ALL DECADE PADRES

The 2020s look like they'll be a lot brighter for San Diego's sole professional sports team. Especially with the recent reveal of the awesome brown uniforms the Padres are about to rock! Unfortunately, the 2010s were not an especially kind decade to San Diego's baseball club. Zero playoff berths and only one winning season (90 wins in 2010) made for a bleak decade, but there's some life to be found on this squad (mainly Rookie stud Fernando Tatis Jr). If half the young arms in their system develop and they sign Cole or Strasburg this offseason, watch the Padres 2020 All Decade team look a lot more like the Astros than this mediocre assemblage!

Let's all hope Tatis reaches this peak potential card soon! After his rookie year, it seems VERY possible!

LINEUP: The Padres lineup heavily leaned into the "get the most ABs to your best players" approach and has superstar Tatis Jr leading off. As a rookie, Tatis Jr put together a MONSTER card before his injury, featuring good OB, A speed, and 17-20 power with XB hitting starting at 12. Absolute STUD! He's followed by a somewhat forgotten star in SD, Chase Headley! Headley has an all-around solid OB 10 that'll get on and bat guys in. Hitting third is arguably the best hitter on the team, 2009 Adrian Gonzalez. Bashing with 40+ HR power and getting on at 4, he's going to be a matchup problem for opposing pitchers! Then we snuck PR Machado onto this team to give it some hope/life, and DH Machado looks *good* in brown!!! We're hoping he and Tatis continue to put up cards like this in the 2020s. Unfortunately, the lineup's downward trajectory begins after Manny. Myers and Upton both put together good OB 8 cards, but both are on at 6. I like their speed and wealth of XB pop though. Then comes OB 10 Seth Smith, who's got high OB but lots of outs on his charts and not much zest to his game. Woeful OB 9 AJ Ellis mans the plate and hopes to just keep some innings alive with his chart. Rounding out the lineup is 2019's Greg Garcia, who put together a very stellar "MLB Showdown Quilvio Veras-esque" card to reset the lineup for the four stars! Honestly this is the first "manageable" lineup I've seen since the Orioles and I'm concerned about its ability to consistently score against the epic rotations/bullpens it'll face.

ROTATION: I think it shows how spoiled we've all been with these All Decade teams when most readers first reaction to the Padres rotation is YIKES! This is the only team without a Tier 2 pitcher in the rotation. Instead, San Diego will rely solely on Tier 3 starters and hope they can bridge them to the stellar bullpen. Paddock has a bright future ahead and earned a C6, on at 15 card in 2019. Not what you want for an ace in this league, but he's got a huge Control 6! Following him is a solid James Shields -- not quite his Royals self in 2014, but Shields had a good 2015 card. Control 5 Cashner, whose low IP isn't really a factor considering San Diego probably wants their starters only going 5, brings another Tier 3. Rounding out the group of Tier 3 guys with yet another type of Control is Tyson Ross. Overall.... yeah, hard to see SD making a series playoff push behind these arms, but they're all good enough to spin some good games and who knows how the dice will roll in a truncated season -- hope remains!

BULLPEN: Another low points All Decade team, another deep and impressive bullpen. The Padres kick things off with three Tier 1 relievers! Joaquin Benoit appears on his third All Decade team, and his Control 4 card doesn't give up doubles while getting out guys at a great rate! However, the team will turn to 2019 Kirby Yates to close out games -- he's a stud!! Control 6, no doubles, on at 17... nothing to dislike about the most draftable reliever in the 2019 set. Rounding out the Tier 1 guys is Heath Bell, a Pedro-like card who gives impressive depth to this team. Next up is Craig Kimbrel, appearing on his second (but not final) All Decade team in his most "meh" version -- a Tier 2 with a double. Rounding it out is an under-appreciated Huston Street. People will fear his low control, but with no doubles and outs up to 18, the guy is going to shut low OB guys down HARD. Expect this bullpen to absorb HEAVY innings over the course of the 36 game All Decade season.

Overall, I'd say most people will come away from viewing this team with the same impression -- worst team in the All Decade group thus far. The point totals back that up too, as the Padres are the "cheapest" team released so far. Dang.... the Padres are going to have to face the Dodgers at a 1,500 point disadvantage!!! However, it's not all hopeless for the Padres, with enough offensive weapons to score runs and pitching that can survive early/turn it over to a very good bullpen late. However.... there's not a lot of optimism out there, but probably more than for the Orioles or Giants (that'll be an interesting matchup for San Diego). Anyway, after 17 teams have been revealed, here's the current standings by points:

1.   Dodgers             8010 points
2.   Yankees             7920 points
3.   Red Sox             7770 points
4.   Nationals           7670 points
5.   Astros                7420 points
6.   Reds                   7220 points
7.   Blue Jays           7140 points
8.   Rockies              7090 points
9.   Rays                   7060 points
10.   Indians               6880 points
11.   (T10) Mariners  6880 points
12.   Orioles               6830 points
13.   Giants                6800 points
14.   Marlins              6750 points
15.   Tigers                6710 points
16.   Royals                6570 points
17.   Padres                6510 points