(Blogathon ’16) Dan Hirsch: The Most Average Player in Baseball History

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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In the baseball community, we are obsessed with comparing players to league average. The book Baseball Between the Numbers (which is a must-have for any baseball fan), the term “league average” appears 103 times. Wether it’s OPS+, ERA+, FIP-, wRC+ or DRS, we are constantly using it as a comparison. But what exactly is a league average player? Or maybe so we can understand it better, WHO is a league average player?

What I decided to look for was a player who performed closest to league average throughout their entire career. A quick way to do this would be to find which players total career Wins Above Average is closest to zero. This can easily be done using Baseball-Reference’s invaluable play index. I found each player with a career WAA between -0.1 and 0.1 and then sorted by plate appearances.

Rk	Player	PA	WAA	From	To
1	Steve Sax	7632	0.1	1981	1994
2	Eddie Foster	6328	0.1	1910	1923
3	Melky Cabrera	5540	0.1	2005	2015
4	Gus Triandos	4424	0.0	1953	1965
5	Ivey Wingo	4376	0.1	1911	1929

The top spot belongs to Steve Sax. But while Sax’s overall career performance was almost exactly league average, his individual seasons don’t agree. He was a five time All-Star who posted multiple seasons with an OPS+ above 110 and multiple seasons below 75. Similarly, Melky Cabrera (who ranks third on the above list) has had a full-season WAA as low as -1.8 and as high as 3.2, so it’s obvious his performance has fluctuated greatly.

Clearly, this isn’t the best method in determining the most average player in Major League history. Instead of starting at the career level, I began by looking at each player’s individual seasons. The statistic I decided to use I was waaWL%, which can be found on the “Player Value” chart of each player’s Baseball-Reference page. This stat takes a hypothetical team of exactly league average players and estimates what their winning percentage would be if this player joined them. Obviously, a league average team would have a .500 winning percentage. Adding an above average player would increase the winning percentage while a below average player would decrease it.

For every season in a player’s career, I found the absolute value of the difference between their waaWL% and .500. Players closest to league average will have lower values than those who are farthest from league average. (Example: In 2015, Bryce Harper (.553 waaWL%) receives 53 points, since his waaWL% was 53 percentage points away from .500)

Finally, to give each player a career value, I found the average of each of their seasons, weighted by plate appearances.

I set the minimum career plate appearances at 5000, which will only include players with the equivalent of at least ten full seasons. Here are the qualifying players with the lowest career average point totals:

Rk	Player	PA	WAA	Pts	From	To
1	Jose Cruz	5448	1.2	3.8	1997	2008
2	Todd Zeile	8649	-7.7	4.7	1989	2004
3	Dan Driessen	6344	-0.7	4.7	1973	1987
4	Jack Graney	5584	-7.1	4.8	1910	1922
5	David DeJesus	5916	2.7	4.9	2003	2015
6	Ossie Bluege	7453	1.1	5.1	1922	1939
7	Bing Miller	6892	3.2	5.2	1921	1936
8	Joe Randa	6007	0.9	5.4	1995	2006
9	Bucky Harris	5559	-5.2	5.4	1919	1931
10	Steve Brodie	6342	-2.4	5.4	1890	1902
11	Chris Chambliss	8313	-1.5	5.4	1971	1988
12	Lyle Overbay	5802	-2.5	5.5	2001	2014
13	Al Lopez	6607	-5.3	5.5	1928	1947
14	Dick Hoblitzell	5368	1.3	5.5	1908	1918
15	Bruce Bochte	5994	-0.6	5.5	1974	1986

Jose Cruz Jr tops the list by a considerable margin. Over a twelve season career, Cruz had a waaWL% that was fewer than four percentage points away from .500. While his career total Wins Above Average (1.2) wasn’t exactly zero, he averaged just 0.1 WAA per 500 plate appearances. Cruz was also quite average with both the bat and the glove. When breaking it down even further, he averaged 0.08 offensive WAA and -0.15 defensive WAA per 500 PA.

How did the players in the first list fare using individual season waaWL%? Steve Sax’s average season (8.5 pts) was more than twice as far from league average than Jose Cruz Jr, while Melky Cabrera was almost 3x that of Cruz.

Rk	Name	Pts
1	Steve Sax	8.5
2	Eddie Foster	7.2
3	Melky Cabrera	10.9
4	Gus Triandos	7.8
5	Ivey Wingo	6.4

Pitchers
I ran the same process for pitchers, using innings pitched instead of plate appearances for the weighted career average and set the minimum at 200 games started. Here are the results:

Rk	Name	IP	WAA	Pts	From	To
1	Mudcat Grant	2442	-0.2	16.9	1958	1971
2	Harry Gumbert	2157	-0.3	17.3	1935	1950
3	Hooks Dauss	3389	1.0	21.4	1912	1926
4	Mike Flanagan	2770	0.3	21.6	1975	1992
5	Dummy Taylor	1916	0.4	21.7	1900	1908
6	Kirby Higbe	1952	0.6	21.7	1937	1950
7	Neal Heaton	1507	-1.7	22.8	1982	1993
8	Gary Bell	2015	-0.4	23.1	1958	1969
9	Tom Gordon	2108	4.5	24.3	1988	2009
10	Pat Dobson	2120	-0.2	24.6	1967	1977

Pitchers have more of an impact on the outcome of a particular game than an individual position player, leading to a greater variance in their waaWL%. This explains why their point totals are higher than those of the position players. Jim (Mudcat) Grant tops the list for pitchers, while Harry Gumbert is a close second.

So what kind of value does an average player provide over the course of a major league career? Jose Cruz Jr. racked up 19.5 WAR for his career while Mudcat Grant totaled 19.4. In fact, there were five players on the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot with lower career WAR than these two. To get a sense of present day value, Nori Aoki has a total of 0.1 WAA over last three seasons and just signed a contract for $5.5 million. League average has value. If a player like Nor Aoki is injured, their replacement will almost always be of below average ability.

So if you’re baseball obsessed friend asks you what exactly a league average player is, you can point them to Jose Cruz Jr and Mudcat Grant.

Dan Hirsch is the Creator of The Baseball Gauge. Baseball historian and SABR member for 10 years. Web designer for The Seamheads Negro Leagues Database and The Seamheads Ballparks Database.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16!) Diane Firstman: Baseball Crossword Puzzle

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

One of the regular features at “Value Over Replacement Grit” is a baseball-themed crossword puzzle. I’ve created one especially for the blogathon, and hope you enjoy it! The answer key will be put up tomorrow at 9 AM.

Across

1. “Planet of the ___”

5. Literally, “king”

9. Fergie, formally

14. Em, to Dorothy

15. Outfielder Nori ___

16. Ancient assembly area

17. Web gem, often

20. “Dallas” matriarch Miss ___

21. Annul

22. Beaned Astros shortstop Dickie ____

23. LAD/NYM, CHC/STL met in these in 2015 (abbr)

25. “___ Like It Hot”

27. Storyteller

30. Yankee shortstop Gregorius

31. Software program, briefly

34. Fishing, perhaps

35. All excited

37. Walker or Dierker

39. 1906 World Series champions

42. Uni number of Andy Etchebarren

43. “I’m ___ you!”

44. After-bath wear

45. Result of game one of 1907 World Series

46. Cutlass, e.g.

48. Stole 504 bases between 1981-1987

50. Like a stuffed shirt

51. Chad ___, Indians swingman 1994-1998

52. Middle name of Joe Tinker

55. “Mi chiamano Mimi,” e.g.

57. Gregg ___, saved 160 games for Orioles from 1989-1993

61. Weak-hitting reserve middle infielder for Rockies 2005-2009

64. Exquisite curio

65. “Our Time in ___” (10,000 Maniacs album)

66. Won 65 games for Boston Braves 1946-1948

67. Phi ___ Jama, nickname of Houston’s NCAA basketball team in 1983

68. Times or Century

69. Catchers on scorecards

Down

1. After Aardsma and the Aarons in Baseball Encyclopedia

2. Terry ___, lone Astros All-Star in 1978

3. Carbon compound

4. Terry ___, A’s catcher 1986-1996

5. Was idle

6. Falcon-headed Egyptian god

7. Like, with “to”

8. Its said to be 20-20

9. Pitcher’s plate appearance result with runners on, often

10. Banded stone

11. Middle name of Ken Forsch

12. With the bow, in music

13. Jesse ___, former Padre who became A’s starting pitcher in 2015

18. Aaron ___, threw 844 innings and won 69 games 1998-2001

19. Through the uprights

24. Downer

26. ___ Wilcox, Tigers hurler of late ’70s-early ’80s

27. Aspect

28. Kazuhisa ___, won 36 games for Dodgers from 2002-2004

29. Ecru

30. Scott ___, led AL in games pitched (81) in 2007

31. Flaming felony

32. Investigate

33. Eucharist vessels

36. Exclamation uttered in “Peanuts”

38. Trapeze whiz

40. Bit

41. Dane or Garth

47. Hilo feast

49. Long, long time

50. Late Sen. Thurmond

51. Like Cheerios

52. Walk and Moose

53. Middle name of Brandon Phillips

54. Big Indian

56. ___-European

58. Cole ___

59. Assortment

60. Indian breads

62. In the capacity of

63. Tidbit for an aardvark

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Diane Firstman wanted to be the first female general manager in the Majors, but a degree in Athletic Administration and an internship with the Elias Sports Bureau didn’t bear fruit. So, she toils by day as a data analyst for the City of New York, crunching large data sets and using SPSS and Excel. She was the first “fan” to start a blog over at MLB.COM in 2005, and her “Diamonds are for Humor” was voted “Best Comedic Blog” that year. More recently, she contributed quirky stories and analysis to the “Humbug Journal” blog at Baseball Toaster, had an essay included in the “Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories” anthology, and offered game recaps and offbeat statistical analysis at the “Bronx Banter” site. Her “Value Over Replacement Grit” has been going strong since April 2011, and is part of ESPN’s “Sweet Spot” network of baseball blogs. She has also written for ESPN.com and the Village Voice.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Matt Taylor: Adam Jones Is a Difference Maker for Baltimore

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

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I’m pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the Blogathon to raise money for the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. Like most everyone, it seems, I have a close personal connection to cancer. I lost my mom to the disease many years ago. I’ve also worked at the American Cancer Society, which helped me understand how much progress was and is being made in the fight against cancer.

I do my Orioles blogging over at Roar from 34. When I think about charity in relation to the Orioles, Adam Jones comes to mind. Jones received the 2015 Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award back in November. The award, which is part of the Major League Baseball Players Choice Awards, honors Jones’ efforts on the diamond and in the community.

If you’re not an Orioles fan, you might not know about Jones’ charitable work. After receiving the Marvin Miller award he said the following: “I do a lot of stuff in the dark. I’ll do it on my own time and with my own resources and it’s great to have it thrive that way.”

In addition to the Marvin Miller Award, Jones has received the Governor’s Service Award in Maryland, the MLB Players Association’s Brooks Robinson Community Service Award, and has twice been nominated for baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award.

It’s easy, and often wise, to cast a cynical eye toward athletes’ charitable efforts. Jones isn’t one to worry about polishing his image, however. You might guess as much if you’ve ever witnessed his candor on Twitter (he introduced me to the term slapdick) or read some of his locker room quotes. The guy takes big cuts on the field and off of it.

Jones’ charity of choice is Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He benefited from the program while growing up in San Diego and now gives back to clubs there and in Baltimore.

“Giving back to these kids, letting them understand that there are people out there who really care about you in terms of your education and well-being. These have been the kind of places that always have been safe havens for youths,” Jones explained in a 2014 Baltimore Sun story.

Jones combines his love for food and for charity with an annual #StayHungry Purple Tailgate at a Baltimore Ravens game to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Baltimore. In addition to raising money, the event allows fans to interact with Jones in person. The 2015 event featured Biz Markie.

Adam Jones has got what we need in Baltimore to make us proud.

Matt Taylor has been blogging about the Baltimore Orioles at Roar From 34 since 2006. Roar From 34 is the oldest independently operated Orioles blog. The site, which focuses on humor, history, and homerism, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this season. Matt was the first credentialed blogger to work in the press box at Orioles Park at Camden Yards and has participated in the MidAtlantic Sports Network’s (MASN) guest blogger program since its inception in 2011.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Matt Wojciak: 2015 Middle Relief Report

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

There’s no set definition as to what constitutes a “middle reliever”. Many might say it’s a pitcher who comes out of the bullpen but isn’t a setup man or closer – I challenge this notion. I think that “setup” men fall perfectly in the realm of “middle relievers”. They throw in the middle of the game, sandwiched between the starters and the closers. Unfortunately for them, the position is often overlooked or ignored, because they don’t have catchy walkout music or a cool statistic to inflate their value in the public eye (sorry closers, but the save is just as useless as the win). Thankfully, a rise in the number of talented pitchers across the MLB has lead to more pitchers embracing the “middle relief” role and more teams giving those pitchers their fair dues, with guys like Darren O’Day, Ryan Madson, Antonio Bastardo, and Mark Lowe all signing multi-season deals for average annual values over $5 million dollars this offseason. The blog I created when I first started writing was called the “Middle Relief Report”, so I figured for this occasion I’d take some time to highlight the past season’s best middle relievers.

The difficult part for this project was compiling the data for every “middle reliever” of relative significance in 2015. Using Baseball-Reference’s Play Index, I searched for 6th inning splits from every pitcher with five or more innings pitched (in the 6th inning) and fewer than five games started. I repeated this process for the 7th and 8th innings, and I exported each of the resulting tables into Excel, which is when the real fun started. I put all three of the lists into a single workbook, and got to work consolidating the lists of names, the longest of which was up over 250 players. Through a system of cross-checking and inserting rows as I went, I progressively expanded the lists to include every player from every single list on each list (a painstakingly slow process). Eventually, I ended up with an alphabetical (by first name) list of 295 players, from A.J. Ramos all the way down to Zack Godley (neither of whom made this list, sorry Marlins and Diamondbacks fans). Then, it was on to the compiling of the statistics, which included me creating a fourth list, with all the names, and combining the three separate worksheet into one collective 6th-8th inning stat sheet. The tedious work wasn’t done, however, until I had converted all of the innings pitched from the “.1, .2” format into “.33, .66” format so I could re-calculate each pitcher’s overall rate stats. After paring down the list to pitchers with either 25.0 or more total innings (in the 6th-8th window) or 35 or more total appearances (again, from the 6th-8th), I had 156 pitchers left, and I calculated totals and averages for the group based on this “final cut” of pitchers.

I wanted to make the ranking of these guys as objective as possible, so I put together a formula that ranked each pitcher based on the following criteria:

ERA relative to the average of the group
RAA relative to the average of the group
K:BB rate
WHIP
HR allowed
OPS
Innings Pitched

I chose the stats I did based on what I believe are some of the most important parts of relief pitching. Obviously, limiting any runs allowed in these situations are crucial. Strikeouts are highly valuable in these situations, as it limits the opponent’s ability to advance runners even when making outs. Walks and hits are always a negative, but in situations where a pitcher may be inheriting runners, keeping the batters you face off base is even more crucial (with regards to inherited runners, I wanted to factor inherited runners scored percentage into the rating, but the Play Index doesn’t allow that stat to be searched for when looking at splits). Keeping teams off the board with home runs is another large factor. Lastly, I gave some weight to the amount of innings pitched by each player, to give those who were good for more innings a higher ranking. After calculating this “quality rating” for each guy on the list, I had them ranked from highest to lowest. I did not necessarily choose my top 10 as the top ten from this made-up rating, but I did use it as a guideline (for what it’s worth, the lowest guy who made my top-10 was ranked 15th by the quality rating).

Without any further ado, I give you my top 10 “middle relievers” of 2015:

#10 – Hunter Strickland, San Francisco Giants

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 40.1 IP, 1.56 ERA, 42:10 K:BB, 0.818 WHIP, 0.536 OPS, 11.95 Quality Rating

Strickland was lights-out as part of a strong San Francisco bullpen this season, appearing in 55 games overall and pitching to the tune of a 2.45 ERA in 51.1 innings. His best work came in the 7th and 8th innings, where opponents hit .168/.230/.307 against the 6-foot-4, 220 pound right-hander from Georgia. At age 26, Strickland was old for a rookie, but he featured an impressive fastball that averaged nearly 97 MPH out of the bullpen for the Giants this season. Strickland is under team control through 2022, and projects to be a solid contributor in the Giants bullpen for years to come.

#9 – Tony Watson, Pittsburgh Pirates

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 67.1 IP, 2.14 ERA, 55:14 K:BB, 0.980 WHIP, 0.545 OPS, 9.45 Quality Rating

Watson was the definition of an exclusive setup man in 2015, leading the MLB in with 67.1 IP in the 8th inning. In his 5th season of work for the Pirates, Watson posted an ERA below 2.00 for the second season in a row setting up All-Star closer Mark Melancon for a team that won an impressive 98 games. Watson’s fastball rarely tops 90 MPH, but his nasty change-up and ability to locate pitches make him an elite MLB reliever.

#8 – George Kontos, San Francisco Giants

Victor Decolongon/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 55.1 IP, 1.79 ERA, 36:6 K:BB, 0.831 WHIP, 0.540 OPS, 12.22 Quality Rating

The most versatile of the Giants’ bullpen assets, Kontos pitched more than 14.0 innings in each of the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings in 2015, racking up a total ERA of 2.33 in 73.1 innings across 73 games in relief. Similar to Watson, Kontos features a below-average bullpen fastball in terms of velocity, but makes up for the underwhelming heat with a plus secondary pitch (his slider) and excellent command.

#7 – Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants

Dustin Bradford/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 40.0 IP, 1.58 ERA, 51:6 K:BB, 0.825 WHIP, 0.477 OPS, 12.70 Quality Rating

Primarily filling the role of 8th-inning setup man for the Giants in 2015, former closer Romo dazzled hitters en route to a 2.98 overall ERA. Romo’s featured offering is his “no-dot” slider, which not only has nasty movement, but is especially hard for hitters to pick up out of his hand. Romo’s FIP in 2015 was a miniscule 1.91, indicating he actually pitched better than the results indicate. With Romo due for free agency after this season, he looks to put together another impressive campaign setting up closer Santiago Casilla in 2016.

#6 – Tony Sipp, Houston Astros

Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 43.2 IP, 1.44 ERA, 54:10 K:BB, 0.893 WHIP, 0.535 OPS, 13.59 Quality Rating

After flying under the radar in 2014 for another poor Houston Astros team, Sipp finally made a name for himself in 2015, racking up a 1.99 overall ERA in 54.1 innings for the AL Wild Card winners. Sipp posted a K/BB rate over 4.00 for the first time in his 7-year career, earning himself the chance to sign a nice 3-year, $18 million dollar contract with the Astros following season’s end.

#5 – Ken Giles, Philadelphia Phillies

Hunter Martin/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 41.0 IP, 1.32 ERA, 54:17 K:BB, 1.244 WHIP, 0.568 OPS, 13.00 Quality Rating

Before the trade that sent Jonathan Papelbon to the Nationals, 24-year-old Ken Giles worked magic in the 8th inning for the Phillies, en route to a 1.80 season ERA in 70.0 innings flat. Giles, owner of an impressive fastball that sits consistently around 97 MPH and can touch 100 MPH, now boasts a 1.56 career ERA in 115.2 innings across two full seasons. After being traded to Houston in the offseason, Giles looks to move into the closer role for 2016.

#4 – Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 44.2 IP, 1.21 ERA, 46:16 K:BB, 0.873 WHIP, 0.476 OPS, 20.22 Quality Rating

Wade Davis was once again electric out of the bullpen for the 2015 World Series Champs, posting a dominant full-season ERA of 0.94 in his third full season of relief (second with the Royals). Had Davis not been moved to the closer role mid-season with the injury to Greg Holland, I have no doubt he would’ve been #1 or #2 on this list. Davis looks to be the Royals closer through 2016 while Holland rehabs, and it will be interesting to see if he maintains the job once Holland returns.

#3 – Carson Smith, Seattle Mariners

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 37.2 IP, 0.72 ERA, 48:8 K:BB, 0.850 WHIP, 0.491 OPS, 31.75 Quality Rating

Smith was absolutely spectacular in his rookie season, pitching 70.0 innings for the Mariners to the tune of an impressive 11.8 K/9 and 2.31 season ERA. Most of the damage done against Smith came in the 9th inning, when he was briefly put into the closer role after the departure of the incumbent Fernando Rodney. After moving back to the 8th inning, Smith went back to dominating hitters as he was before. After a move to the Red Sox this offseason, Smith will look to continue his success setting up new Boston closer Craig Kimbrel.

#2 – Andrew Chafin, Arizona Diamondbacks

Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 51.0 IP, 1.06 ERA, 37:19 K:BB, 0.824 WHIP, 0.389 OPS, 25.37 Quality Rating

If we’re being honest, I couldn’t have told you what team Andrea Chafin was on before I began research for this piece. Regardless, Chafin fits the term “middle reliever” better than anyone on this list. Appearing in games as early as the second inning and as late as extra innings in 2015, Chafin posted an impressive 2.76 ERA, with his best work coming in innings six through eight. Chafin’s stuff doesn’t call much attention to itself, but his ability to induce ground balls and avoid giving up extra bases is extraordinary – he was the only reliever on this list to post an opponent’s slugging percentage below .200, posting a microscopic .167 mark.

#1 – Dellin Betances, New York Yankees

Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images North America

2015, 6th-8th innings: 64.0 IP, 0.84 ERA, 99:29 K:BB, 1.000 WHIP, 0.490 OPS, 36.19 Quality Rating

The 6-foot-8, 265 pound figure of Yankees hurler Dellin Betances has been looming over hitters from the American League East and beyond for two full seasons now, and the reign of terror doesn’t look to be ending any time soon, either. In his age 27 season, the right-hander from Brooklyn posted a total ERA of 1.50 in 84.0 innings, striking out a dizzying 131 batters, good for a K/9 of 14.04, third in baseball among relievers with 60 innings or more. The two men ahead of Betances in that ranking – Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman – will both be in the same bullpen as Betances in 2016, making what will undoubtedly be the best and most fearsome bullpen trio in baseball.

Honorable Mentions: Matt Albers, Chicago White Sox; Joe Blanton, Kansas City Royals/Pittsburgh Pirates; Addison Reed, Chicago White Sox/New York Mets; Ryan Madson, Kansas City Royals; Jeff Manship, Cleveland Indians; Darren O’Day, Baltimore Orioles

Dishonorable Mention: Justin De Fratus, Philadelphia Phillies

2015, 6th-8th innings: 59.1 IP, 5.92 ERA, 49:22 K:BB, 1.517 WHIP, 0.845 OPS, -9.79 Quality Rating

Mr. De Fratus deserved to be mentioned in this piece simply for his expertise in one area: trickery. Somehow, Justin managed to rack up an ERA of nearly 6.00 in the middle innings for the Phillies in 2015, yet was charismatic enough to convince managers Ryne Sandberg and Pete Mackanin to let him pitch a total of 80.0 – yes, eighty – innings in this past season. There were some pitchers on my final list with slightly worse numbers than De Fratus, but the sheer volume of mediocrity is what made him deserving of making the cut. Here, he is pictured after giving up a screaming (114 MPH) line drive home run to Giancarlo Stanton on April 23.

That’s all folks! The best (and one worst) middle relievers of the 2015 season. With teams seemingly overrun with bullpen talent these days, we’re sure to see even more players break out or have career years in this role in 2016. Hopefully this piece has opened your eyes to the skills of some of these players and you enjoy watching them next year as much as I do.

Statistics compiled using data from Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, and the Baseball-Reference Play Index.

Matt Wojciak is a 20-year old college senior at St. Joseph’s College of Maine in Standish, ME., studying for a degree in accounting. Hailing from Merrimack, NH, he has been a Boston Red Sox fan for as long as he can remember. He began his writing career with the now-hibernating blog Middle Relief Report, and now writes for Baseball Essential on a regular basis. You can follow him on Twitter @mwojciak21 or look for his work at Baseball Essential at @BB_Essential. Thanks for reading!

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) CONTINUUM CLASSIC- The time I wrote an obituary for the 2012 Baltimore Orioles’ playoff hopes. Whoops.

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

This piece from the blog’s archives is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

The Playoff Hopes of the Baltimore Orioles passed away last night at the age of 89 games, dying shortly after a 19-7 trouncing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, who sometimes don’t even seem to score 19 runs during a single month. Although Hopes, who had not been seen this late since 1997, is still technically alive, doctors confirm that the prognosis is extremely grim and that it is only a matter of time before it is overtaken and destroyed by the American League East and the tough competition for the AL Wild Card spots due to a lack of starting pitching.

The Orioles’ Playoff Hopes leaves behind it’s brother, fellow Baltimore native Michael Phelps Olympic Hopes, as well as it’s distant cousin, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Playoff Hopes.

Services are the rest of the season. In lieu of flowers, send quality starting pitchers.

This piece from the blog’s archives has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

(Blogathon 16) Seth Poho: The 2016 Nuclear Plant Team

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

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One of my favorite things to do during the off season is to make up fantasy rosters. I’m not talking about fantasy rosters to win a fantasy league between friends or try to win serious cash on Draft Kings. These fantasy rosters are teams I would love to see face off on a real diamond, my own version of an all-star team.

The idea of a fantasy baseball team, albeit, one that was fantasy even to the execution of it being portrayed, was the squad of ringers from The Simpsons episode, “Homer at the Bat”. Mr. Burns, looking to win a bet against the Shelbyville Nuclear power plant, decides to hire pro ballplayers to beat his rival town’s power source in a softball game.

Mr. Burns, showing how senile or out of touch he was to baseball in 1992, made up a dream team of his own. Quickly, his assistant explains that nearly all the players he had chosen were retired and most were dead. As he further explained, his rightfielder, Jim Creighton, had been dead for nearly 130 years. Creighton was baseball’s first amateur star in the mid-1800’s. He died the days following an injury sustained in a game in October of 1862.

The plant’s team, filled with ringers included Hall of Famers such as Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith and Ken Griffey Jr.. They picked some of the game’s best for that era. If I were to pick a team of ringers for Mr. Burn’s squad now, I’d take the approach of getting guys best suited for that slow pitch title game.

Catcher: Yadier Molina

I’m a sucker for a catcher who controls the game. I’d be remiss if I didn’t have a Molina behind the plate (sorry Bengie). Yadi has an epic record when he’s in the lineup. A tough out for any pitcher, he’ll also help his out pitching staff. Plus, I’d like to see a Simpsonized version of his neck tat.

First Base: Prince Fielder

I know for some reading this, there will be the out cry for Miguel Cabrera or even Albert Pujols. To that I say: C’mon, Prince Fielder is built like that guy who does only one thing in a slow pitch game – hit home runs. Every at bat the outfield plays the warning track and he either hits a bomb or a can of corn fly.

Second Base: Jose Altuve

I want a middle infielder who can essentially do everything. Altuve can make great plays on defense, hit for average, flash some pop and be a menace on the bases, especially score on a ball hit into the gap. Given his small stature, people would not expect great things from him. He’s out to prove his worth. Sure beats Steve Sax.

Third Base: Josh Donaldson

At third base, I want to see a guy who can balance some strong defensive play with his hitting. Josh Donaldson proved his skill this past season. When he’s not making a diving catch or hitting a ball into the next postal code (remember Canada), he’s adding a bit of flair.

Shortstop: Brandon Crawford

Crawford is my gamer. Even though he went to UCLA, he is deserving of the Dirtbag moniker. A solid glove man, which will be key for my defense heavy middle infield, his bat can bring a spark to the top or bottom of the lineup. He’s the guy whose uniform is always dirty after the first inning.

Leftfield: Yoenis Cespedes

When you’re setting an outfield for a softball game, you need lots of range and strong arms. Cespedes brings that and a lot of power in the bat. Plus I want to see him do his underhand flip back to the infield.

Centerfield: Andrew McCutchen

Another guy with great range in the outfield. Cutch is on this squad for not only his balanced ability as a ballplayer but also for his cool style. With the dreads, the jacked up socks and a lovable energy on this team, he’ll be a leader.

Rightfield: Bryce Harper

Another player with insane ability and equally awesome, if not slightly superior baseball sartorial tastes than Cutch, Harper is the bad boy of the team. Full of adrenaline and good looks, he’ll make the opposition’s girlfriends swoon over his look and his swing. He’s the team’s Hansel.

Starting Pitcher: Zack Greinke

If Harper is the team’s Hansel, Greinke is the Zoolander. Paying out in LA for a few seasons, he’s got the teen heartthrob look Dodger (and briefly Angel) fans were day dreaming over. He’ll strike out batters with his epic pitching and his golden locks.

Relief Pitcher: Brad Ziegler, Pat Neshek, Darren O’Day

What better guys to have close out a ballgame, if I need them to, that grabbing a bunch of solid sidearm relief specialists. I’d rather have submariners like Kent Tekulve or Dan Quisenberry but their long past their prime or in Dan’s sense, past on. Two are all stars, one guy had 30 saves for Arizona last year. I like my chances with these guys.

With my squad laid out, they should easily hit a few dozen home runs. If they play by my softball league’s mercy rule, they should have a comfy twenty run lead when the game is called after the fifth inning. Let’s hear Terry Cashman make a tune with this team…
Seth Poho is a play-by-play announcer for RLM Sports covering DIII and Ivy League Athletics. When he’s not announcing he’s an obsessive baseball fan.

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(Blogathon ’16) Mets Daddy: The Highs And Lows of 1986

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

The Highs and Lows of 1986

How you view a particular year or period of time completely depends on your perspective. When you bring up 1986 in the New York Metropolitan area, the first thing that comes to mind is the ’86 Mets. As a diehard Mets fan, 1986 should’ve been the greatest year ever.

I became a Mets fan because my Dad saw to it. He did what all Dad’s do to make our sons love the sports teams we love. Basically, he used everything at his disposal. What gave him the most leverage was my love of strawberry ice cream. He used that information to tell me the Mets had this player named Darryl Strawberry who was going to play for the Mets. When Strawberry first got called up in 1983, he brought me to see him play. I was immediately hooked. Right now, I’m using the same tactics with my son to much success even if I have to find him a new favorite player.

Now, I was young when 1986 happened. When I think back to it, I really have one memory from that entire season:

The reason why I remember that moment was my family was hosting an engagement party for my aunt, who lived with us. Instead of this being the families getting to know each other type of party, it turned into everyone watching Game Six of the World Series. I still remember the way everyone celebrated when that “little roller up the first base line” went through Buckner’s legs. I just remember the sheer joy and elation. That moment as much as anything else may be the reason I’m such a huge Mets fan.

It was a moment I remembered when I was watching the 1999 NLCS with my Dad. We just watched John Olerud hit a game-winning single off the hated John Rocker for what we hoped would be the Mets climb to be the first ever team to to come back from an 0-3 deficit. I thought to take the opportunity to talk to my Dad about that 1986 season. I could’ve said a million different things. I could’ve asked about his memories of the season. I could’ve asked how the Mets coming back from an 0-3 deficit would compare to that Game Six rally. I didn’t. Instead, I said to my Dad, “Watching this just reminds you that 1986 was a great year!”

Without skipping a beat, my Dad replied, “Yeah, except for your grandfather dying.”

I was five at the time. While I only had one memory from the entire 1986 season, I can tell you everything about walking into Nana and Grandpa’s house the day my beloved Grandfather died of throat cancer on a beautiful April day. It was a day in which everyone else was thinking about baseball and a soon to start Mets championship season. It was the beginning of a great year for Mets fans. However, for my family, 1986 was decidedly not a good year. We lost a loved one to cancer.

Now, 30 years later the Mets are primed and ready to win another World Series. Over the course of the 2016 season, there will be deaths to mourn, weddings to celebrate, and births that will forever change our lives for the better.

Throughout all of it, baseball is there. Baseball is there to help us to get through the tough times. It’s there to share with our children when they are born, and they become Mets fans of their own. It’s part of what makes baseball great. It’s always there for you. So yes, 1986 was a terrible year for my family. However, the ’86 Mets were a reminder that even it times of sorrow, there is still room for joy, for celebration.

Lets Go Mets!

Mets Daddy is the father of a now two-year-old. His blog, metsdaddy.com, discusses everything Mets with a special emphasis on raising his son as a Mets fan. He can be found on Twitter @metsdaddy2013.

(Blogathon ’16) Jonathan Weeks: The Greatest Man I Have Known

Posted on January 30, 2016 by danglickman

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

The Greatest Man I Have Known
by Jonathan Weeks

Don Weeks
(Nov. 23, 1938 – Mar. 11, 2015)

When my father was born in 1938, the Yankees were finishing up a run of four consecutive world championships. He vividly remembered the teams of the late-’40s/ early-’50s and would regale me with stories of their on-field adventures. Though I began my formative years as a fan of Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine,” I was officially converted in 1976 when my father took me to Yankee Stadium for the first time. I still remember the smell of hot dogs and beer, the shouts of refreshment vendors hawking their wares and the row of billboards lining the facade in center field (among them ads for Brut cologne and Marlboro cigarettes). Most of all, I remember my father’s passion as he told me about the exceptional men who had worn pinstripes over the years. Though I was only eleven at the time, I left the stadium with a vague notion that the game of baseball is a metaphor for life itself–how some men rise to the occasion while others wilt in the spotlight. Throughout my childhood and into my adult years, my father was one of the heroes. He taught me about courage, perseverance and fair play. He led by example–especially during his twilight months when he endured the unexpected loss of his beloved wife (my Mom) while fighting bravely through chemotherapy and radiation. Even as he lay dying, his body ravaged by an insidious disease known as Merkle Cell Cancer, he had a kind word for everyone who entered the room. When he eventually became incapable of speech, he offered smiles instead.

In honor of this great man, I would like to share the boxscore from the first game we attended together:

For anyone interested, I (Jonathan Weeks) am the author of several baseball books—three nonfiction works and one novel. My latest nonfiction project is being released in the summer of 2016 by Rowman and Littlefield. It’s entitled “Baseball’s Dynasties and the Men Who Built Them”. (The title kind of says it all) You can access my blog at jonathanweeks.blogspot.com.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) First References to Off-The-Field Innovations and Innovators

Posted on January 29, 2016 by danglickman

This post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

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One of the great perks of SABR membership is access online to The Sporting News’ archives. While it now is dedicated to all sports, for a good chunk of it’s earlier history it was almost entirely focused on baseball. This allows us to see how players, ideas, teams and even countries first got the attention of the baseball press. This time, I take a look at off-the-field innovations and innovators:

Bill James

The first appearance of the founding father of Sabermetrics came in advertising, as he hawked his early Baseball Abstract editions with ads like this one that can be found in the May 14, 1977 edition of Sporting News:

However, James’ first appearance in a print story seems to be in this November 10, 1979 snippet about the fall of the ’79 Dodggers and Yankees:

Rotisserie Baseball

The first reference to Rotisserie Baseball comes, as far as I can tell, in a advertisement for it in the Feb. 27, 1983 edition of Sporting News:

The first reference in-story to Rotisserie, as far as I can see, is in a story about Dan Quisenberry from May 19, 1986. He says he knows his poor save stats are letting his roto-owners down:

Note that it’s possible that there were references to “roto” or “fantasy” before this, but I didn’t include them in the search.

Strat-O-Matic

Strat-O-Matic began in 1961 and they put advertising in Sporting News right away, like in this August 23, 1961 ad.

I can’t find the first reference in a story, but it probably happened eventually. Maybe next time…

ESPN

The first reference to ESPN came in a September 22, 1979 column by Dick Young, where he mentioned that Jim Simpson (who passed away recently) was joining the network:

And, finally… Bobbleheads:

The first reference to bobbleheads comes in a profile of Danny Goodman on October 27, 1962. Goodman was one of the first big souvenir salesmen and was based on the west coast:

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At 7 pm: Breaking OOTP

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This post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

(Blogathon ’16!) The Sliding Scale of Fictional Baseball Realism

Posted on January 29, 2016 by danglickman

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Earlier today, in my look at Touch, I mentioned that you can make a 0-10 scale of baseball realism in works of fiction, with zero being baseball-in-name-only and ten being actual footage of a game.

Well, I’m going to expand upon that:

0: Baseball In Name Only

In this category, it’s not really baseball at all. They may call it baseball, but it certainly isn’t the actual sport that we know. The Moe Cronin version of baseball fits here.

1: Utterly Absurd

In this category, while it’s clearly meant to be baseball, the rules of the game and the laws of physics have clearly taken a vacation. Some classic cartoons fall into this category.

2: Very Absurd, but still with some realism

In this category, the work might have cartoonish physics and occurrences, but it still is grounded in reality enough to have the rules of baseball still be mostly the same. In theory, a baseball movie where the rules are not consistent or are wildly different but where everything else is played straight could also qualify here. Classic cartoons that aren’t “utterly absurd” usually fall in this category.

3: Absurd, but mostly consistent

Works in this category are clearly absurd and cartoonish, but are at least consistent: the laws of physics may not be what they are in the real world, but they don’t suddenly change mid-game, nor do the rules suddenly change simply because the story demands it. Most “cartoon” baseball video games, like Backyard Baseball and the Mario Baseball series, fit in this category.

4: Many absurd elements

While clearly meant to be a realistic world that has our baseball’s rules and our laws of physics, the amount of absurd, cartoonish or unrealistic elements in the work make it more strange than realistic. Consider Mr. Go, for example, which has two baseball-playing gorillas, a little girl acting as a first-base coach and a finale that involves the baseball coming undone into a million pieces, which sort of overwhelms what would probably otherwise be a 6 if, say, it only had one gorilla.

5: Equal Mix of Realism and Fantasy

A work that sort of teeters between being realistic and being bizarre. This is more of a transitional spot on the scale, as it’s rare that anything ever stays at 5, inevitably going to 4 or 6 instead.

6: Realistic, but with one or two “big lies”

This is mostly realistic but it has one or two big elements (or the equivalent of one or two big elements made up of lots of smaller elements) that keep it from being something that you can honestly expect to ever happen in the real world. Sidd Finch could fit here, as could most of the movies in which a kid becomes a big league skipper or ballplayer.

7: Realistic, but highly unlikely

There’s nothing in this work that couldn’t happen, but it’s highly unlikely and any real event like this would probably instantly become one of the most notable things in baseball history. You could argue that Major League fits here, sort of.

8: Near total-realism

While some rules might be bent or not enforced on a strict basis, and some things might happen that are unlikely (although not nearly as unlikely as things that fall at seven on the scale), this is pretty realistic. Casey At The Bat, the classic poem, could be considered as this, with only the ability of everybody to seemingly hear everything keeping it from being a nine.

9: Utter realism

The only things that are not realistic in works of this category are omnipresent techniques like camerawork and editing for time, or stylish touches added in to indicate, say, that a player is angry. Bull Durham could, in theory, fit in this category, as could most (but not all) fairly true-to-history biopics and most realistic baseball video games.

10: Actual Baseball Footage used/Documentary

If you are watching an actual baseball game, or watching a documentary that uses baseball footage and does so without changing things for dramatic effect, you are watching a 10.

Feel free to consider where on the sliding scale your favorite piece of baseball fiction would fall!

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6 PM: First References

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The Baseball Continuum

A look at baseball (and other things)

Category Archives: MLB

(Blogathon ’16) Dan Hirsch: The Most Average Player in Baseball History

(Blogathon ’16!) Diane Firstman: Baseball Crossword Puzzle

(Blogathon ’16) Matt Taylor: Adam Jones Is a Difference Maker for Baltimore

(Blogathon ’16) Matt Wojciak: 2015 Middle Relief Report

(Blogathon ’16) CONTINUUM CLASSIC- The time I wrote an obituary for the 2012 Baltimore Orioles’ playoff hopes. Whoops.

(Blogathon 16) Seth Poho: The 2016 Nuclear Plant Team

(Blogathon ’16) Mets Daddy: The Highs And Lows of 1986

(Blogathon ’16) Jonathan Weeks: The Greatest Man I Have Known

(Blogathon ’16) First References to Off-The-Field Innovations and Innovators

(Blogathon ’16!) The Sliding Scale of Fictional Baseball Realism

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