Familiar faces set to return for San Diego Padres in 2013 season - MLB News
The San Diego Padres will be having a number of familiar faces in their lineup when they take field for the upcoming Spring Training. The San Diego ball club did not have an awfully busy off-season by the way of getting players on board and have retained
most of the guys from the previous season.
Bud Black, the manager of the Padres sees this as a welcome move and believes that there was no reason to make changes to the lineup that did well last year, particularly the second half.
The team after the All-Star break performed exceptionally well and posted a 49-37 record in the last 86 games of the season.
He also liked the offensive production by the team and hopes that the team will continue the good work in the upcoming 2013 season.
"There's not a lot of change, and I think not a reason to change," Black said. "Those guys played good in the second half. You look at the offensive production of the second half … it was solid. Hopefully that can continue into 2013."
Bud has been the manager for the San Diego ball club for six years now and has had two winning seasons. He is one of the rare pitching managers in the current era.
Bud has yet to make it to the post-season and has twice fallen short of the last hurdle. Recently the Padres exercised their club option on Bud for 2014-15 and have shown great trust in the abilities of their manager.
Black sees the return of the same outfit as an important step. Having the same players that tasted success last year will not be a bad thing though he expects a change or two, probably a couple of promotions from the Minors.
"I like the way we ended the season last year, there's no doubt about it," he said. "We've got the same group of position players coming back, and with a couple guys maybe trying to fight to get on the club."
Josh Byrnes, the general manager of the Padres said that it was not an easy process to get the offence in to good shape. The hitters produced good numbers last year including some serious heroics from Chase Headley, who was probably the best hitter in the
National League.
"It's been such a long process to try to get a better offense," Josh said. "We feel we've taken huge strides in that direction."
The San Diego Padres did really well in the latter half of 2012 season. They should take heart from their performance and make sure that they are able to perform with the same quality all through the season. If they can bring the spirit of 2012 into 2013,
Padres could well be springing a few surprises this time around.
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