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

Center Field - Will Venable

As it turns out, San Diego has not had many particularly good center fielders in their history as the position has been a bit of a revolving door for them over the years. However, someone had to win here and Will Venable gets the nod in center.

Venable played for San Diego from 2008 to 2015 which is much longer than most people who played center for the Padres. He put up 13.3 bWAR in 918 games with the Padres while slashing .252/.316/.410 at the plate. It seems likely that Venable should bat near the bottom of this lineup.

In second place, we have Kevin McReynolds who played center for San Diego from 1983 and 1986 and put up 12.4 bWAR. Assuming Trent Grisham can figure out how to hit more consistently, he is on pace to get this spot in a couple years as he is already in third place with 10.5 bWAR.

Right Field - Tony Gwynn

Finally, we come to the easiest inclusion on the list as Tony Gwynn is not only the runaway best right fielder in Padres history, but he is the best player period in San Diego history to the surprise of exactly no one at 69.2 bWAR.

Gwynn was a delightfully unique hitter his entire career. He didn't bother himself with trying to hit for a ton of power or even draw many walks and instead just let his elite hit tool do the work. He averaged a .338/.388/.459 for his nearly 20 year career and he led the league in hitting eight times in his Hall of Fame career. We miss him terribly.

Dave Winfield was no slouch in second place with 32.0 bWAR in his over 4500 plate appearances with the Padres and he, too, would go on to have a Hall of Fame career of his own. Fernando Tatis Jr. has already seen enough time in right field to slide into third place just ahead of Brian Giles and his 17.4 bWAR.

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