Pittsburgh Pirates
93-62, 1st NL West, Won NLCS 3-0, Lost World Series 4-1
1972 Outlook: After winning 92 games and making the playoffs for the first time in the history of this beleaguered franchise, the Pirates slumped to 82-80 in '71. All the issues they had with injuries and with a lack of offense came home to roost. 1972, if I'm being honest, felt like it was going to be more of the same: lots of 2-1 games, half of them losses.
1972 In Review: Instead the offensive woes hit everyone and if anything Pittsburgh was able to capitalize because of the strength of their pitching. They scored exactly 2 fewer runs in '72 than the year before which actually means they were very slightly better offensively given the fewer number of games played. I can't say that the offense put it together, exactly, but they proved to be good enough throughout the season as well as more consistent than their slugging opponents in the league. They wooshed past a top-heavy Braves team and then lost to the Tigers in a closer-than-it-looked 5 game series that featured 3 close games in there.
1973 Outlook: The hitting is like laughably bad and so there's no possible way to go there but up, right? At the same time, you can't expect the pitching to be this healthy 2 years in a row. Still, it's a sucker's bet to predict anything but continued success for the Bucs, who are in line to be the Team of the 70s already.
Pitching
Santos Arango
LHP No. 21
LL, 6'0" 182 lbs.
Born 1943-03-31 in Maturín, VEN
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 PIT MLB 19 9 0 2.80 34 34 12 266.1 230 90 83 69 190
1971 PIT MLB 24 8 1 2.50 41 40 16 316.1 255 96 88 75 227
1972 PIT MLB 20 15 0 2.63 42 42 17 331.1 273 101 97 82 197
Arango has been one of the most consistent pitchers in the league over the last 3 years, which is okay if you're consistent and average but when you're consistent and a Cy Young contender, that's... awfullly nice. Arango throws three pitches, including a circle change that's nasty and perhaps as hard to hit by righties as lefties and a low to mid 90s fastball that looks about 5 MPH faster coming from his arm. Hitters can't help but hit the ball into the dirt and set up his infield for lots of double plays - 26 of them last year. They swing and miss at those offerings as well. Arango was 2nd in the NL in Ks last season.
He was only 20-15 because some atrocious run support. It was bad even by Pirates standards: 2.6 runs per game. The Pirates weren't fooled by this: Arango led the league in games starts and won the innings pitched trophy for the secohnd time in his career. In fact, no man has ever thrown as many as the 331.1 IP he threw in the modern era. Arango's arm has shown no signs of stopping either: the 29 year old has started at least 32 games every single season he's been a starter in this league, a streak dating back to 1966.
He's a gamer, a man you want on the mound whenever you possibly can. With just a little more run support, he can win 25 for you.
Jeremy Battaglia
LHP No. 36
LL, 6'5" 197 lbs.
Born 1943-04-14 in Barinas, VEN
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 PIT MLB 18 9 0 2.74 35 35 14 282.1 222 92 86 67 163
1971 PIT MLB 22 14 0 2.61 39 39 14 316.2 293 104 92 61 164
1972 PIT MLB 16 15 0 2.10 39 39 15 321.0 242 83 75 61 154
Someone should find the river in Venezuela where all the great Pirates pitchers drank from as children because it sure seems to produce some lively arms. Don't be fooled by Battaglia's record: the lanky lefty finished 2nd in the NL in ERA and was only .500 because somehow he got even worse run support than Arango did (just 2.2 RSG). In spite of this and the 3rd highest in the NL losses it produced, Battaglia has a real stat nerd case for the Cy Young this year.
Even though he has a swing-and-miss change of pace, Battaglia's game is mostly about making it so that the only way that teams can beat him is through long rallies. He doesn't anyone or give up HRs - he was 2nd in the NL in both categories on a rate basis (1.7 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9). While the first thing in everyone's memory is the fact that the Tigers managed to do exactly that in Game 5 of the World Series - Battaglia was knocked out in the 5th after having allowed 6 runs on 9 hits - such innings were exceedingly rare in the Year of the Fielder.
This is pretty much who Battaglia is at this point. On a lot of teams he'd be the ace of the rotation. With the Pirates he's their 2nd or 3rd starter.
D.J. Cheeves
RHP No. 11
RR, 6'1" 196 lbs.
Born 1940-05-16 in New York, NY
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 PIT MLB 12 15 0 3.83 34 34 7 244.0 224 114 104 94 190
1971 PIT MLB 7 16 0 3.71 31 31 8 218.0 207 100 90 77 143
1972 PIT MLB 22 9 0 2.48 37 37 13 290.0 221 85 80 91 184
"Old Money" DJ Cheeves finally had a big breakout year in 1972 after season after season of turning in .500 or worse records. In some terrible alternative timelines that might lead a guy like this to go and sell his services to the highest bidder. In the REAL WORLD, Cheeves, the scion of a family that originally made its fortune selling beaver pelts in what was then New Amsterdam, has no need for such worldly things and would rather stay with the eastern Pennsylvania team who gave him an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues.
The 32 year old has arguably the best strikeout stuff in the rotation, which is saying a pretty good amount. His out pitch is a 12 to 6 curve; he also throws a fastball that hits the mid-90s at times. In the past, he's never quite been able to locate the curve or his other pitches consistently but last year he was all over it: his 2.8 BB/9 was the lowest mark of his career since 1966 (15-10, 2.69), when he had a 2.0. As a result, he made his 3rd All-Star Game and first since 1967, and, to show he wasn't finished, went 9-4 in August and September to finish with 22 victories, 2nd in the league.
This great year meant that he only evened his career record up at 120-120; it's been a hard road for the Harvard graduate. That and lingering worries that he could pack it in at any time in favor of a world cruise have kept the Pirates from naming him their ace. They shouldn't worry about the latter; baseball, or as Cheeves likes to call it, "the game of base", is in his blood.
Danny Perez
RHP No. 22
RR, 5'9" 179 lbs.
Born 1945-07-10 in San Cristóbal, DOM
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 CHR AAA 5 4 0 3.17 10 10 2 73.2 71 31 26 22 69
1970 PIT MLB 11 6 0 3.18 20 18 5 133.0 124 50 47 59 74
1971 CHR AAA 6 7 0 3.53 18 18 6 135.0 121 62 53 72 60
1971 PIT MLB 3 3 0 3.69 11 7 2 56.0 62 25 23 23 38
1972 PIT MLB 15 8 0 3.03 25 25 4 177.2 158 70 60 72 84
The 4th man in the rotation all season long, Perez was the man who was often shunted off in favor of getting the ball in the hands of Santos Arango and Jeremmy Battaglia every 4th game and he barely pitched in the postseason - his lone appearance was the 5.2 IP in long relief of Cheeves when he left Game 1 of the World Series with back spasms in the first inning. Perez was still awfully good. He doesn't have either the stuff or the command of his pitches that the men in front of him do. In fact, he struggled occasionally with control, as the 9th place finish in wild pitches (9) will demonstrate. Still, even when his control was not there, he was an absolute model of consistency: 22 of his 25 starts were of the quality variety, the highest percentage (88%) in the NL. More than anyone on the staff, he's the guy who gives you 6-7 good innings and then exits stage left in favor of Paz Lemus.
Perez considers himself a groundball guy but his pitches tend to disagree and last season he only had 49% of his outs go that way. He still had 17 DPs in 25 starts so he clearly got enough of them. He'll be back as the #4 again; in fact, since it seems like it would be winning the lottery for the rotation to be so healthy for the second straight year, Perez could very easily see an uptick in play.
Paz Lemus
RHP No. 18
RR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1943-02-27 in Cape Coral, FL
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 PIT MLB 8 8 26 2.09 79 0 0 120.1 92 35 28 57 109
1971 PIT MLB 11 12 25 3.69 75 0 0 114.1 115 56 47 49 83
1972 PIT MLB 9 4 25 2.31 71 0 0 108.2 71 28 28 41 66
Normally you call a guy "Sparky" because he ignites rallies; Lemus stops them dead in their tracks. Still, he's a real high-energy guy and a fan favorite: he sprints to the mound from bullpen whenever he comes in and once his number has been called he practically demands to stay in until it's done. His fastball is not what I'd call "sparky", only getting into the mid to high 80s, but he throws it with a deceptive motion and it's on you before you know where it came from.
"Sparky" Lemus has the kind of rubber arm you hope any reliever would have. He's thrown more than 70 games in each of the last 5 seasons and at age 29 already has more than 550 in his career. He finished 2nd in the NL in that category last year after finishing #1 in both '70 and '71. He's been 4th in the league in saves each of the past 2 years; the way the Pirates' frontline pitching goes, they often don't need him to bail him out when they're pitching well and so he'll commonly enter the game with the team tied or losing or in an impossible situation, as happened 12 times in 1971 and 14 times in '69.
At 29, Sparky is in the absolute prime of his career. Expect 70 games pitched, 100 innings in relief, and 25 saves again next year, and the year after that, and the year after that.
Brian Bruno
RHP No. 3
RR, 5'10" 197 lbs.
Born 1942-07-16 in Lockport, IL
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 WAS MLB 8 11 0 3.69 28 21 6 168.0 157 79 69 36 100
1971 PIT MLB 7 7 0 3.42 31 9 0 102.1 102 44 39 20 68
1972 PIT MLB 6 5 2 2.60 35 5 0 76.0 59 23 22 20 69
With a lot of these teams, I get to 7ish pitchers and I feel like I still want to do a couple more; with the Pirates, I'm 6 guys in and already feeling like I'm reaching the dregs. Brian Bruno is a veteran who came to Pittsburgh from the Senators for cash and a low-rated prospect. He was a .500ish pitcher who has a similar profile to Battaglia and Arango: a guy without the kind of stuff that gets you on the cover of
The Sporting News but who changes speeds well and locates the ball, too. In 2 seasons with the team he's been their swingman, which has afforded him little opportunity to show whether he's capable of a larger role on the team or not. That said, the past couple seasons he has really, really started bearing down on hitters. He struck out a kind of insane for 1972 8.2 men per 9 innings last year and held hitters to a .213 BA.
Last year he had a 2.25 ERA in his 5 spot starts, with 38 Ks in 40 innings. That alone should bring him some attention in spring training - perhaps he'll win the #4 job away from Danny Perez. If not... the Bucs keep saying words to the effect of wanting to give Lemus a partner so they don't wear him out but they never follow through on it. Maybe Bruno is finally that guy.
Kent Tekulve
RHP No. 81
RR, 6'4" 184 lbs.
Born 1947-03-05 in Cincinnati, OH
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 SHE AA 1 2 2 3.44 15 0 0 15.2 12 8 6 5 7
1971 SHE AA 3 0 1 0.67 8 0 0 13.1 7 1 1 3 9
1971 PIT MLB 0 1 1 13.50 2 0 0 2.0 5 3 3 1 1
1972 CHR AAA 0 0 0 2.70 5 0 0 6.2 8 2 2 1 3
1972 PIT MLB 0 3 0 2.91 23 0 0 34.0 32 13 11 9 14
Hey, this guy legit came in as #7! Yes, I did straight-up import Tekulve because I liked him in the 70s. I'll import Dan Quisenberry too. I did goose Teke's stuff (actually just now) to get him in line with the pitchers here although he wasn't IRL a dominant K guy at all. What he was, was one of the few guys for whom that "pBABIP" rating actually makes sense. He's not a one-pitch specialist a la Mariano Rivera or knuckleball pitchers, but his pitches come from a weird place and he did over the course of his career BABIP around 12 points better than expected.
He's in the league 2 years earlier than expected, which is fine by me. Maybe he'll become a Hall of Famer! Or maybe not. He's definitely a guy I'll keep looking at because he's Kent Tekulve, man.
Infield
Doug Connally
C No. 19
RR, 5'11" 200 lbs.
Born 1944-08-21 in Jacksonville, FL
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .237 129 447 57 106 25 1 12 50 78 97 0
1971 PIT MLB .264 87 314 39 83 15 2 8 34 53 54 1
1972 PIT MLB .223 120 394 39 88 19 2 9 56 55 86 0
Fans hoping that Doug Connally had finally remembered how to hit late in the season were not enthused with his 4-24 postseason. Connally had just plain stunk things up for much of the season, hitting as low as .195 in early July. He still only hit .222 for August but it was better than he'd previously been, and then in September, when the Buccos needed him the most, he hit .293 with 13 RBIs and 15 walks, by far his seasonal bests.
When he's hitting well, which he was was not for most of the year, Connally sees the ball well and is as likely to draw a walk as he is to get a base hit. In 1971 he seemed to have overcome his issues with not protecting the plate well enough with two strikes but those issues came back with a vengeance last year. He's not really rated to have the best arm in the league by any stretch but he worked really well with the Pirates' pitching staff last season in holding runners and wound up throwing out a league-high 44.7% of players who tried to steal on him. A gaudy number like that might earn him a Gold Glove.
With his backups Brent "Data" Spiner (.121, 0, 3) and Miklos Nemeth (.198, 2, 13) proving to be ineffective at the plate, Connally still looks like an easy favorite to be the Pirates' starting catcher in '73 and beyond. Let's see him get a better first half in.
Jack Holman
1B No. 35
LL, 6'4" 233 lbs.
Born 1942-03-31 in Newport, RI
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 DEN AAA .296 13 27 3 8 1 0 1 5 4 7 0
1970 MIL MLB .251 119 414 39 104 16 1 7 50 39 80 0
1971 PIT MLB .274 121 307 43 84 16 0 8 32 40 64 1
1972 PIT MLB .232 115 336 39 78 10 1 4 30 48 57 0
I admit, this guy is a personal favorite of mine because of the name. Back in the 90s I listened to a lot of the radio show "Loveline", which was basically an advice show hosted by Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla. Carolla was a big fan of calling people "jackholes" because it was a mix between two not-for-radio words ("jack___" and "__hole"), and at one point he created a character he liked to call in emergencies named Dr. Jack Holman. So when the game generated a man with this name, I admit it, I giggled.
It is to my great disappointment that Dr. Jack Holman is not much of a player. Milwaukee had used him for 414 at-bats in 1970 and he was pretty ineffective. Fine, I figured, he's a platoon guy. In that platoon role the last two seasons, he just hasn't lived up to his jackhole promise. He lacks first base power and although he hit a solid .274 in '71 he followed that up with a below-average .232 last season. Pretty much, he walks a fair amount and that's it. He's not smart enough to understand the people are making fun of him when they say "paging Dr. Jack... Dr. Jack Holman" and for a guy who can only play first base, he's exactly going to win a Gold Glove there any time soon.
It's time the Pirates moved on from Dr. Jack. It was a fun ride - not really - but at this point they could pick someone up off the street who'd slug better than .304 at first base.
Abílio Valdivia
1B No. 31
RL, 6'5" 200 lbs.
Born 1932-05-18 in Caracas, VEN
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .282 130 490 69 138 17 2 12 57 45 41 0
1971 PIT MLB .298 101 302 32 90 13 2 5 27 34 37 1
1972 PIT MLB .245 42 98 6 24 5 0 1 6 11 11 0
Valdivia is a guy who, over the course of an 18 year career, had clear Hall of Fame talent could never stay healthy for long enough to put up numbers year after year. Now that his career is winding to a close and in fact may well be over with, I'm stuck wondering whether or not he's good enough.
The case for him is: a career .321 average as the Pirates 1B whenever he was ready to go throughout the 60s. That's kind of it. He didn't get the chance to start until he was 28 - he'd been the team's primary pinch-hitter for the 3 seasons before then - and then he got all of 2 seasons where he managed to play in more than 131 games. He has 1,801 hits and at age 40 it seems really unlikely he'll get to 2,000. Because of all that missed time, his black ink is low: led the league in hitting twice, hits once, and doubles once. He didn't evne make the All-Star Game all that often for a guy of his caliber: 4 times, the last of which was in '69. Granted, he was in the same league as Lorenzo Martinez and Justin Stone all of that time, but to me that's an argument that he was just very good, not great.
It feels only fitting that the Pirates got the closest they've ever gotten to World Series glory in a year where his season ended in June with a fractured knee. I'd call it ironic but Valdivia basically gets hurt in any year ending with a number. It's also sad that he didn't get at least a final victory tour, assuming this was it (he hasn't officially retired yet although as of this writing Valdivia is still recovering from that broken knee).
Tyler Webster
2B/IF No. 14
LR, 5'9" 189 lbs.
Born 1944-07-23 in Wichita, KS
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .229 126 442 72 101 24 7 16 57 75 109 1
1971 PIT MLB .240 69 217 17 52 6 3 6 27 32 40 0
1972 PIT MLB .254 119 370 51 94 15 2 18 57 45 84 2
The Pirates tried to make up for their lack of marquee hitters by platooning all over the place. Second is one place where maybe they overthought things. Tyler Webster was considered a bit of an enigma when he was the Bucs' starting shortstop; however, when they flip-flopped him and then-2B Henry Villar in 1971 things seemed to click into place for the stocky Midwesterner. No longer having to try too hard to make up for a natural lack of range, Webster was able to concentrate more on his hitting and especially his power. This past year he set a new career high in homeruns and finished 2nd on the team in the category. Pittsburgh even batted him 3rd for a few games this year when Brian Jackson was out.
Although he needed to get moved off of short, Webster's range issues aren't quite as pronounced at the second sack and he's able to employ the other things he does well in the field instead. He has nice hands and a solid arm. He rarely plays at third base but you get the sense that tools-wise he could fit in at that position. He'll just plain not get out of the way of the runner on the pivot. Detractors say that he doesn't realize how much danger he's putting himself into but the end result is that he turns more than his fair share of DPs.
Webster might see an uptick in play in '73. Although he only got 47 at-bats against lefties in 1972, he slashed a solid 254/340/468 against them; he seems like he could handle southpaws in a longer look. He does carry a lifetime average of .191 against them but, you know, guys mature.
Luke Dunnahoe
2B/SS No. 2
RR, 5'9" 193 lbs.
Born 1942-02-18 in Vassar, MI
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 KC MLB .205 75 298 35 61 11 1 11 45 44 55 3
1970 STL MLB .284 28 81 10 23 4 1 1 7 11 10 0
1971 PIT MLB .272 69 180 24 49 10 1 3 25 21 20 0
1972 PIT MLB .241 68 187 18 45 10 0 2 18 25 31 2
Dunnahoe's game just screams "backup infielder" but the Pirates keep playing him more than that. He's gotten in roughly a full season's worth of games now with Pitt and the statline looks like a decent-average hitter (a .256 average) with average at best pop for an infielder and some ability to work the count and coax out a walk. That working the count also carries with it a penchant for seeing too many balls go by for strike three for Dunnahoe to be a consistent top-of-the-lineup hitter.
Defensively he lacks the arm to play short with any regularity, although the Pirates did use him at the position when Henry Villar was out with the variety of arm injuries that made him miss small periods of time last year. He's an average baserunner who will sometimes try to do too much in the effort to start a rally. Teammates look up to him, at least as much as you can look up to the backup middle infielder.
If Webster plays more, Dunnahoe plays less. That's the basic math of the position.
Alex Flores
3B No. 33
RR, 5'11" 185 lbs.
Born 1944-04-11 in Telica, NCA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 SHE AA .236 26 89 12 21 0 0 2 10 21 12 3
1970 CHR AAA .197 65 183 16 36 6 0 5 14 22 49 9
1970 PIT MLB .000 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
1971 CHR AAA .245 42 155 25 38 2 4 1 17 22 23 2
1971 PIT MLB .271 46 133 18 36 6 1 4 14 12 25 1
1972 PIT MLB .215 107 302 24 65 9 0 3 30 48 48 0
Flores hit well enough in 1971 that the Pirates felt that they could move on from long-term starter Roberto Prieto; even if they wanted to stick with him, the aging vet was clearly washed, got just 3 hits in 44 at-bats, and retired in mid-June. Flores, as it turned out, was not going to be The Guy and even by the end of the year the team had moved on from him in favor of Hank Williams Jr.
Flores has good plate discipline and in 1971 seemed like he could use his speed to leg out some base hits. A longer look indicated that said speed, while possibly good enough to get him 10 steals in a full year, was not going to be enough to make up for the Ks, and while a lot of guys who see as many pitches as Flores does will eventually see a mistake and turn on it, the most that eventually happens with Flores is that sometimes he'll poke one down the left field line for an extra base hit. He's got a great arm at third but not much else. He only hit .224 against lefties, in case you're thinking maybe he could stick around as a pinch-hitter.
He'll for sure get time in spring training, mainly as insurance in case Williams falls apart. That said, since he's a failsafe in case the new kid does what Flores actually did in 1972, it would take a big, big regression for Alex to get his old job back.
Hank Williams Jr.
3B/2B/LF No. 25
LR, 5'8" 180 lbs.
Born 1949-05-25 in Shreveport, LA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ML R .270 39 115 34 31 8 1 9 24 18 45 0
1970 NF S A .278 21 72 8 20 6 0 1 11 14 20 0
1970 SAL A .283 16 53 5 15 3 0 1 12 8 12 0
1971 SAL A .340 14 53 10 18 2 0 2 10 6 12 1
1971 GAS A .296 69 230 37 68 8 1 9 30 44 56 1
1971 SHE AA .250 6 12 0 3 0 0 0 0 10 1 0
1972 SHE AA .208 57 149 19 31 5 0 6 15 29 31 0
1972 CHR AAA .325 24 83 10 27 5 0 1 9 12 11 0
1972 PIT MLB .250 61 164 20 41 9 0 6 19 42 36 0
Williams Jr., the son of the famous country western star and a pretty solid singer in his own right, moved up 3 levels in 1972 and spent the final 2 months of the year in the big leagues. The results weren't exactly astounding, at least not until he hit 2 HRs and drove in 5 men in the NLCS to win the MVP for that series. Williams profiles as a guy who over the course of a full season could walk like Alex Flores, hit for a higher average, and have 15-20 HR power. Early returns, too, seem to indicate that even with the poor offensive environment of '72 he will probably hit for more contact than Flores, although in order to do that he'll need to learn major league pitching.
Williams only played 2.1 innings at second base in the major leagues last year but seems like he could probably back up there if needs must. He's a solid third baseman with a nice arm. He doesn't have a huge amount of range but even in his short time in the league he positioned himself well vs. opposing hitters. He could probably do a passable job in the outfield corners assuming his arm translates.
Third base is Williams Jr's job to lose in 1973.
Henry Villar
SS/2B No. 26
LR, 5'11" 190 lbs.
Born 1943-03-29 in Magnolia, NJ
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .400 12 40 5 16 2 0 0 4 8 5 1
1971 PIT MLB .274 151 580 74 159 20 4 3 34 59 84 4
1972 PIT MLB .236 141 526 51 124 15 4 0 26 59 92 2
In April of 1970, Villar was hit in the head by a pitch and missed the entire season. I am happy to say that he has been able to pretty well bounce back from that the past two sasons and I didn't have to get dark in my timeline at all. Villar was a top flight second baseman in '69 who was paired with a not quite adequate SS in Tyler Webster. I'm not sure why the game decided to set guys up like this but I flip-flopped them. That didn't get to play out until '71 but it's worked out well.
Villar doesn't have a great arm, which I'm sure is why he played second, but at his best he hits like a good shortstop and at his worst, he's just a shortstop. He hit for a decent average in '71 but that went away last year. Either way it's accompanied by far too many strikeouts, not very much power at all, and some ability to wait out a poor-control pitcher at the bottom of the order. This skillset as a second baseman gets you replaced. As a shortstop, Villar at 29 could keep doing this for several more years.
Outfield
Justin Lawson
LF No. 9
RR, 6'4" 200 lbs.
Born 1941-02-16 in Moore, OK
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .280 154 600 72 168 31 3 21 93 59 99 0
1971 PIT MLB .250 147 576 59 144 24 1 24 98 43 71 0
1972 PIT MLB .272 147 570 78 155 27 2 19 84 63 100 1
A lot has been placed on Lawson's broad shoulders over the past few years. This past season he kind of blew up what was otherwise looking like a possible MVP campaign when he hit just .179 with 5 HRs and 13 RBIs in September (the RBIs were a season low for a month, excepting the truncated April). Fortunately for the Pirates, although I guess not fortunately enough to win the World Series, Lawson rebounded in the postseason with a .273 average (9-33) and 5 RBIs, which isn't a lot but nobody was really getting those.
Lawson is a clutch demon: he hit .340 in close/late situations last year and even though his RBIs were the lowest they've been since 1969 they were still good for 6th in the NL. Lawson has a long, looping swing. Strikeouts have been an issue for him his entire career, although thankfully he's never come close to the 124 he had back in '67. His power regressed a little last year after it was beginning to look like he might have turned into a low to mid 20s HR guy. He's in left for a reason: while he's certainly not the worst corner outfielder out there, he's not super great either. He's slow all around and doesn't like to run.
Pencil in Lawson as the team's cleanup hitter for the next couple years at least. How long will he be able to keep this up? He's good but not great but has been fairly well a picture of consistency over the years.
Justin Hearl
CF/RF No. 28
LL, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1943-09-02 in Bakersfield, CA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .278 113 371 62 103 8 7 0 34 49 61 17
1971 PIT MLB .261 150 578 62 151 13 8 3 49 66 84 31
1972 PIT MLB .251 100 374 44 94 12 1 1 32 25 71 10
The 29 year old Justin Hearl got a chance to play full-time in 1971 but he was only kind of average so the Pirates, looking for an offensive advantage wherever they could get it, went back to trying to platoon with him again. Results were mixed. Hearl actually outhit lefties compared to righties last season (.263 to .249) and in his career only hits them about 9 points worse than his regular average. The bigger issue is, Hearl didn't really do a lot in general to help the team win. He's a solid centerfielder, although no Elijah Jackson. He doesn't hit for power and although in '71 he'd shown a nice ability to wait out pitchers and give the guys behind him a good look at a man's stuff, he reverted to his free-swinging ways last season.
Also, Hearl just didn't steal as much last year as he had in the past. Steals were a little down leaguewide but success rates were up and Hearl regressed in both: he was successful only 10 of 17 times. He's one of the best non-pitcher bunters in the game, finishing 8th in the NL in that category (in fact, that's the only thing he finished in the top 10 in). He's a hard worker and, like a lot of Pirates players, has a fiery "win at all costs" demeanor that the fans love.
It's hard to really draw a bead on the guy because in spite of the hustle he's just somewhere between mediocre and above average at everything. That was obviously good enough to get the Pirates to a World Series but a guy like this can fall off at any moment.
Michio Kaku
CF/2B No. 13
RR, 5'8" 168 lbs.
Born 1947-05-14 in San Jose, CA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 GAS A .309 37 139 20 43 9 1 6 28 16 27 10
1970 SHE AA .172 45 151 16 26 2 2 2 18 19 25 2
1971 SHE AA .348 20 69 10 24 7 0 1 15 10 6 1
1971 CHR AAA .313 61 208 28 65 10 3 3 26 29 41 5
1971 PIT MLB .281 56 221 25 62 10 2 5 17 18 48 6
1972 CHR AAA .160 34 119 12 19 6 0 1 13 14 35 0
1972 PIT MLB .192 54 214 13 41 5 1 1 17 13 48 5
1972 was a disaster for astrophysicist cum centerfielder Michio Kaku, who followed up a promising .281/5/17 1971 in the majors with... well, you see the numbers above. Sent down in July, Kaku only got worse in AAA and as of this writing the Pirates have him sitting in AA. What happened? Even when he looked like a player, Kaku has abysmal pitch recognition, especially for someone with his high level of intelligence. He presents a naturally small strike zone but that doesn't mean much when you swing at pitches a foot over your head. What little power he displayed in '71 also seemed to disappear as well.
Kaku looks like a better second baseman than a centerfielder to me. As a CF he's very sure-handed but only average in terms of reaching balls hit in his direction - he's got a habit of letting the balls play him rather than the other way around. His speed seemed top-notch coming out of Harvard University but even that, in practice, has been flawed - Kaku was caught 7 times in 12 attempts in the majors and his manager at AAA Charleston nailed his foot to the bag, not even letting him attempt a base while he was there.
It's a real puzzle as to where Kaku goes now. One bad season is too soon to write a guy off but man, things are not promising like they were a year ago.
Frank Menner
OF No. 42
RR, 6'2" 192 lbs.
Born 1943-04-06 in Seattle, WA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 COL AAA .221 101 344 48 76 15 2 17 47 43 116 10
1970 PIT MLB .200 4 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 1
1971 CHR AAA .225 10 40 4 9 1 0 1 3 5 5 1
1971 PIT MLB .189 15 37 2 7 0 0 1 4 6 10 0
1972 PIT MLB .228 55 92 6 21 2 1 2 9 14 20 2
There was a whole slew of guys who either tried to take Justin Hearl's job or who were at least used as a platoon partner with him, a group that also includes the unlisted Carlos Carrera (.215, 2, 10) and George Macchia (.196, 0, 1 in the majors). Menner, a native of the GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD, is the guy who was on the team at the end of the season, although he played sparingly in the postseason - just 3 games and 2 at-bats (he did get a hit in Pittsburgh's only win of the World Series, a 11-0 shellacking of the Tigers). Menner showed good power with AAA Columbus in 1970 but with that came a worrying propensity to strike out. In his 55 games played in '72 he still struck out too much, although thankfully not at the once every 3 at-bats rate he'd shown in the past. The power, sadly, seems not to have translated into the majors either.
Menner isn't a particularly good centerfielder and so you get the "tweener" conundrum with him: a good corner outfielder who can't hit like one (also the Pirates are pretty well set in the corners), probably an OK offensive centerfielder who can't field like one. Given the complete inability of anyone else in this organization save Justin Hearl to both hit and play the position, Menner will surely get more chances in '73.
Brian Jackson
RF No. 16
RR, 5'11" 203 lbs.
Born 1944-06-28 in Calverton, MD
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 PIT MLB .324 145 577 69 187 30 8 5 101 52 42 10
1971 PIT MLB .285 114 473 59 135 20 6 10 50 35 43 8
1972 PIT MLB .267 131 524 65 140 19 9 9 50 45 38 10
Sometimes when a key player goes down, the rest of the team rallies around the loss. It's no shot at the player. This is what happened with Brian Jackson last September. He wound up missing 4 weeks with an elbow injury he suffered in mid-September. The Pirates were 76-59 and 2 games behind the Phillies at the time; they closed out the season 17-3 and then swept the Braves in the NLC before Jackson returned for them in the World Series.
Jackson himself was having a... solid season before the injury. He made his first-ever All-Star Game but slumped in the 2nd half of July, finishing that month with a slash of 243/314/346. He came back in August and was back in another slump in September when the elbow cut things short. Overall, the man who finished 2nd in the NL in hitting in both 1968 and 1970 had the lowest BA of his career, although weirdly his RBI total stayed the same - in fact, he's hit exactly 50 ribbies 3 times in his career now.
Jackson's a solid right fielder. He did commit 7 errors in the field last year, which is kind of a looot for what took place in '72, so we'll be looking out for that. He has decent speed that he has used to steal as many as 13 bases in the past. He also finished 4th in the NL in triples.
My hope here is that as the league returns to normalcy in '73 - because it can't get any worse than this, right? - Jackson will return to at least a high 280s-290s average and perhaps even be a guy who can make a run at future batting titles. He's just entering the prime of his career at 28.