Quote:
Originally Posted by David Watts
Is Kansas City all bat no pitching? I see they had 3 players in the running for MVP, but weren't mentioned in your post season.
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Very astute. Pretty much. The Athletics led MLB in runs scored with 798, and also allowed the most runs in MLB with 810. They had the worst defensive efficiency rating (.683) in the AL, and were 14th in MLB in front of only the 62-100 Giants and the 85-77 Phillies. Kansas City finished the season in seventh place in the AL 12 games behind the Orioles.
Their pitching paid the price for their defense somewhat, but they were partly to blame as well. Jim Palmer (who is nowhere near as good as he was IRL - 35-50, 1 SV, 4.27 ERA, 3.97 FIP lifetime through 4 seasons) went 11-16 with a 4.58 ERA, and a 3.99 FIP. Chuck Smith was 11-16 with a 3.45 ERA, and a 3.72 FIP. Frank Dwyer went 14-12, 4.67 ERA, 4.05 FIP. Brett Oberholtzer was a hideous 6-12, with a 5.83 ERA, and a 4.69 FIP. George Keefe was 9-7, with a 4.58 ERA, 4.11 FIP. Perry Werden (who started as a pitcher, moved to 1B, and is now a pitcher again) went 7-4, with a 4.94 ERA, 3.72 FIP. Throw in 14 G and 3 GS from Jake Arrieta with a 1-2 record, a 5.03 ERA, and a 4.69 FIP and you have the makings of a thoroughly mediocre pitching staff, that could use some help from its defense, but is still not very good.
Even closer Rollie Fingers was somewhat off, with a 6-5, 37 SV, 4.28 ERA, 3.27 FIP. The only pitcher on the staff with a FIP under 3 was Jim Corsi, who went 4-1, 2 SV, 3.24 ERA, 2.83 FIP, but he only pitched 33.1 IP, so he couldn't have much of an influence. There were two pitchers with ERAs under 3, but again they didn't pitch many innings. Jeff Zaske went 1-2, with 1 SV, a 2.16 ERA, and a 3.75 FIP in just 25.0 IP, while Alex Malloy went 3-3 with 4 SV, a 2.27 ERA, and a 3.45 FIP in just 39.2 IP.
Their position players are fantastic, and the big four (including Ken Williams [not the White Sox executive, the good Ken Williams], who you don't see in the top 10 for MVP) are very talented, and still very young. Williams is the oldest at 24, while Ryan, Briggs and Smith are all 22 or younger.
Ryan was more of a DH than a LF, and had a banner year. He had a line of .319/.400/.506/.906 (157 OPS+, 151 wRC+) with 103 R, 182 H, 34 2B, 11 3B, 17 HR, 92 RBI, 79 BB, just 52 K, 30 SB, and 16 CS. Briggs rotated between CF and LF and had a few starts at DH. He put up a .309/.431/.476/.906 slash line (158 OPS+, 153 wRC+) with 108 R, 184 H, 32 2B, 11 3B, 15 HR, 92 RBI, and a league leading 129 BB, against 90 K. Negro Leaguer Chino Smith played most of his games at 2B, and 3 games at DH. He had a great age 20 season, with a .309/.353/.536/.889 slash line (150 OPS+, 148 wRC+) with 97 R, 199 H, 46 2B, 5 3B, 30 HR, 128 RBI, 43 BB, 121 K, 17 SB, and 12 CS. Ken Williams probably would've been in the top 10 in MVP voting had he not missed 55 games with dehydration (2 days), and a strained hamstring (2 months). The old man of the quartet had a .277/.340/.488/.828 slash line (133 OPS+, 129 wRC+) while playing all of his games at 3B. He had 70 R, 113 H, 17 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, 79 RBI, 41 BB, and just 23 K. This cat just refuses to strike out, as the most strikeouts he has ever had in one season is 25 (which he did in 1955 and 1956). The future looks bright from an offensive standpoint, but in order to capitalize on that bounty, they're going to have to get some pitching and defense at some point.