Jay Lee Achieves Another Milestone - 250 Wins and Counting
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 10:52 am
On June 7th, 2008, Barnstormer starter Jay Lee put yet another feather in his Hall of Fame cap as only 9 months after recording his 3500th career strikeout (a feat only recorded twice prior since 1995 by Hayden Finch and John Ross Riles, Jr.) he went into Seattle sitting at 249 wins and delivered the type of solid 7.1IP win that has come to define the latter stages of the ace’s career for his 250th career win in the MBBA (a feat only recorded twice prior since 1995 by Ken Howell and John Ross Riles, Jr. [again]) .
After a rocky start to the season for the 37 year old hurler (5.17 ERA in 38.1IP in April), Omaha brass began to discuss a transition to the bullpen for the future HOFer; however, a stark turnaround in May (3.41 ERA, 2.8 K:BB ratio) reminded them both what was at stake for the career 165 ERA+ aces’ career metrics as well as what he was capable of during any given stretch (with 3 straight 8IP performances with a total of 4ER to close out the month of May – a stretch that will no doubt give playoff hopeful teams with holes in their rotation pause come the trade deadline). The decision to keep Lee in the rotation allowed the righty to reach this prestigious mark, as well as it will allow him to reach the 500 games started mark sometime in July should he avoid injury.
Lee came to the Barnstormers already at the precipice of the twilight of his career at age 32; however, he provided legitimacy for Omaha in championship hopeful discussions for at least the following 2 seasons post-trade. The price; however, was a borderline exorbitant one made out of desperation as the Barnstormers’ modest streak of playoff appearances (2 in a row) was threatened in ’03. In response, the Omaha brass elected to deal away the #6 Cory Warr, #52 Maxwell Johnson, #53 Fraser Dodson and #63 Pepe Molina (at the time) prospects in the league to acquire the still in prime ace along with a complimentary offensive piece in Ian Botham whom, to his credit, posted a career year (.944 OPS – 160 points above his career average) the season after the deal before plummeting back to Earth.
Over the past season and a half as the Barnstormers have languished in sub-mediocrity most fans recognize by looking back on this deal that it was what ushered in this depressing era (at least Molina busted and Johnson regressed from ace to average at a young age, but still 2-sure fire youngish pieces are on other teams because of it); however, a more hotly debated topic is whether or not it was “worth it”. The deal certainly didn’t help the team in ’03 as Lee provided 3 subpar starts, Botham hit just above the Mendoza line in 40+ games and the Barnstormers missed the playoffs despite the gutting of their farm. The next 2 seasons saw Omaha in the playoffs; however, with a bare cabinet leaving them little flexibility for further deadline gutting they limped into the playoffs both seasons on the WC and never made it past the 2nd round. The argument could plausibly be made that without Botham’s career year and Lee’s 158 ERA+ in ’04 that the Barnstormers may not have had the opportunity to be swept by Vancouver in the first round (though they did win the WC comfortably by 9 games) and their magical run in ’05 to game 6 of the second round would have most definitely been ripped from their grasp without Lee’s 23-5 record (as Omaha only edged California by 1 game for the WC); however, does a few years of such showings followed by the gutter really make it “worth it”?
Perhaps that is a question best answered by the tens and hundreds of thousands of young kids around the Nebraska Little League scene whom spend hours a day trying to imitate the HOFers’ patented curveball – one that they would never have seen had this deal not be done. While both at the end of the day and on paper the deal was a heart-wrenching one, the intrinsic effect of having a player such as Lee in ones’ organization cannot be measured with statistics. And, when he retires and eventually becomes a first ballot HOFer – if the legend decides to don an Omaha cap on inauguration day then almost everyone in Omaha will consider it having been “worth it” in its own way.
After a rocky start to the season for the 37 year old hurler (5.17 ERA in 38.1IP in April), Omaha brass began to discuss a transition to the bullpen for the future HOFer; however, a stark turnaround in May (3.41 ERA, 2.8 K:BB ratio) reminded them both what was at stake for the career 165 ERA+ aces’ career metrics as well as what he was capable of during any given stretch (with 3 straight 8IP performances with a total of 4ER to close out the month of May – a stretch that will no doubt give playoff hopeful teams with holes in their rotation pause come the trade deadline). The decision to keep Lee in the rotation allowed the righty to reach this prestigious mark, as well as it will allow him to reach the 500 games started mark sometime in July should he avoid injury.
Lee came to the Barnstormers already at the precipice of the twilight of his career at age 32; however, he provided legitimacy for Omaha in championship hopeful discussions for at least the following 2 seasons post-trade. The price; however, was a borderline exorbitant one made out of desperation as the Barnstormers’ modest streak of playoff appearances (2 in a row) was threatened in ’03. In response, the Omaha brass elected to deal away the #6 Cory Warr, #52 Maxwell Johnson, #53 Fraser Dodson and #63 Pepe Molina (at the time) prospects in the league to acquire the still in prime ace along with a complimentary offensive piece in Ian Botham whom, to his credit, posted a career year (.944 OPS – 160 points above his career average) the season after the deal before plummeting back to Earth.
Over the past season and a half as the Barnstormers have languished in sub-mediocrity most fans recognize by looking back on this deal that it was what ushered in this depressing era (at least Molina busted and Johnson regressed from ace to average at a young age, but still 2-sure fire youngish pieces are on other teams because of it); however, a more hotly debated topic is whether or not it was “worth it”. The deal certainly didn’t help the team in ’03 as Lee provided 3 subpar starts, Botham hit just above the Mendoza line in 40+ games and the Barnstormers missed the playoffs despite the gutting of their farm. The next 2 seasons saw Omaha in the playoffs; however, with a bare cabinet leaving them little flexibility for further deadline gutting they limped into the playoffs both seasons on the WC and never made it past the 2nd round. The argument could plausibly be made that without Botham’s career year and Lee’s 158 ERA+ in ’04 that the Barnstormers may not have had the opportunity to be swept by Vancouver in the first round (though they did win the WC comfortably by 9 games) and their magical run in ’05 to game 6 of the second round would have most definitely been ripped from their grasp without Lee’s 23-5 record (as Omaha only edged California by 1 game for the WC); however, does a few years of such showings followed by the gutter really make it “worth it”?
Perhaps that is a question best answered by the tens and hundreds of thousands of young kids around the Nebraska Little League scene whom spend hours a day trying to imitate the HOFers’ patented curveball – one that they would never have seen had this deal not be done. While both at the end of the day and on paper the deal was a heart-wrenching one, the intrinsic effect of having a player such as Lee in ones’ organization cannot be measured with statistics. And, when he retires and eventually becomes a first ballot HOFer – if the legend decides to don an Omaha cap on inauguration day then almost everyone in Omaha will consider it having been “worth it” in its own way.
