Scott Erickson (P)

Teams: Minnesota Twins (1990-1995), Baltimore Orioles (1995-2002), New York Mets (2004), Texas Rangers (2004), Los Angeles Dodgers (2005), New York Yankees (2006)
Best Season: 1991 (20-8, 3.18 ERA, AL Cy Young runner-up)
All-Star Appearences: 1 (1991)
Claim To Fame: Threw first no-hitter in Metrodome history. Married Lisa Guerrero.

Scott Erickson won 142 games in his major league career, and arguably experienced his career peak in his first full season, winning 20 games for the World Series Champion "worst to first" Minnesota Twins. Erickson really didn't strike people out, but he kept the ball in the park, which can work for the right team. Erickson put together some ugly seasons for Minnesota following that, but then was dealt to Baltimore where his ability to pitch every fifth day was appreciated by a team that counted Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald among it's rotation. Erickson signed a big money extension with Baltimore, where he threw until his arm fell off, missing half of the 2000 and all of the 2001 season after Tommy John surgery, then 2003 with a torn labrum. After that, Erickson signed with the Mets, got dealt to the Rangers for Josh Hoffpauir, then went through stints with the Dodgers and Yankees before calling it a career.

Rick Helling (P)

Teams: Texas Rangers (1994-1996, 1997-2001), Florida Marlins (1996-1997, 2003), Arizona Diamondbacks (2002), Baltimore Orioles (2003), Milwaukee Brewers (2005-2006)
Best Season: 1997 (20-7, 4.41 ERA, 21st in AL MVP balloting)
All-Star Appearences: 0
Claim To Fame: Owns World Series Championship rings from both 1997 and 2003 Florida Marlins teams

Helling was a poor man's Scott Erickson. Much like Erickson, Helling's best weapon was his ability to go out on the mount every fifth day and throw enough innings to rest a bullpen. The 22nd overall pick in the 1992 amateur draft (that gave us Phil Nevin as the #1 overall pick), Helling bounced back and forth between the majors and AAA for Texas until he was finally dealt to Florida in 1996 in a deal to get John Burkett. Helling worked as a spot starter for Florida and did so well apparently that Texas had to pick him back up the following season. The season after that, Helling won 20 games for the Rangers with smoke and mirrors as the ace of a train-wreck rotation that included Darren Oliver, Esteban Loaiza, and Bobby Witt. Despite this, Helling never saw an ERA below 4 until the 2005 season with Milwaukee, his 11th season in the majors and his next-to-last.

Why stick these two together? When Scott Erickson was diagnosed with a torn labrum in 2003, the Orioles sought out a starting pitcher to replace him. Who did they sign? Rick Helling, who stuck it up for the O's for most of the season before being cut. A week later, he was signed by the Marlins again, who got him another World Series ring, and this time let him be part of the celebration (Helling was traded away from the Marlins during their championship 1997 season but was awarded a World Series ring due to his time spent with the team that season.)

As I mentioned yesterday, the last day of the baseball regular season was going to have some drama involved, as both Boston and Atlanta were on the brink of huge collapses and giving up playoff spots that were all but guaranteed when the month started. Both did, in varying levels of drama, as a result of four games.

Game one was the least dramatic, and probably the most predictable. St. Louis made short (and quick - two hours, twenty minutes) work of Houston, scoring five in the first and having Chris Carpenter pitch like he had to catch a plane. Carpenter pitched a complete game two hit shutout, giving up a hit only to J.B. Shuck and Jose Altuve, who were in Triple A and Single A respectively when the season started. Thanks for trying, Houston - your 106 losses were the most by a team in six years, and you let a 90-loss team come in two places ahead of you in the division.

Game two saw Atlanta go up on Philadelphia 3-1 early, then give up a run in the seventh, another run in the ninth, then finally (as is the case with these games most times), a fluke broken bat hit to drive in the eventual winning run in the 13th inning. It seemed appropriate that Dan Uggla was involved in all three of the most memorable offensive moments for the Braves in this game, since he was the "impact player" Atlanta picked up during the offseason that was going to put them over the top. Uggla would hit the home run that put the Braves on top early, get thrown out at the plate to turn the tide of the game, and be part of the double play that ended the game. There's your impact.

Really, though - it was games three and four that put the night over the top. On one side, Tampa and the Yankees, and on the other, Boston and Baltimore. At one time during the evening, with Tampa down 7-0 and Boston up on Baltimore 3-2 in the middle of a rain delay, I joked with someone that if the Red Sox didn't clinch tonight the Yankees and God were plotting against them.

Turns out they were - Tampa comes back to put it at 7-6 before Dan Johnson delivers a pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game at 7, Baltimore scores two runs in the bottom of the 9th - all with two outs - in their game to beat Boston, then Tampa's Evan Longoria hits a solo home run in the bottom of the 12th to give Tampa the win, shutting the Red Sox out of the playoffs.

In a night filled with excitement and the emotional highs and lows for the various teams' fanbases, things start to get picked apart and analyzed, if just for the varying randomness that you get from baseball and few other sports.

• On September 3rd, the Boston Red Sox stood a half-game behind the New York Yankees for the best record in the American League and nine games ahead of Tampa Bay for the AL Wild Card lead with 24 games left to play. At that time, the Red Sox stood a 99.6% chance of making the playoffs, the highest point they would achieve during the season, while Tampa's chances stood at 0.5%. Tampa would go 16-8 over the rest of the season, while Boston would go 6-18.
• Boston's collapse is all the more dramatic just because of how dominant they were early in the season. On July 9th, Boston's playoff chances cracked the 90% barrier with a 54-35 record, best in the American League. On that same date, Detroit stood at 39.9% (a half-game behind Cleveland in the AL Central), Milwaukee stood at only 24.6% (tied for the NL Central with St. Louis and only a game above Pittsburgh), and Arizona was at 41.3%, two games behind NL West leading San Francisco. Detroit, Milwaukee, and Arizona would all make the playoffs. In contrast, Atlanta - themselves the victim of a playoff run collapse, didn't break the 90% barrier until August 19th, and cracked 80% only one time before then - on July 9th.
• Dan Johnson, who hit the game-tying home run for Tampa, was batting .108 at the time he came to the plate against the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. He had not played in six games, and his last major league hit had come more than five months earlier, on April 27th.
• Johnson had spent most of the season with the Rays Triple-A affiliate Durham Bulls, where he hit 13 home runs - down from 30 the previous season. His .459 slugging percentage was the worst of his minor league career. Johnson's teammate for about two weeks when he was sent down to Durham? Cory Wade, who served up the solo shot to him.
• When Boone Logan struck out Russ Canzler in the bottom of the 7th, the Rays statistically had less than a 1% chance of winning the game.
• Jonathan Papelbon blew only three save opportunities during the 2011 season; two were against Baltimore within the span of eight days, including the final game of the season, where Papelbon received his only loss.
• Papelbon struck out the first two batters of the inning before facing Chris Davis. Davis in September had 25 strikeouts in 84 plate appearances, including a rare 5 strikeout game three weeks earlier, and struck out 30% of time he made a plate appearance with the Orioles, second highest among team regulars. He had faced Papelbon six times before that at-bat, going 0-6 with three strikeouts. Davis doubled into right field.
• Nolan Reimold, the Orioles #9 batter, had one hit in seven previous plate appearances against Papelbon. Reimold hit a ground-rule double, tying the score.
• Remember how I mentioned Papelbon blew two saves against Baltimore? The player who drove in the game winning runs against Papelbon in that game was Robert Andino, who batted after Reimold and drove him in with the game-winning base hit.

I could go on and on with this type of stuff, but since this is already what - 3 days late? - we'll end it here.

The Cubs, for pulling the trigger at the last possible minute of prospect value, still manage to get serviceable players. Olson was a first round sandwich pick in 2005 out of Cal Poly who has put up strong strikeout numbers through his minor league career, but hasn't been able to make the transition from minor league ace to major league starter. After putting up great numbers at AAA Norfolk in 2007 (3.16 ERA, 8.4 k/9, 1.05 WHIP in 22 starts) and not so great in a cup of coffee that same year, Olson spent most of the 2008 season with the Orioles, and stuck with not so great. The talent seems to be there (as his minor league career shows), and he's only 25 - around the same age John Maine was when the O's shipped him off to the Mets for Anna Benson's husband. Add in Williamson, who has a live arm (11.0 k/9 in 90 career innings) and who could potentially have upside, although it's pretty early to tell.

Overall this is one of those "change of scenery" trades that can work out for both teams. Both main guys are prospects who can't be called that much longer who have nothing left to prove at the AAA level, but haven't been able to show that they deserve to stick at the major league level. Of the two, the Orioles are most likely to see returns on the trade, since Olson making the Cubs major league roster isn't a given, but the Orioles are content with putting a player into the lineup and dealing with the lumps (as they did with Adam Jones last season). Figure Pie will get a shot at being the everyday center fielder or left fielder (depending on where he and Jones end up). That, and Pie is probably out of options - I figure he would have used two the last two seasons, and if 2005 was his third "real" season in the Cubs organization, then he would have burned an option in 2006 as well (surely the Cubs would have protected him from Rule 5 given his prospect level.)? So figure the Cubs have Johnson, Alfonso Soriano, Fukudome, Milton Bradley, and Joey Gathwright (!) all under contract for next season, and with it being unlikely that the Cubs could move Fukudome, then Pie would end up getting sent down and having to clear waivers, which wouldn't happen.

I don't think Pie ever got a fair shot in Chicago, and that's not necessarily Chicago's fault. It's one thing when you're the Orioles (or the Rays in past seasons) and can afford to put a developing player out onto the field and deal with 0-5 nights, but the Cubs are in a tough division where a few games here and there could mean the difference between the playoffs and another season without a World Series. Pie was given opportunities, but when he failed in those two that he was given, the Cubs had no other choice than to look elsewhere. Pie could turn into another Brandon Phillips, but in this case, the Cubs are actually getting something for Pie, where Cleveland just tried to get Phillips through waivers and ended up having to deal him to Cincinnati for pennies on the dollar.

WINNER: Orioles, but for the wrong reasons.