Three things the Padres can do to dethrone the Dodgers in the NL West

Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty ImagesOnce upon a time, there was a baseball club that sold off all their aging players, embarked upon a rebuild, and came out the other side looking rosy. What a concept! With a cache of young, budding stars in the fold after a few meager years, they invested heavily in adding veteran pieces to complement them, in the process transitioning from boring afterthought to the most exciting, intriguing team in the game.

Of course, those San Diego Padres are stuck in the same division as the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, the juggernaut of Major League Baseball at the moment. And while the Pads have laid an effective groundwork for a string of successful seasons to come,…