Pittsburgh Pirates
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Pittsburgh Pirates, the cream of the National League throughout the 1920s, proved that their fall from grace in 1931 was no fluke. This team was so desperate entering the year that they signed Yankees castoff Bill Red to be their manager. Red was no more able to stem the tide from the man who preceded him. This club settled into mediocrity early and stayed there all season.
An optimist might say that this team is trying to build itself around its spacious ballpark. However, as good as the pitching was, when you can't score 3 runs a game in today's baseball you will lose. This club has not gotten significantly younger with its dive into so-so-ness; the worst times may be yet to come.
Code:
Record overall 73-81, .474 PCT 6th, 37.0 GB
Home 38-39, .494 PCT
Road 35-42, .455 PCT
X-inning games 7-10, .412 PCT
One-run games 27-25, .519 PCT
Versus LHP 15-19, .441 PCT
Versus RHP 58-62, .483 PCT
April 4-5, .444 PCT
May 13-16, .448 PCT
June 16-11, .593 PCT
July 16-14, .533 PCT
August 12-16, .429 PCT
September 11-14, .440 PCT
October 1-5, .167 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .276 - 8th in NL
On-Base Percentage .333 - 7th in NL
Slugging Percentage .395 - 8th in NL
On-Base + Slugging .728 - 8th in NL
Runs Scored 726 - 8th in NL
Hits 1515 - 8th in NL
Extra-Base Hits 446 - 8th in NL
Home Runs 61 - 8th in NL
Bases-On-Balls 475 - 6th in NL
Strikeouts 452 - 2nd in NL
Stolen Bases 37 - 6th in NL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 4.18 - 2nd in NL
Starters' ERA 4.17 - 3rd in NL
Bullpen ERA 4.21 - 4th in NL
Runs allowed 761 - 2nd in NL
Hits allowed 1571 - 2nd in NL
Opponents AVG .283 - 2nd in NL
BABIP .291 - 3rd in NL
Home Runs allowed 113 - 5th in NL
Bases-On-Balls 419 - 2nd in NL
Strikeouts 434 - 6th in NL
Pitching
Even though the pitching was the bright spot of this team, it's still a pessimistic picture. We would note the wacky aspect of interposing "pitcher" and "picture" but we are too sad right now to do so. The ace of the staff turned 36 years of age in June. While that's nice from a sentimental ticket-selling standpoint - David Brace was present for all but the first year of the Pirates' incredible 1919-1928 run when they won seven pennants and three World Series in ten years - it's not so great from a future wins standpoint. What will the Pirates do when Brace finally slows down? And what if Brace gets tired of the locale and wants to go somewhere where he can win another championship? Brace loves Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh loves him right back but these things must be considered.
After Grace, the Pirates' best start is probably Jimmy Engel. Engel had a horrendous 1931 (11-23, 4.55 ERA) but manage to find better control of his forkball in '32. As a result, his homers allowed actually dipped during the Year of the Hitter. His walk rate dropped precipitously as well. Still, there is some cause for concern, as his ability to miss bats, never great, has declined the last two seasons.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Dave Brace 35 22 15 0.595 40 40 0 322 343 134 29 54 114 3.75 42.7
Jimmy Engel 28 15 13 0.536 32 31 0 253.2 267 115 17 97 87 4.08 21.6
César Fernando 39 10 15 0.400 31 31 0 223.1 265 109 21 68 43 4.39 10.6
Bruce Flinn 34 7 16 0.304 24 24 0 189.1 233 92 22 55 51 4.37 7.1
Roger Dixson 30 5 5 0.500 13 13 0 101 108 41 6 30 37 3.65 13.4
Carl Redd 22 3 1 0.750 28 0 0 61 56 18 3 24 25 2.66 16.5
Joe Allen 23 2 6 0.250 15 7 0 60 89 48 3 39 7 7.20 -19.2
Brian Turner 33 6 3 0.667 40 0 10 59 70 20 3 9 32 3.05 13.2
Paul Slocum 19 3 3 0.500 7 7 0 52.2 58 19 2 19 18 3.25 10.3
Don Herrington 28 0 2 0.000 28 1 0 51.1 67 36 4 23 18 6.31 -10.6
Russ Carter 28 0 0 0.000 4 0 0 4.1 6 3 0 1 0 6.23 -0.9
Henry Jones 27 0 2 0.000 4 0 0 3.2 9 6 3 0 2 14.73 -4.8
Team Totals 28.8 73 81 0.474 266 154 10 1381.1 1571 641 113 419 434 4.18 99.8
Catcher/First Base
With longtime starter Jake Moore crumbling at the plate, the Pirates turned to a platoon with young'un Bill Watson in mid-August. Watson wasn't great but he is still young. Moore, however, has a rocket for an arm - he caught 60% of the men who tried to steal on him last year, and very few people tried to steal on him - and is quite popular with the fans, so do not expect him to go without a fight.
At first pase, Jim Ponder has shown very little, relatively speaking, since a breakout rookie campaign in 1930 when he hit .363. When you don't hit for a lot of power and don't really get on base all that much, a .363 average still makes you a great player. With a .307 average, you really need to do more than hit singles. His slip expanded a role for pinch hitting specialist Bill Laird.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Jake Moore 33 109 104 374 35 110 20 2 2 47 3 0 37 23 0.294 0.357 0.374 0.731 3.6
C *Bill Watson 22 61 50 198 25 59 14 6 1 38 3 1 10 10 0.298 0.329 0.444 0.773 3.1
1B Jim Ponder 24 130 120 492 64 151 22 4 7 70 0 0 49 23 0.307 0.369 0.411 0.779 -1.3
1B *Bill Laird 31 63 34 147 29 50 3 0 5 23 2 3 17 15 0.340 0.404 0.463 0.866 6.3
Infield
Like so many people at his advanced age (note: we are being a little sarcastic here as we are also 35), Richard Martin hit well when he was able to play but he just wasn't able to play that often. Penciled in as the starter at the beginning of the year, Martin got the injury ball rolling and got it rolling often. When a guy suffers a cataclysmic injury it's not exactly a good thing but it can at least be attributed to dumb luck. Martin spent time on the bench or the disabled list five times last year nursing an assortment of unrelated hurts. As much as they'd like to, the Pirates cannot depend on him for even 100 games at second. Sadly, there is a big, big drop-off.
Mark Vick and Mark Melton would both have been solid backups on a team like the Giants or the Yankees. With the Pirates, both started the entire season. Bill Red went out and acquired former Cub John Chastain off the waiver wire to push Melton; he's not very good either but he's a different variety of not very good and perhaps Red can combine their not-good parts into something that resembles a good player. Since this is baseball, not science fiction, we are leaving our optimism in the optimism pantry.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B #Richard Martin 35 80 71 284 35 91 17 6 0 34 2 4 37 21 0.320 0.398 0.423 0.820 16.8
2B Steve Lewis 23 82 75 274 27 64 4 5 5 42 2 0 27 6 0.234 0.301 0.339 0.641 -1.5
2B Christian Humphrey 28 36 18 70 7 18 3 0 0 14 0 1 2 11 0.257 0.269 0.300 0.569 -5.2
2B Dave Marble 26 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.2
3B Mark Vick 32 147 147 573 65 169 27 6 8 85 4 3 45 44 0.295 0.343 0.405 0.748 7.2
SS Mark Melton 29 149 149 625 89 184 35 8 11 78 6 2 52 58 0.294 0.356 0.429 0.785 13.9
Outfield
Joshua Cohen really played too much in his victory lap around the National League. In his heyday he struck fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers and catchers too. His career highs include a .394 average in 1925, 120 runs scored in 1928, 106 RBI in 1924, hitting in the three hole instead of the leadoff spot for the Philadelphia A's, and 41 steals in 1917. Last year he was little more than crafty. He isn't even a Pirates hero, although he probably did get people through the turnstiles as he is much beloved in the state of Pennsylvania.
One less heralded but much more devastating retirement was that of John Giron. Giron decided to call it quits when he was on top, it seems: he hadn't been given the chance to play every day since his prospect bubble was burst back in 1922, and the journeyman made the most of it, finishing second in the league in doubles and cobbling together a career-high 176 hits.
As the stories of bad teams go, one thing you often find are cases of guys who just suddenly seem to lose it for no discernable reason. For the Pirates, that was Clark Becker. After hitting .330 for the Cardinals in 1931, the Pirates thought they were getting a steal when they acquired him for a minor league middle infielder and cash. As it turns out, the Cards may have gotten the better end of the deal even though their guy may never see the major leagues. Becker went into a 3 for 34 slump to open the season and never snapped out of it. With pitchers no longer fearful of his ability to hit bad balls into the gaps, his walk rate went down as well. The Pirates are likely to give him one more try just to try and wipe the egg off their face but it's not likely to be a long try.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF John Giron 37 141 139 601 101 176 55 15 4 65 2 7 36 65 0.293 0.331 0.454 0.786 3.8
LF Joshua Cohen 41 80 47 222 32 58 9 3 2 17 3 1 26 29 0.261 0.339 0.356 0.695 -5.7
LF Masafumi Kojima 30 14 3 23 2 8 1 1 0 4 1 0 3 3 0.348 0.423 0.478 0.901 2.0
CF *Daniel Gravel 27 110 110 442 80 137 44 15 6 70 4 8 54 49 0.310 0.384 0.518 0.902 19.4
CF Joe Gehrke 27 41 41 167 22 43 1 5 0 5 1 2 10 12 0.257 0.299 0.323 0.623 -8.3
RF *Clark Becker 28 79 64 265 34 49 10 3 4 21 3 2 27 12 0.185 0.263 0.291 0.553 -25.3
RF *Herbert Fisher 27 43 38 160 22 49 6 1 5 27 0 0 20 12 0.306 0.383 0.450 0.833 8.6
RF *Paul Hight 26 43 22 109 17 22 5 3 0 9 1 1 14 4 0.202 0.293 0.303 0.595 -9.9
Code:
Team Totals 29.1 1676 1386 5496 726 1515 297 88 61 684 37 35 475 452 0.276 0.333 0.395 0.728 33.1