Last season, Baltimore closer Kevin Gregg turned in a season unique in the annals of relief pitching:

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Just another nice baseball photo to get the juices flowing…

Jayson Werth homers, 9/8/2011 / Icon SMI

Werth did indeed homer on this swing, and you can tell he got all of it. Notice how his bat is ever-so-slightly bent after making square contact.

If Werth can rebound to have a good year–even .270/.370/.470–the much-improved Nationals should win at least 85 games in 2012.

Baseball pictures don’t get better than this… Continue reading →

Here are the 10 most valuable hit-by-pitches in 2011, ranked by Win Probability Added for the team whose batter was plunked. Continue reading →

Thanks to offseason transactions, Justin Verlander is now the only active 100-game winner who is still with his original team. Verlander is signed with Detroit for another three years.

As you see in the table below, there were two such pitchers at the end of 2011, both toiling in the Windy City:

But those 2011 leaders are now both with Miami: Mark Buehrle went free agent after 161 wins in the pale hose (#6 on the franchise list, 2 shy of Wilbur Wood), while Carlos Zambrano was mercy-traded to the Marlins after wearing out his welcome both on and off the Wrigley playing field. Big Z is #11 on the Cubs’ career list with 125 wins, 3 short of Pete Alexander.

Only three other active one-team pitchers have 80+ wins: Ervin Santana (87) and Jered Weaver (82) of the Angels, and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (85), who is the active SP leader in WAR for his original team (29.1 to Verlander’s 27.2). All three are under contract for at least the next two years, though there is much trade speculation about King Felix.

Buehrle’s departure from the South Side means that Ron Guidry remains the one-franchise leader in the free-agent era with 170 wins:

From 1920 through 1974 — comprising 958 team-seasons — there were 30 pitchers with at least 200 wins, of which 15 won 200+ on behalf of one team (whether or not they also pitched elsewhere). But since the dawn of free agency in 1975 (comprising 1,024 team-seasons), only 3 out of 23 pitchers with 200 wins did so for one team: teammates Tom Glavine (244) and John Smoltz (210) with Atlanta, and Andy Pettitte (203) with the Yankees. Three more came close: Jack Morris won 198 with Detroit, Greg Maddux 194 with Atlanta and Roger Clemens 192 with Boston.

Sidebar: Verlander and Weaver have been linked ever since they were drafted in 2004:

• Verlander went #2 over all that year, while Weaver (the collegiate player of the year) slipped to #12 due to “signability concerns” (Latin name: Borasthesia).
• Both were MLB fixtures within 2 years; Verlander broke camp with the 2006 Tigers and wound up as Rookie of the Year, while Weaver was called up in late May and placed 5th on that ballot.
• Each has at least 11 wins every year since 2006; they rank #1 and #4 in AL wins in that span.
• Verlander led the majors in strikeouts last year, Weaver the year before.
• Verlander edged Weaver for the AL ERA crown last year, 2.40 to 2.41.
• Verlander also holds a slim edge in their 5 career face-offs, with a 3-2 record and 3.89 ERA, compared to 2-3, 4.50 for Weaver.
• Their career bWAR values are virtually the same — 27.2 for Verlander, 26.8 for Weaver.

On Twitter, @Minor_Leaguer (who writes for Bluebird Banter) asked about players who have been traded twice or more together. He cited Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino, who were both involved in the following trades:

July 29, 1996: Traded by the New York Mets with Jeff Kent to the Cleveland Indians for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza.

November 13, 1996: Traded by the Cleveland Indians with a player to be named later, Jeff Kent and Julian Tavarez to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later and Matt Williams. The Cleveland Indians sent Joe Roa (December 16, 1996) to the San Francisco Giants to complete the trade. The San Francisco Giants sent Trent Hubbard (December 16, 1996) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

Can you think of any other examples of players who were traded together two or more times?

A few quick news items:

• I have added a mobile theme that makes the blog easier to read on your mobile device. You also have the option to revert to the standard desktop theme if you wish.
• I have asked the ad server to stop with the pop-up full-page ads and videos and they have agreed. Please do not block ads otherwise on the site–I have made them unobtrusive and it’s important that they get displayed to maintain our traffic numbers.
• I’ve implemented spam filters for comments and most should get blocked now. You still might see the occasional spam comment make it through…just ignore them.

Lou Brock / Icon SMI

Lou Brock played 18 seasons in the majors. He took over the career lead for stolen bases from Billy Hamilton in 1978 and led until 1991 when Rickey Henderson passed him.

Brock was a 6-time All-Star, received MVP votes in a staggering 10 different seasons, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility.

I don’t actually have any problem with Brock being in the Hall of Fame–regardless of what the numbers say, he was held in extremely high regard during his era as the preeminent base stealer of the day as well as one of the best leadoff batters.

However, a pretty good devil’s advocate case can be made that he doesn’t deserve to be enshrined. Continue reading →

The biggest impact the designated hitter has on the game is detaching the link between a pitcher’s performance and what his own team is doing on offense. In the NL, without the DH, it’s not uncommon for a manager to have to decide whether to pinch-hit for a pitcher who comes to bat in a key situation. Continue reading →

Brian Giles batting about 2 weeks before the end of his playing career / Icon SMI

Yesterday we saw that Brian Giles had one of the very worst seasons as a defender of all time. That 2009 season of his, though, is not quite the worst overall for a batter who also played defense. Continue reading →