I’ll give those pundits one inch of leeway in this discussion; this year’s edition of the San Diego Padres is a young and mostly unproven group of players.
After a small handful of veterans, the rest of this Friars roster is comprised of early-to-mid 20s players who haven’t really had much of an opportunity to prove themselves at the MLB-level yet.
After some offseason additions, like Eric Hosmer, Chase Headley, Freddy Galvis, and projected backup catcher, A.J. Ellis, and stalwarts like Wil Myers and even, to an extent, Jose Pirela, this is mostly an inexperienced group.