San Diego Padres all-time best starting lineup based on WAR

Catcher - Gene Tenace

This one was a bit of a surprise as the Padres did have Benito Santiago on the team for six seasons and he played pretty well during that stretch. However, it is nice to see Gene Tenace get some love as his ability to get on base was very underrated during his career.

Tenace saw time at first base and catcher in his career and he played for the Padres from 1977-1980 where he accumulated 19.8 bWAR in 573 games. His slash line with the Padres in 2094 plate appearances was .237/.403/.422. Tenace's .825 OPS with the Padres was also the best among all catchers that played more than one season with the team.

Terry Kennedy, who was a Padre from 1981-1986, finished second with 17.0 bWAR and Benito Santiago came in third with 14.2 bWAR for his work from 1986 to 1992.

First Base - Adrian Gonzalez

This one was a bit less surprising as Adrian Gonzalez was very, very good for San Diego from 2006-2010 before he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. In nearly 800 games with the Padres, Gonzalez put up a .288/.374/.514 line which added up to 20.4 bWAR and three All-Star appearances.

Gonzalez would go on to put up 43.5 bWAR in his career as he would have successful stints with the Red Sox and Dodgers before ending his career with the Mets in 2018.

Gene Tenace would finish second here and 19.8 bWAR and that is fortunate considering how the catcher numbers turned out. Phil Nevin came in third at 17.8 bWAR for his work from 1999 to 2005.