DRAFT -- DRAFT -- DRAFT
San Diego Padres All-Time Team
The Padres joined the National League as an expansion club in 1969. As one would expect, they were awful for many years early on: they didn't reach a .400 winning percentage until 1975. Nothing particularly good started happened for them until 1984 when they won the NL pennent before losing to the powerful Detroit Tigers in the World Series. But that success was short-lived, and they didn't return to the post-season until 1996, there second season under manager Bruce Bochy. Two years later they had their best season ever, going 98-64, and again making it to the championship, this time losing to the powerhouse Yankees. Their fourth postseason appearance came in 2005, as they captured the extremely weak NL West division with an 82-80 record.
With such limited success over the years, you'd expect there to be some holes in their All-Time team. And there are. But there are many great star players too.
1st Base:
Nate Colbert (.253, 163 HR, 3 AS) was the 1B for the Padres' first six seasons. He was essentially their first star hitter, a slugger who hit 20+ HR in five seasons. His best totals were in 1972 when he hit 38 HR and 111, though he also hit 38 HR in 1970. Sadly, Nate's 163 career HR as a Padre are the team's all-time best.
The backup is not as easy to determine. Steve Garvey (.275, 2 AS) ended his fine career with the Pads, playing from 1983-87 for them. At that point, however, his offensive production was a shadow of its former self, as he never hit over .300 or hit more than 21 HR for San Diego.
After several fine seasons with the Braves, Ryan Klesko (.278, 133 HR, 1 AS) played most 1B for several years before shifting to LF in 2004. I'll consider him again in a moment.
Two other star names were considered, but didn't do enough to make this roster. Wally Joyner (.291) spent four years near the end of his career in San Diego, and actually managed a .327 average for them in 1997. And the Crime Dog, Fred McGriff (.281, 1 AS), only played for two and a half years as a Padre. They were productive though: in 1991 he had 31 HR with 106 RBI, and in 1992 he had 35 HR and 104 RBI.
2nd Base:
This has historically been a very weak position for San Diego. Bip Roberts (.298, 148 SB) split his time at several positions, including 2B (288), OF (245), 3B (95), and SS (39), during two stints with the Padres (1986-1991, 1994-95). He hit for a high average and provided consistent speed, stealing 46 bases in 1990, and 20+ in four other seasons.
The backup spot comes down to three fellows, each of whom only played for three years with the team. Roberto Alomar (.283, 90 SB, 1 AS) started his outstanding career in San Diego, but went on to have his best seasons elsewhere. His power and outstanding defense hadn't really developed yet, but his speed was there and he three pretty good seasons. Mark Loretta (.314, 1 AS) looked to be on his way to becoming the best 2B in Padres history, but left for Boston after the 2005 season. His .335 average in 2004 was third in the NL. And speedy Quilvio Veras (.270, 87 SB) had SB totals of 33, 24, and 30. I'll go with Alomar, but just barely over Loretta.
Lifetime Padre Tim Flannery (.255) also deserves a plug here. He played parts of eleven seasons for San Diego, but only appeared in 100 or more games four times and had a total of 9 HR in his career. But his hustle kept him on the roster for a long time.
3rd Base:
The Hot Corner is another weak spot for the Padres. Phil Nevin (.288, 156 HR, 1 AS) played 6+ years in San Diego, hitting 20+ HR four times and 100+ RBI three times. In 2001 he hit .306 with 41 HR and 126 RBI. He split his time between 3B and 1B (and also go in a few games at C, LF, and RF), but his numbers are impressive enough to earn him the top spot at third.
Ken Caminiti (.295, 121 HR, 2 AS, 3 GG) had four fine seasons for the Padres, hitting 25+ HR each year and taking home three gold glove awards. His 1996 is one of the best seasons anyone has ever had in San Diego, as he took home the NL MVP Award after hitting .326 with 40 HR, 130 RBI, and 11 SB. You could make a case for him as the starter here, but I'll give the nod to Nevin because they both provided power, but Phil did for a bit longer.
Luis Salazar (.267, 93 SB) had three stints in San Diego, from 1980-84, again in 1987, and then for part of 1989. Not an impressive hitter, he provided some speed, including 32 SB in 1982 and 24 in 1983.
And some will remember Gary Sheffield's (.319, 1 AS) fine 1992 season, when he led the league with a .330 average, and hit 33 HR with 100 RBI. But that as his only full season in San Diego as he was traded to the Marlins before the All-Star break the next year. Not that Padres fans should complain, since that deal is how they acquired star closer Trevor Hoffman.
Shortstop:
The three candidates at SS all had low averages but swift feet. Playing in nearly twice as many games at the position as anyone else, Garry Templeton (.252, 101 SB, 1 AS) didn't hit nearly as well in San Diego as he had earlier for St. Louis. His batting average sank, as did his strong triples-production, but he still deserves the nod as the starter here.
Most people associate Ozzie Smith (.231, 147 SB, 1 AS, 2 GG) with the Cardinals, but The Wizard started his career with four seasons as a Padre. His hitting was weak (just 1 HR), but his glove was of course superb. He also had impressive SB totals of 40, 28, 57, and 22. Smith and Templeton were swapped for each other (along with a few other players) after the 1981 season, with the Cardinals obviously getting the better of that deal.
The only other SS that I took a good look at was another light hitter, Enzo Hernandez (.225, 129 SB) who played for the Padres from 1971-77. He only had over 500 AB twice, including 1974 when he stole 37 bases.
Catcher:
Benito Santiago (.264, 4 AS, 3 GG) started his long career for the Padres, and his seven years for them mark the only period of stability he had (9 other teams over 13 seasons). He provided some speed and some power, but his arm behind the plate was his most valuable attribute. In 1987 he took home NL Rookie of the Year honors, hitting .300, with 18 HR, 79 RBI, and 21 SB.
Terry Kennedy (.274, 3 AS) played for San Diego from 1981-86, the best years of his career. Each year he hit 10+ HR, and in 1982 he hit .295 with 21 HR and 97 RBI. That is good enough to make this team as the backup.
Gene Tenace (.237, .403 OBP) hit 15-20 HR per year for four years while splitting time between C and 1B. He had a low average but made up for it with his keen eyes, leading the league in walks in 1977 with 125, and then coming in either second or third in his three other years as a Padre.
Fred Kendall (.233) played most of his career with the Padres, during two stints (1969-76 and 1979-80). Not much of a hitter, his best season was 1973 when he hit .282 with 10 HR.
Outfield:
As far as All-Time teams go, this one has been embarassingly weak so far. But now we finally get a true superstar who played a long time for the Padres, Tony Gwynn (.338, 543 D, 1383 R, 1138 RBI, 319 SB, 15 AS, 5 GG). Playing his whole career in San Diego, Tony had 200+ hits five times, sometimes showed double-digit HR power, and early in his career provided speed as well, nabbing 30 or more bases four times. Amazingly, he hit .300+ in 19 of his 20 seasons, all but his partial rookie season. His best averages were .370 in 1987, .372 in 1997, and .394 during the strike shortened 1994. He won 8 batting titles, and provided good defense too, taking home five gold glove awards.
Far behind Gwynn's accomplishments as a Padre, at least Dave Winfield (.284, 154 HR, 133 SB, 4 AS, 2 GG) provides a second big-name player to this roster. He started his career in San Diego, playing there from 1973-80. He hit 20+ HR five times for them, and in 1979 hit .308 with 34 HR and 118 RBI (led the league), which earned him third in the MVP vote. He provided a strong arm and solid defense, and also had 15+ SB during six of those seasons.
The third OF will be Gene Richards (.291, 242 SB), who played all but one of his seasons as a Padre (1977-83). He provided a good average and plenty of speed, swiping 30 or more bases four times, including 56 in his rookie season and 61 in 1980.
Ryan Klesko, who I described earlier, will make this roster as the fourth outfielder. In 2001 he cranked 30 HR and 113 RBI.
An early star for the Padres, Cito Gaston (.257, 1 AS) had one great season and several mediocre ones. In 1970 he hit .318 with 29 HR and 93 RBI, but didn't come close to that level of production ever again.
And the sixth OF spot will go to Steve Finley (.276, 1 AS, 2 GG), even though he only played in SD for four seasons. In 1996 he hit .298 with 45 doubles, 30 HR, 126 runs, and 95 RBI.
Finley makes it because there aren't many other candidates to consider. Kevin McReynolds (.263) played his first four years as a Padre, and hit .288 with 26 HR and 96 RBI in 1986. And Carmelo Martinez (.248) split time between OF and 1B for six seasons, but had highs of only 21 HR and 72 RBI. There were a few other good single seasons amongst San Diego outfielders, but no one else deserves mention here.
Starting Pitching:
Unfortunately, this all-time team doesn't get any better with the starting pitching. Relatively speaking, it is quite abysmal. As a sign of this, the ace, Randy Jones (92-105, 3.30, 2 AS), has a losing record with the club. After a mediocre rookie campaign, he went 8-22 in 1974. But he did well the next two years, compiling records of 20-12 and 22-14. In 1975 he won the ERA crown with a 2.24 mark, and in 1976 he was the Cy Young Award winner. His next four seasons were again mediocre, but that is good enough to be the top man on this staff.
Eric Show (100-87, 3.59) has the most lifetime wins of any Padre hurler, pitching for them from 1981-90. That is not very impressive, to say the least. He won 16 games once, and 15 twice. He twice had a sub-3.00 ERA, but was never an all-star and never led the league in any categories.
Ed Whitson (77-72, 3.69) had two stints in San Diego, first from 83-84, and then he was traded back to the Padres from the Yankees mid-way through the 1986 season, and he stayed there until he retired after the 1991 season.He manage double-digit wins five times, with his best two seasons being 16-11 with a 2.66 ERA in 1989 and 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA in 1990.
Andy Benes (69-75, 3.57, 1 AS) pitched as a Padre for six and a half seasons. He was a highly touted strikeout pitcher, but never became the star some thought he would be. He two won 15 games in San Diego, but also had a 6-14 season. Andy Ashby (70-62, 3.59, 2 AS) also pitched six and half seasons for the Padres, with similar overall results. His best year was in 1998, when he went 17-9.
Due to a lack of strong candidates, I'm just going to choose six starters, to allow more room for relievers. So the last selection will be Clay Kirby (52-81, 3.73) who played for the first five Padres teams. His 7-20 campaign in 1969 was not impressive, and he only had one winning season: but that was largely a result of the horrible support he recieved.
Others I considered included Andy Hawkins (60-58, 3.84) who pitched parts of seven seasons for the Padres, but only had 30+ starts in three of them. His best year was 1985, when he compiled an 18-8 record with a 3.15 ERA Hurst (55-38, 3.27) pitched four strong seasons in San Diego, and you could make a case for him over Kirby for the last spot on this staff, as he twice won 15 games and had a better ERA. Joey Hamilton (55-44, 3.83) had five seasons in San Diego, but only three with 10+ wins. And lastly Dave Dravecky (53-50, 3.12, 1 AS) split his time as a starter and reliever for the Padres, three times posting a sub-3.00 ERA.
Relief Pitching:
Compared to the starting staff, the bullpen is extremely strong. First we have Trevor Hoffman (47-53, 2.72, 461 SV, 4 AS), who if not for Tony Gwynn would be the star of this entire roster. He has been the closer every year from 1994-2005, with the exception of 2003 when he was injured. His ERA has been below 3.00 all but two of those seasons, and he has had 40+ saves seven times, and 30+ three other times. 1998 was his best year, as he collected 53 saves (leading the league) while posting a 1.48 ERA.
The next two relievers are just as great as all-time players, though their accomplishments while with the Padres are not nearly as impressive. Rollie Fingers (34-40, 3.12, 108 SV, 1 AS) pitched for them from 1977-80, notching 35 and 37 saves to lead the NL in 1977 and 1978. And Goose Gossage (25-20, 2.99, 83 SV, 2 AS) also was the closer in San Diego for four seasons, getting 20+ saves three times. He was a primary reliever for the division-winning 1984 club, and then had a 1.82 ERA in 1985.
The last spot will go to Mark Davis (14-20, 2.75, 78 SV, 2 AS), who the Padres acquired by trade from the Giants in July of 1987. He had been used as both a starter and a reliever previously, but the Padres saw his potential as a closer. He was excellent in 1988, saving 28 games with a 2.01 ERA. Then in 1989 he saved 44 games with a 1.85 ERA, and earned the NY Cy Young Award. He opted for free agency and the Padres opted not to sign him, which turned out to be a good move. He was never the same again, even when he retured to SD for parts of the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Nonetheless, he did enough to earn a spot on this all-time team.
Several others were candidates for the bullpen, including Craig Lefferts (42-40, 3.24, 64 SV) who had two stints with the Padres, playing the roles of both setup man and closer. From 1984-87 he was primarily a setup man, though in 1984 he had 10 saves and a 2.13 ERA. After joining the Giants for a few seasons, he returned in 1990 and posted 23 saves both that year and the next. Gary Lucas (18-33, 2.90, 49 SV) was the primary closer for three years in the early 1980s, though he never had more than 17 saves in a season. Lance McCullers (21-28, 2.96, 36 SV) was in their pen for four seasons during the late 80s, and had a high of 16 saves in 1987. And Greg Harris (41-39, 2.95, 15 SV) had a low ERA for most of his four full seasons as a Padre, two as a reliever and two as a starter.
Extra Spot:
I really feel strange giving an extra player a spot on this roster, because I don't really think any are all that deserving of it. But I'll go with Mark Loretta, because it was such a close call between him and Roberto as the backup at 2B. I could also see Gene Tenace or Kevin McReynolds getting this honor, but hopefully someone else will emerge soon to put us out of this misery.
Team Captain:
This is Tony Gwynn, no doubt about it.
Starting Lineup
Tony Gwynn OF
Bip Roberts 2B
Dave Winfield OF
Phil Nevin 3B
Nate Colbert 1B
Benito Santiago C
Gene Richards OF
Garry Templeton SS
Randy Jones SP
Gwynn is a superstar, and there are some good power bats in the middle, but this isn't a very impressive lineup for an all-time team.
Prospects for Current Players:
What are the prospects for current Padres players making this all-time team? Pretty good I think. Hoffman and Klesko are already on this roster. SS Khalil Greene seems to be a good young player with some pop in his bat, so he might take Ozzie's spot one day. Brian Giles, though not the hitter he was in Pittsburgh, would just need a few more good seasons to take Finley's spot as the sixth OF. And Jake Peavy is a budding star, and it won't take him many more seasons to crack the back end of this team's rotation. We'll see...
Other Lists
Padres Retired Numbers (as players)
Steve Garvey (6), Tony Gwynn (19), Dave Winfield (31), Randy Jones (35)
2003 Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups
Neyer starts McGriff at 1B, which I think does a disservice to Colbert who he lists on his second team. He also chooses Alomar, and lists Veras as the backup (claiming that he beats out Jody Reed for this spot). Nowhere on either of his teams does he include Roberts, so I am thinking he just missed him because Bip's games played were spread around so many positions. He correctly chooses Templeton and Smith as the two SS, and lists Caminiti and Nevin at 3B, which are fine choices given the year he wrote. Kennedy and Santiago are the two backstops.
His outfield has Richards in LF, Finley in CF, and Gwynn in RF. This means Winfield is relegated to the bench (RF), along with Kevin McReynolds (CF), and surprisingly Greg Vaughn in LF. Vaughn basically had one great season for the Padres, 1998 when he hit 50 HR. Neyer notes that LF is "has been franchise's position of instability over the years", so his choice of Vaughn makes good sense.
For pitching his first four are similar to mine: Jones, Show, Benes, Ashby. Whitson drops down to sixth, followed by Hurst and Hawkins, which I won't argue about in place of Kirby. His fifth pitcher is interesting though: Gaylord Perry, who only pitched two seasons as a Padre. In 1978 he went 21-6 with a 2.73, winning the NL Cy Young Award in what is clearly one of the best San Diego pitching performances. However his 1979 season was far less impressive (12-11), so Neyer is clearly weighting that one season heavily. And lastly, his two relief choices are the same as mine.
1985 The
All-Time All-Star Baseball Book by Bart Acocella,
Nick Acocella, and Donald Dewey
Written in 1985, the authors had less than two decades to draw on for their lineup. For what its worth, they went with Colbert at 1B, Smith at SS, Kennedy at C, an outfield of Gaston, Winfield, Richards, and Jones as the starter. At 3B they chose Graig Nettles, who I didn't mention earlier. He played for them for three years near the end of his career (1984-86), hitting for a low average and only mediocre power. And at 2B they list Alan Wiggins, who also played only a short while in San Diego, splitting time between 2B and OF. He was very fast though, swiping 66 and 70 bases in his two full seasons.
1995 Baseball
Ratings by Charles S. Faber
Written in 1995, the most recent stars would not
have yet been eligible. The Faber system produces a pretty good lineup: Colbert, Alomar, Smith, Salazar, Kennedy, Gwynn, Winfield, and Richards.
TheBaseballPage.com (link)
This website (as of May 2006) selects Santiago and Kennedy at C and Colbert as the lone 1B. At 2B they go with Veras, Roberts, and Wiggins, and at SS Templeton and Flannery. This is no doubt because Alomar and Smith must be chosen for other all-time rosters. It is nice to see Flannery make it, and they do list Hernandez as honorable mention. Nevin is the lone 3B listed. In RF they choose Gwynn of course, but then list Johnny Grubb as well, even though he only played four mediocre seasons for them in the mid-70s. In CF they start Finley, and list Ollie Brown as a backup. Like Grubb, Brown played four seasons for them in the 70s, though he at least 20+ HR twice. In LF they list three: Richards, Martinez, and Phil Plantier. The choice of Plantier seems a stretch, as he had three poor partial seasons to go with his one good one, 1993 when he hit 34 HR and 100 RBI (though batted only .240).
The starting pitchers are listed as Benes, Jones, Show, Whitson, and Sterlin Hitchcock. The choice of Sterling is a major stretch, as he only had three full seasons for the Padres and never won more than 12 games in a year. Ashby and Dravecky get listed as extra starters in the bullpen. The main relievers are Hoffman, Davis, and Lefferts, which is fine since Fingers and Gossage are listed for other teams.
|
