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I've been writing this article as a prelude to the season since 2009. That's back before I was an intern. As I pointed out last year, the intro started to become a goodbye to players that had left the team and couldn't set anymore milestones. Like the 2010 season that was the first with Jake Peavy and Brian Giles no longer around and the 2011 season, where Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young had moved on. This year, that's not the case. For one, I already wrote an article recapping the milestones that were achieved. Secondly, there's no one to say goodbye to. Everyone meaningful from the 2012 Padres is back for the 2013 iteration. So, with that joyous start let's take a look at what numbers we get to look forward to seeing this year.
Headley had a monster year in 2012 that was so good that it even earned him MVP votes. He finished 5th in MVP votes and also picked up a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger. Headly would make some Padres history if he gets enough MVP votes again. Randy Jones finished in the top 10 in MVP voting two years in a row (10th in both 1975 and 1976). Winfield finished in the top 10 two years in a row as well (10th in 1978, 3rd in 1979). Tony Gwynn went back to back with top 10 finishes as well (9th in 1986, 8th in 1987) and then did again later (7th in 1994 and 9th in 1995). Fred McGriff technically had consecutive top 10 finishes in years he played with the Padres, but one year was 1993 where he was traded to the Braves midseason. Anyway, so a top 10 finish would add him to this list of names and a top 5 finish would mark the first time a Padre has done that in consecutive years. Tony Gwynn (1989-1991), Adrian Gonzalez (2008-2009), Ken Caminiti (1995-1997), Steve Finley (1995-1996), Benito Santiago (1988-1990) and Dave Winfield (1979-1980) all won multiple Gold Gloves as Padres and strangely enough all got them in consecutive years. Maddux also won two GGs in 2007 and 2008, but was traded away during the 2008 season. As for Silver Sluggers, Santiago had two sets of back-to-back honors (1987-1988 and 1990-1991), Tony Gwynn also had two sets like that plus one more (1986-1987, 1989 and 1994-1995) and Fred McGriff got two in a row albeit with the aforementioned technicality (1992-1993). So, consecutive honors in either category would give Chase some elite company in the Friar pantheon.
Chase is approaching a few round numbers. He's 10 games away from 700 game played for the Padres. If he can stay healthy after recovering from his curing thumb ailment he could reach 800 this year. At 2813 Plate Appearances, he's 187 away from 3000. With 2487 At Bats limited time on the disabled list could mean getting 513 more and tallying 3000 of those as well. 750 hits is doable with 71 more. 150 doubles could be reached with 11 more. And perhaps with the aid of some shorter fences he could hit the 33 home runs he needs (after hitting 31 in 2012) to get to 100 HRs for his career.
With regards to the franchise record books, he could move up those ladders a few runs in 2013. The top leaderboard for games played as a Padre starts with Ryan Klesko in 10th place with 828. Chase would have to play in 138 games to reach that. Chase would have to make his 2013 debut by April 29 and play every game after that to do it. Similarly, for at bats he needs 441 ABs to catch Phil Nevin in 10th place in franchise history, 488 to catch Adrian Gonzalez in 9th and 500 to get to Terry Kennedy in 8th.
Chase needs 101 hits to get from 679 in 13th place to catching Nate Colbert at 780 in 10th place. Six more catches Ryan Klesko in 9th place. Terry Kennedy is also catchable in 8th place with 817, which would require 138 Headley hits.
Headley is already in 10th place on the franchise doubles list with 139. 11 more catches Khalil Greene in 9th place. 19 more would level him with Kennedy and Nevin in 7th place. Anything higher than that seems out of reach for 2013.
In 2012 the man we liked to jokingly call Savior knocked in 115 runs to lead the National League giving him 319 in his Padres career. That's good for 14th in franchise history. If he miraculously matched that total in 2013 he'd finish with 434 passing 10th place Ken Caminiti (396), 9th place Brian Giles (415), 8th place Terry Kennedy (424) and 7th place Garry Templeton (427).
Despite having the best year of his career Chase Headley also set a personal high in strikeouts with 157. He currently has 629 strikeouts for his, "good enough" for 4th place in Padres history. He would only need 144 to catch Nate Colbert's 773 first place total. Phil Nevin (669) and Garry Templeton (684) await him along the way to the that dubious mark.
Will Venable has a couple round numbers he could and should hit in 2013. He is 14 SBs from reaching 100 for his career. He is 5 HRs from 50. He has 99 hits to go to get 500. Five hundred would be a nice number to hit since 2012 was the only season where he racked up at least 99 hits, so getting that many in 2013 would be a sign that his productivity is staying as high as it was last season.
Venable's most prominent position in the franchise record books come in the triples category. He has 26 for his career, good enough for 7th place in club history. Two ties him with Steve Finley for 6th, three more equals Cito Gaston's 5th place total. He set a single career high in triples with 8 in 2013, but a new career high of 10 would tie him with Garry Templeton for 4th place in franchise history. A crazy total of 13 would level him with Dave Winfield in 3rd.
The same speed that gets him triples gets him a few stolen bases. His current total is 86 and puts him in 14th in franchise history. Getting 7 more would have him passing Quilvio Veras (87), Roberto Alomar (90) and Rickey Henderson (91) and tie Luis Salazar for 10th (93). He usually gets more than 20 in a season though and it would take just 15 to pass 9th place Damian Jackson (100) and tie Garry Templeton for 8th place (101).
Will's strikeout rate decreased a lot in 2012, but he still whiffed 94 times last year. Reaching that total again would add to his current total of 424 enough to push him into the top 10 where Terry Kenndy (10th, 508) and Benito Santiago (9th, 516) await.
Maybin spent time with the Detroit Tigers and Florida Marlins before the Padres acquired him, so he's a little closer to some round number milestones than he is to cracking the Padres franchise leaderboards. He needs 15 SBs this season to reach 100, which should be no problem for him. 48 games would get him to 500 for his career and thus 148 (one more than the career high he set last year) would get him to 600. Only 106 hits would get him to 500 for his career.
Stolen bases is the only category where Maybin could be primed to make a mark in the club's statistical history. He has 66 for his Padres career. As mentioned with Will Venable, 93 is what it takes to get into the top 10 (assuming that Will doesn't beat him there), so he'll need 27 (1 more than last year's mark and 13 less than he got in 2011) to get there.
Since we've just talked about Maybin and Venable's stolen base totals, we might as well touch on Everth Cabrera. He did lead the National League with 44 stolen bases last year after all. He has 81 for his Padres career. That's 12 away from that twice mentioned 10th place Luis Salazar mark, but a repeat of 2012 could see him vault to 8th place passing Garry Templeton's 101. Enzo Hernandez sits in 7th place with 129, which I guess is feasible. Maybe even Dave Winfield's 133 6th place total is reachable with a full season of base swiping from Everth.
Carlos Quentin is not speedy like our last 3 Padres, but like Maybin he played with two teams before coming to play in San Diego so his round numbers are more prevalent than his franchise numbers. Playing 98 games would give him 800 for his career. 228 Plate Appearance would get him to 3000. 13 HRs would have him reach 150 total. 71 RBI gets him to 500.
Quentin got hit by 17 pitches in 2012, his first season in San Diego, and tied him for 16th in franchise history. 17 more would get him to 3rd place all time. Kevin Kouzmanoff is the franchise leader at 36 and Gene Tenace is right behind him at 35.
Unless Kotsay plays more in 2013 than he did in 2012 (and more like he did in 2011) then most of these are probably not reachable, but oh so close. 90 games till 1900. 61 PAs till 7000. 291 ABs from 6500. 18 Runs from 800. 46 hits from 1800. 2 Triples from 50. 2 Stolen bases from 100.
Clayton Richard has only accumulated 38 wins with the Padres, but if you include his two seasons with the White Sox he has 44 and needs 6 to get to 50. He also has 456 Strikeouts in his career and therefore needs 44 to get to 500. He has never pitched in relief for the Padres, but did so with Chicago so he's 15 games from 150 games pitched and 32 starts from 150 Games started in his career. At 720.2 IP for his career, 800 and 900 IP are within reach.
That aforementioned win total of 38 with the Padres is good enough for 20th place in franchise history. 16 wins (his career high is 14 which he achieved twice, once in 2010 and once last year) would get him to a 10th place tie with Trevor Hoffman at 54. Joey Hamilton and Bruce Hurst wait in an 8th place tie above that with 55.
Edinson Volquez had his second highest win total of his career in 2012 with 11. His previous high was 17 in 2008. Over his 3 team career he has accumulated 44 wins just like Clayton Richard and 6 more would give him a pretty 50. Another second best of his career was his 174 Strikeouts which gave him 653 and put him 97 away from 750 for his career. It's pretty reasonable that he could reach 800 as well. With 649.2 Innings Pitched, 700 and 800 IP are attainable.
The senior statesman of the staff has made San Diego his 8th stop along his career and has piled up some numbers. At 112, he is 13 wins away from 125. He needs 2 Games to reach 350 and 11 starts to reach 300 in Games Started. 196.2 Inning Pitched will give him 2000 IP for his career, but he hasn't pitched that much in a season since 2009.
When Huston Street left Oakland for Colorado, his career ERA was 2.88. When he came to the Padres 167.1 mile high innings later it was 3.11. Now it sits at 3.01. Last year his ERA was 1.85 with 39 IP. If he were to, say, get 50 IP and 15 ERA (2.70 ERA), he'd finally drop his career ERA below 3.00 again. He also needs 43 Games to reach 500 for his career. 24.2 IP will get him to 500. A crazy year of 49 saves would have him reach 250. He is 12 Strikeouts shy of 500.
Last year Street became the 38th Padres player to represent the club at the All Star game. Another selection would put him in a more exclusive club along with Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield, Randy Jones, Terry Kennedy, Goose Gossage, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Benito Santiago, Ken Caminiti, Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell as the 14th player to represent the club twice.
Street only accumulated 23 saves in his inaugural season with the Padres. Still that was good enough for an 11th place tie. He'll need 8 to force a tie for 10th at 31 with Luis DeLeon. 41 saves might be doable and that would get him to a 6th place tie with Craig Lefferts at 64. Along the way are Lance McCullers (36), Randy Myers (38) and Greg Lucas (49).
Luke cracked the top 10 in game pitched last year and stands at 6th in franchise history with 290. He needs 16 to tie Scott Linebrink for 5th. He'll never catch Trevor Hoffman's 902, but if he set a new record in games pitched in a season with 85 he could tie Craig Lefferts' second place mark of 375. Gregerson has gone as high as 80 before and routinely pitches in at least 70. Heath Bell's 3rd place 354 is at risk and so is Eric Show's 4th place 309.
Thatcher has 237 games pitched for the Padres and also is already in the top 10 in franchise history in 10th place. He is 2 away from Dave Tomlin in 9th place. Thatcher doesn't usually appear in as many games as Gregerson, so the top 5 is probably not realistic. However, he can pass Randy Jones (264) and Rollie Fingers (265) to get to 7th place.