San Diego Padres All-Time Team

Our next-to-last stop is a one-team California city that lost both their NFL team and their NBA franchise. Wait, I thought we already went to Oakland?

 
The San Diego Padres nearly left for Washington in 1974. Ten years later, they won their first of two NL pennants.

Bruce Bochy managed the Friars' second NL title-winning club, in 1998. The current Rangers skipper won three World Series rings with the cross-state rival Giants - but he's a distant second in San Fran annals. 

Here's his all-time lineup.

Just two Hall of Famers here - and Winfield played more games with the Yankees. Gonzalez and Giles are quality starters. The middle infield needs work.

	Padres stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	games
	*Bip Roberts	12.5	0.298	0.361	0.387	0.747	106	667
	*Khalil Greene	9.3	0.248	0.304	0.427	0.731	96	659
	Tim Flannery	9.1	0.255	0.335	0.317	0.652	85	972
	Garry Templeton	10.0	0.252	0.293	0.339	0.632	77	1286

Garry Templeton would be the people's choice but Khalil Greene had much more power. Not to focus on any one stat, but an all-time starter with a 77 OPS+ would be embarrassing. Oh... hi Freddie, didn't see you there. 


There is a shortstop in San Diego who has already produced more offense than any middle infielder in team history. But he's not quite ready yet...

Aside from Nate Colbert, the Padres' best bench options are third basemen. Manny Machado is still an (All-Time) Oriole for now, but he's one of four 'hot corner' stars among the leaders in position player WAR for this franchise.

	Padres stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Phil Nevin	17.8	0.288	0.359	0.503	0.862	129
	*Chase Headley	18.2	0.263	0.344	0.405	0.749	111
	Manny Machado	17.8	0.276	0.347	0.494	0.841	131
	Ken Caminiti	17.5	0.295	0.384	0.540	0.924	147

Chase Headley might have had the least memorable career of these four, but his 18.2 WAR is sixth in San Diego history. (You know who has the fourth-highest total? Gene Tenace.)

It was very tough to find backup outfielders for this roster in the original series. Juan Soto won't be here for a while - and if he does sign long-term he's almost certainly starter material - but there is a new contender.

	Padres stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Gene Richards	19.0	0.291	0.357	0.387	0.744	113
	*Will Venable	13.3	0.252	0.316	0.410	0.727	105
	Wil Myers	12.3	0.254	0.330	0.451	0.781	115

The battle of wills goes to Myers. His versatility helps a bit, though Bochy has plenty of other options at Myers' secondary position, first base.


The Padres' rotation needs work. Only their ace and 2007 Cy Young winner Jake Peavy is locked in. 

Not much to work with here, and no new hurlers have qualified. So let's revisit some past Padre pitchers.

	Padres stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP	starts
	*Andy Benes	20.8	3.57	109	2.58	1.239	186
	*Andy Ashby	22.8	3.59	112	2.56	1.246	185
	*Randy Jones	20.7	3.30	104	1.64	1.208	253
	*Eric Show	15.9	3.59	101	1.60	1.283	230
	Bruce Hurst	15.0	3.27	113	2.55	1.181	131
	Joey Hamilton	15.8	3.83	104	1.86	1.343	142
	Ed Whitson	16.3	3.69	99	2.19	1.229	208

Bochy makes a marginal upgrade, swapping Show for Hurst.


The Padres bullpen has some underrated arms building a bridge to Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to look at other options.

	Padres stats	SV	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP	games
	*Craig Lefferts	64	3.24	114	2.20	1.249	375
	*Luke Gregerson	16	2.88	126	3.29	1.092	363
	*Scott Linebrink	4	2.73	145	2.78	1.147	306
	*Mark Davis	78	2.75	135	2.18	1.260	230
	Craig Stammen	5	3.36	120	4.29	1.144	333
	Greg Harris	15	2.95	128	2.25	1.182	194
	Kirby Yates	56	2.55	161	5.40	1.002	192

Yates technically qualifies, with three full seasons plus six appearances in the Covid-shortened mini-season. Bochy taps Craig Stammen to replace Craig Lefferts, based primarily on the former Craig's impeccable control.


Looking ahead... Khalil Greene's days as San Diego's all-time starting shortstop are numbered.

 

El Nino is looming.


Jake Cronenworth could be in the mix very soon as well. Machado could certainly switch teams as mentioned, and so could Juan Soto. The Padres currently have three pitchers on other teams' all-time rosters - Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Josh Hader. Eventually they're gonna have to grow their own.



TL; DR: Three changes from the original roster. Venable, Show, and Lefferts out. Myers, Hurst, and Stammen in.

 

Come back tomorrow for the final MLB franchise in this series (but not the final roster) the San Francisco Giants.

Thanks for reading!