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Randy Jones Passes Away

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The Padres announced Wednesday that two-time All-Star and former National League Cy Young winner Randy Jones has passed away. He was 75 years old. The team issued the following statement:

“With deep sorrow and heavy hearts, the Padres mourn the passing of our beloved left-hander, Randy Jones. Randy was a cornerstone of our franchise for over five decades, highlighted by becoming the first Padres pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. Inducted into the Padres Hall of Fame in 1999, his impact and popularity only grew in his post-playing career, becoming a tremendous ambassador for the team and a true fan favorite. Crossing paths with RJ and talking baseball or life was a joy for everyone fortunate enough to spend time with him. Randy was committed to San Diego, the Padres, and his family. He was a giant in our lives and our franchise history. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to his wife Marie and the entire Jones family during this difficult time. RJ will be greatly missed.”

Jones was the Padres’ fifth-round pick in the 1972 draft and was in the majors as a 23-year-old the following season. The Fullerton native, born just about 100 miles north of the city where he’d eventually star on the mound, appeared in 20 games during his rookie season and immediately impressed with a 3.16 earned run average in 139 2/3 innings.

From that point, Jones became a fixture in San Diego’s rotation. A tough 1974 season saw him lead the National League with 22 losses, but he flipped the script in 1975-76, reaching 20 wins in both seasons. Jones logged an NL-best 2.24 ERA in 285 innings during the ’75 season and finished second in Cy Young voting to the legendary Tom Seaver. A year later, it was Jones’ turn to take home the hardware. He tossed an MLB-best 315 1/3 innings, including an incredible 25 complete games (five shutouts) and notched a tidy 2.74 earned run average. Coupled with 22 wins, that performance helped him beat out runners up Jerry Koosman, Don Sutton and Steve Carlton for what would be the lone Cy Young Award of his decade-long career.

Jones spent another four seasons in the Friars’ rotation but never returned to those lofty heights. He averaged 204 frames per season from 1977-80, working to a collective 3.62 ERA along the way. The Padres traded him to the Mets following the 1980 season, and he’d go on to pitch two years in Queens with a 4.69 ERA in 167 innings before being released.

Though Jones’ peak was fairly brief, he was one of the faces of his team in the mid-70s and is fondly remembered by fans for that pair of stellar, Cy Young-caliber seasons in ’75-’76. He retired with exactly 100 wins and a 3.42 earned run average compiled over the course of 1933 innings in the majors. We at MLBTR offer our condolences to the family, friends and countless fans of Jones — and to the entire Padres organization.

Tom Timmermann Passes Away

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Former big league pitcher Tom Timmermann passed away this past week at the age of 85, according to multiple reports. The right-hander spent parts of six seasons in the majors.

Timmermann was signed by the Tigers and made his pro debut in 1960 at the age of 20. He’d go on to spend nearly a decade bouncing around the minor leagues, working as both a starter and a reliever, until he eventually made his big league debut with Detroit on June 18, 1969. He recorded 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his debut to kick off what was a strong season out of the bullpen in his rookie year.

After pitching to a 2.70 ERA in 46 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, Timmermann made his first career MLB start in the penultimate game of Detroit’s season. He managed a complete game where he surrendered three runs to the Orioles but came away with the win after striking out future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson and teammate Boog Powell as they wrapped up brilliant campaigns that saw them both finish in the top 3 of AL MVP voting that year.

Even after his impressive finish to the 1969 season, Timmermann didn’t manage to break into the Tigers rotation right away. He spent the 1970 and 1971 seasons largely in the bullpen and pitched to roughly average results across 169 1/3 innings, though he did manage to record 31 saves along the way. In 1970, he set the team record for appearances by a pitcher with 61 and was named Tiger of the Year by Detroit’s chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

It was in 1972 when Timmermann finally got the opportunity to start in the majors on a regular basis. Then in his age-32 season, Timmermann started 25 of his 34 games that year and pitched quite well with a 2.89 ERA in 149 2/3 innings of work. It was a solid enough performance, but it wasn’t enough to earn the right-hander another look in the rotation for the 1973 season. The Tigers put him back in the bullpen, though Timmermann’s chance to start would later come at the cost of his roster spot in Detroit. On June 15, nearly four years to the day after his big league debut, Timmermann was traded to Cleveland in exchange for future All-Star Ed Farmer.

The move to an eventual 90-loss club in Cleveland allowed Timmermann the opportunity to start, but he didn’t do very well with the change of scenery. The right-hander pitched to a 4.96 ERA across 33 appearances for the franchise during the 1973 and ’74 seasons. The last game of his major league career arrived on April 26, 1974, when he threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief and was credited with a win over an Angels lineup that coincidentally included Robinson. Timmermann pitched at the Triple-A level for the Toledo Mud Hens and Oklahoma City 89ers to close out his season before calling it a career after the 1974 season.

In all, Timmermann recorded a 3.78 ERA in 548 innings of work at the big league level across six MLB seasons. He posted an even 35-35 record with 35 saves recorded in that time, and struck out 315 batters throughout his big league career.  Though it wasn’t known until long after his big league career had come to a close, Timmermann was also the biological father of former big leaguer Phil Leftwich. Leftwich was born nearly a month to the day prior to Timmermann’s MLB debut but was put up for adoption as an infant, and the connection between the two wasn’t discovered until Leftwich (who pitched for the Angels in parts of three seasons from 1993 to 1996) was on the cusp of his own big league debut.

MLB Trade Rumors joins the rest of the baseball world in extending our condolences to Timmermann’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Steve Hargan Passes Away

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Former big league right-hander and All-Star Steve Hargan passed away last week at age 83.  Hargan pitched with the Indians, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Braves from 1965-77, posting a 3.92 ERA over 1632 innings and 354 career games (215 of them starts).

The first eight of Hargan’s 12 MLB seasons were spent in Cleveland, where he worked as both a starter and a reliever in his first two years before gaining a firm rotation foothold in 1967.  That breakout campaign saw Hargan post a 2.62 ERA and a league-leading six shutouts over 223 innings, and Hargan was named to the AL All-Star team for the first and only time in his career.  Hargan also hit his only career home run on June 19, 1967, in a rare instance of a pitcher hitting a walkoff homer — the righty capped off a complete-game victory over the Kansas City Athletics with a two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth to give the Indians a 4-2 win.

Unfortunately, Hargan developed bone chips in his throwing elbow and underwent an ulnar nerve surgery in 1968.  As Hargan told SABR’s Gregory H. Wolf, “I was able to continue on with my career, but I wasn’t the same after that,” and Hargan felt he returned too quickly from his surgery.  Apart from some success in the second half of the 1970 season, Hargan’s numbers dropped off during the remainder of his time in Cleveland, resulting in both the loss of his rotation job and a 1973 season spent entirely in the minor leagues.

A trade to Texas helped Hargan gain a fresh start in his career, and he had a 3.81 ERA over 500 1/3 innings (starting 61 of 105 games) with the Rangers from 1974-76.  Taken by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft, Hargan pitched for Toronto during the team’s inaugural season but also bounced back to Texas and then to Atlanta in 1977, which ended up being Hargan’s last year of Major League action.  Carpal tunnel syndrome bothered Hargan late in his career, and after spending 1978 in the minors, he decided to retire.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Hargan’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Yoervis Medina Passes Away

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Former major league pitcher Yoervis Medina has passed away. Reports out of his native Venezuela indicate that authorities believe Medina suffered a heart attack while he was driving, leading to a fatal car accident. He was 37 years old.

Medina pitched for the Mariners and Cubs from 2013-15, working 146 innings across an identical number of games. He posted a 3.08 career ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate along with a 12.4% walk rate. Most of his success came in his first two seasons, as Medina pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate in 125 innings for the Mariners from 2013-14. In that span, he ranked 34th out of 109 qualified relievers in ERA and ranked 21st with a 53.5% ground ball rate.

He was traded to the Cubs in May 2015 for Welington Castillo and pitched in five games for them with a 7.00 ERA, but he wound up spending most of the season in the minors. That was followed by brief stints in the Pirates and Phillies organizations in 2016, neither of which resulted in a big league call. Medina then pitched in the Venezuelan winter league from 2016-20 before moving to the Italian Baseball League in 2023 and the Czech Baseball Extraliga in 2024.

Medina was teammates in Seattle with Jesús Montero, who was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash earlier this month. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Medina’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

John Morris Passes Away

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Former big league pitcher John Morris passed away last week at the age of 84, according to an obituary posted to the Cape Gazette in Morris’s hometown of Lewes, Delaware.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Morris is perhaps best known as a member of the Seattle Pilots during the club’s lone 1969 season. Morris signed into the Phillies organization for his age-18 season in 1960 but spent the first several years of his career in the minors before making his big league debut with Philadelphia in 1966. He threw just 13 2/3 innings of work in that brief cameo in the majors before returning to Triple-A for the 1967 season, where he dominated with a 1.54 ERA across 33 relief appearances.

He was traded to the Orioles ahead of the 1968 season and briefly returned to the majors in 1968 with Baltimore but once again was sent back to Triple-A for much of the 1969 campaign, though he did make it to Seattle and pitch 12 2/3 innings for the Pilots. When the Pilots franchise moved to Milwaukee the following year, Morris remained with the club and became a regular fixture of the Brewers’ bullpen for the 1970 and ’71 seasons. In 1970, Morris served as a swing man and pitched to a 3.93 ERA across 20 games, including nine starts.

The highlight of Morris’s career came on May 13 and May 19, 1970 as he threw complete games in back-to-back starts. Morris surrendered four runs on ten hits and three walks while striking out 11 batters across those two complete games, both of which ended in wins for the Brewers. Morris’s May 19 start against the Oakland A’s saw him out-duel All-Star and future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter on the mound as Milwaukee won 6-3. Morris’s solid season a swing man earned him a full-time look in the Milwaukee bullpen for the 1971 campaign, and he posted a 3.72 ERA in 67 2/3 innings of work across 43 appearances for the team.

Morris was traded to the Giants following the 1971 season and was mostly relegated to work at the team’s Triple-A affiliate once again. He pitched for San Francisco in parts of three seasons and ended his career on a high note with a 3.05 ERA in 17 appearances for the 1974 Giants in his age-32 season. In all, Morris appeared in 132 games for the Phillies, Orioles, Pilots, Brewers, and Giants across his eight seasons in the majors. He pitched to a 3.95 ERA, struck out 137 batters, finished his career with a lifetime 11-7 record and picked up two saves along the way.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Morris’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Jesus Montero Passes Away

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Former big league catcher Jesus Montero passed away recently, according to a report from El Extrabase. The report indicates that Montero was part of a serious traffic accident on October 5 and passed following several days in the hospital. Montero was just 35 years old.

Montero is best known for having been one of the league’s most elite prospects in the early 2010s. Signed out of Venezuela by the Yankees as an amateur, Montero made his pro debut in 2007 at the age of 17. His second professional season saw him break out at the Single-A level, where he hit .326/.376/.491 with 17 homers and 34 doubles in 132 games. That strong performance earned Montero plenty of attention prior to the 2009 season, when he became a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport.

The youngster’s prospect star continued to shoot upwards from there. His 2009 season was cut short by a broken finger that limited him to just 92 games, but he raked when healthy and looked entirely capable in 44 games at the Double-A level. That was enough to get him promoted to Triple-A for the start of the 2010 season, at which point Montero was viewed as a consensus top-5 prospect in the sport. Baseball America went as far as to name him the sport’s #3 prospect, behind only future Hall of Famers Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Montero did what he could to deliver on the hype at Triple-A in 2010, slashing .289/.353/.517 with 21 homers and 34 doubles in 123 games.

The next step for Montero was the majors, and after spending most of the 2011 season at Triple-A he finally made his big league debut with the Yankees on September 1 against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. While he did not record a hit in his first big league game, Montero was hit by a pitch in his first game and recorded a run scored. He went on to post incredible numbers down the stretch, with a .328/.406/.590 slash line across 69 plate appearances. He made the Yankees’ postseason roster and got into Game 4 of the ALDS against the Tigers, where he went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.

That would be Montero’s last appearance in a Yankees uniform. In January of 2012, he was traded to the Mariners in what at the time was viewed as a blockbuster deal. Montero and teammate Hector Noesi were shipped to Seattle in exchange for All-Star right-hander Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. Pineda didn’t live up to his sensational rookie campaign after being traded to New York, but did manage to post a solid 4.16 ERA in 89 starts from 2014 to 2017 with the Yankees after battling injuries in his first two seasons with the team. Neither Noesi nor Campos had much impact in the majors, though Noesi did manage to pitch in parts for six MLB seasons.

As for Montero, the star prospect split time between catcher and DH for the Mariners in 2012 as an everyday player. Unfortunately, his season did not go as either he or Seattle were surely hoping it would. Montero was solid enough at the plate but hit just .260/.298/.386 with 15 doubles and 20 homers. It was a roughly league average performance, but with Montero still in his age-22 campaign there was plenty of reason for optimism that he would be able to take off in the future. That did not come to pass, however, as Montero struggled early in the 2013 season before being sidelined by a torn meniscus and accepting a 50-game suspension as part of the Biogensis scandal.

A combination of injuries, under-performance, and the aforementioned suspension left Montero limited to just 73 games in the majors between 2013 and 2015. In that time, he hit a disappointing .217/.255/.374 in 243 plate appearances. Prior to the 2016 season, the Mariners designated Montero for assignment. He went on to play in the minor leagues for the Blue Jays and Orioles throughout the 2016 and ’17 seasons and even found himself named to the Triple-A All-Star game during his time with Triple-A Buffalo, but was suspended for a second time for the use of a banned substance.

Montero played in the Mexican League in 2017 and 2018 before logging 29 games in Venezuelan winter league play. He played his last professional baseball game during the 2020-21 winter league season. In all, Montero made it into 226 MLB games across parts of five seasons and hit .253/.295/.398 with 28 home runs and 31 doubles.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Montero’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Sandy Alomar Sr. Passes Away

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Former All-Star infielder Sandy Alomar Sr. has passed away, per an announcement from the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. He was 81 years old and would have turned 82 this coming weekend.

The father of big leaguers Roberto Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr., Sandy Sr. enjoyed a 15-year playing career of his own. From 1964-78, he suited up for the Angels, Yankees, White Sox, Braves, Rangers and Mets. The elder Alomar made the 1970 All-Star team as a member of the Angels during a season in which he batted .251/.302/.293 and played in all 162 games while providing quality defense and 35 stolen bases.

In all, Alomar hit .245/.290/.288 in 5160 major league plate appearances across his decade and a half as a big league player. He played primarily second base but also logged more than 1200 innings at shortstop and made a handful of appearances at the hot corner. Alomar was known for his glove and speed more than his bat; he totaled just 13 career home runs, 126 doubles and 19 triples but piled up 227 career stolen bases. He’s one of just 300 players to ever steal at least 225 bags in his career.

Beyond his career as a player, Alomar logged parts of 16 season as a coach in the major leagues, spending time with the Padres (third base coach), Cubs (first base coach), Rockies (third base coach) and Mets (bench coach, first base coach). He also managed in the minor league ranks for both the Cubs and the Mets and spent several seasons coaching and managing teams at home in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Our condolences go out to each of the organizations Alomar impacted, as well as the Alomar family and friends, and the countless fans he accrued over a baseball career that spanned more than 50 years.

Mike Greenwell Passes Away

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Former big leaguer and member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame Mike Greenwell has passed away at the age of 62, according to multiple sources. It was revealed in August that he had been diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, per Emma Healy of The Boston Globe.

Greenwell was born in Kentucky but raised in Florida. In the latter state, he did some alligator wrestling, which eventually led to his nickname Gator. He was drafted by the Red Sox in 1982 and spent his entire career with that franchise, apart from a late jaunt to Japan. He got called up to the big leagues in 1985 for a brief cup of coffee and then got another cup the season after.

Though he only played 31 regular season games in 1986, he was a part of Boston’s playoff run. The Sox beat the Angels in the ALCS, sending them to the World Series against the Mets, though they eventually lost in seven games. Greenwell got six postseason plate appearances that year, going one for five with a single, a walk and two strikeouts.

He finally got a more proper debut in 1987, when he got into 125 games playing both outfield corners. He hit 19 home runs and slashed .328/.386/.570. He finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting, behind Mark McGwire, Kevin Seitzer and Matt Nokes.

He was even better in 1988. He settled in as the club’s everyday left fielder and slashed .325/.416/.531 while hitting 22 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He made his first All-Star team. He finished second in A.L. Most Valuable Player voting, trailing only José Canseco, who had just engineered the first ever 40/40 season. The Sox won the A.L. East that year but Canseco and the Athletics swept them out of the ALCS. Greenwell would later express frustration about the MVP vote when it was revealed that Canseco was using steroids during his playing career.

That year was essentially Greenwell’s peak, but he continued to be a solid player for the Sox for many years after that. When healthy, he was usually good for 10-15 home runs, almost as many steals and a batting average near .300.

Injuries cut into his performance and his playing time throughout the ’90s. He signed with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the 1997 season but injured himself again after just seven games and retired for good.

He appeared in 1,269 regular season games for the Red Sox and stepped to the plate 5,166 times. He tallied 1400 hits, including 275 doubles, 38 triples and 130 home runs. He scored 657 runs and drove in 726. He stole 80 bases. His career batting line was .303/.368/.463. He made two All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger award.

In his post-playing days, he did some minor league coaching, some stock car racing, operated a construction company and an amusement park, and also served as a county commissioner in Florida. We at MLB Trade Rumors join the rest of the baseball world in sending our condolences to all of Greenwell’s family, friends, loved ones and fans.

Davey Johnson Passes Away

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Longtime Major League manager and infielder Davey Johnson passed away on Friday at age 82.  A four-time All-Star during his 13-year playing career, Johnson went on to manage five different teams over 17 seasons as a manager, capturing a World Series with the Mets in 1986.

Breaking into the majors with the Orioles in 1965, he emerged as Baltimore’s everyday second baseman the following year, and finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting.  Johnson also won his first World Series ring that same season, adding a second with the Orioles in 1970.  Such superstar teammates as Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer drew most of the headlines during this golden age of Orioles baseball, but Johnson provided excellent glovework (three Gold Gloves) and above-average offense while locking down the keystone.

Johnson delivered one more All-Star season with the Braves in 1973, hitting 43 home runs in what stood as the single-season record for a second baseman until Marcus Semien went yard 45 times with the 2021 Blue Jays.  Johnson’s production then declined in 1974, and he spent the 1975-76 playing in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants.  It was something of a tumultuous two-year run that saw Johnson fight through some injuries to ultimately help the Giants reach the 1976 Japan Series, and Johnson then returned to the majors for his final two MLB seasons with the Phillies and Cubs in 1977-78.

Regarded as a future manager even early in his career, Johnson indeed turned to minor league managing almost immediately after retiring as a player, and started managing in the Mets’ farm system beginning in 1981.  This led to a promotion as the Mets’ big league skipper in 1984, and Johnson immediately led New York to a string of five straight seasons with at least 90 wins.  This excellent run included a pair of NL East titles in 1986 and 1988, highlighted by the 108-win team in 1986 that remains the most recent Mets club to capture a World Series title.

Things eventually soured between Johnson and Mets GM Frank Cashen, leading to Johnson’s firing in 1990.  This essentially set the tone for the rest of Johnson’s managerial career — he would lead a team to success, yet would be dismissed relatively quickly due to clashes with ownership or upper management.  Johnson’s next four stints as a skipper saw him never stay with a team for longer than three seasons, even though Johnson had a sub-.500 record in just one of his eight final full seasons as a manager.

For instance, Johnson’s feud with infamous former Reds owner Marge Schott saw Johnson dismissed after the 1995  season, even though he led Cincinnati to the NL Central title and a NLDS victory over the Dodgers that remains the Reds’ most recent postseason series win.  Johnson then returned to his old stomping grounds and led the Orioles to postseason appearances in both 1996 and 1997, but even winning AL Manager of the Year honors in 1997 didn’t smooth over a dispute between Johnson and O’s owner Peter Angelos.

Johnson managed the Dodgers to a 163-161 record in 1999-2000, marking the only time Johnson didn’t lead a team to at least one postseason berth as a manager.  He spent much of the next decade managing in international baseball, while also working for the Nationals in a consulting role (beginning in 2006) that paved the way for his final managerial job in 2011, when Johnson took over as interim skipper following Jim Riggleman’s resignation.  Johnson was made the full-time skipper following that initial year in Washington, and won NL Manager of the Year honors for leading the Nats to their first NL East crown in 2012.  Johnson was 70 years old during his final season in Washington, however, and the Lerner family didn’t view him as a long-term manager, so Johnson retired after an 86-win season in 2013.

Known for his brash personality, Johnson’s outspoken ways may have hurt him in terms of keeping steady employment, yet it certainly aided his ability to manage a clubhouse.  Johnson was viewed as being somewhat ahead of his time in terms of running a team, being one of the first skippers to use some analytics to help in formulating his game plans.  A mathematics major during his college days, Johnson’s reputation for using analytics to gain an edge on the field earned him the ironic nickname of “Dum-Dum” from his Orioles teammates.

Johnson’s career managerial record was 1372-1071 over parts of 17 seasons.  His resume as a player includes 136 homers and a .261/.340/.404 slash line over 1435 games and 5465 plate appearances during his 13 MLB seasons, good for a 112 wRC+.  Though Johnson has fallen short of Hall of Fame induction on multiple veterans’ committee ballots, his overall body of work in baseball would certainly seem worthy of Cooperstown, and it can be argued that Johnson could deserve a HOF nod based on his managerial work alone.

We at MLB Trade Rumors express our condolences to Johnson’s family, friends, and peers.

Randy Moffitt Passes Away

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Former major league reliever Randy Moffitt passed away on Thursday at age 76, the Giants announced. According to an Associated Press report, Moffitt had battled an extended illness.

The younger brother of tennis legend Billie Jean King, Moffitt was a gifted athlete in his own right. San Francisco drafted him in the first round in 1970 out of Long Beach State. The Giants moved him to the bullpen after one minor league season. He reached the big leagues in 1972 and spent the remainder of the decade pitching towards the back of the San Francisco relief corps.

Moffitt recorded double digit save totals in each season from 1973-78. He had a pair of sub-3.00 ERA showings. Moffitt struck out 65 hitters with a 2.42 mark across 100 1/3 innings in 1973. He tossed a personal-high 103 frames of 2.27 ERA ball three seasons later. The 6’3″ righty remained in San Francisco until he was released in 1981. He finished his big league career with lone seasons for the Astros and Blue Jays.

Over a career spanning parts of 12 seasons, Moffitt turned in a 3.65 earned run average. He finished 306 of his 534 appearances, including 96 saves. Moffitt won 43 games and tallied 455 strikeouts. He made 459 appearances in a San Francisco uniform. Moffitt is sixth in franchise history in appearances, fifth in games finished, and ninth in saves. He’s a member of the organization’s Wall of Fame. MLBTR joins others around the game in sending condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

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