The Padres won 91 games in 1996, their best year to that point outside their 1984 run to the World Series. They regressed the following year, but General Manager Kevin Towers had a number of reasons to believe his team was trending in the right direction as he waded into the offseason.
They managed a winning second half. His homegrown right fielder had just won his eighth NL batting title. Ken Caminiti, Greg Vaughn and Steve Finley were proven run-producers when healthy. Andy Ashby and Joey Hamilton were dependable arms in Towers’ rotation and closer Trevor Hoffman was in the prime of his career.