2003 San Diego Padres Baseball Graphs Review

The first half of the year was not good to the Padres. In particular, they were 6-23 in May. They sank so far so fast that they almost looked Tigerish. From the end of June to the end of September, however, they were essentially a .500 team. Though they did return to form in September against some tough Western division competition.

San Diego's fielding was actually somewhat above average (as indicated by the circle size) and their DER on ball in play was only somewhat below average. Their pitching, as indicated by FIP, was not so good.

Their pitchers also did not perform in the clutch; opposing batters hit .273 against the Padres with RISP, vs. .264 overall.

According to David Pinto's analysis, San Diego shortstops were among the worst in the majors. Fielding Win Shares reach the same conclusion. Padres' leaders in fielding Win Shares were Burroughs and Loretta, as well as Kotsay in the outfield.

This graph says a lot. The Padres' offense was steadily average in the first half of the year, but the pitching was just awful. Check out the May FIP and DER. In the second half, the offense became more variable, and the pitching settled down to just plain worse than average.

San Diego has some good young pitching, but they didn't deliver this year. Only Adam Eaton had a FIP below 1.00 (0.94). Jake Peavy was at 1.87 and Brian Lawrence was at 1.38.

San Diego Padres' Win Shares

Player          Team    Pos     Hit     Field   Pitch   Sum     WS	
--------	----	----	-----	-----	-----	-----	---	
M Loretta       SD      2B      19.17   5.08    0.00    24.26   24	
S Burroughs     SD      3B      12.22   3.68    0.00    15.90   16	
M Kotsay        SD      OF      10.15   3.45    0.00    13.60   14	
R Klesko        SD      1B      11.39   1.35    0.00    12.74   13	
R White         SD      OF      9.87    1.19    0.00    11.06   11	
R Vazquez       SD      SS      7.20    2.72    0.00    9.92    10	
P Nevin         SD      1B      8.07    0.69    0.00    8.75    9	
B Lawrence      SD      P       0.00    0.00    7.62    7.62    8	
J Peavy         SD      P       0.00    0.00    7.24    7.24    7	
G Matthews      SD      OF      6.10    1.03    0.00    7.13    7	
A Eaton         SD      P       0.00    0.00    7.05    7.05    7	
X Nady          SD      OF      5.49    1.26    0.00    6.75    7	
R Beck          SD      P       0.00    0.00    6.60    6.60    7	
G Bennett       SD      C       4.34    1.65    0.00    5.99    6	
B Giles         SD      OF      5.59    0.36    0.00    5.95    6	
B Buchanan      SD      OF      4.74    0.58    0.00    5.32    5	
S Linebrink     SD      P       0.28    0.00    4.13    4.41    4	
M Ojeda         SD      C       3.67    0.47    0.00    4.13    4	
L Merloni       SD      3B      2.74    1.19    0.00    3.94    4	
M Herges        SD      P       0.00    0.00    3.50    3.50    3	
D Hansen        SD      1B      2.82    0.40    0.00    3.22    3	
M Matthews      SD      P       0.00    0.00    2.97    2.97    3	
K Lockhart      SD      2B      1.59    0.54    0.00    2.14    2	
D Mendez        SD      SS      1.56    0.58    0.00    2.14    2	
J Witasick      SD      P       0.00    0.00    1.84    1.84    2	
B Villafuerte   SD      P       0.00    0.00    1.30    1.30    1	
B Howard        SD      P       0.00    0.00    1.02    1.02    1	
W Gonzalez      SD      C       0.79    0.08    0.12    1.00    1	
L Hackman       SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.93    0.93    1	
O Perez         SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.74    0.74    1	
T Hoffman       SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.72    0.72    1	
J Bay           SD      OF      0.51    0.10    0.00    0.61    1	
K Greene        SD      SS      0.00    0.52    0.00    0.52    1	
S Victorino     SD      OF      0.00    0.36    0.00    0.36    0	
M Rivera        SD      C       0.00    0.21    0.00    0.21    0	
C Nagy          SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.15    0.15    0	
M Bynum         SD      P       0.12    0.00    0.00    0.12    0	
K Walker        SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.07    0.07    0	
H Quintero      SD      C       0.00    0.06    0.00    0.06    0	
J Clark         SD      OF      0.00    0.01    0.00    0.01    0	
T Sears         SD      1B      0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
C Condrey       SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
R Deago         SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
K Jarvis        SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
R Keisler       SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
C Loewer        SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
J Orosco        SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
J Roa           SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
D Tankersley    SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
B Tollberg      SD      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	

Mark Loretta was one of the biggest surprises of the year, finishing second to Marcus Giles in 2B Win Shares, and 18th overall.

This says it all: no Padres pitcher had more than eight Win Shares (though Rod Beck, with seven, was one of the best stories of the year). The Padres had the least pitching Win Shares of all National League teams.

Among sluggers, Ryan Klesko had only 13 Win Shares (actually, Loretta's SLG was almost as high as Klesko's). Obviously, Giles came along a little too late to contribute. And the Padres really missed Phil Nevin, who was seventh on the list with only 226 at bats.