Spring Training Update: 3/4

History of Baseball: 1916
World Series Champions: Boston Red Sox (91-63, .591 WPCT).
     The Federal League disbanded after the 1915 season, permanently setting Major League Baseball at two leagues.  Late in the season, Christy Mathewson's career came full circle.  The Cincinnati Reds, having dealt him to the New York Giants in 1900 in arguably the most lopsided trade of all time, finally got their man back by a late season trade, 16 years later.  He made only one start, tossing a complete game victory despite allowing eight runs.  His career with the Reds (1-0, 8.00 ERA), although he earned the victory, stood in stark contrast to his career with the Giants (372-188, 2.12 ERA).  Still, the Reds got him back for one glorious start.  Mathewson retired after the season at 373-188 with a 2.13 ERA.  Mathewson's opponent in that game was Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, also pitching in the final game of his career.  The final score was 10-8 in Mathewson's favor.  Brown, the only player in history to be named Mordecai, ended his career 239-130 with a 2.06 ERA.  A third player retired in 1916: Nap Lajoie.  At 41 years old, Lajoie ended his 21 year major league career with 82 home runs, 1599 RBI, and a .339 average.  
     As the season drew to a close, the Philadelphia Athletics ended up with one of the worst records in the history of baseball. 54.5 games back in the AL and 40 back of the seventh place Senators, the A's finished 36-117, reminding fans of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who were 20-134.  The top of the leagues were much closer.  In the AL, the Red Sox barely edged the White Sox by two games, finishing 91-63 to Chicago's 89-65.  The Tigers also sat four games back at 87-67.  In the NL, the Brooklyn Robins topped the Philadelphia Phillies by 2.5 games, going 94-60 to Philadlephia's 91-62.  The Boston Braves finished four games back at 89-63.  The Red Sox and Robins met in the World Series, where Boston took four out of five games to win their fourth World Series, the most by any team at that point. Duffy Lewis led the offensive attack by batting .353, while Ernie Shore, Babe Ruth, and Dutch Leonard teamed up to shut down the Robins.  Ruth allowed one run in 14 innings, Shore earned two wins, and Leonard added a complete game victory.
     Tris Speaker, playing in his first of eleven seasons for the Indians, finally dethroned Ty Cobb and became the first non-Cobb to win the AL batting title since George Stone in 1906.  Speaker batted .386, while Cobb hit .372 and finished second.  Hal Chase, in his first season with the Reds, won the NL batting title at .339.  Three players tied for the major league home run lead at 12: Wally Pipp (Yankees), Dave Robertson (Giants), and Cy Williams (Cubs).  The Browns' Del Pratt came out on top in RBI at 103, and Cobb led the majors with 113 runs scored and 68 stolen bases.  The Cardinals' Rogers Hornsby enjoyed a solid rookie campaign, hitting six home runs and batting .313 with 17 stolen bases.  From the mound, Grover Alexander won a second straight NL pitchers' Triple Crown, going 33-12 with a 1.55 ERA and 167 strikeouts.  Between 1915 and 1916, Alexander had gone 64-22 with a 1.39 ERA in 97 games (87 starts).  Babe Ruth enjoyed a breakout season on the mound, going 23-12 with a 1.75 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP, actually leading the AL in ERA.  The White Sox' Reb Russell, who went 18-12 with a 2.42 ERA, led baseball with a 0.94 WHIP.  

News
14 year veteran Carl Pavano announced his retirement at 38 years old.
Longtime reliever Guillermo Mota announced his retirement at 40 years old.
White Sox traded Jake Elmore (2 HR, 6 RBI, .242 AVG, 1 SB, 2014 age: 27) to the A's for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Although often injured, Carl Pavano put up quite a few big years in the first decade of the 21st century.  He was originally drafted by the Red Sox in the 13th round of the 1994 draft out of Southington High School in Southington, Connecticut.  He shot through the minors with great success, most notably going 16-5 with a 2.63 ERA for AA Trenton in 1996.  He was flipped to the Expos after the 1997 season in the trade that sent Pedro Martinez to Boston.  Though he began the year at AAA Ottawa, he was in Montreal by May and went 6-9 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 24 games (23 starts) in a solid rookie season, aged 22.  Despite all the success, the highlight of his season may have came on September 27th, when he gave up Mark McGwire's record settin 70th home run of the season.  Pavano took a step backward in 1999, finishing 6-8 with a 5.63 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) as injuries troubled him.  He returned in 2000 as one of the few pitchers to find success in the Year of the Pitcher, going 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in 15 starts.  2001, another injury interrupted season, saw him finish just 1-6 with a 6.33 ERA in eight starts for the Expos. Midway through 2002, where he was again struggling, Montreal traded him to the Marlins, where he pitched well and finished the season 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA in 37 games (22 starts).  Pavano put up a breakout year in 2003, going 12-13 with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in 33 games (32 starts), breaking both 30 starts and 200 innings for the first time in his career.  He pitched extremely well as both a reliever and a starter in the postseason, going 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP to help lead Florida to its second World Series Championship.  He returned in 2004 for the best season of his entire career, finishing 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP in 31 starts and earning his first and only trip to the All Star Game.  As should be expected, the New York Yankees took notice of Pavano after his big season and signed him to a four year, $39.95 million deal.  New York didn't exactly get that out of Pavano, as injuries limited him to 17 starts in 2005, where he went 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA.  In 2006, he was out until August with injuries, and as he was about to come off the DL, he was injured again in a car crash and missed the rest of the season.  He nonetheless earned the Opening Day start in 2007, but needed Tommy John surgery after two starts (1-0, 4.76 ERA) and missed the rest of the season.  Still recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2008, he made seven starts, and went 4-2 with a 5.77 ERA.  The Yankees, disappointed in his injuries and perceived lack of effort, allowed him to walk in 2009, when he signed with the Indians.  He split the season between Cleveland and Minnesota, and pitched his first full season since 2004.  In 33 starts, he went 14-12 with a 5.10 ERA.  Pavano, now 34, had a huge bounce back season in 2010, as he went 17-11 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP in 32 starts. He led the AL with seven complete games.  Pavano followed up with a solid 2011 campaign, going 9-13 with a 4.30 ERA over 33 starts.  In 2012, the Twins named Pavano their Opening Day starter for a second straight season, but he went down with injuries eleven starts in.  In his final season, he was 2-5 with a 6.00 ERA.  He missed the entire 2013 season before announcing his retirement in 2014.  For his career, he was 108-107 with a 4.39 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP over 302 games (284 starts).  He was at his best in the postseason, going 2-2 with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP over ten games (four starts).   

Game Scores (SS=Split Squad)
Yankees (4-2) beat the Nationals (3-1) 4-2.
Pirates (4-1) beat the Red Sox (1-3) 7-6.
Rays (2-1) beat the Phillies (1-5) 6-1.
A's (4-1) beat the Dodgers (2-3) 7-3.
Cubs (1-3) beat the Brewers (3-3) 4-2.
Tigers (4-2) beat the Cardinals (1-3) 8-5.
Diamondbacks (SS, 4-4) beat the Rockies (SS, 1-4) 5-0.
Mariners (SS, 5-1) beat the Rockies (SS, 1-4) 8-1.
Top Scorer: Twins (SS) beat the Blue Jays 12-2.

Standings
Grapefruit (Florida) League: Top: Twins/Pirates (4-1, .800 WPCT).  Bottom: Braves (0-6, .000).
Cactus (Arizona) League: Top: Mariners (5-1, .833).  Bottom: Rockies/Padres (1-4, .200).

Spring Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Zach Walters (Nationals), .857 (6-7).  Home runs: 7 tied with 2.  RBI: Nick Castellanos (Tigers), 7.  Stolen bases: Billy Burns (A's), 5.
Pitching: Wins: Jesse Chavez (A's) and Ramon Ramirez (Mariners), 2.  K's: Seth Rosin (Dodgers), 8.  ERA: Freddy Garcia (Braves) and Alfredo Simon (Reds), 0.00 (5 shutout innings).  Saves: Josh Collmenter (Diamondbacks), 2.

Top Performers
Offensive: Tommy Medica (Padres): 3-3, double, home run (1), 3 RBI, run, stolen base (1).
Pitching: Ivan Nova (Yankees): Win (1-0), 3 shutout innings, no hits, no walks, 4 K's (5).
Worst Pitching Performance: Tim Alderson (Orioles): Loss (0-1), 0 innings, 5 earned runs, 4 hits, 1 walk, 0 K's.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman