Record: 73-89, T-5th, NL West (24 GB)
Postseason: --
Ballpark: San Diego Stadium (100 hits, 83 HR)
Runs scored: 673 (7th)
Runs allowed: 794 (11th)
Pythag record: 69-93 (+4)
Recap: The Padres' expansion season went pretty well, all told. They picked up a couple of decent young players and if it weren't for the crazy Angels' first season, this would have been the best expansion year ever.
History: San Diego is a fairly longtime member of the PCL but this of course was their first season in MLB.
Outlook: None of the expansion teams exactly looks "good" going forward but the Padres have a couple of pieces who might even be around for the first contending team. The pitching sucks though.
Rotation
Code:
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Mike | Lopez | 26 | L | 11 | 12 | 0.478 | 0 | 4.18 | 29 | 28 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 189.2 | 840 | 198 | 103 | 88 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 104 | 4 | 143 | 10 | 0 | 9.4 | 0.9 | 4.9 | 6.8 |
| Rodrigo | Aguilar | 27 | R | 10 | 12 | 0.455 | 0 | 4.15 | 34 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 186.1 | 809 | 202 | 100 | 86 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 72 | 3 | 54 | 6 | 0 | 9.8 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 2.6 |
| Juan | Moreno | 32 | R | 8 | 6 | 0.571 | 0 | 4.27 | 36 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 143.1 | 639 | 152 | 85 | 68 | 27 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 69 | 5 | 85 | 4 | 1 | 9.5 | 1.7 | 4.3 | 5.3 |
| Andy | O'Connor | 25 | L | 4 | 12 | 0.250 | 1 | 5.22 | 37 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 143.0 | 631 | 152 | 92 | 83 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 81 | 5 | 86 | 4 | 0 | 9.6 | 0.7 | 5.1 | 5.4 |
| Ji-man | Im | 28 | R | 7 | 8 | 0.467 | 0 | 4.34 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 137.0 | 600 | 161 | 80 | 66 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 4 | 53 | 5 | 0 | 10.6 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| Francisco | Ortega | 29 | R | 3 | 2 | 0.600 | 0 | 3.98 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 63.1 | 269 | 66 | 32 | 28 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 45 | 4 | 0 | 9.4 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 6.4 |
| Dylan | Beckles | 27 | L | 2 | 5 | 0.286 | 2 | 5.91 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 56.1 | 250 | 58 | 38 | 37 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 | 2.1 | 5.4 | 6.9 |
| Juan | del Carmen | 27 | R | 1 | 4 | 0.200 | 0 | 4.75 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 41.2 | 182 | 57 | 22 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 12.3 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Steve | Tidwell | 28 | L | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 0 | 4.15 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30.1 | 125 | 30 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 8.9 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 4.2 |
| Jerry | Hannon | 28 | L | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 0 | 3.76 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26.1 | 106 | 30 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 4.1 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Rodrigo Aguilar is definitely a "finesse" pitcher who got outs often enough to finish with a 10-12 record. He was a rookie last year who was a 25 year old scuffling in A ball as recently as 1967 but the Pads are crossing their fingers and hoping he can run it back. Juan "El Toro" Moreno is a Mexican League veteran who was let go by his south of the border team after the 1968 season, signed with the closest team to the border that he could, and... was fine, I guess? He had a positive walk to strikeout ratio so he has that going for him at least.
Andy O'Connor was very bad but he's young and at one point in time was the 19th best prospect in baseball so he could conceivably turn things around. Jon Teague figures to be in the rotation, too, after being purchased from the Astros in October. Teague moved up three levels in 1969 but Houston didn't like his long-term chances and so now he's another Padres project. Rounding out the rotation is South Korean national Ji-man Im. Im went a combined 15-11 between San Diego and the minor leagues, although to be fair the minor leagues in this case was A-ball Key West.
Bullpen
Code:
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Henry | Roman | 26 | R | 11 | 8 | 0.579 | 14 | 2.58 | 59 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 150.0 | 638 | 148 | 59 | 43 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 57 | 7 | 59 | 6 | 0 | 8.9 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Sam | Williams | 25 | R | 7 | 6 | 0.538 | 3 | 3.86 | 53 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 100.1 | 442 | 102 | 52 | 43 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 0 | 76 | 6 | 0 | 9.1 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 6.8 |
| Cesar | Barreras | 24 | L | 2 | 6 | 0.250 | 1 | 3.89 | 45 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 78.2 | 361 | 94 | 57 | 34 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 44 | 1 | 35 | 6 | 0 | 10.8 | 0.1 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| Andres | Rivera | 28 | L | 3 | 4 | 0.429 | 9 | 2.68 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 37.0 | 149 | 30 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 7.3 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 6.3 |
| Adam | Burrows | 27 | L | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 4.83 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 31.2 | 138 | 36 | 20 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10.2 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Mike | Young | 27 | L | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 6.88 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 17.0 | 76 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 2.6 | 5.8 | 7.9 |
| Jesse | Marshall | 32 | L | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 1 | 1.59 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5.2 | 23 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Pablo | Garcia | 25 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 2.70 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16.2 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 8.1 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Henry Roman put together a pretty nice season after washing out of the starting rotation and in fine expansion fashion the Padres shipped him off for parts, in this case to the Giants for their new stopped Jake Schnipke plus depth at catcher and shortstop. Schnipke struggled with his control last year with San Francisco but still earned 15 saves and will have even more opportunities to earn them this year. They're looking at running a co-closer setup between him and lefty Sam Williams, who was having a really good year before posting ERAs of 4.46 and 5.84 in August and September. The August malaise was triggered by trying to use him as a starter that month; San Diego would do wise not to make that mistake again. Cesar Barreras is another guy who threw a lot for SD and is returning. He came over in a trade with Chicago that also nabbed them Mike Lopez, who was himself turned into multiple assets over the offseason (Chris Valenzuela, who should see bullpen time, and Eli Ware, who will backup several infield positions).
Catcher
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| C | Adam | Bakke | L | 30 | 114 | 405 | 42 | 111 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 43 | 17 | 5 | 56 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0.274 | 0.300 | 0.365 |
| C | Ian | Vieyra | L | 28 | 31 | 96 | 10 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0.240 | 0.286 | 0.302 |
| C | Carlos | Hernandez | L | 32 | 30 | 90 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.156 | 0.216 | 0.244 |
| C | Tony | Yanez | L | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Adam Bakke went from being a no-hit backup catcher for the White Sox to turning in a pretty solid season with the Padres. Was the .274 average a little empty? Sure, but it's a .274 average from a catcher. The projected backup is Xiu-Tou Shen, who figures to be ahead of last year's guy Adam Vieyra based on being 4 years younger and also being the new guy (he was one of the organizational depth pieces added with the Adam Schnipke trade).
Infield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| 1B | Diego | Garcia | R | 29 | 137 | 405 | 57 | 104 | 20 | 3 | 12 | 53 | 88 | 5 | 45 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.257 | 0.388 | 0.410 |
| 1B | Carlos | Gomez | L | 28 | 108 | 105 | 15 | 34 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 26 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.324 | 0.434 | 0.533 |
| 2B | Jeff | Beckwith | L | 39 | 107 | 425 | 45 | 112 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 45 | 28 | 1 | 39 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 0.264 | 0.309 | 0.344 |
| 2B | Chris | Stephens | S | 29 | 64 | 234 | 27 | 68 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 21 | 1 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.291 | 0.348 | 0.346 |
| 2B | Roberto | Honesto | L | 27 | 14 | 49 | 8 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.286 | 0.390 | 0.388 |
| 3B | Kevin | Landry | L | 37 | 140 | 545 | 68 | 153 | 16 | 4 | 13 | 77 | 44 | 1 | 69 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 5 | 9 | 0.281 | 0.334 | 0.396 |
| 3B | Jonathan | Jimenez | L | 27 | 20 | 51 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.314 | 0.426 | 0.490 |
| 3B | Silvério | Ortega | L | 27 | 9 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.115 | 0.167 | 0.154 |
| SS | Dan | Littrell | S | 31 | 116 | 354 | 34 | 86 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 39 | 53 | 4 | 78 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.243 | 0.352 | 0.359 |
| SS | Roberto | Villegas | L | 29 | 48 | 179 | 14 | 43 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0.240 | 0.251 | 0.369 |
| SS | Ivan | Negrete | L | 29 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.429 | 0.500 | 0.429 |
| SS | Roberto | Rodriguez | L | 32 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.500 | 0.250 | 0.500 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Diego Garcia got his first chance to start on a regular basis after spending several years in Cincinnati doing pinch-hitting duties and provided San Diego with solid pop (made even solider given spacious San Diego Stadium, though 5 of his 12 dingers were hit at home) and a lot of eye. He turned in such a solid performance in fact that San Diego is choosing to push Alex Canales, the Gold Glove award winner at first base last year thanks to his work with SD and Atlanta, out into left field. Granted that that's mostly because Canales can play other positions and Garcia can barely play first base, but it's still a positive!
The Padres gave 425 at bats to the aging Jeff Beckwith and he more or less proved that his days as a star in this league are done. Beckwith is a 9 time All-Star, mostly as a center fielder with the Giants, who has at least an outside chance at the Hall when he retires but is likely out of chances. The 1970 job is down to 28 year old Jeff Gray, the 3rd and final piece of the Henry Roman trade, and Roberto Honesto, who looked okay, at least, in 49 September at-bats. I don't know, maybe Beckwith isn't done as a Padre just yet...
San Diego took advantage of desperation from Los Angeles last April when they managed to bring back Kevin Landry for reliever Jesse Marshall. Marshall, as noted in the Dodgers write-up, was awful but Landry proved to be one of the better hitters on the team. He's 37 years old this year and his 550 at-bats last year were a career high, so asking that much more from him is probably tempting fate, and as such the Padres brought in former Tigers starter Eli Ware to challenge him. Ware lost his job to David Salinas last year and hit very poorly but made an All-Star Game as recently as 1967.
Dan Littrell drew a lot of walks and was not ineffective at the plate, but is not a good fielder at shortstop. Good thing for him, I guess, that his primary competition for the job is Chris Stephens, who is even worse with the glove. One of the two of them will probably emerge as the starter and either one will contribute to another bad defense. It's what expansion teams do!
Outfield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| LF | Nelson | Hernandez | L | 27 | 139 | 526 | 70 | 136 | 22 | 7 | 17 | 65 | 54 | 1 | 89 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 0.259 | 0.336 | 0.424 |
| LF | Alex | Canales | S | 24 | 98 | 393 | 59 | 121 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 51 | 38 | 8 | 63 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.308 | 0.369 | 0.430 |
| LF | Davin | Henderson | L | 30 | 63 | 116 | 18 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 29 | 10 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.276 | 0.326 | 0.509 |
| LF | Roberto | Lopez | L | 31 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.091 | 0.000 |
| LF | Bryce | Kelly | R | 29 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.200 | 0.200 | 0.200 |
| CF | Zackery | Hadley | L | 31 | 148 | 620 | 96 | 150 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 47 | 57 | 4 | 145 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 69 | 22 | 3 | 0.242 | 0.314 | 0.315 |
| CF | Cody | Slater | R | 28 | 54 | 190 | 19 | 43 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0.226 | 0.267 | 0.400 |
| CF | Roger | Greeno | L | 27 | 7 | 23 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.304 | 0.360 | 0.565 |
| CF | Alec | Jern | R | 26 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.063 | 0.286 | 0.063 |
| RF | Kelsey | van Velthoven | L | 33 | 66 | 248 | 32 | 53 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 33 | 22 | 0 | 63 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0.214 | 0.281 | 0.339 |
| RF | Mike | Marshik | L | 33 | 28 | 40 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.175 | 0.298 | 0.275 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Truth be told, Alex Canales was a bit miscast as a first baseman, where he won Gold Gloves in both 1968 and 1969 for the Braves and Padres. He's nowhere near the fielder out in left but even that small shift in the defensive spectrum ought to be enough for him to be viewed as more of an asset with the stick than a liability. Davin Henderson, his main backup for 1970, belted 8 homeruns in just 116 at-bats. A good argument could be made that he deserves more at-bats but where is he going to get them?
Zachery Hadley combined subpar defense with subpar offense. It's not a good combination and he's now pretty well established over the past 3 seasons - he was a platoon guy in Cincinnati before the Padres selected him in the expansion draft - that this is his level. Cody Slater, his challenger for the position, isn't any good with the stick either but has decent range and a fantastic arm.
Nelson Hernandez was an expansion pick gem last year. He hit well all season and even earned an All-Star nod. It was uncharted territory for a guy who, prior to 1969, had a total of 72 games played in the big leagues. He's got no real competition for the spot, and why would he?