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Adrian Gonzalez Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Beyond the Box Score Brother act Brian and Marcus Giles will be the third set of brothers to play for the Padres. Chris Gwynn joined his more famous sibling Tony on the Pads' 1996 division-winning club, and Roberto Alomar and Sandy Jr. were briefly together with the Padres in 1988-89. There's another set of brothers with the Padres, closer Trevor Hoffman and his older brother Glenn, who's going into his second season as third base coach. Leather Center fielder Mike Cameron's Gold Glove was the first for a Padres player since the late Ken Caminiti was making dazzling plays at third base in 1997. Staying away San Diegans have been voting with their feet, meaning there have been plenty of vacant seats at Petco Park. After drawing a club-record 3,016,752 in 2004, Petco's inaugural season, attendance has dropped to 2,869,787 in 2005 and 2,659,757 in 2006. It's safe to say that although the Padres have won consecutive NL West titles, their play at home hasn't exactly been riveting. OCM III He's full name is Olise Claiborne Meredith III, but the Padres' sidearming reliever goes by Cla (pronounced "Clay"). His teammates call him Claw. Opponents know him as a pretty good pitcher. He set a franchise record with 33.2 consecutive scoreless innings, the longest in the majors since Pedro Martinez threw 35 straight scoreless innings for Boston in 2002. Good deal GM Kevin Towers has jokingly referred to himself in the past as a "sludge merchant" for his ability to trade underperforming or overpaid players (or both). The one big trade from last year that could pay dividends for a long time was moving disgruntled catcher Doug Mirabelli back to Boston for catcher Josh Bard and reliever Cla Meredith.

Another NL West title was followed by another playoff series loss to St. Louis, which was followed by another offseason retooling. Sound familiar? Maybe a little boring? The Padres will try to win their third straight title in the sometimes wild but often mild West, this time with rookie manager Bud Black, aging Greg Maddux and an offense that will try to make up for a pathetic showing in October. Fans would love to see them win a playoff series -- especially against the Cardinals.

Rotation

Pitching was supposed to have carried the Padres deep into October, but the staff was undermined by an atrocious lack of offense. The rotation is still the strength of this team, and it got better -- and smarter -- with the addition of Maddux. He might not have the same stuff he did in winning those four straight Cy Young Awards, but the Padres still think Maddux can fool batters or they wouldn't have committed $10 million to him. Chris Young not only could supplant Jake Peavy as the staff ace but is the odds-on favorite to throw the first no-hitter in franchise history. The 6'10" Young, who flummoxes batters with his deceptive release point, came two outs shy of a no-no on Sept. 22 before Joe Randa rifled a two-run homer to center. In late May, he took a no-no into the eighth against Colorado. Young notched the team's only postseason win, at St. Louis in Game 3 of the division series. Peavy not only wishes he could take back that home-run pitch to Albert Pujols in Game 1, but he's also looking to rebound from a very un-Peavy-like year. He was 11-14 with a 4.09 ERA, the product of shoulder tendinitis, lack of run support and a few more freak injuries. Still, he led the team with 202.1 innings and 215 strikeouts. Rounding out the rotation will be veteran left-hander David Wells and Clay Hensley. Mike Thompson, who did a yeoman's job in filling in for Woody Williams and making several emergency starts down the stretch, will get a look.

Bullpen

Trevor Hoffman still can't win the Cy Young Award, even after becoming baseball's all-time saves leader. Hoffy had an NL-best 46 saves and passed Lee Smith as the most prolific closer ever, yet found out that voters still, for the most part, don't like rewarding ninth-inning guys with the Cy Young. Hoffman finished second to Arizona's 16-game winner, Brandon Webb. In 1998, Hoffman had 53 saves and finished second to Tom Glavine. Scott Linebrink continues to be mentioned in every trade rumor, but the Padres are hanging on to him to eventually succeed Hoffman. Cla Meredith showed that he's here to stay with his lively sidearm delivery, and the Padres added depth by acquiring local products Royce Ring and Heath Bell.

Middle Infield

In a move that seemingly goes counter to their philosophy, the Padres traded homegrown second baseman Josh Barfield to Cleveland for Kevin Kouzmanoff. But they did sign hometown product Marcus Giles, who is expected to give the Padres both a defensive and offensive boost if he can stay healthy. Shortstop Khalil Greene was sidelined for a good portion of the last two months of 2006 after injuring a finger. Some fans groused about his performance, but he is now the only homegrown player in the starting lineup.

Corners

Back home in San Diego after being included in a stellar trade with Texas, Adrian Gonzalez had a breakout performance in his first full big league season. He was a defensive improvement over Ryan Klesko and won the team's MVP award. Still, his offensive numbers point out how lackluster the Padres' attack was last season. Gonzalez led the Padres in two of the three triple crown categories with a .304 average and 24 HRs. Kouzmanoff became the first player in big league history to hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw after being called up by Cleveland. He was a combined .379 with 22 homers and 75 RBIs in the minors last year.

Outfield

The Padres made no one happy except Terrmel Sledge when they let Dave Roberts leave as a free agent. The only knock against Roberts was that he didn't hit for power. But he certainly did enough other things right to make fans bemoan his exit. The pressure will be on Sledge to deliver in Petco Park, especially since the Padres failed to add a slugger in the offseason, and right fielder Brian Giles' power numbers continue to slip. It was a no-brainer that the Padres picked up Mike Cameron's option. Cameron is a natural in Petco Park's vast center field, and his first season in Padres blue resulted in his third career Gold Glove Award.

Catching

The Padres didn't want to pony up $8 million to keep Mike Piazza even though the 38-year-old did put up some decent numbers. The position, however, is in good hands with the tandem of Josh Bard and Rob Bowen. Both have good pop with the bat and will be defensive improvements over the weak-armed Piazza. The Padres sent top prospect George Kottaras to Boston for Wells, but are confident Bard and Bowen can carry the load.

Bench

Black will have the luxury of turning to a trio of players -- Geoff Blum, Russell Branyan and Todd Walker -- who can start for any length of time, if necessary. Branyan and Walker both came over as third basemen late last season, although Walker ended up playing a fair amount at second base. Blum not only filled in capably at shortstop while Greene rehabbed an injured finger but also batted .387 (12-for-31) as a pinch-hitter, best in the majors. Jose Cruz Jr. joins an outfield that isn't very deep.

Management

Technically, the Padres didn't force out manager Bruce Bochy. But they made it clear a contract extension wasn't forthcoming, which meant he would have gone into 2007 as a lame duck. So he took San Francisco's three-year offer, and the Padres replaced him with Black, who has never managed at any level. GM Kevin Towers got an extension through 2008 after Bochy had hit the road. Towers has built four division winners, including the 1998 NL champs.

Final Analysis

After failing to land a big bopper in the offseason -- they were quickly priced out of the market, along with a lot of other teams -- the Padres instead are trumpeting the fact they're stockpiling draft picks as compensation for losing free agents such as Roberts, Williams, Klesko and Alan Embree. Even though their farm system needs bolstering, that's not exactly what the ticket-buying public wants to hear. The Padres haven't exactly taken the NL West by storm the last two seasons, and anything less than a stellar start could relegate them to third or fourth place -- and a further decline in attendance at pricey Petco Park.

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