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In the 2012 MLB season, 27 different players hit 30 or more home runs. Only one team, the Los Angeles Angels, had three players appear on that list: Mark Trumbo (32), Albert Pujols (30) and Mike Trout (30). It was the first time since 2000 that three Angels players topped the 30-HR mark in a season.

Seven of the 30 MLB franchises have never had three (or more) players hit 30 or more HRs in a season. The seven: Baltimore, Kansas City, New York Mets, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tampa Bay and Washington. Of the remaining 23 teams, here’s a look at the last season in which each team had a trio of 30-HR hitters in the same season. The list begins with the team with the longest drought, the San Francisco Giants, who have not had three (or more) players hit 30-plus homers in a season since 1966.

Last year with three players with 30-plus HRs, Team(s)
1966: San Francisco
1977: Boston
1982: Milwaukee
1987: Minnesota
1992: Detroit
1997: Seattle
1999: Arizona, Cleveland, Los Angeles Dodgers
2000: Houston, Toronto
2001: Oakland
2003: Atlanta
2004: Chicago Cubs, Colorado, St. Louis
2005: New York Yankees
2007: Cincinnati
2008: Chicago White Sox, Miami
2009: Philadelphia
2011: Texas
2012: Los Angeles Angels

The St. Louis Cardinals’ last season upped their current streak of having at least one player with 30 HRs in a season to 17 consecutive years when Carlos Beltran hit 32 homers in 2012. That is the longest current streak in the majors. The Phils‘ Jimmy Rollins led Philly with 23 HRs last season, the first time since 2000 that the team didn’t have a player with 30-plus HRs.

Following is a look at the teams with the current longest streaks of having at least one player with 30-plus home runs.

17 years: St. Louis
13: New York Yankees
8: Milwaukee
6: Miami
5: Detroit, Texas
4: Arizona, Toronto, Washington

At the other end of the list are the Kansas City Royals. They have not had a player hit 30 HRs since 2000, the longest drought in the MLB. Following are the teams that have not had a 30-HR hitter since 2009 (and beyond): Kansas City (2000, Jermaine Dye); San Francisco (2004, Barry Bonds); Houston (2007, Carlos Lee); Cleveland (2008, Grady Sizemore); Seattle (2009, Russell Branyan).

Two teams last year just missed out on joining the Angels with three players with 30-plus HRs: The Brewers had two players (Ryan Braun, 41; Corey Hart, 30) reach those numbers, but fell short of three when Aramis Ramirez collected 27. The Pittsburgh Pirates had Andrew McCutchen, 31 and Pedro Alvarez, 30, but fell short as Garrett Jones had 27 homers.

If we drop the criteria down to 25 home runs last season, the Chicago White Sox had five players in that category, making them one of only 10 teams ever to achieve that mark in a season.

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Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay has been one of the majors’ best pitchers in the past decade. Unfortunately, his 2012 season mirrored the Phils‘ ’12 campaign as the team dropped from 102 wins in 2011 to 81 last year. Halladay struggled with an 11-8 record and an ERA of 4.49 (his 11 wins were the fewest since he had eight in 2004; his ERA was the second worst of his career).

The 2012 season was only the second time in Halladay’s career where he did not have a complete game (he did not have a complete game in 2000 with Toronto). This broke Halladay’s streak of 11 straight seasons where he had at least one complete game. It was also rare considering that Halladay had been the league-leader in complete games for five consecutive years (two with Philadelphia and three with Toronto).

Halladay leads the majors with most complete games in this century with 64 (he has 66 in his 15-year career). Following is a look at the pitchers who have had the most complete games since 2000. (A = active pitcher)

Complete Games, Pitchers
64: Roy Halladay (a)
39: Livan Hernandez (a)
35: CC Sabathia (a)
32: Randy Johnson
28: Mark Buehrle (a)
27: Chris Carpenter (a)
26: Cliff Lee (a); Curt Schilling
25: Javier Vazquez (a); Mark Mulder
24: Bartolo Colon (a); Tim Hudson (a)
23: Felix Hernandez (a); Sidney Ponson
22: A.J. Burnett (a)
20: Justin Verlander (a); Roy Oswalt (a)

Halladay is one of seven pitchers who has had at least one complete game in 10 of the 13 seasons since 2000. Leading the way is Tim Hudson, who has had a complete game in 12 of the 13 seasons this century. He is followed by Sabathia, Halladay, Buehrle and Livan Hernandez, each with 11 seasons, and Burnett and Vazquez with 10.

As mentioned above, Halladay’s streak of 11 seasons with at least one complete game was broken last season. Sabathia is now the pitcher with the longest current streak of seasons with at least one complete game with 11.

He is followed by Matt Cain (eight straight seasons with one-plus complete game); Bronson Arroyo, Verlander and Felix Hernandez (each with seven straight); Cole Hamels (six); and Jake Peavy, Ricky Nolasco, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana and Dan Haren (each with five straight).

Here’s a couple more stats on complete games:

* Halladay is the active leader in complete games with 66. Sabathia is a distant second on the active list with 35.

* Even though Halladay ranks first on the active list, his 66 career complete games is only good enough for a tie for 644th place on the all-time list.

* You don’t have to be a rocket scientist (or even a baseball expert) to know that the complete game is slowing becoming a rare feat in today’s game. Last season there were only 128 complete games. By comparison, 20 years ago (in 1992) there were 419 complete games. Go back another 20 years to 1972 and there were 1,009 complete games that season.

Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp

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The New York Yankees have chosen to fill their designated hitter slot in the lineup with a combination of several low cost options in 2013, and who gets the bulk of at-bats will likely be decided in spring training.

General manager Brian Cashman brought in two left-handed bats—Travis Hafner and Dan Johnson—as well as two right-handed bats—Juan Rivera and Matt Diaz—to compete for at-bats.

A platoon of one left-handed hitter and one right-handed hitter seems like the most likely scenario at this point, as either right-handed bat will also be the fourth outfielder.

Cashman has succeeded in the past with low-risk, high-reward contracts (Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon first come to mind). With an entire spring to prove themselves, the Yankees and manager Joe Girardi are sure to find at this one diamond in the rough.

The four candidates haven’t exactly had the most success in the majors over the past few seasons, so it’s a near guarantee that it will be a fierce battle for a role on the team.

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Spring training, the time of year when jersey numbers like 68, 75 or 83 are commonplace.

Spring training, the time of year when fans are mesmerized by 420-foot bombs, but then have no idea who hit them. Or, they watch a pitcher breeze through the heart of the order by striking out the side, then rack their brains, wondering where the heck did that guy come from?

New York Mets fans won’t have to wonder. This slideshow will introduce you to the five latest spring training invitees, some of whom could start the season in Queens.

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The San Francisco Giants won the World Series, and there’s no doubt that they were the better team and deserved to hoist up the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Winning games is obviously the goal in Major League Baseball, but I thought it could go deeper than that. Unlike football, baseball doesn’t have a salary cap, and that gives small-market teams more of a disadvantage.

So, I wanted to see how much each team paid per win in 2012. I took each team’s payroll (via CBS Sports) at the beginning of the season and divided it by the number of wins it had in the regular season.

Here is the list, ranked from most expensive to least. Obviously, the lower the price, the better.

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Matt Harvey’s line of duty in 2012 has come to an end following a strong outing a couple of nights ago against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

It’s hard to complain about Harvey’s performance in his rookie season. In fact, he was one of the Mets’ few bright spots in the second half. 

In the majors, Harvey is 3-5 in 10 starts with a 2.73 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 70 strikeouts in 59.1 innings. 

Harvey’s stats alone tell you a story about the pitcher.

Despite a small amount of starts, only three wins for Harvey is an absolute sin with that ERA. Harvey may as well have eight wins with all the good starts he’s had. He had only pitched two bad games. The mediocre Mets offense, though, deprived him of the extra wins.

The most obvious thing we’ve learned about Harvey this season is that he’s a strikeout machine; seventy in 59.1 innings is great. He has an explosive fastball that he can mix speeds with from the low to high 90s. His curveball, changeup and especially wicked slider make up a fearsome repertoire. 

His first start in Arizona sort of set the table for the story of his season. Harvey pitched 5.1 innings, didn’t allow a run and struck out 11. He won’t go deep into ballgames just yet, but he’s a strikeout king who doesn’t have trouble turning the lineup over. The only difference is that Harvey actually picked up a win in that game, the first in his promising career.

Now that I’ve made three big paragraphs of raving, it’s time for critique. He can still use some work on his command. Once he finds complete and consistent control, Harvey will be a deadly pitcher. It will also help with the next thing he needs to improve on. 

Harvey finding his control will help him go deeper into ballgames, as I touched upon before. Especially if it means fewer innings for the struggling bullpen. Harvey will give himself a much better shot at wins if he can go deeper into games. He hit seven innings twice in his 10 starts.

But overall, I could not be more pleased with Harvey’s first season in the majors. We should all look forward to his first full season next year.

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Third place doesn’t doesn’t seem like much of a prize, particularly in the National League Central. But it could mark the way to bigger and better thingsin the future. Relative to the past few years, Pittsburgh is on its way up. Milwaukee has seen better days, although this relationship is the reverse of what has happened this year.

Going into tonight’s game, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers have identical records, 74-72. Pittsburgh has actually done better against the rest of the National League, 70-64, versus 66-68 for the Brewers. But Milwaukee leads the two teams’ season series eight to four.

On paper, Milwaukee looks like the more powerful team.They’ve scored the third most runs (701) in the majors. Old standbys such as 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez have been joined by rookie Norichika Aoki among the league’s best hitters. The Pirates, meanwhile, are in the bottom third offensively, although they have their own MVP candidate in Andrew McCutchen.

To balance this, the Pirates seem to have a much better rotation. However, if you take the Brewers’ Randy Wolf (whose 5.69  ERA skews up the team ERA) out of the equation, the two teams’ starting pitching is almost evenly matched. This explains Milwaukee’s advantage.

The Brewers have scored 41 runs more than they have allowed, a differential that suggests that they should be more than two games above .500. The Pirates have scored four fewer runs than they have allowed, which suggests that should be a bit below breakeven. The Pirates are just luckier in close games, while they tend to lose bigger when they lose.

To see the Pirates neck-and-neck with the Brewers this late in the season is more than many Pirate fans, including yours truly, would have hoped at the beginning of the season. That’s because they have been doing quite well against the rest of the league.

But for Pittsburgh to be a true contender, they have to win more than five games a season against Milwaukee, which they have not done since 2006. They can start by winning this series, particularly since it’s at home, and lay a foundation for 2013.

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With his next home run, Ryan Braun will become the sixth player in Milwaukee Brewers history to hit 200-plus HRs as a Brewer. The current 200-HR club for the franchise: Robin Yount (251), Prince Fielder (230), Geoff Jenkins (212), Gorman Thomas (208) and Cecil Cooper (201).

If you add in Braun’s 119 career stolen bases with the club, he will become only the second player in Brewers history to have 200 home runs and 100 stolen bases with the franchise. Yount is currently the only member of that group with his 251 home runs and 271 steals.

Could there be any other current players who might be joining Yount (and Braun) in the near future on the 200-100 list?

There are two possibilities: Corey Hart has 151 home runs and 83 stolen bases with the Brewers, and second baseman Rickie Weeks has the 100-100 tag on his resume with 126 homers and 112 steals. Longevity, staying healthy and staying with the team will determine whether or not they join Yount and eventually Braun in the Brewers 200-100 club.

The following are the franchises that have players who collected 200-plus HRs and 100-plus stolen bases with the franchise.

Baltimore Orioles: Brady Anderson

Boston Red Sox: Carl Yastrzemski

Detroit Tigers: Lou Whitaker, Al Kaline

Kansas City Royals: George Brett

Milwaukee Brewers: Robin Yount

Minnesota Twins: Kirby Puckett

New York Yankees: Bernie Williams, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter, Lou Gehrig

Oakland Athletics: Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco

Seattle Mariners: Ken Griffey, Jr.

Atlanta Braves: Dale Murphy, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Hank Aaron

Chicago Cubs: Sammy Sosa, Ryne Sandberg

Cincinnati Reds: Frank Robinson, Eric Davis

Colorado Rockies: Larry Walker, Dante Bichette

Houston Astros: Jimmy Wynn, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell

New York Mets: David Wright, Daryl Strawberry

Philadelphia Phillies: Mike Schmidt

San Francisco Giants: Willie Mays, Barry Bonds

St. Louis Cardinals: Ray Lankford

Washington Nationals: Vladimir Guerrero, Andre Dawson

If we move the criteria to 200-plus home runs and 200-plus stolen bases, there are only 13 players in MLB history that have reached those numbers with a franchise. The members of the 200-200 club with a franchise are:

Player, Team, Home Runs/Stolen Bases

Brady Anderson, Baltimore, 209/307

George Brett, Kansas City, 317/201

Robin Yount, Milwaukee, 251/271

Derek Jeter, N.Y. Yankees, 254/348

Hank Aaron, Atlanta, 733/240

Ryne Sandberg, Chicago Cubs, 282/344

Eric Davis, Cincinnati, 203/270

Craig Biggio, Houston, 291/414

Jeff Bagwell, Houston, 449/202

Willie Mays, San Francisco, 646/336

Barry Bonds, San Francisco, 586/263

Ray Lankford, St. Louis, 228/250

Andre Dawson, Washington, 225/253

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Sometimes in the grind that is a 162-game MLB season, the All-Star break is seen by many players as a blessing. For some, the break provides a golden opportunity to spend time with family and friends. For other players, the break bestows a chance to simply get away and recharge batteries.

I do not know what Adrian Gonzalez did during the break. But whatever the great first baseman did, this consummate professional has had a breakout second half for a Red Sox team fighting mightily to find its way.   

Marching forward, it should be noted that Gonzalez did not produce a poor first half by any stretch of the imagination. For Sox fans, this slugger has been a calm amid the storm.

But keeping things in laymen’s terms, a split of Gonzalez’s first- and second-half stats (per MLB.com), shows a much different player:

Gonzalez’s second-half numbers are best amongst MLB first basemen.

Even scarier, Gonzalez is showing no signs of slowing down. In the past 10 games, he is batting an astounding .421 (16-for-38), with two home runs and 16 RBI.

And as usual, Gonzalez has been ironclad in the field, too. His .998 fielding percent at first base trails only that of Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees.

As a baseball fan, I truly appreciate players like Gonzalez. Still just 30 years old, this guy carries himself well regardless of what is going on around him. Boston is lucky to have such a ballplayer taking  the field for its team.

As usual, I appreciate your readership and welcome your comments.

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With all the hustle bustle and hard daily grind that comes with being a New York Yankees fan, it can at times be tough to stop and appreciate just how consistent this team has been the past decade.

Per MLB.com stats, Yankees teams from 2002-2011 combined to boast a .650 regular season winning percent (975-524). The Yankees also won the AL East seven times, and earned a spot in the postseason every season minus 2008.

And after losing in dramatic fashion to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 World Series, Derek Jeter and Co. bounced back to win a 27th championship in 2009.

Offensively, the Yankees batted .275 as a team during this time, averaging 233 homers a season.  And while pitching has been an issue (4.23 ERA) the past decade, the Yankees earned a terrific fielding percentage (.984).

That said, how does the 2012 version of the Yankees stack up against other teams from the past decade?

If the below MLB.com statistics (through 93 games) are any indication—this club stacks up very well.

Looking at the above info, the 2012 Yankees look consistent to last season’s team that finished 97-65, before losing to the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. This year’s Yankees are also similar to the 2002 team that went on to win 103 games (but lost to the Anaheim Angels in the ADLS).

Of course, Yankees fans hope the ’12 team follows in the brilliant footsteps of the ’09 team that won the World Series. Looking at the numbers, the ’12 team looks like it is on its way to potentially achieving this end.

This alone is very impressive—especially when one considers how many injuries the Yankees endured earlier this season.

Is this year’s Yankees team similar to the ’09 team, or does it remind you of another Yankees team from the past? Curious to hear your thoughts.

Appreciate Your Readership. Please follow me on Twitter. 

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