Some Guys Get No Respect

I read on mlbtraderumors.com today that the Mariners just re-signed 33 year old veteran right-hander Mike Koplove to a minor league deal.  Koplove spent 2009 pitching for three different organizations’ AAA teams.  He finished the season with a 1.87 ERA, and he didn’t even get a September call-up.  That stinks!

In fairness, Koplove’s run average was a not particularly impressive 3.11.  However, his ratios were excellent.

Here’s his ‘09 pitching line:  55 appearances, 72.1 IP, 56 hits and 28 walks allowed, and 69 Ks.  That looks an awful lot like a pitcher who could have helped at least a couple of major league teams last year.  Yet he never got a chance.

Koplove hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007.  His career major league line is as follows:  222 appearances, 254.2 IP, 231 hits and 103 walks allowed, and 175 Ks.  He has a career major league ERA of 3.82.

How many bottom of the bullpen relievers like Koplove have career major league ERAs below 4.00?  Not many.  Yet no one wants to give Koplove another major league shot.  It’s just not right.

It’s possible that Koplove is a real jerk and a cancer in the clubhouse, but I doubt it.  Instead, I think he’s another victim of the the long-standing prejudice in MLB against small right-handers who don’t throw well over 90 mph.

Koplove is listed at 6′0″ and 160 lbs, which is small for a right-hander in today’s game.  He throws side-arm, and according to wikipedia, uses a lot of different arm angles to confuse hitters and get movement on his pitchers.  It’s almost a sure bet that he doesn’t throw hard but knows how to pitch.  This kind of right-handed pitcher never gets enough respect from major league teams.

For what it’s worth, small lefties don’t face the same discrimination.  Teams have always been so desperate to find left-handed pitchers who can get left-handed hitters out, that they’ll take anyone who can do just that.  Baseball history is full of small left-handed pitchers like Whitey Ford and Bobby Shantz, who probably wouldn’t have gotten the same opportunities if they’d been right-handers.

Back to Koplove.  One thing that strongly suggests that he is not a problem player is that he was selected to the 2008 United States Olympic team.  He was the only American pitcher not to allow a hit in that competition, pitching 5.1 innings and registering six strikeouts.  Ya think he can pitch a little?

Koplove finished the 2009 season for the Mariners’ AAA team in Tacoma but didn’t get a call-up.  The M’s have spent a lot of money on players this off-season and look to be a top team in the AL West in 2010, along with the Angels.  It remains to be seen if the M’s will have use for a 33 year old relief pitcher, who didn’t even get a call-up last season.

It bothers me when teams are too cheap to call up in September veteran minor leaguers who had great seasons at AAA.  Those call-ups only cost teams the major league minimum (about $400,000) pro-rated for one month (about $70,000), and they give hope to every player in the organization over age 27 that if they continue to slug it out in the minor leagues and have a good season at AAA, they’ll get a chance to play in the majors (and make a little money) even if only briefly.  It sends a message that if you play well, you’ll be rewarded.

In 2007 and 2008, the Giants had a veteran 4-A player playing first base for them at AAA Fresno named Scott McClain.  McClain was too old to have any kind of major league career — he was age 35 and 36 those two seasons — but he had two fine seasons for Fresno, hitting a combined 60 HRs over the two years.  The Giants gave him September call-ups both seasons, and in September of 2008, he hit the only two homeruns of his major league career.  That limited major league playing time was probably also the reason that McClain was able to return to Japan in 2009 and make some real money playing for the Hiroshima Carp.

It was the right thing for the Giants to do.  Rewarding guys like McClain keeps them playing in the minors for years even when they don’t have a realistic chance of having much of a major league career.  These players are valuable, because they teach young players by example how veteran players go about their business and prepare themselves for a 140+ game season.

Players like these are also necessary to maintain AAA as a league just a notch below the majors, so that young players actually get real preparation for playing in MLB.  Finally, if you have a rash of injuries, having a player like Scott McClain to call up can hold down the fort and save your season, until the real major leaguers are ready to return.  Isn’t that worth the occasional $70,000?