The Joey McKinley Saga Continues

[joshuaaaaaa]

Note, this topic is a direct continuation of the topic entitled Triple Crown Winner

In 2015, Joey McKinley did what he seems to do every year, hitting well for average, and not having his power kick in until mid-May. When it did kick in, it came with a vengeance, and McKinley rapidly climbed up the triple crown ladder. His best month was August, where he hit .402, with 21 HR and 39 RBI. This vaulted him to the top in all three categories. McKinley had big leads in homeruns and average, and was in a three way dogfight for 1st place in RBIs with his teammate Mark Teixeira and Tampa Bay's Gilbert Dierking. As it turned out, fate took a shot at a third triple crown out of McKinley's hand, as was hit in the face and suffered a bruised cheekbone with two weeks to go in the season.

McKinley's final stats for the season and updated stats for his career are as follows:

2015 Career
G: 149 1,302
AB: 566 4,730
H: 209 1,611
2B: 26 166
3B: 1 39
HR: 50 337
RBI: 135 966
R: 132 1,013
K: 153 1,085
BB: 102 879
SB: 8 81
CS: 6 45
AVG: .369 .341
OBP: .472 .444
SLG: .684 .606

All this and he's only 29! He's signed to a contract for $11,173,100 through 2021, when he'll be 35 years old. Conservatively assuming 200 hits, 40 HR and 125 RBI/year through the rest of the contract, at age 35 he'd have 2,811 hits, 577 HR and 1,716 RBIs with at least 2 productive years left, and possibly as many as seven (players seem to age at either 37 or 42 in this league). If he keeps hitting closer to 50 HR per year, he could have 637 HR by age 35, and possibly 800 or more by the time he retires. I'll keep updating.

Oh, by the way, despite missing the last two weeks of the season, McKinley won the batting crown with his .369 average, way ahead of second place Luis Fazio of Oakland, who was at .339. He was also first in HR, with Amos Ruano of KC in second with 43. McKinley finished fifth in RBIs, behind Dierking (153), Teixeira (149), Miguel Avilla of Tampa Bay (140) and Ruano (136).

As for me, I took over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and after a rough start to the season, the team really came together and started playing good baseball. Basically, they pounded the opposition into submission, as the pitching is average at best. The team was led by RF Frank Robards (.295/41/115), LF Dierking (.318/40/153), 1B Carols Reyes (.287/37/119) and C Avilla (.303/33/140). Reyes had one amazing stat. In 658 AB, he struck out only 21 times. Robards was almost as good, striking out 26 times in 576 AB. Robards walked more than Reyes and was second on the team with a .403 OBP (Avilla led the team at .419).

The pitching was led by Felix Diaz (15-6, 4.17), who, unfortunately, suffered a season-ending injury in mid-September and will be unavailable for the playoffs, mid-season acquisition Jeffrey Harkey (17-12, 4.87) and Bobby Sanchez (12-6, 5.43).

The team finished at 92-70, winning the wild card, and is playing my former team, the Baltimore Orioles (96-66) in the first round of the playoffs. The Devil Rays went 4-11 against the O's in the regular season, so it could be a rough series. Despite the good performance, fan support is only at 31, and I had to lower ticket prices to $7 to get an average attendance of $30. We'll see if the good season boosts the fan base or loyalty for next season.

[PhilyMouth]

If Tampa is anything like is in real life, you may need not only a good ball club, but you may have to sign Pam Anderson to a big league contract.

[joshuaaaaaa]

2015 Wild Card Series

Game 1 of the Wild Card Series was a surprising Devil Rays romp. The D-Rays struck early, with 4 singles and an RBI groundout producing 3 runs in the top of the second inning. The Orioles put four hits of their own together in the bottom of the second off D-Rays starter Jeffrey Harkey, and closed the gap to 3-2. Orioles starter Terry Main settled down, and the only additional scoring before the 8th inning was an RBI double by Carlos Reyes driving in Ernesto Vasques in the top of the sixth to increase the D-Rays lead to 4-2. In the top of the eighth, however, Main tired after allowing two baserunners with one down. Tobias Rodarte relieved Main and gave up three straight hits resulting in four more Tampa Bay runs. After striking out DH Earl Spector, Rodarte gave up 2 more hits and the Devil Rays got one more run to bring the score to 10-2, which turned out to be the final.

The second game of the series was a nail-biter. The Orioles got a solo run in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Arthur Sanford. The Devil Rays came right back with three in the top of the second on a three run homerun by shortstop Edwin Bell. However, the Orioles got solo runs in the third and fourth to tie the game at 3. Catcher Miguel Avilla hit a homerun in the top of the fifth to put the D-Rays back up by one and Frank Robards homered in the top of the sixth to make the game 5-3. However, the Orioles rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a clutch, two-out, two-run single by catcher Samuel Lenox, to go back ahead 6-5. They added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a bases loaded walk to Angel Gomez. The Devil Rays rallied in the top of the ninth, when Spector doubled to lead off the inning and was driven home on a 2 out single by Vasques. However, Orioles closer Patrick Cargile got Avilla to strike out to preserve a 7-6 Orioles victory.

Game three moved the scene to Tropicana Field, where the Devil Rays played in front of their biggest crowd of the season, 40,912. Unfortunately, the crowd went home disappointed as the Orioles pounded the Devil Rays for a 16-8 victory. Tampa Bay did have an early 1-0 lead on a Gilbert Dierking RBI single in the bottom of the first, however that was their last moment of glory in the game. Angel Gomez led off the top of the second with a double, and second baseman Miguel Laureano homered to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead. The next batter, left fielder Rosendo Torres, also homered and the O's led 3-1. Samuel Lenox then made it back-to-back-to-back home runs and the Orioles had a 4-1 lead. The Orioles plated six more runs in the top of the third, including two driven in on Lenox's second homerun of the game, to take a commanding 10-2 lead. By the top of the fourth, the lead had been stretched to 13-2. The Devil Rays tried to scratch back into the game, however the deficit was too big and the Orioles had a 2-1 series lead.

In Game 4, the Devil Rays again took an early lead when Avilla doubled home Vasques in the bottom of the first. Angel Gomez' solo homerun in the top of the second tied the game at 1, however, and the Orioles then pulled ahead 4-1 in the top of the sixth on a 2-RBI double by Laureano and an RBI single by Torres. Carlos Reyes two-out single in the bottom of the sixth closed the gap to 4-2, however the Orioles weren't done scoring yet. In the top of the seventh, the Orioles turned a walk and three hits into three runs to take a 7-2 lead. Perhaps remembering his meltdown in game one, the Orioles manager replaced Terry Main going into the bottom of the seventh and things looked bleak for the Devil Rays. The gods of baseball smiled on the the boys from Tampa Bay, and they were able to mount a big rally against the O's pen. Spector led off the inning with a walk, and was singled to second by Morales. A groundout send the runners to second and third, and both scored on a double by Vasques, cutting the lead to 7-4. Avilla was intentionally walked, and the O's replaced Otha Friar with Joseph Eide who was greeted with a three run homerun by AL RBI champion Gilbert Dierking to tie the game at 7! A 2 run triple by Delmer Touchette in the bottom of the eighth put the D-Rays up by two and Mark Proctor pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the 9-7 victory and tie the series at two.

Could the D-Rays upset the World Champions and advance to the ALCS? The scene shifted back to Baltimore for game 5 and the Devil Rays came ready to play. They took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, and starter Bobby Sanchez seemed to be pitching well. Unfortunately, in the bottom of the fourth, Sanchez became a victim of "hit 'em where they ain't" as the Orioles used a combination of walks, bloop singles and 'just out of the reach' groundballs to plate 4 runs and take a 4-1 lead. More of the same, compounded by an error by second baseman William McGee helped the Orioles plate 4 more runs in the fifth and take a commanding 8-1 lead. The Devil Rays attempted to rally several times, only to leave runners on base repeatedly. They were able to get 2 of the runs back, however the final score was 8-3 and the Orioles advanced to the ALCS.

For a team missing its #1 starter, the Devil Rays performed quite well against the Orioles. With a chance to get some free agent pitching help, and perhaps work on improving my infield defense (assuming my budget can handle it, of course), the Devil Rays should be able to contend again in 2016.

[MizzouRah]

Nice job! Get 'em next year!!

Todd

[joshuaaaaaa]

As an additional note, McKinley did win his fifth consecutive MVP award in 2015. I've just done the "Proceed to Next Season" to transition to 2016, so we'll see how the next year progresses.

[joshuaaaaaa]

2016 Wrapup

2016 was not the best year for Joey McKinley. Of course, I'm saying that based on Joey McKinley standards, not normal player standards. Despite nagging injuries during the year, McKinley easily captured the AL batting crown. However, he wasn't anywhere near the top in Homeruns and RBIs.

Here are his 2016 stats and updated career stats. In addition, you'll notice that he had almost exactly 10% of his career at-bats in this season, so just for fun I multiplied this years stats by 10 to see how they compared to his career numbers.

code:

---

          2016     Career     2016*10      +/-

G          145      1,447       1,450       +3

AB         525      5,255       5,250       +5

H          193      1,804       1,930     -126

2B          20        186         200      -14

3B           4         43          40       +3

HR          39        376         390      -14

RBI        117      1,083       1,170      -87

R          120      1,133       1,200      -67

K          117      1,202       1,170      -32

BB         106        985       1,060      -75

SB          13         94         130      -26

CS           7         52          70      -18

AVG       .368       .343        .368    -.025

OBP       .482       .447        .482    -.035

SLG       .644       .610        .644    -.034

---

The fact that most of the numbers are minus indicates that his current year was better than his average year. Over his career, McKinley has become a more patient hitter, with a better average and OBP. His slugging has also improved. He's even stealing more bases now (although his success rate of 65% in 2016 is very much in line with his career success rate of 64.3%).

McKinley was 30 at the end of 2016 and should hit homerun #500 by age 33. At his career rate of about 38 HR per year, he'd get to #600 by age 36 and, if his stats don't drop off, #700 by age 37. I'll keep you updated on this amazing player's progress.

[joshuaaaaaa]

Well, I'm into the 2017 postseason now, where my Devil Rays have pulled off an upset over the Yankees to win the Divisional Series 3 games to 1 and advances to the ALCS (the Yankees were the division winner by 8 games over the D-Rays in the regular season). Joey McKinley had another great year, although he continued his tradition of getting hurt with a week left in the season.

McKinley was surpassed in offense this year by Ricardo Casella. Casella was a 4th round pick for the Brewers in 2011 and already thei regular third baseman (even though he's a better second baseman) by 2013. In mid-season 2017 he was traded to the Yankees and was a key part of their winning of the pennant. Casella almost got the triple crown, losing out in batting average on the last day of the season. Actually, since he split his time between two leagues, he wouldn't have qualified, but tell that to the game. Casella is a 14 in homeruns. Also notice the only 36 K in almost 600 AB. Incredible for a power hitter.

Here's McKinley's stats for 2017 and his career, and Casella's, including splits between Milwaukee and the Yankees.

code:

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        2017    Career   Casella      MIL      NYY

G        150     1,597       159      102       57

AB       562     5,817       597      382      215

H        194     1,998       214      140       74

2B        17       203        24       13       11

3B         6        49         0        0        0

HR        43       419        64       44       20

RBI      121     1,204       168      110       58

R        135     1,268       156      103       53

K        162     1,364        36       26       10

BB       108     1,093        96       63       33

SB        17       111         6        3        3

CS         5        57         4        3        1

AVG     .345      .343      .358     .366     .344

OBP     .456      .447      .454     .462     .440

SLG     .626      .611      .720     .746     .674

---

McKinley will get his 2000th hit early in 2018 (at age 32) and should get his 500th homerun in 2019 or 2020, at age 34. If he's effective only until age 37, he should finish his career with around 3,200 hits and 650 HR. If he's effective until 40, he should get around 3,800 hits and 730 homeruns. If he's one of those rare players who stays effective until about 42, he could challenge both Pete Rose and Sammy Sosa (784 HR).

Casella is 28 years old and has 205 career HR and 974 career hits. If he has 9 effective years at 50 HR and 200 hits, he'll get to 2700 - 2800 hits and 650 HR. If he goes until age 40, expect about 3200 - 3300 hits and and between 750 - 800 HR. And, as with McKinley, if he's somehow effective into his early 40s, he could end up with 3500 hits and 850 HR.

It will be interesting (and fun) to watch.

[joshuaaaaaa]

Sorry for no recent updates. I've been really busy and haven't had much time for my solo league. I'm still in the 2017 WS, which is tied 1-1 between my D-Rays and San Fransico. Tampa Bay beat an Oakland team that was probably better than it in a 7 game ALCS to make it to the WS. I'll give an update on that and McKinley's progress in 2018 as soon as I get back to things.

[Shorty]

No one will EVER break Pete's record.

[joshuaaaaaa]

Well, the Devil Rays won it all in 2017, in a thrilling 7 game series with the Giants...they beat two superior teams in their trek to the top, and were rewarded with a fan loyalty of 52. 2018 was not so good, as they slumped back to 78-84. Injuries and inconsistencies on the pitching staff plagued the D-Rays all year. Some trading deadline moves brought in some good talent for the future, however budget considerations will keep the team from having huge additions in 2019.

Joey McKinley had another fine season, although he missed a few weeks early with an injury. By his standards it was an awful season, however not many players will complain about .318/39/116. This kept him from having his 8th straight all-star appearance. Here's an update on his 2018 performance and that of the Yankees Ricardo Casella, super slugger.

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        2018    Career   Casella

G        148     1,745       160

AB       575     6,392       606

H        183     2,181       189

2B         9       212        24

3B         4        53         0

HR        39       458        60

RBI      116     1,320       152

R        110     1,378       120

K        141     1,505        28

BB        98     1,191       111

SB        18       129         2

CS         8        65         2

AVG     .318      .341      .312

OBP     .426      .445      .425

SLG     .551      .606      .649

---

McKinley will be 32 in 2019 (turning 33 in July), Casella will be 30. McKinley needs a 42 HR season to hit #500 in 2019. It may have to wait until early 2020.

I recalculate league totals at the beginning of each season, and currently don't know whether next year's production is expected to be up or down. We'll see how it affects these two talented sluggers.

[joshuaaaaaa]

Joey McKinley bounced back from his recent injury plauged years with a vengeance, leading the Rangers to a World Series victory over the 111 win Expos in a thrilling 7 game series. The Rangers won game seven with a 2 out, 2 run rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Joey was the MVP for the American League, leading the AL in batting, being 4th in homeruns and 7th in RBIs. Ricardo Casella was injured for a chunk of the season, and had a sub-par year. If he doesn't pick it up again next year, I'll stop listing his stats, as he'll be too far behind Joey to have reasonable prospects of catching him.

The Devil Rays slumped to an 80-82 finish. They led the division for a large chunk of the season, before near-constant injuries to the pitching staff caused a late season collapse.

---

        2019    Career   Casella

G        162     1,907       117

AB       605     6,997       436

H        226     2,407       135

2B        21       233        11

3B         5        58         0

HR        39       497        34

RBI      113     1,433        87

R        139     1,517        79

K        161     1,666        29

BB       132     1,323        71

SB        16       145         6

CS         7        72         1

AVG     .374      .344      .310

OBP     .493      .448      .414

SLG     .618      .607      .569

---

McKinley is 33 (not turning 34 until July, 2020), and will secure his HOF induction with 3 more homeruns. He should also get his 2,500th hit in 2020. Again, projecting 4 more productive seasons, Joey would end his career with about 3,000 hits and 615 HR. If he makes it to age 40 being productive, figure 3,500 hits and 700 HR.

[rferry]

1500 rbi's coming up too!

[joshuaaaaaa]

2020 has come and gone, and once again, Joey McKinley had a huge year and was big part of the Rangers second consecutive World Series Championship. Once again, they defeated the Expos, this time in six games. McKinley went .321/3/11 in the World Series.

Joey was the MVP for the American League, leading the AL in batting, being 2nd in homeruns RBIs. As usual, he led the majors in OPS. Impressively, since the first time since 2009, Joey had more walks than strikeouts. He also finally cracked the 20 stolen base plateau this year. Ricardo Casella also had an impressive year, which started out slowly and then picked up a huge head of steam.

The Devil Rays finished at 88-74, hurt from a better performance by a string of injuries. They were defeated by Texas in the Division Series, 3 games to 1.

Now, here's Joey from 2020 and his career numbers, and Casella's 2020 and his career numbers.

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        2020    Career   Casella    Career

G        160     2,067       160     1,323

AB       586     7,583       587     4,706

H        209     2,616       172     1,470

2B        12       245        17       169

3B         3        61         0         0

HR        55       552        48       347

RBI      133     1,566       120       963

R        151     1,668       122       949

K        123     1,789        29       260

BB       140     1,463       103       770

SB        22       167         2        47

CS         6        78         3        23

AVG     .357      .345      .293      .312

OBP     .487      .451      .407      .409

SLG     .669      .612      .567      .569

---

McKinley is 34 (not turning 35 until July, 2021) and has secured his HOF induction on both the homerun and RBI qualifiers. Projecting 3 more productive seasons, Joey would end his career with about 3,150 hits and 655 HR. If he makes it to age 40 being productive, figure 3,700 hits and 715 HR.

Casella is 31, turning 32 in the off season, and at this point figures to have about 575 HR and 2400 hits if he plays until 37 and 700 HR and 2,700 hits if he plays until 40. Although, who knows if he'll rebound with another couple of 60 HR seasons?

[1901HistoryLeague]

wow this is awesome josh... good work. i thought joey played for Tampa Bay? or did i misread that? seeing him on Texas confused me

[1901HistoryLeague]

also... is it real players u were using? if so.. how did the likes of bonds, griffey, sosa, and guerrero do on the homerun chase

[joshuaaaaaa]

Originally posted by 1901HistoryLeague
wow this is awesome josh... good work. i thought joey played for Tampa Bay? or did i misread that? seeing him on Texas confused me

I don't know if I've mentioned this in the past, however Joey was the overal #1 pick by Tampa Bay in 2005.

Joey played for Tampa Bay from 2006 - 2010, when he was traded at the deadline to the Mets. The Mets did not resign Joey, who signed a 4 year, $7,199,900 per year deal with Houston. When that deal expired, Joey signed with Texas, a 7 year deal worth $11,173,100 per year. That deal runs out in 2021, the next year to be simmed. It will be interesting to see if Texas resigns him or lets him go.

[joshuaaaaaa]

Originally posted by 1901HistoryLeague
also... is it real players u were using? if so.. how did the likes of bonds, griffey, sosa, and guerrero do on the homerun chase

I started with the Rolen Rosters in 2002, releasing everyone and redrafting. Career leaders as of the end of 2020 are shown on this page. As you can see, only a couple of players actually got by Hank Aaron. He'd now be 3rd on the all time list, and the Babe would be fifth.

And, of course, ignore Carlos Hernandez on the pitching lists. Somehow, his record got corrupted in the program and he incorrectly appears on all the lists (gotta love those 90,049 career strikeouts). I have no idea if there's any way to get him off the lists. I did delete him from the Hall of Fame.

[Kelric]

Once in a while I will end up with a position player like Rickey Henderson (happens to him most often) where suddenly he has several thousand wins and dozens of thousands of strikeouts as a pitcher...very weird.

[Kelric]

Quick question...did Nomar make the hall of fame? I noticed he wasn't on the top 25 in career batting average but nearly had 3000 hits

[joshuaaaaaa]

Originally posted by Kelric
Quick question...did Nomar make the hall of fame? I noticed he wasn't on the top 25 in career batting average but nearly had 3000 hits

Nomar just missed the top 25 in average. His career mark was .308. He retired after the 2012 season with 2,874 hits, 1,555 RBI and 371 HR. He made it to the hall on the virtue of more than 2,500 hits with an average over .300.