Welcome to the 3^rd edition of my Friars all-time team. Today we round out our starting infield after selecting; 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Mark Loretta and SS Ozzie Smith previously. In addition to picking the guy we want manning the hot corner, we are going to look at a few of the catchers who have donned the gear for the Padres in their history and select the best fit for this team.

As a kid growing up, 3B was an annual trouble spot for San Diego. That fact is reflected in the candidates I have chosen here. In truth, the Friars didn’t have a real credible option at 3B until the mid-‘80’s; that’s despite the high selections spent on players like Mike Ivie, Dave Roberts and Bill Almon in the 1970’s.

The lack of quality candidates available made my job a little harder but far from impossible. Let’s get started.

Luis Salazar – Salazar had 2 stints in San Diego and accrued nearly 7 full seasons in San Diego. He played all over the diamond and even pitched 2 innings for the Padres in 1987. However, most of his time was spent manning the hot corner.

Luis had 2,386 plate appearances in a Padres uniform and posted a slash line of .267/.298/.375 which is good for a 90 OPS+. That’s slightly below average for a hitter.

Defensively Salazar was slightly below average as a 3B, finishing -2 runs according to TZ (Total Zone). Overall he was a 5.0 WAR player during his time as a Friar.

Graig Nettles – Nettles was the first “credible” 3B that I mentioned earlier in Padres history. He was a star for years as a Yankee and was part of some great NY teams in the ‘70’s. The Friars acquired the then 39 year-old from the Yankees in March of 1984 in a deal that sent LH starting pitcher Dennis Rasmussen to NY.

Nettles was a 5-time all star with the Yankees and won 2 Gold Gloves. Clearly by the time he came to San Diego, Nettles best seasons were behind him but that didn’t stop him from instantly becoming probably the best 3B in franchise history. Nettles’ contributions were instrumental in helping the Padres to their first postseason.

This is the reason I included Nettles despite the fact he didn’t even come close to the required 2,000 PA as a Friar. Nettles spent 3 seasons in San Diego and finished with 1,380 PA. His slash line was .237/.333/.405 and his OPS+ was a pretty good 107. He also made the NL all-star team in 1985.

Overall Graig was worth 5.3 WAR for the Padres in 3 seasons. Despite his earlier prowess with the glove in NY, much of his skill was missing as a 40+ 3B for the Padres. His TZ rating as a Friar was -14 runs.

Nettles earned his candidacy in this list primarily based on the fact he solidified a problem spot for the Padres. His numbers weren’t great but he was a reliable player and the first guy I remember as the Padres 3B.

Ken Caminiti – Now we get to the real star power. Cammy ranked very high on my list of all-time favorite Padres and deserves to be here too. Caminiti was part of the monster, 12-player trade made prior to the 1995 season with Houston that also brought CF Steve Finley to San Diego.

Caminiti was a Padre for 4 seasons but it was one of the best 4-year stretches any player has ever had in San Diego. During his time here he won 3 Gold Gloves, an MVP award and was a NL all-star twice. His slash line as a Padre was .295/.384/.540; good for a OPS+ of 146.

He also clubbed 121 HR and drove in 396 RBI; a yearly average of about 30 HR and 99 RBI. Overall he was worth an 18.1 WAR in San Diego.

Caminiti had the reputation of an elite defender and he would seem to have proven that by virtue of winning 3 Gold Gloves here. However, today’s defensive metrics don’t look too kindly upon Cammy’s glove work. Fan Graph’s TZ rating has Cammy being worth 31 runs less than average. Take it for what it’s worth since defensive metrics are a relatively new thing and many players considered “elite” in their day don’t show too well using today’s stats.

Phil Nevin – Nevin was acquired late in the spring before the 1999 season in a deal sending IF Andy Sheets to the Angels. Nevin had been the #1 overall selection in the 1992 draft but had failed to earn regular playing time. At the time the deal was made, Nevin was more of a utility guy who even got into some games behind the plate (187.2 innings at C in 1999).

Following their 1998 appearance in the World Series, the Friars lost several key contributors to free agency; including Caminiti. Nevin was given the chance to replace Cammy at 3B and he didn’t disappoint. In his first year with the Padres, Nevin hammered 24 HR in just 441 PA.

Phil would spend the better part of 7 seasons as a Padre. He hit 156 HR and drove in 573 runs while posting a slash line of .288/.359/.503. His OPS+ was 129 in San Diego. Nevin would make one all-star appearance for the Padres.

Nevin, as a guy that moved around the diamond throughout his career, was never thought of as anything but an average defensive 3B. That’s backed up by his TZ rating of -2. Nevin was worth 19.2 WAR as a Friar.

Okay, it’s decision time. Salazar is on this list because I wanted 4 candidates. He is eliminated. Nettles was our first legitimate 3B but that is a far cry from the best. That leaves Cammy and Nevin.

Actually this decision is tougher than I thought. Considering where Cammy ranked as one of my favorite Padres and the fact his numbers make him a legitimate pick, Nevin also deserves legitimate consideration.

Truthfully, 2 other factors are causing me to hesitate somewhat on anointing Cammy my team’s 3B; Cammy’s admitted use of steroids and the low opinion today’s defensive metrics have of his defense.

Offensively, while their numbers are similar enough, Cammy was a better offensive player. His OPS+ was 17 points higher than Nevin’s. Cammy’s average yearly WAR was about 4.5 while Nevin’s was around 3. Given the huge improvement in his production from Houston to San Diego, I can believe steroids may have benefitted Caminiti.

As far as defensive metrics go, they are still too new for me to wholly put my faith into them. They help when comparing players but when the numbers contradict what I remember seeing with my own eyes I have to consider the possibility the numbers aren’t perfect.

I remember watching Cammy play in the field and he had it all; great range, a phenomenal arm, etc. I know the Gold Glove selection process is flawed but that doesn’t mean all of their choices are wrong. Cammy won 3 for SD.

I can’t completely ignore the steroids but Cammy’s numbers are too hard to ignore. He wins by a hair over Nevin.

Now we move to the Catcher position. A couple of solid options were left off the list of candidates because they fell short of 2,000 PA. Ramon Hernandez put up some good numbers but was only a Friar for 2 seasons before chasing the money to Baltimore. Brad Ausmus was a good glove Catcher who wasn’t terrible with the bat. He even stole 16 bases in the 1995 season.

That’s enough of the guys who didn’t make the list it, let’s talk about the ones that did. Three guys qualified by my standards. One of them comes from an era older than most of the players I’ve considered.

Gene Tenace – Tenace spent 4 seasons, 1977 – 1980, as a member of the Padres. Before OBP was vogue, long before, Tenace was a machine at getting on base. Depsite a career batting average of just .241, Tenace’s career OBP was .388. With the Friars his line was .237/.403/.422 and his OPS+ was an impressive 136.

Tenace played other positions besides Catcher throughout his career but played 368 contests behind the dish for the Friars. His defense was solid as his +10 TZ rating suggests. He was worth 20.6 WAR in his 4 years in San Diego. That’s an average of more than 5 per year. Yet rarely do you hear his name mentioned by Padres fans. Well, here’s one Padres fan remembering a pretty good former Padre.

Terry Kennedy – Kennedy is the longest tenured Catcher, at least in terms of plate appearances, of any Padre ever. He recorded 3,239 PA in a Friar uniform. Kennedy was a 3-time All-Star and won a silver slugger award in 1983. He even received MVP votes on 2 occasions finishing as high as 10^th in ’83.

Kennedy’s Padres career slash line was .274/.319/.407 and his OPS+ was 105. He slugged 76 HR for San Diego. Twice he finished in the top 10 in the NL in RBI.

While he was a pretty good offensive Catcher for many years, Kennedy played his position fairly well too. He posted a TZ rating of +9 as a Friar and threw out 31.3% of opposing base-stealers. Kennedy was worth 17.8 WAR as a Padre before being dealt to Baltimore to make room for a young up-and-coming back-stop named……...

Benito Santiago – The guy who prompted the Friars to deal Kennedy to the Orioles for P Storm Davis was Benny. Santiago would show the faith in his abilities to be warranted by winning the 1987 Rookie-of-the-Year award. That year he hit .300 with 18 HR. He also set a record for rookies by hitting in 35 straight games.

Santiago had a cannon of an arm and picked off many a runner at first throwing from his knees. For his Friar career, Benny threw out 37% of the runners attempting to steal.  That’s an impressive number. Fan Graph’s TZ also liked his play behind the plate as he finished +31 in that category.

Offensively, Santiago’s numbers dipped from his rookie season. He ended up with a Padres slash line of .264/.298/.406 and an OPS+ of 95; just slightly better than average. In addition, Santiago also ran fairly well for a Catcher. He finished with 21 steals in his rookie year.  His WAR as a Friar was 16.3.

This is a very competitive field actually. Tenace excelled at a skill that until recently was tremendously undervalued. Kennedy was one of the best catchers in baseball in the mid-1980’s. Santiago did things other Catchers had never done before by virtue of his strong arm.

I seem to recall Santiago maybe not being the most popular teammate. I have one personal recollection of him refusing to sign my baseball card but I can’t in good conscience eliminate him because of that.

When I have trouble deciding between players I usually will fall back on two things; what I remember from watching them play and also Fan Graph’s WAR. WAR is a stat that tries to account for offensive and defensive contributions plus makes adjustments based on position.

If I do that then I almost have to remove Tenace from consideration since I never saw him play as a Padre. I remember Santiago being a threat to opposing base-stealers but also as not particularly dangerous with the bat. I remember Kennedy as being a solid, all-around Catcher though he was my favorite Padre while he was in San Diego.

In the end, after removing Tenace from the discussion, I will rely on WAR. Kennedy and Santiago finished their Padres’ tenures with a similar number of PA (Kennedy – 3,239, Santiago – 3,065). Kennedy finished with a 17.8 WAR while Santiago was a 16.3 WAR. That tips the scales in Kennedy’s favor so he wins.

Truthfully, these choices were more difficult than I anticipated. By trying only to consider players with 2,000 PA for the Padres, I end up disqualifying some really good players. Anyone remember a guy named Sheffield nearly winning a triple crown and manning 3B for the Friars? I do but I couldn’t consider him as he was only a Padre for a brief time.

Then of course you tend to run across players like Tenace. He wasn’t probably appreciated as much in his day as he would have been had he played today. His name didn’t even pop up in my head until I saw him listed on the 1977 Padres roster on the Baseball Reference website. But looking at his numbers made it impossible for me to not consider him. That’s what has made this exercise a lot of fun for me and I anticipate next week’s installment to be the best so far.

Next week, it’s time to move to the OF. And while I’m pretty sure a couple of Hall-of-Famers will find their way onto the list, I’m also confident a few other names from the long past will pop up to make for an interesting discussion. Until then.