Think there's nowhere to go but up for the NL's worst defensive team? Think again

By Phil Taylor

Nevin, who's coming off a career year at the plate, will be on unfamiliar footing as a first baseman.  John Iacono ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Padres "It took Phil Nevin some time to figure out the majors, but he's become a great righthanded power hitter, and there aren't too many around. He's a pretty good breaking-ball hitter, but you don't see him hit many out of the park to right. So I'd keep stuff away from him. ... Sean Burroughs can flat out swing the pole. He doesn't have the power his dad [Jeff Burroughs] had, but he's gonna drive in runs with a ton of doubles in the gaps. ... I'm not sure Ramon Vazquez is physically ready for the majors. He has a high school body, and I wonder if he'll survive a hard slide into second. ... Damian Jackson is an O.K. player, but he lapses on defense, and he has a big-man's swing in a little-man's body. He's got to hit the ball on the ground, in the gap. ... It used to be said that Bubba Trammell would kiss a manager's butt to get playing time, and I never thought he was much beyond a fifth outfielder. Wrong. You can get him out with hard breaking stuff, but don't give him a mistake or he'll beat you. ... Mark Kotsay gets a real good jump on fly balls, and he has one of the best outfield arms around. ... Wiki Gonzalez is an above-average catcher. He doesn't have the physical gifts of Ben Davis , but he can throw, and he's energetic back there. ... Bobby Jones couldn't pitch for a lot of teams. He must be on his ninth life, because whenever I see the guy, he's getting shelled. ... Trevor Hoffman has the best changeup in baseball. You know it's coming, and you can't do a thing with it. He's the best closer in the game."

The Padres don't think it's a mistake to move their two best hitters, Ryan Klesko and Phil Nevin, to unfamiliar defensive positions, and their judgment in these matters should be respected. Having ranked last in the majors in defense the past two seasons, this is a team that knows an error when it sees one. San Diego committed 141 of them in 2000 and 145 more last year, and it won't be surprising if the Padres' gloves fail them in similar fashion this season.

Nevin, who led the team with 41 home runs and 126 RBIs in 2001, will move from third base to first, displacing his good friend Klesko. A leftfielder for most of his first six years in the majors, Klesko, who hit 30 homers and drove in 113 runs, will be stationed in right. The Padres felt the moves were necessary to make room at third base for Sean Burroughs, 21, a highly regarded prospect who is the son of 1974 American League MVP Jeff Burroughs. The prized rookie hit .322 and played a solid third base at Triple A Portland last season, and he'd better do roughly the same thing for the Padres, or Klesko and Nevin's mild annoyance over the moves could grow into something more ominous.

"It's kind of tough to move two All-Star corner guys to different positions, but we really don't have much of a say about it," says Klesko, 30, who has played a total of two big league games in rightfield. "At this point in our careers, it's not something we were real receptive to doing, but if it makes us a better team, so be it."

Nevin, who has played first base 20 times in his career (none since 1999), spent much of the spring being tutored by former first baseman Wally Joyner. "They're putting a lot of pressure on the kid, and if he doesn't do his job, it's going to put us in a tough spot," Nevin, 31, says of Burroughs. "It's not that we're going to come down on him, but you've got two guys here who are proven players in this league, and you're asking us to put in extra time to learn new positions. If it works, great. But if it doesn't. ..."

If it doesn't, not even Klesko's and Nevin's bats will keep San Diego above .500. Manager Bruce Bochy also plans to move D'Angelo Jimenez, whose .948 fielding percentage was the lowest among National League shortstops last year, to second base and replace him with rookie Ramon Vazquez. It's another risky shift, especially because the Padres, with no overpowering arms on their all-righthanded starting staff, need a dependable defense even more than most clubs. Bochy will be satisfied if that quintet and a questionable group of middle relievers can turn over a lead to closer Trevor Hoffman, who converted 43 of 46 save opportunities.

Like his teammates, Hoffman will have to overcome the lingering grief from the death of outfielder Mike Darr, one of the most popular players on the team, who died in a single-car accident on Feb.s15. The team is keeping Darr's memory alive in a way that probably would have made the eccentric outfielder smile: Each player was given a T-shirt with Darr's number 26 on the back and a popular saying of his, MY S---'S TIGHT, BRO, on the front. Despite the attempt at humor, the Padres are in mourning. "It's a sadness that isn't going to go away in a month or two months," Hoffman says. "We're going to feel Mike's absence all season and beyond."

The players know that they can't let their sorrow affect their concentration, though, because they don't have much room for, uh, error. "There's no reason we can't be in the race all year if we stay healthy and maybe catch a few breaks," says Klesko. Considering the state of their defense, the Padres need to make sure that breaks aren't the only thing they catch.

Issue date: March 25, 2002