All Time San Diego Padres

ALL TIME SAN DIEGO PADRES

As mentioned in my last post, I am going to be putting out the best team possible based on my metrics, regardless of points or era. The card just needs to have been part of the OG sets or made on this site. Instead of doing a traditional showdown roster I’m going to do a more traditional MLB Roster with 5 starters, a fielder at each position, and then will break it down based on how I see fit from there (I will almost definitely be using more than 25 spots but will do when two players are close in value so you can compare on your own). I will only allow one card per player, so no stacking lineups with multiple iterations of one player and only include full season cards for players. No all-star game cards, as we want a full year representation. 

To start out I’m going to follow up on Matt’s choice of the San Diego Padres. The Padres have been around since 1936, coming from a Pacific Coast League team that featured the one and only Ted Williams. They officially joined the MLB in 1969 along with the Expos, Royals, and Pilots. They’ve won exactly 0 World Series, but can claim 2 NL Penants to their names in ’84 and ’98. By far and away the most popular Padres player is Tony Gwynn who was one of the best hitters of all time. Trevor Hoffman, Dave Winfield, and Jerry Coleman (manager/announcer) are the other Padres players who have been enshrined in Cooperstown. Despite their overall lack of playoff success, the Padres seem to be heading in the right direction (I’ll give them as much), combining young talent with some massive (players' impact or contract, you decide) off season signings. 

On first glance the Padres lineup seems to boast some very solid hitters, however when you remember this is an all-time lineup, there are undoubtedly some holes. Only having three 10 OB hitters will definitely hurt, and an 8 OB in there is going to lend itself to very few instances of getting the advantage. This team is expected to score about 5.36 runs against an average pitcher, however, most of the time they will not be facing average pitchers. Another surprise is a total lack of speed, with their only A speed player being Veras in the 9 hole. The top of the lineup definitely has the ability to pack a punch with Gwynn leading off,  followed by Winfield, Machado, Klesko and Gonzalez. There will be ample opportunities to score runs, but after that it will get significantly harder and my guess is it wouldn't be enough without some rolling help. Just missing the starting lineup are Greg Vaughn’s ’98 card, Kruk’s ’87 DH card and Reggie Sanders’ 2000 L/R card.

***added in due to missing him in the original release

 This starting rotation is headed by Randy Jones, who gets the nod just ahead of Kevin Brown due to the extra IP and control. Honestly, I don’t think you’d go wrong running either of these guys out there, though against all-star lineups, the additional control will definitely be a huge help. Gaylord Perry plugs in as the third starter, which may surprise many of you, but due to not giving up an extra base hit, having 5 control and 7 IP he makes it extremely difficult for opposing teams to string together enough hits to score a run. Bruce Hurst as a 4^th starter presents a bit of a risk/reward type due to needing a 19 to get OB, however his 3 control presents some issues against many lineups that will be 9OB at worst. Andy Ashby rolls out an identical card in the 5 spot. Their bullpen is next, which fits right in with the Padres overall. 

There’s not that much punch in the bullpen, but we’re also going off of only the classic cards, the 2018 set, and then some random card releases. Also, as I said at the top, they really haven’t won much. That being said, Trevor Hoffman would see a record setting number of appearances, and if the top of their rotation can hold strong, they won’t have too much need for the bottom of their bullpen. None of these guys are someone you’d be terrified to go to, I just have a feeling that looking at other teams, these are going to come up severely lacking. 

I elected to go with 7 relievers here, to have it be 12 batters and 12 pitchers in this lineup, as I feel there’s no real direction to go on the 25^th player. On the bench we have the extremely dangerous Greg Vaughn who rocks the HR at 14 chart. Unfortunately for him I don’t see him getting the advantage a ton, but when he does oh boy be ready for some fireworks. Although they play in the NL now I’m going to include a personal favorite in John Kruk to give them another 10 OB to plug into their lineup (plus all Showdown games include a DH). Honestly besides the two of them there is a lot of meh options. Who would you pick to finish out this team? I’ll include the ranking below. 

Batters

(Tatis’ card Is based on his projection so he’s excluded, and since this card is based on Machado’s 2018 season I allowed it)

Starters

Relievers