23 thoughts on “Out Machine Redux – It’s Not Just Rollins and Pierre”

1. Doc_Irysch March 28, 2012 at 2:41 pm

   Herb Washington had more runs than outs, not bad. . .

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   1. Doug Post authorMarch 28, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      He did, but Washington had 105 opportunities to score – every game he appeared in. That 31.4% run rate and his 64.5% steal rate are not impressive – the As probably would have done as well or better not using Washington at all.

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      1. Tmckelv March 28, 2012 at 3:54 pm

         I mentioned this in a recent post, but Herb was awful in the post season 1974.

         5 G, 0 R, 0 SB

         In his two appearances in the ALCS, he was caught stealing both times. But the A’s won both games anyway as they shut out the O’s both times.

         Then in his first appearance of the World Series (Game 2, Top of the 9th inning, 1 out, down by 1 run), he was inserted as the tying run and was promptly picked off first. A’s lost by one run.

         The Herb Washington experiment was over by May the next season. Any of the players utilized by the A’s in the future (as primary pinch runners) were actually baseball players, as opposed to sprinters.

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         1. Doug Post authorMarch 28, 2012 at 4:12 pm

            As you mention, the Herb Washington experiment was over, but not the A’s primary pinch runner experiment. It started with Allan Lewis (top of the list) and continued with Don Hopkins and Darrell Woodard, also on the list (neither of whom I was aware of).

            The other guy in this role I do remember was Larry Lintz. He at least could steal a base at a 70%+ rate though he wasn’t any more proficient than Washington at scoring.

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   2. MikeD March 29, 2012 at 2:28 am

      Fear not for Herb Washington. He ended up opening or buying more than a dozen McDonald’s restaurants and is a multi-millionaire many times over.

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2. Yippeeyappee March 28, 2012 at 3:05 pm

   3 of th e4 players from last year – recent Jays.

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   1. Yippeeyappee March 28, 2012 at 7:15 pm

      Technically it’s all 4 – I forgot that Olivo was a Jay for a few hours in 2010.

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3. Tmckelv March 28, 2012 at 3:44 pm

   I guess this is why we don’t hear about anyone with the nickname Skeeter anymore. Three of them mentioned in this post, and not for good reasons.

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   1. Doug Post authorMarch 28, 2012 at 3:52 pm

      The last Skeeter that comes up at B-R was Clyde (Skeeter) Wright. He was an AL starting pitcher in the 60s and 70s, mostly with the Angels. Had a twenty win season (and a twenty loss season), was an All-Star once, and had a 96 career ERA+. Lkely the most accomplished of the 9 Skeeters who have played in the majors.

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      1. Brandon March 28, 2012 at 6:25 pm

         Another recent Skeeter, Skeeter Barnes was an interesting player who played nine seasons between ’83 – ’94 for the Reds, Expos, Reds (again), Cards, ad Tigers. He got his most of his playing time late in his career. Out machine manager Sparky Anderson loved Barnes and used him all over the field. Playing in 278 games for the Tigers from ’91 – ’94 he played every position but catcher and pitcher. Although no Ted Wiliams, Barnes puts the other Skeeters to shame with a career line of .281/.319/.420.

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         1. Brandon March 28, 2012 at 6:27 pm

            Check that, Barnes career line is .259/.306/.389. The other stats refer only to his time in Detroit.

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   2. Richard Chester March 28, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      George Kell had a younger brother Skeeter who spent one year in the majors (1952) with the A’s and hit just .221.
      Once again the name Don Hopkins appears on an HHS blog (chart 4, line 8). He was mentioned just recently as having the third greatest number of games played without ever starting a game 85.

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4. wlcmlc March 28, 2012 at 4:31 pm

   At least Joe Walsh and Gary Cooper had other jobs to fall back on :).

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   1. vivaeljason March 28, 2012 at 5:15 pm

      That’s just super duper.

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   2. nightfly March 28, 2012 at 6:59 pm

      Seems to me he don’t want to talk about it… he’ll just turn and walk away.

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      1. Steven March 30, 2012 at 8:31 am

         But it’s hard to leave when he can’t find the door.

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5. Evil Squirrel March 28, 2012 at 6:48 pm

   Miguel Mejia!!!

   I still have no idea what possessed Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals to keep him on the roster during the entire 1996 season. Yes, he was a Rule 5 pick, and had to be kept or offered back to his old team, but he seemed to have little promise (justified by the fact that he never played in the Majors again), and was nothing more than a glorified defensive replacement/pinch runner. Look at his game log, he started one game all year, and that was after the Cards clinched the division title in late September. The late summer gap in his games played is due to the fact that he was finally hidden on the DL until rosters expanded…

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6. Hartvig March 28, 2012 at 6:51 pm

   I notice the second list (1901-1961) has quite a few managers on it: Sparky Anderson, Leo Durocher, Bobby Bragan, and Billy Hunter all managed at the major league level. Granny Hamner managed in the minors. Not a shock I guess. The majority of managers seem to be former catchers or good field/no hit infielders but that’s still an impressive collection from such a short list.

   Even the more outs than PA’s list produced at least one: Cal Ermer.

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   1. Doug Post authorMarch 29, 2012 at 12:19 am

      Yes, and there’s Guillen, Rojas and Lanier in the first list. More than a little unusual that there would be so many in such a small sample.

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7. Jeff Allen March 28, 2012 at 7:30 pm

   Oh, Neifi. And after that season, the Giants decided it would be a good idea to pick him up. I was disappointed when he was suspended for a 3rd positive test. He was so horrible that it was funny. Well, when he WASN’T playing for us.

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8. topper009 March 28, 2012 at 10:46 pm

   The numbers don’t seem to add up? They don’t match bb-ref, which lists Outs as AB-H+SH+SF+CS+GIDP. (but not pickoffs or outs on the bases?) It lists 453 for A Gonzalez in 2011, this list has 447….so what is an out?

   It looks like your lists are not counting SH or SFs as outs.

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   1. Doug Post authorMarch 29, 2012 at 12:08 am

      The value is what B-Ref computes when selecting “Outs Made” in the PI query builder. Specifically, the query was Outs Made > 0.75 * PA .

      Looking at Gonzalez and Rios, it appears the formula is AB-H+CS+GDP. So, yes, outs on sacrifice plays and outs on base are excluded. Although, most pickoffs would be included since they would be scored as CS (I’m not sure but I think the only time a pickoff isn’t scored as a CS is if the next base is occupied, which would be a fairly rare pickoff).

      Don’t know why it’s a different calculation from the Player page – just a B-Ref quirk, I guess.

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9. Ed March 28, 2012 at 11:08 pm

   Adam Dunn was oh so close to being #5 from 2011. He didn’t qualify in terms of PAs (only 496) and his out rate was “only” 73%. If he had made it, his number of walks (75) would have been by far the highest on the list.

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