GM: Kevin Towers
1996: made playoffs · 91–71. Ranks are vs the 28 teams that season.
Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.
| Player | Age | Service | G | fWAR | Salary $M | Surplus $M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Caminiti | 33 | FA-elig | 146 | 7.5 | 3.3 | +3.1 |
| Steve Finley | 31 | FA-elig | 161 | 5.4 | 2.9 | +1.6 |
| Scott Sanders | 27 | arb | 46 | 3.8 | 0.3 | +2.9 |
| Joey Hamilton | 25 | pre-arb | 34 | 3.6 | 0.3 | +2.7 |
| Bob Tewksbury | 35 | FA-elig | 36 | 3.2 | 1.5 | +1.2 |
| Tony Gwynn | 36 | FA-elig | 116 | 3.0 | 4.3 | -1.8 |
| Wally Joyner | 34 | FA-elig | 121 | 2.8 | 2.5 | -0.2 |
| Trevor Hoffman | 28 | arb | 70 | 2.8 | 1.0 | +1.4 |
| Andy Ashby | 28 | arb | 25 | 2.2 | 2.0 | -0.1 |
| Rickey Henderson | 37 | FA-elig | 148 | 2.2 | 3.2 | -1.4 |
| Tim Worrell | 28 | arb | 50 | 1.9 | 0.2 | +1.4 |
| John Flaherty↔ DET | 28 | arb | 72 | 1.5 | 0.2 | +1.1 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 35 | FA-elig | 36 | 1.4 | 1.0 | +0.2 |
| Sean Bergman | 26 | arb | 43 | 1.0 | 0.2 | +0.6 |
| Craig Shipley | 33 | FA-elig | 33 | 0.7 | 0.5 | +0.1 |
| Brian Johnson | 28 | pre-arb | 82 | 0.6 | 0.2 | +0.4 |
| Rob Deer | 35 | – | 25 | 0.6 | – | – |
| Bryce Florie↔ MIL | 26 | pre-arb | 39 | 0.5 | 0.1 | +0.3 |
| Greg Vaughn↔ MIL | 30 | FA-elig | 43 | 0.5 | 1.7 | -1.4 |
| Chris Gomez↔ DET | 25 | arb | 89 | 0.4 | 0.2 | +0.2 |
| Doug Bochtler | 25 | pre-arb | 63 | 0.4 | 0.1 | +0.2 |
| Scott Livingstone | 30 | arb | 102 | 0.1 | 0.6 | -0.4 |
| Ron Villone↔ MIL | 26 | pre-arb | 21 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +0.1 |
| Dario Veras | 23 | pre-arb | 23 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.0 |
| Al Osuna | 30 | – | 10 | 0.1 | – | – |
| Mike Oquist | 28 | arb | 8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Archi Cianfrocco | 29 | arb | 79 | 0.0 | 0.3 | -0.2 |
| Glenn Dishman↔ PHI | 25 | – | 3 | -0.0 | – | – |
| Todd Steverson | 24 | pre-arb | 1 | -0.0 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Sean Mulligan | 26 | – | 2 | -0.0 | – | – |
| Pete Walker | 27 | – | 1 | -0.0 | – | – |
| Jim Tatum↔ BOS | 28 | – | 5 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Dustin Hermanson | 23 | – | 8 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Andres Berumen | 25 | – | 3 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Doug Dascenzo | 32 | – | 21 | -0.2 | – | – |
| Andujar Cedeno↔ DET | 26 | FA-elig | 49 | -0.2 | 0.2 | -0.4 |
| Jason Thompson | 25 | – | 13 | -0.2 | – | – |
| Marc Newfield↔ MIL | 23 | arb | 84 | -0.3 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| Willie Blair | 30 | FA-elig | 60 | -0.4 | 0.8 | -1.1 |
| Chris Gwynn | 31 | FA-elig | 81 | -0.5 | 0.4 | -0.8 |
| Brad Ausmus↔ DET | 27 | arb | 50 | -0.6 | 0.1 | -0.7 |
| Jody Reed | 33 | FA-elig | 146 | -0.8 | 1.0 | -1.7 |
| Luis Lopez | 25 | arb | 63 | -1.9 | 0.2 | -1.8 |
| Player | fWAR |
|---|---|
| Bob Tewksbury | 3.2 |
| Wally Joyner | 2.8 |
| Rickey Henderson | 2.2 |
| John Flaherty | 1.5 |
| Sean Bergman | 1.0 |
| Craig Shipley | 0.7 |
| Player | 1995 fWAR |
|---|---|
| Andy Benes | 2.7 |
| Brian Williams | 1.1 |
| Bip Roberts | 0.6 |
| Roberto Petagine | 0.3 |
| Phil Plantier | 0.2 |
| Eddie Williams | 0.1 |
What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.
| Player | Age | Svc | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Gwynn | 36 | 14.000 | $4.3M | $4.6M | $4.0M | $4.4M | $6.3M | $2.0M | FREE AGENT |
| Ken Caminiti | 33 | 9.000 | $3.3M | $3.1M | $3.5M | FREE AGENT | |||
| Rickey Henderson | 37 | 17.000 | $3.2M | $2.2M | FREE AGENT | $300k | |||
| Steve Finley | 31 | 7.000 | $2.9M | $3.0M | $3.4M | FREE AGENT | |||
| Wally Joyner | 34 | 10.000 | $2.5M | $3.8M | $3.8M | $2.8M | FREE AGENT | ||
| Greg Vaughn | 30 | 7.000 | $1.7M | $4.0M | $5.3M | FREE AGENT | |||
| Bob Tewksbury | 35 | 10.000 | $1.5M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Jody Reed | 33 | 9.000 | $1.0M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Fernando Valenzuela | 35 | 16.000 | $1.0M | $1.2M | FREE AGENT | ||||
| Willie Blair | 30 | 6.000 | $750k | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Craig Shipley | 33 | 10.000 | $500k | $500k | FREE AGENT | ||||
| Chris Gwynn | 31 | 9.000 | $360k | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Andujar Cedeno | 26 | 6.000 | $236k | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Doug Dascenzo | 32 | 8.000 | — | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Rob Deer | 35 | 12.000 | — | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Al Osuna | 30 | 6.000 | — | FREE AGENT |
| Player | Age | Svc | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Ashby | 28 | 5.000 | $2.0M | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Trevor Hoffman | 28 | 3.000 | $955k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Scott Livingstone | 30 | 5.000 | $550k | FREE AGENT | |||||
| Scott Sanders | 27 | 3.000 | $300k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Archi Cianfrocco | 29 | 4.000 | $262k | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||||
| Tim Worrell | 28 | 3.000 | $230k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Sean Bergman | 26 | 3.000 | $205k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Chris Gomez | 25 | 3.000 | $179k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| John Flaherty | 28 | 4.000 | $166k | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||||
| Luis Lopez | 25 | 3.000 | $155k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Mike Oquist | 28 | 3.000 | $150k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Brad Ausmus | 27 | 3.000 | $140k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Marc Newfield | 23 | 3.000 | $90k | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |||
| Jim Tatum | 28 | 4.000 | — | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Player | Age | Svc | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Hamilton | 25 | 2.000 | $325k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Brian Johnson | 28 | 2.000 | $170k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Doug Bochtler | 25 | 1.000 | $145k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Todd Steverson | 24 | 1.000 | $125k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Bryce Florie | 26 | 2.000 | $125k | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | ||
| Dario Veras | 23 | 0.000 | $109k | Pre-Arb | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
| Ron Villone | 26 | 1.000 | $62k | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Andres Berumen | 25 | 1.000 | — | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Glenn Dishman | 25 | 1.000 | — | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Dustin Hermanson | 23 | 1.000 | — | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT | |
| Sean Mulligan | 26 | – | — | ||||||
| Jason Thompson | 25 | – | — | ||||||
| Pete Walker | 27 | 1.000 | — | Pre-Arb | ARB 1 | ARB 2 | ARB 3 | FREE AGENT |
Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Padres 1996; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.
| Regime | Seasons | Win % | Playoff % | Pennant % | WS % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WINDOW | 289 | 52.2 | 30.1 | 4.8 | 1.0 |
| CONTEND | 311 | 56.8 | 63.0 | 19.3 | 10.3 |
| FORCED-SPEND | 260 | 47.9 | 8.8 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| REBUILD | 328 | 43.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Not enough history to chart.
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