Roster of the Month: The All-Padres Power Team
I might have a problem with the Padres. I’m not sure why, but I’m unable to stop making fun of them. I’m not proud of this. I don’t have an overt reason to be prejudiced; my rooting interests have nothing to do with the NL West. It’s not nice to kick someone when they’re down, and the Padres have been down since before Occupy Wall Street…there I go again. Admitting a problem is the first step to recovery, and it’s past time I confront my Padreism. Not long ago, I posted this on the Effectively Wild Facebook page:
On May 11, 1969, Nate Colbert hit his 6th HR for the Padres. This was the 33rd game of their inaugural season. Colbert has been the Padres career HR leader ever since.
A few days later, Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan bantered about this fun fact on the Effectively Wild podcast (which, by the way, is a must-subscribe for baseball fans everywhere). Now, I am overcome with guilt for spreading my anti-Padre bias to the baseball community at large. To atone for my prejudice, Padres home runs are the feature of this Roster of the Month.
Each month at Off the Bench, we’ll create the best possible 25-man roster with a different theme. There aren’t any real overarching rules in place, but it’s something we have done sporadically in the past. (Editor’s note: There are Kindergarteners younger than that link.) Last month featured the All-Non HOF Team. For the All-Padres Power Team, we’ll explore the best Padres home run hitters and most homer-prone pitchers in franchise history. (All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs.)
Starting Lineup
This may be the only historical Padres lineup ever that doesn’t include Tony Gwynn. The undisputed greatest Padre of all time excelled at pretty much everything…except hitting home runs.
- RF Dave Winfield, R: Leading off is the sole Hall of Famer on this roster. Winfield’s 154 HR are fourth on the franchise leaderboard. He’s one of only three Padres to play at least 1000 games for the team along with Gwynn and Garry Templeton. He began his career in San Diego and retired with 465 HR, but only topped 25 in a season once before leaving as a free agent.
- 1B Adrian Gonzalez, L: Gonzalez should’ve broken the record. The San Diego native hit 161 HR for his hometown from 2006-2010, just two away from matching Colbert’s franchise mark. He’s still active so it’s technically possible he could rejoin the team and hit a few more, but the Eric Hosmer signing and Gonzalez’ own decline make a meaningful reunion unlikely.
- LF Nate Colbert, R: This is kind of cheating. After being selected in the Padres’ expansion draft, Colbert was their starting first baseman through 1974, setting a still-standing record of 163 HR. That final season, he played 48 games in left field. We’ll stick him out there in this lineup for the purposes of starting both him and Gonzalez.
- 3B Ken Caminiti, B: Caminiti smashed 121 HR in only four years as a Padre. This includes 40 in 1996, the year he won the franchise’s only NL MVP award. He’s also San Diego’s career leader in slugging percentage (.540).
- C Benito Santiago, R: Santiago burst onto the scene in 1987 with 18 HR to go along with a .300 BA and 21 SB, winning the NL Rookie of the Year. He produced double-digit HR in each of his six seasons as a starter in San Diego.
- CF Steve Finley, L: Finley spent four years in San Diego, hitting 10, 30, 28, and 14 HR. Does this seem not-that-impressive for the 6th hitter in a lineup built around power? I’m trying not to be mean, but the Padres don’t make it easy.
- SS Khalil Greene, R: The middle infield is the soft underbelly of nearly any power lineup. Greene’s 84 HR are tied for 10th most ever by a Padre, and nearly twice as many as any other shortstop in franchise history.
- 2B Jedd Gyorko, R: Gyorko hit 49 HR from 2013-15. Then they traded him to St. Louis where he hit 50 HR over the last two seasons. In return, they got John Jay, who hit just two longballs with the Padres. Life’s not fair.
- P Tim Lollar, L: Lollar isn’t actually on our pitching staff (see below), but he’s unequivocally the best hitting pitcher in team history. He smacked 8 HR from 1981-84, slashing .231/.284/.376.
Bench
Fred McGriff is the only Padre to ever lead the NL in HR, swatting 35 of them in 1992. In spite of this, he’s not on the roster. He only spent two and a half seasons in San Diego, and there are just too many other first basemen on the squad.
- 1B/OF Ryan Klesko, L: Klesko looked to be well on his way to breaking Colbert’s record when he hit 106 HR from 2000-03. However, he only produced 27 more from 2004-06. His 133 is still good for 6th on the franchise leaderboard.
- 1B/OF Wil Myers, R: Myers is probably the active Padre with the best chance of setting a new HR record. He has 66 through his first three seasons with the team and is signed through at least 2022 (with a club option for 2023). He needs to average 20 per season for the remainder of the guaranteed contract to top Colbert’s 163. The contract runs through his age 31 season, so aging probably won’t be a factor. I had better get my Padres jokes in while I still can!
- 4C Phil Nevin, R: If not for injuries, Nevin would already own the Padres HR record. He’s currently in third place with 156 HR despite averaging only 115 games per season with San Diego.
- UI Yangervis Solarte, B: Solarte hit 14, 15, and 18 HR during his three full seasons in San Diego. He blasted 51 in total, which would be the most ever by a Padres second baseman (though he spent more time at third base).
- C/1B Gene Tenace, R: The history of catcher offense in San Diego is rather dreary, with Tenace being the biggest bright spot. From 1977-80 he paired 68 HR with 425 walks. His mastery of the Three True Outcomes was too far ahead of its time. Modern stats, such as his 139 wRC+, show us how much better he was than his contemporaries.
- OF Greg Vaughn, R: Vaughn is the only Padre to ever hit 50 HR in a season. Unfortunately, the year he picked to do it was 1998, in which his accomplishment was overshadowed by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa clobbering 70 and 66. But hey, at least Vaughn led the Padres to the World Series.
Rotation
It wouldn’t be much fun to list a bunch of pitchers that hit home runs. So what’s a Padres-hater to do? Why, make a rotation of the most homer-prone hurlers in team history, of course! Most of these pitchers were prominent during the home run spike of the late 90s/2000s, so it’s not exactly a fair comparison across eras, but who cares? Let’s just make fun of pitchers who gave up a bunch of dingers!
- LHP Sterling Hitchcock: Hitchcock is the only San Diego pitcher to allow 100 HR in fewer than 700 IP. He yielded 1.41 HR/9 through 106 starts. That’s a lot of homers, even for the late 90s.
- RHP Bobby Jones: The team worst HR/9 with at least 300 IP is 1.7, which belongs to Bobby Jones. He surrendered a league-high 37 HR in 2001. Surprisingly, Barry Bonds only hit one of them.
- RHP Eric Show: Show’s 230 GS are the second most in franchise history, so it’s no shock that he has also allowed the most HR of any Padres pitcher. He gave up 166 of them from 1981-1990.
- RHP Ed Whitson: Whitson had two stints in San Diego, during which he allowed 148 HR. He led the league with 36 HR allowed in 1987.
- RHP Woody Williams: The National League hit 84 HR off Williams in two and a half seasons as a Padre from 1999 through mid-2001. Then he returned to San Diego in for the 2005-06 seasons and gave up 45 more.
Bullpen
Just as Gwynn is an obvious omission from the starting lineup, Trevor Hoffman is absent from the relief corps. After 16 years in San Diego, he holds the record for nearly all reliever counting stats, including 85 HR allowed. But no one could fairly say he had a home run problem, so he’s not included on this roster.
- RHP Carlos Almanzar: Almanzar spent only two forgettable seasons in San Diego from 1999-2000. Nevertheless, he allowed 18 HR in only 107 IP.
- RHP Luis DeLeon: DeLeon’s 36 HR allowed are third most ever by a Padres reliever, despite pitching in only 185 games.
- LHP Craig Lefferts: Lefferts was really a pretty solid reliever through 495.2 IP, but his 42 HR are the second most behind Hoffman. He also started 27 games in 1992 and game up 16 more longballs.
- RHP Edward Mujica: Mujica surrendered homers with greater frequency than any other Padre reliever. His 26 HR through 146.2 IP works out to 1.6 HR/9
- RHP Carlos Reyes: Reyes’ 1.46 HR/9 trails only Mujica and Almanzar for the third highest in team history. He had three stints in San Diego which ended with him being traded, waived, and released.
- RHP Dale Thayer: Thayer arrived in San Diego as a “player to be named later” from a previous trade. He then pitched for four years with the club, giving up 26 HR.
-Dan Epstein
(Editor’s Note: #bringbackthebrown)
