Some mid week notes:
The demise of Eric Milton’s season ends his career as a Red, there is no possible way that the Reds continue on with the Milton era after he leaves.
His 24 million dollar contract will go down as the worst free agent signing in team history, and possibly in baseball history. Maybe not on the dollar loss side, but on the talent side. For the Reds received from Eric Milton a rare gift, a incredibly poor and undoubtedly historically crappy performance, one of the worst in league history.
In honor of Eric’s departure lets check his NL numbers prior to this season vs the league average.
If you are concerned that his season this year should be noted then let’s have at it.
IP H R HR BB SO ERA 31.1 39 21 4 9 18 5.17
More then 50 starts in the NL is the barometer
135 years of baseball – Back to the era of slow, plodding guys with handlebar mustaches. Note 3 recent Reds
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE GS 1 John Coleman -1.86 4.97 3.11 82 2 Leo Sweetland -1.73 6.11 4.37 95 3 Claude Willoughby -1.50 5.84 4.34 100 4 Kevin Jarvis -1.48 5.82 4.34 109 5 Jay Hook -1.46 5.22 3.76 112 6 Billy Serad -1.29 4.19 2.91 66 7 Bill Magee -1.21 4.93 3.73 89 8 Eric Milton -1.13 5.47 4.34 94 9 Ike Pearson -1.12 4.83 3.70 52 10 Jimmy Anderson -1.04 5.41 4.38 96
107 years of baseball
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER MODERN (1900-) ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE GS 1 Leo Sweetland -1.73 6.11 4.37 95 2 Claude Willoughby -1.50 5.84 4.34 100 3 Kevin Jarvis -1.48 5.82 4.34 109 4 Jay Hook -1.46 5.22 3.76 112 5 Eric Milton -1.13 5.47 4.34 94 6 Ike Pearson -1.12 4.83 3.70 52 7 Jimmy Anderson -1.04 5.41 4.38 96 8 Kevin Ritz -.99 5.20 4.21 98 9 Wade Blasingame -.99 4.52 3.54 127 10 Clint Hartung -.98 5.02 4.04 72
60 years of Baseball,
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER 1946-2006 ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE GS 1 Kevin Jarvis -1.48 5.82 4.34 109 2 Jay Hook -1.46 5.22 3.76 112 3 Eric Milton -1.13 5.47 4.34 94 4 Jimmy Anderson -1.04 5.41 4.38 96 5 Kevin Ritz -.99 5.20 4.21 98 6 Wade Blasingame -.99 4.52 3.54 127 7 Clint Hartung -.98 5.02 4.04 72 8 Dick Drott -.95 4.78 3.83 101 9 Shawn Chacon -.94 5.22 4.28 92 10 Scott Elarton -.89 5.36 4.47 89
38 years of Baseball – Since Division play, I hear it diluted the talent
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER 1969-2006 ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE GS 1 Kevin Jarvis -1.48 5.82 4.34 109 2 Eric Milton -1.13 5.47 4.34 94 3 Jimmy Anderson -1.04 5.41 4.38 96 4 Kevin Ritz -.99 5.20 4.21 98 5 Shawn Chacon -.94 5.22 4.28 92 6 Scott Elarton -.89 5.36 4.47 89 7 Jesus Sanchez -.88 5.32 4.44 83 8 Jim Bullinger -.86 4.96 4.11 88 9 Don Carrithers -.83 4.39 3.57 67 10 Bill Greif -.82 4.42 3.59 97
Since the 1994 Strike, Note the number of Reds starters in the list below, the look at the list below that to see the NL teams rating in the same time frame.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER 1995-2006 ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE GS 1 Kevin Jarvis -1.44 5.78 4.34 106 2 Eric Milton -1.13 5.47 4.34 94 3 Jimmy Anderson -1.04 5.41 4.38 96 4 Shawn Chacon -.94 5.22 4.28 92 5 Kevin Ritz -.93 5.14 4.21 83 6 Scott Elarton -.89 5.36 4.47 89 7 Jesus Sanchez -.88 5.32 4.44 83 8 Jamey Wright -.81 5.15 4.34 233 9 Paul Wilson -.74 5.01 4.27 92 10 Jimmy Haynes -.72 5.08 4.36 118
NATIONAL LEAGUE CAREER 1995-2006 ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Rockies -.95 5.27 4.32 2 Brewers -.29 4.65 4.36 3 Reds -.23 4.55 4.32 4 Pirates -.18 4.50 4.32 5 Phillies -.15 4.47 4.32 6 Cubs -.08 4.41 4.32 7 Nationals -.02 4.35 4.32 8 Marlins -.02 4.34 4.32 9 Giants 0.00 4.32 4.32 10 Padres 0.03 4.30 4.32 11 Diamondbacks 0.06 4.30 4.36 12 Cardinals 0.20 4.12 4.32 13 Mets 0.26 4.06 4.32 14 Astros 0.26 4.06 4.32 15 Dodgers 0.42 3.90 4.32 16 Braves 0.63 3.69 4.32