The Padres are playing respectable baseball this season, a development that has some of baseball's contenders worried. San Diego was expected to struggle mightily in 2010, making first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and closer Heath Bell trade candidates at midseason. "If they're competitive, and they're anywhere within striking distance in July, they'll hold," said an official of one club. "I get the sense that ownership looks at Gonzalez in particular as a very difficult player to trade. He's from there. He's got the link to that Mexican-American community. They're trying to create some identity in that community. So he's not an easy guy to move." San Diego enters Tuesday's action with a record of 11-8, good enough for a first-place tie with San Francisco in the National League West.