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Seeing Ryan Webb pitch last night got me wondering about players who have spent time with both the Padres and the Marlins. Particularly, how many of them there have been and who they are. I looked it up on Baseball Reference's handy multi-franchise tool and it turns out there have been 49 guys who fit the bill. I thought about making a Sporcle quiz but that didn't seem like it would be any fun because about half of the guys are beyond forgettable and the remaining players didn't seem too easy to guess either. A top-whatever list seemed like a possibility but naaah. I decided compiling a combined team was the way to go.
My rules for creating the team were pretty loose. The pool of candidates was limited so I decide to choose the players who had the best career, regardless of what they did during their time in San Diego or Florida specifically. Finding the best player at each position was surprisingly easy; there was one clear-cut best for each spot. I thought it might come down to penciling in somebody at a position they played only a few times but fortunately that was not an issue.
C- Mike Piazza
1B- Derrek Lee
2B- Quilvio Veras
SS- Alex Arias
3B- Gary Sheffield
LF- Cliff Floyd
CF- Mike Cameron
RF- Mark Kotsay
Arias is the only glaring weak link in the bunch but he was the only shortstop to choose from. Kotsay never had a great peak year like his "teammates" but you could do a lot worse than him out there. Plus, there's a fairly decent bench to be called on when the need arises.
C- Benito Santiago
3B/1B- Dave Magadan
Util.- Jorge Cantu
Util.- Eric Owens
OF- Cameron Maybin
Jeremy Hermida had better numbers than Eric Owens but Owens gets the nod for versatility. He played over 200 games at each outfield position and also handled first, second, and third bases. He also seems like the most likely candidate to serve as emergency catcher. Jorge Cantu can play at all four infield positions, albeit poorly, and had a few good offensive seasons back in the day. Santiago would of course start in interleague games played in American League parks, with Piazza shifting to DH. He'd also give Piazza's knees a rest periodically throughout the season, perhaps as the personal catcher of one of the following:
SP- Kevin Brown
SP- Ismael Valdez
SP- Matt Clement
SP- Ricky Bones
SP- Clay Hensley
After the first three, it was a real battle to fill the final two slots of the rotation. Hensley and Bones ended up relieving in more games than they started but each had at least one decent season as a starter. Bones actually had a few. Basically, they were chosen less on merit than they were on lack of any other viable option. Much like the last couple bullpen spots, as you'll come to see.
RP- Trevor Hoffman
RP- Heath Bell
RP- Edward Mujica
RP- Paul Quantrill
RP- Chris Hammond
RP- Rudy Seanez
RP- Chad Qualls
Trevor is of course the closer with Bell setting him up; just like in 2007 and '08. Current Cardinals closer Mujica gets seventh inning duty. In Hammond's 14-year career he served in just about every role but had his most success as a lefty one-out guy. Seanez and Qualls aren't anything to write home about but at their best they weren't too bad. Besides, Seanez was a member of the Padres four separate occasions and that's gotta count for something. As does his middle name; it's 'Caballero'. Yeah, you're not beating that, Chad Edward Gaudin or Ronald Thomas Villone.
Aside from the 25 players on the active roster, there are 24 left of the eligible 49 to act as organizational depth:
C- John Baker, Miguel Oliva, Mike Rivera, Ron Tingley
1B- Tim Hyers, John Mabry
2B/SS/3B- Josh Wilson
OF- John Roskos, Jeremy Hermida
P- Frankie De La Cruz, Jeff Fulchino, Chad Gaudin, Matt Herges, Jeremy Hernandez, Ben Howard, Wade LeBlanc, Brian Meadows, Dan Miceli, Blaine Neal, Rich Rodriguez, Ron Villone, Ed Vosberg, Ryan Webb, Matt Whisenant
All in all, not that terrible of a team. I'd expect a lot of scoring, both by the Padlins and their opponents-- except every fifth day when Brownie is on the bump. So, what do you think? What would you have done differently?