Just in case anybody thinks that he's a viable candidate because of this thread (you know who you are), rest assured he's not. :-) Good pitcher, though.

I'd like to see how he shows up in RSA.

-- MWE

I'd like to see how he shows up in RSA.

RSA? Run scored against (UER?), Run Support? Lee Sinins Runs Saved Above Average?

He's a durable #3 starter for some memorable teams. Even considering the greats he had in front of him in the rotation, he was never really an ace. Lee Sinins gives him 40 career RSAA and a Neutral W-L record of 203-188 which is a bit better than his real record, but not enough to put him into ballot consideration.

I will never forgive him for beating the Twins in game 3 in '65 after the Twins had bombed Drysdale and Koufax. Without Osteen, the D's lose that series.

So I ain't votin' fer the guy.

RSA?

I meant RSI, of course.

-- MWE

RSI? OK, but you really should get a Palmer/Gillette 'cyclopedia and look up his SUP (P/G's version of RSI. Same thing but they apparently use a different park factor because our numbers are constantly a little off but almost never more than a little off).

His career RSI was 98.82, so not much difference either way. It comes out to an adjusted W/L record of 198-193. He underachieved by four based on his real life run support and actual RA/9IP>

Actually, I did come up with an improved version of RSI - RSD (Run Support Distribution) - a few months ago that accounts for not only run support, but how it's distributed across games. I've run this for 1960-79 pitchers, and if I think of it I'll look it up when I get a chance. From memory, Osteen comes off as a big underachiever in W/L based on his real-life run support distribution & RA/9IP.

RA+ equivalent record 200-185. Middling IP/decision of 8.85. Best equivalent years of 22-13 (1968) and 19-13 (1964). More big years than Jim Perry, but not quite the career. His time as a teenage pitcher has very little impact on his record.

Was he a known or suspected spitballist?
On SABR-L recently I named him maybe exemplar, from my earliest baseball memories, of the modern spitball, treated by announcers as a type of sinker.

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I will never forgive him for beating the Twins in game 3 in '65 after the Twins had bombed Drysdale and Koufax. Without Osteen, the D's lose that series.

He couldn't manage that in '66. He gave up a run.
Excellent Series record.
A mistake to bat for him after five innings in game six?

Was he a known or suspected spitballist?

Pretty much everybody on the Dodgers' staff in the mid-to-late '60s (other than Koufax, of course) was a suspected spitballist, Regan and Drysdale especially, of course. As a canny, control-oriented junkballer, it would hardly be surprising to learn that Osteen loaded them up on occasion.