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September 30, 2011
"Old Times Were Good Times"
In January 2010, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan solicited votes for Texas's All-Decade team (2000-2009) from media, club officials and former players. I was flattered to be among the voters. The rules were to pick one player at each position, five starting pitchers, a closer and a setup man. I partially wrote a blog entry on my selections to be published in conjunction with the announcement, but I didn't follow through when T.R. announced the winners. Given Texas's great fortune during the past two seasons, I thought a review of the 2000-2009 All-Decade Team would be entertaining.
My team:
C -- Ivan Rodriguez
1B -- Mark Teixeira
2B -- Ian Kinsler
3B -- Michael Young
SS -- Alex Rodriguez
OF -- Kevin Mench
OF -- Marlon Byrd
OF -- Gary Matthews
DH -- Rafael Palmeiro
SP -- Kenny Rogers
SP -- Kevin Millwood
SP -- Vicente Padilla
SP -- Rick Helling
SP -- Scott Feldman
CL -- Francisco Cordero
SU -- Frank Francisco
My selections mirrored the collective panel save one: I picked Kevin Mench over Josh Hamilton in the outfield, which in retrospect seems ridiculous. In my defense, through 2009, Hamilton's output with Texas was limited to one MVP-quality season and one injury-plagued mess the following year. Mench trailed Hamilton in OPS by only 30 points and led all outfielders with 80 homers. I rewarded longevity.
Under the guidelines, the other panelists and I couldn't find room for Hank Blalock, who essentially was replacement level after the 2004 All-Star break. My reasoning was that A-Rod and Kinsler had to man the middle infield, but Young was too good leave off, even though he'd played only one season at third.
What makes the list memorable is the rotation. Rogers and Millwood were easy choices, as was Helling, even though Texas non-tendered him after 2001. After those three… I remember distastefully picking Padilla over Doug Davis, Feldman over Ryan Drese. Beyond them, we're dealing with Ismael Valdez, Kam Loe, and, God help us, Brandon McCarthy (who seems like a great guy and subsequently righted his ship in Oakland). As I'd noted, simply finding 162 innings, irrespective of quality, from a homegrown pitcher daunted Texas for most of the decade.
Below are all of Texas's rotation performances (by rWAR, minimum 20 starts) from 2000-2011. Eight of the top 22 occurred in the last two seasons.
# | Player | WAR | GS | Year | IP | ERA | ERA+ |
1 | C.J. Wilson | 5.0 | 34 | 2011 | 223.1 | 2.94 | 152 |
2 | Ryan Drese | 4.7 | 33 | 2004 | 207.2 | 4.20 | 120 |
3 | Kenny Rogers | 4.7 | 33 | 2002 | 210.2 | 3.84 | 124 |
4 | Kenny Rogers | 4.5 | 34 | 2000 | 227.1 | 4.55 | 110 |
5 | C.J. Wilson | 4.4 | 33 | 2010 | 204.0 | 3.35 | 129 |
6 | Kenny Rogers | 4.4 | 30 | 2005 | 195.1 | 3.46 | 134 |
7 | Matt Harrison | 4.0 | 30 | 2011 | 185.2 | 3.39 | 131 |
8 | Rick Helling | 4.0 | 35 | 2000 | 217.0 | 4.48 | 112 |
9 | Kenny Rogers | 3.6 | 35 | 2004 | 211.2 | 4.76 | 106 |
10 | Alexi Ogando | 3.5 | 29 | 2011 | 169.0 | 3.51 | 127 |
11 | Ismael Valdez | 3.5 | 23 | 2002 | 146.2 | 3.93 | 122 |
12 | Colby Lewis | 3.4 | 32 | 2010 | 201.0 | 3.72 | 116 |
13 | Kevin Millwood | 3.4 | 31 | 2009 | 198.2 | 3.67 | 127 |
14 | Doug Davis | 3.4 | 30 | 2001 | 186.0 | 4.45 | 106 |
15 | John Thomson | 3.2 | 35 | 2003 | 217.0 | 4.85 | 104 |
16 | Kevin Millwood | 3.1 | 34 | 2006 | 215.0 | 4.52 | 102 |
17 | Vicente Padilla | 3.0 | 33 | 2006 | 200.0 | 4.50 | 103 |
18 | Derek Holland | 2.7 | 32 | 2011 | 198.0 | 3.95 | 113 |
19 | Scott Feldman | 2.7 | 31 | 2009 | 189.2 | 4.08 | 114 |
20 | Chris Young | 2.6 | 31 | 2005 | 164.2 | 4.26 | 109 |
21 | Colby Lewis | 2.2 | 32 | 2011 | 200.1 | 4.40 | 101 |
22 | Tommy Hunter | 2.2 | 22 | 2010 | 128.0 | 3.73 | 116 |
23 | Rick Helling | 1.8 | 34 | 2001 | 215.2 | 5.17 | 91 |
24 | Vicente Padilla | 1.0 | 29 | 2008 | 171.0 | 4.74 | 94 |
25 | Kevin Millwood | 0.7 | 29 | 2008 | 168.2 | 5.07 | 88 |
26 | John Koronka | 0.6 | 23 | 2006 | 125.0 | 5.69 | 81 |
27 | Chan Ho Park | 0.6 | 20 | 2005 | 109.2 | 5.66 | 82 |
28 | Brandon McCarthy | 0.5 | 22 | 2007 | 101.2 | 4.87 | 94 |
29 | Darren Oliver | 0.4 | 28 | 2001 | 154.0 | 6.02 | 78 |
30 | Chan Ho Park | 0.3 | 25 | 2002 | 145.2 | 5.75 | 83 |
31 | Ismael Valdez | 0.2 | 22 | 2003 | 115.0 | 6.10 | 83 |
32 | Kenny Rogers | 0.1 | 20 | 2001 | 120.2 | 6.19 | 76 |
33 | Kevin Millwood | 0.0 | 31 | 2007 | 172.2 | 5.16 | 89 |
34 | Scott Feldman | (0.6) | 25 | 2008 | 151.1 | 5.29 | 84 |
35 | Colby Lewis | (0.6) | 26 | 2003 | 127.0 | 7.30 | 69 |
36 | Kameron Loe | (0.7) | 23 | 2007 | 136.0 | 5.36 | 85 |
37 | Vicente Padilla | (0.9) | 23 | 2007 | 120.1 | 5.76 | 79 |
38 | Darren Oliver | (1.0) | 21 | 2000 | 108.0 | 7.42 | 68 |
39 | Derek Holland | (1.3) | 21 | 2009 | 138.1 | 6.12 | 76 |
40 | Scott Feldman | (1.4) | 22 | 2010 | 141.1 | 5.48 | 79 |
Here's the aggregation of those pitchers by years. One year sticks out, yes?
Year | 20-Game Starters | Combined rWAR |
2000 | 3 | 7.5 |
2001 | 4 | 5.7 |
2002 | 3 | 8.5 |
2003 | 3 | 2.8 |
2004 | 2 | 8.3 |
2005 | 3 | 7.6 |
2006 | 3 | 6.7 |
2007 | 4 | -1.1 |
2008 | 3 | 1.1 |
2009 | 3 | 4.8 |
2010 | 4 | 8.6 |
2011 | 5 | 17.4 |
Neil Young, "Lookout Joe," from Tonight's the Night, 1973.
Posted by Lucas at 01:00 AM