Hot Stove: 12/5

Record of the Day

Most consecutive 100+ run seasons: Hank Aaron (1955-1967), Lou Gehrig (1926-1938), and Alex Rodriguez* (1996-2008), 13.

100 runs in a season is an amazing feat, and these players did so 13 years in a row. Lou Gehrig's is especially impressive because he actually scored at least 115 in each of those 13 seasons and at least 125 in each of the first 12. He also could have kept his streak going had he not been inflicted with the disease named after him, and we all know that that isn't the only streak that could have kept going. Hank Aaron scored more runs in his career than the other two, and his 100-run streak started in just his second season, when he scored 105 runs in 1955. He would not score any less than 103 until 1968, when he scored 84 in the Year of the Pitcher. He would record back to back triple-digit run seasons from 1969-1970, giving him a total of 15 100 run seasons. Alex Rodriguez was the only to score exactly 100 during his streak (1997, the second year of the streak), but at least three seasons, 2001-2003, were tainted by steroid usage.  

Free Agent Signings

Royals signed Tommy Hottovy (0-0, 6.75 ERA, .267 BAA, 2012 age: 30-31) to a minor league deal. 

Royals also resigned Zach Miner (missed 2010 and 2011 seasons, 25-20 career record, 4.24 ERA, 2012 age: 30) to a minor league deal. 

Zach Miner will be invited to spring training to compete for a job at the back end of the Royals rotation or work as a long reliever for Kansas City. He has not pitched in the bigs since 2009, when he was with the Tigers, but has shown the ability to pitch at the major league level and pitch effectively. He was first brought up as a 24-year-old in 2006 with the Tigers, where he was 7-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 27 games (16 starts).  He spent 2007 primarily as a reliever, and it proved to be his best. He was 3-4 but with a 3.02 ERA in his 34 games (one start). He moved back into the rotation part time in 2008, going 8-5 with a 4.27 ERA in 45 games (13 starts). He set a career high in games in 2009, his final big league season thus far, going 7-5 with a 4.29 ERA in 51 games (5 starts). Over his career, he has been much better as a reliever than as a starter, going 11-9 with a 3.60 ERA career as a reliever versus 14-11 with a 4.85 ERA as a starter. Cumulatively, over his four-year career, he is 25-20 with a 4.24 ERA through 157 games (35 starts). He also pitched in the minors in 2011, but was just 3-7 with a 5.27 ERA through 23 games (11 starts) at AA and AAA. His ERA was 1.59 as a reliever versus 7.16 as a starter.

Trades

Angels trade Jeff Mathis (3 HR, 22 RBI, .174 AVG, 1 SB, 2012 age: 29) to the Blue Jays for Brad Mills (1-2, 9.82 ERA, .299 BAA, 2012 age: 27).

Jeff Mathis no longer fits into the Angels' plans for 2012 after the acquisition of Chris Iannetta, and the only major leaguer with at least 1,000 career at bats and a career batting average under .200 (.194) has found a home in Toronto backing up J.P. Arencibia. Mathis is seen as a defensive catcher, rarely allowing anything by him and renowned for his ability to work with young pitchers. He is the second Angels catcher to be acquired by the Blue Jays over the past two offseasons, as Toronto also traded for former Angel Mike Napoli last year. Though Mathis can't hit for average, he can still hit the occasional home run, as he has 26 in his career. He has twice batted above .200, batting .211 in both 2007 (59 games) and 2009 (84 games). His best offensive season was sandwiched in-between in 2008, where he hit nine home runs and batted .194 in 94 games for the Halos. He set a career low in AVG last season, as he hit just three home runs and batted .174 in 93 games. Fielding-wise, he holds a .984 career fielding percentage, making just 37 errors in 411 games (2,844 chances). Over Mathis' seven-year career, he has hit 26 home runs and batted .194 through 426 games. He has played 15 at DH and that is why there is a difference in the number of games used for fielding.

Mills has spent the past three seasons between Toronto and AAA Las Vegas, putting up respectable numbers at AAA but never adjusting to the majors. He is still seen to have considerable upside, mostly rooted from his incredible 2008 minor league season. That year, at age 23, he was 13-5 with a 1.95 ERA in 27 starts between Class A, High Class A, and AA.  Between High Class A and AA, he was actually 7-2 with a 1.23 ERA and .208 BAA in 12 starts. He made his major league debut in 2009, but was 0-1 and gave up 12 runs in 7 2/3 innings (14.09 ERA) over two starts, both against the Phillies. He was just 2-8 at AAA that season but with a 4.06 ERA. He tossed seven shutout innings on just two hits against the Orioles in his first 2010 major league game, but finished the year 1-0 with a 5.64 ERA in seven games (three starts). 2011 was his best minor league season since 2008, going 11-9 with a 4.00 ERA, but it was his worst major league season, as he was just 1-2 with a 9.82 ERA in five games (four starts). Over his three-year career, he is 2-3 with an 8.57 ERA in 14 games (9 starts).  

Other News

The Winter Meeting start today in Dallas. Each day should be packed full of news as many trades and signings occur within them. Thursday is also the Rule 5 Draft, where teams can select minor leaguers from other teams' farm systems granted the player has played a certain number of years in the minors and is left off of the 40-man roster. The selecting team must keep that player on their 25-man roster for the 2012 season or send the player back. 

Pedro Martinez officially announced his retirement from baseball after 18 big league seasons, now aged 40.  

Manny Ramirez claims he wants to return to the majors, but would first have to serve the 100-game suspension he could have easily served, considering he didn't play anyway. 

Pedro is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame and retires as one of the greatest pitchers baseball has ever seen. Pitching during the steroid era and having to face such fearsome hitters as Barry Bonds, Larry Walker, Alex Rodriguez and Jim Thome, Martinez shut down his adversaries and won three Cy Youngs. His single greatest game came in 1995 with the Expos, when he tossed nine perfect innings but had to carry the game on to the 10th because Montreal had failed to score. The Expos scored in the tenth inning, but Martinez lost his perfect game in the bottom of the inning on a double by Bip Roberts. Martinez first caught attention in 1993 as a Dodgers reliever, going 10-5 with a 2.61 ERA and .201 BAA in 65 games (two starts). He was then traded to the Expos for Delino DeShields in one of the most regrettable trades since the Babe Ruth deal. Pedro was moved to the starting rotation in 1994, and completed a solid first season north of the border by going 11-5 with a 3.42 ERA. After a couple more solid seasons in which he posted 14-10 and 13-10 records, Martinez broke out in 1997 at age 25 with the first of his many incredible seasons. In 31 starts, he was 17-8 with an ERA of just 1.90 and limited opponents to just a .184 BAA, completing 13 games and taking home his first Cy Young Award. In another regrettable trade, the Expos sent Martinez to the Red Sox for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas. Pedro truly established his legacy in Boston, going 19-7 with a 2.89 ERA in his first season there in 1998. He had the second unbelievable season of his career in 1999, when he was 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA for the Red Sox in 1999, taking home another Cy Young. That all set up for his legendary 2000, where he not only continued his former greatness, but took it a step further in the Year of the Hitter, which was featured in a special update right after the conclusion of the season (or postseason, I can't quite remember). In 2000, Martinez was 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA and .167 BAA (one hit per six at bats) in 29 starts, striking out 284 batters in 217 innings. His ERA+ that season, which measures a pitcher's ERA compared to the rest of the major leagues, at 291, was the best since Tim Keefe in 1880 at 295. He made only 18 starts in 2001 due to injury, going 7-3 with a 2.39 ERA. He won 20 games again in 2002 and then posted his final superior season in 2003, going 14-4 with a 2.22 ERA in 29 starts at age 31. In the Red Sox curse-breaking season in 2004, he was 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA in his first mortal season since 1996. He had a final great year in 2005 with the Mets, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA in 31 starts at age 33. He pitched in mediocrity for the remainder of his Mets tenure until he was signed by the Phillies for the 2009 season at age 37. In his final major league season, he was 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts. He finished his 18-year career with many places in the record books, going 219-100 with a 2.93 ERA in 476 games (409 starts). His 219 wins tie him with Kenny Rogers for 76th all time, and his 2.93 career ERA puts him 146th all time. His 3,154 K's place him 13th all time, right ahead of Bob Gibson, and his 10.04 K's per 9 innings pitched place him third all time. He is seventh all time in Winning Percentage at .687 and is 112th all time with 409 starts.  

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Teams followed in this update: Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs. RBI: runs batted in. AVG: batting average. SB: stolen bases. ERA: earned run average. BAA: batting average against. K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman