Yesterday's news of the Giants signing Justin Verlander RHP to a 1 year free agent contract brought to mind a fairly long and illustrious history of similar transactions going at least as far back as Warren Spahn LHP in 1965. So I thought it might be fun and educational to take a look at some of those players stat lines from those experiences. I can think of at least 4 HOF'ers, Spahn, Steve Carlton LHP, Joe Morgan 2B and Randy Johnson LHP. I'll add in 3 more from the Hall of Very Good Players, Dusty Baker OF, Reggie Smith 1B and Orel Hershiser RHP. What makes those 3 names particularly interesting is they all played a major part of their careers with the Dodgers. Let's get started.
Warren Spahn LHP. After a 25-year career with the Braves, Spahn's contract was sold to the Mets after the 1964 season. At the age of 44, Spahn went 4-12 for the Mets in a dual pitcher/pitching coach role. He was placed on waivers and released by the Mets and signed with the Giants in July. He remained with the Giants to the end of the season which proved to be his final MLB season.
1965(Giants): 3-4, 3.39, 71.2 IP, 4.3 K/9, 2.6 BB/9.
It should be noted that Spahn's career strikeout rate was 4.4, amazingly low for a HOF career. Although the Giants fell short by 2 games in the pennant race against the Dodgers, Spahn made a significant contribution on a team that didn't have much pitching behind ace Juan Marichal.
Joe Morgan 2B. Morgan made his HOF reputation as the sparkplug of the Big Red Machine. He signed a free agent contract with the Giants in 1981 at age 37 after one return season with the Astros.
Steve Carlton LHP. Carlton was released by the Phillies during the 1986 season. He signed on with the Giants and even broke his silence with the press to give a press conference. He pitched seven shutout innings and hit a 3-run HR in one game but overall went 1-3 with a 5.10 ERA. He also recorded his 4000'th career strikeout while wearing a Giants uniform. He announced his retirement on August 7 but four days later signed on with the White Sox going 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA over the rest of the season. He finally retired for good at age 44 before the 1989 season.
Randy Johnson LHP. RJ signed with the Giants for the 2009 season at age 45.
2009: 8-6, 4.88, 96 IP, 8.06 K/9, 2.91 BB/9.
The ERA is not great but RJ was credited with 8 Wins and ate 96 innings in essentially a half-season of starts. He also recorded his 300'th career Win while wearing a Giants uniform. A shoulder injury suffered while diving for an infield dribbler forced him to retire at the end of the season.
Dusty Baker OF. Baker signed with the Giants as a free agent for the 1984 season at the age of 35.
1984: .292/.387/.374, 3 HR, 4 SB, 13.9 BB%, 9.4 K%, 287 PA.
In limited playing time he hit for a high average and OBP but with little power. He went on to play two more seasons with the Oakland A's. Of course he would eventually find his way back to the Giants as a beloved manager. He currently serves as an advisor in the Giants front office.
Reggie Smith 1B. Smith signed with the Giants as a free agent for his final MLB season at age 37. He was part of the 1982 team along with Joe Morgan who fell just short of a NL West Division championship.
1982: .284/.364/.470, 18 HR, 7 SB, 11.6 BB%, 11.6 K%, 398 PA.
Although he was an OF for most of his illustrious career, Smith played 1B for the Giants and played well accumulating and fWAR of 2.9.
Orel Hershiser RHP. Hershiser signed with the Giants for the 1998 season at age 40.
1998: 11-10, 4.41, 202.0 IP, 5.61 K/9, 3.79 BB/9.
Amazing that Hershiser's career K/9 was just 5.79. Although the ERA as not great, he made 32 starts and averaged 6.3 IP/Start. I guess there was a reason they called him Bulldog!
If the experiences of these players are any indication, Justin Verlander will likely not win a Cy Young Award with the Giants but will probably make a significant contribution and possibly leave Giants fans with some fond memories.
Startling to see the BB/K of all the FA hitters listed.
ReplyDeleteDifferent era indeed.
1982 Giants was a fun team to follow. Hall of famer Frank Robinson-manager. Reggie Smith-great hitter played for Red Sox too. Great memory of Joe Morgan 3 run homer off Terry Forster eliminated Dodgers, seeing Tom Lasordas defeated look was priceless. I believe Duane Kuipet was on that team also. I'm sure that Dusty Baker endorsed the Verlander signing being his manager with Houston. Heard on KNBR that Rich Gossage former great relief pitcher played on 1989 Giants pennent winning team.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you mentioned some of these HOF players. Several stand out in my memory.
ReplyDeleteCarlton. 1986 was the first year that I followed baseball and the Giants. The first game that I ever watched was on ABC Monday night baseball (remember that?). The Giants were taking on the Cardinals. I had no idea of the history of Carlton. Just knew that he looked shaky on the mound and crushed a homerun that gave them the lead. He ultimately ended up losing the game. They mentioned that he was a pitcher to whom they tried to teach a split finger (in 86, it was a newer pitch and the giant staff had cornered the market for it) His fingers were too short for him to be able to actually throw it effectively. Still, a nice memory.
Per Johnson, I remember that he took Jonathan Sanchez under his wing and helped him hone his craft as a mentor of sorts. After Johnson went down, Sanchez took his spot in the rotation and actually tossed a no hitter. Ended up being a corner stone of the world series champions the next season.
Great memories.
Another HOF player that they had was Gary Carter. He stepped up when they had a dearth of catchers. Only played one season for the Giants, but still was very valuable while he was here.
Duke Snider, who hit .210 for the Giants in 1964.
ReplyDeleteNot quite a baseball HOFer but a Red Sox HOFer Bill Monbouquette was acquired in a trade in 1968. Monbouquette was the last strikeout of Satchel Paige's career.
Thinking of old pitchers we acquired/signed, maybe not a HOF (but likley got votes), but how bout TIM HUDSON (won over 200 Games) who the Giants signed for his 39 YEAR OLD SEASON and he pitched close to 200 innings, was a first half ALL STAR and helped them win a WS..Even pitched at 40 the next year,
ReplyDeleteThey also picked up Rick REUSCHEL (Won over 200 games) for his 39 and 40 year old season where he was a workhorse Ace who pitched over 200 IP for 2 consec years and also was an All Star.
Hey, just trying to be positive!
SteveVA
Great names to add to the list. Thank you.
DeleteKrukow feels that most of Verlander's value will come off of the field. Krukow said that he was mentored by Rick Reuschel when he was a player and credits Matt Morris for helping Matt Cain. This is a similar situation for the young pitchers.
ReplyDelete