Jeff Suppan retires

TheYaz67

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Eligible for the Hall in 2017! 
 
Of course his B-Ref "Black Ink" score is not great.  He lead the league only once and only in one category.... and its the one you would probably correctly guess - HR allowed in 2000 with the KC Royals (36)....
 

santadevil

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The best memory I have of him.
 
I like that he timed his retirement to be today at 4:00pm, the same time his Mom died exactly 6 years ago...because that makes a lot of sense.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Red(s)HawksFan

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Plympton91 said:
Lost for nothing in the 1995 expansion draft, along with Jim Mecir.
 
It was 1997, but yes, he was the 3rd pick overall.
 
BCsMightyJoeYoung said:
Wasn't Kelly Shoppach also lost in that draft?
 
Well before Shoppach's time.  He was "lost" in the trade for Coco Crisp in 2006.
 
Dec 10, 2012
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santadevil said:

 
The best memory I have of him.
 
I like that he timed his retirement to be today at 4:00pm, the same time his Mom died exactly 6 years ago...because that makes a lot of sense.
The go-to play to use when some MFY or MFC fan mentions Papi's defense.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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BCsMightyJoeYoung said:
Wasn't Kelly Shoppach also lost in that draft?
 
You're thinking of Eric Wedge. Lots of handwringing over that one. 
 
Lost for nothing in the 1995 expansion draft, along with Jim Mecir.
 
 
1998 draft to Arizona. Suppan made his debut in 1995. And there was no expansion draft in 1995. 
 

smastroyin

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Duquette did a lot of things right and forward thinking, but the development of pitching (from overdrafting fireballing high schoolers to abusing teenage arms) was really stuck in the 70's.
 
Suppan threw 57 innings *after* being drafted in 93.   He then threw 174 in 94 at the age of 19.  In 95, he threw 167 but did it across three levels including the majors.  Then he started having elbow problems that limited him to...167 innings again (get back out there and throw, kid!).  
 
Meanwhile, in 96, 19 year old Juan Pena threw 187.2 innings in the Midwest League, mainly featuring his slider, a high stress pitch.  He followed that up in 97 with 188.1 innings and then started having elbow trouble at age 22 which would haunt him until he blew it out after two promising starts in the majors in 1999.
 
Pavano was handled a little slower.  Perhaps because he was from the north.  But he only threw 141.2 innings as 19 year old, then jumped to 185 at age 20, which isn't that unreasonable.  Of course, he then had his own little minor arm troubles limiting him to 23 starts (but averging over 7 IP/S and totaling 161.2 IP) and was then traded for Pedro.
 
Brian Rose was local which gave him a bit too much hype, and then he had great traditional results in his age 21 year in Pawtucket which got him a lot of rave reviews (#22 overall prospect by BA!) despite his mediocre stuff and inability to get strikeouts (5.5 K.9).  
 
But the drafts?  Andy Yount had the stupidity of cutting his hand open breaking a bottle but he wasn't looking great anyway.  Josh Garrett?  John Curtice?  It was like a handbook on how not to draft.
 

richgedman'sghost

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Plympton91 said:
Lost for nothing in the 1995 expansion draft, along with Jim Mecir.
It was the 97 draft and by losing Supan it allowed us to protect Tony Armas Jr who went in the Pedro deal. I think even you would agree that was a good deal.
 

Fishercat

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Jeff Suppan is the only MLB SP who I ever got to see live in his Major League Debut when he was just 20 years old. That wasn't a great game, but he did pretty well for his debut, the seats were good, I got to boo the crap out of Bob Hamelin, and the Royals/Red Sox were very generous with signings too (except for Hamelin).
 
That's a terrible story, but I meant it to say that I've always followed Suppan a little bit because of that game, which was one of the lasting memories I have of my step-father, and it's incredible how he's lasted this long, by far the longest lasting player on that 1995 Sox roster (and the better of the SPs I got to see, freaking Vaughn Eshelman). Another career saved by the Cards it seemed.