1991 SD Padres - 84-78 (10GB)
After a hot start in April the Friars held or shared the division lead until early May. They then settled into a pattern of mediocrity that saw them drop below .500 and out of the pennant chase. Some late season call-ups and a 7 game winning streak in September boosted the team back over the .500 mark and up to 3rd place.
STRENGTHS: Above average starting pitching and a great year from the "Crime Dog" Fred McGriff (.278-31-106). Benito Santigo (17-.267-87) will throw out just about every runner attempting to steal. Darrin Jackson (.262-21-49) has some surprising pop. Bip Roberts (26) and Tony Fernandez (23) can steal some bases.
WEAKNESSES: 31 year old Tony Gwynn hit just .317. His OBP was only .355. For most players this would be money, but not from Gwynn, who you expected to get a .340 season with more pop than 4 homers, while playing a corner OF spot. Jerald Clark hit just .228 while playing LF, so there wasn't an awful lot of production coming from the OF.
PITCHING: In just 20 starts Greg Harris (9-5, 2.23) put up ace like numbers. Andy "the merchant of" Benes (15-11, 3.03 and Bruce Hurst (15-8, 3.29) are extraordinary #2/#3 guys. Dennis Rasmussen (6-13, 3.74) deserved to be at least a .500 pitcher.
BULLPEN: The setup men: Mike Maddux (7-2, 2.46), Jose Melendez (8-5, 3.27) and Rich Rodriguez (3-1, 3.26) are top notch. Unfortunately closer Craig Lefferts (1-6, 3.91, 23 sv) is not. Slider king Larry Andersen (3-4, 2.30, 13sv) was the eventual answer to the closer problem. If he had that roll from the beginning instead of Lefferts, who knows how good the Padres could have been.
BENCH: The bench is well below average. Tim Teufel (11 HR) will add pop from the bench, but he hit just .228. Thomas Howard (.249) isn't much better. Utility infielder Craig Shipley hit .275, but he only had 91 AB's.
Joey did a great job collecting cards for me, so I only had to add 4 new ones for some outliers.
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