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The San Diego Padres started playing the National League West as an expansion team in 1969. The team’s beginnings were rough, with seasons ending neat the bottom of the standings until 1984.Those teams had star power, but it could not come together to produce winning seasons. The tem began by picking up power hitting first baseman Nate Colbert. Colbert stayed until he was traded in 1974 and still leads the team in home runs all time.
The club picked up star outfielder Dave Winfield in the 1973 draft. Winfield’s star rose as Randy Jones developed into the Padres first 20-game winner. Jones went on to win the 1976 CY Young Award.
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About The San Diego Padres
The team would not make out beyond fourth in the West, but the future was being plotted with the Acquisition of first baseman Steve Garvey and shortstop Ozzie Smith. The 1984 team featured Garvey, Smith, Garry Templetom, Graig Nettles, Alan Wiggins, and Tony Gwynn.
The Padres broke out of their repetitious bottom of the barrel finish to take first in the NL West. The pitching was strong with Eric Snow, Ed Whitson, Mark Thurmond, Tim Lollar, and closer Goose Gossage. The hitting was enough with Gwyn capturing his first of eight batting titles.
The Padres faced the Cubs in the NLCS. The Cubs had the NL MVP and the Cy Young winner of 1984 on their team (Ryne Sandberg and Rick Sutcliffe) and jumped out to a two game lead in a best of five series. The Padres battled back to win three straight, continue the Cubs’ woes, and go to their first World Series.
The Tigers were a power hitting club with Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell. They also had an excellent pitcher in Jack Morris. Morris would win two games and the Padres went down 4 games to 1.
The Padres struggled despite producing talented players like Benito Santiago, Roberto Alomar, Tony Fernandez, and Fred McGriff. Never ever to reach the playoffs, the Padres changed ownership (Jon Moores), team president (Larry Lucchino), and manager (Bruce Bochy) in 1996 and won the NL West with Gwyn, NL MVP Ken Caminiti, leadoff hitter Ricky Henderson, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, first baseman Wally Joyner, and outfielder Steve Finley. The post season was short, with a first round exit at the hands of the Cardinals.
Kevin Brown replace Valenzuela and Greg Vaughn replace Rickey Henderson in 1998 and the Padres captured their second division title in three years. This time that would last in the post season, defeating the Astros in the NLDS and the Braves in the NLCS, but lost to Yankees in the World Series.
The Padres sunk into a funk for the next few seasons. They won the West in 2005 and 2006, but lost in the NLDS both times to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The San Diego Padres finished the 2008 season with a 63-99 record. After several years of being competitive, the team seemed to have finally found the pitfalls of being a small market team in a big market game. The club had problems hitting and driving in runs and fans at PETCO Park also witnessed a pitching staff that had few answers to stop the bleeding.
In the 2009 season it appears rebuilding season has begun. Jake Peavy is being shopped around, but while he remains the Padres starting rotation has one of the very best pitchers in the league. Otherwise, Chris Young and Cha Seung Baek are veterans left to hold the rotation together while youngsters Josh Geer and Wade LeBlanc are allowed to develop.
The hitting hardly promises to be anything but woeful in 2009. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez is the best baseball player nobody has heard of. He has power and can make contact enough for a decent average, but he is not going to be able to save a team with one other power threat, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, and one other guy who can make decent contact, right fielder Brian Giles. It looks like even if this team is able to compete the front office will tear it apart for young, cheap prospects.
