1973 Recap: The Pirates entered 1973 having won 2 out of the last 3 division titles and looking like a pretty solid, if very one-sided, contender for the division. In 1972 they allowed a tiny 2.51 ERA, the 2nd best mark in NL history and just 0.01 points behind the 1968 Giants for best ever. This did help to hide an offense that was average at best and maybe even a bit below average, but you know what the saying is: pitching wins championships.
The pitching did regress, although the Pirates still finished 2nd in the league in runs allowed, but the real culprit here was the hitting. Even with the rest of the league exploding offensively, Pittsburgh only increased their runs scored from 540 to 573 last year for the 3rd worst performance in all of baseball. They were dead last in batting average (.243) and combined both a lack of power (89 HRs, 11th) with a lack of speed (42 steals, also 11th). Just about the only thing they did do well was draw walks, which raised their on-base percentage to 5th in the NL. Because of all of this, the Pirates were never close to contention and even the 86-75 record and 17 1/2 GB looks closer than things really were, as they finished the season 23-12 (including a 20-11 - 31 games! - September) that raised their record from 63-63.
1974 Outlook: This is not a particularly young team and their 2 top-100 prospects are pitchers. They've got a couple of younger guys in Hank Williams Jr. and Jerry Snerk plus prospect Huey Lewis (.373, 15, 41 in AA Sherbrooke) who look like they might do some damage one day but that lineup in particular is rough. Even if the Phillies collapse, it's hard to see a path for this team in 1974.
Looking over this roster in more detail... what I said above. This is a bad offensive roster with very little on it to make you think it's going to become good any time soon. If you like pitchers who throw 7 or 8 innings a night, finish with ERAs at or below 3, and still have losing records, this is the team for you.
Santos Arango
SP No. 21
LL, 6'0" 187 lbs.
Born 1943-03-31
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2.67 | 34 | 33 | 14 | 266.0 | 237 | 86 | 79 | 64 | 176 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Santos Arangos won the Cy Young in 1971 but has seen his wins go down and ERA go up every season since then. I mean, don't get me wrong, a 2.67 ERA is still mighty nice. He just seems like he's getting victimized more and more each year by a lack of support.
After leading the league in games started and innings pitched in 1972, the Pirates shut Arango down in mid-September, half to give the youngsters a chance but half as a precautionary measure to avoid using up all of his arm in meaningless games. Arango has a big, breaking curveball that buckles the knees of left-handed hitters, plus a great circle change and a sinker that can get into the mid-90s. After a year where his K rate went down a bit (though you wouldn't know it from the raw totals), Arango was back up to his customary 6+ Ks/9 last year. He's stingy with walks and long hits. A herky-jerky throwing motion often leaves him off-balance when a ball is hit back through the box and he can be bunted on. Although he maybe has a touch less pure stamina than teammate Jeremy Battaglia, Arango has got plenty and has led the NL in complete games 3 times.
Still just 30 years old, Santos Arango is more than halfway to 300 wins with a 154-112 record. Will we actually see a 300 game winner, or will OOTP injuries and poor luck also make him bow out in the 230s? More importantly, will the Pirates actually score enough runs for him this year?
Jeremy Battaglia
SP No. 36
LL, 6'5" 199 lbs.
Born 1943-04-14
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2.35 | 38 | 38 | 12 | 301.2 | 271 | 87 | 79 | 74 | 185 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
What even is a sore arm? Jeremy Battaglia has pitched more than 300 innings each of the last 3 seasons and 280+ each of the last 4. The only thing keeping him from being a perennial 20 win man is a complete and utter lack of run support.
Battaglia throws a low to mid 90s cut fastball that he mixes in with a curve and a change. His stuff isn't going to wow you but he hits the corners as well as anyone in the game and uses his home ballpark to keep HRs down. Battaglia hasn't allowed an opposing BA over .250 since 1968. Last year it was .242. He finished 9th in the NL in WHIP (1.14), the old roto stat, which if anything was high for him - he's led the league in that category twice. Battaglia finished 2nd in the NL in innings pitched and surely could have completed a lot more games than he did but the Bucs have Paz Lemus to pitch the late innings. He's pretty non-descript in terms of his offense and his pickoff move is only average.
Battaglia is 30 now and has surprisingly little red ink given how obviously great of a pitcher he is. One of these days the Pirates are going to figure out how to score runs behind him and he'll win 25 games.
Brian Bruno
MR/SP No. 3
RR, 5'10" 200 lbs.
Born 1942-07-16
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4.32 | 33 | 6 | 1 | 79.0 | 80 | 39 | 38 | 23 | 43 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Every year the AI makes at least one really iffy choice for the All-Star Game. Whoever else got in, Bruno's selection was... strange to say the least. He did have a decent enough 1972 as a swingman although even at that he played in 35 games in spite of being on the roster all year long. That's end-of-the-staff usage, not "hey America look at our best" levels. I'd make a case for hey, maybe he had a great first half and then fell off but to be honest it was the opposite: Bruno was 2-1, 5.40 at the break, including holding a 6.94 ERA in June and a 4.66 in May. He did have a solid July and August - 10 games, 26.1 IP, 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA - but yeah, I can't make any sense of the AS berth.
That'll almost certainly be Bruno's only AS game unless the AI acts really screwy again. He's... fine. The Pirates tried him as a starter at the end of the year with poor results (3-2, 4.29) so that's probably not in his future here.
Carlos Carrera
OF No. 15
RR, 5'12" 193 lbs.
Born 1945-12-03
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 PIT MLB | .284 | 35 | 67 | 7 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| 1972 PIT MLB | .215 | 30 | 79 | 11 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .250 | 31 | 68 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Carrera didn't get injured or sent down or anything; he was just the 25th man on the roster all season long and got into just 31 games. He's... fine. He's a decent enough corner OFer who should at least in theory be able to slug vs LHPs (last year not so much - he was 3-24 vs them). Carrera just didn't have a great place on the team and with no options remaining and very little that was any good on the farm he just kind of sat on the bench collecting a paycheck all year long.
Carrera now has 371 career at-bats in the majors leagues and has slashed 253/333/437. That's probably useful to somebody if not the Pirates.
D.J. Cheeves
SP No. 11
RR, 6'1" 196 lbs.
Born 1940-05-16
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 11 | 15 | 0 | 3.37 | 36 | 35 | 9 | 258.2 | 251 | 104 | 97 | 79 | 150 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
"Old Money" DJ Cheeves is the elder statesman of this Pirates rotation and its finesse king. In 1973 he suffered his 3rd losing season in 4 years and now his lifetime record is even below .500 at 131-135. Unlike the remarkably consistent Arango and Battaglia, Cheeves is prone to bouts of bad ball, for instance last June when he went 1-5, 5.12. He still finished with a solid ERA and is a perfectly adequate mid-rotation starter.
Cheeves has a 5 pitch arsenal with no one pitch really sticking out. His heater hits the low 90s. It's fine, down from the mid to high 90s he hit when he came out of Harvard University as the 10th overall pick in 1962 but still fine. He's a corner-painter, although his lack of commanding stuff means that he has to be a bit more exact than the big two guys who pitch in front of him and that does lead to more bases on balls. In 1972, in spite of the career-best 2.48 ERA Cheeves also allowed 24 HRs, the 2nd highest total of his career. He's normally pretty good at inducing groundballs over gopher balls and in 1973 he was back to that, allowing only 14 dingers all season long.
Cheeves considers himself a Pittsburgh Pirate for life. If the Pirates accommodate him, he'll also probably be a losing pitcher for life, in spite of a pretty decent 3.38 career ERA.
Doug Connally
C No. 19
RR, 5'11" 201 lbs.
Born 1944-08-21
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .246 | 116 | 402 | 46 | 99 | 22 | 2 | 9 | 42 | 75 | 80 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Connally made his 2nd All-Star Game in 3 years and is one of the better receivers in the National League. In Pittsburgh, he's recognized as one of the team's best hitters and so he played an awful lot - too much - in the #3 spot in the lineup, where his relative lack of clutch hitting really showed: in 112 ABs Connally hit .232 with 3 HRs and just 10 RBIs. Consider this less a knock on Connally himself and more of a knock on the team for trying to overextend him.
Connally is a medium contact, medium power hitter who makes himself a bit above average in terms of his ability to produce for his team with his ability to pick out pitches and work hitters for walks. Connally has strong wrists, although he can be coaxed into chasing breaking pitches from time to time. The Pirates tried using him in a semi-platoony basis with prospect Miklos Nemeth this year, which cut into his PAs; on the other hand, he handles RHPs much better than LHPs (.268 BA vs .229) so that's probably a good use of him should the team find a lefty-hitting catcher who can actually hit (which, granted, those are unicorns). Defensively he won the Gold Glove at catcher in 1972 by default but truth be told is only okay defensively and surely someone else will take that hardware home this year.
Connally is a good, solid starter for the Pirates who, on a good offense, would make fans happy at the bottom of the order. If Pittsburgh rooters are disappointed by him it's only because they expect too much.
Luke Dunnahoe
2B/IF No. 2
RR, 5'9" 191 lbs.
Born 1942-02-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .233 | 58 | 150 | 18 | 35 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 17 | 23 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Dunnahoe's been in Pittsburgh for three years now and... he is what he is: a utility player who can fill in up the middle and at third and a guy who can deliver a hit or two against left-handed pitching. Last year Dunnahoe was completely ineffective against RHPs, slashing 222/304/309 against them. As a result he faced lefties almost as often as he did righties. The Pirates even used him 7 times as a pinch-hitter, which went as well as you'd expect (1-7, 3 Ks). He does have enough pop in his bat to keep pitchers from grooving things down the middle against him but that's about the end of it.
With lefty-hitting Tyler Webster falling apart last season, the 31 year old Dunnahoe's role is in some jeopardy as well. He still has the legs to keep playing though.
Alex Flores
3B No. 33
RR, 5'11" 187 lbs.
Born 1944-04-11
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .246 | 124 | 451 | 40 | 111 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 38 | 45 | 88 | 12 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
I look at this lineup, top to bottom, and sometimes I wonder how the Pirates managed to win even 86 games. Alex Flores is a decidedly below average third baseman who had a decidedly below average season and was never expected to do that much better. Is this really the best the Pirates have to offer? Their minors are kind of bereft if I'm being honest: they have exactly one infielder in the BAA top 200 (I guess 2 if you count catchers but even then the catcher is #194 and finished the season in low A ball). They did call up German physicist Horst Stormer at the very end of the year; the 24 year old hit .241/3/18 in AAA so don't expect much, but that's as far as it goes for the third sack.
I didn't write much about Flores even though he was a starter. What is there to write about? He sucks but it's not his fault he played so much. OH RIGHT, there's Hank Williams Jr. He'll save the day!
Israel Gaytan
2B No. 29
RR, 5'11" 183 lbs.
Born 1947-07-16
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 OAK MLB | .291 | 147 | 602 | 67 | 175 | 34 | 2 | 6 | 51 | 15 | 56 | 1 |
| 1972 OAK MLB | .292 | 111 | 421 | 45 | 123 | 12 | 0 | 7 | 47 | 19 | 30 | 1 |
| 1973 OAK MLB | .220 | 55 | 182 | 19 | 40 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 23 | 1 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .164 | 24 | 61 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .324 | 10 | 37 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Gaytan was a real enigma wrapped in a mystery for the Pirates. They purchased him from the A's in July, sent him down to AAA Charleston to work on his defense, and the quiet Gaytan seemed to take the demotion extra-hard and stopped hitting. Then he was promoted in September call-ups and boom, in 10 September games he looked like the Israel Gaytan of old.
Gaytan has a soft inside-out swing that leads to a lot of balls put into play and a high batting average. He's never been a big walking man or a power threat and his issue at both Oakland and Charleston this year seemed to be that he was hitting too many pop-ups and too many automatic outs. Gaytan was asked to bunt a great deal in Oakland; he's good, not one of the all-time greats, at it but in just 201 1973 PAs with his old team he laid down 12 sacrifice hits. He didn't bunt once with Pittsburgh; then again, he also didn't walk a single time so the .324 average, nice as it was, was kind of empty. Gaytan is not a great defensive second baseman and that might have been reason #1 why the Pirates didn't just drop him into the lineup with Tyler Webster struggling all season long. His range is decidedly below average, which makes him a guy you really can't use at shortstop, and his arm isn't good enough for third base.
Gaytan will be in the mix for the starting job in 1973. He should easily be the best hitter of the bunch but also the worst defender.
Justin Hearl
CF No. 28
LL, 6'2" 204 lbs.
Born 1943-09-02
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .228 | 123 | 465 | 54 | 106 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 47 | 84 | 12 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Hearl was given a lot to do last year, especially in the second half of the season, and it affected his hitting. In August especially the pure strain of having to cover roughly 80% of the outfield - he was bookended by LF Jerry Sherk and RF Justin Lawson - caused him to hit .139 with 20 Ks in 72 at-bats. Otherwise he wasn't so bad but you can't just get rid of the bad months; they count too.
Ever since he came into the league in 1969 the now-30 year old Hearl has been a slap hitter who relies on his speed to reach base. He tries to drive everything into the ground. Last year outfielders cheated towards the gaps on him and he saw a distinct lack of doubles and triples, too. In seasons past he's been a useful enough leadoff man but in 1973 he had a .298 OBP in that role as he began to have troubles turning around on the fastball and tied a career-worst 84 strikeouts (in more than 100 fewer at-bats, too). Hearl still has good speed when he does get on base. Bench coach Ben Krahling looooooves to lay down bunts, I guess, so he also picked up 16 sacrifice hits last season. Defensively, yeah, he's got a lot of range. That's why he's kept the starter job even as his hitting has begun to fall off.
Hearl will certainly face challenges for the job in 1974. Michio Kaku (.197, 2, 4) once again failed to hit in 61 September at-bats but he'll be in the mix. George Macchia played in 40 games at the position but was a disaster so probably not him (see above). The high minors seem pretty clear of good prospects. That leaves the Rule V draft, trades, or free agency.
Timothy Higgins
C No. 4
RR, 6'1" 199 lbs.
Born 1948-04-06
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 PEN A | .286 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1972 EUG AAA | .168 | 50 | 107 | 12 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 17 | 24 | 0 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .222 | 64 | 216 | 25 | 48 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 34 | 30 | 57 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .229 | 24 | 83 | 6 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 22 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Higgins was signed out of New Zealand as an international free agent and as such is one of the few international players that the game generated as such. In this case my rule for giving guys names is that if they're called up after their 25th birthday I leave them as-is. That's what happened here to Higgins, who turned 25 on April 6th of last year. He managed to spell Doug Connally at catcher in the second half of last season after Miklos Nemeth was sent down to AAA Charleston for more seasoning. He was... fine. He's still learning the ropes behind the plate but eventually he should be a better defensive option than the starter and while he's no great shakes offensively he sure as heck was better than Nemeth last year. Higgins has a lot more pure power than Nemeth does. I'd be a little skeptical of that walk rate in 1973 given that 4 of his 13 passes were intentional.
Higgins and Nemeth will duke it out in spring training for the backup catcher job. To be honest it's probably less a physical battle between the two and more of a question as to whether or not Nemeth can learn to hit major league pitching. The Pirates also have 24 year old prospect and 1970 2nd round pick Brent "Data" Spiner waiting in the wings, although he spent the year in AA Sherbrooke (.290, 1, 6) and may have fallen out of favor with the front office.
Clyde Jones
SP No. 12
RL, 6'4" 203 lbs.
Born 1947-05-26
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CHR AAA | 14 | 10 | 0 | 1.87 | 28 | 28 | 11 | 225.1 | 173 | 55 | 47 | 61 | 143 |
| 1971 PIT MLB | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3.31 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 35.1 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 32 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | 13 | 8 | 0 | 2.95 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 194.2 | 179 | 68 | 64 | 52 | 200 |
| 1972 PIT MLB | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.19 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 41.0 | 25 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 32 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | 10 | 10 | 0 | 2.58 | 21 | 21 | 10 | 177.2 | 136 | 57 | 51 | 43 | 145 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3.58 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 70.1 | 64 | 28 | 28 | 18 | 49 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Clyde Jones, a 26 year old out of Aruba, followed up a solid first half in AAA Charleston with 10 good starts at the end of the season for the major league club. Is that going to be enough to keep him up full-time? He's out of options now and he pitched well enough that you'd expect him to get snapped up by someone should Pittsburgh try to hide him in waivers. Jones throws HEAT. He'll almost certainly get more whiffs than the 6.3/9 he got last year; his sinker and cutter both get into the high 90s. He averaged fewer than 100 pitches per start last year but still managed to average 7 IP per start so the jury's out as to whether or not he can keep up that kind of velo for entire games on a regular basis (he sure did in the minors). Like many fast, fast, fast pitchers, Jones does not leave himself in a good position to field ground balls in the unlikely even that someone makes contact with his pitches.
Jones has earned himself a shot at the major league roster for the whole entire season in 1974.
Justin Lawson
RF/LF No. 9
RR, 6'4" 201 lbs.
Born 1941-02-16
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .302 | 91 | 344 | 34 | 104 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 52 | 29 | 40 | 1 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
When you have the infield defense, or perhaps more accurately the complete lack of offense from the infield, you can/must do some screwy things in the outfield. Case in point: Justin Lawson, age 32, played 70 of his career 71 games in right field last season. He would have played even more except that he missed 2 months at the beginning of the year with a hamstring strain and then the Pirates mostly shut him down in September after the division race got out of hand.
Credit where it's due: when Lawson did play he improved on his All-Star 1972 in many ways, hitting for his highest average since 1966 without losing too much of his power. When he came back from the hamstring injury in July, Jerry Sherk was pretty well entrenched in both left field and the 4 hole so instead Lawson played right and hit 3rd. He got a lot of opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position and did well, slashing 302/404/442. Defensively he was not a good left fielder and has an average arm, which isn't so great for his long-term prospects in right. Also moves against the grain in the defensive spectrum rarely work out. All that said, Lawson wasn't good in RF last year but he wasn't a complete disaster at least. There were definitely worse OFers in the league in 1972.
Lawson returns to the heart of the Pirates' order in 1974. If he hits at the rate he did last year a 3rd All-Star berth is a possibility, as is his 1500th hit as a Pirate (he has 1,365).
Paz Lemus
ST No. 18
RR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1943-02-27
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 12 | 5 | 25 | 2.02 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 115.2 | 95 | 27 | 26 | 32 | 95 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
It was yet another monster season for stopper Paz "Sparky" Lemus - 25+ saves, 75+ games pitched, 110+ IP. This is, like, my personal limit I guess as to how hard I can push these guys, though I also know that IRL managers rose their stoppers even heavier than this. With Lemus there's the additional thing that half of the rotation he's coming in to relieve are perennial Cy Young candidates themselves.
For all of his ability to create strikeouts, Lemus doesn't actually throw that fast. His 4 seam fastball hits 90 on a good day. What he does instead is throw a curveball that's practically unhittable and he gets good movement on the heater and a change of pace as well. In spite of having a curve as his out pitch, he had bsaically no platoon split in 1973 (.220 BAA vs RH, .223 vs LH) and overall opponents hit like a banjo-hitting shortstop when he's on the mound - 429 ABs, 14 doubles, 4 triples, 3 HRs, and a triple slash of 221/276/294. In another world Lemus theoretically has the stamina to start and finish games but when you can give up barely 2 earned runs per 9 innings in 110 of the highest-leverage innings your team has, you do that instead.
Lemus doesn't get the gaudy save totals that guys like Montay Luiso or Geoff Saus get because he pitches whenever the Pirates need him, not just in save situations. Nevertheless he's still 9th all-time in saves with 177 with a good chance to pass John Winn, who has 191 but missed all of the 1973 season with a blown elbow ligament.
George Macchia
OF No. 34
RR, 5'12" 199 lbs.
Born 1945-11-11
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CHR AAA | .220 | 88 | 295 | 51 | 65 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 86 | 52 | 14 |
| 1971 PIT MLB | .333 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | .177 | 33 | 113 | 18 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 30 | 7 |
| 1972 PIT MLB | .196 | 28 | 46 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .248 | 45 | 145 | 22 | 36 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 29 | 33 | 9 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
It's perhaps a blessing in disguise for George Macchia that the Pirates finished so far behind the Phillies in 1973. If Philadelphia had finished with even 90 wins a case could be made that using Macchia in a platoon role in center with Jerry Sherk and Justin Lawson to either side of him is what cost the team the division title. Yeah, he was that bad. To his credit Macchia only committed one error but to his eternal discredit his blazing speed completely did not translate to the field and, armed with one of the worst first steps in baseball, Macchia allowed extra base hit after extra base hit to fly past him. Macchia didn't even hit all that well against LHPs, although I guess the bar is low when your platoon mate is Justin Hearl (Macchia hit .230/1/9 albeit with a .375 OBP). He did do a decent job of getting on base where he could showcase the speed, which is nice.
Macchia's best role would seem to be "on another team"; he'd make a below average corner outfielder too but at least he'd probably get on base often enough to make up for it. At 27 and coming off the season he did it's unlikely that he'll be worth all that much in trade though. If he sticks with Pittsburgh he'd be a 4th outfielder who unfortunately bats from the same side as the two corner OF incumbents.
Arturo Martinez
2B/SS No. 23
RR, 5'10" 198 lbs.
Born 1944-01-15
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CHR AAA | .256 | 117 | 391 | 44 | 100 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 53 | 53 | 45 | 10 |
| 1971 PIT MLB | .414 | 10 | 29 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | .231 | 102 | 334 | 36 | 77 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 30 | 64 | 8 |
| 1972 PIT MLB | .204 | 17 | 49 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .260 | 79 | 262 | 18 | 68 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 29 | 5 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .254 | 41 | 126 | 11 | 32 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 3 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Martinez is your bog-standard AAAA replacement level middle infielder. He's managed to stay in Pittsburgh - well, Pittsburgh and Charleston - ever since he was drafted in 1966 but at this point the 29 year old has finally run out of options so the next time he gets called up and sent down there's a good chance he'll get picked up via waivers. He would add... okay defense and replacement level hitting to whoever signed him. Martinez does have good speed. When you carry a career major league on-base percentage of .280 you don't get a lot of opportunity to showcase that but hey, it's a tick above average. Defensively he makes all of the plays but lacks elite shortstop range.
The Pirates seem to have an embarrassment of these kinds of players. They do have Huey Lewis as well, who just missed making the 75 PA cut to get an appearance out here, but the jury's out as to whether or not the prospect is just a younger version of this player type.
Miklos Nemeth
C No. 24
LR, 5'11" 198 lbs.
Born 1948-01-26
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CHA A | .271 | 45 | 133 | 17 | 36 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 23 | 23 | 33 | 1 |
| 1971 SHE AA | .162 | 31 | 68 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 0 |
| 1972 SHE AA | .333 | 20 | 39 | 6 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | .278 | 30 | 90 | 10 | 25 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 21 | 0 |
| 1972 PIT MLB | .198 | 27 | 81 | 5 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 21 | 0 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .222 | 44 | 135 | 13 | 30 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 18 | 25 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .179 | 29 | 78 | 11 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 15 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The Pirates have a role carved out for Nemeth; all he has to do is hit well enough to make it make sense to use him against the occasional right-handed batter. Last year for the second season in a row Nemeth was flatly overwhelmed by major league pitching and at this point with a career .189 major league batting average it seems in doubt. Nemeth will draw a lot of walks but he doesn't have the power he thinks he has and strikes out too often. A more aggressive approach at the plate may help him. On the other hand Nemeth has catcher-level speed so maybe what he's doing is "fine". On defense, Nemeth knocks down potential wild pitches well and does a good job framing. The one tool he doesn't have is the big one: Nemeth has a below-average arm for a catcher and threw out 40% of runners last year mostly because guys ran on him too often.
If Nemeth could juuuuust turn into a .240ish hitter he could survive for years as a platoon partner in this league. This seems about as likely as pigs learning how to fly.
Danny Perez
SU/SP No. 22
RR, 5'9" 179 lbs.
Born 1945-07-10
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3.29 | 32 | 11 | 0 | 106.2 | 106 | 41 | 39 | 55 | 72 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
I hate reciting the old Dickens quote here but since real-life pundits do I will: it was a tale of two seasons for Danny Perez. Coming off a solid 15-8 campaign which, I will grant you, was mostly the result of the anemic Bucs offense actually scoring runs in bunches for him, he entered the year as the #3 starter. He was pretty awful at it and had his last start of the year on July 3rd, giving up 4 runs in 6 innings in a 6-3 loss to the hated Cardinals. From then on he was banished to the bullpen, where he was lights-out: 2-1, 0.55 with 2 saves in relief as the Pirates' primary setup man.
Is this sustainable? I mean, a sub-1 ERA is never sustainable, but... maybe a little, I don't know. Perez throws a 4-pitch mix where nothing really stands out but in relief he can rely on good velocity on his cut fastball to get strikeouts. The other thing we saw was that cutting down on the number of pitches he throws seemed to have a really positive effect on his control: he was barely 1:1 in K/W ratio as a starter (51-45) but better than 2-1 in relief (21-10). Perez throws from an over-the-top motion so his "slider" basically breaks straight down: hitters never have hit a lot of HRs off of him and that didn't change last year.
The main obstacle for Perez in relief is that the Pirates already have Paz Lemus out there to take in many of the highest leverage innings. Still, if he's effective they can run basically a 7 man pitching staff and that's saying something.
Jerry Sherk
LF No. 5
RR, 6'4" 257 lbs.
Born 1948-07-07
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 TR AA | .278 | 19 | 54 | 8 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 0 |
| 1971 IND AAA | .167 | 66 | 54 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 0 |
| 1972 IND AAA | .277 | 88 | 83 | 12 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 0 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .292 | 13 | 48 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .277 | 130 | 501 | 57 | 139 | 33 | 1 | 22 | 89 | 50 | 94 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Sherk isn't exactly amazing out there but he's the Pirates' best pure offensive player. Hey, maybe that does make him amazing. The 25 year old began the season in AAA, quickly proved too good for that level, and got called up at the tail end of April, sitting in left field and batting cleanup for this team the entire season. 89 RBIs for this team is nothing to sneeze at.
Sherk is your classic power hitter with a long, looping swing that leads to a lot of strikeouts but also a lot of long hits. In Three Rivers those hits are as likely to be line drives into the gap as HRs and Sherk did a good job of adapting to the field. He was cut by the Reds organization in October of 1972 after they tried to use him as a AAA pinch-hitter. That feels like a severe dereliction of duties; a guy like Sherk needs to stay in the lineup every day and swing through his streaks and slumps. He hits enough line drives to keep his average at a reasonable level even though he has very little speed. Said lack of speed does make him a liability defensively, which maybe is why he got cut from Cincy.
The 25 year old Sherk is in the running for the NL Rookie of the Year (although I think that will go to San Diego's Dr. Phil McGraw). He was a great find and should anchor the middle of this lineup for years to come.
Rick Springfield
SP No. 96
RR, 6'0" 186 lbs.
Born 1949-08-24
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CHA A | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.05 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 39.1 | 28 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 25 |
| 1971 SHE AA | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2.70 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 96.2 | 84 | 31 | 29 | 26 | 36 |
| 1972 SHE AA | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2.08 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 69.0 | 51 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 44 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7.31 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 30 | 15 | 13 | 7 | 14 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1.81 | 13 | 13 | 1 | 89.1 | 61 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 72 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2.79 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 93.1 | 73 | 37 | 29 | 31 | 57 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
The 24 year old Rick Springfield has taken a pretty fast track to the major leagues. He followed up a rough 16 inning patch in AAA Charleston in 1972 with a fantastic first half there in 1973, so good that he got called up in June. A month spent pitching in long relief later, Springfield found himself in the rotation, where he continued to perform well. Springfield made the preseason and midseason prospect top 100 lists (46 and 75 respectively) thanks to a deceptive motion and a good change of pace that overcomes a lack of speed on his pitches. He had some issues with control in the major leagues but scouts insist that's going to be a plus, not a minus in the future. On a team without great runner-holders, Springfield stands out; he allowed only 2 of 6 guys who tried to steal on him last year. He does lack some stamina but that's not really a death knell with this team's bullpen.
I wouldn't project stardom on Springfield, at least not on the pitching mound, but he might have a one-hit-wonder season in his future.
Chris Tyree
OF No. 10
RL, 5'12" 196 lbs.
Born 1943-11-04
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CAL MLB | .326 | 98 | 396 | 39 | 129 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 45 | 10 | 29 | 13 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .289 | 57 | 228 | 25 | 66 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 10 | 23 | 10 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .256 | 48 | 172 | 19 | 44 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 4 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .254 | 22 | 71 | 9 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The Angels tried to sneak Chris Tyree through the waiver wire to send him down to AAA in late August. Pittsburgh snapped him up and gave him a chance to show what he's worth in the National League. It... wasn't much. Tyree is certainly a better outfielder than Justin Lawson and that did help them to evaluate the young pitching they trotted out in September. Anyone hoping he'd get back to his contact-hitting salad days of 1970-71 when he held back to back .326 BAs was sorely disappointed. This iteration of Chris Tyree is a good-field, no-hit corner man who struggles to make solid contact with the ball and has suffered the last couple years from a decline in speed.
Tyree is a better candidate than teammate Carlos Correa to be the 25th man off the bench. It's really tough to predict much more than that out of him.
Abi*lio Valdivia
PH/1B No. 31
RL, 6'5" 200 lbs.
Born 1932-05-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .000 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .260 | 61 | 127 | 16 | 33 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Valdivia is still on the 40 man roster as of this writing so hey, one final write-up for this man before he rides off into the sunset. Valdivia managed to play in the major leagues for 20 seasons even - 1954-1973 - and while he's not even close to being a Hall of Famer, he's for sure in the Pirates' Hall of Fame. Valdivia played a total of 1,729 games for Pittsburgh, collecting 1,819 hits (1835 total) and made it to the All-Star Game 4 times. His best year, 1962, saw him lead the NL in hitting with a .369 average and 222 hits that remains the 6th highest total of all time (Justin Stone, yes, the power hitter, had 238 in 1964). He's got a lifetime .320 batting average that's 8th all time itself, although Valdivia just didn't play enough to get real HOF consideration, finishing with 5,739 career at-bats. Most years he was a platoon partner and premier contact hitter. Blame the game for not using him more in his peak I guess.
Henry Villar
SS No. 26
LR, 5'11" 193 lbs.
Born 1943-03-29
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .268 | 107 | 385 | 33 | 103 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 48 | 59 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
In years past, Henry Villar had been a middle infielder who... hit like a middle infielder. Even at the ripe old age of 30 he's got excellent range and makes a good shortstop on a defensively minded team but yeah, offensively he's a prototypical National League #7 hitter and even that's only because catchers normally hit 8th. In Pittsburgh Villar hits 2nd. He does have good bat control, I'll give him that; last year in fact he cut way down on his strikeouts while also walking just as often on a per-PA basis as he did before. Durability has long been an issue for him and Villar missed significant time in 1973 with two separate abdominal injuries. He's one of the best bunters in baseball and has led all of baseball in sacrifice hits each of the last 3 years with insane SH numbers: 31, 27, and 28. If only the game tracked career SHs, I think Villar would be among the league leaders.
Villar, unlike a lot of of the guys I've written about, should easily keep his job next year. In fact, the Pirates would love for him to get back to 140+ games.
Tyler Webster
2B/SS No. 14
LR, 5'9" 192 lbs.
Born 1944-07-23
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 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 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .209 | 124 | 412 | 45 | 86 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 31 | 60 | 112 | 1 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Once upon a time Tyler Webster was a nice power option at second base who could perhaps turn into a star if he could just cut down on the strikeouts. The opposite has happened - Webster continued to K a lot but now the power is absent - and now he's in heavy danger of finding himself without a job.
Webster has a patient approach at the plate that would be great if he could get around on major league fastballs, but the former 5th overall pick (1966) never has been able to do that. This past year was really the low water mark as attempts to shorten his swing just robbed him of the one thing he does that kind of evens the game offensively, hit HRs. Webster's 18 HRs in 1972 was a career high; the 8 he hit was a career low as a starter, and as a result he had his worst year at the plate by far. Scouts say he's an "excellent" defender; I wouldn't go that far - his range is absolutely not what I'd call "excellent" - but he does all the right things at second base and if he hit at all he has the arm to play third.
This could easily be the last time Webster appears here. He's 29 now and already his best years seem to be behind him. The only thing keeping him in a potential battle for a job is his pedigree, sure, but also the fact that the Pirates are a bit low at this position.
Hank Williams Jr.
3B/LF No. 25
LR, 5'8" 182 lbs.
Born 1949-05-25
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CHA 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 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | .222 | 33 | 117 | 11 | 26 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 15 | 21 | 0 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | .261 | 69 | 188 | 28 | 49 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 45 | 36 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Hey hey! I spent a good amount of the rest of these infield write-ups running down the guys who played last year but sometimes it doesn't matter whether or not you have a lot of guys who can play the position so long as you have one. Williams broke camp with the team following a decent 2nd half of 1972. He hit poorly, getting sent down to AAA with a .198 average and just 6 RBIs, then came back in mid-August where he was much improved.
Hank Williams Jr. isn't as rowdy as he makes himself out to be - I guess to be fair he has rowdy friends who are "here on Monday night" more than he's rowdy himself - but instead carves out a spot for himself by fouling off pitch after pitch after pitch until the opposing pitcher gives up and allows him to reach base. Williams now has 443 major league plate appearances to his name and he's a career .256, 10, 43 hitter but with 87 walks and a .404 career on-base percentage. Last September it was actually over .500 (.516)! Williams is average at best as a fielder, making up for a lack of range with a nice arm that also serves him well when he spot-starts in the outfield. With all that on-baseness you'd hope he'd have some speed but nope, there's none of that.
Williams has to be penciled in to start at third base in 1974. There's no other good choice. Let's hope he can hit above the Timonen Line.
Viktor Yanukovych
SP/LR No. 16
RR, 6'0" 192 lbs.
Born 1950-07-07
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1972 MAG MLB | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5.23 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 43.0 | 42 | 25 | 25 | 13 | 50 |
| 1972 SHE AA | 3 | 13 | 0 | 3.51 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 148.1 | 138 | 60 | 58 | 49 | 60 |
| 1972 CHR AAA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.52 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 15.1 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| 1973 SHE AA | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.64 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 34.0 | 29 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 14 |
| 1973 CHR AAA | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2.72 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 92.1 | 72 | 29 | 28 | 20 | 78 |
| 1973 PIT MLB | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4.28 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 56.2 | 65 | 27 | 27 | 22 | 40 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
I've been quietly renaming complete scumbags in this save but for now I guess I'll keep Viktor Yanukovych, best known as the REAL JERK (/norm macdonald) who sold Ukraine out to the Russians in the early 2000s, in. When Yanukovych isn't being a little quisling, he throws in the low to mid 90s with some good movement on his pitches, especially his change of pace. He flashed good control in the year and a half he spent in the minors before he got pushed into the major leagues and scouts think that that rather than his iffy-control 1973 stint, is his true level. Yanukovych got most of his starts in July, when he was only 1-3, 4.79 before being sent back down; he returned in September but rarely pitched.
Yanukovych projects as a mid-rotation starter and temperament-wise he projects as a New York Yankee.