After talking about the mediocre '97 Pirates and doing the 1996 MVP redo it got me thinking about my favorite losing A's team, the 1996 version. The A's by this time were well removed from their three consecutive pennant winning teams with only Mark McGwire and Terry Steinbach left from those glory days. The team was predicted to be one of the worst in baseball going into season mainly due to having a starting rotation who's "#1 starter" was Todd Van Poppel. Oof.
To add insult to injury with the low expectations they were also forced out of their home park for their first homestand. The Oakland Coliseum was undergoing a massive reconstruction to accomodate the Raiders who moved back to Oakland the previous year. The old bleachers and old giant scoreboards were torn down and a monstrosity that the locals would soon call Mt. Davis (in fact I think I came up with the name first or at least that's what I tell myself) in "honor" of Raiders' owner Al Davis. It was to make the stadium more football friendly and it was basically Oakland's way of bending over and taking it in the ass for the Raiders while completley ignoring the A's in the process. The stadium wasn't anywhere close to being ready and the A's first six home games were moved to Las Vegas. The construction would go on during the season with jackhammer sounds becoming a regular ballpark experience the first couple of months of the season and it was a major embarassment for the franchise.
But as it turned out they weren't horrible, not any good mind you but they managed not to finish last in the A.L. West and for a brief period of time after the All-Star Break they looked like they might break .500. After beating the Blue Jays on July 26th they were 54-50 and within five games of first place but that would be their peak. They would still be at .500 by mid-August but then they had a stretch where they lost 13 out of 16 which effectively buried their season. They finished the year 78-84 which was a small victory for a team expected to lose over 90 games. As I talked about in the '96 redo, offense was completely out of control that season and the A's took full advantage hitting a team record 243 homeruns which made them very entertaining to watch even if they weren't that good. Fortunently Van Poppel wouldn't stay the staff's #1 starter for very long as he'd get bombed and the former top prospect's Oakland career would come to an end later in the season when he was put on waivers. But the rest the rotation was horrible as advertised with a hodge podge of marginal prospects and never weres.
So here's a look back at my favorite losing team and where they went.
C: Terry Steinbach (.272/.342/.529, 40.3 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - At age 34, Steinbach hit a career high 35 homeruns, 19 above his previous high which came nine years earlier. Draw your own conclusions. This would be his last season in Oakland as he'd sign with his hometown Twins to finish out his career, retiring after 1999.
1B: Mark McGwire (.312/.467/.730, 91.6 VORP, 29 Win Shares) - This was McGwire's first full season since 1992, although he still started year with another trip to the DL, and he would have the best year of his career to that point. Really I just look at this numbers still in awe and this season was more special to me than his '98 season only because he was still in Oakland of course. He of course was traded to the Cardinals at the trade deadline in 1997 as the franchise hit rock bottom in a deal that is best forgotten. Retired after 2001.
2B: Tony Batista (.298/.350/.433, 15.9 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - The A's actually had a three headed monster here with former second baseman of the future Brent Gates and awful utility infielder Rafael Bournigal. Batista was a midseason call up and won the everyday job the last two months of the season. After showing promise he had an awful '97 season and was left unprotected in the expansion draft where he was picked up by Arizona. Since then had stops in Toronto, Baltimore, Montreal, Japan, and now with Minnesota.
3B: Scott Brosius (.304/.393/.516, 43.4 VORP, 19 Win Shares) - After mediocre numbers his first few years in the league Brosius brokeout with a very good year both offensive and defensively. His production then dropped like a rock in '97 and was traded to the Yankees for Kenny Rogers soon after the season ended. He'd become a World Series hero in 1998 with them which fooled them into keeping him as their regular 3rd baseman for the next three years although his final season in 2001 wasn't bad.
SS: Mike Bordick (.240/.307/.318, -5.6 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - Bordick had been living off a good year offensively in 1992 for a long time and I forgot how truly awful he was offensively. Only kept an everyday job due to his defense. Last season in Oakland as he signed with the Orioles. In 2000 out of no where the first half of the season he suddenly started hitting for power which got Mets' GM Steve Phillips all excited so he traded Melvin Mora for him. Ouch. He'd then promptly go right back to the Orioles after the season. His final year was in 2003 with Toronto.
LF: Jason Giambi (.291/.355/.481, 26.6 VORP, 15 Win Shares) - Yes you're reading that right: LF, Jason Giambi. He came up as a 3rd baseman but that was occupied by Brosius who was very good defensively and Giambi's future position at 1st was of course filled by McGwire. Phil Plantier, yes that Phil Plantier, actually started more games in left than anyone for the A's but let's just pretend like that didn't happen. Giambi did get a fair amount of time at 1st when they'd DH McGwire. As for Giambi's defense in left...it was like if Lonnie Smith & Manny Ramirez had a kid. It was bad, really bad. As we all know Giambi was with the A's thru 2001 and then became the poster boy for selling out by signing with the Yankees.
CF: Ernie Young (.242/.326/.424, 7.6 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - This was Young's only full season in the Majors. He could hit some homeruns and play pretty good defense but couldn't hit a breaking pitch to save his life so no surprise why he didn't last long. He's become a Crash Davis type of player as he's still hanging around the minors hitting homeruns and gets the occasional cup of coffee, most recently with Cleveland last year at age 34.
RF: Jose Herrera (.269/.318/.378, -2.2 VORP, 5 Win Shares) - Was acquired in the Rickey Henderson/Steve Karsay deal in 1993, never really developed and this was his 2nd and last year in the Majors. Out of baseball after 2000 but looking at his Baseball Cube page apparantly tried to make a comeback last year with the Orioles' Double-A team but only played in five games.
DH: Geronimo Berroa (.290/.344/.532, 33.0 VORP, 16 Win Shares) - Berroa was a long time minor leaguer who outside of a spending a year with the Braves in 1989 as a Rule V draftee hadn't been given much of a shot in the Majors. Finally in 1994 at age 29 the A's signed him and he became a fan favorite beacuse he basically put everything into every swing, putting up some pretty good numbers. Traded to the Orioles in 1997 and his production fell off from there. Brief stops in Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Out of baseball after 2001.
Starting Rotation
Don Wengert (86 ERA+, 16.2 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - I should preface that the A's nine pitchers make 10 or more starts in '96 so I'm going with the four guys who made more than 20 starts as they obviously didn't have a set rotation all year. After showing promise early in the minors, Wengert couldn't get Triple-A hitters out by the the A's pitching woes forced them to use him on the big club which was a theme for A's pitching in the mid-90s. Traded to the Paders after 1997, he'd bounce around to the Cubs, Royals, Braves, and Pirates. Out of baseball after 2002.
Doug Johns (80 ERA+, 4.7 VORP, 4 Win Shares) - Not really a prospect as he debuted at age 27 the previous year and his low K rate in the minors pretty much told you he wasn't going to make it in the Majors but again the A's didn't have many options. A's waived him the following season. Did spend a couple of years as a reliever and spot starter with the Orioles, was done with baseball after 1999.
John Wasdin (80 ERA+, 0.8 VORP, 4 Win Shares) - A former first round pick, he again couldn't get Triple-A hitters out but was forced into the rotation and was absolutlely lit up in this his rookie year. Traded to the Red Sox for Jose Canseco of all people the following season he's had a second career as a sometimes effective middle reliever although usually not. Had stops in Colorado, Baltimore, Toronto, and now with Texas although currenlty in the minors.
Ariel Prieto (116 ERA+, 27.3 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Before the Hernadez brothers made it cool to find Cuban pitchers there was Ariel Prieto. He was very much hyped as a future star but '96 was the only year that was ever moderately effective as I suppose he was the Hideki Irabu of Cuban pitchers. Last appeared in the Majors in 2001 with Tampa Bay although still hangs around the minors most recently with the Marlins Triple-A team although doesn't appear on any roster this year.
Closer: Billy Taylor (111 ERA+, 16.0 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - Taylor was your typical losing team closer who no on notices because save situations don't become that important for losing teams. He was passable but nothing special. But good 'ol Steve Phillips saw his decent save totals and traded Jason Isringhausen for him at the trade deadline in 1999. Oops! Taylor didn't even make the Mets postseason roster. Made stops in Tampa and Pittsburgh, done after 2001.
Just trying to mix up the entires and come up with something different I figured with the NBA Playoffs starting Saturday it'd be time to do an NBA entry. Being a Golden State Warriors fan it's hard to get nostalgic about much of antyhing so I figured I'd pick the year that they last made the playoffs, the first post-Jordan year, and an NBA Finals that was overshadowed by a slow speed chase of a white Ford Bronco. I wasn't sure where I'd go with the entry but one thing that I'm trying to look more into are the sabermetric side of basketball statistics. It's not nearly as well known as baseball sabermetrics and I'm not completely sure how reliable they are.
There's two stats that have caught my interest, John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating and the basketball version of Win Shares that was created by the guy who runs basketball-reference.com. I actually did an entry a couple of months ago using Win Shares to compare how well players from the 1989 NBA Draft faired in their careers. Now since I'm not sure how reliable these are, and I didn't want to do a carbon copy of my Award Redos that I do baseball's MVP, I figured I'd just compare the All-NBA teams from the '93-94 season as voted by the media and who were the top players according to these two statiscal formuals.
'93-94 All-NBA Teams (media version)
First Team
F: Karl Malone, Utah (22.9 PER, 37 Win Shares)
F: Scottie Pippen, Chicago (23.2 PER, 32 Win Shares)
C: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston (25.3 PER, 43 Win Shares)
G: John Stockton, Utah (22.5 PER, 38 Win Shares)
G: Latrell Sprewell, Golden State (15.9 PER, 28 Win Shares)
Second Team
F: Charles Barkley, Phoenix (22.8 PER, 26 Win Shares)
F: Shawn Kemp, Seattle (22.9 PER, 32 Win Shares)
C: David Robinson, San Antonio (30.7 PER, 52 Win Shares)
G: Kevin Johnson, Phoenix (20.6 PER, 28 Win Shares)
G: Mitch Richmond, Sacramento (17.7 PER, 18 Win Shares)
Third Team
F: Derrick Coleman, New Jersey (21.4 PER, 25 Win Shares)
F: Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta/L.A. Clippers (21.4 PER, 25 Win Shares)
C: Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando (28.5 PER, 47 Win Shares)
G: Gary Payton, Seattle (17.8 PER, 27 Win Shares)
G: Mark Price, Cleveland (22.7 PER, 26 Win Shares)
Now here's the top players by position using Player Efficieny Rating
Centers
1. Robinson
2. O'Neal
3. Olajuwon
Forwards
1. Pippen
2. Kemp
3. Barkley
4. Malone
5. Chris Webber, Golden State (21.7 PER)
6. Coleman
Guards
1. Price
2. Stockton
3. Johnson
4. Eric Murdock, Milwaukee (20.4 PER)
5. Reggie Miller, Indiana (20.2 PER)
6. Rod Strickland, Portland (19.9 PER)
Now using Win Shares
Centers
1. Robinson
2. O'Neal
3. Olajuwon
Forwards
1. Malone
2. Kemp
3. Pippen
4. Otis Thorpe, Detroit (31 Win Shares)
5. Horace Grant, Chicago (30 Win Shares)
6. A.C. Green, Phoenix (29 Win Shares)
Guards
1. Stockton
2. Miller
3. Mookie Blaylock, Atlanta (30 Win Shares)
4. Stacey Augmon, Atlanta (29 Win Shares)
5. Johnson
6. Sprewell
Probably the most interesting thing is Robinson and O'Neal both coming out ahead of Olajuwon who won the league's MVP and then had that incredible postseason. Sprewell making the All-NBA first team appears to have been way off and I have no problem agreeing with him being overrated. The high PER for Eric Murdock looks a bit odd and he didn't fair to well according to Win Shares (only had 15).
The Vikings continue their surprise run to the top of the NFL standings and wrap up the NFC Central division title by eviscerating the Lions 42-14. The NFC playoff picture is pretty clear with the Vikings, Giants, and 49ers leading the divisions and the Eagles and Redskins as wild cards with the only final playoff spot up for grabs between the Rams, Saints, Bears, and Cowboys. Over in the AFC it is a little more muddy. The Raiders still have a nice cushion in the AFC West even after being stunned by the Bengals this week who were without Boomer Esiason. Bills sort of avenged their shocking defeat at the hands of the Patriots in Week 10 by eeking out a three point win. In the AFC Central the Oilers looked to be close to running away with the division a couple of weeks ago but divisional losses later and they find themselves tied with the Steelers at 7-5. The Dolphins are a near lock for a wild card while the Chiefs, Chargers, and Browns are fighting for the final two spots along with the whoever doesn't win the AFC Central.
Week 13 Scores
New Orleans 23, Atlanta 9
NO: 6-6, ATL: 2-10
-Falcons: 12 yards rushing
Pittsburgh 28, Houston 20
PIT: 7-5, HOU: 7-5
-Louis Lipps: 6 rec, 111 yards
N.Y. Giants 30, Tampa Bay 27 OT
NYG: 10-2, TB: 4-8
-Ottis Anderson: 108 yards rushing
San Diego 31, N.Y. Jets 0
SD: 7-5, JET: 3-9
-Marion Butts: 178 yards rushing
Cincinnati 14, L.A. Raiders 9
CIN: 5-7, RAI: 9-3
-James Brooks: 106 yards rushing
Philadelphia 28, Phoenix 10
PHI: 8-4, PHX: 2-11
-Randall Cunnigham: 246 yards passing
Denver 38, Seattle 28
DEN: 5-7, SEA: 5-7
-Mark Jackson: 5 rec, 136 yards
Green Bay 28, Indianapolis 27
GB: 4-8, IND: 4-8
-Ed West: 5 rec, 120 yards
Washington 23, Cowboys 7
WAS: 8-4, DAL: 5-7
-Ernest Byner: 111 yards rushing
Buffalo 27, New England 24
BUF: 10-2, NE: 3-9
-Thurman Thomas: 199 yards rushing
Miami 20, Chicago 14
MIA: 9-3, CHI: 5-7
-Sammie Smith: 77 yards rushing
Minnesota 42, Detroit 14
MIN: 11-2, DET: 2-10
-Wade Wilson: 183 yards passing
Kansas City 30, Cleveland 10
KC: 7-5, CLE: 6-6
-Barry Word: 137 total yards
San Francisco 35, L.A. Rams 34
SF: 9-3, RAM: 6-6
-Jerry Rice: 6 rec, 169 yards
Leaders thru Week 13
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 201.8
2. Dan Marino, 177.8
3. Randall Cunningham, 174.9
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3018
2. Joe Montana, 2910
3. Jim Everett, 2783
Touchdowns
1. Montana, 31
2t. Marino, 29
2t. Everett, 29
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 59
2. Andre Rison, 41
3. Anthony Miller, 40
Yards
1. Rice, 1524
2. Sterling Sharpe, 1044
3. Rison, 1022
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 17
2. Miller, 12
3. James Lofton, 11
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1143
2. Neal Anderson, 1101
3. Christian Okoye, 1029
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 14
2t. Many tied with 12
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 9
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 18
2t. Bruce Smith, 15
2t. Derrick Thomas, 15
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 16
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.3
Punt Return Avg: Henry Ellard, 12.2
Kick Return Avg: David Meggett, 20.6
Before I got side tracked with my entry on The Baseball Network, I'd put together a redo for the 1995 A.L. MVP. This particular vote was one of the best examples of writer bias and how character plays a part in players winning awards. In an incredibly tight vote Mo Vaughn beat out Albert Belle receiving one more first place vote than Belle. To say this was a joke is an understatement. You don't need EQA, VORP, or Win Shares to tell you that Vaughn was in no way better the Belle in 1995. Let's just look at the standard numbers:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG TB
Vaughn 140 550 98 165 28 3 39 126 11 4 68 150 .300 .388 .575 316
Belle 143 546 121 173 52 1 50 126 5 2 73 80 .317 .401 .690 377
Edit: Fuck, it of course previewed perfectly fine and it comes out like this. Oh well.
How could anyone look at those numbers and pick Vaughn over Belle? Maybe the writers were just blown away that a man as fat as Vaughn could steal 11 bases. Seriously how the hell did that happen? A guy with a 50-50 doubles/homeruns season with a near .700 slugging and playing on the best team in the league would seem like a slam dunk for the writers. Belle led the league in Slugging, Runs, Total Bases, Doubles, Homeruns, and RBI (tied with Vaughn). His resume that year screams MVP. But Albert Belle was perceived as a bad guy, which was true, and Mo Vaughn was perceived as a good guy, which was partially true. There is no other logical explination for it. The writers liked Vaughn and hated Belle. To add to the case against Vaughn he was arguably not even the best player on his own team as John Valentin had a huge breakout season for the Sox.
A quick look at the rest of the voting, Edgar Martinez finished 3rd with four first place votes as the Mariners won their first division title ever. Then there was 4th place...Jose Mesa. The man has since become a walking punchline in recent years but at one point he was a very good closer. Again the closer argument doesn't have to be made again but someone actually gave Mesa a first place vote. Somebody actually thought that Jose Mesa was the MVP of the league playing on a team that had Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga, and Kenny Lofton. It's vote like that that should get your voting privledges revoked. Other name of note was Tim Salmon who finished 7th who may have made a much more serious run at the MVP if it weren't for the Angels last season collapse.
Actual Results
1) Mo Vaughn 2) Albert Belle 3) Edgar Martinez 4) Jose Mesa 5) Jay Buhner 6) Randy Johnson 7) Tim Salmon 8) Frank Thomas 9) John Valentin 10) Gary Gaetti 11) Rafael Palmeiro 12) Manny Ramirez 13) Tim Wakefield 14) Jim Edmonds 15) Paul O'Neill 16) Mark McGwire 17t) Wade Boggs 17t) Chuck Knoblauch 19t) Gary DiSarcina 19t) Cal Ripken 21) Kirby Puckett
#10
.300/.388/.575, 119 RC, 145 OPS+, .319 EQA, 52.3 VORP, 24 Win Shares
#9
.308/.402/.558, 108 RC, 148 OPS+, .323 EQA, 46.9 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#8
.333/.424/.487, 109 RC, 138 OPS+, .319 EQA, 72.3 VORP, 27 Win Shares
#7
196 ERA+, 4.52 K/BB, 1.05 WHIP, 87.5 VORP, 22 Win Shares
#6
.314/.438/.558, 110 RC, 158 OPS+, .341 EQA, 61.5 VORP, 24 Win Shares
#5
.298/.399/.533, 109 RC, 139 OPS+, .317 EQA, 74.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#4
.330/.429/.594, 136 RC, 164 OPS+, .342 EQA, 70.6 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#3
.308/.454/.606, 137 RC, 178 OPS+, .364 EQA, 76.4 VORP, 28 Win Shares
#2
.317/.401/.690, 150 RC, 178 OPS+, .351 EQA, 85.6 VORP, 30 Win Sahres
#1
.356/.479/.628, 153 RC, 183 OPS+, .372 EQA, 91.0 VORP, 32 Win Shares
Whaaaaaaaaa?
I fully expected for Belle to come out on top but I completely forgot about Martinez. When I put it all on paper Edgar was the easy choice and he emerged as the Mariners premier hitter with Ken Griffey Jr. missing half the season due to a broken wrist. As you see Vaughn was indeed not even the best player on his own team. I nearly left him off the list as he came down between him and Mark McGwire who had ridiculous rate numbers (200 OPS+, .370 EQA) but missed 40 games due to injury so I gave the nod to Vaughn.
Dante Bichette - Outfielder
California Angels 1988-1990
Milwaukee Brewers 1991-1992
Colorado Rockies 1993-1999
Cincinnati Reds 2000
Boston Red Sox 2000-2001
Awards
1995 NL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 4 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998)
League Leader
1994: Games, At Bats
1995: SLG%, Homeruns, Hits, Total Bases, RBI, Runs Created
1998: Hits
Career Ranks
None of note
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 19 (112) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 81 (284) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 30.5 (275) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 82.0 (203) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in the HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Garret Anderson, Moises Alou, Shawn Green, Ted Kluszewski, Tony Oliva, Fred Lynn, George Hendrick, Tim Salmon, George Bell, Greg Luzinksi
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3)
1988: 1/0.3
1989: 2/1.2
1990: 7/3.1
1991: 7/3.8
1992: 8/3.8
1993: 19/6.3
1994: 13/5.8
1995: 23/5.8
1996: 20/4.1
1997: 15/4.0
1998: 17/6.2
1999: 15/3.0
2000: 14/3.9
2001: 7/2.3
Career Win Shares: 168
Career WARP3: 53.7
Would he get my vote?
No. Bichette's numbers were heavily inflated by playing in Colorado and even if you took his counting stats at face value he still is no where close to a HOF. He's a good example of similarity scores not always being very reliable because they don't adjust to the era a player played in. Of his Top 10 similar batters only Garret Anderson has a lower career OPS+, who just happens to be his most similar batter, and Bichette was no where near is good as the likes of Tony Oliva and Fred Lynn.
After the 2003 season Miguel Tejada was a free agent and A's general manager Billy Beane had a major decision. He could either re-sign Tejada and allow Eric Chavez to leave as a free agency the following year or allow Tejada to leave and sign Chavez to a long term extension. He chose to allow Tejada to leave and ink Chavez to a 6-year, $66 million deal. Protests from some A's fans aside this made the most sense. Chavez was to that point the better hitter, the better fielder, and was two years younger than Tejada. The other reason it made sense was the A's had a prospect at shortstop who would be ready to step in as an everyday player the very next season. You know the story by now Tejada has put together three very good years in Baltimore while Chavez has seemingly fizzled out on ever reaching the MVP potential many thought he would fulfill. You also know the other side of the story in that Bobby Crosby has become a bit of a running joke from being a trendy MVP pick going into last year by some ESPN "experts" and now to an injury plauged, potential bust. This is possibly a make or break year for Crosby to show he can stay healthy and show he is capable of living up to the hype. Tonight in the opener he let a ball go right through his legs and then was the primary cause of a four run Mariner 6th inning as he dropped a ball while trying to turn what appeared to be an easy, inning ending double play. The sad thing is that the one thing about Crosby that has been very positive so far in his MLB career has been his defense and he didn't even have that going for him tonight. It's just one game and I really could careless at this point but not a good first impression to the season for a guy some already want to see out of Oakland.
And I leave you with a random list that I wanted to do but didn't think it was worth an entry. Since today was the true Opening Day here were the Opening Day starters for each team in 1997 which I thought would be mildly interesting to look at.
Kevin Ritz
John Smiley
Terry Mulholland
Kevin Brown
John Smoltz
Shane Reynolds
Curt Schilling
Ramon Martinez
Todd Stottlemyre
Jim Bullinger
Pete Harnisch
Joey Hamilton
Jon Lieber
Mark Gardner
Doug Brocail (!)
Brad Radke
Dave Cone
Jeff Fassero
Ben McDonald
Ken Hill
Jamie Navarro
Pat Hentgen
Kevin Appier
Jimmy Key
Charles Nagy
Ariel Prieto
Tom Gordon
Mark Langston
I'm going to keep doing this until I start grasping at straws to find decent players to fill out every pick, which I had to do with at least one of the following picks. As I get further down the list the honorable mention picks become increasingly difficult. Again this is just since the merger and what the player did over the course of their career, not what they necessarily did for the team that drafted them which is plainly obvious with pick #33.
31. L.A. Rams – Nolan Cromwell, S, Kansas 1977
Honorable Mention: Roman Phifer (1991), Carl Pickens (1992), Al Wilson (1999)
32. L.A. Rams – Henry Ellard, WR, Fresno State 1983
Honorable Mention: Fred Smerlas (1979), Ray Donaldson (1980), Drew Brees (2001)
33. Atlanta – Brett Favre, QB, Southern Miss 1991
Honorable Mention: Fred Dean (1975), Wesley Walker (1977), Isaac Bruce (1994)
34. Pittsburgh – Jack Ham, LB, Penn State 1971
Honorable Mention: Steve Nelson (1974), Tim McDonald (1987), Carnell Lake (1989)
35. Tampa Bay – Mike Alstott, FB, Purdue 1996
Honorable Mention: Keith Fahnhorst (1974), Christian Okoye (1987), Alge Crumpler (2001)
36. N.Y. Giants – Tiki Barber, RB, Virginia 1997
Honorable Mention: Kevin Mawae (1994), Lawyer Milloy (1996), Chad Johnson (2001)
37. Philadelphia – Randall Cunnigham, QB, UNLV 1985
Honorable Mention: Cris Collinsworth (1981), Leonard Marshall (1983), Darren Woodson (1992)
38. Chicago – Mike Singletary, LB, Baylor 1981
Honorable Mention: Doug English (1975), Boomer Esiason (1984), Flozell Adams (1998)
39. Buffalo – Darryl Talley, LB, West Virginia 1983
Honorable Mention: Keena Turner (1980), Daryl Johnston (1989), Keith Sims (1990)
40. N.Y. Giants – Michael Strahan, DE, Texas Southern 1993
Honorable Mention: Bob Baumhower (1978), Al Baker (1979), Thurman Thomas (1988)
41. New England – Andre Tippett, LB, Iowa 1982
Honorable Mention: Mark Gastineau (1979), Dave Waymer (1980), Ken Norton (1988)
42. San Francisco – Randy Cross, G, UCLA 1976
Honorable Mention: Rulon Jones (1980), Charlie Garner (1994), Jake Plummer (1997)
43. St. Louis Cardinals – Dan Dierdorf, T, Michigan 1971
Honorable Mention: Matt Millen (1980), Mushin Muhammad (1996), Corey Dillon (1997)
44. Pittsburgh – Dermontti Dawson, C, Kentucky 1988
Honorable Mention: Chad Brown (1993), Sam Madison (1997), Kris Jenkins (2001)
45. Oakland – Dave Casper, TE, Notre Dame 1974
Honorable Mention: Joe Morris (1982), Ricky Watters (1991), Lofa Tatupu (2005)
46. Pittsburgh – Jack Lambert, LB, Kent State 1974
Honorable Mention: David Hill (1976), Larry Allen (1994), Samari Rolle (1998)
47. Cleveland – Jerry Sherk, DT, Oklahoma State 1970
Honorable Mention: Tony Collins (1981), Michael Barrow (1993), Frank Sanders (1995)
48. Oakland – Howie Long, DE, Villanova 1981
Honorable Mention: Lydell Mitchell (1972), Dwight Stephenson (1980), LeRoy Butler (1990)
49. San Francisco – Roger Craig, RB, Nebraska 1983
Honorable Mention: Delvin Williams (1974), Pete Johnson (1977), Brian Blades (1988)
50. Cleveland – Michael Dean Perry, DT, Clemson 1988
Honorable Mention: Tom Newberry (1986), Eddie Robinson (1992), Marcus McNeill (2006)
51. New Orleans – Rickey Jackson, LB, Pittsburgh 1981
Honorable Mention: Matt Blair (1974), Sean Jones (1984), Pepper Johnson (1986)
52. Miami – John Offerdahl, LB, Western Michigan 1986
Honorable Mention: Joe Devlin (1976), Bob Golic (1979), Mark Duper (1982)
53. Pittsburgh – Mel Blount, CB, Saginaw Valley State 1970
Honorable Mention: Harvey Martin (1973), Danny White (1974), Eric Davis (1990)
54. Minnesota – Sammy White, WR, Grambling State 1976
Honorable Mention: Jim LeClair (1972), Darrin Smith (1993), Anquan Boldin (2003)
55. Miami – Tim Foley, DB, Purdue 1970
Honorable Mention: John Mendenhell (1972), Randy Logan (1973), Corey Fuller (1995)
56. Dallas – Todd Christensen, TE, BYU 1978
Honorable Mention: Wesley Walls (1989), Jason Hanson (1992), Osi Umenyiora (2003)
57. Dallas – Mark Stepnoski, C, Pittsburgh 1989
Honorable Mention: Joe Ferguson (1973), Mark Carrier (1987), Devin Hester (2006)
58. San Francisco – Jeremy Newberry, C, California 1998
Honorable Mention: Gary Spani (1978), Ricky Proehl (1990), Travis Henry (2001)
59. Phoenix – Aeneas Williams, CB, Saginaw Valley State 1991
Honorable Mention: Jeff Hostetler (1984), Kirk Lowdermilk (1985), Marcus Washington (2000)
60. New Orleans – Pat Swilling, LB, Georgia Tech 1986
Honorable Mention: Quinn Early (1988), Kordell Stewart (1995), Darren Shaper (1997)
The Detroit Tigers have been one of the more proud franchises in baseball history. That was until Mike Ilitch bought the team after the 1992 season. Before their ownership the Tigers had never endured more than four consecutive losing seasons. This year’s Tigers are just 17 wins away from ending 12 years of futility and are very likely to reach the postseason for the first time since 1987. But Ilitch's first year as owner was the Tigers last succesful one.
In the Tigers last winning season of ’93 they lead the Majors in runs scored with 899. They were of course helped by the hitter friendly Tiger Stadium but the offense was genuinely good. The pitching on the other hand allowed a Major League high 188 homeruns which although helped/hurt by Tiger Stadium the pitchers were genuinely bad. The Tigers started the season red hot as after a 12-1 spanking of the defending champs Toronto on June 12th they were 38-22 with a four game lead on the Jays. But just 10 days later a 12-9 loss to Baltimore would start a 10 game losing streak that they could never fully recover from.
C: Chad Kreuter (.286/.371/.484, 30.2 VORP, 16 Win Shares) – This was only one of two seasons that Kreuter played over 100 games in and was by far his best year. This would be the second of seven teams he would play for in his career. Went to Seattle in ’95 and then spent the following year with the White Sox. They traded him with Tony Phillips to the Angels in 1997. The Angels sent him back to Chicago late in 1998. Spent the following year in Kansas City and finally found a stable job with the Dodgers for three years. Began 2003 back where he started in Texas but was released a month into the season.
1B: Cecil Fielder (.267/.368/.464, 27.8 VORP, 17 Win Shares) – Fielder hit 30 homeruns with 117 rbi but those were quiet, big numbers as he was only 5th among Tigers regulars in slugging. He remained a very steady performer but never came close to his huge 1990 season. Tigers traded him to the Yankees for Ruben Sierra in 1996 where Cecil would have a good World Series going 9 for 23. His power numbers would slip dramatically after this and was washed by ’98 being released by both the Angels and Indians. Tried to make a return to Toronto in 1999 but failed to make the team. Has spent his post career gambling away the millions he earned and is now estranged from his son Price Fielder.
2B: Lou Whitaker (.290/.412/.449, 36.4 VORP, 19 Win Shares) – Sweet Lou’s career was winding down at this point but when he was in the line up he was still very productive. Would retire after 1995 when he played in just 84 games but put up a strong .293/.372/.518 line. One of the great tragedies in Hall of Fame voting as he received only 15 votes in his first year of eligibility, failing to stay on the ballot despite being very comparable to his HOF contemporary Ryne Sandberg. Whether Whitaker deserves to be in the HOF or not is open for debate, I believe he does, but it is a joke that he couldn’t even receive enough support stay on the ballot for more than a single season.
3B: Travis Fryman (.300/.379/.486, 56.7 VORP, 28 Win Shares) – This was Fryman’s breakout season at 24 but it would end up being his best season. He actually started more games at shortstop (81 to 68) but I had a choice of talking about Alan Trammell or Scott Livingstone so I of course put Fryman at 3rd. At the start of the year Fryman was at short and Trammell was at 3rd but the Tigers would realize that Fryman was much better defensively at 3rd and flipped them back. Traded to the expansion Diamondbacks after the 1997 season but would never suit up for them as he would be flipped to Cleveland two weeks later for Matt Williams. Would play the rest of his career with the Indians, highlighted by a great 2000 season, and retired after 2002.
SS: Alan Trammell (.329/.388/.496, 40.6 VORP, 17 Win Shares) – Coming off a year where he only played 29 games due to a broken ankle, the other side of the Tigers long time middle infield duo was also still productive when he was in the line up. Trammell of course spent his entire career in Detoit, retiring after 1996. Has faired better in HOF voting than Whitaker but is no where close to being elected, appearing on just 17.7% of the ballots in the most recent election.
LF: Tony Phillips (.313/.443/.398, 46.3 VORP, 25 Win Shares) – The previously light hitting, utility man Phillips had emerged as one of the top lead off hitters in the game due to his great ability to draw walks (132 in ’93) and this was his best year. Would spend one more season in Detroit before signing as a free agent with the Angels. Signed with the White Sox in ’96 who then traded him the previously mentioned deal with Chad Kreuter back to the Angels. In August of that year he would be caught smoking crack in an Anaheim hotel and really who hasn’t? He was released by the Angels before the 1998 season, then picked up by the Blue Jays two months later who would trade him after a month in a deadline deal to the Mets. Returned to Oakland in 1999 for his final season in the Majors.
CF: Milt Cuyler (.213/.276/.313, -7.4 VORP, 2 Win Shares) – A passable rookie year in 1991 some how convinced the Tigers to keep trotting Cuyler out to center for a couple of more years although in just in part time duty, he still played too much. Mysteriously still found part time Major League work for a few more years including a trip to Boston in 1996. But in 1998 he had a historic year with the Rangers putting up a jaw dropping .500/.571/1.333 line. Even with a batting average heavy OBP those number are insane. Oh wait it was only in 7 at bats…never mind.
RF: Rob Deer (.217/.302/.381, -3.1 VORP, 5 Win Shares) – Everybody’s favorite no batting average power hitter, Deer was a poor man’s Dave Kingman. Okay Deer actually could draw walks but holy shit he could not make any contact at all. He was about as true a “three outcome hitter” as you could get and the primary outcome was a strikeout. Did not finish the season in Detroit as he was traded to Boston in August. This appeared to be his last year in the Majors but in 1996 made a comeback with the Padres. In true Deer fashion he went 9 for 50 (seven of the hits for extra bases) and struck out 30 times.
DH: Kirk Gibson (.261/.337/.432, 15.4 VORP, 9 Win Shares) – Fuck him.
Utility: Mickey Tettleton (.245/.372/.492, 31.7 VORP, 24 Win Shares) – Tettleton started 51 games at catcher, 38 in RF, 35 at 1B, 16 in LF, and surprisingly only 3 at DH considering he couldn’t play any position well but hit for enough power that you needed him the line up everyday. Signed as a free agent with Texas after 1994 and spent his final three years there.
Rotation
Mike Moore (82 ERA+, 3.0 VORP, 7 Win Shares) – A big free agent signing for the Tigers before the season leaving the friendly confines of the Oakland Coliseum for Tiger Stadium proved very hazardous to Moore’s ERA. The Tigers offense carried him to a 13-9 record. Never effective in Detroit, retired after 1995.
John Doherty (97 ERA+, 15.3 VORP, 9 Win Shares) – I remember little to nothing of Doherty and found little to nothing about him. His baseball-reference sponsor says he hurt his arm so I’ll believe it. Tigers waived him before the ’96 season and was picked up by the Red Sox, pitching in only three games.
David Wells (103 ERA+, 28.3 VORP, 10 Win Shares) – Was released right before the season by the Blue Jays, Wells would end up saving his career in Detroit. Tigers would trade him to the Reds in 1995 in a deadline deal. Spent the next year in Baltimore before signing with the Yankees where he became the GREATEST PITCHER OF ALL-TIME or something. Traded for Roger Clemens before 1999 to Toronto and then traded to the White Sox before 2001 in the “oh we didn’t know Mike Sirotka’s arm was dead” deal. After an injury filled year there he would return to the Yankees for two years. Played with the Padres in 2004 and then joined the Red Sox where is now just fat and injured.
Bill Gullickson (80 ERA+, -2.1 VORP, 5 Win Shares) – The long time mediocre Gullickson was just about at the end of his career here and would retire after the following year.
Closer: Mike Henneman (163 ERA+, 18.3 VORP, 11 Win Shares) – One of Henneman’s better seasons. Struggled badly the following year but rebound in 1995 where he’d be dealt in a waiver deal to Houston for Phil Nevin. Spent his final year in ’96 with Texas.
Let's just get yesterday's depressing day out of the way.
Game of the Day: Akron 20, N.C. State 17. By far the most fun I've had watching a game thru two weeks in what's been a dull start to the college football season. ESPN actually made a good decision for once by dumping Rutgers skull fucking of Illinois and switching to the ESPNU telecast of this game for the 4th quarter. The Zips appeared on the ropes after N.C. State took a 10-7 lead and blocked a punt deep in Akron territory. Coach Steroid made a dubious call to go for it on 4th down inside the five instead of kicking the field goal and the Zips stuffed them. Akron had only -2 yards on offense in the second half to this point but proceded to go 96 yards on six plays for the go ahead touchdown. State then marched back down and scored a touchdown on a 4th down to take a 17-14 lead with under two minutes to go. Then it what should have provided more controversy than it did the referees flagged State for excessive celebration. The most pathetic thing is sports right now is college referees after a player scores a touchdown. You see them run over immediately to any player and try get in their face to go back to the sideline even if all the player is doing is hugging a teammate. State had just scored a potential winning touchdown in the 4th quarter and they aren't supposed to celebrate? If you aren't taunting the other team no flag should ever be thrown. In any event Akron got decent field position on the kickoff and marched down for the winning score which we all know was on a 4th down with three seconds left. You had to agree with the call because quarterback Luke Getsy made a mistake when he scrabbled and had the touchdown by fell to soon to the ground to avoid the hit and came up inches short of the goal line. Settling for three would have deflated the team's momentum for overtime.
The WTF Score of the Day: New Hampshire 34, Northwestern 17. Northwestern coach Randy Walker must wish he was dead after this performance. Oh wait...
The "No mah son ain't the problem" Game of the Day: Florida State 24, Troy 17. A school with the talent resources that FSU has should never only have 10 points against a Sun Belt team after thee quarters. This game is also a perfect example of why motivation does play an important role in college sports as I doubt the Seminols gave even a second thought about this game possibly being competitive.
The Too Bad it Wasn't on T.V. Game of the Day: Iowa State 16, UNLV 10. Apparantly the Rebels stayed on the field for about 15 minutes after the game stomping on the Cyclones logo after the game as the refs didn't review an incomplete pass in the endzone on the last play of the game that would have given the Rebels the win if overturned. Oh ya and Cyclones don't make any plans for Kansas City in December.
The "Fuck You Cosby" Game of the Day: Louisville 62, Temple 0. That line is stolen from Deadspin and it was funny enough that I had to post it here. A Louisville fan had posted on their that back in the 80's Bill Cosby had mocked the Louisville football program on the Tonight Show after a blowout loss to Temple.
Whack Pac Wrap Up
Boise State 42, Oregon State 14. It's scary to think that the Beavers may only be the 3rd or 4th worst team in the Pac-10 and they get humiliated like this.
Oklahoma 37, Washington 20. I suppose it's nice the Huskies played them tough for a half but considering how bad the Sooners looked against a mediocre UAB team last week, I wouldn't take any moral victories from a a 17 point loss.
Washington State 56, Idaho 10. At least we know Wazzu is better than Michigan State.
LSU 45, Arizona 3. Um ya, probably wan't a good idea to talk shit about LSU during the week. Let's see who should talk shit, the team that won a national title in 2003 or the one that hasn't been to a bowl game since 1998?
California 42, Minnesota 17. Meh, you guys still were humiliated on national television by a team that was a two point conversion from losing to Air Force this week.
UCLA 26, Rice 16. Now I take back what I said about being impressed by the Bruins.
Arizona State 52, Nevada 21. Nice to see the Sun Devils actually show up this week.
Oregon 31, Fresno State 24. The Ducks needed a Leon Lett play from Fresno to help them win this game but any game where the kicker scores the winning touchdown is fun. The Ducks are now the last hope for the Pac-10 getting any respect (not that they deserve any right now) with the game against Oklahoma next week. Ducks had to win this game just have the Pac-10 go 3-2 against the WAC this week.
San Jose State 35, Stanford 34. I hate football.
Greg Vaughn, Left Fielder
Milwaukee Brewers 1989-1996
San Diego Padres 1996-1998
Cincinnati Reds 1999
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2000-2002
Colorado Rockies 2003
Awards
1998 NL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 4 (1993, 1996, 1998, 2001)
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
Homeruns: 73rd
Best Performance
September 7, 1999 - Cincinnati at Chicago (Game 2 of DH)
Hits three homeruns against the Cubs.
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Batting - 22 (928) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 25.0 (418) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 50.0 (368) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Jeromy Burnitz, Ron Gant, Rocky Colavito, Roy Sievers, Andruw Jones, Darryl Strawberry, David Justice, Greg Luzinski, Dave Kingman, Jack Clark
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1989: 6/1.1
1990: 10/1.3
1991: 20/8.4
1992: 16/6.4
1993: 22/6.7
1994: 9/4.9
1995: 5/1.2
1996: 17/6.3
1997: 8/1.8
1998: 30/10.6
1999: 24/7.2
2000: 16/5.1
2001: 15/3.8
2002: 1/0.6
2003: 1/0.4
Career Win Shares: 199
Career WARP3: 65.3
My Stupid Opinion
Vaughn was your prototypical low batting average slugger. His one really standout year in 1998 was of course completely overshadowed by a couple of other sluggers who's names escape me at the moment. Really nothing special about him outside of his power.
Since the Pro Bowl was today I thought about trying to find some useless, maybe interesting Pro Bowl facts but then I remembered there is nothing interesting about the Pro Bowl. When I was younger I actually used to love watching the game and would even record it to watch it again later. What the hell was wrong with me? I would be upset when my favorite players wouldn't play in the game but now I question the sanity of any player who'd play in the game. Hey if I were a player I wouldn't play, call me a pussy if you want but I wouldn't risk my career in such a meaningless game. Well I guess suffering a potential career ending injury in the Pro Bowl wouldn't be as bad as suffering one playing a flag football game on the beach like poor Robert Edwards in 1999.
One thing I did find when I was looking for anything from the past from the Pro Bowl was the first MVP of the Pro Bowl after I was born (that being the 1979 Pro Bowl) was Ahmad Rashad. Almost no one seems to remember that he was a pretty good wide receiver in his day at the University of Oregon and then with the Minnesota Vikings. His post career is better remembered for marrying the mom from the Cosby Show and being Michael Jordan's personal interviewer. You know in the 1990's if you were to kick Michael Jordan in the balls you would have also been kicking Ahmad Rashad in the head.
Speaking of verbal fellatio of athletes, I made the mistake of flipping on the Pro Bowl when they were discussing Brett Favre. Now I don't have it down word for word but here is essentially what Mike Patrick said of Favre possibly retiring:
Good lord. I know announcers aren't journalists but how can you take someone seriously when they something like this? Mike also seems to have a conflict of interests with his feelings as he says it'll make him happy but it will break his heart. With him done with announcing after tonight he'll now have free time to stalk Brett. I definently won't miss him as listening to Mike Patrick announce a game always sounded to me like a guy calling a game that he just saw the previous week.
After starting to run thin on good subjects to redo MVP's for the next natural progression would be to move on to Cy Youngs. Now Culloden/Vern suggested 1969 & 1983 A.L. Cy Young's to me and then I decided I'd throw the 1982 A.L. Cy Young in there. But as I started doing them I realized that there was a common theme with the '82 and '83 redos and that was the underrated greatness of Dave Stieb. So I've expanded I decied to do four redos in one, examining the period from 1982 to 1985 when Steib was the most consistent and best overall pitcher in the game.
1982
The 1982 A.L. Cy Young is as good a place as any to start when it comes to Cy Young redos as it featured quite possibly the worst pitcher ever to win a Cy Young in the Brewers' Pete Vukovich. In '82 Vukovich benefitted from two things, playing in a pitcher's park and being supported by the far the best offense in the league. He finished the season with an 18-6 record and an unimpressive 3.34 ERA, the highest among all pitcher's who received votes. He was lucky to have such an ERA beyond playing a pitcher's park he had an atrocious K/BB ratio as he only struck out three more batters than he walked (105 to 102). He also posted an awful 1.50 WHIP, which I didn't bother to check but I'd be very surprised if any Cy Young award winner had one worse than that. But there was no 20 game winner in the A.L. and only one pitcher, Rick Sutcliffe, posted an ERA under 3 so with no standout pitcher the writer's made this incredibly bad choice.
Now the writers were fairly split on the voting as four other pitchers received first place votes but Vukovich received 14 total. Stieb received five first place votes but only finished in 4th place as the poor hitting Blue Jays only helped him to a 17-14 record. In fact it's kinda surprising he received that much support as writers usually can't look past the win/loss record. This would be a good time to point out that I give zero consideration to win/loss record as a pitcher's single season win/loss record is much too deceiving.
Actual Results
1) Pete Vukovich 2) Jim Palmer 3) Dan Quisenberry 4) Dave Stieb 5) Rick Sutcliffe 6) Geoff Zahn 7t) Bill Caudill 7t) Bob Stanley 9) Dan Petry
#3
129 ERA+, 1.63 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 53.9 VORP, 20 Win Shares
#2
159 ERA+, 3.83 K/BB, 1.01 WHIP, 38.6 VORP, 22 Win Shares
#1
138 ERA+, 1.88 K/BB, 1.20 WHIP, 65.0 VORP, 25 Win Shares
Now Stieb's numbers don't blow you away in '82 but in a weak year for candidates he was the best choice. I'm kind of surprised the writers didn't give Palmer a lifetime achievement Cy Young here but he only had 15 wins. Would have at least been a better choice than Vukovich. As you see with Quisenberry, unlike with the MVP I do believe closers can be viable candidates to win a Cy Young in certain years.
1983
This year features another not so glamerous Cy Young pick in the White Sox LaMarr Hoyt. Better known for his cocaine problems now, Hoyt holds the distinction of having the highest ERA ever for a Cy Young winner at 3.66. Now in fairness to Hoyt is peripheral numbers weren't bad, unlike with Vukovich, but he was definently a pitcher who won simply because of his win total as he won 24 games largely due to having the top offense in the league supporting him. Again though it was another year with a lot of strong candidates.
Hoyt's main competition was Dan Quisenberry who received nine first place votes as he had then single season record of 45 saves with a 1.94 ERA. He was though just as dominant as those numbers indicate and did it 139 innings pitched. Steib actually had a better record (17-12) and ERA (3.04) than the previous year but this time around he didn't receive a single vote which I'd attribute to having four 20 game winners instead of zero the previous year.
Actual Results
1) LaMarr Hoyt 2) Dan Quisenberry 3) Jack Morris 4) Richard Dotson 5) Ron Guidry 6) Scott McGregor
#3
117 ERA+, 2.80 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP, 61.4 VORP, 20 Win Shares
#2
142 ERA+, 2.01 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 68.9 VORP, 24 Win Shares
#1
210 ERA+, 4.36 K/BB, 0.93 WHIP, 48.5 VORP, 28 Win Shares
Quis was never Mr. Photogenic.
Even though he had a better season than '82, I couldn't pass on the dominance of Quisenberry this time around.
1984
Only going over this one briefly as I already kind of touched on it in the 1984 A.L. MVP Redo and if you remember I already gave the answer away to this one.
Willie Hernandez won the award in a tight vote over Quisenberry. Would have been quite interesting if Herandez won the MVP but didn't win the Cy Young. Bert Blyleven and Mike Boddicker also received solid support. Steib went 16-8 with a 2.83 ERA but garnered only one 3rd place vote.
Actual Results
1) Willie Hernandez 2) Dan Quisenberry 3) Bert Blyleven 4) Mike Boddicker 5) Dan Petry 6) Frank Viola 7t) Jack Morris 7t) Dave Stieb
#3
132 ERA+, 2.36 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 60.6 VORP, 23 Win Shares
#2
204 ERA+, 3.11 K/BB, 0.94 WHIP, 52.3 VORP, 24 Win Shares
#1
145 ERA+, 2.25 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 75.4 VORP, 25 Win Shares
This was Steib's best year and the year he most deserved to win the award yet he receives almost no support. 3rd place was tough as I gave considertion to Quisenberry, Boddicker, and Blyleven.
1985
Out of these four years this one was certainly the least controversial and in fact I don't think it's ever been disputed. Bret Saberhagen, in just in second season, went 20-6 with a 2.87 ERA with a near sweep of the first place votes. I wouldn't have even given this one a look if it weren't to see if possible that Steib a 3rd Cy Young redo.
Ron Guidry was only the other pitcher to receive any real support as he won 22 games. Steib had to be the hard luck pitcher of all-time with this season as he won the ERA title with a 2.48 ERA and played on a team that won 99 games with a good offense. Despite that he finsihed with only a 14-13 record so to no surprise he received little support. One interesting vote was Bert Blyleven receiving a first place vote with a 17-16 record which is shocking but kudos to one writer in 1985 thinking outside the box even though it wasn't the right choice.
Actual Results
1) Bret Saberhagen 2) Ron Guidry 3t) Bert Blyleven 3t) Dan Quisenberry 5) Charlie Liebrandt 6) Doyle Alexander 7t) Britt Burns 7t) Donnie Moore 7t) Dave Stieb 10) Mike Moore
#3
135 ERA+, 2.75 K/BB, 1.15 WHIP, 64.9 VORP, 23 Win Shares
#2
171 ERA+, 1.74 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 78.1 VORP, 24 Win Shares
#1
145 ERA+, 4.16 K/BB, 1.06 WHIP, 68.2 VORP, 24 Win Shares
It was close but I give Saberhagen the nod here. Hey baseball writers congrats on being right 25% of the time!
So there you have it for a four year period Stieb was the 1st or 2nd best pitcher in the league and it's a crime that he didn't come away with at least one Cy Young. Injuries shortened his career and possible bid for the Hall of Fame although even then due his bad luck his low win total would kept him out. People who try to argue Jack Morris for the Hall always try to proclaim him as the 80's Pitcher of the Decade but that honor belongs to Stieb.
Since 1995 I have played the computer version of Strat-O-Matic Baseball which might as well be Dungeons & Dragons for baseball geeks. I always order the updated version of the game online but they still send me the mail order form along with some little newsletter. I usually just glance at it and throw it away but something caught my eye this time. SportingNews.com in recent years has run some sort of fantasy baseball version of Strat-O-Matic but I've never been interested in it as it costs $25 a team. Well apparently very soon they will be running a free game that will be based on the 1986 MLB season where you can make up your own team of players from 1986. They are doing in conjunction with their 1986 Take Two promotion where "celebrities" are replaying that season. From what I know of with the Sporting News version of the game the leagues are 12 teams each, you draft 25 man rosters with a salary cap, and play a 162 game season. You don't actually "play" each other as the games are simulated but you can make trades and make line up adjustments during the season.
So I pose the question to my three blog readers...would anyone be interested in doing this? The website say it's a limited offer so I have no idea if I'll even be able to create a league but it sounds like an interesting alternative to typical fantasy baseball and best of all it's free. If I get a feeling that there will be enough interest on the board I'll probably create a thread for it in the Sports folder when they starting take sign ups, which will be February 27th.
My favorite baseball team, and favorite team in all sports, the Oakland Athletics are going to suck this year. For the first time since the the late 90's I'm going into a baseball season with no hope or optimism. So since my favorite team is going to suck, I hope all your favorite teams suck this year too. Time for a little free floating hostility as I run down the other 29 teams in MLB and why they suck.
(Disclaimer: Don't take any of this seriously)
Angels: John Lackey's arm is about fall off and they'll find out that they wasted another $90 million on another overrated centerfielder. If Lackey does end up having surgery at some point hopefully they'll do something for his face too. God damn is that an ugly mother fucker.
Astros: Hey maybe they can bring back Roger Clemens again! That'll solve everything!
Blue Jays: They still play baseball in Canada?
Braves: No one gave a shit about them in Atlanta when they were good and no one gives a shit about them now that they suck. Move them to Alaska. For that matter move every professional sports franchise out of Atlanta.
Brewers: Anything that makes Bud Selig happy is a bad thing and the Brewers ever getting back to the playoffs will make him happy, so with that in mind I continue to hope for several more years of mediocre Brewers baseball. Signing Jason Kendall will of course help that cause for this year.
Cardinals: Seriously, fucking retire already LaRussa. Once you lucked out with the 2006 World Championship you should have done the George Constanza "Alright that's it for me! Goodnight everybody!"
Cubs: 100 years, no championships and now they are selling Wrigley Field's naming rights. Just kill yourself Cubs fans because it's gonna 100 more years of the same shit.
Diamondbacks: Would somebody kill Eric Byrnes already?
Dodgers: They're gonna trade Matt Kemp for Joe Crede, you just know it. Jeff Kent can't teach these kids how to win ya know!
Giants: HAHAHAHAHA...yes keep convincing yourself Giants fans and front office that you didn't need Barry. God I can't wait for the Summer when they are 30 games out of first place and averaging less than 10k fans a game. It's gonna be great! Seriously if they ever fire Brian Sabean I'm going to cry.
Indians: Seriously eat a fucking dick Cleveland for blowing it against the Red Sox in the ALCS to help that annoying fucking fan base celebrate another championship.
Mariners: Trading for Erik Bedard isn't going to cover up that this team vastly overachieved last year and Bill Bavasi is still the GM which will always lead to failure.
Marlins: Would somebody kill Jeffrey Loria already?
Mets: This team looks like it wants to go out of it's way to out perform the A's in the injury department this year. I personally approve of the failure of all New York teams so hopefully they'll crash and burn.
Nationals: Dmitri Young and Elijah Dukes on the same team...excellent.
Orioles: Batting 4th, Kevin Millar.
Padres: Padres' "fans" gave Barry Bonds a standing ovation when he tied Hank Aaron's record. At the end of the season Tony Gwynn Jr. hits a game winning triple against the Padres that forces them into a one game playoff against the Rockies which the Padres lose in crushing fashion. It's called karma, bitch.
Phillies: Would have been better off trading Kyle Kendrick to Japan for real and thrown Adam Eaton in the deal. Gonna be another cocktease year for Phillies' fans but like they give a shit anyways as they'll be too busy chanting "E-A-G-L-E-S" at the games.
Pirates: Not even worth it.
Rangers: Why does this franchise not get shit on more for being a complete joke? 47 years in existence and not a single playoff series win. They'll have no problem blowing by the 50 year mark and beyond.
Rays: Ooo they have so much young talent! They might be really good in 2010! Who gives a shit? Still going to be 90% Yankees and Red Sox fans at their games.
Reds: The fact that there are Reds fans who actually want to get rid of Adam Dunn tells me they deserve a manager like Dusty Baker.
Red Sox: Hey remember when we all thought it'd be great if the Red Sox won a championship so we could stop hearing all the whining from their fan base about "The Curse"? We never knew how good we had it. Every SAWX fan I see this year, I'm kicking square in the fucking nuts.
Rockies: Like the Indians, fuck you for losing to the Red Sox.
Royals: This team is more painful to watch than George Brett popping his hemorrhoids.
Tigers: Kenny Rogers is an asshole and Todd Jones is a closet fag.
Twins: 1. Trade Johan Santana, 2. ???, 3. Profit
White Sox: Is this team gonna suuuuuuuuuuck? YES!
Yankees: Derek Jeter is a selfish prick who is going to drag this franchise down very soon by his refusal to leave shortstop. This guy is the Lonnie Smith of shortstops. But whatever, Yankee fans deserve any losing season they get and hopefully they'll happen soon.
Can you believe that it will be 10 years since the McGwire/Sosa homerun chase and 10 years since the Yankees tore through the American League on their way to an 114 win season? I really have nothing to add to that and I am just posting one of my random lists, this time around every team's Opening Day/Night starter from the '98 season. I went to every A's Opening Night game from 1995-2002 and in '98 it was actually a fairly momentous occasion as they were playing the Red Sox in Pedro Martinez's first ever start for them. Pedro dominated as expected but glancing at the boxscore I forgot it was also Dennis Eckersley's first appearance in Oakland since 1995 as he played his final year with the Sox. On to the list...
Angels: Chuck Finley
Astros: Shane Reynolds
Athletics: Tom Candiotti
Blue Jays: Roger Clemens
Braves: Greg Maddux
Brewers: Cal Eldred
Cardinals: Todd Stottlemyre
Cubs: Kevin Tapani
Devil Rays: Wilson Alvarez
Diamondbacks: Andy Benes
Dodgers: Ramon Martinez
Expos: Carlos Perez
Giants: Shawn Estes
Indians: Charles Nagy
Mariners: Randy Johnson
Marlins: Livan Hernandez
Mets: Bobby Jones
Orioles: Mike Mussina
Padres: Kevin Brown
Phillies: Curt Schilling
Pirates: Francisco Cordova
Rangers: John Burkett
Reds: Mike Remlinger
Red Sox: Pedro Martinez
Rockies: Daryl Kile
Royals: Tim Belcher
Tigers: Justin Thompson
Twins: Bob Tewksbury
White Sox: Jamie Navarro
Yankees: Andy Pettitte
I already posted in the ALCS thread about the game, where I was probably on t.v. for a split second on the Inge homerun, so I'd like to throw in something for the blog. Ever since 9/11 the New York Yankees and I'm guessing the Mets as well play "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch and in the immediate aftermatch of 9/11 this was common across baseball. As time has passed the regular tradition of the 7th inning stretch has continued in most ballparks, including in Oakland. But since we're in the playoffs now Bud Selig feels it's necessary to force everyone to play this God awful song that grinds a game to a complete halt and makes break in the middle of the 7th twice as long. If New York wants to do it that's fine but forcing all other teams remaining in the playoffs to do it is lame and really pointless. What exactly is the significance of playing "God Bless America"? Even if you're the most patriotic of Americans you have to admit it's not a good song. Tonight it didn't really matter with the general awfulness of the A's performance but the break to play "God Bless America" can completely take the air out an entire stadium after an exciting Top of the 7th.
Sorta off topic I hadn't been to a playoff game since 2002 and I forgot how long the breaks are between innings because of network commercials. Almost every inning the pitcher would finish his warm ups and have to just stand there for 30 seconds so FOX could come back from commercial.
Tommorrow, back to the player rankings moving on to shortstops. God Bless Jeter.
Been a long time since I did one of these as I got discouraged after flushing my 1991 Mariners entry by accident. But after doing the 80's tournament figured I might as well do one on the team that won it, the 1980 Expos. I normally try to focus on teams from the last 20 years since many of the players I at least have memories of seeing play but there are a quite a few interesting players from this club and I hadn't done one on the Expos yet.
Expos were in a heated three team race with the defending World Champion Pirates and eventual World Champion Phillies for the N.L. East title much of the second half. The Pirates faded down the stretch but the Expos and Phillies were tied for first going into the final weekend of the season and just happened to have a series against each other Montreal. Phillies won on Friday 2-1 and then the next day the Expos heart was broken when Woodie Fryman couldn't close it out in the 9th as the Phillies tied it 4-4 on a two out Bob Boone RBI single and then in the 11th Mike Schmidt hit a two run homerun off Steve Bahnsen to win it.
C: Gary Carter (.264/.331/.486, 34.9 VORP, 30 Win Shares) – “The Kid” at age 26 had already established himself as one of the best catchers in the game and finished a distant 2nd to Mike Schmidt in the MVP voting. Like most Expos stars they didn’t hang on to him and he was traded to the Mets following the 1984 season for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans. He would hit the catcher wall in 1987 and was released following an injury plagued 1989 season. Picked up with the Giants where had a decent year as a platoon catcher. Signed with the Dodgers for 1991 and then returned for nostalgia to Montreal in 1992 where he retired. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
1B: Warren Cromartie (.288/.345/.430, 19.8 VORP, 17.4 Win Shares) – Cromartie was a highly touted prospect who never quite lived up to the hype and he hit for very little power for a first baseman. Played in Montreal thru 1983 and then headed to Japan where he became a big star for Yomiuri Giants. He’d write a book about his experience in Japan which would inspire the movie “Mr. Baseball.” He returned to the States in 1991 where he played for the Royals as a back up.
2B: Rodney Scott (.224/.307/.293, 9.8 VORP, 13.2 Win Shares) – Scott was all speed and little else. He stole 63 bases and led the N.L. with 13 triples in 1980 which would lead to someone giving him a throw away 10th place MVP vote. For his career he hit just 3 homeruns in 2487 plate appearances, all of them in 1979. Most notable thing about him was in 1982 he walked off the Expos team in protest for them releasing Bill Lee and the Expos were more than accommodating in releasing Scott the next day. He was picked up by the Yankees who would also release later that year and would mark the end of his MLB career.
3B: Larry Parrish (.254/.310/.427, 9.2 VORP, 12.6 Win Shares) – Parrish had come off what appeared to be a breakout year offensively where he hit .307 with 30 homeruns and finished in the Top 5 in the MVP voting but it turned out to be a fluke, although part of his struggles in 1980 were due to a wrist injury. Dealt right before the 1982 season to Texas for Al Oliver. Played almost the rest of his career with the Rangers before being released in his final year of 1988, then picked up by the Red Sox to finish out the season. Had a brief but forgettable run as manager of the Tigers in 1999.
SS: Chris Speier (.265/.351/.330, 15.0 VORP, 12.5 Win Shares) – Speier was in the middle of a decent 19 year career although much of the rest of his career was spent as a back up. Traded to the Cardinals late in the 1984 season he’d then sign with the Cubs for a two year stint. Signed with the Giants from there where he played out the rest of his career, retiring after 1989. His son Justin currently pitches for the Angels.
LF: Ron LeFlore (.257/.337/.363, 17.0 VORP, 18 Win Shares) – LeFlore was a very interesting player because he was an ex-con and was discovered in prison by Billy Martin. After robbing people of their money for several years, LeFlore was robbing bases! Yeah I didn’t put too much thought into that. Stole a career high 97 bases in 1980 and is the only player to ever lead both leagues in steals. He signed as a free agent with the White Sox following the season but struggled there for his final two years in the Majors.
CF: Andre Dawson (.308/.358/.492, 50.9 VORP, 29.1 Win Shares) – This was Dawson’s breakout year at age 25, winning his first Gold Glove and finished 7th in the MVP voting. A free agent after 1986, with his knees already destroyed by the Olympic Stadium turf he signed with the Cubs where he’d win a very dubious MVP award his first year in Chicago. Stayed a fairly productive hitter thru his entire tenure in Chicago but after signing with the Red Sox in 1993 his power disappeared. Spent his final year with the Marlins in 1995. Currently fighting an uphill battle to get into the Hall of Fame and he just barely misses the cut for me.
RF: Ellis Valentine (.315/.367/.524, 23.9 VORP, 15.2 Win Shares) – Valentine was a super talented player but injuries starting this year derailed his career and was limited to just 86 games this year. He was hit in the face by a pitch from Cardinals’ reliever Roy Thomas in a game in late May, suffering a broken cheek bone. He struggled mightily following this season and the Expos traded him during the 1981 season to the Mets for Jeff Reardon which ended being a brilliant trade for Montreal. Played for the Angels in 1983, didn’t play a game in the Majors in 1984, and then played just 11 games with the Rangers in 1985.
Rotation
Steve Rogers (120 ERA+, 50.6 VORP, 19.7 Win Shares) - Steve Rogers was a scrawny fine arts student specializing in industrialization in the 1940's before America entered World War II. He attempted to enlist in the army only to be turned away due to his poor constitution. A U.S. officer offered Rogers an alternative way to serve his country by being a test subject in project, Operation: Rebirth, a top secret defense research project designed to create physically superior soldiers. Rogers accepted and after a rigorous physical and combat training and selection process was selected as the first test subject. He was given injections and oral ingestion of the formula dubbed the "Super Soldier Serum" developed by the scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine. Rogers was then exposed to a controlled burst of "Vita-Rays" that activated and stabilized the chemicals in his system. The process successfully altered his physiology from its frail state to the maximum of human efficiency, including greatly enhanced musculature and reflexes.
After the assassination of Dr. Erskine. Roger was re-imagined as a superhero who served both as a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull. Rogers was given a costume modeled after the American flag, a bulletproof shield, a personal sidearm and the codename Captain America. He was also given a cover identity as a clumsy infantry private at Camp LeHigh in Virginia. Barely out of his teens himself, Rogers made friends with the teenage camp mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. Barnes accidentally learned of Rogers' dual identity and offered to keep the secret if he could become Captain America's sidekick. Rogers agreed, and trained Barnes. Roger met President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presented him with a new shield made from a chance mixture of iron, Vibranium and an unknown catalyst. Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fought the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders, which after the war evolved into the All-Winners Squad.
In the closing days of World War II in 1945, Captain America and Bucky tried to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launched the plane with an armed explosive device on it, with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. They reached the plane just before it took off, but when Bucky tried to defuse the bomb, it exploded in mid-air. The young man was believed killed, and Rogers was hurled into the freezing waters of either the North Atlantic. Neither his body or Bucky's were found, and both were presumed dead.
The Avengers discovered Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, his costume under his soldier's uniform and still carrying his shield. Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945, which melted after the block was thrown back into the ocean by an enraged Sub-Mariner. When Rogers revived, he related his last, failed mission in the closing days of the war. Rogers accepted membership in the Avengers, and although he soon adjusted to modern times well enough to eventually assume leadership of the team, he was plagued by guilt for not being able to prevent Bucky's death. He also undertook missions for the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which was commanded by his old war comrade Nick Fury. Rogers established a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York and has discovered that Bucky had been held in suspended animation throughout the Cold War performing assassinations as the Winter Soldier.
Recent events have been tumultuous for Captain America. As the passage of the the Superhuman Registration Act drew near, Maria Hill (the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.) propositioned Rogers and the Avengers to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in enforcing the act. When he refused, Hill had her trained "Superhuman Response Unit" attack him. During the scuffle Rogers avoided being tranquilized and managed to escape by lodging his shield in an aircraft and forcing the pilot to fly him to safety. Soon after, at the Baxter Building the Watcher told the heroes who had gathered there about the Captain's escape. Captain America soon became the de facto leader of the Secret Avengers, heroes fighting against the registration act, much to the consternation of his erstwhile friend Iron Man. While the two made sporadic attempts to reconcile during the Civil War, the clashes between their respective teams became more and more heated, ultimately leading to a pitched battle in the middle of New York City. At the end of the battle, as Cap was about to deliver a finishing blow to Iron Man, he was tackled by several emergency workers. Realizing the damage the war was doing to the city and its civilian population, Captain America unmasked and surrendered as Steve Rogers.
On his way to an arraignment at the Federal Courthouse in New York City, Captain America was shot in the right shoulder by a sniper's bullet. Several subsequent shots were fired point blank at Rogers by Sharon Carter, brainwashed by Dr. Faustus who was allied with the Red Skull. Sharon, unaware of her actions and concealed by the crowd during the shooting, escorted Rogers to the hospital while the Falcon and the Winter Soldier subdued the sniper, Crossbones (Brock Rumlow). Captain America was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital. Sharon's memory was restored by a keyword spoken by the Red Skull's daughter, Sin (Sinthia Shmidt).
Oh wait...wrong Steve Rogers. This Steve Rogers was the rock of the Expos rotation, playing his entire 13 year career in Montreal. There you go.
Scott Sanderson (115 ERA+, 37.9 VORP, 14.4 Win Shares) – I actually went over Sanderson already in the '89 Cubs entry. He was actually quite the phenom at this point as he was only 23. Traded to the Cubs in a three team, six player deal after the 1983 season.
Bill Gullickson (119 ERA+, 22.9 VORP, 10.1 Win Shares) – Gullickson was the #2 overall pick in 1977 and this was his rookie year at age 21. Had a losing record in 1981 but did pitch very well although it would pretty much be his peak. Very mediocre for the majority of the rest of his career, he was traded after one of his better years in 1985 to the Reds. They traded him to the Yankees in late 1987 and Gullickson then spent the next two years in Japan. Came back to America in 1990 to pitch for the Astros and then signed with the Tigers where he won an offense aided 20 games in 1991. Played the rest of his career there thru 1994. Ironically enough Gullickson and Sanderson are both #1 on each others career similarity scores.
Bill Lee (72 ERA+, -7.6 VORP, 1 Win Share) – Lee, Charlie Lea, and David Palmer shared the 4th spot in the rotation but I went with Lee since he’s the most recognizable name. The Sapceman’s career was obviously winding down at this point as he had a terrible year. Rebounded a bit in limited duty the following year but as before mentioned was released in 1982.
Relief Ace: Woodie Fryman (159 ERA+, 17.5 VORP, 12.7 Win Shares) – We’re still a little bit away from the closer position taking the role we know it as today as Fryman led the Expos with 17 just saves at age 40. He had actually retired midseason three years earlier while with the Reds but changed his mind after the season. Retired after 1983.
Now that the college football season is over I finally had a Saturday morning to sit down and watch Game 6 of the 1975 World Series in one sitting and now eventually will be able to finish off all three World Series box sets. For the remaining games I'll do an entry for Game 6 & 7 of the '79 Series and then an entry for both Game 7's of the '75 & '86 Series.
On a side note while I was doing my post-Christmas shopping with some gift cards I received I found another box set of classic games at Best Buy that was put out by A&E Home Video, who did the World Series sets, but this one was not baseball related. I bought College Football's Greatest Games: University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Collector's Edition. Ya I'm not proud of myself but it was on sale and I haven't seen a set like this before for college football before so I had to pick it up. Not all of the games are true classics as a few are blowouts that were important to Notre Dame but no one else but there a couple of games on the set I think I'll do future write ups for. Anyways moving on to Game 6...
1975 World Series Game 6 - Red Sox 7, Reds 6 12 innings (boxscore and play account)
-This game was delayed three days due to rain which allowed the Red Sox to start Luis Tiant who had been dominate in Games 1 & 4. They flash a graphic at the beginning of the game of Tiant's previous five starts at Fenway: 5-0, 45 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 20 H, 8 BB, 33 SO, 0.20 ERA. Red Sox had to feel confident after Fred Lynn spotted Tiant a 3-0 lead with a homerun in the first.
-The video quality has been spotty for this and the 1979 set but is very good for this game which is no surprise as I'm sure over the years people have made sure to keep the original footage of this game in good condition.
-Red Sox have a couple opportunities to blow this game open with bases loaded in the 3rd inning and 2nd & 3rd with one out in 4th inning but fail to score.
-Tiant shows his first signs of vulnerability in the series in the 5th when he walks light hitting Ed Armbrister, who was pinch hitting for the pitcher, which will help lead to the Reds first runs of the game. In this innings is the famous play when Lynn slams into the wall trying to catch a Ken Griffey flyball and appears to have been seriously hurt but stays in the game. Griffey ended up with a two-run triple.
-The game starts to reach it's classic level in the bottom of the 8th with the Reds up 6-3 and four outs away from the championship, when with two on Bernie Carbo hits his second pinch hit homerun of the series to tie it up off Reds' relief ace Rawly Eastwick.
-Red Sox nearly win it in the 9th as they loaded the bases with no one out but on a shallow flyball to left hit by Lynn, Don Zimmer sends Denny Doyle from 3rd and he is gunned down by George Foster at the plate for the double play.
-Some almost controversy in the top of the 11th as Pete Rose fakes his way into a HBP. Carlton Fisk argues but to no avail and replays show the pitch did not hit Rose. This would be erased when Dwight Evans makes a sensational catch to potentially rob Joe Morgan of a homerun (might have hit the wall if he doesn't get it) and doubles Griffey off of first to end the inning.
-Of course we know what happens in the 12th. It is still bizarre watching games like this and seeing fans among Fisks' teammates as they mob him at homeplate as we were still several years away from when MLB started to crackdown on fans running on to the field.
-This was one quite the hearbreaker for the Reds for blowing the three run lead in the 8th, Evans robbing Morgan in the 11th, and the Fisk walk off this could have been a crippling defeat for a franchise that hadn't won the World Series since 1940 and suffered a tough World Series loss three years earlier against the A's. But as we know it didn't turn out so bad for them.
Oh it's the time of year again where idiots like me waste an entire weekend watching the most boring possible thing to watch in sports, the NFL Draft, but for someone reason we just can't turn away. So in honor of this I'll do what I did last year and take a look back at the 1st Rounds of a few drafts of the past providing zero analysis and bad jokes. Here were the ones I did last year:
1990
1993
1983
1995
This year I picked 1986 to start as the #1 pick didn't even sign and it was quite the draft for my 49ers but they had no 1st round pick so I won't be talking about it.
1. Tampa Bay - Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn
No we are well aware that it is not unheard of for #1 picks to whine their way into the trade like John Elway and Eli Manning but for one to not sign at all? Only the 80's Bucs could have pulled off such a feat. Jackson decided he'd rather play baseball for the Royals, who weren't a joke back then, than for the sorry Bucs. The Raiders would then steal him in the 7th round the following year where he'd play partial seasons for them for four years before suffering a career ending hip injury in the playoffs following the 1990 season.
2. Atlanta - Tony Casillas, DT, Oklahoma
Solid but never a standout player for 12 years, best known for winning two Super Bowls with the Cowboys.
3. Houston - Jim Everett, QB, Purdue
Always seemed like an odd pick as Houston of course already had Warren Moon, Everett never signed and his rights were eventually traded to the Rams. Dubbed the "Quarterback of the 90's", no I'm not making that up, after two very good years in 1988 & 1989 but a complete ass beating at the hands of the 49ers in the '89 NFC Championship Game seemed to shake his confidence and he never lived up the hype.
4. Indianapolis - John Hand, DE, Alabama
Another solid but unspectacular top 5 pick, had 10 sacks in 1989.
5. St. Louis - Anthony Bell, LB, Michigan State
A bad pick by the Cardinals? A shocking development to say the least.
6. New Orleans - Jim Dombrowski, T, Virginia
Primarily a guard in the NFL, started every game for the Saints between 1988 and 1995.
7. Kansas City - Brian Jozwiak, T, West Virginia
Bust, lasted three years and never made a start.
8. San Diego - Leslie O'Neal, DE, Oklahoma State
Would win Defensive Rookie of the Year after registering 12.5 sacks, finished with 132.5 career sacks and was selected to six Pro Bowls.
9. Pittsburgh - John Rienstra, G, Temple
"The Raging Rhino" lasted seven years, almost exclusively as a back up.
10. Philadelphia - Keith Byars, RB, Ohio State
Made a name for himself as superb receiver out of the backfield, eventually moving to tight end later in his career. Finished with 610 career receptions.
11. Cincinnati - Joe Kelly, LB, Washington
Played 11 years but hell if I remember him. I'll just assume announcers always called him "Jim" by accident.
12. Detroit - Chuck Long, QB, Iowa
Lions probably should never take a quarterback in the 1st round ever again. Maybe that's why Millen always takes receivers. 64.5 career passing rating.
13. San Diego - James Fitzpatrick, T, USC
Chargers didn't fair nearly as well with their second pick of the 1st round. Lasted six years, did nothing of note.
14. Minnesota - Gerald Robinson, DE, Auburn
Total non-descript career only playing two years with the Vikings.
15. Seattle - John L. Williams, RB, Florida
I guess this was the year for drafting receiving backs as John L. had 546 career receptions and made two Pro Bowls as a fullback.
16. Buffalo - Ronnie Harmon, RB, Iowa
Holy crap, had to be more receptions by running backs than any other draft. Harmon had 582 career receptions, better known for his days in San Diego.
17. Atlanta - Tim Green, LB, Syracuse
Better known now as an announcer and writing a lot of bad novels.
18. Dallas - Mike Sherrard, WR, UCLA
Suffered a badly broken leg in a scrimmage before the 1987 season, he wouldn't play a down again until 1990 making a comeback as third receiver with the 49ers and Giants.
19. N.Y. Giants - Eric Dorsey, DE, Notre Dame
7 sacks in seven years.
20. Buffalo - Will Wolford, T, Vanderbilt
Very good tackle for the majority of his 13 years, made three Pro Bowls.
21. Cincinnati - Tim McGee, WR, Tennessee
One very good year in 1989, but merely decent the rest.
22. N.Y. Jets - Mike Haight, T, Iowa
Haight wasn't even considered a lock to get drafted at all so this was your typical Jets' 1st round pick. Did last 7 years though.
23. L.A. Rams - Mike Schad, T, Queens University
That's Queens University in Ontario, Canada and was the first Canadian university player to ever be picked in the 1st round and did nothing to make his country proud after that.
24. L.A. Raiders - Bob Buczkowski, DE, Pittsburgh
Who are you to doubt the scouting genius that is Al Davis? Played a total of two games for the Raiders.
25. Tampa Bay - Rod Jones, CB, SMU
Hey at least the Bucs signed him. Did play 11 years, mainly as a back up.
26. New England - Reggie Dupard, RB, SMU
Hey he's a running back from SMU so he must be another Eric Dickerson! Um, not quite. 704 career rushing yards.
27. Chicago - Neal Anderson, RB, Florida
Had the misfortune of having to replace Walter Payton but he did a fairly good job with three straight 1,000 yard years from 1988 to 1990.
Other Players of Note
34. Houston - Ernest Givens, WR, Louisville
43. Cleveland - Webster Slaughter, WR, San Diego State
50. L.A. Rams - Tom Newberry, G, Wisconsin-La Crosse
51. N.Y. Giants - Pepper Johnson, LB, Ohio State
56. San Francisco - Tom Rathman, RB, Nebraska
60. New Orleans - Pat Swilling, LB, Georgia Tech
67. Pittsburgh - Bubby Brister, QB, NE Louisiana
76. San Francisco - John Taylor, WR, Delaware State
78. Cincinnati - David Fulcher, S, Arizona State
84. Green Bay - Tim Harris, DE, Memphis State
96. San Fancisco - Charles Haley, DE, James Madison
101. San Francisco - Steve Wallace, T, Auburn
102. San Francisco - Kevin Fagan, DE, Miami
135. Pittsburgh - Brent Jones, TE, Santa Clara
146. Washington - Mark Rypien, QB, Washington State
162. San Francisco - Don Griffin, CB, Middle Tennessee State
208. Philadelphia - Seth Joyner, LB, UTEP
213. Washington - Kurt Gouveia, LB, BYU
233. Philadelphia - Clyde Simmons, DE, Western Carolina
254. St. Louis - Vai Sikahema, KR, BYU
This is likely going to be my final look at the MVP race since there is now only two and a half weeks left. Last time I nearly bumped Albert Pujols from the top spot for the first time this season in favor of Carlos Beltran but this time around Pujols' has a firm grip back on the #1 spot. Of course in the media it's a two man race that doesn't include Beltran and almost a once man race with Ryan Howard. I mocked Howard last time but he's almost making a believer out of me as he makes a big jump (now finally the Most Valuable Phillie) but in my view he's still far behind Pujols and Beltran. For those who insist that Howard is the MVP ask these three questions:
Is he the best hitter in the league?
Is he the best all around player in the league?
Is he the best player on the best team in the league?
The answer to all three of those questions is no. He's had an amazing year and he might break the "non-steroid" homerun record (which kkk pretty much echoed my thoughts on that bullshit last week) but he's not the MVP.
10. Garrett Atkins, Rockies
.326/.401/.551, 111 RC, .303 EQA, 51.8 VORP, 24 Win Shares
9. Jose Reyes, Mets
.297/.349/.496, 112 RC, .284 EQA, 52.6 VORP, 27 Win Shares
8. Nick Johnson, Nationals
.297/.434/.532, 109 RC, .323 EQA, 53.8 VORP, 27 Win Shares
7. David Wright, Mets
.311/.384/.538, 114 RC, .303 EQA, 49.6 VORP, 30 Win Shares
6. Alfonso Soriano, Nationals
.290/.361/.590, 122 RC, .303 EQA, 54.7 VORP, 31 Win Shares
5. Lance Berkman, Astros
.306/.411/.606, 123 RC, .322 EQA, 57.8 VORP, 30 Win Shares
4. Ryan Howard, Phillies
.316/.413/.682, 118 RC, .332 EQA, 74.1 VORP, 28 Win Shares
3. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
.339/.430/.582, 132 RC, .330 EQA, 74.7 VORP, 33 Win Shares
2. Carlos Beltran, Mets
.283/.388/.617, 119 RC, .318 EQA, 67.3 VORP, 37 Win Shares
1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
.323/.426/.677, 131 RC, .342 EQA, 75.5 VORP, 35 Win Shares
Now the A.L. has been a wide open race all year...until now. It's not over yet but Baseball Jesus has now emerged as the clear choice for A.L. MVP. Travis Hafner already had no chance at the writer award and now he has no chance either now on my ballot due to his season ending broken hand. He's at #2 currently but obviously he'll fall lower than that. Now Johan Santana is starting to enter the MVP dicussion in some circles and I think he's making himself a legit case as well. But I think it's going to be tough for him or teammate Joe Mauer to catch Jeter. As the Red Sox have faded, so has Manny Ramirez. I almost gave him the top spot last time but now he barely stays in the Top 5. Jermaine Dye seems to be Jeter's main competition in the media but I doubt he can win if the White Sox don't make the playoffs.
10. Grady Sizemore, Indians
.293/.377/.535, 112 RC, .309 EQA, 65.5 VORP, 22 Win Shares
9. Justin Morneau, Twins
.324/.379/.583, 110 RC, .313 EQA, 51.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares
8. Jim Thome, White Sox
.291/.414/.604, 111 RC, .329 EQA, 57.5 VORP, 23 Win Shares
7. David Ortiz, Red Sox
.285/.401/.628, 111 RC, .327 EQA, 63.4 VORP, 24 Win Shares
6. Jermaine Dye, White Sox
.322/.388/.637, 110 RC, .325 EQA, 63.5 VORP, 24 Win Shares
5. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
.318/.436/.612, 109 RC, .338 EQA, 60.7 VORP, 26 Win Shares
4. Joe Mauer, Twins
.348/.433/.505, 97 RC, .321 EQA, 61.1 VORP, 28 Win Shares
3. Johan Santana, Twins
166 ERA+, 5.35 K/BB, 0.98 WHIP, 74.8 VORP, 24 Win Shares
2. Travis Hafner, Indians
.308/.439/.659, 124 RC, .353 EQA, 80.0 VORP, 24 Win Shares
1. Derek Jeter, Yankees
.346/.423/.492, 125 RC, .321 EQA, 75.0 VORP, 30 Win Shares
Hey it's the one year anniversary of my blog...um, yay? I've been putting off several ideas such as a list of the Top 100 players of my "baseball lifetime" (1986-present) and also the Top 50 Oakland A's of all-time, shrunk from 100 since realizing that the list would be populated with guys who played two years or less with them. So I figured I'd do my biggest staple of my blog over the past year and that was the Award Redos. I originally was going to do the 1991 A.L. MVP but then rememebered, I already did it. But in that entry after I gave Frank Thomas both the 1991 and 1992 awards I wondered if the Big Hurt should have won four straight MVPs? So now to find out if his first real MVP should have been his 3rd overall.
There was zero controversy for the 1993 A.L. MVP as Thomas won it unanimously. Typically when a player wins an MVP unanimously he probably was at the very least a deserving winner and certainly it was no exception here. Although he didn't lead the league in any major category he was in the Top 10 in Average, Runs, OBP, SLG, Homeruns, RBI, Walks, and Total Bases while helping the White Sox to their first division crown in 10 years. Since there was no real race there was no other players considered serious contenders. The defending champion Blue Jays were loaded with stars with Paul Molitor and John Olerud finished 2nd and 3rd in the voting repsectively while Robert Alomar finished 6th. Homerun champ Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey Jr., who had his first big homerun year with 45, rounded out the Top 5.
Actual Results
1) Frank Thomas 2) Paul Molitor 3) John Olerud 4) Juan Gonzalez 5) Ken Griffey Jr 6) Roberto Alomar 7) Albert Belle 8) Rafael Palmeiro 9) Jack McDowell 10) Carlos Baerga 11) Jimmy Key 12) Joe Carter 13t) Jimmy Key 13t) Jeff Montgomery 15) Kenny Lofton 16t) Chris Hoiles 16t) Tony Phillips 18) Mo Vaughn 19t) Don Mattingly 19t) Cal Ripken 21) Alex Fernandez 22t) Greg Gagne 22t) Duane Ward 24t) Kevin Appier 24t) Cecil Fielder 24t) Randy Johnson
#10
.289/.432/.474, 101 RC, 147 OPS+, .343 EQA, 56.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares
#9
.310/.416/.585, 100 RC, 163 OPS+, .340 EQA, 60.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares
#8
178 ERA+, 2.30 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 82.7 VORP, 27 Win Shares
#7
.332/.402/.509, 131 RC, 142 OPS+, .325 EQA, 69.9 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#6
.326/.408/.492, 118 RC, 140 OPS+, .323 EQA, 75.3 VORP, 30 Win Shares
#5
.295/.371/.554, 123 RC, 150 OPS+, .327 EQA, 59.2 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#4
.310/.368/.632, 120 RC, 169 OPS+, .339 EQA, 67.8 VORP, 31 Win Shares
#3
.309/.408/.617, 146 RC, 172 OPS+, .343 EQA, 86.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares
#2
.317/.426/.607, 144 RC, 177 OPS+, .356 EQA, 79.0 VORP, 32 Win Shares
#1
.363/.473/.599, 156 RC, 185 OPS+, .372 EQA, 92.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares
THAT'S WHAT YOU GET YOUR TRAITOR!!!
Olerud had flirted with .400 for a little while as he was hitting .402 on August 1st but he tailed off after that and with the Blue Jays being loaded he couldn't garner a first place vote. He was better than Thomas across the board and was the easy pick here for me. If he could kept his chase for .400 a little longer he might have given Thomas a run for the MVP but maybe the writers thought he looked too much like a retarded kid running out to the field with his helmet on.
The MLB Draft is this week and for the first time it will be televised which will likely replace the NFL Draft for the boringest sports program ever. At least with the NFL Draft you've seen the top players play because college football is everywhere on Saturday's in the Fall but you are rarely able to catch any college baseball on t.v. outside the College World Series plus on top of that many of the top prospects are drafted out of high school.
I just picked 1987 to do a Draftback since by now most of the players from this draft careers are either done or winding down which just makes me feel so very old. It also has two first ballot Hall of Famers in the 1st Round with the #1 pick overall being one of the most hyped prospects ever and almost immediately living up to that hype.
1. Mariners - Ken Griffey Jr., Outfielder, High School
By far the best #1 pick of the 1980's Griffey would already be a superstar by 1990 and help turn around what was the Clippers of Major League Baseball into a respectable franchise.
2. Pirates - Mark Merchant, Outfielder, High School
On the other side of the coin we get this guy. Ironically enough he ended being traded to the Mariners organization in 1989 but never made it to the Majors and did not reach Triple-A until 1993.
3. Twins - Willie Banks, Pitcher, High School
Walked 107 batters in 125 2/3 innings in low A ball in 1988. Had one solid year in the Majors in '93 (11-12, 4.04 ERA) and that was it. Pitched for seven different teams in nine years in the Majors. Per the Baseball Cube in 2005 he gave up 15 runs in two innings pitched for the independent Newark Bears.
4. Cubs - Mike Harkey, Pitcher, Cal State Fullerton
Harkey had shoulder problems almost immediately but did to put together a very good rookie year in 1990 (12-6, 3.26 ERA) finishing 5th in the N.L. ROY voting. But that was his high point as he could rarely ever stay healthy.
5. White Sox - Jack McDowell, Pitcher, Stanford
Made his MLB debut just three months after being drafted. Very good pitcher for a few years including picking up a Cy Young in 1993 but started to break down by age 30. Probably best known for flipping off the Yankee fans in 1995 after being pulled from a game in his one season in New York.
6. Braves - Derek Lilliquist, Pitcher, Georgia
To no surprise he became expendable in the Braves organization and was traded to San Diego in 1990. Had two very good years as a middle reliever with the Indians in the mid-90's but little success at any other point.
7. Orioles - Chris Myers, Pitcher, High School
I found almost nothing on this guy. As you can imagine he never pitched in the Majors.
8. Dodgers - Dan Opperman, Pitcher, High School
Another guy where it is almost like he never exsisted. He apparently blew out his arm very early into is pro career.
9. Royals - Kevin Appier, Pitcher, High School
Excellent pitcher during his early to mid-20's with the Royals and I think was bit overlooked during his peak. Pitched reguarly into his mid-30's but was not particularly effective after age 29.
10. Padres - Kevin Garner, Pitcher/Outfielder, Texas
All I found out is he became a first baseman and was traded in 1991 with Joey Cora to the White Sox. Never sniffed the Majors.
11. Athletics - Lee Tinsley, Outfielder, High School
Never played for the A's and didn't make is MLB debut until 1993 with Seattle spending the majority of his brief career as a 4th or 5th outfielder.
12. Expos - Delino DeShields, Shortstop/Second Baseman, High School
A speedy, decent hitting, but poor fielding second baseman who spent 13 seasons in the Majors. Probably best remembered though for being the guy the Dodgers traded Pedro Martinez for.
13. Brewers - Bill Spiers, Shortstop, Clemson
13 years in the Majors mainly as a utility infielder.
14. Cardinals - Cris Carpenter, Pitcher, Georgia
No this is not Chris Carpenter. This Cris Carpenter pitched eight years in Majors primarily as a reliever.
15. Orioles - Brad DuVall, Pitcher, Virginia Tech
Chose to return to school the next year but didn't help his stock as he dropped to 23rd overall to St. Louis in the '88 draft and would never reach the Majors.
16. Giants - Mike Remlinger, Pitcher, Dartmouth
Only pitched 123 2/3 innings in the Majors thru 1996 he wouldn't have any real success until age 33 as a middle reliever with the Braves and was able to hang around until last year.
17. Blue Jays - Alex Sanchez, Pitcher, UCLA
Spent 18 days in the Majors in 1989: 11 2/3 IP, 16 H, 13 ER, 14 BB, 4 SO. Ouch.
18. Reds - Jack Armstrong, Pitcher, Oklahoma
Has to be one of the most obscure pitchers ever to start an All-Star Game doing so in 1990 but he'd collapse in the second half that year, would be left out of the Reds postseason rotation and really was never good again.
19. Rangers - Brian Bohanon, Pitcher, High School
Despite 5.19 career ERA still threw over 1000 innings in the Majors which again proves if you have a son who is left handed you better make him learn how to pitch.
20. Tigers - Bill Henderson, Catcher, High School
Another almost non-exsistant player.
21. Tigers - Steve Pegues, Outfielder, High School
Well at least one of the Tigers back-to-back picks made it to the Majors but Pegues didn't do it until 1994 with the Reds and played a total of 100 games in the Majors.
22. Astros - Craig Biggio, Catcher, Seton Hall
Okay he is washed up now and is just barely hanging by a thread to get to 3000 hits but he's had a remarkable career and doesn't need to get 3000 to be a lock for the Hall of Fame.
23. Rangers - Bill Haselman, Catcher, UCLA
Career back up catcher who played 13 years in the Majors.
24. Mets - Chris Donnels, Third Baseman, Loyola Marymount
Non-descript career in the Majors, played four years in Japan from 1996-1999.
25. Angels - John Orton, Catcher, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Damn teams sure were in desperate need of catchers in 1987. In 448 plate apperances in the Majors he hit .200/.265/.274.
26. Red Sox - Reggie Harris, Pitcher, High School
Had a five year gap between apperances in the Majors between 1991 and 1996, only threw 121 career innings.
Other Picks of Note
2nd Round, Blue Jays - Derek Bell
2nd Round, Indians - Albert Belle
2nd Round, Mariners - Dave Burba
2nd Round, Mets - Todd Hundley
2nd Round, Yankees - Pete Schourek
3rd Round, Cardinals - Ray Lankford
3rd Round, Brewers - Jaime Navarro
5th Round, Blue Jays - Mike Timlin
6th Round, Dodgers - Darrin Fletcher
6th Round, Padres - Dave Hollins
7th Round, Twins - Mark Guthrie
7th Round, Pirates - Mickey Morandini
7th Round, Reds - Reggie Sanders
11th Round, Orioles - Mike Mussina (did not sign)
13th Round, Orioles - Steve Finley
13th Round, Braves - Mike Stanton
18th Round, Orioles - David Segui
20th Round, Athletics - Scott Brosius
24th Round, Brewers - Jeromy Burnitz (did not sign)
26th Round, Yankees - Dan Wilson (did not sign)
28th Round, Twins - Bret Boone (did not sign)
30th Round, Astros - Darryl Kile
32nd Round, Rangers - Robb Nen
34th Round, Astros - Scott Erickson (did not sign)
37th Round, Cubs - Jeff Cirillo (did not sign)
45th Round, Blue Jays - Darren Lewis (did not sign)
48th Round, Yankees - Brad Ausmus
58th Round, Royals - Jeff Conine
Dan Plesac, Relief Pitcher
Milwaukee Brewers 1986-1992
Chicago Cubs 1993-1994
Pittsburgh Pirates 1995-1996
Toronto Blue Jays 1997-1999, 2001-2002
Arizona Diamondbacks 1999-2000
Philadelphia Phillies 2002-2003
Awards
None
All-Star Selections: 3 (1987, 1988, 1989)
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
Games: 6th
Saves: 59th
K/9: 10th
K/BB: 61st
Best Performance
April 25, 1990 - Kansas City at Milwaukee
Comes in with the bases loaded, none out in the 8th inning with a 1-0 lead and George Brett coming up. Brett pops out and then Willie Wilson grounds into an inning ending double play. Plesac retires the side in order in the 9th.
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Pitching - 17 (1143) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 8.0 (981) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 54.0 (231) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Mike Jackson, Mike Timlin, Mike Stanton, Willie Hernandez, Dave LaRoche, Darold Knowles, Craig Lefferts, Roger McDowell, Paul Assenmacher, Roberto Hernandez
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1986: 13/6.4
1987: 14/6.2
1988: 10/4.1
1989: 11/5.5
1990: 6/3.1
1991: 4/2.0
1992: 6/2.8
1993: 3/0.8
1994: 2/1.3
1995: 6/3.2
1996: 8/3.2
1997: 5/2.2
1998: 7/2.4
1999: 2/1.2
2000: 4/1.7
2001: 5/3.2
2002: 3/1.7
2003: 4/1.4
Career Win Shares: 113
Career WARP3: 52.5
My Stupid Opinion
Along with Jesse Orosco, I'm pretty sure Plesac is the first pitcher to make the HOF ballot who was primarily a middle reliever. Closers are gaining more acceptance when it comes to HOF voting but just a hunch we are way off from LOOGYs gaining enshrinement. Maybe if they open a middle reliever wing of the HOF Plesac would be worthy of consideration but for the real HOF he's no where close.
For the first time in 35 years the NBA Finals will feature two franchises who have never reached the Finals before. So like I did for the Clippers after their historic playoff series win, here are the Top 10 individual seasons for both franchises according to the basketball version of Win Shares.
I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the best individual season for both franchises are from this past season. The Mavericks list is dominated by one player who may end up holding the 10 best seasons in franchise history by the time he's done and appears on his way to becoming one of the greatest players of all-time.
Dallas Mavericks Top 10 Individual Seasons
1. Dirk Nowitzki, '05-'06, 52 Win Shares
26.6 PTS, 9.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 0.7 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO
2. Dirk Nowitzki, '04-'05, 47 Win Shares
26.1 PTS, 9.7 REB, 3.1 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.5 BLK, 2.3 TO
3. Dirk Nowitzki, '02-'03, 45 Win Shares
25.1 PTS, 9.9 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.4 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO
4. Dirk Nowitzki, '00-'01, 43 Win Shares
21.8 PTS, 9.2 REB, 2.1 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.2 BLK, 1.9 TO
5. Dirk Nowitzki, '01-'02, 42 Win Shares
23.4 PTS, 9.9 REB, 2.4 AST, 1.1 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO
6. Dirk Nowitzki, '03-'04, 33 Win Shares
21.8 PTS, 8.7 REB, 2.7 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.4 BLK, 1.8 TO
7. Steve Nash, '02-'03, 32 Win Shares
17.7 PTS, 2.9 REB, 7.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.1 BLK, 2.3 TO
8. Steve Nash, '01-02, 31 Win Shares
17.9 PTS, 3.1 REB, 7.7 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.0 BLK, 2.8 TO
9. Rolando Blackman, '83-'84, 30 Win Shares
22.4 PTS, 4.6 REB, 3.6 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK, 2.1 TO
10, Derek Harper, '89-'90, 30 Win Shares
18.0 PTS, 3.0 REB, 7.4 AST, 2.3 STL, 0.3 BLK, 2.5 TO
Miami Heat Top 10 Individual Seasons
-Yes Udonis Haslem but no Glen Rice. I've said before I'm not sure how reliable this is.
1. Dwyane Wade, '05-'06, 41 Win Shares
27.2 PTS, 5.7 REB, 6.7 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, 3.6 TO
2. Tim Hardaway, '96-'97, 39 Win Shares
20.3 PTS, 3.4 REB, 8.6 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.1 BLK, 2.8 TO
3. Alonzo Mourning, '99-'00, 38 Win Shares
21.7 PTS, 9.5 REB, 1.6 AST, 0.5 STL, 3.7 BLK, 2.7 TO
4. Tim Hardaway, '97-'98, 33 Win Shares
18.9 PTS, 3.7 REB, 8.3 AST, 1.7 STL, 0.2 BLK, 2.8 TO
5. Anthony Mason, '00-'01, 33 Win Shares
15.9 PTS, 9.5 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.3 BLK, 2.2 TO
6. Shaquille O'Neal, '04-'05, 32 Win Shares
22.9 PTS, 10.4 REB, 2.7 AST, 0.5 STL, 2.3 BLK, 2.8 TO
7. Dwyane Wade, '04-'05, 32 Win Shares
24.1 PTS, 5.2 REB, 6.8 AST, 1.6 STL, 1.1 BLK, 4.2 TO
8. Alonzo Mourning, '96-'97, 27 Win Shares
19.8 PTS, 9.9 REB, 1.6 AST, 0.8 STL, 2.9 BLK, 3.4 TO
9. Udonis Haslem, '04-05, 27 Win Shares
10.9 PTS, 9.1 REB, 1.4 AST, 0.8 STL, 0.5 BLK, 1.4 TO
10. Alonzo Mourning, '95-'96, 26 Win Shares
23.2 PTS, 10.4 REB, 2.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 2.7 BLK, 3.7 TO
Could it finally be, someone who I'd actually vote for on my imaginary ballot?
Rich "Goose" Gossage - Closer
Chicago White Sox 1972-1976
Pittsburgh Pirates 1977
New York Yankees 1978-1983, 1989
San Diego Padres 1984-1987
Chicago Cubs 1988
San Francisco Giants 1989
Texas Rangers 1991
Oakland Athletics 1992-1993
Seattle Mariners 1994
8th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2000: 33.27%
2001: 44.27%
2002: 43.01%
2003: 42.14%
2004: 40.74%
2005: 55.23%
2006: 64.61%
Awards
1978 AL Rolaids Relief Award
All-Star Selections: 9 (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985)
League Leader
1975: Saves
1978: Saves
1980: Saves
Career Ranks
Saves: 17th
Games: 10th
K/9: 40th
ERA+: 55th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 9 (248) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 41 (580) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 19.0 (312) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 126.0 (61) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Rollie Fingers, Hoyt Wilhelm)
Other Similar Pitchers: Lindy McDaniel, Stu Miller, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, Tug McGraw, Sparky Lyle, Roy Face, Mike Marshall
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1972: 3/0.2
1973: 0/-0.5
1974: 4/1.9
1975: 23/10.5
1976: 10/4.7
1977: 26/10.5
1978: 20/7.8
1979: 11/4.0
1980: 18/6.2
1981: 12/5.9
1982: 17/7.4
1983: 16/7.1
1984: 15/5.1
1985: 15/4.4
1986: 5/1.5
1987: 7/3.3
1988: 4/1.3
1989: 5/1.4
1991: 3/1.8
1992: 2/1.1
1993: 3/1.8
1994: 4/2.0
Career Win Shares: 223
Career WARP3: 89.5
Would he get my vote?
...No. Like I said in the Lee Smith entry I just have a hard time viewing someone who spent their career primarily as a reliever as being a true Hall of Famer. I absolutely agree that Gossage is much more deserving of enshrinement than that of Bruce Sutter. What's funny is that if Gossage had retired at 35 like Sutter did he probably would already be in the HOF as his greatness as a closer would have been remembered better by the short attention span of the writers. Gossage retired nine years after his last good season as a closer after bouncing around several teams as a moderately effective, situational reliever and he gets unfairly penalized for it. I will not argue with anyone who says Gossage deserves to get in and I will have no problem if he ever gets in, which I think will happen eventually after the big jump in support he's received the last couple of years. But on my imaginary ballot I just can't put him down.
