Two-way player #1: Al Hollingsworth

 I've always had a fascination with players who were both pitchers and position players in the course of their professional career, so I'm planning on doing a series on them. I have a list of almost 50 of them, which I update regularly, so this series should last a while. 

So, anyway, Al Hollingsworth had an 11-year career as a pitcher, going 70-104, but with bad teams, from 1935 to 1946. But he actually started out in baseball as a first baseman. He did okay, posting averages of .300 and .306 in D ball, but he had no power, so he switched to the mound in 1933, at 25. That year he had a 15-8 record with an ERA of 3.12 for Rock Island in the Mississippi Valley League, and never looked back. His best year in pro ball was probably 1941, in which he won 21 games for Sacramento in the PCL. Though he also pitched well in 1942, as he went 10-6 with a 2.96 ERA for the Browns.

White Sox sign Liam Hendriks; 3 year, $54M guarantee

 As you may have heard, the White Sox just signed Liam Hendriks to a 3 year, $54M guaranteed contract.  I personally think it was a pretty idiotic move. Which is not to say that he isn't a premier closer; he is. Over the last two years with the Athletics, he posted an 1.79 ERA with 39 saves in 99 games. His other stats are no less impressive: 13.1 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, and a 1.70 FIP. 

But I think closers are just too risky to warrant such a contract with only two years of top-notch performance. Liam has been incredible, but two years doesn't make you Mariano Rivera. History is littered with closers who are eye-popping for a year or two, and then got hurt or lost effectiveness or something. 

Hendriks may prove me wrong, and keep up his excellence, but I think that closers as a class are too risky to justify an $54M contract. 

International baseball #1: Dos Lanzadores

 (I'm very interested in leagues in other countries, so I'm going to do a running series on stars from other countries.)

Ramon Arano was kind of Mexico's answer to Cy Young. Not quite as dominant, but his career was certainly as long. His 32-year career spanned six decades! Though he never won more than 19 games in a season, he compiled a 334-264 record for his career. He struck out 2380 batters, and tossed 57 shutouts, for his career. His rookie year was 1959 (8-9, 4.47 ERA), and his last appearance was in 2001. At the age of 61, he threw 3.1 innings while allowing just 1 run for Veracruz.

His stats, both Mexican League and Mexican Pacific Winter League:

                       W     L      SO       IP        ERA    SHO  CG    GS    G                                                          ML          334   264   2380   4773.1   3.26     57     297   676   811                                                    MPWL      89     84     966   1504      2.81     24      85    207   249  

As you can see, he won 423 Mexican games. Adding in 1 game he won in the  US minors, he won 424 games, an incredible sum.

Juan Suby is kind of a random pick on my part. But whatever, he recently caught my interest and he was good too. He was kind of a relief ace swing-man. So basically Firpo Marberry, but Mexican, and 40 years later. He won 20 games twice: 20 in 1970, and 22 in 1971. In 1971 he had more wins than starts (22-21). His best season in the Mexican Pacific Winter League was 1967-68. That year he had a 14-4 record, with a 1.61 ERA. 

His stats:

                     W    L      SO      IP     ERA  SHO   CG   GS   G                                                                      ML      145   132   1090  2115  3.39    12     68   177   697                                                              MPWL    95     87   1009  1686  2.84    16     76   175   360