From: doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Jason Abner Miller)
Subject: Re: All-Time Oakland A's Team
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Organization: The Johns Hopkins University - HCF
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Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:24:00 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.193154.18690@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, drw3l@delmarva.evsc.Virginia.EDU (David Robert Walker) writes...
>In article <17DEC199212323537@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu> doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Jason Abner Miller) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec16.192725.18039@midway.uchicago.edu>, thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes...
>>>In article <838@blue.cis.pitt.edu> genetic+@pitt.edu (Dr. Dave) writes:
>>> 
>>>Sheesh, Billy Martin really did decimate his pitching staff, didn't he?
>>>The 1980-81 A's had really amazing starting pitching, and they all blew
>>>their arms out.
>>
>>	The problem is, it *wasn't* that amazing; it was only because
>>Billy pitched them so bleeping often that they put up sort of OK win
>>totals.  Rick Langford?  Wasn't he the guy who, in 240 innings, gave up
>>about 280 hits and didn't strike out 100 men?  That's bad in any language,
>>no matter how many wins he got, because he also lost about 15 in 1980.
> 
>Jason, Langford had this year in 1982, after a good 80-81, but he
>pitched to about 35 batters per game in 80-81; that is a monstrously
>high level.
> 
	Alright, maybe I shouldn't post numbers until I get my
Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball back in my possession ... 
	However, I honestly don't think Langford was ever a K pitcher - 
I'll get back to this next month once my stats return to me.

>It looks like Billy Martin followed the Steve Stone theory of having
>one great year instead of a long average career. All five of them
>pitched better in 80-81 than they did in the two years before or
>after, as measured by adjusted ERA. All had higher BFP/G in 80-81 than
>they had in the two years before or after. All had 311+ innings in the
>1 and 2/3 seasons of 80-81; Keough led all 5 with 309 IP in 82-83.
> 
>               1978-79        1980-81             1982-83
>           AERA IP   BFP/G   AERA  IP   BFP/G  AERA  IP  BFP/G
>Langford   100  395  23.9     117  485  34.6    88  257  29.2
>McCatty     91  206  23.5     122  408  31.4    98  296  22.4
>Norris      77  195  21.1     128  457  33.5    90  255  25.2
>Keough      99  374  27.1     120  390  31.2    71  309  23.7
>Kingman     90  113  26.9     95   311  27.4    87  128  22.4
> 
>Martin, or the pitching coach, must have been doing something right to
>get the improved performances from these guys, but just as clearly
>their effectiveness fell afterwards.

	So the question would be, is the cost worth it just to
have 2 good seasons?  Not one of the guys above had a substantially
long career past 1983; they all faded away through injuries, and didn't
Norris have some kind of drug problem?
	Somebody might tell Tommy Lasorda this too - remember Fernando
and Ramon Martinez.  Was this specific injuries or just plain
wear-and-tear?
	On the converse, remember in 1988 when Martin wanted to have
the Yankees go with a 7-man rotation because he didn't like any
of the starters? (Rhoden, Candelaria, Leiter).  That was also the
year in which Cecilio Guante had a good April, Martin proceded to
pitch him every other day over the next 3 months, and burned him out.
Guante was traded to Texas late in the season and was never heard from
again.  Was this some kind of trend that Martin couldn't handle his
pitchers well?

>Clay D.

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Jason A. Miller				|		Kill Tanana!
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doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu		|		"some doctor guy"
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