Guest wsc425 Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 Friday, February 7 Useless information dept. By Jayson Stark ESPN.com Useless 2000s information Three years into the glorious decade of the 2000s, we're still looking for a nickname for it that will stick. The Zeroes? The Double Zeroes? The Blanks? The Zilches? The Bagels? Injury of the week Pokey Reese jammed his right index finger while ushering his dog into his car. Doctors say this injury won't (ahem) hound him all season. Hey, you've got us. Just please, we beg you, spare us The Aughts. Whatever we call it, though, it's fun to step back, about a third of the way through the decade, and look at the best and worst of The Nulls, The Voids, The Nadas, The No-Name Decade or whatever the heck we feel like calling it this week. * No one has ever averaged 50 homers in a decade -- although that George H. Ruth guy gave it a heck of a run in the 1920s (averaging 46.7). But in the 2000s, we have three players averaging 50 or more and seven averaging 40 or more: Player Home runs Avg. per year Barry Bonds 168 56.0 Sammy Sosa 163 54.3 Alex Rodriguez 150 50.0 Jim Thome 138 46.0 Rafael Palmeiro 129 43.0 Jason Giambi 122 40.7 Todd Helton 121 40.3 * Bonds also has racked up 117 more walks than the leader among normal folks (Bonds 492, Jason Giambi 375). His slugging percentage is 127 points higher than anyone else's (Bonds .782, Sosa .655). And his on-base percentage is 50 points higher than the next-closest mortal -- 71 points higher than No. 2 in the National League (Bonds .512, Giambi .462, Helton .441). Whatever sport this man is playing, it's different than what the rest of the population is playing. * But amazingly, our man Barry doesn't lead in every offensive category. In fact, thanks to all those walks, he isn't even in the top 10 in RBI. (He's 11th, with 353.) The 10 men ahead of him: Player RBI Avg. per year Alex Rodriguez 409 136.3 Sammy Sosa 406 135.3 Todd Helton 402 134.0 Jason Giambi 379 126.3 Magglio Ordonez 374 124.7 Garret Anderson 363 121.0 Jeff Bagwell 360 120.0 Miguel Tejada 359 119.7 Luis Gonzalez 359 119.7 Manny Ramirez 354 118.0 * Six men are averaging 190 hits a year in the decade, and we can just about guarantee you can't name them. Here goes: Player Hits Avg. per year Todd Helton 595 198.3 Vladimir Guerrero 587 195.7 Derek Jeter 583 194.3 Darin Erstad 580 193.3 Garret Anderson 574 191.3 Jeff Kent 572 190.7 * Other offensive leaders: Runs scored: A-Rod 392 (NL leader -- Helton, 377) Stolen bases: Luis Castillo 143 (AL leader -- Johnny Damon, 104) Extra-base hits: Helton 281 (AL leader -- A-Rod, 250) Singles: Erstad 423 (NL leader -- Fernando Vina, 389) Doubles: Helton 152 (AL leader -- Anderson, 140) Triples: Cristian Guzman 40 (NL leader -- Tony Womack 24) * And now, before we move on to the pitchers, some 2000s Leaders Who Wish They Weren't: Strikeouts: Jose Hernandez 498 (AL leader -- Jim Thome, 495) Most outs: Garret Anderson 1,468 (NL leader -- Andruw Jones, 1,406) Lowest average*: Peter Bergeron .225 (AL leader -- Brady Anderson, .226) Most GIDPs: Magglio Ordonez 63 (NL leader -- Brad Ausmus, 62) Hardest to walk: Deivi Cruz 52 BB in 1,511 AB, one every 29.1 AB Most errors (infield): (tie) Troy Glaus and Edgar Renteria 72 Most errors (outfield): Vladimir Guerrero 32 (AL leader -- Terrence Long, 25) Most errors (catcher): (tie) Jason Kendall and Ramon Hernandez 31 (* minimum: 1,000 at-bats) * Sixty feet, six inches away, five pitchers have averaged at least 17 wins a year in the 2000s. You might have heard of them: Pitcher Wins Avg. per year Randy Johnson 64 21.3 Curt Schilling 56 18.7 Tom Glavine 55 18.3 Tim Hudson 53 17.7 Greg Maddux 52 17.3 * And six pitchers (with at least 300 IP) have ERAs under 3.00 in the 2000s. You've heard of them, too: Pedro Martinez, 2.08 Randy Johnson, 2.48 Derek Lowe, 2.79 Greg Maddux, 2.90 Roy Oswalt, 2.91 Kevin Brown, 2.95 * It ain't a shock that the Big Unit has struck out more hitters than anyone else in the 2000s. It's just kind of mind-boggling that outside of Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez, no one else is within 400 of him. And only 10 other pitchers in the whole sport have even piled up half as many K's as the Unit: Randy Johnson, 1053 Curt Schilling, 777 Pedro Martinez, 686 Mike Mussina, 606 Hideo Nomo, 594 Roger Clemens, 593 Javier Vazquez, 583 Kerry Wood, 566 Bartolo Colon, 562 Chan Ho Park, 556 Ryan Dempster, 533 * Other pitching leaders: Most innings pitched: Johnson 758 1/3 (AL leader -- Mussina, 682) Most complete games: (tie) Johnson and Schilling 19 Strikeouts per 9 IP (starters)*: Johnson 12.50 (AL leader -- Martinez, 11.58) Strikeouts per 9 IP (relievers): Armando Benitez 11.39 (AL leader -- Jeff Nelson, 10.66) Fewest hits per 9 IP (relievers): Jeff Nelson 5.48 (NL leader -- Benitez, 5.90) Fewest hits per 9 IP (starters)*: Johnson 6.88 (AL leader -- Zito, 7.22) Most saves: Robb Nen 129 (AL leader -- Kazuhiro Sasaki, 119) Most relief appearances: Steve Kline 238 (AL leader -- Mike Stanton, 224) Best walk ratio*: Rick Reed 1.43 per 9 IP (NL leader -- Curt Schilling, 1.45) Best K/BB ratio*: Pedro Martinez 7.07 (NL leader -- Schilling, 6.64) (* minimum: 300 innings pitched) * And, finally, some Pitching Leaders Who Wish They Weren't: Most gopherballs: Rick Helling 98 (Runner-up -- Jose Lima, 95) Most losses: (tie) Jeff Weaver and Livan Hernandez, 42 Highest ERA*: Ryan Rupe 6.41 (Runner-up -- Lima, 6.40) Most balks: Brian Anderson 10 (AL leader -- Ramon Ortiz, 7) Most wild pitches: Matt Clement 45 (Runners-up -- Dan Reichert & Mac Suzuki, 33) Most hit batters: (tie) Jamey Wright and Chan Ho Park, 49 Most errors: Kip Wells 11 (Runners-up – Ramon Ortiz & Chuck Finley, 10) Lowest winning pct.*: Bryan Rekar 10-25, .286 (Runner-up – Jason Johnson, 16-36, .308) (* minimum: 300 innings pitched, 50 starts) Thanks to baseball-encyclopedia.com's Lee Sinins, whose incredible Sabermetric Encyclopedia CD-Rom was the source for most of those numbers. More useless information * The Braves did something this winter we'd never heard of: They jettisoned two 18-game winners in the same offseason -- Tom Glavine (via free agency) and Kevin Millwood (via salary-dump trade to the Phillies). You might say it had been a while since any team lost two pitchers who won that many games in the same offseason -- like an entire century . With the help of the Elias Sports Bureau, we determined that the last time two pitchers left any team after winning 18 games or more was the winter of 1902-03. (Federal League raids in 1914-15 were ruled ineligible.) Contract clause of the week What do you give the man who got traded twice in 19 days? How about the perfect limited no-trade clause. In Cliff Floyd's new deal with the Mets, he has a full no-trade clause this year. After that, thanks to ever-diligent agents Seth and Sam Levinson, Floyd's contract actually contains a clause limiting him to one trade per season. But who's counting? The pitchers: 28-game winner Jack Chesbro and 20-game winner Jesse Tannehill, who bolted the 1902 Pirates to sign with a new American League team in New York -- the Highlanders (later to become the Yankees). The Braves can only hope this works out as well for them as it did for the 1903 Pirates -- who won the NL by 6½ games. Of course, they did go on to lose the first World Series to the Red Sox. But the Yankees finished fourth. * Speaking of Millwood, he gives the Phillies a rotation unlike any other in the National League -- at least in one significant category. Heading into spring training, the Phillies have three starters who pitched at least 200 innings last year. (Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla were the others.) Only one other rotation in baseball can make that claim -- the A's, with Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder. By the way, the Yankees missed by just 1/3 of an inning. (David Wells and Mike Mussina were over 200, with Jeff Weaver at 199 2/3.) And the Braves missed by 2/3 inning (Paul Byrd and Russ Ortiz topped 200, but Greg Maddux pitched 199 1/3). But the facts are the facts. * You don't find many teams that add two strikeout machines of the pedigree of Preston Wilson and Jose Hernandez in the same offseason. Hernandez has whiffed 188 and 185 times the past two seasons. Wilson contributed 187 Ks to the Marlins' cause in 2000. And now they're both about to keep the breezes stirring in Colorado. That will make the Rockies just the second team in history to feature more than one hitter who whiffed 180 times or more in a season. But they're still no match for the only other team to do it. That was the 1991 Tigers, who had three one-time 180-strikeout men -- the legendary Rob Deer, Pete Incaviglia and Cecil Fielder. That team, if you're wondering, made an unsuccessful run at the all-time punchout record, finishing with 1,185. * Only one relief pitcher in baseball held both left-handed and right-handed hitters to averages below the Sal Fasano Line (formerly the Mendoza Line) last year. And it wasn't Byung-Hyun Kim, Trevor Hoffman or Troy Percival. It was Octavio Dotel (.159 by right-handed hitters, .190 by left-handed hitters). Who came the closest among relievers who pitched in at least 50 games? These five guys just missed: Pitcher vs. left-handers vs. right-handers Billy Wagner .180 .201 Jamie Walker .202 .194 Scott Williamson .200 .169 Chris Hammond .174 .206 Buddy Groom .181 .208 * Fittingly, at the other end of the same spectrum, there was also only one reliever (with at least 50 apperarances) in either league who allowed both left-handed and right-handed hitters to hit .300. That was Expos and Pirates set-up man Matt Herges (.315 by lefties, .300 by righties). Honorable mention goes to Dennys Reyes -- who will, coincidentally, be Herges' teammate in Pittsburgh this year (.299 from both sides). * No starting pitcher (with at least 162 IP) held both left-handers and right-handers under .200. And only Pedro Martinez came close (.203 by lefties, .191 righties). Closest by a National League pitcher? Nope, don't look for Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling or Kerry Wood on top of this list. The winner: Matt Clement (.220 lefties, .212 righties). You can look it up. * Have we mentioned lately that all saves are not created equal? Hey, life is good when all you do is march in to start the ninth inning with a lead. These closers inherited the fewest runners last season: Eddie Guardardo 2 (1 scored) Bob Wickman 5 (0 scored) Jason Isringhausen 6 (0 scored) Jose Mesa 7 (0 scored) Mike Williams 7 (2 scored) * Closers who inherited the most runners: Danny Graves 40 (23 scored) Byung-Hyun Kim 34 (7 scored) Robb Nen 26 (8 scored) Juan Acevedo 26 (8 scored) * It has been a while since our last box score line of the week, so here's the eagerly awaited winner of our Winter League Box Score Line of the Offseason award: Erick (Once Traded for Mark McGwire) Ludwick, for Ponce of the Puerto Rican League, in a 17-2 loss to Mayaguez on Nov. 10: 2 2/3 IP, 5 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP. It was the start of a winter that wasn't quite what Ludwick had in mind: 0-3, 14.67 ERA, 15.1 IP, 26 H, 27 R, 25 ER, 25 BB, 12 K, 7 WP, .377 opp. avg. Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxplosion Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 Damn man, you must have a lot of time on your hands ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDF Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 wow, jayson must not had enuf to do on this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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