R.I.P. Gary "Keep an Eye on the Kids" Majewski

Gary in 20 years







Gary Majewski

(2006-2008)

Let's be honest,

Gary looked right at home

on the Ohio River,

or any river

for that matter.

During Bullpen Meltdown '06, the Reds traded beloved Austin Kearns and sex symbol Felipe Lopez to the Nationals for much needed relief (too good a pun?). It came in the form of Bill Bray and Gary Majewski, two poor young men who had know idea what kind of firestorm they were being thrown into. Bill battled through some arm trouble and finally settled nicely into the Reds 2008 bullpen. The same, however, can not be said for Gary, part-time coon hunter, who turned into possibly the worst pitcher in the history of baseball.

Health was always the question with Gary. After the Reds traded for him, there was controversy surrounding unreported cortisone shots he'd recieved for arm pain shortly before the trade. The Nationals, led by ex-Reds GM Jim Bowden, thought it better not to tell the Reds about this (the Reds filed a greivance claim in 2007). For the better part of the next two years Gary probably had no feeling in his arm, which would explain his 7.39 ERA as a Red. The only person who would want me to continue listing Gary's horrifying numbers is Matt Belisle.

STAT WATCH: Now that Gary is no longer a Red, he will be able to heal his arm correctly and win Comeback Player of the Year with the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Before his Reds stint, Gary was a solid healthy reliever with a career 3.28 ERA. Let's hope he never achieves this ever again.

The Best Pitching Seasons of the Past *15 Years (Starters)

Jose Rijo takes the cake with this one. I cheated and stretched the list to 16 years to get him in. In 1993, Jose went nuts on National League batters, posting a 2.48 ERA and 227 SOs in 257 IP. But because Jose only went 14-9, he placed 5th in Cy Young voting behind four 20-game winners (in order, Greg Maddux-ATL, Bill Swift-SF, Tom Glavine-ATL and John Burkett-SF), even though Jose finished 2nd in ERA, 1st in SOs, 1st in SOs/9IP and 1st in games started. This is a dazzling example of the irrelevancy of a pitcher's Win-Loss record. Swift, Glavine and Burkett had excellent years, but they were surrounded by better players. Atlanta won 104. San Fran won 103. Cincinnati won 73. To the victor goes the spoils. Do I sound bitter?

Here are the next best individual seasons for a Reds starting pitcher since 1993...

	Player	Year	GS	IP	ERA	W-L	SO
2	E. Volquez	2008	33	196	3.21	17-6	206
3	B. Arroyo	2006	35	240.7	3.29	14-11	184
4	E.Dessens	2002	30	178	3.03	7-8	93
5	P. Harnisch	1998	32	209	3.14	14-7	157
6	J. Rijo	1994	26	172.3	3.08	9-6	171
7	P. Schourek	1995	29	190.3	3.22	18-7	160
8	A.Harang	2007	34	231.7	3.73	16-6	208
9	A.Harang	2006	36	234.3	3.76	16-11	216
10	P. Harnisch	1999	33	198.3	3.68	16-10	120

Some things to think about...
A.) Edinson's year made it a tad easier to let go of Josh Hamilton.
B.) Bronson can be really, really good, or so, so terrible.
C.) How do you post a 3.03 ERA in 30 games and go 7-8. Oh, I know--because you pitched during the Dark Ages in 2002 when our best offensive season came from Austin Kearns in limited action.
D.) Even in Aaron Harang's good years, he still flirted with a 4.00 ERA.
E.) The Reds have not had good pitching in a long time.