Most Career Triples, No Stolen Bases

A triple is often considered one of the most exciting plays in baseball. There's a combination of a hard-hit ball, speed around the bases, and usually a close play at third base. Sometimes, however, even the slowest hitters on the team can wind up with a three base hit. Cases in point: Well-known large, slow man Cecil Fielder had seven career triples and Eddie Perez had two career triples despite his near-glacial speed.

Usually, however, even the slow guys who get triples also manage to steal a base or two at some point in their career. It took him ten seasons, but Fielder had two in his career and even Eddie Perez stole a base (off Gregg Zaun, for what it's worth). Rare indeed is the player who manages to rap out a triple without stealing a base in his career. Fewer still have managed to hit multiple triples without stealing a base: only twenty-one position players since 1901 have hit at least five triples without ever successfully stealing a base.

Most Career Triples, Zero Career Stolen Bases, 1901-2007

• Russ Nixon, 19
• Aaron Robinson, 11
• Richie Scheinblum, 9
  Billy Bryan, 9
• Frank Colman, 8
• Al Ferrara, 7
  Mike Garbark, 7
• Adrian Gonzalez*, 6
  Jose Morales, 6
  Hal Breeden, 6
  Eddie Kazak, 6
• Javier Valentin*, 5
  Lance Niekro*, 5
  Bob Sheldon, 5
  Jack Hiatt, 5
  Don Dillard, 5
  Bob Bowman, 5
  Al Lakeman, 5
  Augie Bergamo, 5
  Gene Hasson, 5
  Ben Sankey, 5

* - active player

Now that I've posted this, Adrian Gonzalez or Javier Valentin will probably steal a base tonight.

Wait, Games Last Nine Innings?!

In the Marlins game notes for Friday's Florida-Milwaukee game, it was noted that starting pitcher Scott Olsen ranks eleventh all-time on the list of most career games started without a complete game. That in itself is hardly surprising, since young pitchers aren't often allowed to go much beyond 100 pitches and this usually works out to six or seven innings. The expansion of the bullpen and relief roles in recent decades has also influenced the lesser number of complete games for all MLB teams compared to, say, the 1970's and before. Therefore, the list of most career starts without a complete game is, as expected, filled with active or recently retired pitchers.

Most Career Starts, Zero Complete Games, 1876-2008
(Players in MLB in 2008 italicized)

1. Tony Armas Jr., 166 GS
   
2. Shawn Chacon, 124
3. Casey Fossum, 120
4. Claudio Vargas, 110
5. Chris Young, 104
6. Tim Redding, 99
7. Byung-Hyun Kim, 87
8. Mike Thurman, 87
9. Marvin Freeman, 78
10. Brandon Duckworth, 77
11. Scott Olsen, 73
12. Dave Eiland, 70
13. Dave Weathers, 69
14. Wally Whitehurst, 66
15. Scott Scudder, 64
16. Pat Mahomes, 63
17. Damian Moss, 61
18. Gustavo Chacin, 58
19. Brandon Claussen, 58
20. Joaquin Benoit, 55
    

Slugging Percentage is for Wussies

I've gone kind of crazy with different streaks lately and that will unapologetically continue today. A few weeks ago, I made a list of what I called Anti-DiMaggios, players with the longest streak of consecutive games played without a hit. Today features another negative streak, though not as harmful as going hitless. I've looked up all the position players who have gone at least sixty-five consecutive games without an extra base hit. Remember, for hitting streaks, a game only counts if the player gets an at-bat or sacrifice fly (pinch-hit walks don't snap them).

I thought about calling these guys the Anti-Griffey/Mattingly/Longs, after the players holding the record for consecutive games with a home run, but that doesn't quite fit (and it's pretty cumbersome). "Anti-Joneses" is an option, but how many people can identify Chipper Jones as the guy who holds the record for consecutive games with an extra base hit (more on that later)? Maybe "Swatless Swingers" would work, but it sounds pretty corny. Whatever you call them, you can't deny their lack of power.

Most Consecutive Games With Zero Extra Base Hits, 1956-2008

Rank	Name	Games	AB	Start	End
1	Greg Gross	100	156	6/5/1988	9/27/1989
2	Luis Gomez	88	198	5/29/1974	5/28/1976
3	Scott Pose	87	151	5/30/1999	9/29/2000
4	Jose Valdivielso	80	221	6/19/1960	5/30/1961
5	Manny Mota	75	75	5/26/1978	9/1/1982
6	Junior Noboa	74	111	5/27/1991	4/7/1994
7	Tom Hutton	73	86	7/5/1979	7/15/1980
8	Mike Mordecai	71	127	4/25/1997	6/16/1998
9	Dal Maxvill	69	184	4/9/1970	7/19/1970
	Frank Baumholtz	69	102	4/22/1956	5/26/1957
11	Jose Oquendo	68	166	7/19/1992	6/14/1994
	Wayne Tolleson	68	210	5/28/1987	6/11/1988
	Denny Walling	68	113	6/15/1982	6/26/1983
14	Stan Javier	67	94	6/29/1991	5/18/1992
	Larry Lintz	67	216	9/3/1974	8/26/1975
	Al Weis	67	158	7/16/1965	8/17/1966
17	Manny Mota	66	71	5/26/1974	7/9/1975
	Mike Fiore	66	95	5/22/1970	8/10/1971
19	Duane Kuiper	65	109	8/22/1983	9/7/1984
	Marty Keough	65	90	9/27/1964	7/6/1966
	Phil Gagliano	65	136	7/9/1969	5/4/1971

The longest "active" streak belongs to Orlando Palmeiro (44 games), but he's retired. The next longest current streak is 33 games belonging to Jason Wood, but he's now playing for the Marlins' AAA affiliate in Albuquerque. That means the longest active streak for a player currently on a major league roster is 31 games (through 4/21/08), belonging to Willie Bloomquist of the Mariners. Mark Sweeney of the Dodgers is right behind him at 30 games.

That'll Be Zero Home Runs, Thank You!

If you don't live near Milwaukee or possibly Cincinnati, you may have missed the ending to an impressive streak yesterday. Brewers lefthander Brian Shouse gave up a home run to the first batter he saw, Joey Votto, ending a string of 83 consecutive appearances without giving up a round-tripper. Shouse hadn't given up a home run since the 2006 season.

Furthermore, he had one of only twenty-two such streaks to go past eighty appearances since 1956. While being a lefthander typically required to face at most two or three batters per game makes it easier to string together a bunch of homer-less outings, it's still a pretty neat streak. On the list below, it's the guys who averaged more than one inning per appearance that really impress me.

Zero Home Runs in 80+ Consecutive Appearances, Since 1956

Name	Games	IP	Start	End
Greg Minton	178	269.0	06/01/1979	05/01/1982
Dale Murray	142	246.2	08/21/1974	08/18/1976
Chad Bradford	127	109.2	05/18/2006	09/20/2007
Dave Smith	105	115.1	07/20/1986	07/14/1988
Jonathan Broxton	94	96.2	07/26/2006	08/21/2007
Paul Quantrill	91	78.2	05/05/2002	05/12/2003
Joe Klink	90	65.0	07/26/1991	05/08/1996
Saul Rivera	89	98.2	04/27/2007	present
Larry Andersen	89	116.0	07/06/1990	07/10/1992
Fred Gladding	89	95.2	08/13/1970	07/23/1972
George Sherrill	88	50.0	09/19/2005	05/02/2007
Gregg Olson	85	114.2	04/18/1989	06/20/1990
Larry Anderson	84	128.0	06/18/1988	08/15/1989
Brian Shouse	83	54.1	09/28/2006	04/17/2008
Terry Forster	82	135.2	08/21/1971	05/11/1973
B.J. Ryan	81	87.1	06/04/2005	07/15/2006
B.J. Ryan	81	75.2	07/01/2003	07/17/2004
Jason Isringhausen	81	86.2	08/26/2001	06/28/2003
Mike Fetters	81	89.2	08/03/1993	08/17/1995
Ron Perranoski	81	124.0	07/21/1961	09/03/1962
Joey Eischen	80	64.2	06/02/2002	06/03/2003
Juan Agosto	80	90.2	07/04/1989	06/30/1990

As you can see, Nationals reliever Saul Rivera has the longest active streak. Amazingly, he's only halfway to the top spot. Twins lefty Dennys Reyes and Phillies lefty J.C. Romero are now tied for second on the active list at 53 games.

Team Scoreless Streaks and SHO%

Last weekend, regular reader Ken alerted me to the fact the Royals hadn't scored in 26 innings (they scored in the first inning the next day). He noted that he didn't think this was a record for them but thought it might be an interesting topic for a post. I thought that was a good idea and looked up the Royals record (32 innings from July 5 through July 9, 2004). Unfortunately, the numbers for other teams were harder to figure out, at least the way I was approaching the task, so I decided to look up a couple other shutout-related team numbers.

First up is the longest streak of consecutive games in which each MLB team has been shut out since 1956. I've also noted the frequency of that number of consecutive games for each team and the dates of the most recent such stretch of games.

Consecutive Games Shut Out For Each MLB Team, 1956-2007

Team	Games	Frequency	Start	End
Arizona Diamondbacks	2	4	5/29/2004	5/30/2004
Atlanta Braves	4	1	5/8/1985	5/12/1985
Baltimore Orioles	3	1	7/29/1957	7/31/1957
Boston Red Sox	3	3	4/27/1981	4/29/1981
Chicago Cubs	4	2	4/27/1992	5/1/1992
Chicago White Sox	3	4	7/21/1968	7/24/1968
Cincinnati Reds	3	1	4/18/1989	4/21/1989
Cleveland Indians	3	5	6/12/1991	6/14/1991
Colorado Rockies	2	4	7/21/2007	7/22/2007
Detroit Tigers	3	4	9/29/1995	10/1/1995
Florida Marlins	2	6	6/21/2005	6/22/2005
Houston Astros	4	2	9/9/1966	9/11/1966
Kansas City Royals	3	1	7/5/2004	7/7/2004
Los Angeles Angels	3	1	6/24/1978	6/26/1978
Los Angeles Dodgers	3	3	8/5/2007	8/8/2007
Milwaukee Brewers	3	1	5/3/1972	5/6/1972
Minnesota Twins	4	1	9/19/1958	9/22/1958
New York Mets	3	3	7/25/1992	7/27/1992
New York Yankees	3	3	7/27/1975	7/28/1975
Oakland Athletics	3	4	9/9/1979	9/12/1979
Philadelphia Phillies	3	7	5/20/1983	5/24/1983
Pittsburgh Pirates	3	3	8/28/1968	8/30/1968
San Diego Padres	3	3	7/5/1976	7/7/1976
San Francisco Giants	3	3	6/23/1992	6/25/1992
Seattle Mariners	2	23	7/21/2007	7/22/2007
St. Louis Cardinals	3	2	10/2/1976	10/3/1976
Tampa Bay Rays	2	4	4/28/2004	4/29/2004
Texas Rangers	4	1	9/1/1964	9/5/1964
Toronto Blue Jays	3	2	8/24/1990	8/26/1990
Washington Nationals	3	3	4/13/2004	4/15/2004

That table might not have been particularly thrilling. I do think it's interesting how the Mariners have hit two games in a row so often but never quite made it to three in a row. While I was looking up shutout data, I decided to check out the number of times shut out and total games played for each franchise since 1956. Obviously expansion teams have played fewer games and many have the advantage of playing in more run-friendly era for most of their existence, but it should be interesting nonetheless.

Times Shut Out and Games Played, 1956-2007

Team	Times Shut Out	Total Games Played	SHO%
New York Mets	530	7320	7.24
San Diego Padres	447	6194	7.22
Washington Nationals	437	6188	7.06
Los Angeles Angels	523	7487	6.99
Houston Astros	502	7329	6.85
Chicago Cubs	548	8257	6.64
Philadelphia Phillies	543	8253	6.58
Texas Rangers	487	7473	6.52
Pittsburgh Pirates	532	8248	6.45
Minnesota Twins	520	8254	6.30
Atlanta Braves	518	8248	6.28
Los Angeles Dodgers	516	8258	6.25
Oakland Athletics	511	8256	6.19
Tampa Bay Rays	100	1617	6.18
Baltimore Orioles	505	8239	6.13
St. Louis Cardinals	505	8251	6.12
Kansas City Royals	376	6181	6.08
Cleveland Indians	501	8238	6.08
San Francisco Giants	496	8257	6.01
Chicago White Sox	486	8254	5.89
Detroit Tigers	482	8257	5.84
Florida Marlins	136	2363	5.76
Milwaukee Brewers	355	6189	5.74
New York Yankees	469	8252	5.68
Seattle Mariners	277	4899	5.65
Arizona Diamondbacks	90	1620	5.56
Toronto Blue Jays	271	4900	5.53
Cincinnati Reds	452	8253	5.48
Boston Red Sox	444	8251	5.38
Colorado Rockies	114	2368	4.81

The Last #42's

Busy, busy, busy. That's been the story of the week so far. I know I'm a day late for celebrating Jackie Robinson's debut and the resulting wearing #42 party, but I thought this was interesting nonetheless. Following the game thread on Brew Crew Ball last night, someone asked the name of the last Brewers player to wear #42 on his uniform. I thought figuring out each player for every MLB team would make for an interesting list. I haven't included the players who have worn #42 on April 15th this season or last season. I used Baseball-Almanac.com, a useful site for uniform numbers and lots of other neat baseball trivia.

Jackie Robinson's number was retired on the 50th anniversary of his major league debut in 1997. Players who wore #42 at that time (like Mariano Rivera) were allowed to continue wearing it.

Last #42's For Each MLB Team

Team	Player	Year(s) Wearing #42 With Team
Arizona Diamondbacks	Never Issued	N/A
Atlanta Braves	Micah Bowie	1999*
Baltimore Orioles	Lenny Webster	1997-1999
Boston Red Sox	Mo Vaughn	1991-1998
Chicago Cubs	Dave Smith	1991-1992
Chicago White Sox	Scott Ruffcorn	1996
Cincinnati Reds	Roger Salkeld	1996
Cleveland Indians	Mike Jackson	1997-1999
Colorado Rockies	Scott Karl	2000
Detroit Tigers	Jose Lima	2001-2002
Florida Marlins	Dennis Cook	1997
Houston Astros	Jose Lima	1997-2001
Kansas City Royals	Tom Goodwin	1995-1997
Los Angeles Angels	Mo Vaughn	1999-2000
Los Angeles Dodgers	Ray Lamb	1969**
Milwaukee Brewers	Scott Karl	1995-1999
Minnesota Twins	Mike Jackson	2002
New York Mets	Mo Vaughn	2002-2003
New York Yankees	Mariano Rivera	1995-2007
Oakland Athletics	Buddy Groom	1996-1997
Philadelphia Phillies	Toby Borland	1994-1996
Pittsburgh Pirates	Jason Schmidt	1996-1997
San Diego Padres	Pedro Martinez	1993-1994
San Francisco Giants	Kirk Rueter	1996-1997
Seattle Mariners	Butch Huskey	1999
St. Louis Cardinals	Jose Oliva	1995
Tampa Bay Rays	Never Issued	N/A
Texas Rangers	Dennis Cook	1995-1996
Toronto Blue Jays	Xavier Hernandez	1989
Washington Nationals	Kirk Rueter	1993-1996

*I'm not sure how Bowie got #42 when he made his major league debut in 1999. He appeared in three games with the Braves before being traded to Chicago and wearing #53 for the Cubs. On the off chance this is an error, the player to last wear #42 for the Braves before Bowie was Armando Reynoso in 1991-1992.
**The Dodgers retired Jackie Robinson's number in June 1972.

I'm Forever Walking Batters...

It's always frustrating when the reliever your favorite team's manager has just brought into the game issues a base on balls. His job is to go out there and record outs, not give up free baserunners. After all, the whole game he's been sitting in the bullpen waiting to be turned loose on enemy hitters, mowing them down with a vicious display of pitching prowess. Okay, maybe that's overstating the case for some relievers but, regardless, any pitcher's job is to get outs, first and foremost. Anyone paying attention to Brewers games this season and the latter half of last season knows about the torrent of boos that rain down on Derrick Turnbow when he walks a batter. I'm sure fans of other teams know of similar relievers that inspire dread when it's apparent, once again, their control has left them.

With that in mind, I looked up the longest streaks of consecutive appearances by a relief pitcher with at least one walk issued. In order to exclude, as much as possible, long relievers who may be called upon to throw three, four or more innings, I set the maximum length of each outing to two innings pitched. Only twelve times (by eleven pitchers) since 1956 has a pitcher had ten or more such consecutive brief relief appearances in which he's issued one or more walks. Note that some pitchers on this list may have had starts in between relief appearances (I'm looking at you, Jimmy Haynes).

Consecutive Relief Appearances (≤2 IP) with 1+ BB
1956-2008

• Dan Warthen, 7-17-1976 to 9-4-1978, 13 games
• Jimmy Haynes, 7-24-1996 to 9-29-2001, 12 games
  Dave Weathers, 8-8-1991 to 10-6-1991, 12 games
• John Hudek, 9-10-1998 to 5-4-1999, 11 games
  Mitch Williams, 5-26-1992 to 6-18-1992, 11 games
  
• Chad Cordero, 4-28-2004 to 5-21-2004, 10 games
  Franklyn German, 6-20-2003 to 9-3-2003, 10 games
  Rob Dibble, 9-17-1993 to 6-17-1995, 10 games
  John Wetteland, 8-6-1992 to 9-1-1992, 10 games
  Don Stanhouse, 7-7-1979 to 8-19-1979, 10 games
  Ryne Duren, 5-20-1962 to 6-13-1962, 10 games
  Ryne Duren, 5-6-1960 to 6-19-1960, 10 games

The longest active streak (through 4/10/2008) belongs to the aforementioned Derrick Turnbow, at 5 games (I didn't actually know that when I started this post). Jonathan Meloan, Ryan Bukvich, and Rocky Cherry also have active five-game streaks, but they have not pitched in the majors so far this season.

(Don't) Swing, Batter!

It's always frustrating for fans to watch their team's pitchers miss the strike zone consistently. In yesterday's Chicago-Pittsburgh game, Pirates Rule 5 pick Evan Meek, forced into a tie game in the twelfth, threw thirty-six pitches and only eleven of them were strikes. Granted, he had two intentional walks mixed in there, but that's still a hard thing to watch. A Rule 5 back-of-the-bullpen pitcher might have an excuse, although it might not be a good one.

Starting pitchers, on the other hand, who throw more balls than strikes in an outing are really annoying. The Baseball-Reference.com Play Index lists 43,722 starts from 1999-2007 (the years I've found with reliable pitch data) and only 705 of them (1.6%) featured at least as many balls as strikes thrown. The wild starters' teams were a combined 191-514 (.271) in those games and the pitchers themselves went 40-386 (.094).

I've put together some lists of the lowest percentage of strikes thrown in a start and broken it into multiple categories so the list isn't cluttered by guys who left shortly after the game started due to injury or managerial ire.

Lowest Percentage of Strikes Thrown in a Start, 1-49 pitches
1999-2007

Rank	Name	Date	Team	Opponent	Pitches	Strikes	Strike %
1	Aaron Myette	9/3/2002	TEX	BAL	4	0	0.0
2	Justin Wayne	5/3/2003	FLA	HOU	23	4	17.4
3	Ryan Dempster	10/5/2001	FLA	ATL	45	14	31.1
4	Kyle Davies	7/16/2007	ATL	CIN	22	7	31.8
5	Jason Standridge	7/13/2003	TBD	SEA	31	10	32.3
6	Kevin Correia	9/12/2005	SFG	SDP	27	9	33.3
7	Mickey Callaway	6/18/1999	TBD	MIN	12	4	33.3
8	Chad Gaudin	6/22/2004	TBD	TOR	29	10	34.5
9	Brian Tollberg	6/10/2003	SDP	CLE	26	9	34.6
10	Michael Tejera	7/1/2004	FLA	ATL	23	8	34.8
	Ramon Martinez	9/28/2000	BOS	CHW	23	8	34.8

Lowest Percentage of Strikes Thrown in a Start, 50-99 pitches
1999-2007

Rank	Name	Date	Team	Opponent	Pitches	Strikes	Strike %
1	Alan Levine	9/27/2000	ANA	OAK	51	18	35.3
2	Daniel Cabrera	4/7/2006	BAL	BOS	60	22	36.7
3	Ryan Dempster	4/30/2003	CIN	COL	50	19	38.0
4	Shawn Chacon	8/16/2003	COL	NYM	52	20	38.5
5	Jim Brower	7/5/2000	CLE	TOR	52	20	38.5
6	Rocky Coppinger	4/25/1999	BAL	OAK	57	22	38.6
7	Jonathan Johnson	6/13/2003	HOU	BOS	76	30	39.5
8	Mario Ramos	6/29/2003	TEX	HOU	75	30	40.0
9	Wes Obermueller	5/31/2005	MIL	SDP	55	22	40.0
10	Darryl Kile	4/23/1999	COL	SFG	54	22	40.7

Lowest Percentage of Strikes Thrown in a Start, 100+ pitches
1999-2007

Rank	Name	Date	Team	Opponent	Pitches	Strikes	Strike %
1	Ervin Santana	7/20/2006	LAA	KCR	103	46	44.7
2	Jason Jennings	9/8/2002	COL	SDP	108	49	45.4
3	Tom Glavine	8/21/2004	NYM	SFG	110	50	45.5
4	Tom Glavine	9/18/2001	ATL	PHI	105	48	45.7
5	Shawn Chacon	7/24/2002	COL	ARI	118	54	45.8
6	Al Leiter	5/1/2004	NYM	SDP	113	52	46.0
7	Robert Person	7/17/2002	PHI	CHC	115	53	46.1
8	Chris Capuano	4/18/2005	MIL	LAD	104	48	46.2
9	Russ Ortiz	9/8/2003	ATL	PHI	110	51	46.4
10	Darren Dreifort	4/20/1999	LAD	ATL	103	48	46.6

It's interesting that Tom Glavine shows up on the last list twice. On the final list, Ortiz and Dreifort got wins for their trouble.

There are quite a few pitchers who show up more than once on the list of starts with at least as many balls thrown as strikes. Below you'll find the pitchers with six or more such games.

Most Starts With at Least as Many Balls Thrown as Strikes, 1999-2007

• Russ Ortiz, 12
  
• Shawn Estes, 10
  Tom Glavine, 10
  
• Al Leiter, 9
• Daniel Cabrera, 8
• Jimmy Anderson, 7
  Jason Bere, 7
  Jaret Wright, 7
  Victor Zambrano, 7
• Chris Carpenter, 6
  Shawn Chacon, 6
  Ryan Dempster, 6
  Scott Erickson, 6
  Mike Hampton, 6
  Hideo Nomo, 6
  Mark Redman, 6
  Dan Reichert, 6
  Jamey Wright, 6

Some of those guys are still active, so watch for them to pad their "wild start" numbers. Also note that since this is only since the 1999 season, guys like Tom Glavine probably have more starts that qualify from before then.

Last Position Players to Pitch by Team

UPDATE: I've posted a table through May 6, 2009 here.

It's always notable when a position player takes the mound for an inning or two. Usually it only happens in blowouts when a manager wants to save the other arms in the bullpen for another day. While it hasn't happened yet this season, six position players on four different teams toed the rubber at some point in 2007 (Can you name them? Answers at the end of the post). For this post I looked up the last position players to pitch for every team. Surprisingly, three of the four teams that have gone the longest without using a position player on the mound play in the National League.

Last Position Player to Pitch by Team

Team	Name	Date
Arizona Diamondbacks	Jeff Cirillo	8-20-2007
Atlanta Braves	John Russell	6-25-1989
Baltimore Orioles	Manny Alexander	4-19-1996
Boston Red Sox	David McCarty	10-3-2004
Chicago Cubs	Gary Gaetti	7-3-1999
Chicago White Sox	Dave Martinez	8-4-1995
Cincinnati Reds	Lenny Harris	6-1-1998
Cleveland Indians	Tim Laker	4-20-2004
Colorado Rockies	Todd Zeile	9-14-2002
Detroit Tigers	Shane Halter	10-1-2000
Florida Marlins	Jason Wood	6-29-2007
Houston Astros	Tim Bogar	6-24-2000
Kansas City Royals	Shane Halter	7-17-1998
Los Angeles Angels	Chili Davis	6-17-1993
Los Angeles Dodgers	Robin Ventura	6-25-2004
Milwaukee Brewers	Trent Durrington	4-17-2004
Minnesota Twins	John Moses	7-31-1990
New York Mets	Todd Zeile	7-26-2004
New York Yankees	Wade Boggs	8-19-1997
Oakland Athletics	Frank Menechino	7-18-2000
Philadelphia Phillies	Tomas Perez	5-13-2002
Pittsburgh Pirates	Abraham Nunez	5-30-2004
San Diego Padres	Sean Burroughs	9-20-2005
Seattle Mariners	John Mabry	5-28-2000
San Francisco Giants	Greg Litton	7-4-1991
St. Louis Cardinals	Aaron Miles	9-20-2007
Tampa Bay Rays	Josh Wilson	6-8-2007
Texas Rangers	Scott Sheldon	9-6-2000
Toronto Blue Jays	Frank Menechino	8-28-2004
Washington Nationals	Junior Noboa	7-20-1990*

* - Fellow position player Dave Martinez pitched right before Noboa in the same game.

I wonder which team will have a position player pitch first this season. The Braves already got creative by having a pitcher play the outfield (Chris Resop on April 4) for one batter, but it's been almost twenty years since a position player pitched for them.

As promised, the six position players to pitch last season:

• Jeff Cirillo - Arizona Diamondbacks
• Aaron Miles - St. Louis Cardinals
  
• Augie Ojeda - Arizona Diamondbacks
• Scott Spiezio - St. Louis Cardinals
  
• Josh Wilson - Tampa Bay Devil Rays
  
• Jason Wood - Florida Marlins
  

Most Expensive Bullpens on Opening Day 2008

Okay, so this post is a week late, two days late, one day late, or (thanks to weather) right on time, depending on your favorite team's schedule. One of the most important parts of a team's composition is the bullpen. The average starter in the major leagues last season lasted about 5 2/3 innings per game, leaving 3 1/3 innings for his team's pen. Those ten outs per game (sometimes seven, occasionally more) can spell success or failure for a team's season. Some teams prefer to look for cheap arms to fling against the wall to see who sticks while others prefer to splurge on the free agent market to acquire arms to staff the pen.

What I want to do here is find the bullpens that are drawing the highest combined salary for this season. I've used the depth charts on mlb.com in combination with the active rosters on mlb.com to figure out each team's bullpen as best I can. Further, I've checked injury reports to include players that, if healthy, would be in their team's bullpen (B.J. Ryan, Mike Timlin, etc.).

For salaries, I used the excellent Cot's Baseball Contracts and assumed players without salary data (usually rookies or other young players) are making $400,000 this year. I know the major league minimum is actually $390k this season, but most teams kick in bonuses to their players, so $400k seems fair as a ballpark estimate.

2008 Opening Day Bullpens by Total Salary (in millions of dollars)

1. Milwaukee Brewers, 26.850
2. New York Yankees, 26.175
3. Los Angeles Angels, 22.100
4. New York Mets, 20.775
5. Philadelphia Phillies, 17.950
6. Chicago Cubs, 17.560
7. Minnesota Twins, 17.525
8. St. Louis Cardinals, 17.350
9. Cincinnati Reds, 16.375
10. Colorado Rockies, 15.774
11. Toronto Blue Jays, 15.615
12. Tampa Bay Rays, 13.858
13. Chicago White Sox, 13.175
14. Washington Nationals, 12.450
15. Detroit Tigers, 11.875
16. Houston Astros, 11.025
17. San Diego Padres, 10.970
18. Boston Red Sox, 10.936
19. Baltimore Orioles, 10.660
20. Cleveland Indians, 10.650
21. Oakland Athletics, 10.100
22. Kansas City Royals, 9.041
23. Arizona Diamondbacks, 7.975
24. Texas Rangers, 7.592
25. Los Angeles Dodgers, 6.240
26. Atlanta Braves, 6.000
27. Pittsburgh Pirates, 5.535
28. Seattle Mariners, 5.400
29. Florida Marlins, 5.228
30. San Francisco Giants, 5.188

Here are the members of the most expensive and least expensive bullpens:

Milwaukee: Eric Gagne ($10M), David Riske ($4M), Derrick Turnbow ($3.2M), Salomon Torres ($3.2M), Guillermo Mota ($3.2M), Brian Shouse ($2.0M), Seth McClung ($0.75M), Randy Choate (Disabled List - $0.5M)

San Francisco: Brad Hennessey ($1.6M), Vinnie Chulk (Disabled List - $0.8375M), Tyler Walker ($0.750M), Brian Wilson ($0.4M), Jack Taschner ($0.4M), Erick Threets ($0.4M), Merkin Valdez ($0.4M), Keiichi Yabu ($0.4M)

It's interesting that the Brewers' bullpen costs almost as much as the bottom six teams on the list combined. I was also surprised how highly Tampa Bay is on the list; I know they don't have the lowest payroll in the league anymore, but I didn't expect to see their bullpen in the upper half.