PADRE 1985 OUTLOOK : Padre Grades Are Up to Par

Starting pitchers--LaMarr Hoyt improves the rotation. He has to replace Tim Lollar and Ed Whitson, or a combined winning percentage of .543. Career-wise, including last year’s 13-18, Hoyt has won 60.2% of his games. Eric Show has had back-to-back 15-win seasons and a brilliant spring. He and Mark Thurmond (14-8) must both bounce back from postseason embarrassments. Dave Dravecky and Andy Hawkins may be better suited as relief pitchers. It could be a top-notch rotation, but it has to prove it. Grade: B

Bullpen--Free agent Tim Stoddard and a healthy Luis DeLeon will be asked hold off the opposition until the late innings when Rich Gossage and Craig Lefferts take over. If Lefferts repeats his 1984 performance, he will have to be considered Gossage’s equal in the bullpen. Grade: A-

Catcher--Terry Kennedy has to be given the benefit of the doubt after a less than impressive 1984. He’s too young at 28 to be considered on a downward curve. He hit .301 without power in 1981 and .284 with power in 1983. He needs to revert to 1983, especially as the cleanup hitter. Grade: B

First base--Steve Garvey’s power and fielding range are down, but clutch hitting and intangibles make him a plus, even though a number of National League first basemen will put together better statistics. Grade: B

Second base--Alan Wiggins’ speed at the top of the batting order sets things up for Tony Gwynn, who hit .406 with runners on base. He still cannot be considered an accomplished defensive player. Remarkably, in spite of his speed, he ranks in the lower half of regular second basemen in range factor. Grade: B

Shortstop--There may be no better No. 8 hitter in the NL than Garry Templeton. Forget his .258 average. He’s not going to get any pitches to hit with Hoyt and Co. following him in the batting order. Another player with intangible pluses. Grade: B

Third base--Graig Nettles will have to be platooned. He batted .127 against left-handers, and hit only one of his 20 homers against lefties. He will be platooned with Jerry Royster, who figures to provide neither a high average nor power. The position is in good hands either way defensively. Grade: C+

Left field--Carmelo Martinez is a player who thus far has more potential than production, and a broken hand will sideline him at the start of the season. Rookie Jerry Davis and veteran Al Bumbry will have to platoon in the meantime, particularly because Bumbry batted only three times against lefties last year. Grade: C+

Center field--Coming back from a hand injury in the playoffs, Kevin McReynolds seems healthy. He drove home an amazing 85.2% of runners from third base with fewer than two out last year, but hit only four of his 20 homers with men on base. He will become a complete player when he improves defensively. Grade: B

Right field--Tony Gwynn hits lefties and righties, at home and away, on grass and on turf. He doesn’t hit with much power, but no one is complaining. Grade: A

Bench--In truth, the bench has three functions: Pinch-hitting, defensive support and replacing injured starters. The Padres think they have a strong bench, but the third function--replacing injured players--did not come into play last year until McReynolds was injured in the postseason. Bumbry and Davis will be presented the bench’s first test in 1985. Kurt Bevacqua, the hitting star in the losing cause against Detroit, should be better now that he is the No. 1 pinch-hitter against both left and right-handers. Tim Flannery, Mario Ramirez and Royster are versatile and Bruce Bochy was 12-8 in games he started as catcher last year. Grade: B-

Summary--Injuries, or lack of them, will be the key. The Padres had only two players on the disabled list in 1984, including DeLeon twice. If they stay healthy, they repeat. If they don’t, they struggle.

Padre Averages BATTING

Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB Ave. Bevacqua 79 7 16 3 0 1 9 0 .203 Bochy 92 10 21 5 1 4 15 0 .228 Brown 170 28 42 7 2 3 26 16 .247 Flannery 128 24 35 3 3 2 9 4 .273 Garvey 616 71 173 27 2 8 83 1 .281 Gwynn 606 86 213 21 10 5 71 33 .351 Kennedy 527 53 124 16 1 14 55 1 .235 Martinez 490 64 123 28 2 13 65 1 .251 McReynolds 525 67 146 26 6 20 75 3 .278 Nettles 393 56 90 11 1 20 64 0 .229 Ramirez 58 12 7 1 0 2 9 0 .130 Salazar 229 20 53 5 2 3 16 11 .231 Summers 53 5 10 3 0 1 12 0 .189 Templeton 493 41 128 19 3 2 35 8 .260 Wiggins 595 104 152 19 7 3 34 70 .255

PITCHING

Player IP ER H SO BB CG W-L ERA Booker 57 22 67 29 26 0 1-1 3.45 DeLeon 42 26 44 44 12 0 2-2 5.49 Dravecky 56 51 125 71 51 3 9-8 2.93 Gossage 102 33 71 84 36 0 10-6 2.90 Harris 32 9 25 27 17 0 2-2 2.51 Hawkins 144 66 146 75 69 2 8-9 4.12 Lefferts 105 25 88 55 24 0 3-4 2.13 Lollar 201 91 176 133 109 3 11-13 4.06 Show 206 78 175 104 88 3 15-9 3.40 Thurmond 178 59 174 56 55 1 14-8 2.97 Whitson 189 68 181 103 42 1 14-8 3.24 Totals 1459 558 1312 836 561 13 92-70 3.44

SAVES--Gossage 25, Lefferts 10, Dravecky 8, Harris 3.

Padre Roster

No. Name Pos. 1 G. Templeton SS 2 Alan Wiggins 2B 3 Jerry Royster 3B 6 Steve Garvey 1B 7 Kurt Bevacqua 1B 9 Graig Nettles 3B 11 Tim Flannery 2B 12 Mario Ramirez SS 14 C. Martinez LF 15 Bruce Bochy C 16 Terry Kennedy C 17 Al Bumbry OF 18 K. McReynolds CF 19 Tony Gwynn RF 20 Bobby Brown OF 28 Jerry Davis OF 30 Eric Show P 31 LaMarr Hoyt P 35 Luis DeLeon P 37 Craig Lefferts P 38 Mark Thurmond P 40 Andy Hawkins P 43 Dave Dravecky P 49 Tim Stoddard P 51 Greg Booker P 54 Rich Gossage P

Disabled List