If you were to put a list together of the unsung Relief Pitchers of the 1980s, Craig Lefferts would have to be on it.

A Chicago Cub as a rookie, Lefferts was sent to San Diego as part of a three-team trade before the 1984 Season.  Lefferts appeared in at least 60 Games over his first three years in San Diego, even leading the NL in Games Pitched (83) in 1986. The year after, he was trading during the season to San Francisco, but he returned home as a Free Agent for the 1990 Season, this time as a closer where he had back-to-back 23 Save years.  Lefferts was again traded during the season, this time in 1992, with Baltimore as his landing spot.

With the Giants, Lefferts had 64 Saves in 375 Games.

Kevin McReynolds began his career with the Padres, debuting in 1983, the same year he won the Pacific Coast League MVP.  

From 1984 to 1986, McReynolds was a starting Outfielder for the San Diego, who was defensively excellent.  He twice led the NL among Outfielder in Range Factor per Game and was the 1984 league leader in Total Zone Runs.  Offensively, McReynolds had a low OBP, but his bat had pop, belting 65 Home Runs over his time in San Diego with an OPS of .790.

McReynolds was traded to the Mets after the 1986 Season, where he would later win a World Series Ring.

A second-generation MLB player and All-Ivy League player at Princeton, Will Venable played the first seven-and-a-half years of his nine-year career with the Padres. 

The Outfielder first earned a spot with the parent club in 2008, three years after he was drafted, but it would take until 2012 for him to gain his first 100 Hit year.  Venable only did that one more time, 2013, where he had career-highs in Hits (129), Home Runs (22), and Batting Average (.268), and realistically he was the fourth Outfielder as a Padre, but he brought the team depth in an important role for years.

Venable had 694 Hits as a Padre.

Yes, we know.

Again, we know.

The San Diego Padres have been in existence for over a half-century, so how can we rank a player regardless of position at all? 

Here is how.

Kevin Brown's single season in San Diego is the greatest in franchise history and is so by far.

Let’s repeat it.

Yes, we know.

Again, we know.

The Padres have had Cy Young winners, and Brown was not one of them.   Brown is also a player who only was a Padre for one year, but in terms of bWAR and other advanced metrics, he exceeds that of many other San Diego Pitchers who played far longer with the team.  

The year in question was 1998, the year after he was traded from the Florida Marlins, who won the 1997 World Series and held a fire sale to get rid of all their stars.  It can be argued (and we have) that the Marlins do not win the World Series without Brown, and we will make the same statement that San Diego does not win the 1998 Pennant without Brown.  

In 1998, Brown led the NL in bWAR for Pitchers (8.6) and FIP (2.23), won 16 Games, and was second in WHIP (1.066), ERA (2.38), and Strikeouts (257).  The Padres advanced to the World Series, and Brown was great over his first two playoff series, though his World Series was not great.  He didn't win the Cy Young, but TSN named him the Pitcher of the Year.

Brown left the Padres as a Free Agent for the Dodgers, and his brief but brilliant stay in San Diego ended.