Vizquel Extension Up For Discussion

40 year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel would like to play in 2008 and 2009, so the Giants will meet with his agent today to talk extension.  I wanted to get an idea of just how rare this type of thing is, so I finally checked out the Play Index tool over at Baseball-Reference.  It is awesome.

How many guys in modern Major League history have played even 50 games in a season at shortstop at age 40 or older? The answer is four: Barry Larkin, Luke Appling, Ozzie Smith, and Honus Wagner.  Appling and Wagner each had three such seasons.  The latter three are already in the Hall of Fame, and Larkin stands a good chance.  Of those eight seasons, only one involved an OPS below .720.  Makes sense - you don't last that long if you're Mike Caruso.  Although Mike's 1998 season had us all fooled.   

Then, since I was bored, I decided to find the best single-season qualifying ERA by a pitcher who weighed 250 or more pounds.  Turned out to be Jeff D'Amico's 2000 season at 2.66.  See, you learn something every day.

Comments

[ArodSucksAtLife]

What's the deal with Mark Redman? With some of the shoddy rotations out there its suprising he doesnt have at least a minor league deal with someone.

[nrmax88]

The most ridiculous part is that Jeff D'Amico posted a 2.66 era over an entire season.