Tom Glavine and the Hall of Overrated

Tom Glavine went as high as his teammates would take him.  (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

Today, Tom Glavine joins his long-time teammate Greg Maddux, as well as Frank Thomas, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa into the Hall of Fame.  Glavine's 305 wins and .600 winning percentage are certainly nothing to scoff at, but those numbers may have been more due to the teams he was on rather than his own talent.

As my Gal For All Seasons so eloquently detailed in her recent post called "The Pity Vote", the former Brave (and I guess you have to call him a former Met as well) wasn't as good as his numbers say he was.

Let's take a look at some of the points she brought up in "The Pity Vote" and add a few of my own.

• Almost half of Glavine's wins (149 out of 305) came when his teams scored six or more runs.  On 226 occasions, Glavine received that type of run support, or slightly over ten times per season.

• In 22 seasons in the big leagues, Glavine was pinned with a no-decision or loss a whopping 77 times when his teams scored at least half a dozen runs.  That's three-and-a-half times a season in which he couldn't get a win with excellent run support.

• Glavine's teams scored two runs or less in 176 of his 682 starts.  The southpaw won just 26 of those games.  By comparison, Curt Schilling won 24 games when he received two runs of support or fewer.  That's just two wins shy of Glavine's total.  However, Schilling did this despite making 246 fewer starts than Glavine.  For the record, Schilling has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for the past two seasons and has yet to receive more than 38.8% of the votes.

• Speaking of Schilling, the 20-year veteran was one of the best postseason pitchers of all time, going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 0.968 WHIP in 19 career starts.  Glavine, on the other hand, went 14-16 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.273 WHIP.  It should also be noted that Glavine's 16 postseason losses are the most by any pitcher in the history of the game.

• Glavine had five 20-win seasons, going 103-40 in those campaigns.  That means he went 202-163 in his other 17 seasons, which averages to a 12-10 record over those 17 years in which he didn't win 20 games.  That's not exactly what I would call Hall of Fame-caliber for the majority of his career.

• In the year he set a career high in victories (1993), Glavine posted a 1.365 WHIP.  Glavine and fellow lefty Andy Pettitte are the only pitchers since 1980 to post a WHIP higher than 1.35 in a year they won 20+ games.  In addition, Glavine is the only pitcher since 1950 to win 22 or more games in a single season and have a 1.35 WHIP in the same year.  That's over six decades of baseball, kids.

• Finally, while we're on the topic of base runners, there are only 14 pitchers in history (since 1900) to allow 6,000 base runners over their careers.  Tom Glavine is one of them, but he pitched the fewest innings of those 14 hurlers, tossing 4413.1 frames.  In fact, the only pitcher on this list within 150 innings of Glavine is Jim Kaat, who, by the way, IS NOT IN THE HALL OF FAME!

"It's okay, Greg.  We were the best pitchers on the Braves.  Tommy just rode our coattails."  (Photo by John Bazemore/AP)

Tom Glavine's high win total was a product of the teams he was on.  They scored lots of runs when he was on the mound, making it so easy to win that even his brother, Mike, could have earned victories in those games.  In the five seasons Glavine won 20 or more games, the Braves' offense ranked in the top four in runs scored every year.  Meanwhile, when he was a Met from 2003 to 2007, the Mets' offense ranked in the top four in runs scored just twice (2006, 2007).  Not surprisingly, Glavine went 28-15 in those two seasons.  Without a good offense behind him in his first three seasons as a Met, his record was just 33-41.

Pitchers who earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame should be the dominant pitchers of their era.  No one who allows as many base runners as Glavine did in as few innings as he pitched should get his ticket punched to Cooperstown.  Jim Kaat and his 1.259 career WHIP is still waiting for his plaque.  So is Tommy John, who allowed 6,479 base runners in 4710.1 innings for a 1.283 WHIP.  But Tom Glavine, with his 1.314 lifetime WHIP, has his Hall of Fame plaque ready to be put on display.

Likewise, Hall of Fame pitchers should have been clutch performers in the postseason.  It's true that Glavine was the winning pitcher in Atlanta's only World Series-clinching victory in 1995.  However, it's also true that no pitcher in postseason history has been saddled with an "L" more than Glavine has.  But don't tell that to the people ogling at Glavine's newly installed plaque, one of whom might be Curt Schilling, who was a far better pitcher when the games mattered the most but still needs to buy his own ticket to get into Cooperstown.

Tom Glavine was never the best pitcher on the Braves (Maddux and Smoltz outperformed him in the '90s) and quite possibly wasn't the best pitcher on the Mets when he toiled in Flushing (Steve Trachsel was 44-35 as Glavine's teammate from 2003 to 2006, while Glavine was just 48-48 during those seasons).  But none of that mattered to the baseball writers who voted him into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.

For 22 seasons, Tom Glavine was a very good pitcher.  Now, he will forever be known as a Hall of Fame pitcher.  It's just too bad there isn't a Hall of Overrated in baseball.  Glavine would have been a first-ballot inductee there as well.
 

A "Best On The Worst" Side Story: The Donne Wall For Johnny Damon Non-Trade

Every year, I write a 13-part weekly series that spotlights former Mets players who are connected via the theme of the series.  This year's theme, "The Best On The Worst", focuses on Mets players who experienced their best seasons on some rather lackluster Mets teams.

This past week, I turned the focus of the series over to Steve Trachsel, a pitcher who won 66 games as a Met, with 50 games of those victories coming between 2001 and 2004, a four-year period in which the team was nearly 60 games under .500.  While doing research for the piece, I came across a news article that caught me by surprise.  It was so shocking that I felt the need to write a side story to the Trachsel post.  And it's all because of a certain relief pitcher on the Mets who could have been traded for a dynamic leadoff hitter in his prime, but wasn't - the Donne-for-Johnny trade that never was.

Back in December 2000, the New York Times published an article by Murray Chass on the signing of Steve Trachsel.   Chass discussed the flurry of activity by Mets' general manager Steve Phillips, which included the free agent signings of starting pitchers Kevin Appier and Trachsel, as well as a trade for relief pitcher Donne Wall.  At the time, the Mets had a strong bullpen with right-handers Turk Wendell and Armando Benitez and left-handers Dennis Cook and John Franco.  Chass noted that because of the Mets' bullpen depth, Wall could have been flipped to Kansas City as part of a deal that would have brought 27-year-old Johnny Damon to Flushing.

Wall had pitched beautifully for San Diego prior to his acquisition by the Mets, posting a 2.92 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in three years with the Padres.  Meanwhile, Damon had come off a season in which he hit .327 with a league-leading 136 runs scored and 46 stolen bases.  But Damon was a center fielder, and the Mets already had one of those in Jay Payton, who had just finished third in the Rookie of the Year vote.  Damon was also a Scott Boras client, which posed a problem for the Mets for two reasons.

• Damon was about to become a free agent, and Boras had made it clear that Damon would not sign an extension with any team under he first dipped his feet in the free-agent waters.

• A month prior to the acquisition of Donne Wall, the Mets had strained their relationship with Boras because of a botched attempt by Phillips to sign another of Boras' clients - free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Eventually, the Royals did trade Damon to Oakland, as part of a three-team deal that also included the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  The Mets were left with Payton in center and Wall in the bullpen.  Payton failed to approach his 2000 numbers again as a Met, and within two years, he had been traded to Colorado, where he had a tremendous season (.302, 28 HR, 89 RBI) for the Rockies in 2003.

Wall, on the other hand, was horrible in his one season in New York, losing all four of his decisions and posting a 4.85 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.  Wall allowed multiple runs in a quarter of his 32 appearances and became a part of major league history on August 23, when he allowed a home run to Rockies' starting pitcher Jason Jennings in the ninth inning of a 10-0 loss.  Jennings was making his major league debut in the game, making him the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to pitch a complete-game shutout and hit a home run in his first big league appearance.

It's no wonder a certain Mets blogger who attended that game will never forget what he witnessed on that infamous night at Shea Stadium when Jennings took Donne "over the" Wall.

Jason Jennings - #NeverForget

Like Donne Wall, Johnny Damon also had an off-year for his new team in 2001.  But for Damon, his off-year in Oakland still produced 108 runs scored and 27 stolen bases, even though his batting average dropped to .256.  However, unlike the Mets, Oakland reached the postseason in 2001, and Damon was outstanding in his first playoff experience (.409 batting average, .591 slugging percentage).  Damon parlayed his October brilliance into a free-agent contract with the Red Sox and became a legend in Boston.  Wall became an ex-Met following the 2001 season and an ex-baseball player by June 2002.

Imagine how things could have turned out different for the Mets had they actually acquired Johnny Damon for Donne Wall and friends.  Steve Trachsel might never have been a candidate for "The Best On The Worst" because the Mets might never have become a last-place team.  It's a non-trade Mets fans will never forget.
 

The Best On The Worst: Steve Trachsel

There have been dozens of Mets teams that finished with mediocre or losing records.  Yet despite the poor records sported by these teams, there have always been players on each squad who performed well and became fan favorites.

In the early-to-mid 1960s, Al Jackson performed better than his Mets colleagues and became the first ace on a team that lost in spades.  During the late 1970s to early 1980s, the Mets fell on hard times again, but Lee Mazzilli thrived on the diamond and off it.  And during a six-year, sub-.500 stretch in the 1990s, Todd Hundley caught his share of pitchers, then caught the eye of Mets fans as the team's best player.

The Mets had a fourth period of non-competitiveness in the early-to-mid 2000s, one that produced three consecutive losing seasons that could easily have ballooned to five had the team not finished strongly in 2001 and 2005.  Those teams had their share of popular players, such as Mike Piazza, Al Leiter and two budding talents in Jose Reyes and David Wright.  But one of the better players on the Mets during that frustrating five-year period was never going to win any popularity contests.  In fact, a sizable contingent of Mets fans would rather forget he was ever on the team.  But well-liked or not, there's no question that he was one of the most successful players on a team that did not enjoy much success.

Like him or not, Steve Trachsel was a big winner for the Mets when the team wasn't doing much winning.

Stephen Christopher Trachsel was never supposed to be a big winner for the Mets.  In fact, when the Mets signed him to a two-year, $7 million contract in December 2000, he was coming off a two-year stretch in which he was a combined 16-33 for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.  Trachsel's 33 losses in 1999 and 2000 were the most of any pitcher in baseball, three more than Brad Radke lost for the Twins.  But Trachsel was also coming off his fifth consecutive season of 200 or more innings, making him quite valuable to the Mets, who were unable to retain the services of 15-game winner and NLCS MVP Mike Hampton and were not interested in bringing back Bobby Jones.

Trachsel, along with fellow free agent signee Kevin Appier, was part of general manager Steve Phillips' plan to incorporate more right-handed pitchers in the starting rotation because, as he put it, "the Braves are much better against left-handed pitching".  Appier, who won 12 or more games eight times from 1990 to 2000 (one of only nine pitchers to do so), managed just 11 victories for the Mets in 2001, his only year in Flushing.  Trachsel also won 11 games in his first season with the Mets, but his road was far bumpier than the one taken by Appier.

On April 7, 2001, Trachsel made his debut for the Mets.  His effort - or lack of one - was memorable for all the wrong reasons.  Trachsel allowed ten earned runs in a 10-0 loss to the Montreal Expos, becoming just the third pitcher (and second starting pitcher) in Mets history to allow ten or more earned runs in a single game.

The debacle in his first start was just the beginning of a six-week nightmare for Trachsel, who slogged his way to a 1-6 record and an 8.24 ERA in his first eight starts.  That, and the endless chorus of boos from unforgiving Mets fans, led to Trachsel's demotion to the minor leagues after becoming the first pitcher in team history to allow four home runs in one inning on May 17.  It was an embarrassing and unexpected development for the right-hander, but one that produced a stunning resurgence after he was called back up to the Mets in June.

Trachsel spent three weeks in the minors at AAA-Norfolk trying to correct his flaws.  It took him only two starts to regain his confidence, as Trachsel fired a no-hitter for the Tides in the first game of a doubleheader on May 30.  A week later, he was back in the majors.  Trachsel pitched slightly better upon his return to the Mets, but a lack of run support prevented him from winning games.  Trachsel lost three of his first four appearances following his call-up.  In the game he didn't lose, he earned a no-decision, despite allowing just one run against the Expos.

With his record sitting at 1-9 and the Mets losing patience in him, Trachsel turned in his most important performance of the season on June 29.  The right-hander pitched seven strong innings in Atlanta, holding the Braves to one unearned run and five hits.  It would be the first of nine victories for Trachsel over the Braves over the next four seasons, as his general manager expected him to do when he signed him the previous winter.  It would also be the first of many wins Trachsel would earn over the last three months of the 2001 season.

The Mets limped their way to the All-Star Break in fourth place, 13 games behind the first place Braves.  With a 38-51 record, New York looked nothing like the team that won the National League pennant just nine months earlier.  Steve Trachsel was a huge reason for the team's first-half failures, going 2-10 with a 6.72 ERA.  But once the Mets returned from their mid-season hiatus, Trachsel became one of the best pitchers in the league.

From July 16 to September 22, Trachsel made a dozen starts for the Mets, going 8-2 with a 2.72 ERA.  His eighth win in that stretch, a 7-3 decision over the Braves, pulled the Mets to within 3½ games of first place Atlanta.  Unfortunately, it would be the closest the Mets would get to the Braves in 2001, as Atlanta held on to win the division title.

After a horrid start to his Mets career - a start that included a three-week stint in the minors - Trachsel rebounded to finish the year with a 4.46 ERA.  His 11 wins tied Al Leiter and Kevin Appier for the team lead.  Trachsel's second half numbers (9-3, 2.74 ERA, 0.95 WHIP) were nothing short of spectacular.  He made 14 starts after the All-Star Break and pitched at least seven innings in 11 of them, including a complete-game two-hit shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates in his final start of the season.

Trachsel had regained his confidence after his poor start in 2001 and hoped to carry his second-half success over to the 2002 season.  He would, but the same could not be said for the rest of the team, as the new-look Mets, with Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Jeromy Burnitz, fizzled at the plate and in the standings.

The Mets finished the 2002 campaign in the NL East cellar with a 75-86 record, their first sub-.500 season since 1996.  It was also the first time they had finished in last place since 1993.  Once again, Trachsel won 11 games for the Mets.  But Trachsel had a more complete season for the Mets in his sophomore year with the team, lowering his ERA to a team-leading 3.37.  He also carried a perfect game into the seventh inning in a matchup against the Minnesota Twins on June 20.  A year later, Trachsel would flirt with no-hit history on more than one occasion.

Just like their 2002 counterparts, the 2003 Mets finished in last place under new manager Art Howe.  With a 66-95 record, the '03 squad remains the only Mets team in the last 20 years to lose at least 95 games.  But Steve Trachsel, who was re-signed by the Mets prior to the 2003 season, barely noticed he was pitching for a last place team.  In fact, he had his best year as a Met during their worst season in the last two decades.  Trachsel finished the year with a 16-10 record and a 3.78 ERA, leading the team in wins, starts, innings pitched, complete games and shutouts.  And those two complete-game shutouts made team history.

On June 15, Trachsel pitched the 24th one-hitter in franchise history, allowing just a sixth-inning double to the Angels' David Eckstein.  Trachsel's gem would be the first of three consecutive one-hitters the Mets would participate in, as New York was held to one hit by the Marlins' Dontrelle Willis on June 16 just one day before three Mets pitchers combined to one-hit Florida.  Two months later, Trachsel was at it again.  This time, it was Rockies pitcher Chin-hui Tsao who provided the only hit against him, as his double in the sixth inning ended Trachsel's bid to become the first Met to throw a no-hitter.  Although he failed to pitch the team's first no-no, Trachsel did become the first pitcher in team history to toss two complete-game one-hitters in the same season.  (David Cone participated in two one-hitters in 1991, but he needed relief help in the first game - a game he ended up losing.)

Trachsel's 2004 season wasn't quite as good as his 2003 campaign, but he still managed to win a dozen games for a Mets team that finished 20 games under .500.  And yes, those 12 victories once again led the team.  It was the third time in four years with the Mets that Trachsel led or tied for the team lead in wins.  Trachsel defeated the Braves three times in 2004, which was quite an accomplishment considering the Mets only won seven of 19 games against their division rivals.

From 2001 to 2004, the Mets won 294 games and lost 352.  Yet somehow, Steve Trachsel - the pitcher who led the majors in losses in the two seasons prior to becoming a Met - managed to go 50-47 over those four seasons.  No pitcher on the Mets won as many games as Trachsel did from 2001 to 2004.  In fact, Trachsel and Al Leiter were the only pitchers on the team to record more than 20 wins during those four otherwise forgetful years. 

Injuries kept Trachsel off the field for most of the 2005 season, limiting him to just one win in his fifth year with the Mets.  Trachsel didn't pitch for manager Willie Randolph until August 26, when he tossed eight scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants.  In that game, a 1-0 victory at SBC Park, Trachsel held the Giants hitless until Randy Winn laced a two-out single in the sixth inning.  Trachsel continued to pitch well during the season's final month, posting a 2.78 ERA going into his final start of the season.  But a shellacking at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies on September 28 inflated his ERA to a rather pedestrian 4.14.

After spending much of his career with the Mets getting poor run support (he recorded a solid 3.91 ERA in his first five years as a Met, yet only managed to win 50% of his decisions), Trachsel finally got the bats he coveted in the lineup in 2006.  With Jose Reyes and Paul Lo Duca setting the table for Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and David Wright, the Mets became an offensive juggernaut, with Trachsel receiving unprecedented support when he was on the mound.  Trachsel allowed four earned runs or more ten times in 2006.  The Mets won six of those starts.  By late August, Trachsel had a 14-5 record, which put him among the league leaders in winning percentage.  But he had an ERA approaching 5.00, which was his highest since becoming a Met in 2001.  Trachsel's ERA did go above 5.00 in early September, but went below the mark on September 18, when he pitched 6⅓ shutout innings against the Florida Marlins to clinch the Mets' first division title in 18 years.  In doing so, Trachsel became the fifth pitcher to win a division-clinching game for the Mets, joining Gary Gentry, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling.

After the game, Trachsel reflected on his career with the Mets.  As the longest-tenured player on the team, he had seen his share of highs and lows.  When he became a Met, he expected to be part of a perennial playoff powerhouse.  After all, the Mets had just appeared in two consecutive postseasons and were coming off a World Series appearance in 2000.  Instead, he saw the team get completely rebuilt, before finally seeing the payoff in 2006.  Trachsel went on to say:

"[Making the playoffs] was the whole point of me coming over here.  It took a little longer than I hoped, but now that we're here, we've got to make the best of it and get this thing finished."

 



At the end of the 2006 regular season, Trachsel was the owner of a 15-8 record and a 4.97 ERA.  But the division clincher ended up being his last victory in a Mets uniform, as Trachsel's first postseason experience as a Met did not end well for him or the team.  Although Trachsel started the NLDS-clinching game on October 7, 2006, he had already been sent to the showers by the time the Mets rallied to take the lead from the Dodgers in the sixth inning.  Trachsel allowed just two runs in 3⅓ innings, but he was constantly pitching under pressure, as eight of the 17 batters he faced reached base.  As ineffective as he was against Los Angeles in the NLDS, he was even worse against the Cardinals in the NLCS.

In his one LCS start (Game 3), Trachsel faced 12 batters.  Ten of those batters reached base, including opposing pitcher Jeff Suppan, who homered off Trachsel to lead off the second inning.  The Mets recovered from that loss to force a seventh game, but chose not to start Trachsel on normal rest.  Rather, they sent Oliver Perez to the mound on three days rest with the Mets' season riding on his left arm.  Perez pitched well, but the Mets lost the deciding game when Yadier Molina hit a home run off Aaron Heilman to break a ninth-inning tie.  Steve Trachsel, who could have entered the game had it gone into extra innings, could only watch from the bench as his season - and his Mets career - had come to an unexpected end.

Steve Trachsel was never beloved as a Met.  After all, when fans came to see the team on a day he was scheduled to pitch, they knew they were in for a long game, especially if Trachsel got into trouble on the mound.  Trachsel was very deliberate to the plate when runners were on base, causing many a fan to yell "throw the ball" whenever Trachsel wasn't.  Trachsel also didn't have a promising debut with the Mets, nor did he fare well at the end of his career when the games mattered the most.  In many ways, his Mets career was similar to Carlos Beltran - another player who started off slowly, then had a number of successful seasons, but will always be remembered (unfairly) for not coming through against the Cardinals when his team needed him the most.

Mets fans remember Trachsel's inauspicious debut, the four homers in one inning, the demotion to the minors and the postseason failures.  But they might have a tough time remembering his numerous flirtations with no-hitters, including his two complete-game one-hitters in 2003.  They also would be hard-pressed to remember that Trachsel won 15 or more games twice with the Mets, making him one of only seven pitchers in team history with multiple 15-win seasons.  To put that into perspective, David Cone, Frank Viola and R.A. Dickey were all 20-game winners for the Mets.  Neither pitcher won as many as 15 games in any other season with the team.  And finally, unless you're a Mets savant, you'd have a tough time believing that Steve Trachsel's 66 wins as a Met put him in the team's all-time top ten victory leaders.  But there he is, sitting at No. 10, ahead of several formidable pitchers in team history like Rick Reed, Craig Swan, Bob Ojeda, Johan Santana and ... ahem ... Tom Glavine.

Steve Trachsel was a solid pitcher for six years as a Met.  But most of those seasons were spent with bad or mediocre teams, making it easy to overlook his success.  It also didn't help that Trachsel was often overshadowed by the loquacious Al Leiter at the beginning of his Mets career and by future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine at the end of his tenure with the team.  Trachsel was never going to be crowned Mr. Popular, nor was he ever going be confused for the Flash, especially with runners on base.  But man, was he a good pitcher!  It's too bad no one seemed to notice.

Smile, Steve!  You had a heck of a Mets career.  Seriously, you did.

Note:  The Best On The Worst is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting the greatest Mets players who just happened to play on some not-so-great Mets teams.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 6, 2014: Todd Hundley 
January 13, 2014: Al Jackson
January 20, 2014: Lee Mazzilli
  

Dillon Gee Pitches His Way Into Exclusive Company

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

Prior to his start on May 30 against the Yankees, Dillon Gee was on the verge of losing his place in the starting rotation.  The Texas native was 2-6 with a 6.34 ERA and was hearing Zack Wheeler's footsteps as the über-prospect was just weeks away from being called up for his first taste of big league action.

But everything changed for Gee with that late-May start at Yankee Stadium.  Gee pitched into the eighth inning, allowing one run on four hits.  He also set a career high by striking out 12 batters without issuing a walk.

After allowing four runs or more in six of his first ten starts, Gee has allowed two runs or less in 14 of his last 21 starts.  His 2-6 record is now just a bad memory, as Gee is leading the team with 12 victories.  Since Matt Harvey's season ended with nine wins and no other pitcher on the Mets has more than seven, it's safe to assume that Gee will remain the team leader in pitching victories.  Therefore, the 2013 campaign will mark the second time in three seasons that Gee has led the team in wins, after finishing first on the Mets with 13 victories in 2011.

In doing so, Gee will become only the 14th pitcher in team history to lead the team or finish tied for the team lead in pitching victories multiple times.  The chart below lists the 14 pitchers who have accomplished this feat.

Pitcher	# of Times as Wins Leader	Years as Team Wins Leader
Tom Seaver	7	1967, 1969-73, 1975
Al Leiter	5	1998-2002
Dwight Gooden	4	1984-85, 1987, 1993
Steve Trachsel	4	2001, 2003-04, 2006
Al Jackson	3	1963-65
Jerry Koosman	3	1968, 1974, 1976
David Cone	3	1988-89, 1991
Jack Fisher	2	1965-66
Nino Espinosa	2	1977-78
Craig Swan	2	1979, 1982
Sid Fernandez	2	1989, 1992
Bobby Jones	2	1995, 1997
Johan Santana	2	2008-09
Dillon Gee	2	2011, 2013

With 33 major league victories under his belt, Dillon Gee has the second-fewest wins of the 14 pitchers who led the team in wins in at least two seasons.  (Nino Espinosa had 25 wins as a Met.)  But there are 30 pitchers in Mets history with more wins than Gee and most of them never led the team in wins more than once.  In fact, two of the top ten winners in franchise history never became two-time team leaders in wins.

Ron Darling had 99 wins as a Met - 4th all-time - but only led the team in wins once.  And when he did so (1989), he shared the team lead with David Cone and Sid Fernandez.  Similarly, Jon Matlack recorded 82 victories for the Mets - 7th all-time - but never led the team in wins.  (He can thank Seaver and Koosman for that.)

Tom Seaver.  Jerry Koosman.  Dwight Gooden.  Sid Fernandez.  David Cone.  Johan Santana.  Those are some of the best pitchers who have ever taken the mound for the Mets over their 50-plus years of existence.  In addition to being six of the finest pitchers to wear the orange and blue, they also have another thing in common.  All six have led or tied for the team lead in wins multiple times.  Their exclusive club now has a new member, and his name is Dillon Gee.

Dillon Gee has come a long way to become a top starter for the Mets.  He was overlooked in the first twenty rounds of the 2007 amateur draft before the Mets selected him in Round 21.  After pitching well in the lower levels of the minor leagues, Gee had an ERA near 5.00 at AAA-Buffalo.  But he never gave up hope.  And now he's accomplished something that Seaver, Koosman, Gooden, Fernandez, Cone, Santana and a small group of others have done.  Not bad for a pitcher who almost lost his spot in the rotation just four months ago.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Again In The Minors

There has been much talk and speculation recently about the possible demotion of Ike Davis to the minors.  Such discussion is certainly warranted considering Davis' performance over the first 40 games of the season.

The Mets' struggling first baseman is hitting .156 with four homers and nine RBI.  His on-base percentage is an unhealthy .238 and his .259 slugging percentage is lower than what his batting average should be.  His 2013 numbers through 40 games are very similar to what he put up last year at the same juncture (.160/.220/.298, five homers, 14 RBI).

Clearly, Ike Davis needs a change of scenery to have any hope of salvaging his season.  A demotion to AAA-Las Vegas might not be the answer, as the altitude at Cashman Field and other Pacific Coast League ballparks might give him a false sense of confidence if he hits well there like most other hitters do.  After all, hitting a few thousand feet above sea level is not the same as hitting a few thousand millimeters above Flushing Bay.

Sending Davis to AA-Binghamton might be the medicine needed to cure his ills at the plate, since his offensive numbers would not be inflated there as they would be in Las Vegas.  And if the Mets need an example to prove to them that sending a struggling first baseman to the minors could be just what the doctor ordered, they can flip through the pages of their own history books and find a similar case that occurred over forty years ago.

Ladies and gentle-Mets, I give to you the case of one Edward Emil Kranepool.

A little minor league seasoning made Eddie steady at the plate.

In 1970, veteran first baseman Ed Kranepool got off to a start that would even have Ike Davis shaking his head.  Through his first 26 games, Kranepool was hitting .118 with no homers and one RBI.  The New York native was barely getting any playing time and as a result, his offensive production was suffering.  In late June, the Mets sent Kranepool down to AAA-Tidewater, where the 25-year-old flourished.

Playing in 47 games with the Tides, Kranepool hit .310 with eight doubles, three triples, seven homers and 45 RBI.  By mid-August, the Mets were convinced that Kranepool's time in the minors was going to help him produce at the major league level, so they promoted him back to the big club.  However, the platoon of Donn Clendenon and Art Shamsky at first base relegated Kranepool to pinch-hitting duties, but when he did get a chance to hit, he performed well, batting .308 with a .357 on-base percentage in 14 plate appearances.

By the start of the 1971 campaign, Kranepool had won back his job as the lefty-hitting component of the first base platoon with Donn Clendenon.  Kranepool responded by putting up career highs in many offensive categories.  Although he only had 467 plate appearances in 1971 - he had already completed three seasons in which he reached 500 plate appearances - Kranepool set new career marks in RBI (58), runs scored (61), batting average (.280), on-base percentage (.340) and slugging percentage (.447).  He also recorded his second 20-double campaign and launched 14 home runs, while becoming one of the toughest hitters to strike out in the National League (33 strikeouts in 467 plate appearances).

Kranepool's success was not limited to the 1971 season.  In 1972, the first baseman and part-time outfielder batted .269 and contributed 24 extra-base hits in 327 at-bats.  After a subpar 1973 campaign, Kranepool rebounded to hit .300 in 1974 and a career-high .323 in 1975.

Although Kranepool was now in his 30s and a veteran of 14 seasons in the big leagues, he continued to hit in 1976 and 1977, combining to hit .287 with 34 doubles, 20 homers and 89 RBI in 696 at-bats over the two seasons, all while maintaining his excellent ability to make contact (58 strikeouts in 764 plate appearances).

From the time he made his major league debut in 1962 to his career-changing demotion in 1970, Kranepool hit .246 with a .300 on-base percentage, .358 slugging percentage and a .658 OPS (on-base plus slugging).  He produced 188 extra-base hits in 2,917 at-bats (an average of 15.5 AB/XBH) and walked 227 times while striking out on 361 occasions.  After he was promoted back to the Mets in August 1970, Kranepool was a changed man.

Beginning with his first game back on August 14, 1970 and lasting through the end of the 1977 season, Kranepool hit .284 with a .340 on-base percentage, .407 slugging percentage and a .747 OPS.  Kranepool collected 168 extra-base hits in 2,270 at-bats (an average of 13.5 AB/XBH) and drew 205 walks while striking only 189 times.

Kranepool's demotion turned him into a hitter who drove the ball more often - on average, it took him two fewer at-bats to collect an extra-base hit - and forced pitchers to throw him strikes, as evidenced by his 16 more walks than strikeouts following his demotion after striking out nearly twice per every free pass prior to his time at Tidewater.

So what's the point of this Ed Kranepool history lesson?  Simply stated, if at first you don't succeed, try again in the minors.  It worked for the 25-year-old Kranepool when he was shipped off to Tidewater.  It can work for the 26-year-old Ike Davis as well, but only if he is sent to Binghamton instead of Las Vegas.

Ike Davis has never been a good contact hitter, striking out 356 times in 1,306 career at-bats.  But he did hit for a decent batting average prior to the 2012 season (Davis hit a combined .271 in 2010 and 2011) and his .357 on-base percentage and .817 OPS were better than average in his first two seasons with the Mets.

Perhaps if Ike Davis closes his eyes, he won't be able to see his lofty strikeout totals.

The Mets have a history of getting good performances from their veteran players after sending them on an unexpected trip to the minors.  Steve Trachsel was a completely different pitcher after his demotion in 2001.  Trachsel was 1-6 with an 8.24 ERA before being sent down to AAA-Norfolk.  He was 10-7 with a 3.35 ERA after he was recalled from the minors.  Trachsel's resurgence came just one year after the Mets sent veteran right-hander Bobby Jones to Norfolk after he posted a 16.20 ERA in his first three starts of the 2000 campaign.  Upon his return to the major leagues, Jones posted an 11-5 record with a more respectable 4.56 ERA.  He also threw a complete-game one-hit shutout to clinch the National League Division Series for the Mets against the Giants.

Of course, those were pitchers who fared well after their time in the minors.  But the Mets have also seen hitters do well after a short stint in the minors.  And one particular hitter who learned greatly from his time away from the parent club was Ed Kranepool.

All the Mets have to do is dust off the team's history books and look at what happened when they sent Kranepool to the minors in 1970.  The first baseman came back from his minor league stint and turned into one of the steadiest hitters in the lineup for years following his demotion.  The same thing can happen to the Mets' current first baseman if the team isn't afraid to send Ike Davis to Binghamton.

Ed Kranepool wasn't succeeding at first in 1970, so the Mets gave him a little minor league seasoning to inject some life back into his career.  The Mets must try that formula again in 2013 to help Ike Davis get back to the level he fell from after suffering a season-ending injury in 2011.  The recipe for success is right there.  The Mets just have to be willing to try it again.


A special tip of my Mets cap must go to my fav'rit Gal For All Seasons for bringing up the topic of Ed Kranepool while discussing Ike Davis' problems at the plate.  Her timely recollection helped inspire the piece you just finished reading.

A Different Kind of Mets Top Ten Leaderboard (Pitchers)

As I was perusing through the Saturday New York Times sports section, I came across an article by Tyler Kepner on the recent signing of David Wright.  Kepner poses an interesting question when he asks: "Has there been a single important Met before this decade who did not play in the World Series?"

Of course, David Wright has never played in a World Series for the Mets, coming closest in 2006 when the Mets fell one game short of the Fall Classic.  But Kepner's article got me thinking about other Mets who performed well for the team but never got a chance to participate on baseball's greatest stage.

If you're a regular reader of Studious Metsimus, you know that I enjoy discussing the Mets' all-time leaderboards.  But what would those leaderboards look like if they consisted of only those players who never played in the World Series for the Mets?  It would look very interesting indeed, and in some cases, quite shocking.

So sit back, kick off your Mets slippers and enjoy this special Mets leaderboard, which lists the top ten in each pitching category using only Mets players who never appeared for the team in the World Series.  (Thanks to baseball-reference.com for the leaderboard assistance.)  You might need to borrow one of Davey Johnson's old bottles of Rolaids after reading the list.

(For the hitting leaders who never played in the World Series, please click here.)

Pitching Leaders For Mets Who Never Played In The World Series


Wins
 

Rank	Pitcher	Wins	Innings Pitched
1.	David Cone	81	1209.1
2.	Steve Trachsel	66	956.1
3.	Tom Glavine	61	1005.1
4.	Craig Swan	59	1230.2
5.	Mike Pelfrey	50	896.1
6.	Johan Santana	46	717.0
7.	Al Jackson	43	980.2
8.	Pat Zachry	41	741.2
T-9.	John Maine	39	542.0
T-9.	R.A. Dickey	39	616.2

Earned Run Average
 

Rank	Pitcher	ERA	Innings Pitched
1.	R.A. Dickey	2.95	616.2
2.	David Cone	3.13	1209.1
3.	Bret Saberhagen	3.16	524.1
4.	Johan Santana	3.18	717.0
5.	Frank Viola	3.31	566.1
6.	Jim McAndrew	3.54	729.2
7.	Pat Zachry	3.63	741.2
8.	Craig Swan	3.72	1230.2
9.	Ed Lynch	3.82	730.1
10.	Pete Falcone	3.91	607.2

Win-Loss Percentage
 

Rank	Pitcher	W-L Pct.	Innings Pitched
1.	David Cone	.614	1209.1
2.	R.A. Dickey	.582	616.2
3.	Pedro Martinez	.582	486.2
4.	Bret Saberhagen	.580	524.1
5.	Johan Santana	.575	717.0
6.	John Maine	.549	542.0
7.	Frank Viola	.543	566.1
8.	Steve Trachsel	.528	956.1
9.	Jonathon Niese	.522	561.0
10.	Tom Glavine	.521	1005.1

Walks Plus Hits Per Innings Pitched
 

Rank	Pitcher	WHIP	Innings Pitched
1.	Bret Saberhagen	1.079	524.1
2.	R.A. Dickey	1.150	616.2
3.	Jim McAndrew	1.184	729.2
4.	David Cone	1.192	1209.1
5.	Johan Santana	1.201	717.0
6.	Frank Viola	1.240	566.1
7.	Craig Swan	1.267	1230.2
8.	John Maine	1.312	542.0
9.	Jack Fisher	1.320	931.2
10.	Ed Lynch	1.332	730.1

Games Pitched
 

Rank	Pitcher	Games Pitched	Innings Pitched
1.	Pedro Feliciano	459	372.1
2.	Aaron Heilman	305	450.1
3.	Jeff Innis	288	360.0
4.	Bobby Parnell	249	256.1
5.	Craig Swan	229	1230.2
6.	Skip Lockwood	227	379.2
7.	Neil Allen	223	381.2
8.	David Cone	187	1209.1
9.	Randy Myers	185	240.0
T-10.	Bob Apodaca	184	361.1
T-10.	Al Jackson	184	980.2

Games Started
 

Rank	Pitcher	Games Started	Innings Pitched
1.	Craig Swan	184	1230.2
2.	David Cone	169	1209.1
3.	Tom Glavine	164	1005.1
4.	Steve Trachsel	160	956.1
5.	Mike Pelfrey	149	896.1
6.	Al Jackson	138	980.2
7.	Jack Fisher	133	931.2
8.	Pat Zachry	113	741.2
9.	Johan Santana	109	717.0
10.	Jim McAndrew	105	729.2

Strikeouts
 

Rank	Pitcher	Strikeouts	Innings Pitched
1.	David Cone	1172	1209.1
2.	Craig Swan	671	1230.2
3.	Johan Santana	607	717.0
4.	Steve Trachsel	580	956.1
5.	Al Jackson	561	980.2
6.	Tom Glavine	516	1005.1
7.	Mike Pelfrey	506	896.1
8.	Oliver Perez	494	520.0
9.	Jack Fisher	475	931.2
10.	Jonathon Niese	470	561.0

Saves
 

Rank	Pitcher	Saves	Innings Pitched
1.	Billy Wagner	101	189.2
2.	Francisco Rodriguez	83	168.0
3.	Neil Allen	69	381.2
4.	Skip Lockwood	65	379.2
5.	Braden Looper	57	142.2
6.	Randy Myers	56	240.0
7.	Bob Apodaca	26	361.1
8.	Danny Frisella	24	353.0
9.	Frank Francisco	23	42.1
T-10.	Cal Koonce	18	246.2
T-10.	Anthony Young	18	270.2