DrungoHazewood

Frey had a 14-year career as a minor league outfielder in the 50s and early 60s. Hit .300 several times and walked a decent amount. But never made it above AAA. He was the best hitter on the AA '57 Tulsa Oilers but never got so much as a September call up from the 77-77 Phillies. Was also one of the better players on the '60 Rochester Red Wings, just before they became an O's affiliate. Was teammates with 44-year-old Luke Easter*, who someone should write a book about, if they haven't already. But despite using 47 players that year the Cards never called him up. * Would most certainly be a HOFer if he'd been born 10 years later. Had an .830 MLB OPS despite not getting a regular gig until he was 34 because segregation. Spent nearly a decade playing AAA ball after his MLB career was over, and had a 40-homer season at the age of 41. Had 345 professional homers after the age of 31, and only five of them before 33.

I don't like throwing away moderate amounts of Ol' Pete's money, and I'm not a huge fan of ranch dressing or Samantha Bee, either. But I'm not launching any crusades about any of that. I have a threshold below which I have a hard time caring, or leveling charges of irreconcilable stupidity. I didn't get banned when they traded for Dana Eveland.

This is the old SportsGuy argument, that process is everything, even when the players involved are of little or no consequence. Heads should be put on pikes for a trade of a 22-year-old org guy for mediocre major leaguer. I guess it is literally true that a dime is way more valuable than a nickle.

Then you shouldn't be concerned at all about a Grade C prospect.

I wouldn't be too concerned. Heim couldn't even out-hit Corban Joseph in AAA last year. His only "impressive" showing with the bat was on a AAA team that scored almost 1000 runs in 140 games.

Not too many players can say their age-31 season was more valuable than their age 18-30 seasons combined. Also a short list of players who were released during a five-win season. Here's his transaction lines from a 10-month period in '11-12: November 3, 2011: Granted Free Agency. December 15, 2011: Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins. March 27, 2012: Released by the Minnesota Twins. March 29, 2012: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees. June 2, 2012: Purchased by the Baltimore Orioles from the New York Yankees. July 28, 2012: Selected off waivers by the Houston Astros from the Baltimore Orioles. August 27, 2012: Purchased by the New York Yankees from the Houston Astros. September 29, 2012: Selected off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles from the New York Yankees.

How long should a player last in the majors after a AAA season where he hit .244/.303/.419? In a normal context if you showed someone that line the response would be "well, he might keep his job next year if he can really field." I've mentioned before that the weakest MLB MVP of all time might be Roger Peckinpaugh in '24, and he got a ton of extra credit for being the WS winner's captain. Peckinpaugh out-hit Worthington's IL MVP year.

He's talking career value, I would assume. But even considering a shorter peak, Brooks' best was better than Manny's. At least if you put trust in the retroactive defensive metrics. Manny had a +27 and +20 season by more modern metrics and some people were skeptical. Brooks was over +30 a couple times by DRS.

A journeyman among the very, very far right hand edge of a normal distribution curve. MLB players are among a very tiny top percentage in what they do. And what they do gets millions of people to pay a lot of money to see it. It would be nice, but I don't think I'm in the 0.00007th percentile in many things.

But when we get the old timers league together to play these games he can't be in two places at once.

Gomez went to the Cubs for a year, where he wasn't bad. Then to the Chunichi Dragons, where he was pretty great. .966 OPS in '97, and in '99 he hit .297/.389/.570 with 36 homers and 109 RBI. Hit really well for six years in Japan, although was hurt a lot the last two. Over 150 homers, giving him 309 as a pro. Almost every year he was the best hitter on the Dragons, out-hitting guys like Kosuke Fukudome (who, by the way, is still active with Hanshin, or was last year at 42).

Tony Batista. Idiosyncratic choice. Every time I hear his name I also hear the Fukuoka fans chanting "Home Run, Home Run, Ba-Tis-Ta" over and over.

There are only eight players in modern Oriole history who played 250 or more games at third. And Batista is still not in the top five, or shouldn't be. Leo Gomez was better in exactly the same number of ABs (1554). Doug DeCinces should be third on the list. Mora spent four years as a utility player where he didn't spend a single game at third, and his last four years he was just average. DeCinces was the man, and the Doug DeCinces Fan Club newsletter I wrote and tacked to my treehouse wall proves it.

But there's some point where you have to say he just wasn't here long enough. You know who has the 2nd-highest OPS+ in modern Oriole history? Reggie Jackson, at 155, trailing only Frank. But nobody would list Reggie as one of the best Oriole outfielders of all time. Few people who lived through the 1960s through the 80s would list Reggie as the Oriole they'd want for a pennant chase and a playoff run. That's kind of how I feel about Alomar. He was here for three years, one cut short by the lockout, and the last felt like he was kind of mailing it in (his worst offensive season from 22-33). I'd take him over Rich Dauer, but to me Schoop feels more like an Oriole even if he was demonstrably, objectively worse than Alomar per PA. And Grich certainly does. Roberts, too. Although I don't know if sticking it out with the 2000s Orioles is more of a badge of courage or stupidity. Brian Roberts' 2005 season is as good as any Alomar ever put up. The difference, of course, is that Roberts rarely got to that level, while Alomar had a bunch of really good seasons.

Are fans essential?

When I was a kid 300 homers was a big deal. Brooks never got there. In '83 there'd only been 47 300-homer guys ever. And more than 30 of them are Hall of Famers. Now we're lamenting that a guy with a 7-win journeyman career missed by two. I almost forgot that Reynolds had three separate seasons where he played 15+ games at third base and fielded under .900. Butch Hobson was infamous for fielding .899 in '78, I think he was hurt, and made a ton of wild throws. Then Ryan Braun kind of repeated the feat in '07 before he got moved to the outfield. Reynolds fielded .897 in almost 1000 innings in '11, and even worse in '12 before going to first. Chris Davis also fielded .848 in '11... The difference between Davis and Reynolds defense and Manny had to have been 40 or 50 runs a year. In 1888 the Orioles had a third baseman named Billy Shindle. In '88 a lot of players didn't wear gloves, and the ones that did bore more resemblance to a snow glove than a modern baseball glove. The fields were groomed to the standard of your local t-ball field, and there were a lot of bunts. Shindle fielded .922 in 135 games. I want to see Mark Reynolds play third base without a glove.

Gleason is listed at 5' 7", 158, and from 1890-1894 he threw 506, 418, 400, 380, and 230 innings. They switched to allowing overhand pitching in '84. It took a while for folks to catch on to the idea that 55 starts, 500 innings wasn't going to work so well throwing overhand, even if it wasn't max-effort like today. The record for innings pitched is very dependent on when you draw the back line. Bill Hutchison*, Amos Rusie, Sadie McMahon, and Gleason were the last of the 500 inning pitchers, none of them hit that mark after they moved the pitching distance to 60' 6". The 1800s were an era of continuous transitions, and there were a lot of pitchers whose careers never made it to 30. Some not to 25. Gleason hurt his arm in '95 with the Orioles, and he transitioned straightaway to second base. Thing was he wasn't really any good as a position player. Career OPS+ of 78, and was at best an average fielder. He hit .300 a couple times, but with no power and few walks. From 120+ years away it's kind of hard to see why he was a regular for 12+ years after he quit pitching, he was a 0-to-2 win player almost every year. * I need to read up on Hutchison. He apparently didn't throw a pro pitch until 24, didn't have a season of more than a couple starts until 27, then threw 300-625 innings a year for almost a decade. Once had a minor league season where he allowed 271 runs in 305 innings. In 1892 he faced 2639 batters, which is more than twice Jim Palmer's highest total. By Tom Tango's basic pitch count estimator he threw almost 10,000 pitches. Or roughly three times what a modern ace does.

That's a problem with expectations. When Wieters was a sophomore at Georgia Tech he had a 1.086 OPS. But on that same team Danny Payne had a 1.083. Whit Robbins had a 1.063. Jeff Kindel had a 1.001. Wes Hodges had a .989. The team's OPS was .917. When he was a junior, his last year in college, he had a 1.072. Payne had a 1.052. Wally Crancer had a .967. In 2008 Charlie Blackmon had a 1.033. Derek Dietrich had a 1.002. Of all those players Wieters, Dietrich and Blackmon were the only ones to ever appear in the majors. Blackmon has developed nicely, but also has the advantage of being an outfielder and a Colorado Rockie (Rocky?). Dietrich has a .761 OPS in the majors, not bad, but he's not a catcher, either. Whit Robbins never got past AA after being a 4th round pick, Payne was a late 1st rounder in '07 and had 24 PAs above A ball, Kindel washed out in AA, Hodges was a 2nd rounder who had a .704 in AAA. And Wally Crancer... I'd forgotten he was an Oriole farmhand. His best year was an .812 OPS with Frederick at 24, and he was out of baseball a year later. If only Wieters had put up a .780 OPS at Frederick everyone would be so much happier with his career.

There was Jeffrey Hammonds hype. They considered bringing him straight to the majors out of spring training in '93 with no minor league experince. But, no, he wasn't quite at the level of McDonald. Maybe more on par with Bundy. At the time his signing bonus was the highest ever for a college player. I just opened up a copy of the 1994 Bill James Player Ratings Book, possibly for the first time in 25 years. The Hammonds comment says "He's been compared to Rickey Henderson, although he doesn't walk. Which is like saying someone is a flat-chested Dolly Parton."

Maybe. But he probably wouldn't be allowed to throw 260, 270 innings like he sometimes did. And at even 240 he'd have to have 15 K/9. Basically Dellin Betances or Josh Hader strikeout rates, but over 240 innings instead of 60 or 70. While we're musing... the all time K record is Baltimore's own Matt Kilroy who struck out 513 in 1886. In 583 innings. To break that mark in 250 innings a pitcher would have to strike out 18.5 per nine. Chapman once had 17.5 in 54 innings. Ks keep going up every year. So... maybe?

Voting has changed a lot over the past 20 years or so. McDowell led the league in wins. But he was 2nd in innings, 11th among qualifiers in ERA, 14th in ERA+, 6th in FIP, and trailed Randy Johnson in strikeouts by 150 (he had 155). He was 13th among qualifiers in K/BB ratio. With today's voters Appier would have gotten the award easily. With some votes going to Johnson for lapping the field in strikeouts.

Reynolds does still hold the single season mark at 223. Remember when the Orioles never had a high K player? In 1989 the single season mark was 189 by Bobby Bonds. The's O's record was 125 by Boog in '66. Then Tettleton had 160 in 1990, and the O's promptly traded him for a bag of magic beans and a stick of gum. Tettleton is now 11th on the franchise list, Boog 25th. Mark Belanger once struck out 114 times in a season with 13 doubles and two homers, where he slugged .248.

Despite that I usually thought he was a decent guy. Reggie just breathed a little sigh of relief, his record is safe for a little while longer. It continues to amaze me it's lasted this long. Strikeouts have gone up 57% since 1990, but the career strikeout record holder retired in 1987. Justin Upton is the next great hope. He's 31, and needs 800 strikeouts. He averages 172 per 162 games, so he'll need another 5+ years to get there. The odds are against him, especially after a 2019 where he only struck out 78 times in 63 games, and now COVID. Rk Player SO From To Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB 1 Reggie Jackson 2597 1967 1987 21-41 2820 11418 9864 1551 2584 463 49 563 1702 1375 2 Jim Thome 2548 1991 2012 20-41 2543 10313 8422 1583 2328 451 26 612 1699 1747 3 Adam Dunn 2379 2001 2014 21-34 2001 8328 6883 1097 1631 334 10 462 1168 1317 4 Sammy Sosa 2306 1989 2007 20-38 2354 9896 8813 1475 2408 379 45 609 1667 929 5 Alex Rodriguez 2287 1994 2016 18-40 2784 12207 10566 2021 3115 548 31 696 2086 1338 6 Andres Galarraga 2003 1985 2004 24-43 2257 8916 8096 1195 2333 444 32 399 1425 583 7 Jose Canseco 1942 1985 2001 20-36 1887 8129 7057 1186 1877 340 14 462 1407 906 8 Willie Stargell 1936 1962 1982 22-42 2360 9027 7927 1194 2232 423 55 475 1540 937 9 Mark Reynolds 1927 2007 2019 23-35 1688 6243 5432 794 1283 253 14 298 871 707 10 Curtis Granderson 1916 2004 2019 23-38 2057 8306 7236 1217 1800 346 95 344 937 924 11 Mike Cameron 1901 1995 2011 22-38 1955 7884 6839 1064 1700 383 59 278 968 867 12 Mike Schmidt 1883 1972 1989 22-39 2404 10062 8352 1506 2234 408 59 548 1595 1507 13 Fred McGriff 1882 1986 2004 22-40 2460 10174 8757 1349 2490 441 24 493 1550 1305 14 Tony Perez 1867 1964 1986 22-44 2777 10861 9778 1272 2732 505 79 379 1652 925 15 Ryan Howard 1843 2004 2016 24-36 1572 6531 5707 848 1475 277 21 382 1194 709 16 Bobby Abreu 1840 1996 2014 22-40 2425 10081 8480 1453 2470 574 59 288 1363 1476 17 Derek Jeter 1840 1995 2014 21-40 2747 12602 11195 1923 3465 544 66 260 1311 1082 18 Chris Davis 1835 2008 2019 22-33 1401 5575 4926 704 1154 225 5 295 779 552 19 Dave Kingman 1816 1971 1986 22-37 1941 7429 6677 901 1575 240 25 442 1210 608 20 Manny Ramirez 1813 1993 2011 21-39 2302 9774 8244 1544 2574 547 20 555 1831 1329 21 Alfonso Soriano 1803 1999 2014 23-38 1975 8395 7750 1152 2095 481 31 412 1159 496 22 Justin Upton 1798 2007 2019 19-31 1697 7064 6208 989 1651 332 38 298 937 729 23 Carlos Beltran 1795 1998 2017 21-40 2586 11031 9768 1582 2725 565 78 435 1587 1084 24 Ken Griffey Jr. 1779 1989 2010 19-40 2671 11304 9801 1662 2781 524 38 630 1836 1312 25 Miguel Cabrera 1761 2003 2019 20-36 2400 10236 8949 1429 2815 577 17 477 1694 1135

In '71-73 Wilbur Wood threw 334, 376, and 359 innings, won 22, 24, and 24 games (the 24s leading the league), led the league in ERA+ in '71, and was worth 11.8, 10.7 and 7.5 rWAR, and ever finished higher than 2nd in the Cy Young voting. In 1990 Roger Clemens went 21-6, led the league in ERA and shutouts, was worth 10.4 WAR, and finished 2nd in the Cy Young to Bob Welch and his 2.9 WAR. Juan Marichal had seasons of 10.3 and 9.1 wins where he didn't get a single Cy Young vote. Thanks Sandy Koufax and Dodger Stadium. Dick Ellsworth also fell victim to Koufax with a 10-win season where he went 22-10, 2.11 and go no votes. In '73 Blyleven had a 9.7-win season with 20 wins, league-leading nine shutouts, led the league in ERA+, and finished 7th in the Cy Young. Mark Fidrych's famous season where he won 19, led in ERA, complete games, ERA+ and was worth 9.6 wins... 2nd in Cy Young. It wasn't that long ago that the writers correlated pitcher quality with wins. If you went 24-8 with a 3.50 you were as likely as not to win the Cy Young over someone who was 21-12 with a 2.21, and definitely would win over someone who was 18-10 with a 1.98.

Since the inception of pro baseball in the 1870s something like 15 billion people have been alive. Let's say for the sake of argument that half of a percent of those people have played some form of organized baseball. That would be 75 million people. In history maybe 200,000 or 250,000 people have appeared in a minor league game. About 20,000 people have appeared in a major league game. 2,327 players have been a catcher for at least one game. Of those 2,327 Matt Wieters is the 91st-best catcher of all time by JAWS. So he's in the top 4% of all Major League catchers of all time, which puts him among the top 0.4% of professional catchers, which puts him in the top 0.0001% of everyone who's ever caught a game, and in the top 0.0000007% of all humans in catching ability. You'd have to pick the best catcher out of every Japan-sized group of people to come upon someone who was as good a catcher as Matt Wieters. Is that a tragedy? I guess it depends on your perspective.