is traded or balloons up to 300 pounds. Any thoughts?

  6. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Brian Wilson.

  7. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Mr Tintle – That’s right, one of the few prop bets I got right.

  8. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    djpegleg – You have the right idea not trusting Benitez; in fact, he showed up to camp early (which is nice) but again overweight (tough to work out with 2 bum knees). Other than Brian Wilson (the best alternative at this point) SF may turn to Vinny Chulk (blah) or even Tim Lincecum – the kid is almost ready and if there isn’t a rotation spot, he could be moved to the bullpen and excel immediately. I’d take a flier on Wilson and/or Lincecum.

  9. djpegleg Avatar
    djpegleg

    thanks. I’ll take your advice.

  10. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Lincecum looks like the real deal; I’m looking for him in any keeper leagues I play in, and Matt Cain too…I’m kicking myself for keeping Verlander and trading Cain instead of vice versa.

  11. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Ya man, I’d prefer Cain over Verlander as well….Lincecum is going to be a stud.

  12. Jakob Avatar

    This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title Take the Padres. Thanks for informative article

  13. Masahiro Avatar

    The second they deicedd to make him a reliever they should have tried to unload him. Sometimes he has great velocity but his mechanics don’t make for a good reliever since many times when he used to start we saw him struggle early in games. Now he has little value and if they were to unload him MAYBE the NL would work like it did for Carlos Silva, but I still wouldn’t see the Yankees getting a huge return (although the Cubs could probably use him and they have some decent small pieces). My final point is maybe Chamberlain was just never good and his domination when he was first called up was just due to people being unfamiliar with him.

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