A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #18

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The San Diego Padres

I don't know about you guys, but when I think about the Padres, I think all the way back to 1998...and, aside from Trevor Hoffman, a much different team.

The Padres now are not a bad team, and they are a competitive team in a division where only team can be said to not have a realistic shot at a playoff berth.

However, one cannot ignore how their season ended last year, with their inability to close out frist over the Brewers and next over the Rockies. As much as one might want to blame Trevor Hofffman, one player does not a team make.

In Jake Peavy and Chris Young the Padres have an excellent 1-2 punch, but Maddox, while still effective is not young and Randy Wolf has injury concerns. They've got solid position players, though Jim Edmonds has been known to have back problems.

Threat to the Yankees: Yellow, Exercise Caution

The Pares are a legitimate NL playoff team, and, for that reason, the Yankees should be a little more mindful of them than say, the Giants.