Fresh Start

The San Diego Padres are finally in a new era. This is not Tony Gwynn's Padres, or even Trevor Hoffman's Padres. In fact, letting the all-time saves leader leave in free agency may have been the most positive move of the off season. Hoffman is still a solid closer, and had a much better year last season then most San Diego fans credited him for. Heck, he just spoiled us by being perfect for so many years. So I've just praised the guy, yet I say it was great that we let him go. Why? Its because this team was living in his shadows, it was old man Hoffman's ball club. The 2009 squad has a new identity. Young veterans such as Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell can finally make this team theirs. Which will emerge as the next Mr. Padre? Hopefully neither of them, for awhile at least. As this team has now begun to look towards each other for success, it's created a special element. This Padres team is young, and dare I say it, scrappy. It's a 5-2 start, lets not get ahead of ourselves. But hey, we have reason to be excited.