Record: 74-88, 5th, AL East (30 1/2 GB)
Postseason: --
Ballpark: RFK Stadium (98 hits, 94 HR)
Runs scored: 599 (8th)
Runs allowed: 661 (7th)
Pythag record: 74-88 (0)
Recap: The Senators dug themselves into a big hole in April and May, starting the season 18-32, but were actually pretty decent the rest of the way and easily stayed out of the cellar.
History: Okay, so remember what I said about the flukey Angels having the best expansion season of all time? Nope. That was actually this second iteration of the Washington Senators, who went 87-74 in 1961 and finished a relatively close 13 1/2 games out of first place. I don't remember how large the protected lists were that yer but they were not large enough. Like the Angels though they fell back to earth in 1962, finishing 66-96, and have been at or near the basement of the American League ever since. Their 74 wins were their 3rd best mark.
Outlook: The Senators are pretty well stuck deep in the second division of the American League, without a lot of chances at contention. In fact, a few things would need to go right for them to even finish over .500. At the same time, the 10-year deal they have to stay in RFK stadium ends at the end of this season and who knows what that will bring?
Rotation
Code:
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Chad | Daugharty | 24 | L | 12 | 16 | 0.429 | 0 | 3.62 | 33 | 33 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 246.0 | 1024 | 258 | 111 | 99 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 76 | 9 | 130 | 9 | 0 | 9.4 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 4.8 |
| Kent | Coffey | 25 | L | 17 | 11 | 0.607 | 0 | 3.89 | 31 | 29 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 215.1 | 928 | 212 | 101 | 93 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 105 | 6 | 89 | 8 | 1 | 8.9 | 0.5 | 4.4 | 3.7 |
| Brian | Bruno | 27 | L | 7 | 10 | 0.412 | 0 | 2.87 | 30 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 188.0 | 782 | 187 | 78 | 60 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 51 | 4 | 88 | 6 | 0 | 9.0 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 4.2 |
| Vicente | Hernandez | 26 | L | 9 | 7 | 0.563 | 0 | 3.09 | 18 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.0 | 600 | 135 | 59 | 48 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 60 | 3 | 80 | 3 | 0 | 8.7 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 5.1 |
| Bill | Vanover | 28 | L | 5 | 8 | 0.385 | 0 | 3.26 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 118.2 | 495 | 127 | 53 | 43 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 39 | 2 | 44 | 4 | 0 | 9.6 | 0.5 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| Kevin | Freeman | 27 | R | 8 | 6 | 0.571 | 0 | 3.63 | 15 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 109.0 | 449 | 116 | 47 | 44 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 21 | 1 | 59 | 1 | 0 | 9.6 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 4.9 |
| Jerry | Johnson | 25 | L | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | 0 | 4.01 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.2 | 162 | 40 | 15 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 10.7 | 0.3 | 8.6 | 4.8 |
| Victor | Virola | 25 | L | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 0 | 7.20 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 | 66 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Kent Coffey had a really solid finesse-based season in 1969, winning 17 despite giving up more walks than strikeouts*. The Senators will look for him to repeat upon this and maybe even up his game a little bit. Chad Daugharty led the team in innings but with a 12-16 record and 3.62 ERA he'll cede the Opening Day starter spot to Coffey this year. He's also quite young himself.
At #3 the Sens plan to use Dale Parks, who spent the entire year for expansion Seattle and was acquired for Danny Plaunt, who was just plain bad last year. Parks struggled with control and was a lot better in relief than as a starter, but the bar for outplaying Plaunt is not high. Kevin Freeman clocks in as the #4 after a year where he was a combined 13-9 between AAA and the majors. The #5 guy Brian Bruno had a really good ERA but suffered from poor run support and a lack of consistency en route to a 7-10 record.
*So... as an aside I bought the 1987 edition of the Great American Baseball Stat Book recently and I'd kind of forgotten that the idea that most pitchers can only influence the game by means of the three true outcomes came about only in the mid to late 90s. There was a long-standing school of thought that non-strikeout pitchers could get guys to hit weak ground balls or pop flies (which, of course, they can still do, they just don't have a special skill in doing so). Even in a stat-heavy publication like the GABSB they were breaking down "power" versus "finesse" guys instead of just saying "yeah, this guy doesn't miss bats and that's a problem". One of the bigger strains on my stathead brain for this save is pretending like the Allan Andersons and Dave Flemingses of the world were actually good and not just lucky.
Bullpen
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+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | age | throws | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Danny | Plaunt | 25 | L | 4 | 15 | 0.211 | 0 | 4.23 | 34 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 129.2 | 547 | 132 | 64 | 61 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 54 | 4 | 67 | 4 | 1 | 9.2 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 4.7 |
| Doug | Ellis | 24 | L | 5 | 3 | 0.625 | 26 | 2.64 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 95.1 | 382 | 80 | 30 | 28 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 5 | 62 | 3 | 0 | 7.6 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 5.9 |
| Gabe | Slaughter | 24 | L | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 1 | 3.16 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 51.1 | 203 | 48 | 19 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 8.4 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 3.3 |
| Steve | Kuykendall | 27 | L | 3 | 2 | 0.600 | 3 | 4.32 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 41.2 | 179 | 42 | 23 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 9.1 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 6.9 |
| Mike | Ladd | 25 | R | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 2 | 5.08 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 28.1 | 133 | 31 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 9.8 | 0.6 | 6.7 | 5.4 |
| Byron | Pratt | 23 | R | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 3.50 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 18.0 | 94 | 29 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 14.5 | 0.5 | 6.5 | 5.0 |
| Ron | Shepherd | 26 | R | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 2.13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12.2 | 52 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 10.7 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 7.8 |
| Tyler | Terry | 26 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 3.38 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8.0 | 33 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7.9 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 6.8 |
| Brandon | Horan | 26 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.8 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 3.9 |
| Jaden | Dukes | 28 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.4 | 6.8 |
| Blaine | Christie | 25 | L | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 20.25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.1 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.3 | 6.8 | 13.5 | 0.0 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + -------- + ----------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Doug Ellis was a really good stopper but a stopper on a team like this is a luxury and so they shipped him off, receiving CF prospect Bill Swan and Willis Chavez, whom they think can be their short-term replacement in the 'pen. Chavez had pitched only 13 games in the majors prior to last season but was pretty solid for Cleveland last year. The Senators will be using a lefty/righty closer setup using him and Gabe Slaughter, who only had the chance to save one game (well, maybe he had more but I don't have save opportunities listed) but also pitched to an ERA of just over 3. Ron Shepherd, who spent 1969 between the White Sox and Sens, also figures to get lots of time in relief.
Catcher
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| C | Armando | Flores | L | 27 | 128 | 485 | 35 | 135 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 25 | 5 | 50 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 0.278 | 0.317 | 0.318 |
| C | Matt | Hackney | L | 24 | 67 | 145 | 17 | 41 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.283 | 0.294 | 0.386 |
| C | Ramiro | Gonzalez | S | 29 | 8 | 27 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.185 | 0.241 | 0.222 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Armando Flores has never had much power but last season saw him completely lose any of it. He did hit .278 but still posted an OPS of under 650. Fortunately for him he has the rep of handling the pitching staff well. Ramiro Gonzalez is really the team's backup catcher going into 1970, as Matt Hackney is not a good fielder and is also too valuable as a pinch-hitter to leave on the bench.
Infield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| 1B | Nick | DeBoer | L | 37 | 122 | 404 | 58 | 112 | 17 | 1 | 17 | 57 | 57 | 2 | 48 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0.277 | 0.369 | 0.450 |
| 1B | Jack | Holman | R | 27 | 105 | 255 | 23 | 64 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 29 | 27 | 2 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.251 | 0.326 | 0.349 |
| 2B | Tyler | Knight | L | 28 | 137 | 489 | 51 | 117 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 39 | 48 | 8 | 88 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 0.239 | 0.311 | 0.331 |
| 2B | Dustin | Luhman | L | 31 | 52 | 87 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.149 | 0.250 | 0.230 |
| 2B | Marcos | Escobedo | L | 31 | 27 | 52 | 8 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.288 | 0.383 | 0.404 |
| 3B | Kristian | Schneider | R | 29 | 128 | 508 | 72 | 156 | 24 | 7 | 15 | 71 | 32 | 0 | 72 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 0.307 | 0.347 | 0.470 |
| 3B | Aaron | Pope | L | 30 | 72 | 170 | 17 | 51 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 0.300 | 0.353 | 0.318 |
| 3B | Johnny | Madison | L | 36 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.083 | 0.154 | 0.333 |
| SS | Joe | Nyman | L | 29 | 96 | 309 | 28 | 72 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 27 | 33 | 4 | 52 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 0.233 | 0.303 | 0.317 |
| SS | Justin | Ramey | L | 30 | 59 | 246 | 37 | 69 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 29 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0.280 | 0.361 | 0.411 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Nick DeBoer fought off a challenge from "Doctor" Jack Holman to earn his 2nd career All-Star appearance. For 1970 at least his job seems secure. Holman for his part looked lights-out in April and May - he was slashing 356/394/475 as late as June 4 - but stumbled in the second half of the season and picked up just 28 at-bats from August 1 to the end of the year (he had just 3 hits in those at-bats). The Senators soured on Holman so hard that they purchased Marty Wolcott, who was primarily used as a pinch-hitter for the Giants in 1968, during the offseason to back up DeBoer.
Tyler Knight won his 3rd Gold Glove and the hardware might be the main thing keeping the Senators from pushing him out of that job. Second base is a weird position: since basically everyone who plays there is a failed shortstop in some way, you get a mix of players who hit like shortstops but field really well and guys who hit well but can barely play the position. Knight definitely falls into the former category. Washington brought in Jeremy "Vowels" Rzepka to push Knight, but Rzepka did very little for the expansion Pilots last year to make anyone think he'd actually be better than Knight.
Kristian Schneider hit .307 en route to his 2nd ASG appearance and first since 1964. That was really the second straight good year he put in at the hot corner and the Senators have to be hoping he's turned a corner. Aaron Pope also hit .300 last year as his backup and as a right-handed pinch-hitter.
After the Indians made the decision that John Johnson would be their SS of the future, they traded away their SS of the recent past to Washington for two young pitchers. Ramey played like a man on fire in the second half of the season, appearing to make his former team want to regret sending him off. For the season as a whole he set career highs in BA (.263), runs (73), homers (7), and RBIs (46). Joe Nyman, who was the man pushed off the job, was a career minor leaguer prior to last season and at this point is just happy to be in the major leagues.
Outfield
Code:
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | bats | age | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| LF | Sebastiano | Veneziano | R | 33 | 155 | 647 | 83 | 197 | 23 | 2 | 17 | 71 | 27 | 0 | 95 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 5 | 5 | 0.304 | 0.332 | 0.425 |
| LF | Eddie | Brown | S | 26 | 15 | 22 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.136 | 0.200 | 0.182 |
| LF | Nick | Crudup | R | 26 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.333 | 0.429 | 0.333 |
| CF | Ian | Everett | R | 27 | 100 | 359 | 39 | 77 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 34 | 6 | 72 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0.214 | 0.284 | 0.281 |
| CF | Mike | Allen | L | 31 | 72 | 221 | 22 | 56 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 14 | 2 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.253 | 0.302 | 0.326 |
| CF | Ramon | Goyco | R | 26 | 18 | 66 | 9 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.288 | 0.356 | 0.500 |
| CF | John | Hackett | L | 34 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| RF | Manuel | Alvarez | L | 35 | 152 | 605 | 57 | 162 | 28 | 3 | 6 | 64 | 39 | 5 | 34 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 24 | 0.268 | 0.316 | 0.354 |
| RF | Guillermo | Maldonado | R | 27 | 85 | 121 | 13 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.240 | 0.291 | 0.322 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + --------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Venezuelan/Italian player Sebastiano Veneziano turned in a fine, fine season that led to him getting into his first-ever All-Star Game at the age of 32. As he's earned more playing time with Washington over the past 3 years, he's also seen his BA ratchet up from .241 to .304 last year. The Senators can't of course expect that to continue but imagine, if you will, that it did...
Bill Swan will go into spring training competing with Ian Everett for the CF job. Swan may or may not have the range to stick in center field but was the 8th overall pick in 1967 and the #17 prospect in all of baseball as recently as mid-1968. He also hit .295 at AAA Portland as a 23 year old, so it's hard to see why OSA suddenly soured on him so much. He's got a great shot to unseat Everett, who was bad, bad, bad as a hitter. He's still only 27 and he even won a Gold Glove in 1965 (note: there's zero chance of him doing that again, even if he's a league average hitter as he was then) so there's still a chance for him. Ramon Goyco is also hanging around after hitting .295 himself in AAA last year, although he committed 6 errors in 18 starts in CF last year for Washington (a .902 fielding percentage) and they are not, apparently, willing to repeat that particular experiment.
Manuel Alvarez saw his average dip from .290 to .268 last year and for a guy whose entire offensive game is built around hitting singles this was a bad sign. He's also a bit of a minus now as a right fielder. The only guy they really have to throw at him is Mike Allen, who was only adequate as a part-time player and pinch-hitter.