With the Padres in Cleveland to take on the Indians, I thought I'd revisit an old theme and mash together a team out of guys who played for both clubs. I've done this before with the Marlins, Brewers, Cubs, and Reds; it's interesting to see the same names keep popping up in different places.
There are 106 players who have played for both teams, but it wasn't all that difficult to trim it down to a team of 25. As is usually the case, most of the starters were fairly obvious and there were a few good players who didn't quite make the cut for the bench. Here's the starting lineup:
C: Sandy Alomar, Jr.
1B: Broderick Perkins
2B: Joey Cora
SS: Tony Fernandez
3B: Graig Nettles
LF: Brian Giles
CF: Dave Roberts
RF: Dave Winfield
Yes, I know I am the only human being on the face of the earth who would start Joey Cora at second base over Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, and I'm fine with that. Logic and statistics have nothing to do with it. As for Perkins and Roberts, they were the only viable candidates who played those positions primarily. I supposed I could have wedged Joe Carter in either spot, but he only played 1B and CF sparingly, and poorly at that. He's not the only player on the bench with the versatility to play several positions badly.
C: Tom Lampkin
IF/OF: Kurt Bevacqua
2B: Roberto Alomar
LF/3B: Kevin Mitchell
OF/1B: Joe Carter
That's a pretty versatile batch of guys, and it's even more versatile if you're a rational person and start Robbie Alomar, bumping Cora to the bench. Joey has a bit of experience at SS as well as a bit less at 3B, and can serve as the emergency catcher as well.
As luck would have it, there were exactly five decent starting pitchers. As luck would continue to have it, those five were better than just decent. Well, at least at some point. As you might suspect, some of them didn't do so hot in San Diego.
SP: Gaylord Perry
SP: Mark Langston
SP: Ed Whitson
SP: Charles Nagy
SP: Rick Wise
At each of their primes, they were forces to be reckoned with. And in an exercise like this, you have to cherrypick like that. Rick Wise has added value as a pinch-hitter when needed.
The bullpen is the least-exciting aspect of this team. Whereas the Brewers/Padres combined team was stacked with big-name closers, this one is loaded with a bunch of guys who were just quietly decent.
RP: Rudy Seanez
RP: Sid Monge (L)
RP: Larry Andersen
RP: Tim Worrell
RP: Jesse Orosco (L)
RP: Edward Mujica
CL: Heathcliff Slocumb
The anomalies that crop up in these are weird and random. Sometimes two teams will have about nine catchers in common; in this case it's 28,138 left-handed relievers. Aside from Orosco, none of them were anything to write home about so I picked Monge since he was better than average and deserves recognition for something other than surrendering Tony Gwynn's first hit.
I think that team could win quite a few games, but that's not really saying much since I picked the best out of a large pool. Other than the whole Joey Cora/ Roberto Alomar thing, what would you have done differently?