Way too many words about Ron Villone

The Mariners organization and the mainstream media in Seattle sure value “versatility.” Take Ron Villone, for example. Villone went to UMass on a football scholarship, but before his junior year, the 6’3”, 230lb lefty decided that he missed playing baseball, and walked onto the baseball team. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, at the beginning of his senior year, the all-conference tight end was relatively unknown on the baseball diamond. In fact, Peter Gammons said in the May 31, 1992 edition of The Boston Globe,

“Back in February, there were no New Englanders ranked among the top prospects. But one March night, the University of Massachusetts was playing Central Florida and scouts from all over the country were there to see (Chad) Mottola. An unknown lefthander named Ron Villone struck him out four times. Two and a half months later, Villone is one of the top three college pitching prospects in the country, which is amazing since he was eligible to be picked last year and no one selected him.”

During his senior year, Villone went 7-3 with a 3.34 ERA while giving up 31 hits, striking out 89, and walking 41 over 59.1 innings of work. He was named the Atlantic-10’s left-handed pitcher of the year, and “Baseball America” had him pegged as the ninth-best amateur player, and the third-best amateur pitcher in the country. He fell to the Mariners, who had the 14^th pick that year, and they snatched him up, ahead of Shannon Stewart, Johnny Damon, Todd Helton and Jason Giambi. 

"Villone was one of our top choices," Roger Jongewaard, Seattle's player personnel director, told Bob Finnigan of The Seattle Times on June 1, 1992. "But being down the selection order as we were, you can never be sure who will be left. We had only one or two guys listed ahead of Villone, so we feel most fortunate to have gotten him."

But wait, let’s backtrack for a minute and look at Villone’s line from his senior year in Amherst…89 strikeouts in 59 innings? Sweet! 41 walks in 59 innings? Yikes! That’s the pitching equivalent of a supermodel with herpes.

Villone’s control problem didn’t improve once he was getting paid to pitch. In his first three years of professional baseball, Villone was still walking an average of 7.15 batters fore every nine innings he threw. Luckily for him, he was still racking up the Ks as well (10.4 K/9 during the same time frame).

Villone got a job in the Mariners’ weak bullpen out of spring training in 1995, but – surprise, surprise, wasn’t very effective. He made his Major League debut in the second game of the strike-shortened 1995 season, and in his brief 19-game stint, Villone put up a 7.91 ERA with 23 walks and 26 strikeouts over 19 innings.

It reminds me of a scene from Bull Durham, where the two coaches are talking about Nuke LaLoosh’s professional debut:

Joe Riggins: He walked 18…

Larry Hockett: New league record!

Joe Riggins: Struck out 18…

Larry Hockett: Another new league record. In addition, he hit the sports writers, the public address announcer, the bull mascot, twice…also new league records.

On May 15^th, Villone was optioned back to Tacoma and was replaced in Seattle’s bullpen by Rafael Carmona. While back in Tacoma, Villone started to reduce his walk rate and was lights-out in a brief stint as the Rainiers’ closer. In 30 innings, Villone struck out 43, walked 19, gave up only 9 hits and compiled 13 saves with an ERA of 0.61. His reward? Being included in a deadline deal to the San Diego Padres that brought Andy Benes to Seattle. Since then, Villone has bounced around, donning the jerseys of eight different teams in his 10-year career. Despite occasional flashes of dominance, such as the complete game Villone tossed against the Cardinals on Sept. 29, 2000, where he struck out 16 (twice as many as his next-highest K total for a game), and didn’t allow an earned run, the 35-year-old’s overall MLB career has been pretty average.

Looking at that chart, I believe we can pin Villone’s mediocrity on his lack of control. If Villone could have learned better control, things could have been way different for him. Consider…

If you were paying attention, Pitcher A is obviously Ron Villone. Pitcher B, however, is future Hall of Famer, Tom Glavine. For the most part, their numbers aren’t all that different. Glavine has the better control and gives up less home runs, but has also benefited from the tutelage of Leo Mazzone, while Villone has bounced from team to team. Don’t get me wrong – I fully realize that Glavine is far superior to Villone, but I believe that their rate stats show just how much baseball is a game of inches. A few inches here and a few inches there can make a world of difference in two players’ careers.

On February 9, 2004, the Mariners signed Villone for one-year deal with a base salary of $1 million. The next day, Finnigan reported in The Seattle Times that, “Manager Bob Melvin said the beauty of having Villone back is he can pitch in several roles. Villone can even start, which is the role he filled last year for Houston, when he allowed only 91 hits and struck out 91 batters in 106-2/3 innings in 19 starts.”

Villone went 8-6 for the 2004 Mariners, posting a 4.08 ERA over 117 innings – 53 as a starter and 64 in relief. Villone’s versatility unfortunately cost the M’s an extra million dollars, and he struck out 86, walked 64 and gave up 12 dingers. Nothing special, right? Not apparently. On October 2, the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America voted Villone the club’s Most Valuable Pitcher. This, of course, is about as distinguishable as being the nicest Nazi or the classiest porn star.

Was Villone worthy of being deemed Seattle’s most valuable pitcher? I don’t think so. Strictly looking at VORP, Villone was 6^th on the club (17.4), behind Freddy Garcia’s half season (35.1), Bobby Madritsch’s awesome debut (28), Ryan Franklin (22.7), Joel Pineiro (20.4) and Eddie Guardado (17.6). It’s obvious that Villone was awarded for his versatility. But, is he even versatile?

According to Dictionary.com: Versatile: adj. Capable of doing many things competently.

The key word there is competently. Obviously willingness and competency are two entirely different things, and while I applaud Villone for not being arrogant or stubborn enough to insist on a set role, his competency is debatable.Unfortunately, Villone wasn’t only granted an award. The Mariners offered arbitration to Villone, but he and his agent, Scott Boras, came to an agreement with Seattle before an arbitration case was necessary, and Villone signed a 2-year contract worth $4.2 million. After giving Villone a 320% raise from last season’s base salary, Mariners’ GM, Bill Bavasi, said,

"Ron gives us flexibility and depth in our pitching staff. He is a competitor who takes the ball anytime you ask him, in any role, and does a good job. We are pleased to have him back."

On one hand, I can see how signing Villone is OK for insurance purposes, but did it have to be for two years? Did Bavasi forget that he plucked Villone from the scrap heap about a week before pitchers and catchers were to report last year? Perhaps Bavasi saw how the market was shaking out for pitchers and figured that signing a league-average pitcher, especially one willing to be slotted into any role, was a good investment for a couple million. When you take into consideration that the Mariners’ staff had some injuries during the final few months, and that a power lefty never hurts when 81 of your team’s games are played at Safeco Field, the deal looks a little more attractive…but, again, not for two years. One thing that I certainly found interesting, however, is this…

 Again, Pitcher A is Ron Villone, but Pitcher B is Eric Milton – who signed one of the worst 
contracts of the off-season, a 3-year, $25.5 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds.