The Braves without John Smoltz? The Padres' bullpen with no Trevor Hoffman? How can that be?
What's next? U2 without Bono? The Simpsons without Homer? Microsoft without Bill Gates? Oh. Right. Sorry.
OK, so stuff does change in life. And in baseball. We understand that. But it isn't every week when two men so synonymous with their teams change employers at practically the same moment.
So let's try to put the departures of Smoltz and Hoffman from their longtime gigs in their proper, Useless Informational perspective:
STRIKE ONE -- OH ATLANTA DEPT.: Here's a little trivia question you can pose to your buddies next time you're sitting on your favorite bar stool:
Now that the John Smoltz-
Chipper Jones tag team has been busted up, after 16 years together, which pair of active teammates has played together the longest?
Ready? Time's up. The correct answer is …
Derek Jeter,
Jorge Posada and
Mariano Rivera, all three together for 14 years and counting.
Who's next? Depends on whether
Jason Varitek re-signs with the Red Sox. If he does, then he and (guess who?)
Tim Wakefield will be heading into their 13th season together. If not, we bet you couldn't name the next longest-running twosome if you guessed all day. (Answer later.)
Smoltz has won 191 games while being managed by Bobby Cox. So with that duo also now defunct, which current pitcher has won the most games for his current manager?
If
Tom Glavine returns to Atlanta, he's the answer, with 221 wins for Cox. If not, there doesn't figure to be a single active pitcher next season who has even won 100 games for his current manager (barring a Joe Torre-
Andy Pettitte reunion in L.A.). Leader in the clubhouse: Would you believe
John Lackey, who has won 91 games for Mike Scioscia?
STRIKE TWO -- TREVOR-VILLE DEPT.: No pitcher in history has ever saved more games for one team than Trevor Hoffman. Of his 554 saves, 552 of them came as a Padre.
So with Hoffman exiting for Milwaukee, who's next on that list: most saves for their current team? It's Mariano Rivera, of course, with 482 for the Yankees.
But once you get past Rivera, no one else is even close, because this has been a winter in which four of the top five closers on that list have moved on:
Todd Jones (238 for Detroit) retired;
Jason Isringhausen (217 for St. Louis) is a free agent; and
K-Rod (208 for LA/Anaheim) just bolted for Queens.
So who's the only other active closer with 200 saves for his present team? It's (drum roll, please)
Joe Nathan, with 200 on the nose for the Twins.
Hoffman and Rivera also rank 1-2 on the all-time list of Most Saves For One Team. And only three other relievers in history have even saved 300 games for one club. Anybody want to guess? (We'll answer that question later, too.)
So with Hoffman, Smoltz and
Kerry Wood all changing mailing addresses this winter, just three current pitchers remain who have made it through the past 10 seasons as members of the same team -- Rivera (14), Wakefield (14) and
Roy Halladay (10).
OK, one more. With Smoltz (21 years in Atlanta) and Hoffman (16 in San Diego) both outta there, which active player has spent the most consecutive seasons with his current team? It's Chipper, with 16. After him, the next-most by any position player would be
Garret Anderson (15) if he returns to the Angels, Jeter (14), Posada (14) and then
Todd Helton (12). Varitek would also be at 12 if he stayed in Boston.
STRIKE THREE -- BEST OF THE AUGHTS DEPT.: As promised in our last blog, we're continuing our Best and Worst of the Aughts series by running through the leaders in all sorts of pitching departments with one dramatic season left in this "unofficial" decade that runs from 2000-09.
(Thanks to all you technicality-minded readers who reminded us that this "official" decade runs from 2001-10. Hey, we knew that. But it's our blog. And what's the fun of recapping a blog with no nickname?)
WINS: (tie)
Randy Johnson,
Tim Hudson, 135
ERA (min. 700 IP): Pedro Martinez, 2.99
WINNING PCT. (min. 75 wins): Pedro Martinez, .686 (107-49)
STRIKEOUTS: Randy Johnson, 2,096
STRIKEOUT RATIO: Randy Johnson, 10.54 per 9 IP
STRIKEOUT/WALK RATIO: Curt Schilling, 6.01 (1,545 K, 257 BB)
INNINGS PITCHED: Livan Hernandez, 2,017 2/3
COMPLETE GAMES: Roy Halladay, 38
WHIP (min. 700 IP): Pedro Martinez, 1.09
OPPONENT AVG. (min. 700 IP): Kerry Wood, .217
SAVES: Mariano Rivera, 353
RELIEF ERA (min. 300 IP): Mariano Rivera, 2.11
RELIEF WHIP: Mariano Rivera, 1.01
RELIEF OPPONENT AVG.: K-Rod, .189
RELIEF APPEARANCES:
David Weathers, 643
RELIEF INNINGS: David Weathers, 699
CLOSER INNINGS: Mariano Rivera, 647
RELIEF STRIKEOUT RATIO:
Brad Lidge, 12.50 per 9 IP
More Best and Worst of the Aughts coming up in this space next week, as we rip through some categories nobody would want to lead.
STRIKE FOUR -- AND THE ANSWER IS DEPT.:
Finally, the answers to our trivia questions above:
Longest-running teammates behind Jeter-Posada-Rivera: Roy Halladay and
Vernon Wells, believe it or not (10 seasons in Toronto).
And who are the only three other relief pitchers in history (besides Hoffman and Rivera) to save 300 games for one team? Dennis Eckersley (320 for Oakland),
Troy Percival (316 for LA/Anaheim) and, believe it or not, Jeff Montgomery (304 for Kansas City).
Jayson Stark
