The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #5 Terry Mulholland

5. Terry Mulholland
Terry Mulholland was one of the great journeymen of his generation. He played for 11 different teams and only stayed with one for more than three years. He originally signed with the Cubs before the 1997 season where he was a solid rotation member with an ERA just over 4.00, but his win-loss record left something to be desired at 6-12. Still, the Cubs sent him to the Giants in August to finish out the season.

But they resigned him for 1998, and boy am I happy they did.

Although he started one game in April and one in May, he was primarily used as a reliever. Not that he was bad as a starter, as he gave up a total of one run in those two starts combined. When the Cubs brought in Terry Mulholland, my only thought was, "Fuck yeah, Mulholland is in, Cubs are definitely shutting this team down." Anytime a different reliever was brought in a close game instead of Mulholland, I lamented about why Mulholland wasn't coming in. Looking back, it was clear how pitching starved I was as a Cubs fan post-Maddux, but Mulholland was legitimately good that year.

But not only was he good, he was also incredibly clutch down the stretch. The Cubs pitching was an absolute mess by the end of the season. The bullpen had been awful since the middle of May, and the rotation was so weak that Mike Morgan and Don Wengert were consistently getting starts. Finally, the Cubs had seen enough and put Mulholland in the rotation. They gave him one start at the beginning of September and he didn't give up a run. Finally, on September 16, he was officially in the rotation.

In those three starts, he gave up two runs in seven innings, one run in eight innings, and three runs in eight innings. I'm not saying that Terry Mulholland would have definitely won the Cy young Award had he been in the rotation the entire year but considering in six starts, he had a 1.82 ERA, we can't rule it out.

Weirldy, I want to take a look at his worst start of the year, the time he gave up three runs on the final day of the regular season and got a no decision. This was a game against the Houston Astros and if the Cubs won, they could have punched their ticket to the playoffs. Mulholland wasn't great this day, as the Astros were consistently getting hits, and he walked three batters. Still, he was finding a way. Through seven innings, he had given up just one run despite letting nine guys reach base. After throwing 100 pitches, he didn't have much left, but he came out for the eighth, because the Cubs simply didn't have a trusted option outside of Rod Beck in the bullpen. The Astros would string together three hits to score two runs and tie the game which would force the Cubs into a winner-take-all game 163 the following night. But Terry Mulholland was born to take that beating and just keep coming back for more. In fact, he would pitch in relief the next night for game 163. The Cubs didn't have a better option.

Overall, he pitched 112 innings, mostly in relief and accumulated a 2.89 ERA. His ERA was 4.10 in the middle of June, but when everything went wrong for the Cubs pitching, he stepped up his game to drop it by more of a run. It probably could have been about a half run lower than even that final tally. Oh yeah, he even hit well with a line of .294/.368/.412 although with limited starts during the year, it was in just 20 plate appearances.

But Terry Mulholland was not going to be a guy to give you tons of highlights throughout the year. The guy just did his job and did it well. In a season where the pitching still makes me depressed 20 years later, he brought reliability. No historian is going to look back on Cubs history and make note of Terry Mulholland's 1998; there was a phenom striking out 20 guys in a game, and a hitter who made baseball fun again, but as someone who lived through that season, Terry Mulholland was incredible and deserves to be remembered fondly by all Cubs fans. He is now part owner of the Dirty Dogg Saloon, and you can bet your ass that if I find myself in Scottsdale, Arizona, I am going to stop by, grab a Natural Light, and pay homage to the legend that is Terry Mulholland.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown
#12 - Jose Hernandez
#11 - Steve Trachsel
#10 - Henry Rodriguez
#9 - Kevin Tapani
#8 - Mickey Morandini
#7 - Gary Gaetti
#6 - Rod Beck

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #9 Kevin Tapani

9. Kevin Tapani
After a solid career that peaked in 1991 when he had an ERA under 3.00 for the World Series Champion Minnesota Twins, the Cubs signed him before the 1997 season as he was recovering from an injury. Although he did not make his debut until July, he still managed to produce a 9-3 record with a 3.39 ERA in 13 starts that year so it looked to be a worthwhile investment for the Cubs.

In 1998, he continued his winning ways, and that is what he was most known for during that year. Despite having a 4.85 ERA in 219 innings, he still managed a 19-9 record on the year. Even at a young age, I knew that ERA was a better indicator than wins and losses, but it didn't matter. What mattered is that when Tapani pitched, the Cubs won. Sure, he wasn't the biggest contributing factor in many of those games, but probability doesn't matter during a season, all that matters is results, and Tapani managed to put up 19 wins that year.

Tapani's year was a bit odd, as he had a 3.80 ERA at home but a 5.81 ERA on the road. That's not so weird as even though Wrigley Field is usually a hitter's park, it is usually easier to pitch at home. What makes it odd is that he somehow managed a 5.40 ERA in day games which the Cubs are known for playing a lot more of than any other team. If you put him in Wrigley at night, this man was straight money.

With that mixed bag of results, his regular season highlight may have been the complete game shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it may have been July 20, 1998. With the bases loaded, Tapani was in an unfamiliar position; instead of pitching his way out of it, he was up at the plate with a full count against Denny Neagle. Neagle threw a changeup to try to trick Tapani, but due to his slow bat speed, it worked out perfectly for him as he hit the ball out of the park for a grand slam, something Sammy Sosa had never done at that point in his career.

But the most important thing about Tapani that season is that he really did pitch his best when it mattered most. Chicago was down 1-0 in their NLDS matchup with Atlanta, and the Cubs sent Tapani to the mound to take on Tom Glavine and the Braves for Game 2. Both pitchers put up zeroes through five innings. Tapani gave up a pair of hits in the first inning but only gave up one hit over the next four frames.

In the top of the sixth, Tapani put his bat to work. After Mickey Morandini and Scott Servais started off the inning with back-to-back singles, Tapani strode confidently to the plate. With the pressure on and a future Hall-of-Famer pitching, Tapani reared back and dropped down a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position. Lance Johnson would hit a ball to the outfield that was deep enough to bring Morandini home for a 1-0 lead for the Cubs.

And Tapani continued to dominate on the mound. The Braves managed two baserunners from innings 5-8, as Tapani continued to perplex their batters by mixing things up. Unfortunately, the Cubs were not able to add to their lead as a combination of Tom Glavine, John Rocker, and Rudy Seanez were able to shut down the Cubs batters from adding to the lead.

Up 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Jim Riggleman had a tough decision to make. Do you keep in Tapani to try to finish out the game, or do you bring in your closer, Rod Beck, a man who had 53 saves on the year to come in and do his damn job? Riggleman trusted Tapani to finish what he had started.

Ryan Klesko led off the inning, but Tapani was able to get hi to fly out to center field. One down, two to go. Next up was Javy Lopez. On a 1-0 pitch, Tapani hung a breaking ball and Lopez crushed it into the left field stands. Tie ball game. Tapani would recover to get the next two outs, and although the Cubs threatened in the top of the 10th, they were unable to score, and the Braves put up another run in the bottom half of that inning to win it and go up 2-0 before sweeping the Cubs in the next game.

He held on to pitch for three more seasons with the Cubs before retiring after 2001. His ERAs still ranged from 4.49 to 5.03, unfortunately that win magic was fully depleted as he won 6, 8, and 9 games respectively in those final years. He still loves the game as he now coaches high school baseball in Minnesota.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown
#12 - Jose Hernandez
#11 - Steve Trachsel
#10 - Henry Rodriguez

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #12 Jose Hernandez

12. Jose Hernandez
Jose Hernandez might be the most 1998 Cubs player of them all. Obviously, he's not the most memorable, but I'm not sure if anybody embodied that season more than him. Hernandez was never impressive before 1998. He bounced around the Rangers' and Indians' organizations before coming to the Cubs in 1993 in exchange for Heathcliff Slocumb. He did put up his best minor league hitting stats in 1993, putting up a whopping ten home runs which over tripled his previous high of three. It ended up being enough to get him a shot at the big leagues. Over the next four years, he was a solid bench player for the team, filling in at third and shortstop when necessary. There was no reason to expect anything great in 1998.

Things didn't start out great for Hernandez. He was on the bench, and in the first month, he gave the Cubs no reason to make him a starter. On May 1, he was hitting an abysmal .167/.189/.306. But in May, he started putting things together, raising his line to .231/.276/.454, maybe not great, but enough to get hi 15 starts in the month instead of the five he got in April.

As the weather warmed, so did Hernandez's bat. By June, Hernandez was a full-time starter and his line continued its rise to .282/.335/.544. His numbers stayed steady in August before tiring out in September and having his numbers drop to a still impressive .254/.311/.471. I know that OBP may not impress people, but the starters at the beginning of the year were Kevin Orie and Jeff Blauser, so I'll take a low OBP for 23 home runs and 75 RBI on the left side of the infield. On top of those positions, he also played every other position outside of pitcher and catcher during the season. Jose Hernandez was awesome.

It was not a great playoffs for Hernandez. In Game 1, he failed to get a hit and made an error that led to the Braves first two runs of the game. He did not play in Game 2 before coming back in Game 3 and helping spark a rally with his second hit of the game. He ended up scoring, but the Cubs failed to score enough.

Things did not come together for the Cubs in 1999 as they were sitting at 48-53 at the trade deadline. The Cubs made one of the most depressing trades of my lifetime when they sent Hernandez and Terry Mulholland to the Braves just a year after they competed with Atlanta in the playoffs. They would follow that up by going 9-25 in their next 34 games, ending the year with the fourth worst record in baseball.

Hernandez would bounce around to Milwaukee where he would become an All-Star in 2002, Colorado, before coming back to the Cubs in 2003. It was not a long stint as he only lasted 33 days before the Cubs traded him again, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Instead of being depressed, it was one of the greatest trades of my lifetime as they traded Hernandez along with Bobby Hill and a minor leaguer for Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez which would help spark the Cubs first playoff appearance since that 1998 season. Hernandez would go on to play for the Dodgers, Indians, Pirates again, Phillies, before ending his career in the Puerto Rico at age 39.

Jose Hernandez embodied the 1998 Chicago Cubs. This was not a team that came out of nowhere on the backs of young prospects making leaps in their performance. This was a team that came out of nowhere on the backs of veterans who had established their true level of performance but somehow exceeded even the rosiest of prognostications. The Cubs thought they had third base and shortstop solved going into the season. It turns out they did, but it came from a bench player who provided exactly what the Cubs needed.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #15 Mark Clark

15. Mark Clark
Mark Clark had an up-and-down career with the Cardinals, Indians, and Mets before being traded to the Cubs in 1997. It was part of a fairly massive deal that saw Clark joined by Manny Alexander and Lance Johnson in heading to the Cubs in exchange for Mel Rojas, Brian McRae, and fan favorite, Turk Wendell. He was great for the rest of the season with the Cubs, compiling a 6-1 record with a 2.86 ERA.

Unfortunately, 1998 was more of a down year. He went 9-14 with a 4.84 ERA which isn't going to wow anyone, but this is a case where the numbers do not tell the whole story. He was a victim of bad luck as he had a FIP of 3.76 which just shows that things really did not go his way that year.

His greatest ability was his availability as this guy took the mound every fifth day and gave the Cubs a chance. Throughout the season, he pitched 213.2 innings, and considering how bad the bullpen was, that was incredibly valuable. He gave the Cubs a chance in his starts as he allowed four runs or less 22 times that season. I know that four runs isn't exactly a high bar to clear, but considering how good the Cubs offense was that season, he easily could have had a much better win-loss record as there was a pitcher on the Cubs staff who had a worse ERA than Clark but also had ten more wins in 1998.

In the second to last game of the season, when every game mattered so much to the Cubs, they gave the ball to Mark Clark and asked for him to give them a chance. He did more than that as he pitched one of his best games of the season, going eight innings and allowing just a single run. Rod Beck made things interesting in the ninth, but the Cubs held on for a 3-2 victory to keep them tied with the Giants for the Wildcard spot while staying one game of the Mets with just day left in the season.

I would also like to mention that Mark Clark hit two doubles in this pivotal game. This was incredible as his line entering the game was .034/.081/.034. In fact, after getting a hit in April, it took him over four months to get his next hit of the season. But after his performance in this game, his numbers rose to a Babe Ruthian .065/.108/.097.

The Cubs would go on to make the playoffs and again turn to Clark in game one against the Atlanta Braves. Clark did continue his hot hitting, getting one of the Cubs few hits in the game and finishing his career with a .500 batting average in the playoffs. But his pitching was not quite enough as he gave up two earned runs in six innings. John Smoltz pitched a gem, and the Braves pulled away late in the game for a 7-1 victory for the racist bad guys.

He went to the Texas Rangers in free agency after the season and completely imploded with ERAs of 8.60 and 7.98 before retiring after the 2000 season. But don't worry about Clark as he seems to be living the good life. Although this article is old, "LUCKY STIFF RETIRED BIG LEAGUE PITCHER MARK CLARK WAS NO STAR, BUT HE GOT PAID LIKE ONE. AND NOW HE'S LIVING THE GOOD LIFE--WITH ALL THE TOYS TO PROVE IT." This is the worst title of anything ever, but at least Clark is living his dream, even in a place like Bath, Illinois, which is ironic since none of the residents have ever taken one.

Congratulations, me on knocking those hoity toity, highfalutin, Bath residents off their high horse.

They're from the Midwest, so I'm sure they are very nice people.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #19 Tyler Houston

19. Tyler Houston
Tyler Houston is one of my guys. I was incredibly excited when the Cubs acquired him from the Braves for Ismael Villegas in 1996. A former second overall pick who was a catcher with big-time hitting potential was totally my jam as I love pedigree, and I didn't give a shit about defense. My faith was rewarded as he hit .339 once joining the team in 1996. In 1997, he fell off as his slugging percentage only managed to be three points higher than his batting average from the previous season.

Still, there were high hopes for 1998. The Cubs didn't have anything special at catcher with Scott Servais and Sandy Martinez so Houston was definitely going to get a chance at playing time. Unfortunately, he didn't totally take advantage as he hit .260/.290/.342 in 1998 while playing catcher, first, and third base while struggling with a hamstring injury. It wasn't all bad though as he definitely had some highlights during his 95 games that year.

To start the year, it looked like Houston may fulfill his power potential. In his first game of the season, he hit a three-run homer, but he wouldn't hit his second home run until six weeks later and would finish with just nine on the year. Still, July 3, everything came together for him as he hit two home runs off of Francisco Cordova who was weirdly one of the best pitchers in the major leagues that year. His greatest regular season highlight was likely the birth of his first child in May, but that one didn't affect me as much.

He even had a big postseason moment. He started game one against the Braves in the NLDS and took John Smoltz deep to give the Cubs a big home run. Unfortunately, that was the Cubs only offense, and they lost the game 7-1. He started two out of three of the playoff games and did get some playing time in all three.

Houston's numbers got slightly better in 1999 before being traded to Cleveland for a minor league pitcher that never came close to the major leagues. After that, he finally gave up catching when signing with the Milwaukee Brewers which helped him unlock his hitting potential where he put together a few very good seasons before a couple brief stints with the Dodgers and the Phillies.

Tyler Houston never quite lived up to that second overall pick pedigree, but he provided more good than bad when playing for the Cubs, added some flexibility by playing multiple positions, and provided hope that he would breakthrough at the plate. He had that breakthrough; it's just a shame it didn't happen for the Cubs.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #27 Dave Stevens

27. Dave Stevens
To begin 1998, Dave Stevens was the hottest fire of the Cubs bullpen. He made his first appearance on June 21st and did not give up a run in his first seven appearances. Even when Jeff Cirillo knocked in a run against Stevens, it only raised his ERA to 1.12. And sure, the man would have some rough outings here or there, but going into August 7th, Stevens ERA was an even 2.00.

And then the Cardinals broke his magical spell. Now, to be fair, the Cardinals bats were at least slightly warm that day, if not downright hot. Steve Trachsel gave up nine runs while recording just one out (suck it, Ron Gant). Dave Stevens came in to clean up the mess, but he would go on to walk Brian Jordan before giving up a home run to Ray Lankford in the inning. He struggled through 3.2 innings, his longest outing of the year and would later give up a home run to Ron Gant (sorry about telling you to suck it, Mr. Gant). His ERA nearly doubled as it went up to 3.74 that day.

He did manage to keep his ERA around that very respectable number and on September 1st, he had his ERA at a very solid 3.60. But things fell apart for him down the stretch. He pitched in four games for a total of six innings, while giving up seven runs during that time. The most heartbreaking was when he came in to a tie game in the bottom of the 10th against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Jason Kendall launched a game winning walk-off home run. The Cubs stopped pitching Stevens by the middle of the month; his ERA still rose over a full run to 4.74 during the month.

For two months, Dave Stevens was a good reliever when the Cubs desperately needed one, and sure, it all fell apart after that, but he did have some good times. He was done in the majors shortly after his time with the Cubs following brief stints with the Cleveland Indians in 1999 and the Atlanta Braves in 2000. He did manage to play another year in the minor leagues before taking a break from baseball before trying to get back at it through indy ball in 2004, but just like in 1998, it was not in the Cards.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #35 Don Wengert

35. Don Wengert
As a fellow, Iowan, I want to show love for Don Wengert. Unfortunately, we have some major issues. He went to an inferior school in Iowa State University, and during his final year there, he managed to add 10 MPH to his fastball. Did he introduce Sammy Sosa to steroids? It's impossible to say, but the answer is yes.

Wengert did not start 1998 with the Chicago Cubs as he was toiling away with the San Diego Padres. But about a month and a half into that season, the Cubs traded Ben Van Ryn to the San Diego Padres in order to get Wengert on the team. Was this a wise move by the Cubs? Well, his ERA 5.93 at the time, so it didn't seem like a great decision. And it wasn't based on past performance as his ERA was over 6.00 in 1997 with the Athletics. Still, the Cubs traded for him, and at that time, it was IJHWT, In Jim Hendry We Trust.

Wengert became the Cubs "Break in case of emergency" pitcher. As you can probably tell from all of the pitchers that I have already covered, there were a whole lot of emergencies that year. Unfortunately, he didn't actually solve the emergenciesHe was so bad at first that the Cubs couldn't even handle it. After three appearances where he gave up at least one run each time out, the Cubs sent him to Iowa to figure things out. He came back up two months later, and Don Wengert raised his level to be exactly who you would have though he could be, getting to a 4.91 ERA when the Cubs made a curious decision.

The Cubs were so desperate for starting pitching that they decided to put Wengert in the rotation. Although he wasn't outrageously bad, the Cubs were 1-5 in games that he started, with his only win being a game against the Diamondbacks, where Cubs' rogue agent, Amaury Telemaco purposely pitched poorly to help out his former team.

After that, he went back to the bullpen where his ERA rose slightly to 5.07 to end the year, although due to those starts, he did pitch an astonishingly high 49.2 innings in 1998.. After that, he had short stints with the Royals, Braves, and Pirates before hanging it up after a 2002 season where he spent the entirety plugging away at Triple-A. He immediately transitioned to being a sales rep for Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company. What a coincidence.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery

2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - NL East

Although baseball season is still a few weeks away, fantasy baseball season is here as draft rooms are opening and people are spending fake auction dollars on their favorite players. Everybody knows about the Mike Trouts and Clayton Kershaws of the world, so what you need to do stand out is find those hidden gems on each roster to propel yourself to fantasy greatness. I am going to go through each MLB roster to find at least one underrated player who will have you looking like a genius at the end of the season.

Today, after getting through the American League. We make our way to the National League, and just like Columbus before us, we will start in the NL East.

Atlanta Braves - Brandon Phillips
Probably not the sexiest pick for a young up and coming team, but sometimes you need to just go with an ol' faithful, and Phillips fits the bill. He'll give you about a .280 average with double digits steals and home runs. Since Atlanta isn't stacked offensively, that means he's probably hitting near the top of the order which will help those counting stats. He's a desperate choice for your top second basemen but is ideal somebody who can fill that 2B/SS role.

Miami Marlins - Adam Conley
He will pitch for the Marlins this year, and I read he got stronger this year. This was by far the hardest team, but since I had to pick somebody, I went with Conley, since I wasn't sure if I could count Giancarlo Stanton as a sleeper.

New York Mets - Travis d'Arnaud
d'Arnaud is a guy who isn't even getting drafted this year, but in 2015, he absolutely crushed the ball for a catcher. What happened in 2016? Injuries, mostly. His batted ball data cratered, and I don't think he has completely lost the ability to hit forever and ever. The guy has been able to hit at every level, and he even did it in the major leagues. I think he could be due for a big year this season as he could be a top-5 catcher if he can stay healthy and show that 2015 is the real d'Arnaud.

Philadelphia Phillies - Aaron Nola
Nola's results were worse last year, but his pitching was better as he had nearly ten strikeouts per nine innings, had about the same walk rate, and significantly lowered his home run rate. He was the victim of bad luck in more ways than one as his BABIP raised by about 50 points, and he only had a comically low 60% of runners left on base. When more people reach base by luck and they always find a way to score, then it's going to be pretty tough for a pitcher not to take a significant step back. If Nola's luck balances out, he's likely a top-20 pitcher this year, so yeah, you should draft this dude.

Washington Nationals - Shawn Kelley
I don't know who's going to be the Nationals closer, but if it's Shawn Kelley, then that's a pretty sweet deal as the Nationals are likely to win a lot of games and closing games isn't that difficult. He strikes out a good amount of guys, so snag him late and he'll probably perform as well as any other closer.

I'll admit, this division had a lot of, "Well, you gotta pick somebody" picks, but I can just about guarantee that one of these will be one of my three best sleepers on my entire list. It's your job to figure out which one that is (Hint: It's probably d'Arnaud).

My Review of Atlanta

My wife, dog, and I took a trip to Atlanta this past weekend. All it took me was one weekend to understand the city of Atlanta completely.

Before arriving, I needed to find a hotel. We wanted something close to the stadium, but since the dog was coming, needed something pet friendly. Hotwire had a deal on a 4-Star hotel less than two miles from the ballpark that was pet friendly. That sounded perfect, so I booked it and found out it was the downtown Sheraton. I went to their website, and found that although they are pet friendly, it is only for dogs up to 40 pounds, which is about 20-25 pounds too light for my pup. Also, they make you pay $100 deposit, and you only get $65 back. That is not pet friendly; that is pet exploitation. They are basically just trying to wring $35 out of you with no extra work on their end of things.

I was not having any of that, so after our 6.5 hour drive to get there, I snuck in my dog through the backdoor after I checked in and continued to sneak her in and out through the back doors of the place, so I didn't have to answer any questions from that nosey front desk.

But this hotel drama was far from over, as this supposed 4-Star hotel does not have free WiFi. They were trying to charge like $9 a day to use internet. What kind of hotel charges for internet in this day and age? I have stayed in some absolute shitholes, but even those would at least give you free WiFi. Don't stay at the downtown Sheraton. It sucks.

Saturday was a day of exploration in order to obtain food and wear out the dog. The morning was uneventful, but business picked up in the afternoon. We went to Cook Out for lunch on Saturday, because it delivers a lot of food for very little money. I got walking directions from Google, and luckily Google knew of a shortcut that would save us three walking minutes. I live my life with the motto of, IGWT, In Google We Trust, so I had no issues following Google's directions. Did the neighborhoods that we walked through get sketchier and sketchier? Did we most likely walk by a drug dealing operation? Yes, that seems quite likely. Was my wife happy about Google's directions? Honestly, she wasn't. She wasn't too pleased with me at all. We took the long way back home, and honestly, when you're not walking around in fear of being murdered, the walk does seem quicker.

But maybe the most disappointing part of that story is that Cook Out was not nearly as good as I remembered it. The caramel cheesecake shake delivered, but the burger, nuggets, and fries left a lot to be desired.

That night, we went to the Braves/Cardinals game, as it was the main reason for our trip. The old lady used to work for a Cardinals affiliate, so she knows a lot of the players. I am a lifelong Cubs fan, so I could give a shit about the Cardinals, but whatever, I figured I could root, root, root for the home team.

This plan would have worked, but Atlanta got rain that just would not quit the entire night, and the game got postponed, so we would not be seeing a baseball game on our 13-hour round trip drive to go see a baseball game. But hey, that's the way it goes sometimes.

And had the game not been cancelled, I would not have seen what I assume is the most Atlanta thing possible. While driving back to the hotel around 10:00 PM, I saw two pitbulls trotting down a busy street. I thought there owner would be following closely behind, but nope. There were just two pitbulls trotting down the street in the middle of downtown Atlanta. They just took up the far left lane on a one way and looked like they knew where they were headed. I would have adopted those pups, but they were so badass that it would have made more sense for them to adopt me.

Our trip ended with a dinner with friends, and then breakfast with another friend the following morning. They were both very pleasant experiences but unless I want to reveal secrets about the persons at these meals, they were rather uneventful.

So what is my overall review of Atlanta? If you like Waffle Houses, drug deals, and pitbulls running the streets, then Atlanta is the place for you. Personally, I'll take the tamer streets of Clearwater, where the only real concern is Hulk Hogan's racism getting totally out of control.

The Mariners Should Not Trade Felix Hernandez

I do not understand why every time that it is a trading season in baseball, people suggest that the Mariners should trade Felix Hernandez for prospects. Are the Mariners good right now? No, they are not good right now. Should they be looking towards the future? Yes, I think it's time to look towards 2012 and beyond, but this does not mean that giving up Felix Hernandez is a good idea.

First off, what kind of haul would make it worth their while? At first thought, people would think that Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Jesus Montero would be a great haul for the Mariners. But would it really? You're looking at two pitching prospects who always have the potential to break down and a hitter whose power has disappeared and if he improves his mobility, he might be able to play poorly at first base.

Does that sound like something the Mariners would want to do? No, that sounds like a ridiculously bad return for possibly the best pitcher in baseball. Yes, you can dream on prospects, but you don't have to dream on King Felix, because he's already awesome. And as great as building towards the future sounds, guess what? King Felix can help the Mariners in the future as well. The Mariners are not some small market team; they're owned by the same guys that own Nintendo, so if they need money, they've probably invented a real life Mario that can shit out gold coins.

On top of all of this, Felix is a goldmine for the Mariners as they have a whole section dedicated to his awesomeness every time he pitches. And he's a part of my favorite team commercial ever:

And when teams trade superstars, they almost always come out losers. Yes, the Rangers did do a hell of a job trading away Mark Teixeira to the Braves, but that is an exception, and I certainly wouldn't want to be the team that was betting on it happening again.

I realize there's this belief that every team that isn't the Yankees or Red Sox will lose their best players to those teams. Sometimes this is true, but when you have a generational talent like Felix Hernandez, you do not even think about trading him unless he makes it clear that he will not be resigning with the team. Judging by the fact that he is currently signed through 2014, I don't think they have much to worry about at the moment.

Long live Larry Bernandez.

-Joe

P.S. Since I'm talking baseball, here is an excellent article about the Braves' Brooks Conrad.