Good article.

As an addendum, here are the LI and PA numbers for the relievers cited in 1989:
Davis: 1.92 , 370
Howell: 1.88 , 312
Anderson: 1.15, 351

Mark Davis is important for the reason cited in #14. Perhaps more than any player in history, he exemplifies the foolishness of signing a player to a big bucks contract after one great season. I will never forget that lesson after his complete flameout in 1990 and whenever I think of chris hammond or alan embree or any newly proclaimed PROVEN CLOSER, I think of Davis.

Gee, Geoff, when you said, "If you think [Sid] Fernandez is questionable, wait till you see the other guy I wrote about. ;-) " you weren't kidding. I know you're new to the B' staff; is this some kind of rookie hazing they're putting you through?

Seriously, despite all that happened later, I have fond memories of Mark Davis from the 1989 pennant race. If only for a year or two, he was high-leverage, low-ERA, and a thrill to watch. I remember watching him close out games at the Murph and then hanging around to watch the end of the Giants-whoever game on the Diamondvision.

Davis is no HOFer, but that counts for something.

Tango: Thanks for adding further context to Davis' 1989 season.

Brad: The reason for running a Keltner list on Davis is twofold. First, it gives us an opportunity to examine a player who enjoyed a long career in ways that we may never again do. Personally I found it interesting to note his extreme home/road splits while pitching in San Diego. Second, and more importantly, running a Keltner list on a guy like Davis, who intuitively isn't a HOFer, helps validate the list as a tool. If we're pretty darned sure that Davis doesn't belong in the HOF and the Keltner list confirms this, then it has done an effective job in this case. Davis, in his way, is a point in favor of the Keltner list. Not a very subtle point, but a point nonetheless.

Daryn: Agreed. Amazing that some teams still haven't learned.

Fracas: No rookie hazing. Believe it or not, I chose Davis. Someone's gotta stand up for the Padres. :-)

Thanks, all, for the comments....

Randy Jones (courtesy of Retrosheet):

IP H HR BB SO ERA
1975
home 165.2 133 6 32 57 1.68
away 119.1 109 11 24 46 3.02

1976
home 171.1 127 4 23 43 1.89
away 144.0 147 11 27 50 3.75

Check out those hit and homer totals. I'd say the Murph helped him quite a bit.

Oops, sorry about the formatting. Jones pitched a lot better at home than on the road in 1975 and 1976. Here are links:

1975: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Ljoner10103.htm

1976: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Ljoner10104.htm

San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium has an odd history of park factors, due to the additions of the inner fence, the scoreboard and then the near-total enclosure of the seating bowl. During the same period, the composition of the league and division has changed pretty dramatically. Both NL expansion franchises joined the NL West, one with an extreme park factor which makes all other parks appear more pitcher-friendly than they are in an absolute sense.

Looking at its park factors chronologically is not an intuitive experience, but since the latest expansion it's been as pitcher-friendly as Dodger Stadium and Pac Bell, which is fairly extreme.

Of all the candidates discussed here at the Primer, Davis is easily the worst so far. I second DaveF's comment that he shouldn't get a single vote.

I wait with baited breath the Keltner List for Danny Tartabull...