I want to report a theft. On myself. I am blatantly stealing from my friend, the terrific baseball writer Tyler Kepner. In The New York Times, now annually during the holiday season, he delivers a baseball quiz that does what the best baseball quizzes should do: Fluster, fascinate, fixate and put the “f” in fun.
Inspired by Tyler, I am offering my own quiz.
What happens during the course of days, weeks and years working on columns is I come across items that motivate me to go on deep dives. The result of diving so deep is often to be elated by discoveries — I had no idea (fill in the blank) did (fill in the blank).
I haven’t used some of the recent research — at least not yet — so here are five baseball questions to close out 2018 and to get you thinking about the suddenly fast approaching pitchers and catchers:
1. Who has the most homers for a player who signed his first pro contract with the Mets?
2. What player drafted and signed by the Yankees has the most homers?
3. Nelson Cruz was signed by the Twins this week to a one-year, $14.3 million contract. If he tops 30 homers it will be the fourth different team for which he will have done that. Four players have hit 30 homers for at least four teams. Name them.
4. If Cruz hits 40 homers for the Twins, it would be the third different team for which he will have done that. Two players have hit 40 homers for three teams. Name them.
5. Only one team currently has five pitchers on its roster who each reached at least 150 innings last year. Name the team and the pitchers. (Bonus: Name the two teams that currently have no pitchers who worked at least 150 innings last year).
Answers
1. If you said Darryl Strawberry that was true until June 9-10 of last season when Nelson Cruz homered first off Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell (tying Strawberry at 335 homers), then the next day off Nathan Eovaldi. You probably know Strawberry was the first overall pick by the Mets in the 1980 draft. Did you know the Mets signed Cruz out of the Dominican Republic in February 1998?
After Rey Ordonez broke his arm in 2000, then Mets general manager Steve Phillips dealt Cruz to Oakland for shortstop Jorge Velandia. To that point, Cruz had not even played in the American minor leagues and he bounced around with Oakland and Milwaukee before joining the Rangers in 2006. He didn’t really begin to break out until 2008-09.
Here is what I mean about deep dives though: Did you know the Mets drafted both Rafael Palmeiro (eighth round, 1982) and Matt Williams (27th round, 1983), but neither signed? Both went back in the draft and wound up first-round picks who went on to hit 569 homers (Palmeiro) and 378 homers (Williams). Plus, the Mets had the first pick in the 1966 draft and famously took catcher Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors. Reggie Jackson went the following pick to the Athletics. Jackson hit 563 homers, 14th all time, just six behind Palmeiro in 13th place.
2. If you said Mickey Mantle, you didn’t read the question carefully enough. The “draft” was not around when Mantle signed with the Yankees in 1949. It was around when the Yankees took Fred McGriff in the ninth round in 1981. A year later, the Yankees included McGriff as part of a package to get Dale Murray from the Blue Jays. McGriff went on to hit 493 homers.
As easily as Frank Costanza asked George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld, “How could you have traded [Jay] Buhner for Ken Phelps?” the character could have swapped it to ask about McGriff for Murray.
McGriff is on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot for the 10th and final time this year.
3. McGriff and Gary Sheffield did it for five teams each, and Jose Canseco and Alfonso Soriano did it for four teams each.
4. Alex Rodriguez and Jim Thome.
5. The Yankees: Luis Severino, J.A. Happ, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia.
The teams that headed into the New Year with four pitchers on their roster who exceeded 150 innings in 2018 were the Mets, Braves, Cubs, Indians, Mariners and Rockies. Seattle is the one that shocked me most, especially because it traded Paxton, but still had Marco Gonzales, Felix Hernandez, Mike Leake and Wade LeBlanc.
The still-available free agent starters who topped 150 innings last year were Gio Gonzalez, Derek Holland, Dallas Keuchel and James Shields while Clayton Richards was in designated for assignment limbo, at least until this week.
The two teams that currently have no pitchers who worked at least 150 innings last year are the Blue Jays and Padres.
Thank you for reading, have a happy and healthy 2019.