1969 Padres - From VA to CA

[jcbarr]

1976 Season Preview

Here we go again in San Diego. This year we hope we aren't left saying "Wait 'til next year" AGAIN. We have a squad that should certainly contend for the division crown. Once again we are a little weak at catcher, but Joe Goddard offers us a defensive upgrade at the least and his ability to handle the pitching staff has been extraordinary through spring training.

The lineup is as strong as ever coming in to the year. Enzo Hernandez will once again be the starting second baseman and he showed last year that he has the ability to lead off for this team. He still has some room to grow and it is scary how good of a contact hitter this kid could become. Dane Iorg will hit second and he is coming off of a great year last year where he hit over .300. Dwight Evans continues to bring the power in the three hole and he is followed up by MVP candidate Johnny Grubb who combines awesome power with outstanding contact.

Morales, Petrocelli and Bailey anchor the bottom half of the lineup with Goddard batting 8th. There isn't much offense expected to come from the catcher spot, so anything that he gives will be an added bonus.

The pitching staff should be solid this year. Jones and Caldwell will go number one and number two in the rotation. Randy Sterling will come in the third spot, Jimmy Freeman as number four and veteran Dave Roberts will take his spot as the fifth starter. Dave has been terribly inconsistent over the past few years which is why he finds himself mired in the bottom of the rotation.

The pen should be a solid part of the staff once more, with veterans Corkins, Troedson and rookie Al Autry moving in to the pen this year.

The minors look pretty good on the position player side of things. We have several good looking prospects in Tim Wallach, Johnny Ray, and Tommy Herr to name a few. On the pitching side we don't have anyone that really pops out at you, but we should be looking pretty solid for the future.

Projected Record: 86-76

Cash: $2,430,760
Payroll: $2,843,400
Payroll Budget: $4,690,779

Farm System: 2nd
Scouting: 2nd
Medical: 4th



.

[jcbarr]

1976 Amateur Draft Rounds 1-3

[jcbarr]

1976 Amateur Draft Rounds 4-6

[jcbarr]

1976 All Star Break

Well, it doesn't quite look like this year is our year. Despite our 52-36 record we find ourselves currently 9.5 games out of first place. Our attempts to find a starting catcher have been futile. We have offered up several of our younger players but it seems like teams around the league just aren't willing to give up their catchers. We have found a few that would be offensive upgrades, but we really want to have a good all around player at that position to make sure that our pitching staff is not hurt during the process.

At this point I'm really kind of lost. That is a bad place for a GM to be. I'm not sure that I can ask much more of my offense, and the pitching staff has been outstanding so far, much like they have been for the last few seasons. We really need something to kick start the team, but to be honest, I have no idea what that "something" might be. I fear that if I don't come away with at least a division title soon the fans of San Diego are going to become ever closer to the breaking point. I'm not just worried about the fans at this point, I'm slightly worried about my job.

On offense Johnny Grubb has been playing like the MVP type of player that we have been selling him as to the media. He has 28 HR and 80 RBI at the break which is just amazing. Dane Iorg is hitting .347 and has an OBP of .430. Dwight Evans has 23 HR and Jerry Morales is hitting .326. There isn't all that much more room for improvement, except for possibly picking up an upgrade at 3B and Catcher.

The pitching staff has been superb. Randy Jones is looking like he could be up for another Cy Young award and Mike Caldwell continues to be the consistent workhorse that he has been for years. We could use a little more consistency out of our number four and five starters, but even they haven't been terrible.

Something has to change, but at this point we really aren't sure what that is going to be.

1976 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Hernandez, Enzo           SDP   86  .272   335   91  14   1   1   37   24   24   6   54   15  .328  .348
Evans, Dwight             SDP   88  .245   322   79  12   3  23   78   62    2   1   61   59  .516  .389
Grubb, Johnny             SDP   88  .281   310   87  19   1  28   63   40    1   2   59   80  .619  .403
Goddard, Joe              SDP   85  .215   284   61  13   0   0   16   62    0   0   19   15  .261  .257
Petrocelli, Rico          SDP   80  .242   281   68  10   1  15   41   55    0   0   31   54  .445  .336
Iorg, Dane                SDP   68  .347   274   95  19   2   5   39   26    0   1   50   42  .485  .430
Morales, Jerry            SDP   66  .326   233   76  13   3  10   32   28    0   1   38   45  .536  .399
Bailey, Bob               SDP   69  .264   227   60  10   1   7   42   37    2   1   29   27  .410  .382
Kelly, Van                SDP   74  .261   180   47   9   1   1   25   27    0   0   19   11  .339  .346
Robinson, Dave            SDP   63  .237   169   40   9   0   3   10   45    1   0   18   19  .343  .282
Sipin, John               SDP   32  .257    74   19   4   0   0    8   16    4   0    7    3  .311  .333
Jones, Randy              SDP   18  .115    52    6   0   0   0    1   21    0   0    4    0  .115  .132
Caldwell, Mike            SDP   19  .125    48    6   0   0   0    1   21    0   0    6    1  .125  .143
Sterling, Randy           SDP   18  .103    39    4   0   0   0    3   19    0   0    1    3  .103  .167
Freeman, Jimmy            SDP   16  .114    35    4   1   0   0    0   10    0   0    2    2  .143  .114
Hilton, Dave              SDP   30  .206    34    7   3   0   1    1    3    0   0    3    5  .382  .229
Kendall, Fred             SDP   24  .242    33    8   2   0   0    1    4    0   0    2    2  .303  .265
Roberts, Dave             SDP   15  .167    30    5   1   0   0    0   10    0   0    1    2  .200  .161
Williams, Jim             SDP   31  .138    29    4   0   0   0    2    8    0   0    1    7  .138  .212
Autry, Al                 SDP   15  .000     7    0   0   0   0    0    3    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Bell, Jerry               SDP   16  .000     5    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Troedson, Rich            SDP   43  .000     4    0   0   0   0    1    1    0   0    0    0  .000  .200
Tatum, Ken                SDP   23  .000     4    0   0   0   0    1    2    0   0    1    0  .000  .200
Toms, Tommy               SDP   12  .000     3    0   0   0   0    0    1    1   0    1    0  .000  .000

1976 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Caldwell, Mike            SDP  135.2  3.65   19  19  10   5   0   59   25 10.48
Jones, Randy              SDP  132.2  2.71   18  18  11   3   0   52   44 11.67
Sterling, Randy           SDP  121.2  3.92   18  18   5   8   0   85   49 11.91
Freeman, Jimmy            SDP  100.1  5.02   16  16   7   4   0   77   39 14.53
Roberts, Dave             SDP   94.1  5.25   15  15   6   4   0   53   49 15.84
Troedson, Rich            SDP   62.0  4.21   43   0   7   6   7   49   20 12.19
Tatum, Ken                SDP   40.2  4.20   23   0   3   2   1   28   21 12.39
Autry, Al                 SDP   36.0  2.75   15   0   0   0   1   22   14 11.25
Bell, Jerry               SDP   27.2  4.23   16   0   0   0   1   11   14 12.69
Toms, Tommy               SDP   26.1  2.05   12   2   1   2   1   19    5  9.23
Corkins, Mike             SDP   18.2  3.38   20   0   2   2  12   11   10 12.54

[jcbarr]

Contract Negotiations

P Mike Caldwell
We had to keep this guy. Every single year he is in the running for the Cy Young. Not one day goes by that he isn't prepared to win and we always have a very good shot at beating anyone when he is on the mound.

P Randy Jones
See above explanation. This kid has turned out to be one of the best pitchers in the game. For some time it looked like Caldwell would steal his thunder, those days are long gone.

P Jimmy Freeman
He is still getting better and even though his ERA looked bad last year, he still had a very solid year for us. He should offer some stability in the rotation this year.

P Randy Sterling
He has been great ever since he came to the big leagues. It was time to reward him for his great service.

P Mike Corkins
One of the best closers in the game and we want to make sure he stays with us for a while.

3B Bob Bailey
He hasn't been great but he has been good for us over the years. He wasn't asking for a big pay increase so we felt he was worth keeping.

P Dave Roberts
Too inconsistent for what he was asking.

P Ken Tatum
Age was catching up with this guy and it was time for him to move on.

P Gary Gentry
He gave us a quality arm for a few years, but it was time to let him go and let some of our younger guys get a shot.

P Jerry Bell
The last few years have been tough for Jerry. A change of scenery might do him well.

2B John Sipin
The playing time just wasn't going to be there. We have three quality second baggers coming up from the farm in the next few years and the small chance he had of playing was going to be totally gone.

1B Dane Iorg
A master with the bat, but he is injury prone. We signed him short term to see how it works out.

3B Van Kelly
He will likely challenge Bailey for the starting job. He has been so close to becoming an every day player for us for quite a while now.

LF Dave Robinson
He came up for arbitration and he has been a very good bench player for us so we gave him what he wanted just to make things easy.

C Ted Simmons
We finally got our catcher. It wasn't cheap, but Simmons will be around for a while and he is durable, good defensively and arguably the best offensive catcher in the game today.


.

[jcbarr]

Expansion Draft

We lost quite a few prospects and players in the expansion draft, which was to be expected. Here is a quick run down of the guys that we lost.

P Roy Branch (68/93)
Great prospect. It certainly was hard to lose him, but we just couldn't find a way to protect him.

P Jeff Schneider (69/94)
Another guy that we hated to lose. We still have some good looking guys coming up though.

LF Gary Cooper (54/95)
He was tough to lose, but he still has several years to go before he is going to be ready for the major leagues. You still don't like to lose a guy that has talent like that.

1B Dane Iorg (83/84)
This one hurt because we had just signed him and now we don't really have a starting first baseman.

P Rick Mahler (74/77)
Not too upset about this one. He didn't have a whole lot of growth potential and he was seldom used. I'm actually quite happy that he is going to get a chance to play.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Did I miss something, or did you forget to post the end of 1976 results?

You also lost a lot of talent in the expansion draft. How are you going to help plug the gaps?

[jcbarr]

No, you didn't miss anything, I'm just building the suspense

Yeah I got a little ahead of myself and posted this before I posted the results. They are coming in a few minutes.

As far as losing the talent, it wasn't that bad, none of those guys were starters, but it does kind of put a dent in the future a tad. We have been drafting pretty good and we still have some talent in the minors at the moment. There are rumors that Petrocelli might be going on the block here soon to pick up some prospects, especially if we are out of first when the trade deadline comes around.

[jcbarr]

1976 Season Review

It didn't happen. Everything pointed to this being the year, but it just didn't work out that way. We had several minor injuries throughout the year that certainly didn't help us at all. 102 wins and we still finished 6 games behind the Giants. Something has to give and soon. We picked up Ted Simmons in the off season and that should make our lineup even that more potent. Here we come 1977!!

We had some great play from a lot of guys and we can't be more happy with the way that the team is playing these days. There are quite a bit of rumors swirling around about what I am going to do to get us to the playoffs. Some of them that may have some truth is that Rico Petrocelli may be looking for a new home in the future, especially if we find ourselves out of the race come time for the trade deadline. We really need to restock our minor league system and he is the most attractive person to trade, so to speak.

I wouldn't look for much else to change to be honest. The Giants can't keep up this pace for too much longer and we have too good of a team to not be able to poke in there at least some time in the very near future. We have been drafting very well and it is only a matter of time before we get our chance.

Standings / Playoffs

AMERICAN LEAGUE (1976)

 EAST                   W   L   PCT    GB   AVG    HR    SB   ERA
 Boston               110  52  .679    --  .314   244    63  4.26
 Baltimore             99  63  .611  11.0  .277   130    77  3.97
 Milwaukee             88  74  .543  22.0  .289   140    88  5.16
 Detroit               81  81  .500  29.0  .291   175    58  5.49
 New York              54 108  .333  56.0  .258   106    45  5.76
 Cleveland             53 109  .327  57.0  .268    75    89  5.59

 WEST                   W   L   PCT    GB   AVG    HR    SB   ERA
 Minnesota             98  64  .605    --  .296    99    96  4.24
 Oakland               96  66  .593   2.0  .259   234    38  4.26
 Kansas City           94  68  .580   4.0  .293   141    69  4.54
 Texas                 69  93  .426  29.0  .263   102   110  5.40
 California            69  93  .426  29.0  .275   108    75  4.94
 Chicago               61 101  .377  37.0  .272   152    59  5.18


NATIONAL LEAGUE (1976)

 EAST                   W   L   PCT    GB   AVG    HR    SB   ERA
 Pittsburgh           100  62  .617    --  .287   178    85  4.46
 New York              93  69  .574   7.0  .272   124    53  3.69
 Philadelphia          75  87  .463  25.0  .271   162    40  5.11
 Chicago               73  89  .451  27.0  .247   129    52  4.14
 Montreal              69  93  .426  31.0  .256   112    60  4.44
 St. Louis             58 104  .358  42.0  .260   110    59  4.47

 WEST                   W   L   PCT    GB   AVG    HR    SB   ERA
 San Francisco        108  54  .667    --  .279   161    56  3.58
 San Diego            102  60  .630   6.0  .256   174    66  3.60
 Houston               83  79  .512  25.0  .258   104    53  4.40
 Cincinnati            81  81  .500  27.0  .287    84    88  4.62
 Los Angeles           77  85  .475  31.0  .258    90    93  3.99
 Atlanta               53 109  .327  55.0  .267   153    43  5.32

  defeat , 0-0
  defeat , 0-0
  defeat , 0-0
  defeat , 0-0

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
 Red Sox defeat Twins, 3-2
 Giants defeat Pirates, 3-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
 Red Sox defeat Giants, 4-2

Player Awards

AMERICAN LEAGUE (1976)

Cy Young                  Jim Hughes (BOS)
Player of the Year:       Toby Harrah (BOS)
Rookie Of The Year:       Butch Hobson (DET)

Gold Glove (P):           Mel Stottlemyre (NYY)
Gold Glove (C):           Gene Tenace (OAK)
Gold Glove (1B):          John Ellis (NYY)
Gold Glove (2B):          Phil Garner (OAK)
Gold Glove (3B):          Toby Harrah (BOS)
Gold Glove (SS):          Dave Concepcion (BOS)
Gold Glove (LF):          Al Bumbry (BAL)
Gold Glove (CF):          Ben Oglivie (BOS)
Gold Glove (RF):          Mike Poepping (MIN)

NATIONAL LEAGUE (1976)

Cy Young                  Dick Ruthven (SFG)
Player of the Year:       Johnny Grubb (SDP)
Rookie Of The Year:       Eduardo Rodriguez (PIT)

Gold Glove (P):           Randy Jones (SDP)
Gold Glove (C):           Johnny Bench (NYM)
Gold Glove (1B):          Dane Iorg (SDP)
Gold Glove (2B):          Enzo Hernandez (SDP)
Gold Glove (3B):          Bruce Miller (SFG)
Gold Glove (SS):          Tim Foli (NYM)
Gold Glove (LF):          Jerry Martin (PHI)
Gold Glove (CF):          Dusty Baker (ATL)
Gold Glove (RF):          Cesar Cedeno (CIN)

Finances

AMERICAN LEAGUE (1976)       Tickets  Revenue  Payroll   Profit     Cash
 Baltimore Orioles            39,870    $8.0M    $7.5M  $20,000    $1.0M
 Boston Red Sox               42,821    $9.0M    $8.0M    $155K    $1.6M
 California Angels            32,288    $5.8M    $5.4M   -$150K    $840K
 Chicago White Sox            30,993    $5.4M    $4.9M   -$170K    $910K
 Cleveland Indians            32,306    $5.2M    $4.5M    $245K    $525K
 Detroit Tigers               34,816    $6.2M    $5.6M    $510K    $1.1M
 Kansas City Royals           35,793    $6.6M    $5.6M    $120K    $1.1M
 Milwaukee Brewers            33,901    $6.0M    $5.4M   -$505K    $890K
 Minnesota Twins              38,440    $7.3M    $6.6M    $475K    $1.6M
 New York Yankees             30,601    $5.5M    $5.4M   -$245K    $600K
 Oakland Athletics            40,687    $8.1M    $7.5M  $90,000    $955K
 Texas Rangers                32,881    $5.6M    $4.3M    $400K    $1.2M

NATIONAL LEAGUE (1976)       Tickets  Revenue  Payroll   Profit     Cash
 Atlanta Braves               28,857    $5.0M    $5.0M -$55,000    $400K
 Chicago Cubs                 35,408    $6.3M    $5.6M    $245K    $945K
 Cincinnati Reds              35,868    $6.0M    $5.6M -$45,000    $955K
 Houston Astros               35,997    $6.6M    $5.5M    $310K    $1.0M
 Los Angeles Dodgers          35,738    $6.5M    $6.5M   -$690K    $560K
 Montreal Expos               32,019    $5.4M    $4.4M    $630K    $1.0M
 New York Mets                38,238    $7.4M    $6.5M   -$135K    $1.6M
 Philadelphia Phillies        32,788    $6.2M    $5.4M    $110K    $1.2M
 Pittsburgh Pirates           38,083    $7.4M    $6.5M    $405K    $1.6M
 SAN DIEGO PADRES             45,172    $7.6M    $4.0M    $3.3M    $5.7M
 San Francisco Giants         44,022    $8.9M    $8.7M   -$285K    $1.6M
 St. Louis Cardinals          29,127    $5.8M    $5.6M   -$415K    $415K

[jcbarr]

1976 Statistics

1976 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Caldwell, Mike            SDP  248.2  3.22   34  34  19   7   0  113   52 10.13
Jones, Randy              SDP  238.0  2.91   33  33  18   8   0  105   71 11.04
Sterling, Randy           SDP  216.2  3.07   31  31  12  10   0  151   89 11.84
Freeman, Jimmy            SDP  204.1  4.40   31  31  12  10   0  168   76 13.57
Troedson, Rich            SDP  113.0  3.27   82   0  15   6  13   86   34 11.23
Autry, Al                 SDP   55.1  3.25   31   0   0   1   2   39   20 11.22
Corkins, Mike             SDP   41.0  1.98   37   0   4   3  25   37   17 10.54
Toms, Tommy               SDP   34.1  2.88   15   4   1   3   1   25   11 11.80

1976 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Simmons, Ted              SDP  162  .311   623  194  50   2  24   79   53    1   0   92  125  .514  .388
Evans, Dwight             SDP  159  .263   586  154  26   4  46  132  116    4   1  118  118  .556  .397
Hernandez, Enzo           SDP  154  .262   569  149  23   3   2   86   45   44  18  102   25  .323  .362
Grubb, Johnny             SDP  155  .298   537  160  39   3  47  114   73    2   3  115  146  .644  .421
Petrocelli, Rico          SDP  143  .249   497  124  15   1  20   64   89    1   0   54   79  .404  .334
Bailey, Bob               SDP  143  .271   491  133  23   1  15   75   90    3   4   54   66  .413  .368
Goddard, Joe              SDP  153  .213   488  104  17   0   2   32  105    1   2   35   22  .260  .264
Morales, Jerry            SDP  129  .310   474  147  27   5  26   62   60    1   2   79  113  .553  .383
Robinson, Dave            SDP  114  .241   295   71  12   2   5   22   75    4   2   34   34  .346  .294
Kelly, Van                SDP  126  .260   223   58  11   1   2   31   32    0   0   27   17  .345  .346
Jones, Randy              SDP   33  .128    86   11   0   0   0    1   33    0   0    4    2  .128  .138
Caldwell, Mike            SDP   34  .131    84   11   3   0   0    2   33    0   0    9    1  .167  .151
Sterling, Randy           SDP   31  .111    72    8   0   0   0    4   31    0   0    2    5  .111  .158
Freeman, Jimmy            SDP   31  .097    72    7   2   0   0    1   17    0   0    3    2  .125  .110
Kendall, Fred             SDP   51  .229    70   16   3   0   1    5    8    0   0    6    5  .314  .276
Williams, Jim             SDP   52  .204    49   10   2   1   0    3   11    0   0    2    9  .286  .259
Hilton, Dave              SDP   50  .271    48   13   5   0   1    2    4    0   1    7   10  .438  .300
Reynolds, Craig           SDP   13  .175    40    7   1   0   0    3    0    0   1    3    1  .200  .250
Ireland, Tim              SDP    6  .231    26    6   0   0   0    1    5    0   0    3    0  .231  .259
Autry, Al                 SDP   31  .000     9    0   0   0   0    0    4    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Troedson, Rich            SDP   82  .000     6    0   0   0   0    1    2    0   0    0    0  .000  .143
Toms, Tommy               SDP   15  .000     4    0   0   0   0    1    2    1   0    1    0  .000  .200
Sularz, Guy               SDP    4  .333     3    1   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .333  .333
Reece, Bob                SDP    1  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000

[jcbarr]

Pre Season Trade

I pulled the trigger this morning. I sent Rico Petrocelli to Montreal. I didn't want to do it, but it had to be done. His skills were diminishing and we could really use the defensive help up the middle. He had never been a gold glove type of guy, and we never expected him to be either. When his offense started to decline we let it slide. Now, he isn't anything more than an average offensive player. It was time for us to part ways. He will put some butts in the seats in Monreal and we get back a contact hitting, defensive minded SS, a prospect at catcher and a good looking young pitcher to help fill the holes left by the expansion draft. We gave up $1,000,000 in the deal as well. We had the money and these guys were worth it.

San Deigo Sends:
SS Rico Petrocelli (77/78)
SS Gary Sularz (53/86)
2B Johnny Ray (54/89)
$1,000,000

Montreal Sends:
SS Bucky Dent (82/83)
C Reggie Baldwin (58/85)
P Steve Baker (64/93)

.

[jcbarr]

Who we got...


.

[jcbarr]

1977 Season Preview

1977 is going to be an interesting season. We made a pretty big deal right before opening day and I am eager to see how it turns out. Trading Rico was a very difficult thing for me to do. He had become a pretty big fan favorite around San Diego and the fans didn't want to see him go. Most of the people who have been following us over the years, although saddened, realized why it had to be done. Rico didn't offer us the flexibility that a player like Bucky Dent does. Bucky is also quite a bit younger, and to top it all off he gets paid less. To be honest, price wasn't really a factor in trading Rico, it was all about making this a better team.

This season could go one of two ways. We could overtake the Giants and finally get to the playoffs or we could flounder which would then lead to us making some more moves to retool to make a run in a few more years. To me, it feels like this might be our last real chance. We were depleted in the Expansion draft of some of our top prospects in the pitching department, so we can either hope we draft well or we can trade some of the other guys we have on offense for some pitching prospects. That decision will be made closer to the trade deadline.

Projected Record: 88-74

Cash: $4,792,478
Payroll: $4,548,750
Payroll Budget: $5,536,781

Farm System: 4th
Scouting: 3rd
Medical: 4th



.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Wow, that's one heck of a defensive team! Let me know if they break any fielding records!

Also, Bucky [bleep]in' Dent for Rico Petrocelli? As a Red Sox fan, I have to say...

BLASPHEMY!!

Although I do like the prospects you got in return. Can't wait to see Baker in a few seasons.

[jcbarr]

1977 Amateur Draft