Kevin Towers scoured the trade market to assemble the Padres’ second pennant-winner.
Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley arrived in the same blockbuster deal that General Manager Randy Smith put together before the 1995 season. Towers added Greg Vaughn at the trade deadline in 1996. Kevin Brown was the final piece heading into the 1998 campaign.
A 33-year-old Wally Joyner, however, was Towers’ first significant trade in the winter of 1995 when he flipped veteran outfielder Bip Roberts to the Kansas City Royals for the former rookie sensation.
“People are going to be thinking Joyner’s bat is the bat,” Towers said as the trade was reported.