The San Diego Padres have made a flurry of moves in the last couple of weeks to improve their offense, so let’s take a look at what their lineup might look like come Opening Day.

1. Will Venable, RF
2. Jason Bartlett, SS
3. Cameron Maybin, CF
4. Carlos Quentin
5. Yonder Alonson, 1B
6. Chase Headley, 3B
7. Nick Hundley, C
8. Orlando Hudson, 2B

The Padres finished 30th in HR’s (91), 29th in baseball in wOBA (.292), and 28th in OBP (.305) in 2011 and while their offense has added Quentin and Alonso, don’t expect their offense to improve drastically in 2012. The issue with the Padres’ lineup is that while I like the that they want to manufacture runs by stealing bases and taking the extra base, the issue is that they don’t get on base enough. The Padres can’t do the things they want to do when half of their lineup has an OBP below .330.

The key to this lineup is going to Maybin. Maybin had a breakout 2011 season when he hit .264/.323/.393 with nine HR’s, eight triples, and 40 SB’s in 568 PA’s. Is Maybin a No. 3 hitter? No, not even close. But in the Padres’ lineup he is forced to hit third because they have nobody else and he is going to have to have a repeat performance of his 2011 season if the Padres’ offense is going to improve.

I am also curious to see what the Padres do with Bartlett and Hudson. Both players came over to the Padres last season and both players didn’t provide much. It has been rumored the Padres were looking to unload both players earlier this offseason, but those rumors have died down because there isn’t much of a market for both players. I doubt the Padres can get anything for them now, but looks for them to try to unload both players as the season progresses.

As I mentioned above, the Padres’ offense should be a little better with the additions of Quentin and Alonso, but still not good enough to get the Padres over the hump in 2012. They will have far too many nights where they lose 2-1 or 3-2.

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