2057 – Aging Out: Thirty-Six

[RonCo]

Here’s another edition of the little series I’m doing on older players in the BBA, again, focusing on when they are dropping off rather than what will happen to those they leave behind as they go. To recap, it seems that from 38 and up, players begin dropping almost like flies, and we lost about half of the population per season. Thirty-seven year olds look a bit more stout, and though it would probably be best for a third of them or so to retire, most can probably do something for teams that can squint hard at to ignore their deficiencies.

As makes some sense, 36-year-olds continue the trend.

There are a bunch. Forty-eight of them, or roughly 1.5 per team.

Of them, three retired, and it’s fair to argue that maybe ten more should have but didn’t.

And then there’s Hugh Mangrothormone.

Here’s the list;

POS	Name	TM	Age	OVR	POT	CON	GAP	POW	EYE	K's	SPE	STE	PA	AVG	OPS+	WAR
CF	Félix Román	MEX	36	80	80	9	9	10	6	7	9	9	674	0.281	152	6.2
RF	Ángel González	VAN	36	70	70	8	10	7	4	9	9	11	632	0.301	133	4.9
3B	Tony Frost	VAN	36	70	70	7	8	7	7	8	4	5	667	0.255	121	4.1
RF	André Ly	OMA	36	65	65	6	8	8	8	6	9	10	582	0.239	114	4
SS	Pepe Espinosa	RMO	36	75	75	6	9	7	5	8	6	10	469	0.317	148	3.9
DH	Gonzalo Martínez	EDM	36	65	65	7	8	8	7	8	8	5	682	0.298	147	3.9
RF	Aires Penharanda	POR	36	60	60	7	8	7	5	7	8	8	644	0.271	112	3.6
LF	Wilson Alomar	CCJ	36	60	60	8	8	7	5	8	1	9	582	0.315	130	3.3
3B	Gary Allen	BOI	36	55	55	5	8	7	5	7	7	3	622	0.279	120	3.3
SS	Juan Luis Manuel	LV	36	60	60	5	5	5	7	5	8	10	553	0.248	89	3.1
LF	Théo Bourges	SEA	36	60	60	6	8	7	5	8	8	9	670	0.281	103	2.5
C	Kazuki Saito	SEA	36	55	55	7	7	3	2	7	1	1	478	0.323	103	2.5
3B	Ernesto González	ATC	36	55	55	7	8	4	3	7	9	11	629	0.293	95	2.3
3B	Don Pérez	PHX	36	55	55	7	8	5	4	9	7	9	580	0.285	95	2.3
3B	Alejandro Córdova	LBC	36	65	65	6	7	5	8	6	9	11	589	0.244	84	2.2
3B	Wilson Andrade	SEA	36	55	55	7	7	5	3	7	3	10	664	0.301	98	2.2
3B	Ron Ritchie	SFB	36	60	60	6	6	4	6	7	7	10	378	0.299	97	1.9
LF	Reggie Vargas	PHX	36	70	70	7	8	9	6	7	1	9	315	0.263	128	1.5
LF	Paul Kemp	BOI	36	55	50	7	8	7	3	7	3	6	461	0.284	108	0.9
CF	Orlando Ordóñez	OMA	36	50	50	5	6	6	5	4	9	10	150	0.294	130	0.9
C	Randy Bader	Retired	36	35	35	4	8	6	6	3	4	10	117	0.236	96	0.9
CF	Gilberto Falchonelli	TWC	36	60	60	7	7	7	6	8	8	9	377	0.234	88	0.7
CF	Omer Dijkstra	LV	36	55	55	5	7	7	3	7	8	10	92	0.318	152	0.7
3B	Alfredo Rosas	MEX	36	65	65	8	7	7	5	8	1	6	654	0.276	102	0.6
1B	Semei Kwakou	LOU	36	50	50	6	8	6	5	7	8	6	491	0.281	114	0.5
1B	Aarnoud Budding	MTL	36	65	65	7	11	9	6	5	2	1	493	0.234	102	0.4
1B	Robert Chenoweth	DM	36	65	65	8	9	8	4	6	8	10	356	0.25	89	0.3
LF	Girolamo L'Archibudelli	DM	36	60	60	8	8	4	5	10	9	11	366	0.288	97	0.2
CF	Frédérick Brisset	SEA	36	55	55	5	6	6	7	5	9	11	313	0.205	63	0.1
2B	José Sánchez	POR	36	55	55	7	8	1	4	9	7	8	222	0.264	83	0.1
3B	Eric Jones	LV	36	50	50	6	8	5	5	8	2	3	28	0.269	97	0.1
1B	Ernesto Sousa	LV	36	55	55	7	8	8	3	6	5	2	259	0.289	105	0
1B	Hugh Mangrouthormone	VAN	36	50	50	5	8	12	2	4	6	10	4	0	61	0
CF	Sawyer Slizz	Retired	36	45	45	5	9	7	5	8	8	10	21	0.25	89	0
RF	Pedro Bustamante	POR	36	65	65	8	8	8	4	8	6	6	530	0.27	105	-0.1
RF	Pedro Huerta	MTL	36	65	65	7	10	8	5	9	10	10	494	0.237	91	-0.1
LF	Matthew Reilly	-	36	50	50	8	7	6	4	8	7	9	124	0.261	69	-0.1
3B	Wllibald Akbulut	-	36	55	55	6	7	6	6	6	3	11	28	0.154	12	-0.2
3B	Juan Medrano	-	36	55	55	5	5	1	9	6	9	10	209	0.194	56	-0.2
3B	Iván González	Retired	36	45	45	5	6	5	6	6	1	1	103	0.202	51	-0.3
2B	Francisco Arredondo	TWC	36	55	55	7	8	7	5	8	7	9	196	0.228	54	-0.5
SS	Jeremy Webb	NSH	36	55	55	5	8	5	6	6	6	10	177	0.182	34	-0.5
SS	Wagaw Fakihi	-	36	50	50	4	7	5	5	7	9	10	192	0.179	43	-0.5
SS	Reynante Alvero	-	36	45	45	4	5	3	6	5	8	11	132	0.164	26	-0.6
LF	Bret Powers	VAN	36	70	70	7	8	10	4	6	3	10	356	0.245	86	-0.9
SS	Héctor Vázquez	YS9	36	45	45	5	6	1	6	6	7	10	263	0.226	53	-0.9
LF	Júlio Barajas	RCK	36	50	50	7	5	6	3	7	1	7	607	0.259	74	-1.8

Where do we start in trying too digest what this collection means? I suppose a properly diligent journalist would dig through every player and focus attention on whether he was truly finished, including lots of conversation about team situations and other such nuance. But life is really too short now, isn’t it? And no one will ever mistake me for a proper journalist, anyway.

So let’s try it this way:

Twelve of these 48 (or 25%) registered negative WAR. Those twelve players averaged about 250 PA. Max was Rockville’s Julio Barajas, who was allowed 607 AP to create that -1.8 WAR. Digging into them a touch, I’m suspecting most of them will have a hard time getting a BBA gig this time around because even the “up the middle” specialists look to me to have a hard time convincing most focused GMs that they can field much at all.

Maybe Jeremy Webb might stick someplace.

Maybe.

A 34 OPS+ is very hard to watch.

Fifteen of these guys (30%) registered positive WAR under 1.0. So, basically replacement level, expect that they averaged about 310 PA apiece to do it. That suggests they played something of a valuable role in pieces. Presumably, if pressed to fulltime roles, most of these guys would have depressed their value…and I can see that. Perhaps most prevalent in this list is the venerated name od Semi Kwakou, who saw 491 PA, mostly against RHP, and registered half a WAR. Personally, if you look at his stat lines, I think that says something id broken in OOTP WAR, but the face remains that he saw only 44 PA against LHP, for which there is a reason.

Dig into the details of these guys and you can find more such examples—players who can still really play, but need a little care and handling from a manager to avoid causing problems.

I’ll expect to lose a few of these simply due to availability of younger and cheaper options at various positions. Vegas’s Erensto Sousa, for example, might have a hard time sticking at 1B. Then again, as a LHB, maybe not. Time will tell.

Bottom line her, though, is that this leaves nineteen guys at age 36 who are pretty clearly still workable players and who will make impacts. This inlcudes six guys who tallied 4 WAR (including the two at 3.9 because ho is stressing over .1 WAR?). These are Edmonton’s Gonzalo Martinez, Rocky Mountain’s Pepe Espinosa, Omaha’s Andre Ly, Vancouver’s Tony Frost and Ángel González, and (of course) Mexico City’s future Hall of Famer Félix Román.

That’s some serious star power right there.

At question is whether any of them will fade this year, or next, or if not, well, when?

The bell tolls eventually, right?

It will be interesting to take a look at this list next year, and see if there’s an answer, yet. If I were a betting person I’d say we’ll see about 25% drop out of the league, 25 % become hanger-on-ers, and the rest continue to be valuable.

[BaseClogger]

I like this series, if for no other reason, as a way to review who retired this offseason. That's a thing that doesn't get enough attention by the sim summaries.

[BaseClogger]

RE: Kwakou, it was a 114 wRC+ season mostly at 1B. What do we figure the league average wRC+ is at 1B, probably right around there? And he was slightly negative defensively. So yeah, maybe should have been worth 1.0-1.5 WAR. Maybe I'm underestimating the average offensive output at 1B. There are tons of 60 OVR rated free agent 1B, after all.

[Knucklehead254]

Hoping Frost and Gonzalez keep up their good forms

[Trebro]

Ron just for fun. how many fictional MLB players were age 36 in that historical year of 2023?

[CTBrewCrew]

HGH still chugging