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1993: The Year September Trades Mattered

By Howard Megdal | September 2, 2011 at 1:29pm CDT

My colleague Ben Nicholson-Smith pointed out, rightly, that September trades haven't amounted to much in the past decade. But there was a glorious summer-turned-fall for trades back in 1993. As Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn, seemingly ending Middle Eastern conflict, Major League teams came together to help one another through the season's final month.

Sure, everyone knew that these relationships were as transitory as a momentary coupling with a beautiful stranger you meet on a cruise. But let's revisit the brief, sweet memories that resulted.

On September 1, the Chicago White Sox traded reliever Donn Pall to the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Doug Lindsey. Though the Phillies held a 9.5 game lead over the Montreal Expos on September 1, a thin bullpen needed reinforcements. Pall certainly provided quality innings for Philadelphia, pitching to a 2.55 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. The hard-charging Expos managed to cut that lead to three games by season's end, foreshadowing further improvement the following season. Were Pall's innings the difference between winning and losing the division? Perhaps not, but they helped provide insurance for a closer-than-expected finish.

A week later, the Baltimore Orioles found themselves in a surprisingly strong position. Down six games in the AL East as September began, Baltimore had rallied to within a game of the first-place Blue Jays. Needing a hitter to help them with the stretch run, the Orioles sent minor leaguers Stanton Cameron and Terry Farrar to Pittsburgh for outfielder Lonnie Smith. For Smith, the chance to play left field and designated hitter on a contending team one last time helped spark him to a 139 OPS+ with Baltimore in 32 plate appearances. Though the Orioles faded, Lonnie Smith certainly didn't.

The significant dealing still wasn't finished, even when the month was more than half over. On September 17, the Texas Rangers trailed the AL West-leading White Sox by just 4.5 games. In an effort to bolster the team's offense, Texas traded minor leaguer Dave Gandolph to the Houston Astros for outfielder Chris James. The move paid dividends immediately, with James homering twice in his very first game with Texas. He went on to hit .355/.412/.677 in 34 plate appearances. Though Texas fell short of division title, James provided 0.7 WAR – an amazing total for someone on the active roster for a total of 15 days.

That same day, the Yankees, fading from the AL East race, decided to add another arm to a young, tiring starting rotation. Though the Phillies also had interest in Frank Tanana – after all, Donn Pall can't win pennants all by himself – the Yankees managed to snag Tanana from the crosstown Mets for reliever Kenny Greer. The once-great strikeout pitcher still knew how to get hitters out with junk at age 40. Though he failed to win his three starts with the Yankees, he pitched into the seventh inning all three times, posting a quality start in each outing. The Yankees failed to catch the Blue Jays, But Tanana's 19 2/3 innings of 3.20 ERA pitching certainly helped keep things close.

Will history repeat itself? Perhaps Chris Capuano will go across town to a contending Yankees team? Maybe the White Sox will send Jesse Crain to the Phillies? No matter how late it gets, don't assume the deals won't have an impact. After all, you'll never forget that night at sea, no matter how brief the interlude.

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When Great Sluggers Get Traded

By Howard Megdal | August 25, 2011 at 2:02pm CDT

With the Twins and Indians discussing a Jim Thome swap, the big slugger could join some elite company. Thome's 601 home runs would be the fourth-largest total ever traded. And the pattern of a successful home run hitter returning to the team of his roots certainly applies to Thome – he hit his first 334 home runs in a Cleveland uniform. Let's take a closer look at what kind of return similar sluggers provided for their new teams.

Unsurprisingly, Hank Aaron ranks atop the list of most career home runs when traded. Hammerin' Hank had 733 round-trippers when the Atlanta Braves traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers – the town where he hit his first 398 home runs – for outfielder Dave May and minor league pitcher Roger Alexander. May, a year removed from a 25-home run season himself, never recovered his All-Star form. Aaron did make the All-Star team in 1975, but that had more to do with reputation than performance. In 851 plate appearances over two seasons in Milwaukee, Aaron hit just 22 home runs.

Next on the list is Willie Mays, who hit 646 home runs for the Giants of New York and San Francisco before executing a similar return to Aaron's. The Giants traded Mays to the New York Mets on May 11, 1972 for Charlie Williams and $50K. Williams became a valuable swingman for the Giants over seven seasons, including three with an ERA+ of 110 or better. Mays, meanwhile, hit 14 home runs over 481 plate appearances with the Mets in 1972 and 1973. The first, and most dramatic, of these home runs came in his very first game with the Mets against the Giants. Naturally, Mays didn't come close to the level he reached in his first stint in New York – a 157 OPS+ and 187 home runs from 1951-1957. Rumor has it his defense in center field was pretty good, too.

The only other slugger with more home runs than Thome at the time of a trade is Ken Griffey Jr., who tallied 609 long balls by the time the Cincinnati Reds traded him at the 2008 non-waiver deadline to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Nick Masset and infielder Danny Richar. Masset has become a bullpen mainstay for Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Griffey hit only three home runs down the stretch for Chicago, though he played well enough overall to help the White Sox reach the postseason. His final 11 playoff at bats came for the Sox in their AL Division Series loss to Tampa Bay.

The clearest comparable to Thome among these sluggers is a man Thome passed on the all-time home run list last year: Frank Robinson. With 586 career home runs, Robinson had already slugged 572 of them late in the 1974 season when the California Angels traded him to Cleveland for catcher Ken Suarez, outfielder Rusty Torres and cash. Neither Suarez nor Torres did much after the trade – Torres never appeared in a Major League game for the Angels – but Torres did out-homer Robinson post-deal, hitting 20 home runs in parts of five seasons with three teams.

Robinson, however, was extremely productive in a part-time role from 1974-76. Those 14 home runs came in just 289 plate appearances, with his OPS+ checking in at a robust 129. He managed the team as well, something Thome would not be asked to do in Cleveland. But if Thome emulates Robinson at the plate, the Indians will be happy to have him and Thome's 132 OPS+ this season suggests such hopes are realistic.

Whether that means a pennant or not, a deal would certainly guarantee that Indians fans can reminisce at the ballpark – and maybe even get an old jersey out of storage.

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Trade Targets Separated At Birth: Pence/White

By Howard Megdal | August 18, 2011 at 7:10pm CDT

Since the Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects for Hunter Pence last month, things couldn't be going better – Pence is at .344/.408/.557 in his first 16 games. Still, the price was awfully steep for two years and two months of Pence, a 28-year-old corner outfielder with a career OPS+ of 118.

The four players Houston received – Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Domingo Santana and Josh Zeid – represented three of the top nine Phillies prospects heading into the season, according to Baseball America, with Zeid checking in at 23rd. If the Phillies win another World Series or two, all that is likely to be forgotten. But when compared to Rondell White, a strikingly similar player in terms of value at the time he was traded, it is hard to feel as if the Phillies got a proper return.

When the Montreal Expos traded Rondell White in July 2000, he was 28 years old, just like Pence is now. His career OPS+ at the time was 113, lower than Pence's 118, though his offensive WAR was virtually identical: 12.4 in roughly 3,000 plate appearances, to Pence's 12.6 in roughly 3,000 plate appearances. Add defense into the equation, though, and White's overall WAR jumps to 17.7; Pence's falls to 11.0.

With both White and Pence a year and two months from free agency, it becomes clear that White was at least as valuable an asset at the time of the deal. So if the Astros got four prospects, including three elite ones, what did Montreal get from the Chicago Cubs for Rondell White?

Scott Downs. Just Scott Downs. Already 24 years old, having been traded from the Cubs to the Twins and then back, Downs was deemed the proper compensation for the Hunter Pence of his time, Rondell White. This is no knock on Downs, who has since enjoyed a strong career and become one of the best, most consistent left-handed relievers in the game.

But the Astros didn't deal for Cosart, Singleton or even Santana hoping for the value of a middle reliever. That's what they are probably hoping for from Zeid, the fourth-best player in the deal. Downs didn't help matters by pitching just three innings for the Expos, then having Tommy John surgery knock him out until 2002.

The deal worked out somewhat well for the Cubs, though White didn't become the stretch-run contributor the Cubs wanted. He played in 19 games, all starts, before injury ended his season on August 26. At that time, the Cubs were at the outer edges of the 2000 pennant chase, 8.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and 10 games behind the Mets for the Wild Card. But by the time White gave way to a September of Ross Gload and Roosevelt Brown in left field, the Cubs were all but eliminated.

White contributed greatly to a 2001 Cubs team that finished 88-74, a respectable third place in the NL Central. His OPS+ of 134 was second among all Cub regulars to Sammy Sosa's 203, and his WAR of 2.0 placed him in a tie for third on the team with Bill Mueller. Still, White's injury problems limited him to just 95 games and after the season, the Cubs saw him sign as a free agent with the New York Yankees.

Obviously, the major advantage Pence has over White is durability, with at least 156 games played in each of his full seasons. The extent to which White's defensive value evens that out is noteworthy, however. Had the Phillies merely dealt a 24-year-old Scott Downs – say, Kyle Kendrick – for a player of Pence/White's caliber, the trade would have been an outright heist. Seeing four prospects go in such a deal could be remembered very differently, however.

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Trade Targets Separated At Birth: Broglio/Jimenez

By Howard Megdal | August 12, 2011 at 8:21am CDT

Time for a new segment, where we analyze recent trade targets and compare them to their historical ancestors. First up: the recent Ubaldo Jimenez deal, and its historical twin: the trade of Ernie Broglio.

Consider that through his most recent start, Ubaldo Jimenez has pitched 864 innings with an ERA+ of 126. Broglio, from 1960 through getting traded during the 1964 season, pitched 942 2/3 innings with an ERA+ of 125. Broglio was 28 at the time of his deal; Jimenez was 27 when the Rockies traded him last month.

So why, exactly, do we fail to remember the "Ernie Broglio Trade" as clearly as we currently think of the "Ubaldo Jimenez Trade"? Let's take a closer look to find out.

The St. Louis Cardinals dealt Broglio on June 15, 1964. At the time, the Cardinals were 28-31, seven games out of first place, and obviously going nowhere. Why not deal Broglio for some young talent? The Cubs were eager to get Broglio, veteran hurler Bobby Shantz and backup outfielder Doug Clemens in exchange for pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth and a young outfielder named Lou Brock.

Ah, that's why it isn't called the Ernie Broglio Trade.

Spring, Toth, Clemens and even Shantz (once a very good pitcher himself) did little for their new teams. Broglio pitched moderately well for the 1964 Cubs, with a 4.04 ERA, before arm injuries ended his career by 1966. And Brock immediately became Hall of Famer Lou Brock, hitting .348/.387/.527 with 33 stolen bases following the trade. He'd go on to steal at least 51 each year until 1977, when he was 37. He stole 118, the single season record Rickey Henderson broke the next decade, as a 35-year-old.

To boot, the Cardinals team that had been underachieving so much that it felt it could trade one of its best pitchers and fire its general manager went on to win the 1964 World Series. And they had their arch rivals to thank for a trade that helped make it possible.

The question is, will any of the players Colorado received from Cleveland - Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Joseph Gardner and Matt McBride – produce like Lou Brock? Drew Pomeranz looks like the best of the bunch, but he cannot even be officially traded to Colorado until August 15, nor is he expected to join the big league club when he makes the move. In other words, he could turn out to be the focal point of the deal, but he is unlikely to make Cleveland pay the same season the Indians traded him.

But is helpful to remember that history may not call this the "Ubaldo Jimenez Trade". Our children may think of it instead as "The Alex White Trade". After all, that's how it happened when the Jimenez-like trade target was… separated at birth.

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Carlos Beltran: Difference-Maker

By Howard Megdal | July 28, 2011 at 12:06am CDT

Lost in all the excitement, opinion and analysis following today's Carlos Beltran trade is just how rare it is for a player having a season as strong as Beltran's to be dealt. Since 1980, there have been 1,371 outfielder seasons that qualified for the batting title. Ranked by OPS+, Beltran's 151 mark ranks 99th out of all of them – and second among outfielders traded mid-season.

So the Mets' trading stance – holding out for top-tier talent and eventually getting Zack Wheeler – makes a great deal of sense. But it is also worth exploring: has the acquisition of outfield offense near the caliber of Beltran been a difference-maker for teams?

The only outfielder with a higher OPS+ to be traded mid-year since 1980 was Gary Sheffield. He posted a 155 OPS+ for the Marlins and Dodgers during a 1998 season that ranks 77th among outfield offensive seasons since 1980.

The deal isn't overly illustrative of what Beltran can provide for a number of reasons. For one thing, Sheffield was traded much earlier in the season – May 14 – and to a team that wasn't looking to win that season (trading Mike Piazza in the deal is a reliable indicator of that). Sheffield went on to make the All-Star team for Los Angeles, providing 3.0 wins above replacement, even with an awful glove that made him a more one-dimensional player than Beltran. To be sure, Sheffield wasn't a candidate to play center field. But with alternatives like a young Roger Cedeno and Todd Hollandsworth, Sheffield was certainly a difference-maker for the Dodgers, even if they finished the season with a mediocre 83-79 record.

Next on the list, appearing at 133rd among offensive outfield seasons since 1980, is the trade of Rickey Henderson on July 31, 1993. The Oakland Athletics, looking to rebuild, sent the 34-year-old Henderson to Toronto for elite pitching prospect Steve Karsay and toolsy outfielder Jose Herrera. According to Baseball America, Herrera was the 97th best prospect in baseball prior to the 1994 season; Karsay ranked 12th overall.

It is no surprise that Sandy Alderson, the current Mets General Manager, wanted a similar return to the one obtained by then-Oakland GM… Sandy Alderson. Henderson, for his part, slumped badly after the trade. He'd put up a 182 OPS+ with Oakland, but that dropped to just 83 with Toronto. Still, Henderson and the Jays went on to win a World Series. It is hard not to consider Henderson a difference-maker, especially since the other Toronto left fielders were Darnell Coles, Rob Butler, Willie Canate and Turner Ward.

The only other offensive outfield season in the top 200 since 1980 from a player traded in-season came from Brian Giles, whose 145 OPS+ ranked 161 in 2003. The Giles difference-maker portion of the deal is hard to evaluate – he went from a Pirates team out of the race to a Padres team out of the race. But the return is noteworthy – a young, hard-throwing lefty named Oliver Perez, a young, power-hitting outfielder named Jason Bay, and minor leaguer Cory Stewart.

In short, it is easy to see that any contender who suggested Beltran wasn't worth much was just posturing. Outfielders who hit like Carlos Beltran simply aren't available in many midseason trades.

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Jack Of All Trades: Columbia Lions Edition

By Howard Megdal | July 19, 2011 at 11:40pm CDT

In a continuing effort to round up all the best-educated baseball players, the New York Mets signed Fernando Perez this week, outfielder formerly of Tampa Bay, Chicago (N.L.) and Columbia University. The move provides the Mets with depth in the poetry department, as Perez will join fellow published poet Miguel Batista on the Triple-A Buffalo roster. Should current author R.A. Dickey suffer from writer's block, the team will be covered.

Perez is one of just 13 major leaguers to ever make the leap from Columbia to the big leagues, and certainly not the most famous. Lou Gehrig holds that honor, one of two Hall of Famers from the esteemed school. Gehrig means little to us at MLBTR, however, since he failed to make the transaction wire from the moment he signed with the Yankees until the day he retired.

The other Lion Hall of Famer, Eddie Collins, enjoyed similar stability in his professional career. Collins played with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1906-1914, earning the rare distinction of getting sold just after winning the MVP award and leading his team to the American League pennant. Connie Mack's A's needed money, and where better to get it than by selling off the $100K infield? Collins, just 27 when he got to the White Sox, played a dozen seasons in Chicago. He finished in the top-five in MVP voting three times, and his stats are very pretty. He then returned to Philadelphia in a part-time role at age 40 from 1927-1930, acting as a mentor for the next great Connie Mack team.

Even Gene Larkin, a player not in the same discussion as Collins or Gehrig, provides a lesson in stability with his career. He only played with one team, Minnesota, from the moment the Twins drafted him in 1984 until he retired a decade later. And his production itself stayed utterly still. His career batting average was .266. His batting average in his rookie season, 1987? .266. A year later? .267. The year after that? .267. The year after that? .269. It would be nearly impossible to plan such consistency.

So what do we make of Perez, now on his third organization at just age 28? Will he be shunned at his college reunion? Is this simply a nefarious ploy to allow Perez to complete a baseball version of On The Road?

Perez does have an alumni comparison, baseball-wise. His name was Fresco Thompson, and he was part of a pair of trades that compare well to the six-player deal that sent Perez from the Rays to the Cubs for, principally, Matt Garza. Thompson, following a brief appearance with the New York Giants in 1926, was part of a three-team trade. The Phillies received Thompson and pitcher Jack Scott. The Brooklyn Robins received catcher Butch Henline. And the Giants received pitcher Burleigh Grimes, the Matt Garza of the deal. Grimes pitched a stellar 1927 for the Giants, then got sent to the Pirates, where he simply continued his Hall of Fame career.

As for Fresco, he played four seasons at second base for the Phillies, where his .300 batting average was deceptive – the offensive context of park and era means his OPS+ was just 90. Thompson then became part of another huge deal – he and Lefty O'Doul went to Brooklyn Clise Dudley, Jumbo Elliott, Hal Lee and cash following the 1930 season. Thompson was an afterthought in this deal; O'Doul, who had hit .398 in 1929 for Philadelphia, hit .368 for Brooklyn in 1932, winning batting titles in both seasons. And all Elliott did was lead the National League with 19 victories in 1931.

Meanwhile, Thompson played sparingly for Brooklyn in 1931 and 1932, then briefly for the Giants in 1933, just blocks from his alma mater. Later on, he became a fixture in the International League, hitting over .300 repeatedly through the mid-1930s. So if Fernando Perez merely becomes a Fresco Thompson, there will be no shame in it. And, given his Columbia education, I assume Perez himself could tell us if there's a better historical analogy to be made.

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Jack Of All Trades: Mike Cameron

By Howard Megdal | July 9, 2011 at 12:41pm CDT

Mike Cameron, acquired by the Marlins from the Red Sox for some salary relief this week, will probably be remembered for a trade – and it won't be this one. But a legacy of simply "the guy once traded for Ken Griffey Jr." isn't fair to Cameron.

Cameron's career has been an impressive one – ten seasons with at least 18 home runs, eight seasons with at least 22 steals, and consistently tremendous defense in center field. He's provided a ton of value to his eight teams.

And from a trade perspective, the Griffey swap is one of merely four exchanges involving Cameron. All of them, save the most recent one, had huge impacts on each team involved in every deal. Think of Cameron like a trade Zelig, if Woody Allen could play center field.

The White Sox selected Cameron in the 18th round of the 1991 draft. By 1995, he'd made the major leagues, and by 1997, he'd become the Cameron he'd be for nearly all of the next decade-plus – OPS+ of 109, great defense in center field. But he had his one bad year in 1998, with his OPS+ dropping to 63.

Meanwhile, the Reds had this power-hitting first baseman they'd just acquired that July from the Dodgers for Jeff Shaw: Paul Konerko. On November 11, 1998, the two teams made a one-for-one deal. The White Sox, naturally, have to feel good about the deal – Konerko will represent them in the 2011 All Star game, his fifth such appearance with Chicago. He also won the 2005 ALCS MVP, and yes, a World Series. So, you know, not a bad return.

Interestingly, though, as per Wins Above Replacement, the White Sox lost the deal, if one assumes Cameron would have stayed in Chicago from the deal until today, as Konerko has. While Konerko has posted a WAR of 26.2 with the White Sox – his defense at first base hasn't added much value – Cameron's WAR, due to his defense in center field, checks in at a robust 41.2. Cameron posted a 5.4 WAR in his one season with Cincinnati- roughly a fifth of Konerko's total in the twelve years since the trade.

As to why Cameron played just one year with the Reds, his 1999 was good enough to entice the Seattle Mariners to ask for him as the centerpiece of the Griffey deal. Cincinnati traded Cameron, Brett Tomko, Antonio Perez and minor leaguer Jake Meyer to the Mariners for Griffey. The deal turned out to define the Reds for much of the subsequent decade, with Griffey's injuries keeping him from seriously threatening Hank Aaron's all-time home run mark, as so many expected him to. Both Meyer and Perez were solid prospects, though Perez had the far greater upside, as a power-hitting infielder. Tomko continued to be what he was in all of his many stops – a pitcher with better stuff than results.

Cameron was terrific in his four years with Seattle, hitting home runs, stealing bases, catching everything, and getting underrated by some due to a low batting average and high strikeout total. After the 2003 season, he signed as a free agent with the New York Mets, and had another season-and-a-half of Mike Cameron production, before an ugly head-on collision with Carlos Beltran in San Diego ended his 2005 season.

The Padres were either unfazed or impressed by Cameron's collision, and traded for him that November, giving up Xavier Nady. At first blush, the trade made sense for the Mets, who didn't need Cameron's center field skills with Beltran around. Assuming Nady's bat could make up for his lack of defense, the trade could have been a win-win. But Nady's bat didn't make up for the loss in defense, Cameron won his third Gold Glove in the first of two successful San Diego campaigns and everything that followed for the Mets appears to be retribution for trading Cameron away.

Nady had a solid half-season in New York, but an injury to Duaner Sanchez at the 2006 trading deadline pushed the Mets to deal Nady the the Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. While Perez pitched well for the Mets in 2007 and 2008, the team then signed him to a three-year, $36 million contract, which he's still receiving while pitching for Washington's Double-A team in Harrisburg. Nady's replacement in right field, Shawn Green, even dropped the critical fly ball off the bat of Scott Spiezio that lost Game 2 of the NLCS to the Cardinals. Safe to assume Mike Cameron catches that ball. When the Mets traded Cameron, they stepped on a butterfly that really had it in for them.

Will the trade of Cameron to South Florida produce the same kind of results for both teams involved this time around? It seems unlikely, but then again, at one point it seemed unlikely that Ken Griffey Jr. would stop being the consensus best player in baseball, or that Paul Konerko would play for the same team for a dozen seasons, or that Oliver Perez would make $12 million to pitch against minor leaguers. The world around Mike Cameron trades is a crazy place where fever dreams come true.

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Managing While Old

By Howard Megdal | June 28, 2011 at 3:39pm CDT

With the hirings of Jack McKeon, 80, and Davey Johnson, 68, it appears a new trend may be afoot: old managers are the new market inefficiency. Much is likely to come from this, with teams using Willard Scott's birthday greetings as their own shortlists, and a spirited bidding war to hire The Oldest Living Confederate Widow.

But as many of the recent hires can tell you – having lived through it – hiring more experienced managers is nothing new. In fact, 15 of the 30 teams have employed managers 65 or older at some point in franchise history. How successful have these managers been, considering that their pep talks were littered with stories from the Great Depression? Unsurprisingly, their success varies, much as it does for their younger counterparts, based largely on the on-field talent.

The only manager in baseball history older than McKeon was Connie Mack. Interestingly, Mack was also one of the youngest-ever managers, getting his first gig as a player/manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 1894, at the tender age of 31. His tenure with the Athletics lasted from 1901-1950, and had two high points. The first came from 1910-1914, when Mack's A's won four pennants and three World Series titles. Mack did this from age 47-51. But he was back around two decades later, as skipper for three pennants and two World Series titles from 1929-1931. Mack was age 66-68 for that success, and clearly had no trouble communicating with his younger players.  Even in 1932, at age 69, he managed to motivate 24-year-old Jimmie Foxx to hit 58 home runs.

A pair of 70-somethings also managed in the big leagues, one just recently, the other decades ago. Felipe Alou, who had managed the Montreal Expos well into his sixties, took over the San Francisco Giants at age 68 in 2003 and led them to 100 victories, then 91 the following season. His age 70 and 71 seasons were far less successful, but his talent eroded quite a bit as well. In 2003, his entire lineup featured hitters at OPS+ levels of 90 or above, with five of them above 104. In 2006, just two of his regular hitters topped an OPS+ of 93, and four found themselves at 84 or lower.

The other 70-something manager was Casey Stengel, of course, and it is hard to argue against his later-life success. Taking over the New York Yankees at age 58, he won a pennant each season, save two, until he was 69 years old. The Yankees lost the 1960 World Series to Pittsburgh, and decided to part ways with their manager. Stengel then delivered the immortal line about age and managing: "I'll never make the mistake of being 70 again."

Stengel did manage the New York Mets from ages 71-74 before a broken hip forced him out in 1965. Those Mets teams lost far more often than they won, but even a cursory look at the talent Stengel possessed would suggest that if anything, they overachieved.

One final note on aging managers: fully ten percent of all Major League teams have employed Jack McKeon as their oldest manager ever. McKeon's age-59 stint with the San Diego Padres back in 1990, and his age-69 tenure with the Cincinnati Reds ten years later make him the oldest manager in each franchise's history. With the Padres, he won 89 games in his penultimate season, 1989; with the Reds, he won 97 games and earned a one-game playoff for the wild card against the New York Mets in his age-68 season.

And of course, he'd already held the record for oldest manager in Florida history prior to this year's hiring, winning a World Series at age 72. In other words, it's probably time that somebody gave Earl Weaver – now just 80 himself – a call as well.

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When Winning Managers Go, Are They Hired Again?

By Howard Megdal | June 24, 2011 at 10:06am CDT

Washington's 1-0 victory yesterday did more than just accentuate the shock resulting from Jim Riggleman's decision to resign. It meant that the Nationals were making a managerial change despite a winning record, 38-37. Though not a change of their own volition, it still represents a relative rarity in-season.

Riggleman is the 41st manager to be replaced in-season since the start of the 2001 campaign, and of the previous 40, just four had winning records at the time of the change. For fun, we'll include Jimy Williams as well, whose 2004 Astros were 44-44 when Houston replaced him with Phil Garner.

Considering that Riggleman left over the issue of his 2012 option, it is fair to think he wanted to keep on managing. Does leaving with a winning record augur good future employment prospects for Riggleman? Not necessarily.

The two most recent managers to leave while winning were Mike Hargrove, who resigned as Seattle manager with his 2007 Mariners at 45-33, and Ned Yost, fired with his 2008 Brewers at 83-67. Hargrove's not an ideal comparison, since he decided he didn't want to manage anymore. But Yost landed on his feet, taking over as manager of the Kansas City Royals in May 2010. And unlike Yost, who got his walking papers after getting swept in a four-game set, Riggleman certainly had his team playing well.

The other three managers to lose managerial positions with a .500 record or better are Larry Bowa, Jimy Williams and Jimy Williams. Let's start with the latter two, since it's the same guy. Williams actually knows what it is like to lose a managerial job in-season three times. The first came in 1989 with the Blue Jays, when his team's record then was just 12-24. But in 2001, with his Boston Red Sox at 65-53, Williams got the ax. It certainly didn't help Boston any; the Red Sox stumbled to a 17-26 finish.

Williams then landed a job managing Houston in 2002, leading the Astros to a pair of second-place finishes. But in 2004, with Houstonn at 44-44, Williams got fired again. This time, Houston flourished, making the playoffs under Garner. But this was the last managerial go-around for Williams. He served as Charlie Manuel's bench coach from 2006-2008 in Philadelphia, resigning after the Phillies won the World Series. The multiple stops make Williams a pretty decent comparison for Riggleman.

As for Larry Bowa, he was technically an in-season firing, but at 85-75, his season was essentially over. Bowa's Phillies won at least 80 games in each of the four seasons he was in charge, well over a decade after his failed tenure running the Padres. Bowa never managed again, topping out as a third base coach for Joe Torre with the Dodgers.

What could make for an interesting test regarding Riggleman is how his now-former team fares without him. Charlie Manuel, Bowa's successor, led the Phillies to a ton of postseason success, which reflects poorly on Bowa, player personnel differences aside. In the case of Williams, when his successor in Boston, Joe Kerrigan, faltered, Williams got another managing job. When his successor in Houston, Garner, led the Astros to the playoffs, he didn't.

In other words, it would probably be best for Jim Riggleman to see Washington fade, Marlins-in-June-style, over the remainder of the season. But given the acrimony surrounding his departure, I have a feeling Riggleman wasn't going to root for the Nats anyway.

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When Batting Champions Get Traded

By Howard Megdal | June 17, 2011 at 1:44pm CDT

It shouldn't come as any surprise that if Jose Reyes, the current National League leader in batting average, gets traded, the move will be almost entirely unprecedented. Generally, players at the top of the league leaders category in batting average are considered irreplaceable, and stay put. But as should be obvious by now, these aren't ordinary times for the New York Mets.

But the only time a batting champion was ever dealt mid-year, it was by the arch rivals of the New York Mets back in the most successful period of the franchise's history. The year was 1990. The player was Willie McGee, the team the St. Louis Cardinals, and the statistical ramifications were truly wacky.

It had been a rough year for the Cards, who'd won a National League pennant in 1987, and 86 games in 1989. A team whose best seasons were built around speed, defense and pitching saw all three areas decline. Other than John Tudor, the pitchers were decidedly average- and Tudor, now 36, pitched just 146 1/3 innings.

The hitters were slowing down, too. Ozzie Smith turned 35. Vince Coleman, who'd stolen more than 100 bases three times, swiped just 77. Terry Pendleton hit .230 with six home runs, and no one had the power of Jack Clark – the home run leader was a young catcher named Todd Zeile, who clouted 15.

But Zeile, along with young outfielders Bernard Gilkey and Ray Lankford, appeared to be the foundation of the next Cardinals team. That made for a very different fit in the manager's chair, and halfway through the season, the great Whitey Herzog called it quits. Rebuilding mode was on.

But that didn't stop McGee, who'd already won a batting title and MVP back when the stakes were higher in 1985. Playing primarily center field, McGee posted a .335 batting average in 125 games during his age 31 season. The Oakland Athletics had Dave Henderson in center field, and wanted a better defensive alternative to the aging Hendu. So on August 29, Oakland traded Felix Jose, Stan Royer and Daryl Green to St. Louis for the magical McGee.

Jose was supposed to be the centerpiece of the deal, but he simply never developed into the top-tier slugger the Cardinals wanted. (Actually, his numbers mirror, rather dramatically, his minor league production). McGee's pace fell off as well, and he hit just .274 with the Athletics- enough, however, to get them to the 1990 World Series. McGee, a free agent-to-be like Reyes, then signed with the San Francisco Giants that winter.

Thanks to the math of the time, however, McGee's .274 didn't prevent him from winning a batting title. Back then, totals accrued in the American League were considered separate from NL totals. So McGee, with his .335 NL average in the required number of plate appearances, sat frozen atop the batting average leaderboard. Thus, he edged out the full seasons of Eddie Murray (.330), Dave Magadan (.328) and Lenny Dykstra (.325). George Brett's .329 took home AL honors. McGee's combined .324 average wouldn't have won either league.

How baseball would handle the leaderboard if Jose Reyes switched leagues is still unclear. Currently, Reyes trails Adrian Gonzalez, the AL leader in batting average, by a single point. But if Reyes should get dealt while winning a batting title, Mets fans cannot accurately bemoan an unprecedented occurrence. And in a fascinating twist, the GM who'd deal Reyes, Sandy Alderson, is the same GM who traded for McGee with the Athletics. Maybe the man just hates untainted batting titles.

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