SAN DIEGO -- The clubhouse at the Padres' Spring Training facility in Peoria, Ariz., might well resemble a busy bus station when pitchers and catchers report on Saturday. The team will look at 34 pitchers as it attempts to craft a pitching staff in seven weeks.

"I don't think we've ever had 30 arms. But we've got 35 right now, 34 healthy ones," San Diego general manager Kevin Towers said. "I would say that 35 in a normal year is too many. But since [Trevor] Hoffman is gone and [Heath] Bell is learning a new role, it's going to be a good time to look at the extra guys."

Coming off a 99-loss season, the Padres will use their time in Arizona as a casting call of sorts -- more than usual -- as there figures to be open competition for spots on the pitching staff as well as several positions, questions that need to be settled in seven weeks.

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It all begins on Valentine's Day, when pitchers and catchers report to Peoria. The first order of the day will be physicals, with the first workout scheduled for Feb. 16. Position players will report on Feb. 17 and take their physicals. Two days later, the Padres will have their first full-squad workout.

Towers and manager Bud Black and his staff will be in Peoria no later than Friday as they will go over their Spring Training plan.

The Padres will play the Seattle Mariners in their annual charity game Feb. 25 in Peoria, with their first Cactus League game set for the following day against the same Mariners.

As busy as the clubhouse figures to be early on, it will only get busier when the position players report on Feb. 17. There will be plenty of new faces in the clubhouse as well as the Padres have added veteran second baseman David Eckstein, outfielder Cliff Floyd and catcher Henry Blanco during the offseason.

A handful of non-roster invitees figures to get long looks -- infielder Chris Burke, reliever Chris Britton and starting pitcher Kevin Correia stand a good chance of making the 25-man Opening Day roster.

The Padres currently have 22 pitchers on their 40-man roster, though only 21 are healthy, as reliever Mike Adams continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. He won't return until the All-Star break at the earliest.

With pitcher Jake Peavy (Team USA) and brothers Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez (Team Mexico) each expected to miss upwards of three weeks of Spring Training due to the World Baseball Classic, the Padres will use that time to evaluate some of the new faces as well as their Minor League prospects.

"Losing some of these guys to the [Classic], it will be good in that some guys will get some innings," Towers said. "The more looks they get, the more innings they pitch, hopefully it will make it easier for us to make decisions."