Battling Bucs : ATP Near and Far: Relief Pitchers

ATP Near and Far is a 10 part series dedicated to assembling two teams of All Time Pirates greats based upon their place of birth. The "near" team will consist of players born exclusively in the state of Pennsylvania and the "far" team will consist of players born outside of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. Each roster will consist of 25 players the particulars of how the rosters will be assembled can be found in the introduction post here.
All Time Pirates Near and Far: Relief Pitchers
International: A staggering 72 relief pitchers find themselves eligible for the international team. Forty-five of them though have thrown fewer than 50 innings so I will quickly cover them before moving on to players with lengthier resumes.
With an inning or less pitched we have a pair of position players who got to try their luck on the mound in Abraham Nunez and Jocko Fields. Mario Mendoza with 2 career innings thrown for the Pirates joins that dup as a position player who got to pitch. Looking at some real pitchers we have Dave Davidson (2007, Canada) and Miguel Batista (1992, Dominican Republic) with 2 innings pitched apiece. Prior to the 2013 season Batista was the last active major league player who was part of a Pirates team that finished a season with a winning record. Ed Acosta (1970, Panama), Dave Pagan (1977, Canada), Alfonso Pulido (1983-84, Mexico), Juan Jimenez (1974, Dominican Republic) and Jose Contreras (2013, Cuba) are all pitchers who threw fewer than 5 innings during their time with the Pirates. Acosta is the only pitcher with fewer than 24 innings pitched to have recorded a save.
Moving the threshold up to 10 innings pitched we find another position player in Tom Brown. Joining him in this group are Pedro Ramos (1969, Cuba), (Henry) Irish McIlveen (1906, United Kingdom), Duaner Sanchez (2002-03, Dominican Republic), Hisanori Takahashi (2012, Japan) and Jose Ascanio (2009 & 2011, Venezuela). Ascanio some of you may recall was one of the pitchers acquired in the same trade that brought us Josh Harrison. As we inch up to the 20 inning mark we find Dennys Reyes (2003, Mexico), Ernesto Frieri (2014, Colombia), John Axford (2014, Canada), Jose Parra (2000, Dominican Republic), Willis Roberts (2004, Dominican Republic), Rosario Rodriguez (1991, Mexico), Juan Perez (2006-07, Dominican Republic), Marino Salas (2008, Dominican Republic), Al Reyes (2002, Dominican Republic), Harry Fisher (1952, Canada) and Miguel Garcia (1987-89, Venezuela). Frieri, who most of us are probably trying to forget, is the lone Colombian born player to have played for the Pirates. Salas was actually acquired in what was Neal Huntington’s first trade as the Pirates GM when he shipped away a player we will reach later on in this entry.
The under 30 innings crowd gives us Masumi Kuwata (2007, Japan), Tony Menendez (1993, Cuba), Victor Cole (1992, Russia), Danny Cox (1992, United Kingdom), Chan Ho Park (2010, South Korea) and Alejandro Pena (1994, Dominican Republic). Kuwata is probably the biggest name player the Pirates have ever signed as a free agent and when he came to Spring Training there was a massive crowd of reporters watching him. He ended up having little impact but that is because he waited until age 39 to try to play in the majors so he was well past his prime. Until Jung Ho Kang officially joins the list Chan Ho Park is the only Korean born player to have ever played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Moving up to the under 40 inning crowd we find Romulo Sanchez (2007-08, Venezuela), Hipolito Pena (1986-87, Dominican Republic), Victor Cruz (1981, Dominican Republic), Cholly Naranjo (1956, Cuba), Juan Cruz (2012, Dominican Republic), Orlando Pena (1970, Cuba) and Javier Lopez (2010, Puerto Rico).
The last group before we see the pitchers who are truly in the running is the under 50 inning crowd which consists of Octavio Dotel (2010, Dominican Republic), Javier Martinez (1998, Puerto Rico), Stolmy Pimentel (2013-14, Dominican Republic), Roberto Hernandez (2006, Puerto Rico) and Chris Leroux (2010-13, Canada). Dotel recorded 21 saves with the Pirates which is good enough for the 6^th best mark of all eligible international relief pitchers. He also holds the record for playing on the most teams as he was part of 13 different franchises. At 66 Roberto Hernandez has the best ERA- mark of all eligible relief pitchers who pitched more than 2 innings. Finally Chris Leroux is a player whom for some odd reason I was fascinated by while he was with the Pirates but alas little ever came of him.
Remaining there are 27 pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings. Ten of these 27 pitchers have an fWAR less than 0, now fWAR has many faults especially when dealing with relief pitchers but generally speaking it is fairly safe to say that these pitchers performed rather poorly. Bringing up the rear we have Jeff McCurry (1995 & 1998, Japan) with -1.2 fWAR. In both of his stints combined McCurry pitched 80.1 innings, walked more batters then he struck out and posted an ERA of 5.38. Franquelis Osoria (2007-08, Dominican Republic) isn’t far behind (or ahead if you prefer) of McCurry as he posted a -0.6 fWAR in 89 innings pitched. Osoria was good at limiting walks but couldn’t miss bats and was hit hard to the tune of a 5.66 ERA. Five of the remaining pitchers, Dave Wainhouse (1997-98, Canada), Denny Bautista (2008-09, Dominican Republic), Ramon Morel (1995-97, Dominican Republic), Lino Donoso (1955-56, Cuba) and Omar Olivares (2001, Puerto Rico) posted poor ERAs while with the Pirates ranging from 4.98 (Morel) to 6.97 (Wainhouse). The peripherals of each of those pitchers indicate they were probably slightly better than their ERAs but not by much. The remaining 3 pitchers Ravelo Manzanillo (1994-95, Dominican Republic), Juan Pizarro (1967-68 & 1974, Puerto Rico) and Jeanmar Gomez (2013-14, Venezuela) all posted solid ERAs with the Pirates but don’t have the peripherals to match.
Of the remaining pitchers six are left handed and are therefore competing for a guaranteed spot in the bullpen. The six lefties are Diomedes Olivo (1960 & 1962, Dominican Republic), Ricardo Rincon (1997-98, Mexico), Luis Arroyo (1956-57, Puerto Rico), Damaso Marte (2001 & 2006-08, Dominican Republic), Lefty Wilkie (1941-42 & 1946, Canada) and Ramon Hernandez (1971-76, Cuba). Arroyo and Wilkie find themselves a clear notch below the other four as they posted ERAs above league average in their time with the club with ERA- of 124 and 131 respectively. The supporting numbers suggest they were better but still not on the level of the other four. Ramon Hernandez has the most innings pitched and the highest fWAR in this quartet and with 399 saves he also ranks 3^rd amongst all eligible relievers. At 2.3 fWAR Marte has the second highest mark of the group but he also has the highest ERA of the group but even so it was 19% better than league average. Rincon ranks third in both fWAR and ERA- with 1.8 fWAR and 74 ERA- respectively. Both marks are very impressive. Rincon is also the player who when traded netted the best Pirates player other than possibly McCutchen I have ever seen play in Brian Giles. The last pitcher, Olivo, comes with the fewest innings and lowest fWAR but is tied with Hernandez for the best ERA- and holds the best FIP- of the quartet.
Remaining are 11 right handed relief pitchers. Jose Veras (2011, Dominican Republic) has by far the highest K rate of the group but he also threw the fewest innings of the bunch and his ERA was only roughly league average while with the Pirates. Julian Tavarez (2003, Dominican Republic) has the second fewest innings but put up good results with his one year with the club and posted a solid 1.0 fWAR. Elmer Dessens (1996-98, Mexico) was hit around hard while with the Pirates posting a 6.12 ERA but his secondary numbers were ok so he avoided the negative fWAR group. Leading the way of all relievers with 70 career saves we have Jose Mesa (2004-05, Dominican Republic). Mesa was a journeyman reliever but during his two years with the Pirates he was a steady presence in the backend of the bullpen for a pretty poor team. Josias Manzanillo (2000-02, Dominican Republic) was a dependable reliever for the Pirates the first two years but then lost it in his final year with the club. He wasn’t a flashy reliever but he got the job done more times than not and his 1.2 fWAR is a good number for a relief pitcher.
Vicente Palacios (1987-88 & 1990-92, Mexico) had five season with the Pirates but just barely managed to crack 200 innings pitched. He was a below average reliever with the club posting an ERA and FIP that were both slightly worse than league average. Manny Sarmiento (1982-83, Venezuela) split time between starting and relieving his first year with the Pirates before going to full time relief in his second season. He was a very good pitcher while with the team posting an 89 ERA- and 94 FIP- to go along with a 2.5 fWAR which is the 5^th best mark amongst all relievers. Enrique Romo (1979-82, Mexico) threw 381.1 innings with the Pirates which is the most of any international pitcher who didn’t start a single game and 4^th highest amongst all qualified relief pitchers. His first two years with the club were very good but his last two not so much and overall he produced a 1.9 fWAR and was roughly an average pitcher.
Jose Silva (1997-2001) threw over 400 innings for the Pirates and while he posted a horrible ERA (5.44) during that time his secondary numbers were roughly league average and as such he produced 5.2 fWAR in spite of the poor ERA number. Silva served as a swingman for his Pirates tenure starting 53 games while appearing in relief 83 times. Joining Silva in the 400+ inning club is Salomon Torres (2002-07, Dominican Republic). Torres started some his first year with the Pirates but then moved exclusively to relief. I always thought of him as a rubber armed pitcher because from 1998-2000 he made a mind boggling 256 appearances out of the pen. In total his 337 relief appearances is the most by any pitcher on either team. Torrres was not just an innings eater as he posted an ERA 16% better than league average and put up 2.8 fWAR while with the Pirates. As alluded to earlier Torres was the first player traded by Neal Huntington.
The final pitcher Al McBean (1961-1968 & 1970, US Virgin Islands) is a bit of a special case as he appeared in 376 games with the Pirates. He started 75 games which is actually the 4^th most of any international pitcher but due to the 301 games he relieved he fell well short of qualifying as a starting pitcher. Even as primarily a reliever Mc Bean logged a lot of innings, 1,016 in all easily the most of any pitcher (starter or reliever) eligible for the international team. McBean recorded 65 wins which is the most of all pitchers on the international team and 59 saves which is the second highest mark of all pitchers on the international team. In short he did a little bit of everything and was very good at it posting a 10.0 fWAR while with the Pirates.
Pennsylvania: The pool of eligible relievers for the Pennsylvanian squad is just a little bit bigger than half that of the international squad consisting of just 38 pitchers. Of those pitchers only 7 are left handed and since a lefty is guaranteed a spot I’ll deal with them separately. First let’s touch on a few of the right handed pitchers with low inning totals.
Bill Hughes made one two-inning appearance for the Pirates back in 1921. Tom McCreery an outfielder by trade pitched 3 innings for the Pirates back in 1900. Another position player Joe Battin threw 4 innings for Pittsburgh back in 1883. Of slightly more recent vintage Bob Garber pitched 4 innings across 2 games for the Pirates in 1956. The year before Garber pitched, Paul Martin tossed 7 rough innings for the Pirates walking 17 batters and posting a 14.14 ERA. Jason Phillips pitched much more recently than Martin but also threw just 7 innings and was pretty bad with an 11.57 ERA. Also in the 7 inning club we have Joe Vitelli who tossed 7 back in 1944 but to a more successful tune (2.57 ERA). In 1974 Jim Sadowski, a Pittsburgh native, pitched 9 innings for the Pirates. Finishing off the under 10 innings pitched group we have the Pennsylvanian team captain Honus Wagner. The Flying Dutchman was asked to give pitching a try during a game in each 1900 and 1902 and in predictable fashion he didn’t surrender an earned run in either appearance.
Next up we have Lew Moren who tossed exactly 10 innings across the 1903 and 1904 seasons, Josh Sharpless is one of the more recent pitchers on this list and the last right hander to have thrown fewer than 20 innings. Sharpless pitched 16.1 innings combined during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Dave Wickersham is the first pitcher we reach who recorded a save and the first one who has a win on his ledger. He pitched 20.2 innings for the Pirates back in 1968. In 1973 Tom Dettore pitched 22.2 innings for the Pirates posting an ERA just under 6 he would go on to play a few years with the Cubs. Harry Shuman pitched briefly for the Pirates in 1942 and then slightly more extensively in 1943 but only accumulated 24.2 innings of work. Ray Krawczyk spent three years with the Pirates, 1984-86, but never pitched much at all registering just 26 innings. Rounding out the under 30 innings crowd we have Harry Gumbert. Gumbert had a long major league career that he finished out as a Pirate in 1949 and 1950 when he threw 29.1 mostly poor innings. He did record 3 saves though which remarkably places him 7^th out of this group of relief pitchers.
In 1969, 1970 and then again 1972 Gene Garber pitched 33.2 total innings for the Pirates. He was a poor pitcher with the Pirates but he would go on to pitch 16 more season mostly with the Atlanta Braves where he proved to be a very effective reliever. Johnny Podgajny tossed 34.1 innings for the Pirates back in 1943. Finishing up the less than 50 innings pitched crowd is Bob Priddy who tossed 37.1 innings between the 1962 and 1964 seasons. Of the relief pitchers covered so far only three Shuman, Podgajny and Priddy produced a positive fWAR with the Pirates.
Remaining are the 7 left handed relief pitchers I mentioned earlier and 12 right handed pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings for the Pirates. We will switch over to the left handers to see who is competing for that available spot.
With the fewest innings amongst the left handed pitchers we have Gussie Gannon (1895) with just 5 innings pitched. He came in and pitched the final 5 innings in a game that season and that was all the major league action he would see. Joe Page (1954) had a nice career with the Yankees twice finishing in the top 5 for the MVP award but after being away from the majors for 4 years the Pirates brought him back up to pitch just a scant 9.1 innings and at age 36 it didn’t go so well as he posted an ERA of 11.17. Mike Johnston (2004-05) pitched a few innings for the Pirates in 2004 and then received just one lone appearance the following season. In all he collected 23.2 innings of work but was not very effective having an ERA 33% above league average.
Sam McDowell (1975) spent most of his career with the Cleveland Indians before eventually finishing his playing days with the Pirates. He only pitched 34.2 innings in his one season with the club but he was effective to the tune of a 2.86 ERA which is the best mark of the left handed pitchers excluding Gannon’s brief 5 innings. He also posted a 0.6 fWAR which is easily the second best mark of the seven pitchers. Terry Mulholland (2001) pitched for the Pirates for only part of the year before eventually being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that brief time he pitched 36.1 innings and while his 3.72 ERA seems a bit high by today’s standards back then in an inflated offensive environment it was actually quite respectable earning him an ERA- of 85. Mullholand missed very few bats in his time with the Pirates though so other metrics aren’t as high on him.
Bobby Shantz (1961) is yet another left hander who only pitched one season for the Pirates but he did so very well posting a 83 ERA- over the span of 89.1 innings which is the second most of the seven left handed relief pitchers. Shantz is also the only pitcher in the left handed group to have recorded a save having two in total. He also has quite a great past resume having actually won an MVP award in 1952 as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics’ rotation and having won a total of 8 gold gloves including one the year he played for the Pirates which of course seems a bit silly considering he didn’t even play 100 innings but hey it’s still an accomplishment. The last left hander on the list is still remarkably hanging around the major leagues proving that if you throw with your left hand you will always be given another chance. Joe Beimel (2001-03 & 2011) had two stints with the Pirates and collected easily the most innings, 288.1, of any eligible left handed relief pitcher. Despite the relative longevity he was never really that good with the Pirates as his best season was probably 2002 when he posted a 4.64 ERA. In all his ERA with the Pirates sits at 5.03 which is the third worst mark of all the left handed relievers and his -0.8 fWAR ranks last amongst the seven. All Beimel really has going for him is that he hung around for a while.
Moving back to the right handed relief pitchers we have Joel Johnston (1993-94), Dorn Taylor (1987 & 1989) and Al Maul (1888-89 & 1891) who all posted negative fWAR with the club. Considering their respective ERAs of 4.92, 5.63 and 6.24 this should come as little surprise. Maul any insanely dedicated readers of mine might recall was primarily used by the Pirates as a 1B/OF but did pitch some and for the majority of his career outside of Pittsburgh was primarily a pitcher. All 3 of those pitchers tossed fewer than 100 innings with the club leaving just one pitcher left to cover who fits that description, Mark Corey (2003-04). Corey pitched 66 innings for the Pirates and while his ERA wasn’t the prettiest he did post solid peripherals in his short time with the club.
Of the remaining 8 pitchers Johnny Miljus (1927-28) has the fewest innings pitched (145.1) but the best ERA- (86) and FIP- (85). Miljus’s performance with the Pirates varies wildly by season in 1927 he tossed 75.2 innings and posted a 1.90 ERA but the following year in 69.2 innings he had an ERA of 5.30. Meaning he was sensational one year and bad the next or in other words your typical reliever. Bob Hall (1953) barely edges out Miljus in the innings pitched department (152) but is on the opposite end of the spectrum owning the highest ERA- (122) and FIP- (107) of the group. Hall actually just barely qualifies for the relief pitcher category as he started 17 games while pitching in relief just 20 times but his performance with the club was rough resulting in a 5.39 ERA.
Of the remaining six pitchers three of them were used nearly exclusively in a relief role and the other three had their time a bit more evenly split. Looking at the pitchers who were nearly exclusively relievers first we have Nellie King (1954-57). King started 4 games for the Pirates in 1955 but other than that was used out of the bullpen. In all he pitched just 173.1 innings recording 6 saves which is actually the 4^th best mark of all the relief pitchers. King’s numbers suggest he was a solid slightly better than league average reliever during his time with the Pirates. Next we have Bruce Dal Canton (1967-1970) who started just 8 games with the Pirates but was used in relief for another 105. He recorded 8 saves with the club which is the third best mark and pitched a total of 212 innings. For his Pirates career his numbers are very similar to King’s as his ERA just barely edges King’s out coming in at 3.57 compared to 3.58. His career 1.2 fWAR is actually second best amongst relievers who started less than 20% of their games (20% is my arbitrary cut off for the swingman position). The last pitcher has the most games pitched of any relief pitcher and the third most of any pitcher eligible for the staff. He also didn’t start a single game making him and the previously mentioned Mark Corey the only two pitchers on the staff to do so who appeared in at least 40 games. Stan Belinda (1989-1993) also easily leads the way with 61 saves topping out second place by 48. Belinda pitched in 222 games collecting 260.2 innings pitched and while he was not a dominant relief pitcher he was above average and mostly got his job done.
The final three pitchers all tossed more innings than Belinda but did so while picking up more than 30 starts each. The best ERA in the group belongs to Don Schwall (1963-66) who had a 3.24 ERA over 336 innings. Most of Schwall’s starts came his first year with the club when picked up 24 of his 38. He was roughly a league average starter that year. The following season he threw less than 50 innings again primarily as a starter and was roughed up. In 1965 he made only start serving mostly as a reliever and had rate wise his best season with the Pirates. His last year would see him continue the good performance but he ended up being dealt mid season.
Bob Purkey (1954-57 & 1966) has the worst ERA of the trio but his 5.2 fWAR easily is the best amongst all relief pitchers and places him 7^th amongst all pitchers. His fWAR is so high because he has a solid 88 FIP- placing him 5^th amongst all pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched and of the 4 ahead of him only one has more than his 402.1 innings pitched.
Last we have Steve Swetonic (1929-1933) who’s 595.1 innings is the most of all relief pitchers (and 7^th most of all pitchers) but it comes with the caveat that he started 58 games for the Pirates. Swetonic picked up 37 wins with the Pirates which places him in 7^th place even when including starting pitchers and his 13 career saves is good enough for second place amongst relievers and 4^th amongst all pitchers. As far as performance is concerned Swetonic’s ERA comes in 8% better than league average but his FIP comes in 8% worse making it a game of what you trust.
Well there you have it the final entry. All players who have played for the Pirates who were either born in Pennsylvania or somewhere outside the 50 United States (and the District of Columbia) have been covered. Feel free to share your thoughts on who should earn the relief pitcher positions and recall that there are 4 of them up for the taking.