George Brunet: 3,175 Strikeouts in Minors

George Brunet pitched  for 33 years.

George Brunet is of particular interest to me since he played for the Alexandria (Louisiana) Aces of  the Class C Evangeline League in 1954 and I remember seeing him play. He started his professional baseball career in 1953 for the Shelby (NC) Clippers of the Class D Tar Heel League.

Baseball-reference.com tells about the time the Little Rock Travelers didn’t score a run while Brunet was on the mound in 52 1/3 innings:

Brunet was on the other end of the shutouts in 1957. That season, pitching for the Little Rock Travelers of the Southern Association, Brunet’s teammates failed to score in a 52 1/3 inning stretch in which he pitched. From June 21st (when Brunet improved to 10-3) till August 3rd, Little Rock never scored with Brunet as their pitcher. He lost 8 straight in that stretch and at 14-15 finished one loss shy of the league lead. He did top the circuit with 235 strikeouts.

Brunet played for 27 professional baseball teams not counting the Mexican League teams he played for which I couldn’t read at the Salon de la Fama page which lists Brunet as a Mexican Hall of Famer.

He pitched his first minor league game at the age of 17 in 1953 and ended his career in 1985 at the age of 50. He went on to pitch for 27 teams in professional baseball.

Brunet made his major league debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1956 and would pitch his last game in 1971 for the St. Louis Cardinals. He pitched for nine major league teams in 15 seasons.

After leaving the majors Brunet pitched fourteen more seasons in the minor leagues with most of those seasons being in the Mexican League. He posted 3,175 minor league strikeouts to go with his 921 major league strikeouts for a total of 4,096 strikeouts in professional baseball.

He pitched for 33 years in professional baseball and seldom had arm problems.

Brunet was a participant in one of the wildest innings in major league history on April 22, 1959 when the Chicago White Sox scored 11 runs in the third inning:

White Sox Score 11 Runs
On Only One Hit in 1959

Apr 22, 1959 – The White Sox‚ down 6-1 after two innings‚ storm back and score 11 runs in the 7th inning on one hit; there are 3 errors‚ a near-record 10 walks‚ a HBP‚ stolen base‚ and single in the frame. Kansas City Athletics relief P George Brunet gives up 5 bases-loaded walks and a bases-loaded HBP‚ as the White Sox garner just one hit‚ by John Callison. Jim Landis makes 2 outs‚ both grounders to the pitcher‚ in the strange inning. Nellie Fox drives in two runs in the inning‚ both times by walking. Fox does collect 4 hits in the game‚ while Aparicio has a 3-run homer. There are 3 other bases-loaded walks as Kansas City loses‚ 20-6.

Note :TheWhite Sox erased a 5 run deficicit as they scored 19 unanswered runs.

This game had to be the lowlight of Brunet’s career. How many pitchers today would be allowed to give up five bases loaded walks and a bases load HBP before being removed from the game? He pitched an amazing 26 more seasons after this game.

Brunet may not have had a great major league record with a 69-93 record during his 15 seasons in the majors but may have been one of the best minor league pitchers ever when his Mexican League performances are included.

He was 112-115 in the American minor leagues but must have had a sensational career in the Mexican League to be voted into their Hall of Fame.

Brunet died in 1991 at the age of 56 in Mexico.

He may not have been the best pitcher during his career but was one of the most colorful characters to play the game and is still has the minor league record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a career with 3,175.

 

Jim Bouton: Dealing For Dollars With Yankees

Jim Bouton dealt for dollars with Yankees.

I am currently reading Ball Four  written by Jim Bouton and it is amazing how difficult it was for him to get the Yankees to pay him a decent salary.

The major league minimum salary in 1962 was $7,000 and today it is $400,000. Bouton signed his $7,000 contract in 1962 but he received an additional $10,000 World Series share so he actually made $3,000 more from his World Series share than he earned during the season.

 

 

The Yankees offered him a $2,000 raise for the 1963 season and he turned down the offer and asked for $12,000 instead of the $9,000 they were offering. Bouton and the Yankees finally settled on $10,500 after Bouton threatened to go home.

 

Bouton Posted 21-7 Record in 1963

Then Bouton had a 21-7 season and a 2.53 ERA  in 1963 and figured he would be offered a hefty raise for the 1964 season. Bouton decided to ask for $25,000 but the Yankees only offered him $15,500. He became a holdout when he didn’t get a better offer but was threatened by general manager Ralph Houk with a $100  a day reduction from the offer by the Yankees if he didn’t sign.

Bouton won 18 games and two in the World Series in 1964 and the Yankees offered him $25,600 for the 1965 season but Bouton held out till he received the $30,000 he had requested.

 

4-15 Record in 1965

However he lost all leverage when he posted a 4-15 record in 1965 and would have a 9-24 record over his last four years with the Yankees.

He won 46 of his 62 major league wins in his first three seasons. He won the other 16 games over seven major league seasons.

Bouton had to fight for every dollar while players today have losing records and still earn (and am using the word earn in the loosest sense) millions and here are some examples from the 2009 season:

Overpaid Pitchers in 2009

Jason Schmidt – 2-2, 5.60………..$15.2 million

Oliver Perez – 3-4, 6.82…………….$12 million

Jeff Suppan – 7-12, 5.29……………$12.7 million

Aaron Harang – 6-14, 4.21………..$14 million

Gil Meche – 6-10, 5.09……………..$11.4 million

Jose Contreras – 6-13, 4.92………$10 million

Chien-Ming Wang – 1-6, 9.64…..$9.8 million

 The seven pitchers combined to win 31 games which cost their teams $85.1 million for $2.7 million per win.

  

 

Rangers May Have Won With Healthy Hamilton

Josh Hamilton drove in 76 fewer runs in 2009.

The Texas Rangers finished ten games behind the California Angels in the AL West in 2009. If Josh Hamilton had been healthy all season the Rangers may have won the division but with him missing 73 games they just didn’t have the firepower to take the division.

 

Took 14 More At Bats Per Homer in 2009

Hamilton hit 32 homers and drove in 130 runs in 2008 but hit only 10 homers and drove in 54 last season. He hit a home run every 19 at bats in 2008 but hit one every 33 at bats in 2009.

 

Rangers Pitching Better Than Batting

Last season the Rangers were seventh in the AL in ERA with a 4.38 mark and opponents hit for the fourth lowest batting average against the Rangers with a .260 batting average. Only the Mariners, Yankees and Rays held opponents to a lower batting average.

 

Seventh in Runs Scored

The Rangers were second behind the Yankees in homers with 224 to the 244 of the Yankees. Yet they were seventh in runs scored with 784 runs compared to the 915 by the Yankees who led the AL in runs scored.

Their .260 batting average was only better than the Royals at .259 and the White Sox and Mariners who hit .258. Their .320 on base percentage was better than only the Royals at .318 and the Mariners at .314.

The Rangers have in the past been more of a hitting team than a pitching team but turned the tables this year with the pitchers having better stats than the hitters.

 

Hamilton Had 76 Fewer RBI’s in 2009

A lot of that can be attributed to Hamilton batting only 336 times after batting 624 times in 2008. The 22 fewer homers and 76 fewer RBI’s by Hamilton in 2009 were a huge factor in the Rangers not being able to make a bid to win the AL West. It didn’t help the Rangers that Andruw Jones slumped badly in the second half of the season and hit very few homers in the last half of the season.

Hamilton’s percentage numbers dropped off last year with his batting average dropping 36 points, his on base percentage dropping 56 points and his slugging percentage falling by 104 points and his OPS dropping by 159 points.

 

Will be 29 in May

His chance of ever entering the Baseball Hall of Fame are extremely slim with him having his 29th birthday next May and only having three major league seasons.

The Rangers are hoping last season was not an indication that Hamilton is becoming injury prone because they need a healthy Hamilton if they expect to contend for the AL West title in 2009.

 

Hamilton, Volquez Battled Injuries in 2009

Hamilton and Edinson Volquez had great seasons in 2008 after being traded for each other in December of 2007 but both players missed a lot of time due to injuries in 2009 with Volquez falling from 17-6 record for Reds in 2008 but only had a 4-2 record in 2009 while starting only nine games.

It will be interesting to see if both players can rebound in 2010 and post numbers closer to what they posted during the 2008 season.

Volquez earned only $440,000 in 2009 which is only about $40,000 more than the major league minimum while Hamilton earned $555,000 in 2010.

Pujols Wins Third NL MVP

Note…There won’t be a post the next two days for Thanksgiving holiday and lack of baseball news and should be posting again on Saturday.

Albert Pujols wins third NL MVP award.

Albert Pujols captured all 32 first place votes as he won his third NL MVP award in five years. Pujols and Barry Bonds have won seven of the last nine NL MVP awards with two Phillies Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins taking the other two awards.

Jeff Kent won the 2000 NL MVP award which gives the Giants five MVP’s, the Cardinals three MVP’s and the Phillies two MVP’s since 1999 with none of the other thirteen NL teams having a player to win during that span.

Pujols is the only Cardinal to win a NL MVP award since 1985 when Willie McGee was the winner.

It was surprising that Pujols won so handily despite much lower power numbers in the second half. He hit 32 homers and drove in 87 runs in the first half but hit only 15 homers and drove in 48 runs during the second half. He slugged .723 in the first half and .582 in the second half.

Prince Fielder finished one homer behind Pujols with six more RBI’s while Ryan Howard hit two less homers and drove in 141 runs like Fielder. I can understand why Pujols won but can’t understand why he won by such a large margin.

Pujols didn’t lead all four offensive percentage statistics like Joe Mauer did in the AL but led in three of the four categories. He was third in batting average behind Hanley Ramirez at .342 and Pablo Sandoval at .330 with his average of .327.

He led in on base percentage by a large margin with a .443 OBP while Todd Helton was next at .416 among players with at least 500 at bats. His slugging average of .658 led the NL with Fielder second at .602. Pujols also led the NL in OPS with a 1.101 mark to the second place percentage of Fielder at 1.014.

Pujols finished the 2009 season at the age of 29 with 366 homers and 1112 RBI’s. His lifetime offensive percentage numbers are .334 batting average which is 24th best alltime, .4271 lifetime OBP which is barely behind Todd Helton with a .4273 and Pujols is tenth best alltime among players who started their career after 1999.

His .628 slugging percentage is fourth alltime with only Babe Ruth at .689, Ted Williams at .633 and Lou Gehrig at .632 ahead of him. He is fourth alltime in on base plus slugging with a 1.054 OPS. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig are also the only players ahead of him in this category.

At the age of 29 Baseball-reference.com compares his stats with four Hallof Famers…Hank Greenberg, Johnny Mize, Ralph Kiner and Chuck Klein. He has hit more homers already than  Greenberg, Klein and Mize and needs four to pass Kiner.

Pujols needs 34 homers in 2010 to reach 400 homers. Very few if any players have had 400 homers at the age of 30.

The Cardinals need to start freeing up money for Pujols when he becomes a free agent in 2012. He has earned $74 million during his career after earning $200,000 in 2001 and will earn $16 million in 2010 and 2011 seasons. Cot’s Baseball Contracts gives the details of his present contract:

Albert Pujols 1b
7 years/$100M (2004-10), plus 2011 club option

• 7 years/$100M (2004-10), plus 2011 club option
  • signed extension with St. Louis 2/19/04 (avoided arbitration, $10.5M-$7M)
  • 04:$7M, 05:$11M, 06:$14M, 07:$15M, 08:$16M, 09:$16M, 10:$16M, 11:$16M club option ($5M buyout)
  • if option is not exercised, $4M of $5M buyout is deferred without interest
  • complete no-trade clause for 2004-2006, with a limited no-trade clause for 2007 through end of deal
  • $12M ($3M/year, 2007-10) deferred without interest, to be paid in 10 installments of $1.2M from 2020 to 2029, reducing present-day value at signing to $90,276,957
  • award bonuses: $50,000 each for Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All Star ($25,000 AS selection); $0.1M for LCS MVP; $0.15M for WS MVP; $0.2M for MVP ($0.1M for 2nd in vote, $50,000 for 3rd)
  • perks: right to purchase 4 season tickets and luxury box at stadium each year
  • Pujols to make 4 trips to Dominican Republic as club representative

 

 

Joe Mauer: Runaway AL MVP Winner

Joe Mauer won the AL MVP capturing 27 of 28 first place votes.

Joe Mauer won the 2009 AL MVP Award by winning a commanding 27 first place points and a total of 387 points. He was the second Minnesota Twin to win the award in four years with Justin Morneau winning the award in 2006.

Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Miguel Cabrera were next but Kendry Morales was a surprising fifth place with 170 points.

Mauer hit an amazing .365 topping Ichiro Suzuki who posted a .352 average to capture the AL batting championship. He didn’t play his first game of the season until May 1 and missed 24 games and still hit 28 home runs and drove in 96 runs while hitting safely 191 times during the 2009 season.

With 844 hits at the age of 26 he is on a pace to have 3000 hits before he retires which would make him the only catcher to retire with 3000 hits. Carlton Fisk with 2356 hits is currently the career leader in hits for a player that played primarily as a catcher.

Mauer also led in the other percentage stats in 2009 leading in on base percentage with a .444 mark. His .587 slugging percentage topped second place Morales who slugged .569. His OPS of 1.031 gave him a commanding lead over second place Kevin Youkilis who posted an OPS of .961.

If Mauer can stay healthy which could be a concern for a tall catcher considering his back problem last season prevented him from having a 200 hit season he could go down in history as the best offensive catcher in baseball history.

 He might not have the home run totals of some of the great catchers of the past because he is just now starting to hit with power. He had only 29 homers in the three seasons before the 2009 season but hit 28 homers last season while missing a month of the season.

 

Hot Stove News

Omar Vizquel is officially a Chicago White Sox player after agreeing on a $.1.375 million contract for the 2009 season. Vizquel may be old at 42 but he is still solid defensively….In other White Sox news Bobby Jenks and White Sox general manager Kenny Williams continue to trade barbs about the conditioning or lack of condition of Jenks. This latest verbal battle may seal the fate of Jenks and he may be dealt before the offseason is over.

There are news reports saying that Joe Torre was rooting for the Yankees to win the 2009 World Series. This is no surprise since Torre has never played or managed for the Phillies. He may not have left the Yankees on the best of terms but it seems to be a no-brainer that he would root for the Yankees. I don’t even know why this was even worth mentioning by the media.

The Brewers have re-signed Chris Capuano. He pitched only nine innings in minors last season after having Tommy John surgery in 2008. He posted his career best record of 18-12 in 2005 but was 16-24 over the 2006 and 2007 seasons and hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007.

Randy Johnson is reportedly debating whether to return for the 2010 season. In my book he has nothing to prove and will be 47 by the end of the 2010 season and is almost certain to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. If he does return for the 2010 season it would make his fourth different decade in the major leagues.

 

 

 

Harold Baines: Hall of Fame Worthy?

 

Harold Baines on Baseball Hall of Fame ballot next month.

Harold Baines missed by only 134 hits of reaching 3000 hits. The only players with more hits than Baines that are not in the Hall of Fame are Craig Biggio, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds and Pete Rose.

Baseball-reference.com lists his .289 lifetime batting average as 389th in history. He is 54th in home runs with 384. He is 29th in runs batted in with 1628.  Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa are the only retired players not in the Hall of Fame with more runs batted in than Baines.

Lack of Speed, Low OBP

A major minus for Baines is his lack of speed with 34 stolen bases in 22 seasons and was also caught stealing 34 times. Another stat that will hurt him is his .356 on base percentage which is 520th alltime on the list.

He hit very well in the postseason with a .324 average in 102 postseason at bats with five homers and 16 RBI’s. He is not known for his fielding either. One co-worker at the newspaper had driven to Illinois to see the White Sox and he said Baines was a butcher in the outfield.

Two Innings on Defense in Last Nine Seasons

From 1993 to 2001 he spent a total of two innings in the field after becoming a DH so that tells me he was not too good of a fielder.

He led the AL in slugging in 1984 with a .541 percentage. The only time he finished first was when he was oldest player in the AL in 2001.

Stats Compare With Four Hall of Famers

Baseball-reference.com compares his stats with four Hall of Famers, Tony Perez, Al Kaline, Billy Williams and Jim Rice.

Personally I would vote for Baines if I had voting privileges mainly because of his hits, home runs and runs batted in but I can see why a voter that focused on him being a two tool player would not vote for him.

I think Baines is one of the good people in baseball but as much as I would like to see him voted into the Hall of Fame I will be surprised if he gets more than the 5.9 percent of votes he received last year.

 

 

 

Baseball in Wartime

Ted Williams was one of many major league baseball players that served their country during World War II and the Korean War.

When I think of baseball players who served their country during World War II and the Korean War the first player I think of is Ted Williams.

He missed the entire 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons during World War II. 1942 was his last season before becoming a soldier and he hit 36 homers and drove in 137 runs.

When he returned for the 1946 season he hit 38 homers and drove in 123 runs. It is safe to say that he would have hit at least 100 homers and driven in 375 more runs if he had played those three seasons.

He never missed a full season after World War II ended and even though he served in Korea  he didn’t miss an entire season during that conflict but only played a total of 43 games in 1952 and 1953.

Two Major Leaguers Died in World War II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elmer Gedeon was one of two major league baseball players killed in World War II when his plane was hit by German anti-aircraft fire in 1944.

Elmer Gedeon: Gedeon was the son of former major leaguer Joe Gedeon who played in seven major league seasons making his major league debut in 1913.

Elmer only had 17 major league plate appearances in 1939 with the Washington Senators.

Gedeon was on his 13th bombing mission when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over France and lost his life when his plane was hit and the cockpit filled with flame on April 20, 1944. He had celebrated his birthday only five days before dying.

Harry O'Neill played in one major league game but never batted for the Philadelphia Phillies and lost his life on Iwo Jima when killed in action in 1945.

Harry O’Neill: O’Neill only played the Philadelphia Phillies in one game in 1939 but was a wartime hero who died in action during the fighting on Iwo Jima in 1945.

Robert Neighbors played in seven major league games for the St. Louis Browns and was the only major leaguer killed during the Korean War when his plane was shot down in 1945 and his body and those of his crew were never recovered after the war.

One Major Leaguer Died In Korean War

Robert Neighbors: Neighbors only made 11 plate appearances in seven games for the St.Louis Browns in 1939.

He died at the age of 34 during the Korean War when the plane he was piloting was hit and he and his crew never returned and were listed as missing in action and their bodies were never recovered after the war.

All Three Are Heroes Today

Elmer Gedeon, Harry O’Neill and Robert Neighbors saw very little major league action but they were heroes during the wars they fought in and are still heroes today for paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

126 minor leaguers were killed during World War II which seems like a huge number compared to the two major leaguers killed but there were hundreds of minor league teams at the time and thousands and thousands of players explaining the huge discrepancy since there were only 16 major league teams at the time with a total of 400 players.

We salute all of these players who served their country. Their statistics may have suffered for those those who were fortunate enough to return to the baseball diamond but their service to their country will always be appreciated by fans like me who realize the security of our country is more important than baseball will ever be.

Thanks to the administrators of the Baseball In Wartime who are honoring those baseball players who laid down their bats and gloves to serve their country.

The site has an article and photos of players who participated in the Battle of the Bulge including Warren Spahn, Ralph Houk and Hoyt Wilhelm.

http://www.baseballinwartime.com/index.htm

Not Your Everyday Stats

 

Omar Vizquel is in talks with the White Sox to become a backup infielder for the 2010 White Sox after making no errors in 2009 and 2010 season would make his fourth different decade in majors.

 

 

Now that the 2009 major league baseball season has ended this is a good time to look at the stats you don’t normally see posted.

These stats can be found at this address for those that want to see these and other obscure stats for themselves:

http://nationalpost.stats.com/mlb/index.asp

Batting

Times On Base

AL – Derek Jeter……289

NL – Albert Pujols…310

Caught Stealing

AL – Chone Figgins…17

NL – Nyjer Morgan….17

Hit By Pitch

AL – Kelly Shoppach….18 (even more amazing is that he played in only 89 games)

NL – Chase Utley….24

At Bats Per Home Run

AL – Carlos Pena……12.1

NL – Albert Pujols….12.1

Picked Off Base

AL – Justin Upton………..5

NL – Emilio Bonifacio….3

Percentage Of Missed Swings

AL – Dustin Pedroia…..7.4 (81/1099)

NL – Luis Castillo………7.0 (55/785)

Batting Average on 0-2 Count

AL – Marco Scutaro…. .364 (Only 7 AL batters hit higher than .275 with an 0-2 count)

NL – Miguel Tejada….. .354 (Only 3 other NL batters hit over .300 with an 0-2 count)

Multi-Hit Games

AL – Ichiro Suzuki….73

NL – Ryan Braun…….64

Pitching

Lowest Batting Average Allowed

AL – Felix Hernandez….. .227

NL – Clayton Kershaw…. .200

Pickoff Throws

AL – Andy Pettitte….177

NL – Josh Johnson…213

Blown Saves

AL – Mark Lowe……10

NL – Brad Lidge…….11

Run Support Per 9 Innings

AL – Joe Saunders….. 6.82

NL – Braden Looper…7.17 (Explains his 14-7 record with a 5.22 ERA and why the Brewers declined his $6.5 million option for 2010)

Omar Vizquel May Sign

With White Sox Soon

Omar Vizquel may be playing for the White Sox in 2010 if terms can be worked out for a contract.

With Vizquel becoming 43 next April it will be going against the White Sox plans to be younger and faster in 2010. However when you look at his fielding numbers they show that he did not make an error in 2009 in 207 chances so can improve the infield defense.

He played second base in 16 games in 2009 after having only played second base in one game in 1991. He played third base in 20 games in 2009 which were his first games at  third base in his 21 year career.

Vizquel improved all four of his offensive percentage numbers over the 2008 season. He will be a solid defensive replacement for the infielders if they need a day off or enter games in the late innings as a defensive replacement.

He needs 296 hits to reach 3000 hits but it is unlikely he will ever reach that plateau since he only had 47 hits last season.

One thing to watch will be how many times he strikes out after striking out twice as much as he walked for the first time in his career in 2009.

Vizquel struck out 29 times in 300 plate appearances in 2008 but struck out 27 times in 195 plate appearances in 2009.

He made his major league debut with the Seattle Mariners in 1989 so if he plays in the 2010 season he will have played in the majors for four different decades. Not many major leaguers have accomplished that feat.

Still he has played in the presidential terms of only four presidents with George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the oval office during his playing career.

One thing for certain is that the White Sox won’t have two No.13’s on the team since manager Ozzie Guillen already has that number and coincidentally Guillen and Vizquel wear that number in honor of Dave Concepcion who was the star shortstop for the Reds in the days of the Great Red Machine.

Lincecum Repeats As Cy Young Winner

Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive NL Cy Young Award on Thursday narrowly outdistancing Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive NL Cy Young Award yesterday winning in a close battle with Chris Carpenter with 94 points and Adam Wainwright with 90 points.

Lincecum garnered 100 points to take the top prize for pitchers. Lincecum won despite recording only 15 wins while Carpenter won 17 and Wainwright won 19.

Led NL in Strikeouts With 261

Being a strikeout pitcher worked in Lincecum’s favor as he whiffed 261 batters  to lead the NL while Wainwright struck out 212 and Carpenter was way down the list with 144.

Carpenter led Lincecum in ERA with a 2.24 mark with Lincecum second with 2.48 and Wainwright was fourth with a 2.63 ERA.

Bullpen Blew Wainwright’s Chance For 20 Wins

Wainwright was coasting along with a 6-0 lead after five innings over the Brewers in his last start of the season. He gave up a run in the sixth and  two runs in the seventh before leaving the game but the Cardinals bullpen imploded and allowed nine runs to score ruining any chance Wainwright had of winning 20 games as the Brewers won the game 12-6.

The failure to win that game may have cost Wainwright the Cy Young Award which would have given him five more wins than Lincecum. Without the 20th win Wainwright was just another pitcher who failed to win 20 games.

Lincecum finished second behind Rich Harden in K’s/9 innings with Harden posting 10.91 K’s per 9 innings while Lincecum struck out 10.42 batters per 9 innings.

Carpenter 2nd  in WHIP With 1.01 Mark

Carpenter was second in WHIP with 1.01 mark with Dan Haren leading the NL with a 1.00 WHIP. Lincecum was fourth with a 1.05 mark behind third place Javier Vazquez who registered a 1.03 WHIP in 2009. Wainwright posted a 1.21 WHIP for 10th best in the NL.

Lincecum was 10-2 before the All-Star break but was 5-5 after the break. Opponents hit .150 against him after a 3-0 count showing his ability to battle back and he didn’t allow a run to score in six bases loaded situations.

Lincecum Eligible For Arbitration

Thirteen Giants earned more money than Lincecum in 2009 with his $650,000 salary but with arbitration looming this offseason he should be cashing in his chips after back to back Cy Young awards.

Meanwhile Barry Zito was paid $18.5 million in 2009 for a 10-13 record with a 4.03 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He has posted a 31-43 record in his three seasons with the Giants while taking home $33 million.

In those same three seasons Lincecum has posted a 40-17 record while earning $650,000 in 2009, $405,000 in 2008 and since there is no figure listed for his 2007 earnings it must be assumed that he made the $400,000 minimum at the most and probably less in 2007 since he made only 24 starts.

Lincecum won’t be 26 till next June and is line for 150 wins by the age of 30 barring any longterm injuries.

Less Emphasis On Wins

In Hall of Fame Voting

Maybe Hall of Fame voters will place less emphasis on wins like the AL and NL Cy Young voters have and finally admit Bert Blyleven into the Baseball Hall of Fame in January.

Blyleven is 13 wins short of 300 wins but is fifth in strikeouts with 3,701 and is eighth in shutouts with 60 which is one behind Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver and three behind Warren Spahn.

Halladay To Yankees?

 

Bud Selig is now thinking of shortening the postseason after it took the Yankees 31 days to play 15 games because of so many offdays.

 

 

The Yankees have talked to the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay. If they do wind up signing Halladay during the offseason they will have the most solid starting pitching staff in the majors.

How is this for a starting pitching staff?

C.C. Sabathia

Roy Halladay

A.J. Burnett

Andy Pettitte

Joba Chamberlain

The money would be no problem for the Yankees since they could adjust their payroll like they did last offseason to free up the money to sign Halladay if he is acquired by the Yankees in a trade.

If they have to release Andy Pettitte to free up part of that money they will be getting one starter while letting one of their most dependable starters walk.

Pettitte may be a excellent starting pitcher but he is not in the class of Halladay.

Halladay was 17-10 with a 2.79 ERA while Pettitte was 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA. Halladay pitched nine complete games and four shutouts while Pettite didn’t pitch a complete game or a shutout.

There is no doubt who had better command in 2009 with Pettitte issuing the 14th most walks in the majors with 76 while Halladay issued only 35 walks finishing in 161st place.

The best thing about a trade for Halladay while keeping Pettitte would be that there would be no chance of Sergio Mitre starting a game for the Yankees in 2010.

Scioscia Wins  2009 AL Manager of the Year Award

Mike Scioscia won the 2009 AL Manager of the Year award yesterday after piloting the  Los Angeles Angels to the AL West title.

He was a stabilizing influence after the tragic death of Nick Adenhart early in the season. Then he had to deal with a rash of injuries to his starting rotation and yet kept the Angels in contention.

He has posted 900 wins in 10 seasons and has .556 winning percentage which ties him with Bobby Cox with both of them being 21st lifetime among all major league managers in winning percentage.

Scioscia has never had the Angels finish lower than third during his helm and is fourth in average finish with a 1.8 rank.

Tracy Wins NL Manager of the Year Award

When Jim Tracy replaced Clint Hurdle as the manager of the Colorado Rockies last May it was regarded as a move to stop the bleeding and guide the Rockies to a respectable finish.

Tracy did a lot more than that. He took the Rockies to the NLDS where they lost to the Phillies but nobody expected that in May. He not only took over team but turned around their season leading the Rockies to win the 2009 NL wild card race before losing to the Phillies in the NLDS.

 

Yankees Played Only 15 Games In 31 Days

Enroute to Their 27th World Championship

Bud Selig said this week that MLB will look into shortening the 2010 postseason after it took the Yankees 31 days to win the 11 games they needed to become the World Series champions earlier this month.

Part of the problem is when a team sweeps either the division or championship series in their league they may have to wait several days to play if their next opponent is playing a five or seven game series.

It will be interesting to see how Selig and his owner cronies solve this situation if it is solvable.

If they tighten up the schedule too much they could have problems with rainouts while this last offseason there was some flexibility with the extra offdays.

Selig remains opposed to expanded instant replay but is open to discussions on its expansion. I am sure the Angels would like to see it instituted since they were clearly victims of some terrible calls in the ALCS.