How Rare Is the Ohtani/Trout Squander?
Superstars on shit teams: A survey
People deride the Los Angeles Angels for many well-deserved reasons, beginning with “Los Angeles” -- the Big A is 23 miles away from the City of Angels, 12 miles even from the L.A. County line. The team and its actual host city is at constant, tragicomical political/legal odds; the latest involves possible litigation over a fire station. For nearly a quarter century, fans have been suffering through a 7th inning stretch song whose lyrics infamously include “Why do you build me up ... just to let me down?”
But most inexcusably, despite benefiting from the second comings of both Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, the Angels have been relentlessly, almost brazenly, mediocre. They have the longest active under-.500 season streak in the majors, at seven seasons and counting. And only the craptasticness of the 2022 Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics is keeping the team from finishing in fourth place for a fifth consecutive time at the start of Shohei Ohtani’s incandescent career.
How rare is it for a bad team to have two Hall of Fame talents at or near their peaks? In fairness, it’s actually rare for these Angels: Ohtani has been otherworldly for only these past two seasons, and Trout was hurt most of last year and for a chunk of this year, though a late-season kick -- he’s hit 14 homers in 35 games since coming off the injured list -- has him back among the American League top 10 in Wins Above Replacement (WAR), as measured by Baseball Reference.
When you have two players in the top 10 in their league in WAR, you tend to make the playoffs, as with the 2022 Dodgers (Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman), Braves (Austin Riley and Max Fried), and Cardinals, whose Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Tommy Edman were ranked first, second, and seventh as play began on Sept. 30.
Since the expansion to 30 teams in 1998, there have been 107 ballclubs to finish with two players top 10 in WAR. Nearly half (46) finished in first place, 68 made the playoffs, and only 13 had losing records. The good news for the Angels is that their late-season mini-surge (9-4 over their last 13!) makes them likely to avoid finishing with the worst record among the past quarter-century of double-squanderers. They only need to win two of their last six games (one of which will be started by 15-game winner Ohtani) to beat out the 2019 Rockies (Arenado and Trevor Story) and 2003 Rangers (Alex Rodriguez and Hank Blalock), who each finished at 71-91.
More to the spirit of the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle meme, has a franchise ever so mismanaged a superstar duo?
Well sure, is one possible answer -- just look at the Angels! In 1977, future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan and then-Hall of Fame-level talent Frank Tanana (whose career through age 23 was better than such early-star, future-‘Famers as Don Drysdale and Chief Bender) finished third and second, respectively in AL WAR (7.7 and 8.3, or more than Ohtani/Trout’s combined 15.4 so far this year). Like Ohtani/Trout’s 2022, Ryan/Tanana’s 1977 was the only year the two really put it together in the same season. The Angels, besides getting the best combined year from their two rotation studs, had added to the previous year’s famously punchless 76-86 squad with the more muscular likes of Don Baylor, Joe Rudi and Bobby Grich, while also getting a 27-homer improvement from Bobby Bonds. Their record? 74-88.
So yes, the 1974-77 Angels, who had two of MLB’s top eight leaders in pitching WAR yet only averaged 73 wins a year, are a decent comp for the Ohtani/Trout era. Though the team did finish second and first in 1978-79, even while Tanana’s poor overused arm was turning into warm cheese.
Of the more than four score teams during the World Series era to finish with a losing record despite having two top-10 WAR finishers, four others merit special consideration for pissing away Hall of Fame talent across a span of years:
The 1990s Mariners. Future Hall of Fame centerfielder Ken Griffey, Jr., was rookie of the year in 1989, the same season Seattle traded for future Hall of Fame flamethrower Randy Johnson. In 1990, the Mariners belatedly stuck future Hall of Fame hitter Edgar Martinez in their starting lineup, and in 1996 a 20-year-old shortstop named Alex Rodriguez hit .358 with 91 extra-base hits, finishing 2nd in the Most Valuable Player voting. Somehow, some way, a franchise that stacked managed just two playoff appearances for the entire 1990s.
The 1950s Phillies. In 1950, the Whiz Kids shocked the world by winning the National League pennant behind a pair of future Hall of Fame 23-year-olds: Workhorse starter Robin Roberts and slick-fielding leadoff centerfielder Richie Ashburn. Over the next eight years, during which time Roberts was the best pitcher in baseball and Ashburn among the top 10 in position-player WAR (admittedly behind some other good CFs), the franchise finished an aggregate eight games under .500. They couldn’t get any offense out of RF and 1B, and left-fielder Del Ennis declined after his 4th place 1950 MVP finish at age 25.
The mid-1930s Red Sox. In 1935, Boston’s Wes Ferrell led the league in wins, complete games, innings pitched and WAR, while hitting .347 with 7 HRs. Also on the squad was his future Hall of Fame brother catcher Rick, future Hall of Fame shortstop Joe Cronin, plus the recently acquired best left-handed pitcher in Major League history, Lefty Grove, who won 20 games and finished second in WAR. The team went 78-75. The next year the Sox added 28-year-old Jimmie Foxx, who hit .338 with 41 homers. They finished 74-80. This nucleus only got as high as second place in 1938, with the arrival of future Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr, but even the subsequent debut of Ted Williams wouldn’t get Planet Masshole over the hump until after the war.
The 1920s Browns. From 1919 to 1924, the American League club in St. Louis enjoyed the talents of prime-age Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler, stud starting pitcher (and future ’27 Yankee) Urban Shocker, plus a fine outfield of Jack Tobin, Ken Williams and Baby Doll Jacobson. They finished over .500 just twice, and only really challenged for the pennant in 1922.
So yes, it really is possible to waste the prime years of multiple Hall of Famers on mediocre clubs. But you really have to be a dumbass.
Originally published at Paloma Media.
As a lover of historical baseball, this was a fun article. I think you’re examples from the past are spot on and as someone who has lived in the PNW since the late 90’s I have always felt people overlooked how disappointing the Mariners were. With that said, you have great examples but I truly believe they dont even come close to how disappointing the Angels have been.