Friday, April 8, 2022

5 in 50- The San Diego Padres

Continuing my 5 in 50 series, today’s team is the San Diego Padres. This will be a list of the top 5 greatest players for the Padres in the last 50 years, since the 1972 season. The criteria are as follows: Player must have been part of team for at least 5 full seasons. Both regular season and post season success will be measured (statistical leaders, awards, et). Players on this list can be from any position. Multiple players at the same position can be included. I’ll list the major accomplishments for each player only for the team they are selected.

Here is my list of the top 5 greatest Padres in the last 50 years.

5.   Adrian Gonzalez (2006-2010)- Finished 4th in NL MVP voting. 2-time gold glove winner.

4.   Randy Jones (1973-1980)- 1976 NL Cy Young award. Finished 2nd in Cy Young voting.

3.   Dave Winfield (1973-1980)- Finished twice in top 10 MVP voting. 2-time gold glove winner.

2.   Trevor Hoffman (1993-2010)- 2nd in all time saves. Finished 3 times in top 5 Cy Young award voting.

1.  Tony Gwynn (1982-2001)- 8-time NL batting champion. 5-time gold glove winner.

Honorable mention to Jake Peavy, Gary Templeton, Chase Headly, Andy Benes, Terry Kennedy

Notes. Although Gonzalez was only with the Padres for 5 years, he deserves to be on this list. He was an all star in 4 of 5 years he played with them and had a few MVP type seasons. Randy Jones was one of the best pitchers in baseball for a few years in the mid-70s. Winfield is a Hall of Famer who was a superstar on some awful Padres teams. Hoffman is a Hall of Famer who is the 2nd greatest closer of all time. And finally, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn is the greatest Padre of all time, and one of the greatest hitters ever.

Next up is the last team to do 5 in 50, The San Francisco Giants

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Greatest Texas Rangers players by position in the last 50 years

  I am continuing my list of the greatest players for each team in the last 50 years by position (1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, C, right-hande...