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Remembering A Disastrous World Series Performance

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The worst bullpen meltdown of the 2001 World Series was not the one you think. You probably go right to Byung-Hyun Kim blowing saves in games four and five in Yankee Stadium, putting the Diamondbacks on the brink of elimination heading into game six. But that’s not it.

You might also think of Mariano Rivera blowing the save in game seven. Mark Grace singled, Rivera turned a sac bunt attempt into runners on first and second, Tony Womack eventually knocked home the tying run. Then Tim McCarver – without so much as a spoiler alert – laid out exactly what was about to happen like he’d seen it already, and Luis Gonzalez shoveled a ball over the drawn in infield to win the World Series. Just like that, the greatest closer of all time blew game seven of the World Series, ending a Yankee dynasty in its tracks.

But that’s not it either. I’m talking about Jay Witasick’s beautifully disastrous performance in game six.

With the Yankees up three games to two in the 2001 World Series, the series shifted back to Arizona for a critical game six. The Yankees were just one win away from their fourth consecutive World Series championship, while the Diamondbacks, in their fourth season, hadn’t yet existed in a world in which the Yankees were not the champs. Kim’s consecutive blown saves put Arizona in this position, but in game six, it would be the Yankees bullpen that would implode. Though Jay Witasick’s meltdown didn’t come in as high a leverage situation as Kim’s (nor Rivera’s), it was something to behold.

Witasick entered Game 6 with runners on second and third with the Yankees trailing 5-0. It was still early. The game was in reach. Here’s how hitters fared against Witasick that inning:

  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to RF
  • Tony Womack strikes out swinging (phew!)
  • Single to CF
  • Double to LF
  • Single to CF
  • Double to CF
  • Reggie Sanders strikes out swinging (finally!)

In a game when the Yankees could have clinched a World Series victory, Joe Torre let Witasick stay in the game to surrender four consecutive hits – twice! – in one inning. By the time Reggie Sanders finally struck out, the Diamondbacks led 12-0. Relievers are often made to wear it the way Witasick did here, but a win in this game meant a World Series title. This wasn’t a normal game. This was the type of game when – normally – you never give up. Witasick’s 8 earned runs tied him with Grover “Pete” Alexander for the most runs ever given up in a World Series game. Alexander took 2 1/3 innings to give up that many in the 1928 World Series against the Yankees. 

Witasick would give up two more hits the next inning (he started another inning!), giving him a final line that looks like this (parents, cover your children’s eyes): 1 ⅓ innings, 10 hits, 9 runs (8 earned), 4 strikeouts. Randy Choate came on and allowed Witasick’s stragglers to score, by which point the Diamondbacks led 15-0. Luis Gonzalez – their consensus best player – was pulled for rest in the bottom of that inning (the 4th inning!). Given the stakes of the game, it’s amazing that Torre allowed Witasick to get shelled the way he did. 

I’ll give Torre this: games four and five of the 2001 World Series went into extra innings, and leading 3 games to 2 going into game six, the Yankees had some cause to pack it in by the time Andy Pettitte left the game without recording an out in the third inning. And it’s not as if Witasick was giving up home runs. These were mostly bleeders through the left side of the infield – but they weren’t totally cheap knocks either. 

On the other hand, when Pettitte exited the game, it was still just a 5-0 deficit in the 3rd inning. Of course, Torre also had reason to doubt whether his offense could come back from a deficit that large. In the first five games of the series combined, the Yankees had scored a total of four runs in innings 1 through 8. Without a pair of clutch ninth-inning home runs from Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius, the Yankees came dangerously close to losing all 7 games of the series (which, of course, would have been impossible). 

Still, Witasick’s ill-fated stint in the third and fourth inning of game 6 stands out as a woeful performance with the season on the line. Witasick put together a solid professional career, pitching for 7 teams over 12 years with a 4.64 ERA/4.69 FIP, and it’s hardly his fault that Torre decided to pack this one in by the third inning, but it’s worth a re-watch nonetheless.

Randy Choate Retires

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Veteran left-hander Randy Choate, who spent part of the 2016 season in the minor league ranks with the Dodgers and last appeared in the Majors in 2015, tells WFAN’s Sweeny Murti that he has decided to retire. Choate didn’t receive any solid offers to continue playing in 2017, Murti writes, and the 41-year-old southpaw simply said that he “figured it was kind of time to move on.”

Randy Choate

Originally a fifth-round draft pick by the Yankees back in 1997, Choate epitomized the “LOOGY” (left-handed one out guy) role and embraced his role as a specialist, he tells Murti: “In the seventh inning with two outs and men on first and second or bases loaded, and you’ve got to get out David Ortiz? Those are crucial moments, and there’s very little room for a mistake.”

Because of his specialized role, Choate never boasted a significant workload in terms of innings pitched. His career-high was 50 2/3 frames in a single season, though he did twice top 80 appearances in a season. Choate led the American League with 85 appearances in 2010 and led the National League with 80 appearances two years later, though in a testament to the limited nature of his role he logged just 44 2/3 innings and 38 2/3 innings, respectively, in those two campaigns.

That said, the Florida State product was unequivocally one of the best when it came to retiring same-handed opponents. In his career, Choate faced 1036 left-handed opponents and held them to a putrid .195/.276/.274 batting line with just 10 homers.

Overall, Choate’s career will come to a close with a 16-14 record, a 3.90 ERA, 112 holds and a 348-to-175 K/BB ratio in 408 regular-season innings. He earned more than $13MM during his career, per Baseball-Reference.com. And beyond his regular-season work, Choate was fortunate enough to have pitched in the postseason on five occasions in his career. He was a member of the 2000 Yankees that won a World Series Championship. He reminisces fondly about the time spent playing alongside icons Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in his interview: “…when you get down to the end, you just realize how great the beginning was.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dodgers Release Randy Choate, Matt West

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The Dodgers released left-hander Randy Choate and right-hander Matt West at the start of the month, Eric Stephen of the True Blue LA blog reports.  Neither pitcher appeared in the big leagues in 2016, with Choate tossing 17 2/3 innings at three levels of the Dodgers’ farm system while West threw 46 relief innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Choate posted a 7.13 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 2.5 K/BB rate this season, though that inflated ERA is somewhat misleading.  Choate has been strictly a lefty specialist for years in the bigs, yet in the minors, he actually faced more right-handed batters (who had a whopping 1.143 OPS against him in 43 PA) than he did left-handed batters (who managed just a .578 OPS in 41 PA).

It’s probably unlikely, though not totally out of the question, that a team looking for southpaw bullpen depth down the stretch could sign Choate with an eye towards using him in his old LOOGY role.  Choate signed his minor league deal with the Dodgers in June after he was released by the Blue Jays in Spring Training, and (this is purely speculation on my part) Toronto stands out as one contender who has struggled to find effective left-handed relief pitching this season.  If Choate does manage to catch on somewhere and appear in a big league game, the 41-year-old will have officially played in parts of 16 Major League seasons.

West, 27, had a strong year at Triple-A, posting a 2.33 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 4.75 K/BB over his 46 frames.  A second-round pick for Texas in the 2007 draft, West converted from infielder to pitcher in 2011 and has a 3.54 ERA over 203 2/3 career innings in the minors.  He had cups of coffee with the Rangers (three games) in 2014 and the Dodgers (two games) in 2015.

Dodgers, Randy Choate Agree To Minors Deal

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The Dodgers signed veteran left-hander Randy Choate to a minor league deal recently, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reported in his Minor League Transactions roundup this week. The 40-year-old ACES client was in camp with the Blue Jays back in Spring Training but was released on March 29.

Choate’s most recent big league work came with the Cardinals, who signed him to a three-year deal covering his age-37 to age-39 seasons. As a strict lefty specialist, Choate was deployed in a highly limited role with St. Louis and totaled just 98 2/3 innings over the life of the deal. In that time, he posted a 3.56 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9. Those numbers aren’t exactly dominant, but Choate was unhittable against lefties for most of his tenure with St. Louis, allowing same-handed batters to post a paltry .176/.270/.247 batting line. His numbers in 2013-14 were stellar, though it should be noted that Choate did slip up a bit in 2015 when he yielded a .259/.333/.361 line to left-handed hitters.

Choate hasn’t been playing since that spring audition with Toronto, so he’ll probably need to build up some strength before joining one of the Dodgers’ minor league affiliates. Once active, he’ll serve as a veteran depth piece that has long been a thorn in the side of opposing lefties. It’s conceivable that he could help out the Dodgers later in the year by matching up against some tough left-handed hitters, assuming he proves that he has something left in the tank at the minor league level.

Per Eddy’s report, the Dodgers also added right-hander Alfredo Figaro on a minor league pact. The 31-year-old spent the 2015 season pitching for the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization and posted a 3.38 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 165 innings out of the rotation. He hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2014 with the Brewers, but Figaro has a fair amount of MLB experience. In parts of four big league seasons with Detroit and Milwaukee, he has a 5.04 ERA in 114 1/3 innings.

Blue Jays Release Steve Delabar, Randy Choate

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The Blue Jays have released righty Steve Delabar, Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star reports on Twitter. Toronto also cut loose southpaw Randy Choate, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to tweet.

Delabar, 32, had agreed to avoid arbitration for $835K, and the Jays will remain on the hook for about one fifth of that (45 days of salary). But he was out of options and obviously wasn’t destined to make the pen. Things haven’t gone well for the righty since his All-Star nod in 2013. In the last two seasons he owns a 5.07 ERA in 55 frames with 8.3 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9 in the major leagues, and he’s also had stints at Triple-A in both years.

As for the veteran Choate, Toronto skipper John Gibbons says that the club hopes to sign him to a new deal to remain in the organization. He was an Article XX(B) free agent and thus was eligible for a $100K retention bonus had he been kept in the minors. A 40-year-old LOOGY, Choate has continued his dominance against left-handed hitters over the past several years but is a very marginal option against righties.

AL East Notes: Wieters, Choate, Aardsma, Rays

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Orioles catcher Matt Wieters left today’s game with a sore elbow, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. X-Rays taken this afternoon did not reveal any obvious problems, and the club won’t take an MRI at this time. Manager Buck Showalter downplayed the injury and characterized it as normal spring soreness for a catcher. Wieters’ elbow is always going to generate added concern given the Tommy John surgery that he came back from last season. Since an MRI is designed to see soft tissue damage, we can expect the club to proceed to that step if Wieters doesn’t respond positively to rest. Caleb Joseph is Baltimore’s primary backup catcher.

  • An injury to Blue Jays reliever Aaron Loup could open the door for Randy Choate, writes Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. Choate signed a minor league deal with the Jays just yesterday, ostensibly with the understanding that the injury to Loup would improve his odds of making the club. Choate, 40, is one of the original poster children of the lefty-specialist movement. Over his career, he’s held fellow southpaws to a .193/.274/.273 line while recording 9.37 K/9 and 2.60 BB/9. Against righties, he’s scuffled with 4.97 K/9, 5.84 BB/9, and a .304/.414/.416 line allowed. For a more nuanced look at the entire Toronto bullpen picture, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca has the details.
  • Jays reliever David Aardsma can opt out of his minor league contract at the end of May, tweets Nicholson-Smith. The former Mariners closer last experienced major league success back in 2010. In 2015, the now 34-year-old pitched to a 4.70 ERA with 10.27 K/9 and 4.11 BB/9 in 30 innings for the Braves. His slider continues to be a plus pitch although he’s lost about three mph off his fastball since his prime.
  • Rays shortstop Brad Miller is struggling with his throwing accuracy this spring, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. His errant throws could unleash a cascade of roster moves. The club could begin to more seriously consider internal alternatives at shortstop. James Loney’s sure-handedness at first base could give him starts over offseason acquisition Logan Morrison. With Corey Dickerson on the roster, one of Morrison or Loney may be redundant and thus difficult to roster. The logjam could also be solved by trading an outfielder.

Blue Jays, Randy Choate Agree To Minors Deal

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Veteran left-hander Randy Choate will join the Blue Jays on a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp, reports WFAN’s Sweeny Murti (via Twitter). The 40-year-old lefty specialist is represented by ACES.

Choate will compete for a job in a Blue Jays bullpen that is currently dealing with an injury to left-hander Aaron Loup. Choate has spent the past three seasons pitching for the Cardinals, limiting left-handed batters to a paltry .176/.270/.247 batting line in that time. Conversely, right-handers have roughed him up, slashing .333/.395/.416 in that same three-year stretch. Choate is among the most highly specialized relievers in baseball, as evidenced by the fact that the Cardinals allowed him to face just 23 right-handed batters over the life of the entire 2015 season (as opposed to 94 lefties). The market for Choate was fairly quiet for much of the offseason, though he’s known to have drawn some interest from the Astros, as well.

Brett Cecil figures to serve as the primary left-handed option in the Toronto bullpen, but there’s room for Choate to make the club, especially if Loup’s flexor strain in his left forearm proves to be more serious than currently anticipated. Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte represents another option that is currently on the 40-man roster, and the Jays also have veteran lefties Wade LeBlanc and Scott Diamond in camp as non-roster invitees.

Astros Interested In Randy Choate

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The Astros have talked to left-hander Randy Choate, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports.  Choate would provide the club with some southpaw relief depth beyond Tony Sipp, as Sipp and Kevin Chapman are the only lefty relievers on Houston’s 40-man roster.

Choate, 40, is the definition of a lefty specialist.  Over his 15-season career, Choate has been hit hard by right-handed batters (a .290/.403/.404 slash line) while dominating left-handed hitters to the tune of a measly .195/.276/.274 slash.  Choate posted similar splits in 27 1/3 innings last season with the Cardinals while delivering an overall 3.95 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 4.4 K/BB rate and 61.7% ground ball rate.  In regards to that last stat, 2015 was Choate’s seventh consecutive year with a grounder rate of at least 60 percent.

Despite Choate’s recent success, there hasn’t been any buzz surrounding his free agency this offseason.  It’s probably no surprise that teams were waiting, given Choate’s age and somewhat limited skillset.  He figures to draw more interest now, as teams develop bullpen openings due to injury or dissatisfaction with their internal left-handed options.

As Drellich notes, several Astros righty relievers have good splits against left-handed batters.  While there may not be a pressing need for a southpaw, however, adding a pitcher like Choate would be a low-cost way to solve a problem before it develops during the season.  The bullpen is one of a few areas where Houston is lacking in depth, Drellich opines, as the club could also stand to bolster its backup situation at catcher or either corner infield slot.

Central Notes: Madson, Wood, Castillo, Cardinals

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Ryan Madson, who’s in Royals camp and who faced live batters for the first time in a year and a half on Sunday, encountered plenty of obstacles as he battled back from Tommy John surgery, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star writes. Madson, who last pitched in the big leagues in 2011, ultimately spent the 2014 season out of baseball. But he got the urge to come back after Royals special assistant Jim Fregosi, Jr. enlisted him to help instruct a Southern California high school pitcher. Madson does not have any limitations in camp this spring, although it’s unclear whether he’ll be available to join the Royals’ bullpen once the season starts. Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • Cubs pitcher Travis Wood hasn’t been given a heads-up from the team on the likelihood of a trade, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. “If I get traded, I get traded. It’s part of the business,” Wood said.  At present, Wood figures to battle for the fifth spot in the rotation alongside Tsuyoshi Wada and Felix Doubront. Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, and Kyle Hendricks, of course, make up the Cubs’ front four.
  • The Cubs trading Welington Castillo is not a foregone conclusion, as President Theo Epstein says the team is considering keeping three catchers, tweets Bruce Levine of 670theScore.com.
  • Yadier Molina has lost 15-20 pounds this offseason after injuries limited the Cardinals catcher to 110 games and forced him to miss the final three games of the NLCS, reports Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Molina has three years and an option remaining on his contract and expects to play beyond its length. “Oh, my God. I’m 32 years old. I’ll play as long as my body lets me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch 10 more years. You don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows.“
  • In a separate article, Hummel details how Cardinals reliever Randy Choate has expressed his frustration to manager Mike Matheny about being used for complete innings (and being exposed to right-handed hitters) rather than in his specialty of lefty-on-lefty situations. Matheny says the confines of a 25-man roster prevents using a player in such a limited way. “You can’t completely cater to one guy if it’s going to beat up two other guys where they can’t do their job. How does that work?“
  • Cardinals infielder Pete Kozma, who is fighting for a roster spot and is out of options, is increasing his versatility by donning the tools of ignorance with hopes of serving as the team’s emergency catcher, according to MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch.

Mozeliak On Jay, Taveras, Choate, Arb Eligibles

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Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny conducted their end-of-season meeting with the media today, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has several highlights from the talk. Here are some of the main items that are relevant to MLBTR readers, but interested parties should check out the full transcript for additional insight into the team…

  • The Cardinals view Jon Jay as their starting center fielder heading into the 2015 season after the 29-year-old hit .302/.372/.378 in 140 games. Mozeliak revealed that Jay will have his wrist scoped this week to clear out some damage that has been lingering since July.
  • Mozeliak expects Oscar Taveras and Randal Grichuk to compete for the starting right field job next season and echoed recent comments that he expects Taveras to be with the club in 2015. Taveras has received specific instructions to work on his conditioning and speed this winter.
  • The entire coaching staff has been asked to return for the 2015 season. Bench coach Mike Aldrete is expected to be pursued by at least one other team, Goold reports, but Mozeliak said to this point no team has gone through the protocol of asking to interview Aldrete.
  • The Cards will be on the hunt for power to add to their lineup and possibly a right-handed power bat to add to the bench or pair with Matt Adams at first base. Still, Mozeliak said that he and Matheny see Adams as a potential 600-plate-appearance player.
  • St. Louis will shop Randy Choate this offseason, Goold writes, following comments from Mozeliak on the “specialized” nature of Choate’s current role. Said the GM: “I think we both feel that if we can upgrade there or have an additional arm to choose from, that makes sense. We’re certainly not ruling out [Kevin] Siegrist. I think in Choate’s case, for us, he’s fairly one-dimensional. That makes it difficult for us to use him, particularly during a long season.” Choate is owed $3MM next season and held southpaw hitters to a .093/.205/.147 batting line.
  • Mozeliak expects to offer contracts to all of the team’s arbitration eligible players, including Peter Bourjos and Daniel Descalso. However, Goold writes that the team could gauge interest in both on the trade market. Bourjos strikes me as a particularly appealing candidate, given his elite glove in center field. I speculated that he’d be a good fit for the Twins as a starer in my recent Offseason Outlook, and he could make sense for a number of teams, in my mind. Goold’s colleague, Joe Strauss, tweets that he got a “strong sense” that at least one outfielder would be moved.
  • Both Carlos Martinez and Marco Gonzales will come to Spring Training as starters, Mozeliak said, but the clearer openings for each are in the bullpen at this time. Elsewhere in the bullpen, Mozeliak noted that the team won’t rule out re-signing Pat Neshek or Jason Motte.
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