There is Nothing to Save

In the history of baseball, there have been 26 guys that have 300 or more saves.  Only five have saved more than 400.  If you look at active players, Joe Nathan could get to that number with one more decent season.  Francisco Rodriguez and Jonathan Papelbon should finish around there at the end of the 2016 season.  But we’re not here to talk about those guys.  Today, we’re looking at a guy that barely hit 300.  And, like I do a lot of times around here, I’ll speculate it’s probably because of bad timing and/or bad luck that he didn’t have more.  Today’s subject is Doug Jones.

Jones was drafted in the third round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft by the Milwaukee Brewers out of Central Arizona College in Coolidge, AZ.  The Vaqueros have produced a total of 16 major leaguers, including Scott Hairston, Ian Kinsler and Tom Pagnozzi, but have produced an astounding 152 draft picks since 1972.  Only five other players from the third round in 1978 made the majors, combining for 24 career WAR, vs. 21.8 career WAR from Jones.

Upon signing with the Brewers, Jones was assigned to A- ball Newark.  Despite being slightly older than league average, he struggled in his first taste of professional ball, going 2-4 with a 5.21 ERA in 38 innings in 15 games, with 15 walks and two saves.  Three of his games were starts, and he completed one of them.  He had an unknown number of strikeouts, because that would have been too hard to keep count.  Being New Jersey, the scorekeeper was probably too busy embezzling or gardening.

How could the defense
respect a pitcher
without a mustache?

By the time 1979 rolled around, Jones was 22, and the Brewers figured it was time to move him up, even if his prior year stats were less than impressive.  He would be promoted to A ball Burlington, and he would do much better.  Although he only went 10-10, he had a fantastic 1.75 ERA in 190 innings across 28 games, with 115 strikeouts vs. 73 walks.  He started 20 games that year, and completed 16 with three shutouts.  He likely would have had more wins that season if 42% of the runs he allowed that season were not of the unearned variety.

Jones was quickly moved up the ladder in 1980, and he was used exclusively as a starter that year.  He started the season in A ball Stockton, where he went 6-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 76 innings across 11 games, with 54 strikeouts vs. 31 walks.  He was then promoted to AA Holyoke, where he went 5-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 62 innings across eight games, with 39 strikeouts vs. 26 walks.  He then advanced to AAA Vancouver, where he went 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 53 innings across eight games, with 28 strikeouts vs. 15 walks.  Overall, he went 14-7 with a 2.97 ERA in 191 innings across 27 games, with 121 strikeouts vs. 72 walks.  He had 10 complete games with two shutouts.

Jones would find himself back in AA to start 1981, this time in El Paso.  He would go 5-7 with a 5.80 ERA in 90 innings across 15 games, with 62 strikeouts vs. 28 walks.  Still, the Brewers promoted him back to Vancouver, where he was able to right the ship.  He went 5-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 80 innings across 11 games, with 38 strikeouts vs. 22 walks.  Overall, he went 10-10 with a 4.50 ERA in 170 innings across 26 games.  All but one of those games were starts, and he had five complete games with one shutout.

In 1982, Jones would actually start the season with the big club.  He would make his Major League debut on April 9th that season.  In a 15-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Jones quickly retired Tony Johnson, Lloyd Moseby and Willie Upshaw in the bottom of the ninth to finish the game.  Two days later, again in mop up duty in a 14-5 victory over the Blue Jays, he allowed a solo home run to Ernie Whitt, a single to Damaso Garcia and a walk to Otto Velez, but that was all the Blue Jays could get against him that day.  Three days later, he would get his first career strikeout, getting the Indians Chris Bando.  He would pitch his last major league game of the season four days later, when he allowed two runs on two hits in a third of an inning in a 9-6 loss to the Texas Rangers.  In those four games, he no record, throwing 2.2 innings in four games with a 10.13 ERA, with one strikeout and one walk.

Jones was sent back down to AAA Vancouver for the remainder of the 1982 season.  At age 25, he was right in line with the league average age, but the mix of younger guys and older guys probably had him wondering what his major league future would be like, if he had one at all.  The Brewers still couldn’t decide what they wanted to do with him in Vancouver.  There, he went 5-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 106 innings across 23 games, with 60 strikeouts vs. 31 walks.  He started nine games, throwing four complete games and two shutouts, and he also had two saves.

Jones was injured for much of the 1983 season.  He only threw seven innings in three games, going 0-1 with a 10.29 ERA, with four strikeouts and five walks at AAA Vancouver.

In 1984, he was back in AA El Paso for most of the season.  He went 6-8 with a 4.28 ERA in 109.1 innings across 16 games, with 62 strikeouts vs. 35 walks.  He started all 16 games, and completed seven of them.  He was then promoted to AAA Vancouver, where he went 1-0 with a 10.12 ERA in eight innings across three games, with two strikeouts vs. three walks.  He pitched all three games in relief.

After the 1984 season, Jones was granted free agency.  In early April of 1985, he signed with the Cleveland Indians.  He would spend all of that season at AA Waterbury, going 9-4 with a 3.65 ERA in 116 innings across 39 games, with 113 strikeouts vs. 36 walks.  He only started one game, finished 35 games, and had one save.

In 1986, back with the Indians organization, he found himself at AAA Maine.  There, he went 5-6 with a 2.09 ERA in 116.1 innings across 43 games, with 98 strikeouts vs. 27 walks.  He started three of those games, finished 21 games, and had nine saves.

His performance at Maine earned him a September callup.  More than four years after his last major league appearance, the 29 year old Jones would pitch in his fifth Major League game on September 5th.It was a shaky return, as he gave up three runs on three hits and a walk, with three strikeouts, in 1.1 innings in a 13-5 loss to his old team, the Brewers.  Nine days later, he would earn his first career save in a 5-2 victory over the Oakland A’s.  Twelve days after that, he would earn his first career win.  He would throw the final two innings of a 12 inning victory over the Seattle Mariners.  In the top of the 12th, Otis Nixon hit a one out double, stole his 55th career base, and was knocked in with a Brook Jacoby triple.  Jacoby would score on a throwing error, and Jones would shut the door in the bottom of the frame, with the Indians winning 9-7.

After giving up five runs in his first three appearances back in the majors, Jones ended the month throwing 14.1 scoreless innings in his final eight games.  Overall, he went 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings across 11 games, with 12 strikeouts vs. six walks, and one save.  The Indians that season went 84-78, which may get you a playoff berth in 2014, but in 1986, that meant a fifth place finish, 11.5 games back of the Boston Red Sox.  Despite 84 wins, the Cleveland bullpen only had 34 saves.  Tom Candiotti didn’t help things, as he completed exactly half of his 34 starts that season, only three of which were shutouts.  Things were about to get better for Jones.  Things were about to get worse for the Indians.

Jones would start the 1987 in Cleveland, where he would stay for most of the month of April.  Being used as primarily a middle reliver, he threw 14 innings across seven games, going 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA, with 15 strikeouts vs. nine walks.  The Indians’ defense didn’t help him any, as only nine of the 16 runs he allowed were earned.  With only one of his seven appearances being scoreless, he was sent down to AAA Buffalo, where he seemed to quickly work out his issues.  There, he threw 61.2 innings across 23 games, going 5-2 with a 2.04 ERA and seven saves, with 61 strikeouts vs. just 12 walks.

When Jones was called back to Cleveland, they were riding a six game losing streak where they were outscored 52-18, with a record of 25-47 overall.  Jones, always a team player, helped contribute to the cause by allowing six earned runs in 2.2 innings over his first two appearances back in the majors.  Starting with his next appearance on July 2nd, through the end of the season, he was very good.  He would get the win in three of the next five games in which he pitched.  He would only allow more than one earned run in two games the rest of the season.  He would finish 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 91.1 innings across 49 games, with 87 strikeouts vs. 24 walks, and eight saves.  His eight saves actually led the Indians, who only had 25 saves a team on their way to finishing 61-101.  He actually fell one win short of being tied for the team lead in wins with Candiotti, Scott Bailes, and 48 year old Phil Niekro.

By the time 1988 rolled around, Jones was officially the Indians closer.  He didn’t allow a run in five April appearances, earning four saves.  On May 1st, he allowed six earned runs, losing to the A’s 8-4.  He wouldn’t allow another run the rest of May, adding an additional seven saves.  At the end of June, he had only allowed one additional run, with a total of 18 saves and a 1.75 ERA.  Despite not being as untouchable the rest of the season, he still finished the year at 3-4 with a 2.27 ERA in 83.1 innings across 51 games, with 72 strikeouts vs. just 16 walks, and 37 saves.  He was an All Star, and finished 15th in the AL MVP voting.  The Indians were still not good, finishing 78-84, but they were much less not good with Jones at the back end of the bullpen.

Jones was back doing Jones things in 1989.  At the end of June, he had allowed the exact same number of earned runs (seven) and had the same number of saves (18) as he did the previous year, with his ERA only slightly higher at 1.89.  By the middle of July, his ERA would fall to 1.42.  He had a rough patch between July 17th and August 1st, where he gave up nine earned runs in seven innings, going 1-3 with two saves and three blown saves.  After that stretch though, he got back on track, with a 1.53 ERA for the remainder of the season.  Overall, he was 7-10(!) with a 2.34 ERA in 80.2 innings across 59 games, with 65 strikeouts vs. 13 walks, and 32 saves.  His efforts again resulted in an All Star appearance.  The Indians finished 73-89, 16 games back of the first place Blue Jays, tied for the third worst record in the American League.

Jones started the 1990 campaign on fire.  Through May 15th, he threw 20 innings across 15 appearances without allowing a run, earning 13 saves.  At the end of June, Jones had yet again allowed a total of seven earned runs on the season for the third straight year.  However, this time, he had increased his saves total to 22, with a 1.50 ERA.  He wouldn’t allow a run the entire month of July, and on August 22nd, his ERA sat at 1.29.  Then came trouble.  In his next appearance, he allowed three runs, losing to the Red Sox 6-5.  Two days later, he allowed SEVEN runs on three hits and FIVE WALKS in one inning, losing again to the Red Sox, this time 9-2.  Over his next three appearances, he would allow three more earned runs in four innings, giving him an 18.90 ERA over that five game stretch.  The Indians stuck with him though, and through his last 12 appearances of the season, he only allowed one earned run in 15 innings, good for a 0.60 ERA.  In total that season, he was 5-5 with a 2.56 ERA in 84.1 innings across 66 games, with 55 strikeouts vs. 22 walks, with a career high 43 saves.  He was once again an All Star, and finished 23rd in the AL MVP voting.  The Indians were slightly better, finishing at 77-85, but still well behind the first place Red Sox.

1991 would mark the last year in Cleveland for Jones.  Well, for a few years anyway.  He never could quite get it going that season.  After allowing six earned runs on May 10th in a 12-2 loss to the California Angels, his ERA hit a season high 11.32.  He would make his last relief appearance on July 16th, losing to the A’s 7-6 in 13 innings, dropping his record to 1-7 on the season.  Whoa there, back up, friend.  Last RELIEF appearance?  What does that mean?

Whether it was injury, or just something mechanical, Jones would next pitch at AAA Colorado Springs.  There, he went 2-2 with a 3.28 ERA in 35.2 innings across 17 games, with 29 strikeouts vs. five walks, and seven saves.  Two of those games were starts, and one was a complete game shutout, his first complete game and shutout since pitching at AAA Vancouver in 1982.

At this point, I’m assuming the Indians had already made up their minds that Jones wouldn’t be back the following year.  Why?  In his first game back on September 10th, Jones fell one inning short of a complete game, only allowing two runs in a 5-2 victory over the Brewers.  He threw 139 pitches.  I guess if you’re not bringing him back, there’s no need to look at pitch count.  A week later, Jones would scatter nine hits and two walks over eight innings of one run ball, striking out 13 in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.  He would throw 133 pitches that game.  Eight days later, he would beat the Tigers again, this time allowing four runs in seven innings of a 6-4 victory.  A week later, he would lose to the Brewers 11-4, allowing six runs in 7.1 innings.  In his final appearance on October 5th, he earned a save in the 12th inning in a 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees.  With a broken Jones, and no plan B, the 1991 Cleveland Indians finished 57-105.  They had 33 saves, and 18 blown saves.  At least no one noticed – they averaged less than 13,000 fans per game.  Jones finished 4-8 (but 3-1 as a starter!) with a 5.54 ERA in 63.1 innings across 36 games, with 48 strikeouts vs. 17 walks, and seven saves.

Jones would sign with the Houston Astros for the 1992 season.  Jones opened the season with 9.2 scoreless innings across seven appearances for the Astros.  By the end of June, he was 4-5 with 17 saves and a 2.09 ERA.  He would lead the team in wins and saves in July, with four of each.  He was exceptional down the stretch, going 3-0 with eight saves and a 0.83 ERA in September.  Jones led the Astros that season in wins, going 11-8 with a career low 1.85 ERA in 111.2 innings across 80 games, with 93 strikeouts vs. 17 walks, and 36 saves.  He was a big part of the Astros improvement, when they went 81-81, 16 wins better than the previous season.  Still, he would have had many more save opportunities if he wasn’t busy earning wins.  He was again an All Star, and he finished 14th in the NL MVP voting.

In 1993, Jones would find himself back in Houston.  Through June 12th, when he would earn his 13th save of the season, he had an ERA of 3.13.  Then, the wheels came off.  He allowed 12 earned runs on 20 hits over 4.2 innings over his next four appearances, good for a 23.14 ERA.  For the remainder of the season, he would have a rough outing here and there, but he had a 3.74 ERA with 13 more saves.  He finished the season 4-10 with a 4.54 ERA in 85.1 innings across 71 games, with 66 strikeouts vs. 21 walks, and 26 saves.  Other than his brief appearances in 1982 and 1986, this was the first time that he was on a team that finished over .500, as the Astros finished 85-77, so his struggles that season were certainly a case of bad luck.

Jones quickly adopted
the "Phillies" look.

Before the start of the 1994 season, Jones was traded with Jeff Juden to the Philadelphia Phillies for Mitch Williams.Being that the Phillies were the defending National League champions, surely this was the opportunity for Jones to finally be on a winner, and even taste the postseason.  Unfortunately, this would not be the case.  He had two bad games the first half of the season – a four run outing on May 10th in a loss to the Braves, and a three run outing on June 30th in a loss to the Dodgers – but other than that, he was solid.  At the end of June, he had 20 saves with a 2.33 ERA.  He would only have another six weeks to play, due to the strike that season, but over that time frame, he added an additional seven saves with a 1.76 ERA.  If you take out the two games listed above, he only allowed six earned runs in his additional 45 appearances.  Overall, he was 2-4 with a 2.17 ERA in 54 innings across 47 games, with 38 strikeouts vs. just six walks, with 27 saves.  He would make the All Star team for the fifth and final time of his career.  The Phillies would finish 54-61.  Once again, Jones had very little to save.

The now 38 year old Jones would sign with the Orioles for the 1995 campaign.  His return to the American League did not go smoothly.  At the end of June, he only had 11 saves with a 4.12 ERA.  His July was a little better, as he had eight saves with a 2.92 ERA, but in his first three appearances in August, he allowed 10 runs in just two innings.  He would only have four appearances and two saves September.  He finished the year at 0-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 46.2 innings across 52 games, with 42 strikeouts vs. 16 walks, and 22 saves.  Most were probably wondering if this was the end of the road for him, probably even Jones himself.  The Orioles finished 71-73.

In 1996, Jones would return to the National League for the start of the season, signing with the Chicago Cubs.  He would only last there through mid-June, when he had two saves vs. five blown saves, and a 5.01 ERA.  At the end of June, the Brewers resigned their former player.  In his first appearance back with them after 14 years away, he got his first hold of the season in a 4-3 win over the Mariners.  With the Brewers, he went 5-0 with a 3.41 ERA and two holds, one save and three blown saves.  Between the Cubs and Brewers, he went 7-2 with a 4.22 ERA in 64 innings across 52 games, with 60 strikeouts vs. 20 walks, and just three saves.  With the Cubs and Brewers having Turk Wendell and Mike Fetters at the back end of their bullpen, there were few save opportunities for Jones.  Both teams finished under .500.

Jones became a free agent, but resigned with the Brewers for the 1997 season.  At age 40, he had perhaps his finest season.  At the end of June, he had 19 saves, with only one blown save, and a 2.68 ERA.  He would make a quick trip to the disabled list the second half of July.  In his third appearance back, he gave up a run in a loss to the A’s on August 7th.  He wouldn’t give up another run until his final appearance of the season on September 27th, a streak that covered 27 innings in 23 games.  Overall, he went 6-6 with a 2.02 ERA in 80.1 innings across 75 games, with 82 strikeouts vs. just nine walks, and 36 saves.  He didn’t make the All Star team, but he did finish 20th in the AL MVP voting.  He finished 73 of the games he appeared in, leading the league and setting a career high.  He also set career highs in K/9 (9.18) and BB/9 (0.99), and he set career lows in H/9 (6.9) and WHIP (0.884).  He was player of the week for the week of July 13th, where he earned three saves in three innings in three games, only allowing one hit and striking out two.  OK, it was the short half-week after the All Star break.  It was a good belated 40th birthday present.  Despite Jones’ career-season efforts, the Brewers finished 78-83.

The Brewers would bring their talents to the National League for the 1998 season.  Jones would start the season with them, but he wouldn’t be nearly as effective as the previous season.  He would have a blown save in the first and last two appearances in April, and by the end of June, he had eight total, with 12 actual saves, along with a 4.21 ERA.  He would only make four appearances for the Brewers in July, allowing nine runs in seven innings, including five in an 11-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves on July 19th.  Four days later, he was traded back to the Indians for Eric Plunk.  With Michael Jackson on his way to a 40 save season, there was no full time save opportunities for Jones, but he did return to respectability.  After rolling up a 5.17 ERA with the Brewers, he brought it down to 3.45 with the Indians.  He would earn his final save with the Indians on August 31st, throwing 3.1 innings of shutout ball in a 15-6 win over the A’s.

While Jones was probably happy to be back in Cleveland, reliving his youth, he was probably more excited he was on a winner.  The Indians went 89-73, earning them a showdown with the Red Sox in the ALDS.  Jones would relieve starter Jaret Wright in the first game of the series.  Wright gave up six runs in 4.1 innings, and Jones wasn’t exactly sharp.  He allowed a two run home run to Mo Vaughn, which would be his only blemish in 2.2 innings pitched that day.  The Indians would go on to lose Game 1 11-3, but they would win the next three games to advance to the ALCS.  Jones was left off of the roster, and the Indians would go on to lose to the Yankees in six games.  For the season, between Milwaukee and Cleveland, Jones combined to go 4-6 with a 4.54 ERA in 85.1 innings in 69 games, with 71 strikeouts vs. 17 walks, with 13 saves.

Jones would head out west in 1999, joining the A’s.  He did a fine job that season, setting up closer Billy Taylor, and providing veteran leadership.  At the end of June, he would have three saves and six holds, with a 3.20 ERA.  He had a rough August, with an ERA of 6.88, but he finished the season strong with a 1.32 ERA in September.  The A’s finished the season 87-75, but that wasn’t good enough to win the AL West, finishing eight games back of the Rangers.  Jones would finish the season at 5-5 with a 3.55 ERA across 104 innings in 70 games, with 63 strikeouts vs. 24 walks, with 10 saves.  He was the second oldest player in the league, less than two months younger than Jessie Orosco, and his 70 games pitched were 10th most in the league.

The 2000 season would be Jones’ last year in the majors.  It didn’t start out too well, as he gave up three or more runs in three different games through is first 15 appearances.  After the last one, his ERA sat at 7.52 on May 21st.  He got things back in order for the rest of the season, with a 2.55 ERA through the rest of the season.  He would earn his last career save in a 10-4 win over the San Diego Padres on June 7th, and his last career win came in a 9-7 win over the Angels on September 27th.  The A’s finished the season at 91-70.  The Mariners also had 91 wins, but they also had one more loss.  The A’s were awarded first place due to winning the season series.  They would lose in the ALDS to the Yankees, but Jones would have two scoreless appearances in the series, finishing Games 2 and 4 in non-save situations.  Overall for the season, he went 4-2 with a 3.93 ERA in 73.1 innings across 54 games, with 54 strikeouts vs. 18 walks, with two saves.

For his career, Jones went 69-79 with a 3.30 ERA in 1128.1 innings across 846 games, with 909 strikeouts vs. just 247 walks, and 303 saves.  Of his walks, 53 of them were intentional.  His unintentional walk rate was 1.57/9 innings.  His career K/9 innings rate of 7.251 ranks 100th all time, but his career K/BB rate of 3.68 is 10th all time.  His saves total is 24th all time, two places and seven saves behind Hall of Famer Rich Gossage, and one place and three saves ahead of Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter.

1.  Grow an epic mustache.
2.  Save a lot of games.
3.  PROFIT.

When the Hall of Fame came calling for Jones in 2006, he only received 0.4% of the vote.  This was not nearly high enough to continue on the ballot, so he fell off after that one year.  Ironically enough, this was the same year that Sutter and Gossage were elected, while fellow relievers John Wetteland and Rick Aguilera also dropped off the ballot.  There were a lot of “Ifs” working against Jones to have a shot at the hall.  If he had started earlier, if he had been on better teams, if he had save opportunities when he was on a good team, etc.

Not counting his brief appearance in 1982, Jones’ teams combined for a .484 winning percentage over his career.  What if he had been on better teams?  If they could have kicked that up to around .520, that would have equaled roughly 83 more wins over 15 years.  Even if you figure a conservative 35% conversion rate for those additional wins, that would give him close to 30 more saves.  Would 330+ saves have helped his cause?  Wetteland would like to point out that his 330 saves did nothing to convince the writers.  But Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, sitting in with 341 saves, might object.

NO MUELLER YOU'RE
DOING IT ALL WRONG
LOOK AT THE BALL
NOT THE CAMERA!!!

Maybe if Jones had more pickoffs, he could have made the Hall of Fame.  Through his 809th game on May 31st, 2000, he had never had a pickoff.  That changed in game 810 on June 2nd.  He entered the game in the top of the seventh, relieving starter T.J. Mathews.  After getting Jeff Kent to fly out to right, he picked off Barry Bonds, who had singled and knocked Mathews out of the game.  Bill Mueller walked to lead off the inning, but he was stranded at third after Jones got Ellis Burks to ground out to short.  Jones would then come out of the game in the eighth, but would earn the hold after Jason Isringhausen earned career save number 21, and the A’s won 5-4 over the San Francisco Giants.

Perhaps if he had been more of an offensive force, he may have also got some votes.  He only had one career hit in eight plate appearances.  This was in a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 12th, 1994.  After entering the game in the bottom of the eighth, he came to bat in the top of the ninth with one out.  He singled off of Dan Miceli to right field, and reached second on a wild pitch to Lenny Dykstra.  Dykstra would then walk, and then Miceli hit Mariano Duncan.  Jones could smell his first career run coming on, but it was not to be.  Dave Hollins popped out to catcher, and Darren Daulton struck out swinging, stranding the bases loaded.  Jones shut the door in the bottom of the frame for the save.

When you look back at his career, Jones was a very good closer on some very bad teams.  In other words, there was nothing to save.  Good thing he had some epic facial hair to mask his tears.

Cincinnati, We Have a Problem

Twenty-four years ago, the 1990 Cincinnati Reds were on their way to winning the World Series.  They finished the regular season in first place at 91-71, five games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  They would go on to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in six games, and then sweep the Oakland A’s, who, despite not winning the World Series, was clearly the best team in baseball that year.  But the Reds got hot, Jose Rijo gave up nine hits and one earned run in 15 1/3 innings, and that was that.

Hooray Reds.  But today isn’t about the Reds of 24 years ago.  It’s about the Reds of 25 years ago.  Specifically, we’re going to look at not only the team leader, but the league leader in at bats, Todd Benzinger.  Were the Reds so bad because Benzinger got so many at bats, or did Benzinger get so many at bats because the Reds were so bad?  Either way, the results weren’t good.

Every Rose has it's thorn.

Under the scourge of manager Pete Rose’s throwing of baseball games, the 1989 Reds finished 75-87, fifth place in the NL West.  At the end of June, they were a respectable 41-37, but a 7-19 July and a 10-18 September sealed their fate.  Barry Larkin hit .342, but he only played in 97 games after missing most of July and all of August.  Eric Davis hit 34 home runs and drove in 101 runs, but his stolen base totals fell off a cliff, down to 21 from a high of 50 just two years earlier.  The five starters that started the most games for the Reds that year – Tom Browning, Rick Mahler, Danny Jackson, Rijo and Scott Scudder – combined to go 41-51.  Closer John Franco saved 32 games, but also went 4-8.  Two-thirds of the Nasty Boys – Rob Dibble and Norm Charlton – were pleasant surprises, combining for a 18-8 record.  Dibble was second on the team in wins at 10.

Let’s get back to this Benzinger fellow.  He would have been listed on the back of the 1989 Topps “Reds Team Leaders” card in several places – games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, strikeouts, and for some reason that defies logic, intentional walks.  In addition, he was second in triples, home runs, and RBIs, and third in walks.  All of this goes back to the sheer number of games he played in – 161 – a full 30 games more than second place Davis.  Not sure what kept him out of action on April 30th, but I’m sure it was important.  So Benzinger was good at playing in a lot of games that year, and not much else.  Let’s take a look back and see if anyone saw that coming.

Benzinger was drafted in the fourth round of the 1981 Major League draft by the Boston Red Sox out of New Richmond High School in New Richmond, OH.  To date, he is the only major leaguer produced by the Lions.  Fellow fourth rounders that year include future teammate Paul O’Neill, Shane Mack and Eric Plunk.  Fun fact!  By some accounts, Benzinger was the worst player drafted that year.  While only 10 of the 26 players drafted reached the majors, Benzinger has the lowest WAR of the 10 at -2.7.

Upon signing, Benzinger was assigned to A- ball Elmira, where he hit .241 with 10 doubles, a triple, two home runs and eight RBIs in 41 games split between the outfield and first base.  This earned him a promotion to A ball Winston-Salem, where he hit .219 with 19 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 46 RBIs in 121 games, also in the outfield and at first base.  You’re going the wrong way there, Todd.

Benzinger found himself back in A ball in 1983, this time at Winter Haven.  He did better this time, hitting .279 with 34 doubles, five triples, seven home runs and 68 RBIs in 125 games mainly in the outfield, but he also had two games at first base, and one game at third base.  In the game he played third base, he had one chance, and promptly made an error, giving him a minor league career fielding percentage of .000 at the position.  Despite not being able to field third base, the Red Sox promoted him to AA New Britain for the next season, where he hit .258 with 25 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs and 60 RBIs.  They still couldn’t figure out where to play him though, as he again split his time between the outfield and first base.

Isn't the "o" long if
there's only one "d"?

The next three years are what is known to Benzinger as The Pawtucket Chronicles.  In AAA, he combined to hit .251 with 26 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs and 79 RBIs in 1985 and 1986.  In those two seasons, he only played three games at first base.

By the time 1987 came around, it was pretty much crap or get off the pot for Benzinger.  And crap he did.  In 65 games, he hit .323 with 17 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs and 49 RBIs.  He played about three-quarters of his time in the outfield, combining for a fielding percentage of .992, easily the best of his minor league career.

Not really sure why the
Brewers had a 60 year old
ex-fullback pitching.

The Red Sox called up Benzinger on June 21st, 1987.  In a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees, he pinch hit for catcher Marc Sullivan in the bottom of the eighth, drew a walk, and trotted home when Ellis Burks took Bob Tewksbury deep.  The next day, Benzinger would get his first career hit off of John Henry Johnson in a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.  Two days later, he would knock in four runs in an 8-7 win again over the Brewers.  He was hitting .310 through the end of June, and after playing sparingly in July, his average was only down to .288.  He played quite a bit more in August, but at the end of that month, he was only hitting .234.  After the league made some adjustments to him, he made his own adjustments, collecting 11 multi hit games in 31 games from September 1st on, including a three hit, seven RBI day in a 9-8 loss to the Tigers on September 15th.  That game also featured his first career grand slam.  He would finish his first partial season hitting .278 with 11 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 43 RBIs.  In his 63 games in the field, 61 of them were in the outfield, where he had a fielding percentage of .987 across all three positions.

Benzinger returned to Boston in 1988.  He played sparingly in the first half of the season, only playing in 33 games through the end of June while batting .238 with two home runs and 16 RBIs.  After hitting .324 in July, his season average was all the way up to .282.  This included a three-run, walkoff home run on July 20th, in a 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins.  Unfortunately, that was pretty much the high water mark of the season.  On August 4th, he had his first two-home run game.  He would add four more home runs through August 26th, but he didn’t hit another in his final 33 games that season.  Overall, he hit .254 with 28 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs and 70 RBIs.  Playing about two thirds of his games at first base, he had an overall fielding percentage of .989.

Before the start of the 1989 season, Benzinger was traded with Jeff Sellers and Luis Vasquez to the Cincinnati Reds for Nick Esasky and Rob Murphy.  Sellers would pitch in one minor league game for the Reds, and would never pitch in the majors again.  Vasquez would never make it to the majors, but he did give AAA Nashville 47 games, compiling a 15-19 record for them.  On the other end of the trade, Esasky gave the Sox one season, hitting .277 with 30 home runs, 108 RBIs, and an 18th place finish in the American League MVP voting.  Murphy would be bullpen filler for two seasons for the Sox, throwing 142 games, compiling a 5-13 record with 16 saves.

Unretires, becomes Marlins
new first baseman.

Benzinger set out to prove the Red Sox made a horrible decision in trading him, a journey which ultimately failed miserably.  Now a full time first baseman, he was hitting .225 at the end of April, with no home runs, six RBIs and four walks vs. 12 strikeouts.  By the midpoint of the season, things hadn’t gotten much better.  Pretty much the highlight of the first half was his grand slam hit on June 27th.  He would add another grand slam in the second game of a double header on August 18th, but that was about the only significant thing he did in the second half.  He finished the season hitting .245 with 28 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs and 76 RBIs, with 44 walks and 120 strikeouts.  He was intentionally walked 13 times, with six of those occurring in the last month of the season.  This was a first baseman with an on base percentage of .293 and a slugging percentage of .381.  For reference, Juan Pierre’s career slugging percentage was .361.  If Pierre could have gotten 150 more bases over the course of his 14 year career, he would have had the same slugging percentage as Benzinger.

I can't believe I found this on the internet.
Actually, I can.

Benzinger had one thing going for him in 1989.  Health.  He played in far more games (161) than the second place player on the team – Davis with 131.  The 1989 Reds had 20 players play in 40 or more games.  That number in 2014 was only 14.  Even the 2014 Rangers, probably the most injured team in the game this year, only had 16 players play in 40 or more games.  With health on his side, and a low walk rate, Benzinger led the league in at bats with 628.  In addition, he was fifth in the league in games played, fourth in plate appearances, seventh in strikeouts, and third in sacrifice flies, putouts, games at first base, and fielding percentage.  Despite his efforts, he accumulated -0.5 WAR on the year.  Fun fact – I remember looking at the back of Benzinger’s baseball card in 1990, studying the stats, and found it interesting that he had the exact same number of at bats – 628 – that he did in the previous two years combined – 223 and 405.  So if you want to know where my love of baseball is rooted, this is what I did for fun as a child – studied the backs of baseball cards of the ilk of players such as Todd Benzinger.

A combination of health and talent, or lack of both, would conspire to ensure Benzinger would never post anything close to his 1989 numbers again.  In 1990, he actually was on fire to start the season, hitting .339 in April, and he was still at the .300 mark as late as June 3rd.  A month later, it looks like the injury bug hit.  At the time, he was hitting .281 with four home runs and 39 RBIs.  He had only missed three of the Reds first 74 games to that point of the season.  After that point of the season, he would only play another 47 games, with only 25 starts, hitting .190 with one home run and seven RBIs with three walks and 26 strikeouts.  For the season, he hit .253 with 14 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 46 RBIs.

Fortunately for the Reds, prior to the 1990 season, they acquired William Harold (Hal) Morris from the Yankees.  Through the first half of the season, Morris played sparingly.  As of June 19th, he was only hitting .222.  Between June 20th and July 22nd, he hit .508, raising his batting average to .419 on the season.  The rest of the way out, he hit .309, and had completely replaced Benzinger at first base.  Both players were now World Series champions, but they were headed in opposite directions.

1991 would be Benzinger’s last season in Cincinnati.  On Opening Day, he went 3-4 with four RBIs, only a home run shy of the cycle, in a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros.  Over his next 50 games, through July 7th when he was traded to the Kansas City Royals for Domingo Mota and Chris Gwynn, he hit .168 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and seven RBIs.  The change of scenery seemed to be a boost to him, as for the rest of July for the Royals, he hit .347 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and 18 RBIs.  This included a grand slam on July 23rd, which proved to be the game winner in an 8-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.  Over the final two months of the season, he played mainly replacement level ball, hitting .275, but he didn’t hit a single home run, which wasn’t exactly ideal for an American League first baseman.  For the season, he hit .262 with 18 doubles, five triples, three home runs and 51 RBIs.

In December of 1991, Benzinger was traded yet again, this time to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He probably assumed when he was traded that he would be replacing Eddie Murray at first base, after Murray signed with the New York Mets.  That assumption would be false, as the Dodgers had a young Eric Karros coming up.  Karros hit .316 with 22 home runs and 101 RBIs at AAA Albuquerque in 1991.  Karros would go on to win the NL Rookie of the Year award at first base for the Dodgers in 1992.

In 1992, Benzinger wouldn’t even get his first RBI of the season until May 17th.  His two hit performance that day raised his average to .207.  He would try to make the most of his playing time, as a week later, he would hit his first home run of the season, kicking off a five game streak where he knocked in 11 runs, including a grand slam on May 27th.  During that streak, his average hit a season high of .265.  For the most part though, he was in the .230s and .240s the entire season.  The only other meaningful thing he did that year was hit another grand slam as a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth inning on September 4th.  That briefly put the Dodgers ahead, but they still lost to the Pirates when they put up three runs in the bottom of the frame, winning 6-5.  Overall, Benzinger hit .239 with 16 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 31 RBIs, splitting his time between the outfield and first base.

Benzinger would head north in 1993, signing with the San Francisco Giants.  Not sure what he was exactly thinking with the first base position locked down by Will Clark, but whatever.  Through the first two months of the season, he played in only six full games, and he was only hitting .189.  The next two months saw only four complete games, but he had brought his average up to .244.  In the final two months of the season, Benzinger actually played in 21 full games, and over that span, he hit .326.  This included a pair of two-home run games on August 30th and September 18th.  The Giants would win 103 games, but that was only good for second place, as they finished one game behind the Atlanta Braves.  For the season, Benzinger would hit .288 with seven doubles, two triples, six home runs and 26 RBIs.

Benzinger would return to the Giants in 1994, this time with the starting first base job in hand after Clark signed with the Texas Rangers.  Unfortunately, his second half magic from the previous season couldn’t carry over into the new year, as in the first half, he only hit .249 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs.  That’s an average month for Adam Dunn, but when you’re talking about three months, that’s not very good for a first baseman.  He had mostly the same results for most of July, but towards the end of the month through the final game on August 10th, he hit .516 over his final 31 at bats.  Benzinger was sad to see the season cancelled by the strike, just as he was getting hot.

Benzinger once again was with the Giants to start the 1995 season.  Unfortunately, the Giants had now decided that the Todd Benzinger era at first base was over, and J.R. Phillps was the future.  Benzinger’s first seven games of the season all featured one hitless at bat.  On May 13th, he would play in his final complete game, and a day later, he would play in his last career game.  Fittingly enough, Benzinger was intentionally walked in his final career at bat.  It wasn’t a good idea in 1989, and it wasn’t a good idea in 1995.  Darren Lewis singled home Royce Clayton to beat the Pirates 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th.  The next day, the Giants released Benzinger.  At the time of his release, Phillps was batting .119.  That’s how committed the Giants were to the idea that Benzinger was not part of their future plans.

Ten days after being released by the Giants, Benzinger signed a minor league free agent deal with the Yankees.  At AAA Columbus, he only played in 12 games, but despite hitting .280, he only had one home run.  An AL first baseman in the mid-1990’s was going to need to hit more than 13 or 14 home runs in a season, so on June 9th, the Yankees released him, ending his professional career.

For his career, Benzinger hit .257 with 135 doubles, 18 triples, 66 home runs and 376 RBIs.  He only had 181 walks vs. 552 strikeouts.  In the field, he had a .994 fielding percentage in 622 games.  About 75% of those were at first base, and the remainder in the outfield, except the one game he played third base – for one inning.  But he didn’t make an error!

In his magical 1989 season, he led the National League in at bats and outs made.  He was third in sacrifice flies and putouts, fourth in plate appearances, and fifth in games played.  His fielding percentage of .994 at first base is actually 32nd best of all time, right between Adam LaRoche and Wally Joyner.

After his playing days were over, he managed A ball Dayton in the Reds farm system.  A .404 batting average will make you immortal.  A .404 winning percentage, especially in A ball, will make you unemployed.

There you have the life and times of Todd Benzinger.  Sadly, “Mercedes” as he was known, probably didn’t ever make enough to actually buy a Mercedes.  He did, however, lead the league in at bats in 1989, and that means something to someone – 11 year old Charles Wood.

Mismanagement Monday

Mondays are the best day of the week for mismanagement.  There’s always a cluster of work that somehow came in over the weekend, and that just adds to the pile left from Friday afternoon (it’s ok to admit that you check out at 1:35 every Friday, I won’t tell).  By 11:00 am on Monday, you have half of Friday, a weekend pile, and then the work from the people that DON’T work on weekends.  There’s probably a lot of talent in your workplace, but it’s probably mismanaged.  And Monday is probably the day that it is more apparent than the other days of the week.  Kind of like the early 1990’s Toronto Blue Jays.

DON'T CROSS THE BORDERS!

The Blue Jays of the early 90’s had a lot of success.  They were back to back World Series champs in 1992 and 1993.  They had established stars such as Paul Molitor, Joe Carter, Tony Fernandez, Dave Stewart and Jack Morris, and youngsters John Olerud, Roberto Alomar and Pat Hentgen.  With all of that talent around, no one noticed that Pat Borders hit a combined .248 with 25 home runs between 1992 and 1994.  His fielding percentage was .987 during that time, which I suppose is why no one really cared what Pat Borders was doing when he wasn’t catching.  He still wasn’t Ivan Rodriguez-good, who won the Gold Glove award those seasons with a … .987 fielding percentage.  Of course, Rodriguez threw out 131 batters in those seasons.  Borders only threw out … 138.  It was a much lower percentage of base runners though.  OK, I guess this had no point other than to make fun of Pat Borders.

The only thing that Borders seemed to be REALLY good at was blocking a young catcher in the Blue Jays’system from coming up.  That catcher was Carlos Delgado.  In the minors, Delgado had a .982 fielding percentage at catcher, which wasn’t horrible, and seeing how during those seasons he hit .298 while hitting 98 home runs, I’m guessing the slight falloff could have been overlooked.  I’m not saying that a 20 year old Delgado could have came up and hit .324 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs like he did at A+ Dunedin in 1992, but he probably could have matched Borders’ .242 with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs.  Those numbers were almost identical in 1993 for Borders, hitting .254 with nine home runs and 55 RBIs, while Delgado, advancing to AA Knoxville hit .303 with 25 home runs and 102 RBIs.  He even drew 102 walks that year.  Borders only walked 155 times in his CAREER.

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s take a look at Delgado’s career.  He was signed by the Blue Jays as an amateur free agent out of Aguadilla High School in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico in October 1988.  Upon his signing, he was assigned to A- St. Catharines, where he hit .180 with five doubles and 11 RBIs in 31 games.  He found himself back there for the 1989 season, where he did much better, hitting .281 with 13 doubles, six home runs and 39 RBIs in 67 games.  In those two combined seasons, he had 58 walks and 104 strikeouts.

In 1991, other than one game where he went hitless in three at bats for Syracuse, Delgado spent the season in A ball Myrtle Beach.  There, he hit .286 with 18 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs and 10 RBIs, with 75 walks and 97 strikeouts.  You can see his 1992 and 1993 statistics above.

After a very brief callup in 1993 to the Blue Jays, he would return to Syracuse for the 1994 season.  In 85 games, he hit .319 with 11 doubles, 19 home runs and 58 RBIs, with 42 walks and 58 strikeouts.  He was yet again in Syracuse in 1995.  In 91 games, he hit .318 with 23 doubles, four triples, 22 home runs and 74 RBIs, with 45 walks and 78 strikeouts.  It was this season that he also found himself out from behind the plate, playing 14 error free games in left field, and 79 games at first base, with a fielding percentage of .995.  In both 1994 and 1995, he also got a bit of time with the Blue Jays.  Let’s take a closer look at his big league career.

Delgado would make his major league debut on October 1st, 1993 in a 7-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.  He entered the game as catcher for Randy Knorr in the bottom of the sixth inning, he came to bat once that day in the eighth, drawing an eight pitch walk off of Todd Frohwirth.  One batter later, he was erased off of a ground ball double play by Alfredo Griffin.  Two days later, he would taste sweet victory as the Blue Jays beat the Orioles 11-6.  Pinch hitting in the eighth inning for Paul Molitor, he popped out to short to end his season hitless.

Third base, left field,
whatever. There's enough
Darnell Coles to go around.

In 1994, Delgado would start the season with the Blue Jays as the opening day left fielder.  This was the first professional game that he ever played a position other than catcher.  The move instantly paid off, as he went 5-15 with three home runs in his first three games that season.  On April 11th, he went 2-4 with two home runs and five RBIs in a 14-5 win over the Oakland A’s.  By the end of April, he was only hitting .234, but he had eight home runs and 21 RBIs.  He also had 11 walks and 28 strikeouts.  Unfortunately, after May 1st, he hit .189 with only one home run and three RBIs, despite his BB/K ratio improving to 14 walks and 18 strikeouts.  His on base percentage over that span was .377 due to his increased walks, but still, the Blue Jays decided that June 8th would be his last day in the majors, and they sent him back to Syracuse.  After all, the Blue Jays DID have Mike Huff, who at that point in his career was a .230 hitter with five home runs and 41 RBIs in 217 games.  And don’t forget Darnell Coles, who at that point in his career was a .248 hitter with 67 home runs and 335 RBIs in 825 games.  Huff and Coles shared left field while Delgado was back in Syracuse abusing the opposition.  Borders hit .247 with three home runs and 26 RBIs that season as well.  Delgado ended the season at .215 with two doubles, nine home runs and 24 RBIs, with 25 walks and 46 strikeouts.  In his first ever attempt at anything other than catcher, he made two errors 41 games in the outfield, and added two assists.

Delgado once again opened the season with the Blue Jays in 1995.  This time, they decided they REALLY wanted to mismanage him.  In his first seven games that season, he only received one plate appearance.  In his next game, he went 0-4 with three strikeouts, before finally getting his first hit in his next game.  His first home run of the season came on May 23rd, as a pinch hitter in a 10-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals.  Five days later, he was only hitting .154 with one home run and three RBIs when he was sent back to Syracuse.  After putting up gaudy numbers again in AAA, he was called back up at the end of the season.  Over the final month, he hit .169 with two home runs and eight RBIs.  Overall for the season, he hit .165 with three doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs, with six walks and 26 strikeouts.

Delgado would return to the majors for good for the 1996 season.  By now, he had officially made the transition to first base, although with Olerud already having established himself there, Delgado primarily served as the DH.  He was hitting .300 as late as June 19th, but he ended the season at .270 with 28 doubles, two triples, 25 home runs and 92 RBIs, with 58 walks and 139 strikeouts.  Fun fact – in the two games where he had a triple, he also homered, but those were the only two hits he had those days.  No cycle for you!

Delgado had similar numbers in 1997.  Again hitting .300 in mid-June, he had a stretch from June 16th through August 6th where he hit.184, before finishing the season at an even .300 from August 7th on.  He would hit his first career grand slam on April 25th, followed by two more on June 6th and July 24th.  He homered in four straight games in early June, and fell a double short of the cycle on July 11th.  Overall for the season, he hit .262 with 42 doubles, three triples, 30 home runs and 91 RBIs, with 64 walks and 133 strikeouts.  With Olerud having moved on to the New York Mets, Delgado was now the primary first baseman.  In 119 games, he only made 12 errors, good for a .988 fielding percentage.  This would actually be his worst fielding percentage of any season where he played over 100 games at first base (it was .983 in 27 games there in 1996).

In 1998, Delgado took a big step toward showing the world the player he would become.  He would hit grand slams on May 7th and August 12th.  The May 7th game was also his first career five hit game.  He had his first career three home run game on August 4th.  He had a 19 game hit streak that bridged May and June, and an on base streak of 38 games.  He was batting .301 on September 1st, but from there on out, a horribly unlucky BABIP of .170 translated into a .244 batting average, even though over that span he still had 11 home runs and 19 RBIs, with 20 walks and 19 strikeouts.  Overall for the season, he hit .292 with 43 doubles, a triple, 38 home runs and 115 RBIs, with 73 walks and 139 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the Week the weeks of June 7th (.407 average, four home runs, nine RBIs) and August 23rd (.370 average, four home runs, 10 RBIs).  He would finish a distant 21st in the AL MVP voting.  Manning 141 games at first base, he only made 10 errors, good for a .992 fielding percentage.

Delgado’s average dipped a bit in 1999, but many of his other numbers improved.  It was a season of ups and downs, as he was hitting .241 on April 28th, .286 on May 19th, and .246 on August 3rd, before hitting .340 from that point out.  He had a six game streak in early August where he hit .577 with eight home runs and 13 RBIs.  In total, he hit .272 with 39 doubles, 44 home runs and 134 RBIs, with 86 walks and 141 strikeouts.  He would finish 12th in the AL MVP voting, and would win his first Silver Slugger award.  In the field, he would play in 147 games at first base, committing 14 errors, good for a .990 fielding percentage.

So, you're saying, I should
have won MVP that year too?

In 2000, at the age of 28, Delgado had arguably his best season in a career full of great seasons, but it didn’t start out that way.  After the first eight games, he was only hitting .138 with no home runs.  By the end of April, he had that average up to .319 with eight home runs.  In June, he played in 26 games, and had more than one hit in 14 of them, hitting .411 with nine home runs and 26 RBIs, including a grand slam on June 7th.  In the only game of the season where he hit a triple, he fell a home run short of the cycle in an 8-7 loss to the Royals on August 7th.  He would add another grand slam on September 17th, although he faded a bit down the stretch, only hitting .245 with two home runs that month.  Overall, he would hit .344 with a league leading 57 doubles, one triple, 41 home runs and 137 RBIs, with 123 walks and 104 strikeouts.  His increased average and walk rate made this on base percentage jump to .470, and his OPS was 1.134.  He was AL Player of the Week the weeks of April 23rd (.480 average, four home runs, eight RBIs), June 11th (.556 average, four home runs, 13 RBIs), and July 9th (.524 average, one home run, eight RBIs).  He played in all 162 games that season, all at first base, with only 13 errors equaling a .991 fielding percentage.  He was an All Star for the first time in his career, again won a Silver Slugger award, and finished fourth in the AL MVP voting behind Jason Giambi, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez.  He won the AL Hank Aaron award and The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year award.

Delgado wasn’t quite able to duplicate that success in 2001.  At the end of April, he was “only” batting .293, but he added 10 home runs and 22 RBIs, thanks to two games with three home runs each and one game with two home runs.  He was only batting in the .250’s at the end of May, June, and July before hitting .328 after August 1st.  On the season, he hit .279 with 31 doubles, one triple, 39 home runs and 102 RBIs, with 11 walks and 136 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the week the week of April 8th, when he hit .368 with five home runs and 10 RBIs.  One thing that very well may have hurt his numbers were fewer opportunities with runners on.  He was intentionally walked 22 times that season.  He had 18 the year before, but 11 of those were in the second half of the season, which may have also contributed to his slightly lower numbers then as well.  Playing all 162 games again, he only made nine errors, good for a fielding percentage of .994.

Delgado would miss the majority of August and only play in 143 games in 2002, but he would put up similar numbers to the previous season.  He was hitting .280 at the end of April, but from that point out, his average didn’t get much above the .250’s until he caught fire at the end of the season, hitting .435 with 10 home runs and 22 RBIs in the last 20 games that year.  Overall, he hit .277 with 34 doubles, two triples, 33 home runs and 108 RBIs, with 102 walks and 126 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the Week for the week of September 29th, when he hit .450 with four home runs and 11 RBIs.  In the field, he had 12 errors at first base, good for a .991 fielding percentage.

In 2003, Delgado would again find himself as an All Star.  He came out of the gate strong, hitting .365 in the month of April.  He hit grand slams on June 6th and September 28th.  On September 25th, he was 4-4 with four home runs and six RBIs in a 10-8 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  For the year, he hit .302 with 38 doubles, one triple, 42 home runs and a league leading 145 RBIs, with 109 walks and 137 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the Week for the week of August 28th, when he hit .318 with six home runs and 11 RBIs.  Along with the All Star nod, he was a Silver Slugger, and finished second in the AL MVP race behind Alex Rodriguez.  He only made 10 errors in the field for a .993 fielding percentage.

2004 would mark Delgado’s last year in Toronto.  His April started off slow, as he was only hitting .119 through the first 12 games of the season, but he hit .415 over the last 10 games to finish the month at .265.  By May 29th, his average was down to .227.  He would miss all of June and the first few games of July, but he still wasn’t really right, with his average falling slightly to .221 by the end of July.  From August 1st on, he hit .330 to somewhat salvage his season.  By the end of the season, he was hitting .269, his highest mark since May 3rd, with 26 doubles, 32 home runs and 99 RBIs, with 69 walks and 115 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the Week for the week of September 5th, when he hit .381 with three home runs and seven RBIs.  He only played in 128 games, and despite missing time, he still played most of them at first base.  He only made five errors, setting a career high for fielding percentage at .996.

Why is my name and number ironed on?

In 2005, Delgado would switch leagues, signing with the Florida Marlins.  Back at full health, he once again continued to do Carlos Delgado things.  He hit safely in 15 of 22 games that April, finishing the month at .300.  He missed the last few games in July and some games the first of August, but other than that, he was pretty much back to playing every day.  In 144 games, he hit .301 with 41 doubles, three triples, 33 home runs and 115 RBIs, with 72 walks and 121 strikeouts.  His only grand slam of the season came in a pinch hit at bat on July 7th in an 11-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.  He would finish sixth in the NL MVP voting.  In the field, he made 14 errors at first base, which was still good for a .989 fielding percentage.

In the offseason, Delgado was traded to the New York Mets for Grant Psomas, Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit.  His numbers would take a dip, but he was still a very effective player.  He came out of the gate strong, hitting .298 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs in 24 games in April, but his average had fallen to .250 by the end of May.  He was hitting .247 in mid-August before finishing the season hitting .320.  Overall, he hit .265 with 30 doubles, two triples, 38 home runs and 114 RBIs, with 74 walks and 120 strikeouts.  He finished a distant 12th in the NL MVP voting.  He only committed eight errors at first for a .994 fielding percentage.  With the Mets winning the NL East, Delgado made the playoffs for the only time in his career.  He made good use of his time, hitting .429 with a home run and two RBIs in a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  In the seven game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, he hit .304 with three doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs.  That combined for a .351 average and a 1.199 OPS.

Delgado’s lone grand slam of the year was against the Cardinals in an 8-7 victory on August 22nd.  He also added a solo home run that game and finished with five RBIs.  Although he lost the war that day, Albert Pujols won the battle of first basemen, also hitting two home runs – a grand slam and a three run – with all seven Cardinals RBIs.  Future Cardinal Carlos Beltran would hit a walk off two run home run off of Jason Isringhausen.

In 2007, Delgado’s numbers would continue to decline.  He was batting under .200 as late as May 3rd, but he would raise his average to .231 by the end of May.  He would miss some time in the middle of September, but came back to hit .297 in the last 10 games of the season.  Overall, he hit .258 with 30 doubles, 24 home runs and 87 RBIs, with 52 walks and 118 strikeouts.  Despite his dip in offense, there was no decline in the field, as he committed eight errors good for a .993 fielding percentage.

He's more of a cake guy.

2008 would be the last full season for Delgado.  Seemingly healthy again, the 36 year old Delgado’s numbers returned to something closer to the average Delgado season.  At the end of June, he was only hitting .228, but after hitting .357 in July, his season average jumped to .260, and he would hit .292 over the final two months of the season to increase it further.  He was a home run short of the cycle in an 8-6 loss to the San Diego Padres on June 8th.  On June 27th, he went 3-5 with a grand slam, a three run home run and a two run double, finishing the day with nine RBIs in a 15-6 win over the New York Yankees.  He would add his final career grand slam in a 9-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs on September 24th.  On the season, he hit .271 with 32 doubles, one triple, 38 home runs and 115 RBIs, with 72 walks and 124 strikeouts.  He would finish ninth in the NL MVP voting.

Delgado would start the season with the Mets in 2009, but after the first 30 games of the season, he was done.  Overall, he hit .298 with seven doubles, one triple, four home runs and 23 RBIs, with 12 walks and 20 strikeouts.  In his last game on May 10th, he was 1-4 with a double off of Ian Snell in an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 25 games at first base, he made two errors for a .990 fielding percentage.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF.

A few days after his last game, he had hip surgery.  He was only expected to miss 10 weeks, but didn’t play another game that season.  Before the 2010 season, he had another procedure on his hip.  In early August, he signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox.  He would only play in five games at AAA Pawtucket, hitting .231 with two RBIs, before suffering another setback.  He announced his retirement in April of the following year.

For his career, Delgado hit .280 with 483 doubles, 18 triples, 473 home runs and 1512 RBIs, with 1109 walks and 1745 strikeouts.  His career on base percentage was .383, and his career OPS was .929.  He was never accused of being fleet of foot, with only 14 career stolen bases, but he actually had more intentional walks – 186 – and hit by pitch – 172 – than double plays grounded into – 152.  Despite all of his games at catcher in the minor leagues, he only caught five errorless innings in two games in the majors.  Overall at first base, in 1767 career games, he only made 129 errors for a .992 fielding percentage, but never won a Gold Glove award.

It's easier to hit with two bats.

Despite his average being, well, average, his on base percentage is actually 147th best in major league history.  His slugging percentage of .546 ranks 28th all time, and his OPS ranks 37th all time.  His 473 home runs rank 31st all time.  One stat that stuck out to me is that his hit by pitch total ranks 14th all time.  That’s somewhat unusual for a slugging first baseman.  Jason Giambi (180) and Andres Galarraga (178) rank just ahead of him, but other than that, not many other first basemen among the leaders in that category.  His intentional walk count ranks 22nd all time, and his HR/AB ratio of 15.4 is 23rd all time, right between Ron Kittle and Ken Griffey, Jr.  He is one of six major league players to have hit 30 home runs in 10 consecutive seasons, the others being Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Jimmie Foxx and Sammy Sosa.

It will be VERY interesting to see what kind of response that Delgado gets from Hall of Fame voters next year when he first becomes eligible.  Never linked to any sort of steroid allegations, that may earn him a few votes alone.  He was also the 2006 winner of the Roberto Clemente Award.  Before we feel sorry for Delgado, worrying he might not make the Hall of Fame, let’s not forget that he made a crap-ton of money in his career – well over $140 million.  But he’s used some of that money for good use.  He was, and still is, quite active in charitable causes in his native Puerto Rico.

Here’s to you, Carlos Delgado!  We might not sleep on a pile of money at night, but most of us can certainly empathize with your career mismanagement.