Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: Best Final Season

How could we forget Mussina ... and Posey!

I mentioned Mussina in the original post...Tudor's a good one from that list. I was caught up in Cecil Fielder in 1990 (attending teachers college across the lake in Windsor), so I guess I didn't even notice. Tudor's '85 was one of the great runner-up Cy Young years ever, but so different from today. How did he ever maintain a 1.93 ERA (he did give up 9 unearned runs) while striking out only 5.5/9?

Got the makings of a team.

SP - Koufax
Closer - Wagner

C - Posey
1B - Clark (only ~200 PA, but I'll take him over Greenberg)
2B -
3B -
SS -
OF - Bonds
OF - Williams
OF -
DH - Ortiz

Need one more outfielder and three infielders.

I checked Jackie Robinson, and he played third his final year, so he'd be a good pick there: .275/.382/.412, 10 HR, 12 SB, 4.5 bWAR. And I forgot about Clemente, so he's the third outfielder. Need a DP combination.

The shortstop is a worse ending than Koufax: Ray Chapman, who died mid-August after getting hit in the head by Carl Mays. .303/.380/.423, 4.0 bWAR.

Which reminded me of maybe the second-greatest last season by a starter, better even than Mussina: Jose Fernandez. 16-8, 2.86, 253 K, 4.60 K/BB, 4.4 bWAR.

Shoeless Joe should technically be on there, but I'll stick with Bonds/Williams/Clemente.

Still need a second baseman.

Lou Whitaker at 2B: .292/.372/.518, 14 HR, 1.5. (1995, so the cusp of the offensive boom.)

SP - Koufax, Fernandez, Mussina, Tudor
Closer - Wagner
Set-Up - Rivera, Henke

C - Posey
1B - Clark
2B - Whitaker
3B - J. Robinson
SS - Chapman
OF - Bonds
OF - Williams
OF - Clemente
DH - Ortiz

Done! You can close the thread now.

Wow. Making Rivera set up!

I did think about that: "This is ridiculous." But Wagner's last season is demonstrably better than Rivera's...I'm not being consistent by leaving off Shoeless Joe, had the highest final-season WAR ever (over 7.0). So I'm making him honorary bookie for the club.

What was the best final season for a manager? Did anyone win a WS and retire? Seems almost inconceivable.

tony larussa did.

but then he came back. he did not end up, in the end, retiring on top

Did a very quick check of about a dozen guys high on the career-wins list; Bobby Cox (91 wins) and Walter Alston (90) were the best, but neither won their division. Weirdly, some of those I checked appear to have been fired partway through the season.

Dave Roberts, Aaron Boone, and Buck Showalter: if any of you want to retire, you can be on my team.

And Dusty Baker x 10!

Billy Martin LOL

His .588 winning percentage (40-28) definitely the best I've encountered so far--2.5 games behind the Tigers and he got fired. What kind of erratic, hair-trigger GM would ever do such a thing?

Grady Little and Dusty Baker were fired after 95 and 97 win seasons respectively.

Little came back to manage the Dodgers for another two years though. He had a lifetime .552 winning percentage and never had a losing season. The problem: he's Grady Little.

I don't think anyone expected Dusty to come back after getting fired in Washington, but he did and good for him.