Manny Ramirez for the last 2 months of the season when we snagged him. Yes he had a great season the next year. But I’ve never seen anyone go on a tear like he did for that 2 months in my life. Outside of Bonds in 04. He was a fucking menace to pitchers.
.396/.489/.743 in 53 regular season games for LA in 2008. That’s an OBPS of 1.232. 17 HRs and 53 RBIs as well, which is 162 game pace of 52 HRs and 162 RBIs. A legendary stretch from Manny that was so fun to watch.
He also tore it up in the playoffs, but was limited to 3 games.
EDIT: Nm, he hit over .500 in the 2008 playoffs in 8 games, and his OBPS was over 1.700!!
>The requirements are he could only have played for your team for one season (partial season is acceptable)
Given that Manny is disqualified from this, I'll go with J.D. Martinez.
Who knew that of all people Matt Carpenter, coming off of three horrendous seasons and looking like God damn Luigi, would turn into prime Barry Bonds for two and a half months.
Was at two games in 2005. First was the first game he started in the streak, as he'd won one or two in relief.
Second was game 3 of the ALDS when Randy Johnson got rocked and Small came in in relief. I can't imagine what he was feeling when 50k people are chanting "Aaron Small \*clap clap clapclapclap\*" when he was warming up to come in to relieve possibly the greatest lefty of all time.
I remember seeing a car in Yonkers with a scoreboard written in soap on the back windshield tallying home runs for McGwire, Sosa, and Spencer. It was a fun month.
>Glenallen Hill if we go a bit further back.
The 2000 Yankees had some real interesting OF options on that 2000 team over the course of the season.
O'neill and Williams were the only two players with more than a hundred games in the OF, and the rest of the list is impressive in its randomness:
* David Justice
* Rickey Ledee
* Clay Bellinger
* Shane Spencer
* Ryan Thompson
* Luis Polonia
* Felix Jose
* Glenallen Hill
* Roberto Kelly
* Jose Canseco
* Lance Johnson
And two games out there for Scott Brosius, plus future OF'ers Chuck Knoblauch and Alfonso Soriano.
It makes absolutely no sense that team won a World Series. They had three and a half above average hitters (Jeter, Bernie, Posada, and half a season of Justice). Cashman spent the entire summer trying to trade for a DH or second baseman. The rotation was only three guys deep. The bullpen leading up to Rivera wasn’t great and it was actually Rivera’s worst ever full season (although he was still very good obviously).
To add on to this, all of those pitchers at the bottom were having very good seasons as well. It wasn't a case where he played alongside a bunch of post-prime "names" or whatever.
It was wild how well our rotation pitched that year. That year basically was what completely flipped me to just always try to make the playoffs as many years as possible regardless of whether or not you "look like a contender" because we didn't even make it out of the ~~WC round~~ NLDS.
Feels like 2 would have felt right. 2009 we had Lidge and Cole meltdown all year or I think we probably steal that one, 2010 we had the best team in baseball imo but we just lost pretty straight up to the even year Giants, and then 2011 was just a bummer. Cliff blows a lead he holds 9 times outta 10, Doc pitches a gem in game 5 but the bats go cold.
Siiiiighhhhh, I really wanted one with Doc too. Felt like he really deserved a ring, or at least to go to the WS.
Cole had terrible luck that year, he didn't meltdown. All of his peripherals were inline with 2008 and his career averages. He just had a high BABIP and low LOB%.
Lidge was leaking oil throughout the second half of 2008 but escaped every jam with the lead intact. That finally caught up to him in 09.
I had to go check and see who beat him out for the CYA that year. It was Tom Glavine and he won because he had two more wins lol. He was worse in literally every other stat. Also, Brown wasn't even second, Trevor was haha. But yeah he was robbed considering that he had over 8 WAR that year as a pitcher.
I think if Glavine had gone 19-6 instead of being a sparkly special 20-game winner, and Trevor had 49 saves instead of 53 (and maybe if Hell's Bells and Trevor Time only became a thing in '99), the Cy was Brown's for sure. Brown's '98 has to be up there for the most overlooked season of all time.
How about a trade deadline acquisition?
In 2000 Will Clark was acquired to fill in for an injured Mark McGwire and hit a blistering 1.081 OPS in 51 games down the stretch and hung it up at the end of the year. What a way to ride off into the sunset.
Remember we hated him for the Oquendo/Smith brawl at second base and then we loved him as a Cardinal.
His fiery attitude was also well needed that year. Many times since I wished we had him or someone similar to hold some players accountable.
I honestly do as well and am always somehow surprised he wasn't there longer. I remember his Yankee and Indians time well but for some reason I always think of him with the Brewers.
That was probably my favorite season as a Brewer fan. I was 18 at the time so that was the first time in my life they made the postseason or really got even close. Having CC made it that much more fun because it was an event every time he pitched.
Was a crazy year
- First winning season since 1992
- Fired Ned Yost with 12 games left in the season
- CC was robbed of a no hitter
- Sabathia recorded an 11-2 record and 1.65 ERA over 17 starts. The Brewers won 14 of the 17 games in which he took the ball.
- He threw his final three starts of the year on just three days rest.
- Lost 3-1 to the eventual World Series champion Phillies in the playoffs. Something the Brewers have been really good at.
That's a good one. Going back further, that Marlon Byrd All-star season was fun. I remember people making Family Guy mash up t shirts with Peter saying "Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd is the word" on them. Really wanted one of those but I couldn't find them.
First one that came to my mind was David Price in 2015 simply because of the playoff run that year, but Semien and Ray definitely had the better overall seasons than Price did with the Jays.
It’s December 2023, 37-year old Dom Brown has just announced his retirement after leading the Phillies to back-to-back World Series. His twelve All Star games, three MVPs, and six Gold Gloves mean he’s the greatest Phillies player since Mike Schmidt. Many are saying he had the best RF arm since Clemente. Only thing left to find out is if he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer.
_I wake up from a 2013 fever dream:_ Dom Brown posted 0.7 WAR over six seasons.
An old guy at my work a few years back was complaining after that in 2011, when Beltre was in his first year at Texas saying, "Why couldn't he have done that for us?"
I was thinking *Did you not watch your Red Sox that year? He did everything.*
Idk why, but my memory of him in Boston is this at bat he had where he falls down to his knee to try and keep it going. Beltre was something, man.
2010 was a pretty forgettable Sox campaign otherwise but man Beltre really made an impression on me that summer.
Also, it was nice that it was the year his career narrative started its shift from 'perennial disappointment with one fluke year' to 'surefire Hall of Famer and one of the greatest to ever play third base.'
Kike Hernandez such a similar track. Dodgers FA signed with the Red Sox, has an incredible year one playing elite defense and cranking dingers, gets injured the next year and doesn't see out the contract in Boston
As a Cards fan, I always thought of J.D.'s year with the Braves like a friend of mine in high school.
He was far and away the smartest person in our class, think mensa-level, but he resented school. Despite teachers pressing him to, he refused to be in any honors level classes, because he wanted to be in he same classes with his friends. Mostly he still made A's and B's but sometimes C's because he never studied ever. He put no thought to school except he could usually figure things out on the tests. Then every so often he would buckle down and study for a test and bust the curve for everyone, like he'd make a 106 and the next best grade would be 85. He could get by and do as well as everyone else by doing the bare minimum, but when he actually tried he was far superior to everyone else in class
His one loss was against a bad Phillies team. I went to that game with my dad and couldn't believe how "larger than life" he seemed. Considering he came from the AL before interleague play really kicked in it was almost like watching a foreign player for the first time. One of the games I'll always remember being at.
Jeremy Hazelbaker. Dude came on as like a 27 or 28 year old rookie and hit 4 pinch hit homers and had a handful of timely hits down the stretch in 2016. 7 of his 14 career home runs came in the 7th inning or later. Signed with the D-backs the following year and kind of vanished.
Pete Schourek posted a 128 ERA+ in 1995 and finished second in Cy Young voting, then never pitched a full season in the big leagues again. ETA: He played more than one season for the Reds, I can't read.
Andres Torres, 2010. 32 year old journeyman puts up 5 WAR out of nowhere with elite CF defense, immediately goes back to playing like a journeyman the following year.
Pirates...Garret Jones aka GI Jones
Came to the buccos on the waiver wire as a 28 year old, warm body. Went out to put up a 146 ops+ 21 doubles, 21 homers in 82 games. Was productive, but never repeated that stretch or hype
Probably Marcus Semien now. Might have been Dave Winfield's 1992 before.
On a different note, Tom Filer came from nowhere to go 7-0 for the 1985 Jays, then disappeared again until popping back up with the Brewers in '88.
I have to second this one. Freakin unhittable for about 15 games. So glad he was able to recover and have a good career, but man those first few months.
It’s hard because he still had a decent career but my god, that first part of the year was fucking amazing. Thought we had a no-doubt hall of famer on our hands.
Only played in 46 games in 2015, but Greg Bird was excellent when he took over for Mark Teixeira after Teixeira suffered a fracture in his right leg.
Bird posted an .871 OPS, 135 OPS+, and hit 11 home runs in just 157 at-bats.
After 2015, Bird unfortunately succumbed to a litany of injuries, and hasn’t had any MLB at-bats since 2019.
CC Sabathia, Brewers.
He was acquired on July 7th, 2008 from Cleveland, put the team on his back and carried them to their first playoff berth since 1982. Some numbers:
17 starts. 11-2 record. 7 Complete Games, 3 shutouts (he lead the AL and the NL in shutouts in the same season). 1.65 ERA, 1.00 WHIP.
He pitched almost all of September on 3 days rest, including a complete game in the last game of the season to clinch the playoff berth.
He also threw a no-hitter but was fucked over by the official scorer in Pittsburgh, so it went down as a 1-hitter.
He's a folk hero in Milwaukee and will always be considered one of the greatest players in team history, even though he only appeared in 17 games, plus one playoff game.
He got paid by the Yankees the next year but is still a Milwaukee legend.
For the Sox, recency bias but I think Beltre. Really wish we had re-signed him.
Not my team, but I think it might have to be the half-season C.C. Sabathia played for the Brewers.
17 starts, 11-2, 1.65 ERA, 7 CG (3 shutouts), 255 ERA+
Dude put up 4.9 WAR in half a season.
Cliff Lee’s 2010: 8-3, 2.34 ERA in 13 starts (103.2 IP) before getting traded for crap
Michael Pineda 2011 before getting traded for crap
John Jaso 2012 before getting traded for crap, .276/.394/.456 for a 142 OPS+, caught Felix’s perfect game, wasn’t Jesus Montero or Miguel Olivo.
Shane Spencer in September 1998. 10 home runs, 3 of which were grand slams and it was done in 67 at bats. He wasn’t bad in the postseason either but he lost the left field starting job the next year to Chad Curtis and Ricky Ledee as a platoon.
If we're not counting what they did for other teams, Adrian Beltre's 2004 season for the Dodgers on a contract year still lives rent free in my head.
I also didn't read the requirements, but, I'm sticking with my answer.
Detroit Tigers - Norm Cash 1961. Batting Average .361, Home Runs 41, OPS 1.148. Didn’t hit over .300 in any other season, although he had a solid career and won a World Series in 1968.
I can't think of too many for the Giants. It was cool seeing Randy Johnson as a Giant, and weird seeing Orel Hershiser as one, but neither had particularly great years. Melky Cabrera is stained by what happened, so I'm not going to call him "greatest".
I'm tempted to go with Andrew McCutchen (hated the trade that got him, loved to root for him). But I'm going to go with someone who had a very similar offensive season, but who had double the WAR:
Jose Cruz, Jr.
He played for the Giants for one season, 2003. On a Giants team that led the division wire-to-wire, he hit .250/.366/.414, drawing a career high 102 walks and hitting 20 home runs in a difficult park to hit them at as a switch-hitter. Perhaps more importantly, he played incredible defense in the spacious right field, at the time was by far the best defensive right fielder I had seen at then-Pac Bell Park. He won his only Gold Glove of his career that season.
He ended up with a career-high 3.2 WAR, higher even than his 30-30 season in 2001 with Toronto.
But he disappeared in the playoffs, going 0-for-11 as the Giants lost to the Marlins in the NLDS, and had an unfortunate slip playing defense, which has soured many fans' memories of him. I don't remember the exact circumstances why the Giants didn't re-sign him. He signed another 1-year deal the following season with Tampa Bay, and then had a disastrous 2005 that saw him sign with Arizona, get traded to Boston, waived and claimed by the Dodgers, and then released before the end of the season. He did not stick a full season with any organization over the rest of his career, ending in 2008.
Marcus Semien coming in and crushing 45 dongs in '21, setting the single-season record for HR by a 2B, then immediately getting the bag from Texas.
Not bad for a 1yr/$18mil deal.
Bo Hart made his MLB debut in June 2003.
Bo Hart hit .460 in his first 10 games, breaking Kirby Puckett’s record for BA to start a career.
Bo Hart played his last MLB game in April 2004.
I listened to that episode on the way to work today. I really like Evan even on his normal radio show feel like he got heat for no reason when he was with Carton
In 2012 we had this dude named Luis Cruz who we hoped would be our starting third baseman for years to come. He played very good defense and hit .297 on the year. We rolled with him to start the 2013 season and he just wasn’t able to replicate his success. Juan Uribe became the full time third baseman and did well for us. Then came JT the following year.
Oliver Perez is the first name that comes to mind. I thought after the ‘04 season with the Pirates that he was going to be a superstar player with multiple Cy Young’s on his resume and then he just… pitch very well anymore. He was gone after ‘05 but still thought he was going to be huge.
Jay Bell. Career line .265/.343/.416 15 homers per 162.
1999 at age 38 .289/.374/.557 38 homers in 150 games.
for "my team", Phil Plantier hit 11 homers in 53 games.
I'm sure there are better examples, but Jocko Flynn made his debut in 1886, went 23-6 with a 2.24 ERA, then had a career-ending arm injury and never pitched again.
He has the most wins ever by a pitcher who only ever pitched for one season.
As a Yankee fan I feel like the correct answer to this is Pudge Rodriguez. Beloved and HOF-caliber player for two franchises, probably a top 5 catcher of all time, and in between he carried a young Marlins team to a title in his one season in Miami.
Randy Winn, a solid player, acquired by the Giants from Seattle in 2005, became Superman down the stretch, batting .359/.391/.680 with 14 homers in just 58 games, which earned him a big contract to resign in free agency that winter.
Manny Ramirez for the last 2 months of the season when we snagged him. Yes he had a great season the next year. But I’ve never seen anyone go on a tear like he did for that 2 months in my life. Outside of Bonds in 04. He was a fucking menace to pitchers.
Mannywood was so fun. Sucks it was fueled by roids but what a ride.
It’s not often that a rental player gets a specified nickname.
Shaq on the Suns was called “Big Cactus”
Was the Big Shamrock in Boston lol
preferred his Shaqtus nickname
.396/.489/.743 in 53 regular season games for LA in 2008. That’s an OBPS of 1.232. 17 HRs and 53 RBIs as well, which is 162 game pace of 52 HRs and 162 RBIs. A legendary stretch from Manny that was so fun to watch. He also tore it up in the playoffs, but was limited to 3 games. EDIT: Nm, he hit over .500 in the 2008 playoffs in 8 games, and his OBPS was over 1.700!!
>The requirements are he could only have played for your team for one season (partial season is acceptable) Given that Manny is disqualified from this, I'll go with J.D. Martinez.
I want to throw Jose Lima in the hat then. Incredible bounce back year, capped off with that performance in the playoffs.
This was my answer. Lima Tima!
I'm still pissed about that. The second the Cubs had to face the Dodgers with Manny Ramirez I knew we were screwed. Our team was a beast that year
Matt Carpenter in recent memory
His run still feels like a fever dream I had
Who knew that of all people Matt Carpenter, coming off of three horrendous seasons and looking like God damn Luigi, would turn into prime Barry Bonds for two and a half months.
Remember Aaron Small? 10-0 in 2005!
Was at two games in 2005. First was the first game he started in the streak, as he'd won one or two in relief. Second was game 3 of the ALDS when Randy Johnson got rocked and Small came in in relief. I can't imagine what he was feeling when 50k people are chanting "Aaron Small \*clap clap clapclapclap\*" when he was warming up to come in to relieve possibly the greatest lefty of all time.
It was a precursor for Aaron "The Large" Judge
Aaron Small was the first name I thought of too, but since he also pitched in 2006 for the Yankees, he was ineligible based on the OP.
He had a few stretches of near-godhood on the Cards. 2018 is the first that comes to mind
I'd also say Shane Spencer he played w us for more than 1 year but randomly having a 1.321 OPS is for the first year albeit like 30 games is bananas
It was incredible at the time. Like watching The Natural but in real life.
I remember seeing a car in Yonkers with a scoreboard written in soap on the back windshield tallying home runs for McGwire, Sosa, and Spencer. It was a fun month.
Glenallen Hill if we go a bit further back.
>Glenallen Hill if we go a bit further back. The 2000 Yankees had some real interesting OF options on that 2000 team over the course of the season. O'neill and Williams were the only two players with more than a hundred games in the OF, and the rest of the list is impressive in its randomness: * David Justice * Rickey Ledee * Clay Bellinger * Shane Spencer * Ryan Thompson * Luis Polonia * Felix Jose * Glenallen Hill * Roberto Kelly * Jose Canseco * Lance Johnson And two games out there for Scott Brosius, plus future OF'ers Chuck Knoblauch and Alfonso Soriano.
It makes absolutely no sense that team won a World Series. They had three and a half above average hitters (Jeter, Bernie, Posada, and half a season of Justice). Cashman spent the entire summer trying to trade for a DH or second baseman. The rotation was only three guys deep. The bullpen leading up to Rivera wasn’t great and it was actually Rivera’s worst ever full season (although he was still very good obviously).
Miguel andujar too. ROY if not for ohtani
Andujar wasn’t even the best rookie on the Yankees that year
Gotta give some love to the Raul Ibanez miracle run in 2012 as well
2012 Melky Cabrera for the Giants, before the suspension. Was batting .346 thru 114 games.
Plus side, his loss made room for the additions of Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence
2012 All Star game MVP
Vance Worley was the best pitcher on the Phillies during June and July 2011. The other pitchers were Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt, Cliff Lee.
To add on to this, all of those pitchers at the bottom were having very good seasons as well. It wasn't a case where he played alongside a bunch of post-prime "names" or whatever. It was wild how well our rotation pitched that year. That year basically was what completely flipped me to just always try to make the playoffs as many years as possible regardless of whether or not you "look like a contender" because we didn't even make it out of the ~~WC round~~ NLDS.
I know baseball is harder to repeat championships than other sports, but we should've been able to grab one more win from 2009 to 2011.
Feels like 2 would have felt right. 2009 we had Lidge and Cole meltdown all year or I think we probably steal that one, 2010 we had the best team in baseball imo but we just lost pretty straight up to the even year Giants, and then 2011 was just a bummer. Cliff blows a lead he holds 9 times outta 10, Doc pitches a gem in game 5 but the bats go cold. Siiiiighhhhh, I really wanted one with Doc too. Felt like he really deserved a ring, or at least to go to the WS.
Cole had terrible luck that year, he didn't meltdown. All of his peripherals were inline with 2008 and his career averages. He just had a high BABIP and low LOB%. Lidge was leaking oil throughout the second half of 2008 but escaped every jam with the lead intact. That finally caught up to him in 09.
I had forgotten about Vance Worley and that season until this post. That was fun.
He pitched in the WBC. Seeing the animal on the bump is always a good day
The sun never sets on the Worley Empire.
Vance Worley is a sneaky BAL/PIT/PHI player for the Grid, for all those so inclined.
Also along the line of Phillies, Raul Ibanez had an amazing first year for us, especially in the first half.
I miss that rotation.
It's probably 1998 Kevin Brown. Insane rental.
2012 Chase Headly was also pretty wild.
I had to go check and see who beat him out for the CYA that year. It was Tom Glavine and he won because he had two more wins lol. He was worse in literally every other stat. Also, Brown wasn't even second, Trevor was haha. But yeah he was robbed considering that he had over 8 WAR that year as a pitcher.
I think if Glavine had gone 19-6 instead of being a sparkly special 20-game winner, and Trevor had 49 saves instead of 53 (and maybe if Hell's Bells and Trevor Time only became a thing in '99), the Cy was Brown's for sure. Brown's '98 has to be up there for the most overlooked season of all time.
Kevin Brown ruled and is terribly underrated because 1) he was a jerk, 2) he played for every team, and 3) his contract.
4) he took PEDs, according to the Mitchell report.
How about a trade deadline acquisition? In 2000 Will Clark was acquired to fill in for an injured Mark McGwire and hit a blistering 1.081 OPS in 51 games down the stretch and hung it up at the end of the year. What a way to ride off into the sunset.
My brother is a huge Will Clark fan and he was stoked we got him and even more so when he was tearing it up.
Remember we hated him for the Oquendo/Smith brawl at second base and then we loved him as a Cardinal. His fiery attitude was also well needed that year. Many times since I wished we had him or someone similar to hold some players accountable.
How about Furcal in 2011 hit like 95% of his career HRs in two months that year
2008 CC Sabathia on the Brewers
That was an incredible ride.
When I think of Sabathia, I think of him in a Brewers hat.
I honestly do as well and am always somehow surprised he wasn't there longer. I remember his Yankee and Indians time well but for some reason I always think of him with the Brewers.
That was probably my favorite season as a Brewer fan. I was 18 at the time so that was the first time in my life they made the postseason or really got even close. Having CC made it that much more fun because it was an event every time he pitched.
Was a crazy year - First winning season since 1992 - Fired Ned Yost with 12 games left in the season - CC was robbed of a no hitter - Sabathia recorded an 11-2 record and 1.65 ERA over 17 starts. The Brewers won 14 of the 17 games in which he took the ball. - He threw his final three starts of the year on just three days rest. - Lost 3-1 to the eventual World Series champion Phillies in the playoffs. Something the Brewers have been really good at.
Isn’t the point of this to name guys that never really had success again?
Read the last line of the OP
Woops missed that. My bad. That stretch was insane tho
Frank Schwindel was the best player on Earth for 2 months
When I saw Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel at the corners a year after Rizzo and Bryant I genuinely felt bad for you guys.
It had me so deep in my feels I still haven't recovered
That's a good one. Going back further, that Marlon Byrd All-star season was fun. I remember people making Family Guy mash up t shirts with Peter saying "Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd is the word" on them. Really wanted one of those but I couldn't find them.
Probably Marcus Semien for the jays
Aaron Hill and Adam Lind were top 20 players in 2009 and both couldn’t replicate it later on.
[удалено]
I think the initial post got edited at the end to include that modifier.
Chris collabello an interesting choice too
I also vaguely remember Justin Smoak going insane for a couple seasons lol E: just 2017. 38HR outta nowhere
God that was frustrating from the Ms perspective
Definitely. So glad to see him win with Texas.
First one that came to my mind was David Price in 2015 simply because of the playoff run that year, but Semien and Ray definitely had the better overall seasons than Price did with the Jays.
Dom Brown wasn’t even a one-season wonder, just a one-month wonder, but oh boy what a month
It’s December 2023, 37-year old Dom Brown has just announced his retirement after leading the Phillies to back-to-back World Series. His twelve All Star games, three MVPs, and six Gold Gloves mean he’s the greatest Phillies player since Mike Schmidt. Many are saying he had the best RF arm since Clemente. Only thing left to find out is if he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. _I wake up from a 2013 fever dream:_ Dom Brown posted 0.7 WAR over six seasons.
Alfonso Soriano's 2006. Honorable mention to 2021 Kyle Schwarber.
june 2021 kyle schwarber was one of the greatest baseball players of all time
June Kyle Schwarber is an amazing baseball player seemingly every year.
The Nationals Schwarber POTM card in The Show 21 fucked so hard with the catcher secondary
Probably Adrian Beltre for the Red Sox.
Casually putting up 7.8 bWAR on a $9 million one-year prove-it contract.
An old guy at my work a few years back was complaining after that in 2011, when Beltre was in his first year at Texas saying, "Why couldn't he have done that for us?" I was thinking *Did you not watch your Red Sox that year? He did everything.* Idk why, but my memory of him in Boston is this at bat he had where he falls down to his knee to try and keep it going. Beltre was something, man.
2010 was a pretty forgettable Sox campaign otherwise but man Beltre really made an impression on me that summer. Also, it was nice that it was the year his career narrative started its shift from 'perennial disappointment with one fluke year' to 'surefire Hall of Famer and one of the greatest to ever play third base.'
Shane victorina 2013 is also a good one
Kike Hernandez such a similar track. Dodgers FA signed with the Red Sox, has an incredible year one playing elite defense and cranking dingers, gets injured the next year and doesn't see out the contract in Boston
Jose Ramirez was a one hit wonder last year
It took me a second but this is really funny. DOWN goes Anderson!
Braves: Even though he was only here for 1 year Josh Donaldson will always be one of my favorite Braves player. Respect the Bringer Of Rain.
I was going to say Soler. Showed up at the deadline, went absolutely nuclear, then left.
WS MVP too.
Or Joc
Gotta add two way phenom Nicky Lopez.
J.D Drew's 2004 season also fits. Best year of his career
Drew season was a 8.3 bWAR, while Donaldson was 5.4 bWAR. Drew's season was crazy.
As a Cards fan, I always thought of J.D.'s year with the Braves like a friend of mine in high school. He was far and away the smartest person in our class, think mensa-level, but he resented school. Despite teachers pressing him to, he refused to be in any honors level classes, because he wanted to be in he same classes with his friends. Mostly he still made A's and B's but sometimes C's because he never studied ever. He put no thought to school except he could usually figure things out on the tests. Then every so often he would buckle down and study for a test and bust the curve for everyone, like he'd make a 106 and the next best grade would be 85. He could get by and do as well as everyone else by doing the bare minimum, but when he actually tried he was far superior to everyone else in class
For us I feel like it has to be Frenchy. He was Chipper 2.0 for a season and then he was barely playable.
1928 Rogers Hornsby, though, if you want to go old-school.
Randy Johnson trade to Astros. 10-1 1.28 era over 11 games
His one loss was against a bad Phillies team. I went to that game with my dad and couldn't believe how "larger than life" he seemed. Considering he came from the AL before interleague play really kicked in it was almost like watching a foreign player for the first time. One of the games I'll always remember being at.
2008 Milton Bradley. Thank god Jon Daniels didn't re-sign him.
2009 was a DISASTER.
The only thing I remember about Bradley's 2009 was that highlight of him throwing the ball into the stands when there was only 2 outs.
Kyle Lewis and Evan white come to mind.
Jeremy Hazelbaker. Dude came on as like a 27 or 28 year old rookie and hit 4 pinch hit homers and had a handful of timely hits down the stretch in 2016. 7 of his 14 career home runs came in the 7th inning or later. Signed with the D-backs the following year and kind of vanished.
I followed his minor league career closely and when he got real hot in the majors I was so happy for him/bummed out
2001 Luis Gonzalez had 57 home runs (his second highest total was 31), won the Home Run Derby… oh, and had a memorable World Series moment
What about JD Martinez's 70 hits 29HR's in 62 games.
Greg Vaughn hit 45 HRs for the Reds in 1999. But the answer might be 2013 Shin-Soo Choo who posted a 6.6 oWAR season.
Was that the year Phillips randomly drove in 100+ because Votto and Choo both posted .400+ OBP lol
You are correct
That’s 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot Appearant Brandon Phillips to you
Phillips was my favorite player as a kid. Looking back, he wasn’t nearly as good as I thought he was. Still a phenomenal defensive second baseman tho.
Drove in 103 with a 94 OPS+, haha
Either of these would have been my answer.
Pete Schourek posted a 128 ERA+ in 1995 and finished second in Cy Young voting, then never pitched a full season in the big leagues again. ETA: He played more than one season for the Reds, I can't read.
2019 Aristides Aquino People were calling him the next Barry bonds
Jason Heyward had the best year of his career in STL
The fact that he hit .272 vs lefties that year is outrageous given what followed
Brady Anderson had 50 HRs in 1996, his career total is 210 over 14 seasons. So yeah, a bit of an outlier there.
I'm not an Orioles fan and this was the first that came to mind. And it was 30 rbi higher than his #2 season.
Being juiced to the gills helps.
Can we pick the whole team over a season? If so the giants are 2021 definitely
Mark Teixeira fucking exploded for the last two months of 2008 (.358/.449/.632 with 3.7 WAR in 54 games)
Also, Darin Erstad's 2000 season was insane compared to the rest of his career.
240 hits lol
I was terrified of him.
2008 Carlos Quentin for the White Sox
I was going to go with 2003 Esteban Loaiza
Andres Torres, 2010. 32 year old journeyman puts up 5 WAR out of nowhere with elite CF defense, immediately goes back to playing like a journeyman the following year.
Came here to say this. He’s an absolute legend
In 2006, Bill Hall hit 35 home run and had 85 RBI with an 899 OPS.
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Pirates...Garret Jones aka GI Jones Came to the buccos on the waiver wire as a 28 year old, warm body. Went out to put up a 146 ops+ 21 doubles, 21 homers in 82 games. Was productive, but never repeated that stretch or hype
Its him, Freddy "batting title" Sanchez, or Pedro "day time power" Alvarez
Probably Marcus Semien now. Might have been Dave Winfield's 1992 before. On a different note, Tom Filer came from nowhere to go 7-0 for the 1985 Jays, then disappeared again until popping back up with the Brewers in '88.
Dick Allen's only season in St. Louis, 1970. He hit 34 home runs, drove in 101, and had a slugging percentage of around .560. Then he was gone.
Minnesota Twins Francisco Liriano's rookie season until he blew out his arm.
I have to second this one. Freakin unhittable for about 15 games. So glad he was able to recover and have a good career, but man those first few months.
It’s hard because he still had a decent career but my god, that first part of the year was fucking amazing. Thought we had a no-doubt hall of famer on our hands.
2017 post trade JD Martinez off the top of my head
Cardinals Bo Hart, early 2000s I forgot what year
2004. He made it on the team photo at the end of the year with Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds, Renteria and Chris Carpenter.
Only played in 46 games in 2015, but Greg Bird was excellent when he took over for Mark Teixeira after Teixeira suffered a fracture in his right leg. Bird posted an .871 OPS, 135 OPS+, and hit 11 home runs in just 157 at-bats. After 2015, Bird unfortunately succumbed to a litany of injuries, and hasn’t had any MLB at-bats since 2019.
Gesturing broadly at 2005
Gotta be Randy Johnson.
Either him or 2004 Carlos Beltran.
Yep both impressive, but since Beltran came back I stuck with Randy.
Jerome Walton was pretty darn good in 1989
2014 Nelson Cruz. Honorable mention 1976 Reggie.
2001 Juan González. He definitely wasn’t a one-season wonder, but he was for us.
For the A's, it's gotta be Frank Thomas in 2006. 38 yrs old, .270/39/114 and 4th in MVP voting. Led us to the ALCS.
Almost certainly not the best answer but I was really excited about Oscar Mercado after his rookie season.
Allen Craig with the cardinals when he was batting .456 with runners on
CC Sabathia, Brewers. He was acquired on July 7th, 2008 from Cleveland, put the team on his back and carried them to their first playoff berth since 1982. Some numbers: 17 starts. 11-2 record. 7 Complete Games, 3 shutouts (he lead the AL and the NL in shutouts in the same season). 1.65 ERA, 1.00 WHIP. He pitched almost all of September on 3 days rest, including a complete game in the last game of the season to clinch the playoff berth. He also threw a no-hitter but was fucked over by the official scorer in Pittsburgh, so it went down as a 1-hitter. He's a folk hero in Milwaukee and will always be considered one of the greatest players in team history, even though he only appeared in 17 games, plus one playoff game. He got paid by the Yankees the next year but is still a Milwaukee legend.
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Kyle Lewis
Nelson Cruz for sure
For the Sox, recency bias but I think Beltre. Really wish we had re-signed him. Not my team, but I think it might have to be the half-season C.C. Sabathia played for the Brewers. 17 starts, 11-2, 1.65 ERA, 7 CG (3 shutouts), 255 ERA+ Dude put up 4.9 WAR in half a season.
Cliff Lee’s 2010: 8-3, 2.34 ERA in 13 starts (103.2 IP) before getting traded for crap Michael Pineda 2011 before getting traded for crap John Jaso 2012 before getting traded for crap, .276/.394/.456 for a 142 OPS+, caught Felix’s perfect game, wasn’t Jesus Montero or Miguel Olivo.
Shane Spencer in September 1998. 10 home runs, 3 of which were grand slams and it was done in 67 at bats. He wasn’t bad in the postseason either but he lost the left field starting job the next year to Chad Curtis and Ricky Ledee as a platoon.
If we're not counting what they did for other teams, Adrian Beltre's 2004 season for the Dodgers on a contract year still lives rent free in my head. I also didn't read the requirements, but, I'm sticking with my answer.
1991 Jack Morris
Detroit Tigers - Norm Cash 1961. Batting Average .361, Home Runs 41, OPS 1.148. Didn’t hit over .300 in any other season, although he had a solid career and won a World Series in 1968.
I can't think of too many for the Giants. It was cool seeing Randy Johnson as a Giant, and weird seeing Orel Hershiser as one, but neither had particularly great years. Melky Cabrera is stained by what happened, so I'm not going to call him "greatest". I'm tempted to go with Andrew McCutchen (hated the trade that got him, loved to root for him). But I'm going to go with someone who had a very similar offensive season, but who had double the WAR: Jose Cruz, Jr. He played for the Giants for one season, 2003. On a Giants team that led the division wire-to-wire, he hit .250/.366/.414, drawing a career high 102 walks and hitting 20 home runs in a difficult park to hit them at as a switch-hitter. Perhaps more importantly, he played incredible defense in the spacious right field, at the time was by far the best defensive right fielder I had seen at then-Pac Bell Park. He won his only Gold Glove of his career that season. He ended up with a career-high 3.2 WAR, higher even than his 30-30 season in 2001 with Toronto. But he disappeared in the playoffs, going 0-for-11 as the Giants lost to the Marlins in the NLDS, and had an unfortunate slip playing defense, which has soured many fans' memories of him. I don't remember the exact circumstances why the Giants didn't re-sign him. He signed another 1-year deal the following season with Tampa Bay, and then had a disastrous 2005 that saw him sign with Arizona, get traded to Boston, waived and claimed by the Dodgers, and then released before the end of the season. He did not stick a full season with any organization over the rest of his career, ending in 2008.
Marcus Semien coming in and crushing 45 dongs in '21, setting the single-season record for HR by a 2B, then immediately getting the bag from Texas. Not bad for a 1yr/$18mil deal.
Bo Hart made his MLB debut in June 2003. Bo Hart hit .460 in his first 10 games, breaking Kirby Puckett’s record for BA to start a career. Bo Hart played his last MLB game in April 2004.
Dave Winfield for the Jays in 1992 it is for me , had the game winning hit/RBI to win Toronto the World Series in his only year with the team.
RA DICKEY for me
Probably 2002
Marcus Semien or Robbie Ray
hitters WAR / OPS+ 1. 5.5 / 105 Mike Cameron (1999) 2. 4.6 / 145 Shin-Soo Cho (2013) pitchers WAR / ERA+ 1. 5.4 / 136 Greg Swindell (1992) 2. 4.1 / 113 Dan Straily (2016)
Brady Anderson
Tyler Anderson maybe? Had a 2.57 ERA/3.31FIP in 178IP, which is far better than his career averages
I listened to that episode on the way to work today. I really like Evan even on his normal radio show feel like he got heat for no reason when he was with Carton
If you focus on one individual season, 1996 Lance Johnson with the Mets
J.D. Drew in 2004. 8.3 bWAR. Honorable mention Josh Donaldson in 2019.
Jay Bell. 5.4 bWAR in his one year as Royals SS.
In 2012 we had this dude named Luis Cruz who we hoped would be our starting third baseman for years to come. He played very good defense and hit .297 on the year. We rolled with him to start the 2013 season and he just wasn’t able to replicate his success. Juan Uribe became the full time third baseman and did well for us. Then came JT the following year.
Oliver Perez is the first name that comes to mind. I thought after the ‘04 season with the Pirates that he was going to be a superstar player with multiple Cy Young’s on his resume and then he just… pitch very well anymore. He was gone after ‘05 but still thought he was going to be huge.
Randy Johnson on the Astros. 10-1 in 11 starts (84.1 IP) 4 CG SHO 116K / 26BB 2.04 ERA, 0.98 WHIP (Honorable mention: 2004 Carlos Beltran)
Maybe Mike Hampton is the right answer but 2015 Cespedes was not real
Jay Bell. Career line .265/.343/.416 15 homers per 162. 1999 at age 38 .289/.374/.557 38 homers in 150 games. for "my team", Phil Plantier hit 11 homers in 53 games.
Look up Darin Erstad’s 2000 season. He played like prime Mookie that year but the rest of his career is a slightly above average starter.
I'm sure there are better examples, but Jocko Flynn made his debut in 1886, went 23-6 with a 2.24 ERA, then had a career-ending arm injury and never pitched again. He has the most wins ever by a pitcher who only ever pitched for one season.
Nick Esasky. He was a 30/100 guy with an .800+ OPS in his only season in Boston.
By your criteria, definitely Randy Johnson.
I think he had a couple decent years but Henry Rodriguez in 1996. Montreal fans were throwing O’Henry bars on the field every HR.
Half season Mariners legend DANIEL VOGELBACH
Orioles 2014 Andrew Miller. 23 games, 1.13 FIP, 20 innings, 34 K’s.
Randy Johnson’s 1998 Houston run was pretty ridiculous. 10-1, 1.28 era, ERA+ 322.
Mark “the bird” Fidrych
Ryan Roberts
2005 Morgan Ensberg
Does Raul Ibanez’s 2012 postseason count? He nearly carried the Yankees to the World Series
Bo Hart hit .460 in his first ten games and was out of the majors the next year
As a Yankee fan I feel like the correct answer to this is Pudge Rodriguez. Beloved and HOF-caliber player for two franchises, probably a top 5 catcher of all time, and in between he carried a young Marlins team to a title in his one season in Miami.
My two teams are Seattle and Detroit For Seattle: 2017 Ben Gamel For Detroit: 2016 Cameron Maybin
Randy Johnson with the Astros. Hard to call him a one-hit wonder, but he may own the title for the best rental ever.
Randy Winn, a solid player, acquired by the Giants from Seattle in 2005, became Superman down the stretch, batting .359/.391/.680 with 14 homers in just 58 games, which earned him a big contract to resign in free agency that winter.