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waittilnextyear · 02-26-2019, 01:03 AM

1979 Season

Well, that was fast. After a painstaking inaugural draft process with a pen and pad, plus thousands of clicks on Baseball Reference dot com, the first season zipped by in a flash. That tends to happen when your setup has one league with 26 teams and no minor leagues.

The very first World Series trophy belongs to...the Minnesota Twins! The Twinkies (a mashup of Twins and old Washington Senators NL players) went 105-57, topping the AL West's 2nd place club (Oakland) by a whopping 15 games. Minnesota then defeated the Red Sox in a wild 7-game ALCS after coming back from a 3-games-to-2 deficit. Pinch hitter Alexi Casilla drove in Gary Gaetti on a sac fly to CF in the 13th inning of Game 7 at Fenway Park, then Steve Renko closed the door on Boston to provide a 4-3 margin of victory. Renko would come up big again for Minnesota in the World Series as he out-dueled Pittsburgh's Cy Blanton 3-1 in the clinching Game 6.

While it was a true team effort (like you'd expect for a team with the Twins' particular idiom), some team members were even more valued than others...

First among equals was ace starting pitcher Johan Santana. The 27-year-old lefty logged 245.1 IP and 6.7 WAR [19-6, 3.26 ERA, 220:44 K:BB] while leading the junior circuit with a 1.07 WHIP. In addition, Santana won Game 2 of the 1979 World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 5-2 fashion. He was as good as a 1-hit shutout (93 game score) against Cleveland on May 11th. He was as bad as giving up 8 runs on 14 hits (23 game score) against...uhh...Cleveland on July 7th. He went the distance 10 times in 33 regular season starts. Not bad.

Santana's main supporting crew consisted of 22-year-old relief ace Jim Hayes who took "effectively wild" into a whole new universe with this stat line: [77.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 20 SV, 35:50 K:BB]. The pitching rotation was also very deep with both Lloyd Brown [241 IP, 17-9, 3.62 ERA] and Mark Redman [220.1 IP, 16-10, 3.72 ERA] topping 4 WAR. Playoff hero Steve Renko was 14-9 with a 4.61 ERA as the #5 starter.

Minnesota's offense was anchored by "The Rat" [.317/.354/.538, 38 HR, 123 RBI, 6.2 WAR] and CF Jimmie Hall [.322/.397/.580, 38 HR, 133 RBI, 6.0 WAR]. In addition to Gaetti and Hall, the Twins' everyday lineup consisted of five other .300 hitters: Danny Santana, Jorge Polanco, Bobby Darwin, Bud Stewart, and Todd Walker. Yes, that's correct, seven out of Minnesota's every day nine batted over .300; the team's .296 average was good for 2nd in the AL. Only Oakland's (Oakland/KC/Philly) .302 team mark was better. And, uh, the AL's pitching depth apparently needs some work.

1979 Chicago Cubs

Chicago tended to hover around .500, starting a bit hotter than that and finishing a bit colder. Center fielder Adolfo Phillips lived up to his billing and lofty contract ($28,552,050) as the All-Star posted a gaudy 7.8 WAR [.315/.403/.547, 27 HR, 90 RBI, 31 SB, +13.1 ZR] and was among those getting MVP votes. That's pretty close to a Mike Trout season, huh?

Rookie catcher Sammy Taylor was also selected to the NL All-Star team and actually won All-Star Game MVP honors. Taylor contributed 3.5 WAR [.265/.328/.400, 17 HR, 69 RBI] due in no small part to a rock solid defensive campaign in a yeoman-like (bordering on insane) 152 starts behind the plate.

Steve Ontiveros and Javier Baez were also noteworthy in 1979. Ontiveros [.338/.443/.497, 10 HR, 65 RBI, 6.1 WAR] paced the team in batting average and Baez finished 2nd with 25 homers after taking over for a slumping Rey Sanchez at SS. An oblique strain suffered by Manny Trillo in August further solidified Baez's status as a starter. But, Baez has plenty of work to do. Despite starting 159 games somehow, and hitting 25 home runs, the final analysis was a disappointing -0.8 WAR and negative ZR values at 6 different positions (2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF). Maybe Javy needs to stick to the infield.

As expected, the pitching wasn't that great. Matt Clement did okay as the de facto ace with a 4.4 WAR campaign [10-11, 3.03 ERA, 179:112 K:BB]. It was a heavy, heavy workload for the exhausted right-hander, though, because Chicago was one of the few teams to roll thru the season entirely with a 4-man starting rotation. Clement made 50 starts, tossed a grueling 263.1 IP and also led the NL in BB's (hard to blame the guy). Remembering how deliberate that Clement could be on the mound made more than a few Cubs fans yearn for a pitch clock during those 263-plus innings.

Cubs #3 starter Bob Schultz also got 50 starts to tie Clement for the league lead. But, Schultz logged only 163 IP. Not too shocking for a pitcher with a 16/100 stamina rating. Gotta work on that rotation depth.

Awards and Anomalies

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw won both the NL MVP and the NL Cy Young awards. And the NL pitching Triple Crown. Can you really blame the voters when Kershaw compiled 12.7 WAR (13.7 rWAR) this season? Kershaw led the league in W (27), ERA (1.84), IP (264.2), K (265), WHIP (0.82), and BABIP (.252). He also pitched 16.1 scoreless innings against the Pirates in the NLCS even though the Dodgers would ultimately fall in 7 games. Kershaw made 33 regular season starts and was player of the game 25 times, recording double-digit strikeouts 10 times. He was pretty ok. Maybe he was just mad at being denied his trademark #21 jersey and having to wear #44 all season for some reason.

Kershaw's Dodger running mate Jim Lefebvre bagged the NL ROY with a monster 9.3 WAR season of his own [.343/.412/.561, 31 HR, 136 RBI] and likely would've won MVP if not for his teammate. With the seasons posted by Kershaw and Lefebvre, it's not hard to see how the Dodgers won an MLB-best 113 games in 1979.

NL Silver Sluggers:

P - Rick Ankiel (STL)
C - Evan Gattis (HOU)
1B - Lee May (CIN)
2B - Jim Lefebvre (LAD)
3B - Tommy Glaviano (STL)
SS - Gene Alley (PIT)
LF - Gene Richards (SDP)
CF - Pete Reiser (LAD)
RF - Mike Marshall (LAD)

NL Gold Gloves:

P - Carl Hubbell (SFG)
C - Carlos Hernandez (SDP)
1B - Lefty O'Doul (LAD)
2B - Jose Oquendo (STL)
3B - Luis Quinones (CIN)
SS - Brandon Crawford (SFG)
LF - Shane Victorino (PHI)
CF - Ted Martinez (NYM)
RF - Mike Marshall (LAD)

Rounding out the major NL awards was Cardinals RP Mike Crudale. Crudale took reliever of the year with his 2.1 WAR showing [2.79 ERA, 21 SV]. Crudale allowed just a lone long ball in 67.2 IP. Interestingly, Joe Panik homered off of Crudale in walk-off fashion after a 3-3 tie game that was started by Dizzy Dean of the Cardinals and Juan Marichal of the Giants. I would've bought a ticket for that one.

As for the junior circuit...

It was a near sweep of the board for the 108-win Boston Red Sox. MVP-winning center fielder Reggie Smith reached 11.6 on the WAR-o-meter [.351/.417/.610, 34 HR, 140 RBI, 20 SB, +19.9 ZR] in one the greatest all-around seasons ever (I guess it's technically the only season ever, but still...). What will be in store for this 24-year-old, switch-hitting superstar in the future?

On the pitching side, it was rookie sensation Clay Buchholz making off with both the Cy Young and the ROY. Buchholz's WAR (5.9 WAR, but 10.5 rWAR) wasn't in the same area code as Kershaw's, but it was still a mighty impressive season being the beneficiary of a relentless Boston offensive attack [24-2, 2.02 ERA, 245.1 IP, 147:85 K:BB]. When you are giving up 2.02 runs per game and getting 5.35 runs per game scored for you, that's some math there, as CNN's John King might say. Buchholz led the American League in both wins and ERA. He also tossed a 4-hit shutout against the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of the ALCS for good measure.

AL Silver Sluggers:

DH - Nomar Garciaparra (BOS)
C - Rudy York (DET)
1B - Champ Summers (DET)
2B - Don Buford (BAL)
3B - Buddy Bell (TEX)
SS - Rico Petrocelli (BOS)
LF - Charlie Keller (NYY)
CF - Reggie Smith (BOS)
RF - Ken Harrelson (BOS)

AL Gold Gloves:

P - Steven Wright (BOS)
C - Darrell Porter (KCR...would've helped the Cards' catching situation)
1B - Jack Baker (BOS)
2B - Christian Colon (KCR)
3B - Bill Pecota (KCR...wonder what his PECOTA projection is?)
SS - Troy Tulowitzki (TOR)
LF - Frank Catalanotto (TEX)
CF - Kenny Lofton (CLE)
RF - Bobby Brown (SEA)

Rounding out the major AL awards was Blue Jays RP Mark Eichhorn. Eichhorn had a 3.2 WAR season in 88 IP of work [1.53 ERA, 21 SV, 0.2 HR/9]. He led the AL in saves (sidebar: I had the settings about half 1979 and half 2017 for this season so there was some back and forth between teams using stoppers or closers). He also held lefty batters to a .195 batting average, which is cool because Eichhorn is a right-handed pitcher. Eichhorn was one of the main factors in an undermanned Blue Jays squad turning in an impressive 81-81 season and even finishing a few games up on the Yankees.

One final anomaly worth mentioning in a pretty eventful first season of doing this...there was one no-hitter this season. Cy Moore, the Phillies #4 SP, blanked the Dodgers on July 15th. Except it was a weather-shortened game that was called in the middle of the 8th inning. D'oh. The game considers it a "no-hitter," but something makes me think the Philly fans would've reacted poorly to those umpires when leaving the field...

02-26-2019, 01:03 AM	#8
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,272	1979 in Review 1979 Season Well, that was fast. After a painstaking inaugural draft process with a pen and pad, plus thousands of clicks on Baseball Reference dot com, the first season zipped by in a flash. That tends to happen when your setup has one league with 26 teams and no minor leagues. The very first World Series trophy belongs to...the Minnesota Twins! The Twinkies (a mashup of Twins and old Washington Senators NL players) went 105-57, topping the AL West's 2nd place club (Oakland) by a whopping 15 games. Minnesota then defeated the Red Sox in a wild 7-game ALCS after coming back from a 3-games-to-2 deficit. Pinch hitter Alexi Casilla drove in Gary Gaetti on a sac fly to CF in the 13th inning of Game 7 at Fenway Park, then Steve Renko closed the door on Boston to provide a 4-3 margin of victory. Renko would come up big again for Minnesota in the World Series as he out-dueled Pittsburgh's Cy Blanton 3-1 in the clinching Game 6. While it was a true team effort (like you'd expect for a team with the Twins' particular idiom), some team members were even more valued than others... First among equals was ace starting pitcher Johan Santana. The 27-year-old lefty logged 245.1 IP and 6.7 WAR [19-6, 3.26 ERA, 220:44 K:BB] while leading the junior circuit with a 1.07 WHIP. In addition, Santana won Game 2 of the 1979 World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 5-2 fashion. He was as good as a 1-hit shutout (93 game score) against Cleveland on May 11th. He was as bad as giving up 8 runs on 14 hits (23 game score) against...uhh...Cleveland on July 7th. He went the distance 10 times in 33 regular season starts. Not bad. Santana's main supporting crew consisted of 22-year-old relief ace Jim Hayes who took "effectively wild" into a whole new universe with this stat line: [77.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 20 SV, 35:50 K:BB]. The pitching rotation was also very deep with both Lloyd Brown [241 IP, 17-9, 3.62 ERA] and Mark Redman [220.1 IP, 16-10, 3.72 ERA] topping 4 WAR. Playoff hero Steve Renko was 14-9 with a 4.61 ERA as the #5 starter. Minnesota's offense was anchored by "The Rat" [.317/.354/.538, 38 HR, 123 RBI, 6.2 WAR] and CF Jimmie Hall [.322/.397/.580, 38 HR, 133 RBI, 6.0 WAR]. In addition to Gaetti and Hall, the Twins' everyday lineup consisted of five other .300 hitters: Danny Santana, Jorge Polanco, Bobby Darwin, Bud Stewart, and Todd Walker. Yes, that's correct, seven out of Minnesota's every day nine batted over .300; the team's .296 average was good for 2nd in the AL. Only Oakland's (Oakland/KC/Philly) .302 team mark was better. And, uh, the AL's pitching depth apparently needs some work. 1979 Chicago Cubs Chicago tended to hover around .500, starting a bit hotter than that and finishing a bit colder. Center fielder Adolfo Phillips lived up to his billing and lofty contract ($28,552,050) as the All-Star posted a gaudy 7.8 WAR [.315/.403/.547, 27 HR, 90 RBI, 31 SB, +13.1 ZR] and was among those getting MVP votes. That's pretty close to a Mike Trout season, huh? Rookie catcher Sammy Taylor was also selected to the NL All-Star team and actually won All-Star Game MVP honors. Taylor contributed 3.5 WAR [.265/.328/.400, 17 HR, 69 RBI] due in no small part to a rock solid defensive campaign in a yeoman-like (bordering on insane) 152 starts behind the plate. Steve Ontiveros and Javier Baez were also noteworthy in 1979. Ontiveros [.338/.443/.497, 10 HR, 65 RBI, 6.1 WAR] paced the team in batting average and Baez finished 2nd with 25 homers after taking over for a slumping Rey Sanchez at SS. An oblique strain suffered by Manny Trillo in August further solidified Baez's status as a starter. But, Baez has plenty of work to do. Despite starting 159 games somehow, and hitting 25 home runs, the final analysis was a disappointing -0.8 WAR and negative ZR values at 6 different positions (2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF). Maybe Javy needs to stick to the infield. As expected, the pitching wasn't that great. Matt Clement did okay as the de facto ace with a 4.4 WAR campaign [10-11, 3.03 ERA, 179:112 K:BB]. It was a heavy, heavy workload for the exhausted right-hander, though, because Chicago was one of the few teams to roll thru the season entirely with a 4-man starting rotation. Clement made 50 starts, tossed a grueling 263.1 IP and also led the NL in BB's (hard to blame the guy). Remembering how deliberate that Clement could be on the mound made more than a few Cubs fans yearn for a pitch clock during those 263-plus innings. Cubs #3 starter Bob Schultz also got 50 starts to tie Clement for the league lead. But, Schultz logged only 163 IP. Not too shocking for a pitcher with a 16/100 stamina rating. Gotta work on that rotation depth. Awards and Anomalies Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw won both the NL MVP and the NL Cy Young awards. And the NL pitching Triple Crown. Can you really blame the voters when Kershaw compiled 12.7 WAR (13.7 rWAR) this season? Kershaw led the league in W (27), ERA (1.84), IP (264.2), K (265), WHIP (0.82), and BABIP (.252). He also pitched 16.1 scoreless innings against the Pirates in the NLCS even though the Dodgers would ultimately fall in 7 games. Kershaw made 33 regular season starts and was player of the game 25 times, recording double-digit strikeouts 10 times. He was pretty ok. Maybe he was just mad at being denied his trademark #21 jersey and having to wear #44 all season for some reason. Kershaw's Dodger running mate Jim Lefebvre bagged the NL ROY with a monster 9.3 WAR season of his own [.343/.412/.561, 31 HR, 136 RBI] and likely would've won MVP if not for his teammate. With the seasons posted by Kershaw and Lefebvre, it's not hard to see how the Dodgers won an MLB-best 113 games in 1979. NL Silver Sluggers: P - Rick Ankiel (STL) C - Evan Gattis (HOU) 1B - Lee May (CIN) 2B - Jim Lefebvre (LAD) 3B - Tommy Glaviano (STL) SS - Gene Alley (PIT) LF - Gene Richards (SDP) CF - Pete Reiser (LAD) RF - Mike Marshall (LAD) NL Gold Gloves: P - Carl Hubbell (SFG) C - Carlos Hernandez (SDP) 1B - Lefty O'Doul (LAD) 2B - Jose Oquendo (STL) 3B - Luis Quinones (CIN) SS - Brandon Crawford (SFG) LF - Shane Victorino (PHI) CF - Ted Martinez (NYM) RF - Mike Marshall (LAD) Rounding out the major NL awards was Cardinals RP Mike Crudale. Crudale took reliever of the year with his 2.1 WAR showing [2.79 ERA, 21 SV]. Crudale allowed just a lone long ball in 67.2 IP. Interestingly, Joe Panik homered off of Crudale in walk-off fashion after a 3-3 tie game that was started by Dizzy Dean of the Cardinals and Juan Marichal of the Giants. I would've bought a ticket for that one. As for the junior circuit... It was a near sweep of the board for the 108-win Boston Red Sox. MVP-winning center fielder Reggie Smith reached 11.6 on the WAR-o-meter [.351/.417/.610, 34 HR, 140 RBI, 20 SB, +19.9 ZR] in one the greatest all-around seasons ever (I guess it's technically the only season ever, but still...). What will be in store for this 24-year-old, switch-hitting superstar in the future? On the pitching side, it was rookie sensation Clay Buchholz making off with both the Cy Young and the ROY. Buchholz's WAR (5.9 WAR, but 10.5 rWAR) wasn't in the same area code as Kershaw's, but it was still a mighty impressive season being the beneficiary of a relentless Boston offensive attack [24-2, 2.02 ERA, 245.1 IP, 147:85 K:BB]. When you are giving up 2.02 runs per game and getting 5.35 runs per game scored for you, that's some math there, as CNN's John King might say. Buchholz led the American League in both wins and ERA. He also tossed a 4-hit shutout against the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of the ALCS for good measure. AL Silver Sluggers: DH - Nomar Garciaparra (BOS) C - Rudy York (DET) 1B - Champ Summers (DET) 2B - Don Buford (BAL) 3B - Buddy Bell (TEX) SS - Rico Petrocelli (BOS) LF - Charlie Keller (NYY) CF - Reggie Smith (BOS) RF - Ken Harrelson (BOS) AL Gold Gloves: P - Steven Wright (BOS) C - Darrell Porter (KCR...would've helped the Cards' catching situation) 1B - Jack Baker (BOS) 2B - Christian Colon (KCR) 3B - Bill Pecota (KCR...wonder what his PECOTA projection is?) SS - Troy Tulowitzki (TOR) LF - Frank Catalanotto (TEX) CF - Kenny Lofton (CLE) RF - Bobby Brown (SEA) Rounding out the major AL awards was Blue Jays RP Mark Eichhorn. Eichhorn had a 3.2 WAR season in 88 IP of work [1.53 ERA, 21 SV, 0.2 HR/9]. He led the AL in saves (sidebar: I had the settings about half 1979 and half 2017 for this season so there was some back and forth between teams using stoppers or closers). He also held lefty batters to a .195 batting average, which is cool because Eichhorn is a right-handed pitcher. Eichhorn was one of the main factors in an undermanned Blue Jays squad turning in an impressive 81-81 season and even finishing a few games up on the Yankees. One final anomaly worth mentioning in a pretty eventful first season of doing this...there was one no-hitter this season. Cy Moore, the Phillies #4 SP, blanked the Dodgers on July 15th. Except it was a weather-shortened game that was called in the middle of the 8th inning. D'oh. The game considers it a "no-hitter," but something makes me think the Philly fans would've reacted poorly to those umpires when leaving the field... Last edited by waittilnextyear; 02-26-2019 at 01:16 AM.