San Diego Padres: The 10 best front office seasons in franchise history

 4. Kevin Towers, 1998, +9.0 (14-19-4)

By 1998, Towers had built a team that sailed to its third NL championship, and in the process set a franchise record with 98 victories. The Padres seized first place in the division on April 5 and never trailed from that point on.

In December of 1997, when the defending world champion Florida Marlins signaled that their talent base was for sale, Towers was one of the first to swoop in. At the cost of promising first baseman Derrek Lee and Rafael Medina, he landed Kevin Brown, one of the premier right-handed starters of the time.

Brown, the 1996 ERA champion, was 33-19 in two seasons with Florida, not counting his four starts in the 1997 postseason. With the Padres in 1998, he continued that excellence; an 18-7 record and 2.38 ERA in 35 starts covering 257 innings. It added up to a +6.6 WAA and brought Brown home third in the 1998 Cy Young Award voting.

That deal triggered what turned out to be Towers’ best season in team-to-team dealing. He acquired 13 players via trade, purchase or waiver claim, and while only three of those produced positive value, thanks to Brown, their cumulative impact was +6.3 games.

The other two positive trades both advantaged San Diego’s bullpen. Donne Wall and Dan Miceli both came over in a November trade with the Tigers, Wall appearing in 46 games with a 2.43 WAA, and Miceli making 67 appearances. Their collective value was +2.1 WAA.