San Diego Padres: The 2010s All-Decade Team

As we officially enter the 2020’s, let’s look back position by position into the San Diego Padres during the 2010s.

The San Diego Padres have not made the postseason since 2006, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have any good players on their team in the last decade.

Before I get into the All-Decade San Diego Padres team, let’s talk about three players that Padres fans might get mad at me for not including in this list: Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Eric Hosmer.

Hosmer and Machado are star players and they will continue to be in a Padres uniform in the next decade, so down the road, they will be representing first and third base in the 2020s All-Decade team. Tatis could be well on his way to being the best shortstop to ever don a Padres uniform for the majority of his career, but this team is based on this decade and Tatis played only in 2019, but he got injured twice which made him miss a majority of the season.

But this decade team is all about the players that had the biggest impact on the field for the longest period of time during 2010-2019 and the reality is Eric Hosmer has only played two seasons in San Diego while Machado has only played one, so there just isn’t enough of a track record of those players in a Padres uniform, and there are more deserving players that should be on this list.

Now to be straightforward, you might very well see Player A on the All-Decade team that played the same amount of seasons that Hosmer has played in San Diego, but the reason they would be on the team and Hosmer isn’t is because there is a more deserving player at Hosmer’s position while there isn’t at Player A’s position.

Without further ado, here is the San Diego Padres 2010s All-Decade Team.

Nick Hundley, Catcher

Nick Hundley is hard to forget in the minds of Padres fans, as he was the catcher from 2008-2014 before going to the Baltimore Orioles during the 2014 season.

In 7 seasons in San Diego, he composed an OPS of nearly .300 with 47 home runs. Hundley wasn’t the best offensive catcher but he was pretty reliable behind the plate.

I understand that some fans might have expected Yasmani Grandal or even Austin Hedges to be the catcher. But in Grandal’s case, he only played with the Padres for parts of three seasons and only played in over 61 games once in his career.

Hedges has also just played in over 100 games in two of his first six seasons with San Diego, and his playing time continued to decrease in 2019 with the arrival of Francisco Mejia.

Yonder Alonso, First Base

Yonder Alonso played four seasons with the San Diego Padres from 2012-2015. His best season with the club was in his first season with the Padres, as he hit .273 with over 60 RBI. A big stat that stood out to me for Alonso was the fact that in 2012 he only missed seven games of the whole regular season, which means he was able to be relied on by Bud Black.

Adrian Gonzalez could have an argument right now that he had the best Padres career of any first basemen in the franchise’s history, but like with Hosmer, he just didn’t play enough in a Padre uniform during this decade.

Wil Myers is another logical candidate, but he only played first base until Hosmer arrived two seasons ago.

Yangervis Solarte, Second Base

Yangervis Solarte was the Franmil Reyes before Reyes got into the big leagues. Solarte was the fan-favorite player that all fans loved, and their connection got even stronger with him when he lost his wife in the middle of the season.

Over four seasons (2014-2017), Solarte hit .270 with double digits in home runs in the final three years with the Padres.

It was hard to pinpoint an exact position for Solarte, as he showed the ability to play all four infield positions during his tenure in San Diego, but second base seemed to be the spot that he played at most frequently.

Jedd Gyorko was under consideration, but Solarte had better numbers and was more of a fan favorite, so that is why I leaned towards him for the second base spot.

Chase Headley, Third Base

• 2012 Gold Glove
• 2012 Silver Slugger
• 5th place in NL MVP (2012)

Chase Headley played the better part of nine seasons in his career with the San Diego Padres starting in 2007 all the way until 2014 with a not very successful reunion in 2018. Of course, that was before they signed Manny Machado.

Headley was so reliable and so consistent that Bud Black could’ve put his name in pen in the lineup. An example of that was in 2012 when he missed just ONE game during the whole season, which likely made his gold glove and silver slugger season even more special because he didn’t sit to keep his numbers up like we see some players do today.

In 2012, he hit .286 31 home runs and 115 RBI which led the National League that year.

As I mentioned, Chase Headley deserves to make the team over Manny Machado because Machado has only played one season in this decade with the Padres while Headley didn’t just play longer in San Diego, but he had his best years as well.

Everth Cabrera, Shortstop

Everth Cabrera played six seasons with the San Diego Padres, and he was pretty much the only consistent shortstop this decade, and the first since Khalil Greene who unfortunately didn’t work out because he had a fear of playing in front of a lot of people.

2013 was his best season which was capped by being named to the All-Star Game. Cabrera was a speedster on the basepaths, as he stole 37 bases in his All-Star season and 44 bags the year before, which led the National League.

Fernando Tatis Jr. did not make the list because he only played one season in this decade and didn’t even play the entire year, unfortunately, it was because of injuries.

Will Venable, Outfield

Will Venable was a must on this list, as he played in San Diego for eight years while having an OBP of over .315 and an OPS of over .720.

In five of his eight years with the club, he showed that he was reliable, playing in over 120 games.

2013 was his best season in a Padre uniform, hitting 22 homers with nearly a .800 OPS.

Chris Denorfia, Outfield

Chris Denorfia played five seasons with the San Diego Padres and was a solid top of the order bat. Over his five years, he hit .275 with over 50 stolen bases.

He possessed an on-base percentage north of .300 in each of his four full seasons with the Friars in addition to working at least 25 walks.

Cameron Maybin, Outfield

Cameron Maybin was another fan favorite when he spent four years with the Padres. I think his career really blossomed when he came to San Diego, as Detroit and Miami didn’t give him a solid chance to play there, but he was given that chance in San Diego.

He wasn’t a power hitter but he was known for his defense and his speed on the bases. In his first year, he stole 40 bases in 2011 and 26 in 2012.

Wil Myers wasn’t included, as he hasn’t really consistently played in the outfield in his tenure with the Padres and part of that was due to his position switch from the outfield to first base before Eric Hosmer came to town.

For this exercise, I am only including three starters to keep it consistent with the number of relievers that will be named in the next slide.

Clayton Richard, Starting Pitcher

I think that Clayton Richard is a very deserving pitcher in the starting rotation, as he spent the most time in the rotation among Padres pitchers this decade. In eight seasons, Richard pitched to a 4.37 ERA in over 1,000 innings.

He was very durable in 2012, leading the league with 33 game starts in addition to pitching nearly 220 innings.

Richard seemed to always be in a Padres uniform when fans turn on the television, and I think it is true so I think that Richard was a big part in keeping the rotation afloat during some tougher times this decade.

Andrew Cashner, Starting Pitcher

Andrew Cashner pitched in five seasons at Petco Park, including 2015 when he logged nearly 185 innings with 165 strikeouts.

He pitched in over 600 innings with a cumulative ERA of under 4, so I would say he had a good career with the Padres.

Tim Stauffer, Starting Pitcher

Tim Stauffer was another guy that seemed to be in a Padres uniform for a long period of time, as he played nine seasons in San Diego. I understand that Stauffer might not have pitched the number of innings that Clayton Richard did, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have good moments with the Friars.

His best year was 2011 when he logged 185.2 innings with an ERA under four in over 30 starts.

Stauffer now serves as an analyst for the pre and post-game shows for Fox Sports San Diego.

The reason why I didn’t include Tyson Ross is that he only pitched in three seasons with the padres because his fourth season was just one start when he got hurt on Opening Day.

Chris Paddack would be one of the three starters on this list if he had pitched for more than one season in the past decade, but regardless he should be commended for his dominant rookie season.