Top 50 Relief Pitchers

[Sockeye]

I've noticed where many members here have put together a ranking of players at each position. I've decided to put together my own list of players at each position. This is my first time. I'm going to try for the top 50 relief pitchers. Before doing so I'd like to get some imput from other members and see your lists.

Along with your rankings please include a note as to why you have certain relief pitchers ranked so high or low on your list. Here is your chance to influence me. I will digest all the information and opinions provided and hopefully be able to generate pretty solid top 50 relief pitchers list.

[Blackout]

1-Mariano Rivera
2-Dennis Eckersley
3-Trevor Hoffman
4-Hoyt Wilhelm
5-Billy Wagner
6-Lee Smith
7-John Franco
8-Goose Gossage
9-Rollie Fingers
10-Dan Quisenberry
11-Eric Gagne (almost all based on peak)
12-Bruce Sutter
13-Jeff Reardon
14-John Wettland
15-Ron Beck
16-Tom Gordon
17-Jason Isringhausen
18-Tom Henke
19-Keith Foulke
20-Jose Mesa

[soberdennis]

Here are my top ten that I have seen in 42 years.
1.Mariano Rivera
2. Dennis Eckersly
3. Dan Quisenberry
4. Lee Smith
5. Greg Gagne
6. Sparky Lyle
7. Goose Gossage
8. Rollie Fingers
9. Trevor Hoffman
10. John Hiller

Rivera and Eck need no explanation. Gagne was lights out for only a short period of time. If he comes back healthy and does the same, I will rank him higher. IMO, uou could throw a blanket over the 3-10 choices. They're that close. Others like Sutter would be under that blanket too.

[Texas Rangers]

1-Mariano Rivera
2-Dennis Eckersley
3-Hoyt Wilhelm
4-John Franco
5-Tevor Hoffman
6-Lee Smith
7-Billy Wagner
8-Rollie Fingers
9-Bruce Sutter
10-John Wetteland

They are all pretty dominate relief pitchers.. I had to put rivera infront of eckersley just because rivera is doing dominate this year. Maybe Bruce Sutter could be higher.

[Bill Burgess]

Relievers Form Chart:



Name, Era-------------------------Saves-----G. Fin.-------INN ---------ERA+
Firpo Marberry, 1923-1936,--------101--------271----------2,067--------134
Hoyt Wilhelm, 1952-1972,--------- 227--------651----------2,254.3------146
Roy Face, 1953-1969, -------------193--------574----------1,375.0------109
Ron Perranoski, 1961-1973,--------179--------458----------1,174--------123
Dick Radatz, 1962-1969------------122--------297------------693.7------122
John Hiller, 1965-1980,-----------125--------363----------1,040--------134
Sparky Lyle, 1967-1982,-----------238--------634----------1,292--------127
Rollie Fingers, 1968-1985---------341--------709----------1,701.3------119
Rich "Goose" Gossage, 1972-1994---310--------681----------1,809.3------126
Kent Tekulve, 1974-1989,----------638--------184----------1,436.3------132
Gary Lavelle, 1974-1987-----------399--------136----------1,085.0------126
Dennis Eckersley, 1975-1998-------390--------577----------3,285.7------116
Bruce Sutter, 1976-1988-----------300--------512----------1,042.3------136
Dan Quisenberry, 1979-1990--------244--------553----------1,043.3------146
Jeff Reardon, 1979-1994-----------367--------695----------1,132.2------121
Dave Righetti, 1979-1995----------252--------474----------1,403.7------114
Jesse Orosco, 1979-2003,----------501--------144----------1,295.0------125
Lee Smith, 1980-1997--------------478--------802----------1,289.3------132
Tom Henke, 1982-95----------------311--------548------------789--------156
Doug Jones, 1982-2000,------------640--------303----------1,128.3------130
John Franco, 1984-present---------424--------770----------1,230.7------139*
Mike Jackson, 1986-2004,----------422--------142----------1,188.3------126
Jeff Montgomery, 1987-1999,-------304--------549------------868--------134
John Wetteland, 1989--------------330--------523------------765--------148
Trevor Hoffman, 1993-present------394--------578------------764.7------148*
Robb Nen, 1993-2002---------------314--------548------------715.0------138
Mariano Rivera, 1995-present------336--------424------------728.3------190*
Billy Wagner, 1995-present--------246--------417------------552.7------169*
Eric Gagne, 1999-present----------152--------197------------530--------124*
* = Still Active

[538280]

1.Hoyt Wilhelm
2.Goose Gossage
3.Mariano Rivera
4.Billy Wagner
5.Bruce Sutter
6.John Hiller
7.Lee Smith
8.John Franco
9.Dennis Eckersley
10.Rollie Fingers

[Blackout]

chris, why no Hoffman?

[AstrosFan]

I live near San Diego, and I think the guy is a terrific reliever, but Hoffman has always been a bit overrated, due to his pitching in pitchers parks for his career. The best arguments, I suppose would be Hoffman over Wagner, Franco, and Fingers, but if you study the issue, you'll find he doesn't emerge as clearly better than any of them.

[ElHalo]

1. Wilhelm
2. Rivera
3. Nobody even close

[538280]

chris, why no Hoffman?

Maybe he should be on there, but as I've said before I'm skeptical of modern relievers. The one inning save has inflated ERA+ to no end, and IMO they're much less valuable than the true relief aces from earlier eras. That's the same reason why I'm not as high on Rivera as many people. Billy Wagner is one who I think has been overlooked though.

BTW, I noticed your list omitted John Hiller. Check out his 1973 season, it's probably the best of all time by any reliever. He had quite a few good seasons outside of that as well.

[ElHalo]

Maybe he should be on there, but as I've said before I'm skeptical of modern relievers. The one inning save has inflated ERA+ to no end, and IMO they're much less valuable than the true relief aces from earlier eras. That's the same reason why I'm not as high on Rivera as many people. Billy Wagner is one who I think has been overlooked though.

BTW, I noticed your list omitted John Hiller. Check out his 1973 season, it's probably the best of all time by any reliever. He had quite a few good seasons outside of that as well.

This doesn't make much sense to me. This is like saying, sure, Ty Cobb was a good hitter, but he couldn't have been that good because he never hit 30 homers.

You can't hold it against modern relievers that they play in a game where NOBODY goes three innings. Do you look at at Hoss Radbourne vs. Roger Clemens and say: "Well, sure, Roger's a really good pitcher for what he does, but could he throw 500 innings a year? Of course not, so he can't possible be as good as Radbourne." Game changes, times change, and there's just no place in the world for relief pitchers who throw 130 innings a year. That doesn't mean that there will never again be a great relief pitcher, or that the best guys of today aren't truly great.

[538280]

This doesn't make much sense to me. This is like saying, sure, Ty Cobb was a good hitter, but he couldn't have been that good because he never hit 30 homers.

You can't hold it against modern relievers that they play in a game where NOBODY goes three innings. Do you look at at Hoss Radbourne vs. Roger Clemens and say: "Well, sure, Roger's a really good pitcher for what he does, but could he throw 500 innings a year? Of course not, so he can't possible be as good as Radbourne." Game changes, times change, and there's just no place in the world for relief pitchers who throw 130 innings a year. That doesn't mean that there will never again be a great relief pitcher, or that the best guys of today aren't truly great.

EH, you misunderstood what I was saying (though now that I read it I was rather unclear). What I was really saying was that the new usage patterns have caused relievers to post much better rate stats, such as ERA+, and put up many more saves. This will cause some people to believe relievers of today are better than those of earlier times, but they really are not.

[RedSoxVT92]

1. Hoyt Wilhelm
2. Mariano Rivera
3. Dennis Eckersley
4. Goose Gossage
5. Rollie Fingers
6. Trevor Hoffman
7. Bruce Sutter
8. Lee Smith
9. Billy Wagner
10. Eric Gange

[ElHalo]

EH, you misunderstood what I was saying (though now that I read it I was rather unclear). What I was really saying was that the new usage patterns have caused relievers to post much better rate stats, such as ERA+, and put up many more saves. This will cause some people to believe relievers of today are better than those of earlier times, but they really are not.

Granted; I really don't think John Franco is better than Goose Gossage. But it's really, really hard for anybody to have pitched better as a closer, under current conditions, than Mariano Rivera has. I don't think there's any pitcher in the history of the game who could have done a better job than him at what he's done. I still rank him behind Wilhelm because Wilhelm managed to be just so unbelievably good for so unbelievably long, but I really don't think that anybody ever would have been able to do a better job than Rivera.

[AstrosFan]

EH, you misunderstood what I was saying (though now that I read it I was rather unclear). What I was really saying was that the new usage patterns have caused relievers to post much better rate stats, such as ERA+, and put up many more saves. This will cause some people to believe relievers of today are better than those of earlier times, but they really are not.

I wonder what the decline in a reliever's ERA+ would be if his innings were increased to those that relievers of the old days pitched. For example, what would Dennis Eckersley's 606 ERA+ in 73.3 IP be if he had pitched 130 innings?

[Texas Rangers]

Granted; I really don't think John Franco is better than Goose Gossage. But it's really, really hard for anybody to have pitched better as a closer, under current conditions, than Mariano Rivera has. I don't think there's any pitcher in the history of the game who could have done a better job than him at what he's done. I still rank him behind Wilhelm because Wilhelm managed to be just so unbelievably good for so unbelievably long, but I really don't think that anybody ever would have been able to do a better job than Rivera.

amen. :clapping

[STLCards2]

1. Wilhelm
2. Rivera
3. Eckersley
4. Gossage
5. Hoffman
6. Fingers
7. Sutter
8. L.Smith
9. Quisenberry
10.Franco

[leecemark]

--I have a really hard time with the cluster of recent 1 inning closer, because so many of them look great. Guys like John Wetteland and Tom Henke, who never caught the public's attention and are already largely forgotten, actually were much the same pitchers as Trever Hoffman. Also, many guys have several great seasons under those conditions. That said, the best of them are almost certainly amoung the best ever. Reliever are virtually impossible to rank with any pretense of certainty though, since the job has changed so much so fast that guys from just a generation apart had completely different jobs.
--A very tenative list;
1) Hoyt Wilhelm (would have loved to see his career as a starter)
2) Goose Goosage
3) Mariano Rivera
4) Dennis Eckersley
----------gap
5) Rollie Fingers
6) Bruce Sutter
7) Dan Quisenberry
8) Lee Smith
9) Trevor Hoffman
10) John Hiller
--The rest;
Pioneer: Firpo Marberry
Firemen: Roy Face, Lindy McDaniel, Ron Perranoski, Sparky Lyle, Jeff Reardon
Closers: John Franco, John Wetteland, Tom Henke, Billy Wagner (Gagne needs to bounce back for more big years).
--Thats 20 and I can't go any further without alot of coin flips.

[baseballPAP]

1 MARIANO RIVERA
2 Dennis Eckersley
3 Hoyt Wilhelm
4 Rollie Fingers
5 Goose Gossage
6 Dan Quisenberry
7 John Hiller
8 Bruce Sutter
9 TREVOR HOFFMAN
10 Mike Marshall
11 BILLY WAGNER
12 John Franco
13 Jesse Orosco
14 Kent Tekulve
15 Lee Smith
16 Mike Jackson
17 Sparky Lyle
18 Tom Henke
19 Wilbur Wood
20 Kaz Sasaki
21 Rod Beck
22 Doug Jones
23 Firpo Marberry
24 TROY PERCIVAL
25 Jeff Montgomery
26 Tug McGraw
27 Jeff Reardon
28 Randy Myers
29 Lindy McDaniel
30 Don McMahon
31 Ron Perranoski
32 Gene Garber
33 Rick Aguilera
34 John Wetteland
35 ROBERTO HERNANDEZ
36 Robb Nen
37 Ellis Kinder


My relievers list is probably the biggest crapshoot of any of them. The thing that determines greatness in a closer is what exactly? So many guys have had 2 or 3 great seasons before flaming out and falling off the map that its almost impossible to rate them. I like to look for longetivity....guys that were really good for 7 years or more. Guys that did it for 10 are actually fairly rare... especially in the modern closer era. Thats where Hoffman gets his high-ish rating.... as do Franco and Jesse Orosco. A ton of guys did it in the 70s....I suspect that it has something to do with managers looking at a reliever's ERA like it means something. A closer can walk a batter and give up a 2 run HR, take the loss and then need 5 or 6 more chances converted perfectly to get his ERA down to a respectable 3.00. If he does so, he now has 5/6 saves, an 0-1 record and a 3.00 ERA, but he was successful in 83% of his tries. Not bad....but what if it was a 3 run HR? He's at 4.50 with the same line, and looking like he's washed up. Thus is the life of the closer.... overrated in that he picks up a ton of cheap saves....underrated in that he is always a couple of bad outing in a YEAR from losing his job. For that reason, guys who manage to keep it together 10 or 12 years since 1980 get a good rating. There aren't many of them, even though close to 40% of all innings are worked by relievers (anyone have the exact #s?).

[Blackout]

i find it hard to give Wilhelm the advantage over Mariano based on innings, considering Wilhelm threw knuckleballs and Mariano throws cutters and fastballs. ofcourse wilhelm can last longer, he wasn't putting as much into his pitches as Mo.

[Eastvanmungo]

1.Mariano Rivera
2. Hoyt Wilhelm
2. Dennis Eckersley
3. Billy Wagner
4. Goose Gossage
5. John Hiller
6.Bruce Sutter
7.Lee Smith
8.Dan Quisenberry
9. Mike Marshall
10.Rollie Fingers

[538280]

i find it hard to give Wilhelm the advantage over Mariano based on innings, considering Wilhelm threw knuckleballs and Mariano throws cutters and fastballs. ofcourse wilhelm can last longer, he wasn't putting as much into his pitches as Mo.

I don't understand this. If you're still extremely effective, and your style allows you to last extremely long, shouldn't that be a point in your favor?

[538280]

Looking at Dennis Eckersley's career as a reliever, I have to wonder what exactly the big deal is. He had five seasons where he was an extremely effective closer (1988-1992). Those seasons were good, and 1990 was unbelieveable, but I don't really see how those five seasons are anything better than the best seasons of Billy Wagner or Trevor Hoffman. He was pitching even less innings than many modern closers do. After that...well, he still was in the closer's role and got quite a few saves, but his ERAs weren't really that much above league average. That's five great years, not much else. I've having a hard time seeing how Eck could be placed in the top 5 or so relievers like most of you have.

[leecemark]

Looking at Dennis Eckersley's career as a reliever, I have to wonder what exactly the big deal is. He had five seasons where he was an extremely effective closer (1988-1992). Those seasons were good, and 1990 was unbelieveable, but I don't really see how those five seasons are anything better than the best seasons of Billy Wagner or Trevor Hoffman. He was pitching even less innings than many modern closers do. After that...well, he still was in the closer's role and got quite a few saves, but his ERAs weren't really that much above league average. That's five great years, not much else. I've having a hard time seeing how Eck could be placed in the top 5 or so relievers like most of you have.


--He can't if you look only at half of his career. For me though, I am considering him as a reliever but giving him the full value of his career. Same as I do when ranking Banks as a SS or Carew as a 2B.

[538280]

--He can't if you look only at half of his career. For me though, I am considering him as a reliever but giving him the full value of his career. Same as I do when ranking Banks as a SS or Carew as a 2B.

All right, I could understand it if you do that. With my positional lists I give a player credit for what he did at another position, but I"m not so sure that I should with my relievers list. That gets too much into the tough question of how much exactly a reliever is worth versus a starter. Much easier to just focus on their performance from the bullpen.

[leecemark]

--For most guys that isn't really an issue. For Eck it means you're ignoring half his career (and he was a fine, if not HoF quality, starter).

[ElHalo]

Looking at Dennis Eckersley's career as a reliever, I have to wonder what exactly the big deal is. He had five seasons where he was an extremely effective closer (1988-1992). Those seasons were good, and 1990 was unbelieveable, but I don't really see how those five seasons are anything better than the best seasons of Billy Wagner or Trevor Hoffman. He was pitching even less innings than many modern closers do. After that...well, he still was in the closer's role and got quite a few saves, but his ERAs weren't really that much above league average. That's five great years, not much else. I've having a hard time seeing how Eck could be placed in the top 5 or so relievers like most of you have.

This is also one of those situations where memory speaks loudly. I personally disagree with the sentiment, but when Eckersley was in his prime as a closer in Oakland, nobody had ever seen anything like him. People remember that more than his short career.

[538280]

This is also one of those situations where memory speaks loudly. I personally disagree with the sentiment, but when Eckersley was in his prime as a closer in Oakland, nobody had ever seen anything like him. People remember that more than his short career.

Well, he was probably the first closer to be used in that fashion. Probably what happened is people looked at the unbelievable numbers a pitcher could post while in that usage pattern, and were extremely impressed by Eck because of that. That's probably a big reason why relievers have been used that way ever since.

Eck, of course, did a great job playing and looking the part.

Eckersley is really a hilarious man, he does the Red Sox postgame quite often now (when it's not Jim Rice), and he uses his own baseball vocabulary. It's getting better now, but in the past he could go a whole postgame show and you'd have close to no idea what he was talking about. He's cut down on it now, and it a pretty good analyst, with lots of humor.

[ElHalo]

Eckersley is really a hilarious man, he does the Red Sox postgame quite often now (when it's not Jim Rice), and he uses his own baseball vocabulary. It's getting better now, but in the past he could go a whole postgame show and you'd have close to no idea what he was talking about. He's cut down on it now, and it a pretty good analyst, with lots of humor.

It's possible. I've personally always been repulsed by him; there's something hideously creepy to me about men with mustaches.

[538280]

It's possible. I've personally always been repulsed by him; there's something hideously creepy to me about men with mustaches.

Is that why you hate the 70s?

[Sockeye]

Interesting. No one was able to come up with a list of 50, So here I go

1. Mariano Rivera
2. Dennis Eckersley
3. Trevor Hoffman
4. Hoyt Wilhelm
5. Lee Smith
6. Rollie Fingers
7. John Franco
8. Rich Gossage
9. Billy Wagner
10. John Wetteland
11. Tom Henke
12. Troy Percival
13. Robb Nen
14. Bruce Sutter
15. Dan Quisenberry
16. Jeff Reardon
17. Randy Myers
18. Roberto Hernandez
19. Armando Benitez
20. Sparky Lyle
21. Jeff Montgomery
22. Doug Jones
23. Rick Aguilera
24. Kent Tekulve
25. Jose Mesa
26. Keith Foulke
27. Jesse Orosco
28. Rod Beck
29. Wilbur Wood
30. Todd Worrell
31. Clay Carroll
32. Bryan Harvey
33. Ugueth Urbina
34. Mike Jackson
35. Mike Stanton
36. Firpo Marberry
37. Eric Gagne
38. Willie Hernandez
39. Dave Smith
40. Bob Wickman
41. Don McMahon
42. Mike Marshall
43. Ron Perranoski
44. Dave Righetti
45. Dan Plesac
46. Tug McGraw
47. Jeff Shaw
48. Mike Timlin
49. Gregg Olson
50. Gene Garber

[ElHalo]

Is that why you hate the 70s?

Probably more of a symptom than a cause. I hate the 70's because the music was terrible, the fashion was disgusting, the politics were painful, and basically just because of everything that happened in the decade culturally, politically, and socially. Stagflation, disco, Watergate, leisure suits... it's an entire decade with not a single redeeming quality. Horrific.

[Edgartohof]

Probably more of a symptom than a cause. I hate the 70's because the music was terrible, the fashion was disgusting, the politics were painful, and basically just because of everything that happened in the decade culturally, politically, and socially. Stagflation, disco, Watergate, leisure suits... it's an entire decade with not a single redeeming quality. Horrific.


What a funny guy! If I didn't like you, I'd probably hate you (though you are definitely right about those leisure suits).

[Blackout]

I don't understand this. If you're still extremely effective, and your style allows you to last extremely long, shouldn't that be a point in your favor?


but when Mariano is more effective than Wilhelm was, that negates longevity in my opinion.

[Buzzaldrin]

I fail to understand how someone could write a list of the 50 greatest relievers of all time and exclude Roy Face and Dick Radatz. Roy Face won 24 games in a row- in relief! Hard enough even as a starter, but in a relief situation with a pennant contender? He was 18-1 in 1959- the best single season winning percentage EVER- all inf relief, and this guy doesn't crack your top fifty?

Dick Radatz was- even more so than Koufax- the most feared pitcher in baseball until he blew his arm out. He was so fast it was insane. Mantle cursed at him and swore about that monster fastball that even though he knew it was coming again and again, he just couldn't hit the damn thing. Here's a little nugget- Radatz won or saved 50% or more of his teams wins three years in a row. Who does that? Rivera never did - neither did Eckersley (Thigpen did, though, wonder who else. Maybe I'll do some looking.)

[ElHalo]

I fail to understand how someone could write a list of the 50 greatest relievers of all time and exclude Roy Face and Dick Radatz. Roy Face won 24 games in a row- in relief! Hard enough even as a starter, but in a relief situation with a pennant contender? He was 18-1 in 1959- the best single season winning percentage EVER- all inf relief, and this guy doesn't crack your top fifty?[/QUOTE

And has a career 109 ERA+, which for a reliever is pretty terrible. Granted, that's largely due to some TERRIBLE seasons in 53 and 64, but still drags him down in most people's opinions.

[QUOTE]Dick Radatz was- even more so than Koufax- the most feared pitcher in baseball until he blew his arm out. He was so fast it was insane. Mantle cursed at him and swore about that monster fastball that even though he knew it was coming again and again, he just couldn't hit the damn thing. Here's a little nugget- Radatz won or saved 50% or more of his teams wins three years in a row. Who does that? Rivera never did - neither did Eckersley (Thigpen did, though, wonder who else. Maybe I'll do some looking.)

He had a grand total of three great seasons... and none others that were even particularly adequate. That's not really enough to make him impressive. The fact that he managed the "feat" you speak of in 1965 is infinitely more indicitave of the terrible Boston team he was on than his own skill that year.

[Myankee4life]

Id like to give an honorable mention to Lefty Grove.

159 games
55 SV'S
377.2 IP
340 H
8.1 H/9
33-22 W-L
2.84 ERA
153 BB
3.53 BB/9
243 K'S
5.8 K/9

In a league with a 4.54 ERA

In the 1929 WS pitching only in relief he went 6-1/3 innings allowed no runs had 2 SV's and struck out 10.

Rivera- 2.33------------4.60
Wilhem- 2.52-----------3.68
Eckersley- 3.50-----------4.06
Hoffman- 2.76-------------4.08

These are some relievers and their ERA's and the league ERA. This does not take into account time spent as starters. I know ERA is not the end all stat but the conditions sorrounding the league should be known. Only Rivera has a better ERA+ than Grove as a reliever. Diffrence being that Grove was not a 1-inning pitcher. I myself have Rivera number 1 due mostly to post season accomplishments. Now, you can make a case that Grove as a reliever combined with his accomplishments as a starter may be the greatest relief pitcher of all time....or atleast the most effective.

[538280]

Nice post Myankee....I must admit I was not aware Grove was that successful as a reliever.

[Myankee4life]

Nice post Myankee....I must admit I was not aware Grove was that successful as a reliever.

If youre intrested in reading more on Lefty Grove I recommend Lefty Grove: American Original by Jim Kaplan.

Part of the reason I rank Grove at #1 all-time is because of his sucess as a reliever.

[538280]

I've toyed in the past with making Grove my #1 pitcher, Johnson's advantage over him to me is mostly the huge numbers of innings the deadball era allowed him to pitch. Bill James says he now rates Johnson ahead of him because 1.He pitched more innings, and 2.He had better peak seasons. I think both of those things have a lot to do with the eras they played in. I did have Grove ahead of Johnson for a short time, but then I moved him back down when I heard about the usage patterns he was put under....

Have a lot to read right now. :crazy Next time I have the time to buy a baseball book I'll look into that one though.

[Blackout]

but theres no way Wilhelm was more dominant than Mariano

[Myankee4life]

but theres no way Wilhelm was more dominant than Mariano

With this I agree

If Wilhem was pitching in todays league, he would of been just another Tim Wakefield.

[yankillaz]

EH, you misunderstood what I was saying (though now that I read it I was rather unclear). What I was really saying was that the new usage patterns have caused relievers to post much better rate stats, such as ERA+, and put up many more saves. This will cause some people to believe relievers of today are better than those of earlier times, but they really are not.

That may work both ways Chris. A one inning appearance can also boast your +ERA or WHIP, if you get hits, or one run scored, in that determined inning you do pitch. I have Hoffman as my top 5 reliever.

My list:

1. Mo Rivera
2. Hoyt Whilhelm
3. Dennis Eckersley
4. Trevor Hoffman
5. Lee Smith
6. Rollie Fingers
7. John Franco
8. Rich Gossage
9. Dan Quisenberry
10. Bruce Sutter
11. Tom Henke
12. Billy Wagner
13. Jeff Reardon
14. Randy Myers
15. John Wetteland
16. Sparky Lyle
17. Mike Marshall
18. Eric Gage
19. John Hiller
20. Jesse Orosco

[ElHalo]

That may work both ways Chris. A one inning appearance can also boast your +ERA or WHIP, if you get hits, or one run scored, in that determined inning you do pitch.

There is some truth to this notion. Mo Rivera has been working off his bad stats for 1995 for over a decade now. It's hard, because he doesn't get the opportunity to work those stats down to background noise. Take away the 1995 season, and his ERA is 2.03 with an ERA+ of 227. Because he's pitched so few innings, those 67 poor ones still loom large in his overall stats.

[RuthMayBond]

More laughs for you guys. As far as career
Wilhelm
Rivera
Gossage
LSmith
Quiz
Franco
Tekulve
Sutter
Fingers
Hiller
DJones
Henke
Hoffman
Lyle
Orosco
Marshall
McGraw
MJackson
Reardon
Lavelle
Garber
Perranoski
McMahon
Aguilera
Wetteland
Eck (relief only)