Wells Agrees To Contract With Padres

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, David Wells has agreed to a one-year deal.  He gets $3MM guaranteed and can earn an additional $4MM in incentives.  Kevin Towers thinks Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux, Chris Young, Clay Hensley, and Wells make up the team's best rotation since '98.

The '98 NL Champs used Kevin Brown, Joey Hamilton, Andy Ashby, Sterling Hitchcock, and Mark Langston.

Comments

[bcampy]

That's a sweet rotation. There's a good chance that the first 4 will have an ERA under 4, and Wells can provide solid #5 numbers with a 4.40 ERA.

[OkiPadres]

To go along with one of the best bullpens in baseball too!!

[astralpanda]

Two of those guys are over 40 and Chris Young had a career last year. Still an awesome rotation, should be interesting to see what happens.

[ejruiz777]

The Padres total pitching is by far the best in the NL (my Braves COULD be as good if EVERYTHING works out in our favor) but the hitting is far behind. I see them winning the West over the D-Backs, but not much else.

[bdid]

They have big names anyway. Peavy had better have a better year, and boomer needs to stay healthy. Maddux needs a second half kind of season, considering he stunk up the joint in the first half last year. Young was very good, and should only get better. Hensley could be excellent as well.

Braves a top pitching staff??? LOL. Wow, that is like saying the Mets have a top staff. Just silly. And I'm a Mets fan.
Padres, Dbacks, Dodgers all have better staffs
As do the Phillies and Marlins
As do the Cubs.

Braves fall somewhere in the bottom middle. Smoltz looked his age a lot last year. Hudson hasn't been the same since leaving Oaktown, Hampton is coming off surgery, Davies isn't good, and James doesn't have the experience.

[beeniez]

The Braves definitely do not have one of the worst rotations. Maddux and Wells are both older than Smoltz - who pitched 3.21 ERA and 211 strikeouts AND would have been a 20 game if it weren't for blown saves. James went 11-4 in his first half season - he's now more experienced. Davies is still projected as a #3 starter and flashes brilliance every now and then. Don't give up on him yet, he's only 23.

[beeniez]

And Hudson still pitches league average, despite him "not being the same." Well, if that's the worst he does then you better hope he didn't work out those mechinical flaws.

[hood]

I agree that the Padres could have the best staff in the NL maybe all of baseball but Cubs and DBacks are not even close. Every team has what if's. I love how all the people on here wanna say that James needs experience but then bring up the Marlins as being better. Their WHOLE staff except Willis needs more experience then. James was just as highly touted as any of them and Davies is just as young as them with 2 yrs of experience under his belt. Davies and Hampton's health are our biggest question marks with a better wait.......... WAY BETTER bullpen then any 1 of those teams other than maybe the Padres and the Mets are right there with us.

[hood]

And I am not sayin he is the best number 2 in the NL but please let me know who is a better 2 in the NL than Hudson even though he has not pitched up to his standards. I can see Capuano if you say he is a 2. Webb or Johnson whoever is the 2 there. Maddux probably in that park. Lowe you can get. Other than that I don't see much more bein better than Hudson. Oh I'm sorry Arroyo after last year but I'm not sold on him.And please don't tell me El Duque.

[hood]

Let me clarify the DBacks rotation is better but the Braves bullpen blows them away.

[jskohl]

Jason Schmidt, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, Chad Billingsly. I think the Dodgers have the best rotation in the west by far. Randy Johnson, David Wells, Greg Maddux, Matt Morris, are all in decline. Plus the Dodgers starting lineup is better than any lineup in the NL West. The Dodgers will probably have competion with San Diego, but I still think we see 2 NL West teams in the playoffs next year, again.

[tmar]

Best rotation by far? Looking at the Zips projections for 07 show the Padres starting 5 with an average ERA around 3.9 and the Dodger around 4.2.

[hood]

OK not by far then but still the best.

[lih]

But the padres will have to face the dodgers lineup 18 or 19 times while the dodgers pitchers will get to face the weak sd lineup that many times. I don't think that is taken into account by those projections. I'd say Hensley and Billingsley should be about even, as should Wolf and Wells. I think Penny and Lowe are better than Young and Maddux, but Peavy will most likely be better than Schmidt. The rotations are probably about even, but the dodgers have Kuo and Hendrickson for when Schmidt and Wolf get injured. Who do the padres have for when Peavy and Wells get injured? (I really don't know, but I don't think they have anyone on Kuo's level and Hendrickson is getting his head shrunk in the offseason, so he ought to bounce back). Both teams have solid bullpens. I think the Dodgers have a better lineup. Neither team really has much power at all though. It ought to be a close race again.

[OkiPadres]

I imagine that they will do just as good as they did against the Dodgers last year with their "weak" lineup. I think their lineup is better this year, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

[deadbeat17]

we'll be just fine, hensley and young will have breakout years and jake will return to form, wells will hack up some league average games and maddux will keep everything in our gold glove infield w/ greene and adrian backin him up.

marcus will bounce back, def not in homers but in runs, RBI's, SB's, OBP and AVG.

khalil will be healthy and will finally become that power threat. and adrian will keep groovin em out to the right field bleachers.

dont forget our amazing center fielder.

the only thing we lack is a league avg Left fielder.

we still have a month to find a stop gap or a trade.

even we dont, im not too worried at all.

[hood]

I don't think Padre fans have all that much to worry about in LF. You can have worse than a Sledge/Cruz platoon. And I wouldn't say the Dodgers have that much of a better lineup. No consistent power threat but Kent and he will be good for a DL stint or 2. Gonzalez is another one that is old and you know Nomar will have a vacation sometime during the season. The only problem I see in the Padres lineup is lead off. But maybe playin with his brother will help Marcus bounce back.

[Droptop]

I think on paper you have to put the Padres up there with any NL rotation now. Who in the NL is better? No way Peavy repeats last year...

[tinathemetsgrl]

Great rotation, just too bad they don't have any hitters...

[tmar]

Are you talking about the Dodgers or the Padres there?

[coolpapabell]

The Wendy's add just below the post could not be more appropriate.

[Yars]

Padres I could see winning the NL West. Wells could surprise us and win 15. Maddux could win 15, & Peavy could win 15. Hell, Young could win 15. Their bullpen is strong. Marcus Giles will definitely have a better season. Just don't bat him leadoff, and he should be above average. Greene I predict will be your typical .270/15/60 type player. That's not a bad thing, but don't expect him to ever hit 30 + HR in a season. NL West has been pretty pathetic the last few seasons, so I hope this season it's more interesting. D'Backs will give the Padres a run for their $$$ I hope. Check out the D'backs starting rotation. Not bad. I have to say that as of right now, the Braves have the best bullpen in the NL. Smoltz would have won 21 last season and quite possibly the NL Cy Young if it had not been for the bullpen. The front office went out and fixed the problem. Gonzalez is the real deal. This guy can pitch. When focused, Soriano is unhittable. Wickman I hope will have a repeat of '06. Atlanta's offense will score plenty of runs, especially when Chipper is in the lineup. The Braves didn't lose much in trading LaRoche. Scott Thorman I predict will put up .275/21/75 type numbers if he gets atleast 450-500 atbats. Craig Wilson should play LF. The Langerhans/Diaz platoon last season didn't produce, so why would anyone think it will this season?

[hood]

I can't agree on that one Yars. I like Langerhans/Diaz platoon better than Wilson in LF. I think they bring Thorman along just like they did LaRoche when Julio Franco was there. I would like it better if they were able to go out and get a leadoff LF though and keep the platoon comin off the bench. They make great 4th OF 1 from the left 1 from the right. But I believe lookin at the roster Aybar is the best suited to leadoff if they could get a healthy Shannon Stewart or a Rocco Baldelli to leadoff everything would fall into place.

[tmar]

I think the NL West should be more interesting this year barring unforeseen injuries/acquisitions.

The DBacks could go either way on both pitching and offense. I think LA and SD are pretty even with SD having slightly better pitching and LA having slightly better hitting .

SF & CO would have to really be clicking on all cylinders, IMHO, to be a threat but I think the ROX will be contenders in the near future.

[beeniez]

The Padres easily have the best pitching staff. I like their strategy of adjusting to their team to their park. Although, I just don't see them being able to compete with the offenses of LA and the young talent of the D-Backs.

[nrmax88]

hood i agree with what your saying about the fish. They were all rookies last year, and they did ok. You will never know until you give the guys a chance. I think the Dbacks with Webb RJ double d and Livan have a nice rotation. Really nice actually. The cubs have Big Z, Rich Hill, but not much else. Tmar i also agree with what your saying,anyteam can come out of the west. I like the Rox a lot, they actually found a rotation that can do somewhat well in Colorado. A lot of young guns coming to. For the record, John Smoltz is a top 10, maybe top 5 pitcher in baseball right now IMO. This guy is absolutely unbeliavable. As a starter the first time, hes lights out, then closes for a few years, one can make the arguement over his time as a reliever, that he was the BEST reliever during that period. Now hes starting again, and it doesnt look like he has missed a beat. How old, 39? And hes still dominating guys. I disagree Smoltz looked his age last year, I think that every pitcher wishes he could do in his prime what Smoltz is doing in his twilight years. The guy is unbelievable and I have a world for respect of him.

[nrmax88]

If i was a dodger fan, I think I wouild rather see Kuo in the rotation then Randy wolf, this dude Kuo can pitch. He faced the Mets a couple times last year, anbd that was more of him then I wanted to see. This guys stuff is nasty, straight up nasty, his ceiling looks to be extremely high.

[nrmax88]

To me, it is still ridiculous to annoint the Braves with the best bullpen in the NL, after being absolutely awful last year. The cubs sucked last year, and they have made some big improvements, but they arent the best in the NL, this is how i see the braves. Mike Gonzalez can pitch, there is no doubt. However, last year he did post a lot less inning and a higher whip then i would like to have. Soriano is also lights out, but for BB to deal him for Horacio Ramirez, it was either an awful deal, or Soriano has something wrong with him, or maybe just some red flags went up about him. I dont know if its true, but I have been told Sori lost about 6 MPH off his heater. Wickmans no spring chicken. Its a solid pen, but there are still some questionmarks there.

[beeniez]

Every bullpen has its question marks. Wagner's getting older, Sanchez is coming back from an arm injury, Heilman is unhappy, etc. I think you might be in denial that the Braves actually have a good bullpen. I did the same when the Mets acquired Lo Duca and Wagner.

Bavasi needed a starter and the Braves needed a solid set-up man. A good trade for both teams. Both pitchers have had their health concerns, but Soriano's was a freak accident and not to his pitching arm, unlike Sanchez and Horacio.