I first did one of these posts in 2009 and then continued it last year. Each year it seems to get a little bit harder. The Padres lost Brian Giles and Jake Peavy between 2009 and 2010 and this year they lost Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez (also David Eckstein if you were interested in him reaching a HBP milestone). However, as a tribute to all that Adrian did for the Padres I start with the numbers he left behind and see where the bar is set. For those that don't know, you can find the San Diego Batting Leaderboard here and the Pitching Leaderboard here.
All the numbers and details after the jump.
Adrian Gonzalez
HRs: Adrian started last year in 6th place with 130. His 31 HRs last year got him ever so close to Nate Colbert's franchise record of 163. Along the way he passed Klesko (133), Gwynn (135), Winfield (154) and Nevin (156). Adrian didn't really get a fair shake. He got his 161 in 3424 PAs and Colbert got 3485. We need an asterisk.
2Bs: Adrian started 2010 with 143 doubles. Adrian hit just below his career average (35/year) with 33 to end his Padres tenure with 176 two-baggers. He passed Khalil Greene (150), Phil Nevin and Terry Kennedy (both 158) and ended up tied with Ryan Klesko (176) for 5th place.
RBI: He started 2010 as 9th franchise leaderboard in this category with an even 400 RBI. He ended up 101 RBI for the 2010 season and so he finished with 501 and earned the #4 spot. He passed Brian Giles (415), Kennedy (424), Gary Templeton (427), Colbert (481) and Klesko (493). Nevin (573), Dave Winfield (626) and Tony Gwynn (1138) are secure in their spots above him now.
Rs: Adrian quickly moved into the top 10 when he passed Bip Roberts' 378 by getting his first 2 of the season. He finished with 464 and took the 5th place spot. In addition to Roberts he passed Finley (423), Nevin (428), Templeton (430), Colbert (442) and Klesko (449). Brian Giles (470), Gene Richards (484), Winfield (599) and Gwynn (1383) stand ahead of him.
H: Adrian began 2009 outside the top 10 in this category, but his 176 during the 2010 campaign rocketed him up the leaderboard. I had figured that he could manage 170 (his career average) and pass Benito Santiago (758), Colbert (780), Klesko (786), Kennedy (817) and Nevin (842) to make it up to 6th place and that's exactly what he did.
BBs: Last year, I was a little embarrassed because I found out that Adrian made the walks franchise leaderboard and I hadn't even considered it in my 2009 milestones post. That was because he obliterated his career high and ended up 119 walks. Last year he didn't reach such heights, but managed his second highest career total with 93. He easily passed Nevin (325) and Carmelo Martinez (327) and then a little later went by Gene Richards (338) and Colbert (350). He needed 114 BBs to pass Gene Tenace's 423 for 5th place and couldn't muster it, so he finishes in 6th place.
Ks: Tony Gwynn was freed from the franchise top 10 in strikeouts when Adrian broke through in 2009. He ended up in 9th place after that season. He then ended the 2010 season solidly in 4th, which is exactly where I thought he would be (a minor accomplishment since I got it way wrong the year before). Nevin (669), Templeton (684) and Colbert (773) still have some bragging rights on him as bigger whiffers.
OBP: No movement here. Adrian improved his OBP, but still retains the #9 spot.
SLG: No movement here also. Adrian hit close to his career average and holds the #3 spot behind Fred McGriff (.519) and Ken Caminiti (.540).
AVG: Adrian had the second best batting average of his career last year. He started the year barely behind Johnny Grubb (.286) who held the 8th spot, but was able to pass him. He also was able to barely pass Phil Nevin to wrangle the 7th spot away. They both have a .288 Padres career average, but Adrian is ahead if you use more decimals.
ABs: Our second categor where Adrian wasn't in the top 10 to start the season, but ended the season on the leaderboard. He's now in 8th with 2975.
PAs: This sort of goes hand in hand with ABs. Adrian started outside the top 10 and passed Santiago (3065), Nevin (3239), Kennedy (3297) and Klesko (3333) in order to secure the 7th spot
There are some other fancier categories listed on Baseball-Reference where Adrian is a Top 10er as well as a couple boring ones (IBBs and GiDPs), but I don't find those worth mentioning. You can look them up. These are the ones that if you'd see if you were old fashioned and opened up a Baseball Encyclopedia like I used to.
Chase Headley
AVG: This is a bit nuts, but if somehow Chase hit .341 this year with around the same at bats as he's average over his career and plays in around 160 games, then he could crack the top 10. Or something like that. These things aren't easy to calculate.
Ks: Chase does strike out a fair share and this generation of players strikes out more than previous ones. 107 would put him in 10th place passing Ryan Klesko (486). Chase has averaged 136 Ks/year the last two seasons. So, Kennedy's (508), Santiago's (516) and Greene's (521) marks could be threatened.
Heath Bell
Saves: Trevor Hoffman is virtually untouchable in this category, but Rollie Fingers' second place spot (108) is up for grabs. Heath Bell sits at 91 saves and is in 3rd place. With his 47 Saves last year he passed Gary Lucas (49), Craig Lefferts (64), Mark Davis (78) and Hall of Famer Goose Gossage (83) to go from 7th to 3rd.
Games Finished: The companion stats for closers, especially ones that were regular relievers before getting that precious label. Bell passed Luis DeLeon (98), Lance McCullers (120), and Gary Lucas (134) to reach 6th place after starting in 9th. He has 140 now and could get to 3rd place by passing Mark Davis (146), Rich Gossage (157) and Craig Lefferts (181). Fingers' (218) 2nd place spot is out of reach for the 2011 season and Hoffman's total (761) is Everest-like.
Games Played: Bell passed Gary Lucas (230), Mark Davis (230), Cla Meredith (233), Dave Tomlin (239), Randy Jones (264) and Rollie Fingers (265) to go from outside the top 10 up to 5th. Bell is now at 290 and Scott Linebrink (306) and Eric Show (309) are within reach, so he should earn the #3 spot. Craig Lefferts' 375 and Hoffman's 902 will continue to stand above him even after 2011 is complete.
Bell is 80.2 IP short of qualifying for rates stats (ERA, WHIP, etc.) If he were to qualify and keep his Padres career ERA in tact, he be have a 2.54 ERA and be #1 in franchise history.
That's all I've got this year. Next year we should see Mat Latos, Tim Stauffer and Clayton Richard begin to approach the 500 IP qualifier that gets them on the rates stats lists. All 3 could get on the Top 10 ERA list, with Latos and Richard already positioned in contention and Stauffer needed to lower his a bit.