Filling the Saberhagen gaps (Volume 3)

The up-and-down careers of hitters have had three turns at “Filling the Mickey Vernon Gaps” at-bats, but the same phenomenon as viewed from the pitcher’s mound has had only two. So it’s the hurlers’ turn again.

For the structure of this exercise, see the References and Resources section below. All adjusted stat lines appear in blue, all actuals are in black.

Swingmen par excellence

Here are a couple of tall righthanders who had a lot more than that in common. Both were primarily fastball pitchers, but neither accumulated many strikeouts. Both were control artists who were sometimes prone to the gopher ball. Both showed great promise as young starters, then found themselves slotted for many years in the swingman role for strong contending teams, before enjoying late-career returns to top-starter prominence.

The swingman, rarely deployed in the modern era, was for many decades the unsung yeoman of pitching staffs, in the starting rotation for stretches here and there as required by circumstances, otherwise taking long relief stints and spot starts. Few of the many who have performed the task were as good at it as these two.

Jim Perry

Gaylord’s older brother wasn’t a great pitcher, but he was a very good one. Nevertheless, after a very impressive first two seasons, he sharply regressed. At age 24, he was one of the top starters in the league, but by 28, he was hanging on as a mop-up middle reliever.

But Perry responded well to the relief assignment, and the following year he stepped forward as a first-rate swingman. The Twins made excellent use of Perry in that role through his age-32 season. In 1969, rookie manager Billy Martin continued to deploy Perry in his accustomed manner until late May, and then decided to leave the 33-year-old in the regular rotation. Perry performed wonderfully, producing a surprise 20-win season, and the following year he led the majors in wins and won the Cy Young Award.

Our revised version of Perry’s career avoids the early-60s funk, and working primarily as a starter throughout, he delivers a glittering 265-176 career.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1959   23   12   10   44   13    8  153  122   10   55   79 2.65  139
 1960   24   18   10   41   36   10  261  257   35   91  120 3.62  104
 1961   25   15   12   39   36    9  249  251   33   90  110 3.94  100
 1962   26   15   11   38   32    9  228  235   28   75   97 3.84  101
 1963   27   16    8   42   32    9  234  227   23   72  115 3.37  108
 1964   28   15    6   43   24    7  196  187   20   60  109 3.24  111
 1965   29   18   10   39   32    9  236  219   24   65  125 3.15  113
 1966   30   18   10   38   34   10  241  221   24   67  137 3.12  116
 1967   31   14    7   42   24    8  196  184   13   58  124 2.89  120
 1968   32   16    6   41   30    9  221  201   15   53  125 2.71  115
 1969   33   20    6   46   36   12  262  244   18   66  153 2.82  130
 1970   34   24   12   40   40   13  279  258   20   57  168 3.04  122
 1971   35   17   17   40   39    8  270  263   39  102  126 4.23   84
 1972   36   13   16   35   35    5  218  191   14   60   85 3.35   96
 1973   37   14   13   35   34    7  203  225   22   55   66 4.03  101
 1974   38   17   12   36   36    8  252  242   11   64   71 2.96  122
 1975   39    4   10   23   17    2  105  107   15   44   44 5.38   69
Career      265  176  662  529  142 3804 3633  364 1133 1854 3.39  108

Steve Gromek

This hard thrower emerged during World War II as Cleveland’s ace, outperforming Allie Reynolds. But Gromek had an off year in 1946, and in the post-war period he wasn’t again able to elbow his way to the head of the immensely talented Indians’ staff. Not being as good as Feller, Lemon, Wynn and Garcia is hardly a disgrace, though, and Gromek performed just fine in the supporting role.

It appeared that’s all he would ever be, until at age 33 he was traded to Detroit. The Tigers were a little short in the pitching department, and gave Gromek a shot as a full-time starter. He rewarded them with a terrific performance at age 34, gaining 18 of the team’s 68 wins, and finishing fifth in the league in innings, ERA and ERA+. Here’s our version at what kind of a career Gromek might have displayed had he more consistently been prominently deployed.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1941   21    1    1    9    2    1   23   25    0   11   19 4.24   93
 1942   22    2    0   14    0    0   44   46    2   23   14 3.65   94
 1943   23    0    0    3    0    0    4    6    0    0    4 9.00   34
 1944   24   10    9   35   21   12  204  160    5   70  115 2.56  128
 1945   25   19    9   33   30   21  251  229    6   66  101 2.55  128
 1946   26   13   19   42   33   13  254  251   22   73  115 3.63   91
 1947   27   11    9   42   19    8  185  177   11   62   79 3.33  104
 1948   28   13    5   45   15    8  180  183   12   64   70 3.64  112
 1949   29   12   10   40   24   11  192  203   11   66   62 3.65  109
 1950   30   17   13   45   26   11  214  210   23   59   84 3.81  114
 1951   31   14   10   41   21   11  208  196   17   52   81 2.85  133
 1952   32   14   13   43   26   10  224  215   26   51  106 3.56   94
 1953   33   14   15   38   31   13  238  255   29   62  108 3.99  101
 1954   34   18   16   36   32   17  253  236   26   57  102 2.74  134
 1955   35   13   10   28   25    8  181  183   26   37   73 3.98   97
 1956   36    8    6   40   13    4  141  142   25   47   64 4.28   96
 1957   37    0    1   15    1    0   24   32    3   13   11 6.08   63
Career      178  146  551  318  149 2820 2748  243  814 1209 3.43  107

Solid Senior Circuit southpaws

Curt Simmons

After achieving Whiz Kid stardom, Simmons slowly faded as the decade of the 1950s unfolded. By 1959 he and his sore arm spent almost the entire season on the sidelines, and the following spring Simmons showed no signs of coming around. The Phillies, drawing the not unreasonable conclusion that he was washed up, released Simmons.

The Cardinals took a flyer on him, and for whatever reason, in St. Louis Simmons immediately blossomed anew. He never again threw as hard as he had when young, but he perfected his control, and mixing a curve and change into the mix, employing a herky-jerky crossfire delivery, Simmons defined the term “crafty lefthander” into the mid-1960s. The whole time, the Phillies had to be thinking, “Thanks a lot, pal.”

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1947   18    1    0    1    1    1    9    5    0    6    9 1.00  403
 1948   19    7   13   31   23    7  170  169    8  108   86 4.87   81
 1949   20    4   10   38   14    2  131  133    7   55   83 4.59   86
 1950   21   17    8   31   27   11  215  178   19   88  146 3.40  120
 1952   23   14    8   28   28   15  201  170   11   70  141 2.82  130
 1953   24   16   13   32   30   19  238  211   17   82  138 3.21  131
 1954   25   14   15   34   33   21  253  226   14   98  125 2.81  143
 1955   26   13    8   28   25    7  172  163   17   69  102 3.97  100
 1956   27   15    9   31   28   15  200  178   14   68  115 3.09  121
 1957   28   14   12   32   30   14  225  213   14   66  115 3.32  114
 1958   29   11   15   32   30   14  211  211   13   69  102 3.44  115
 1959   30    4    7   18   14    4   89  106    7   20   41 4.39   93
 1960   31   10    8   30   24    6  184  188   13   44   80 3.28  125
 1961   32   12   10   31   31    9  214  206   14   56  113 2.77  158
 1962   33   14   10   33   28   11  199  200   21   41   89 3.46  123
 1963   34   15    9   32   32   11  233  209   13   48  127 2.48  143
 1964   35   18    9   34   34   12  244  233   24   49  104 3.43  111
 1965   36    9   15   34   32    5  203  229   19   54   96 4.08   95
 1966   37    5    8   29   15    4  111  114   10   35   38 4.23   86
 1967   38    5    8   31   18    4  117  144   11   32   44 4.24   81
Career      216  193  588  495  190 3618 3486  264 1157 1893 3.44  114

Joe Nuxhall

This lefty forged not one but two epic comebacks in his long career. First was the long, hard bush-league road back to the majors following his humiliating adolescent Cincinnati debut. Nuxhall gave up at one point, spending an entire season on the Voluntarily Retired List. Then, when he decided to give it another shot, over the following two seasons Nuxhall surrendered 258 walks in 198 innings in three separate minor leagues. Still the young southpaw persisted, weathering another campaign in which he lost 22 games in the Texas League, but finally at age 23 he made it back to the big leagues with the Reds, and this time he was ready.

Within a few years Nuxhall was the ace of the Cincinnati staff. But the stardom that now seemed within his grasp eluded Nuxhall. He receded into lesser roles, and finally struggled to a 1-8 record at age 31, and found himself traded to the Kansas City A’s. Nuxhall struggled there too, and the following December was released by the A’s.

If that wasn’t the essence of the end-of-the-major-league-career rope, this was: Over the next six months, two more organizations signed Nuxhall, but both quickly released him. In what had to be seen as his truly last chance, the Reds returned Nuxhall’s call, and all of a sudden things clicked for him. In his mid-30s, Nuxhall pitched the best baseball of his career, endearing himself to Cincinnati fans, and setting himself up for the long broadcasting career in which he became a franchise institution.

Our version of Nuxhall strolls across a smooth bridge between his early and late big league phases, and wins 167 games.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO   ERA ERA+
 1944   15    0    0    1    0    0    1    2    0    5    0 67.50    5
 1952   23    1    4   37    5    2   92   83    4   42   52  3.22  117
 1953   24    9   11   30   17    5  142  136   13   69   52  4.32  101
 1954   25   12    5   35   14    5  167  188   11   59   85  3.89  108
 1955   26   17   12   50   33   14  257  240   25   78   98  3.47  122
 1956   27   15   12   47   33   12  229  218   22   83  109  3.58  112
 1957   28   14   11   45   31   10  216  216   25   66   99  3.99  103
 1958   29   15   12   43   30   10  216  205   20   71  105  3.60  115
 1959   30   14   10   38   28   11  202  196   16   51  114  3.33  122
 1960   31    8    8   37   18    7  165  162   11   33  121  3.23  119
 1961   32   10    8   36   21    8  173  165   13   52  125  3.62  113
 1962   33   13    4   35   24    8  180  163   11   50  144  2.78  144
 1963   34   15    8   35   29   14  217  194   14   39  169  2.61  129
 1964   35    9    8   32   22    7  155  146   19   51  111  4.07   89
 1965   36   11    4   32   16    5  149  142   18   31  117  3.45  109
 1966   37    6    8   35   16    2  130  136   14   42   71  4.50   87
Career      167  124  566  334  119 2689 2591  235  820 1570  3.56  112

Lively American League lefties

Steve Barber

Barber’s fastball was exceptional, a wicked high-velocity sinker. At his best, he was as tough to hit as any pitcher. But Barber always struggled with his control, and intermittently he struggled with arm trouble as well. He bounced between major stardom and ragged mediocrity, and the sore-armed mediocrity eventually won out. As portrayed by Jim Bouton in Ball Four, Barber in 1969 was a rather pathetic character, doggedly expecting to soon regain stellar performance while soothing his elbow in the diathermy machine.

This version of Barber grapples with the arm health, but generally sustains his effectiveness.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1960   22   10    7   36   27    6  182  148   10  113  112 3.22  118
 1961   23   18   12   37   34   14  248  194   13  130  150 3.33  117
 1962   24   16   10   35   30   10  216  197   11   94  140 3.13  121
 1963   25   20   13   39   36   11  259  253   12   92  180 2.75  128
 1964   26   15   12   37   31    7  212  191   14   85  143 3.00  120
 1965   27   15   10   37   32    7  221  177   16   81  130 2.69  128
 1966   28   10    5   25   22    5  133  104    6   49   91 2.30  145
 1967   29   14   15   35   33    9  210  172   11  123  134 3.64   87
 1968   30   13    9   30   28    7  194  190   10   78  134 2.91   99
 1969   31   10    9   31   24    4  154  138   13   65  100 3.28  111
 1970   32    5    4   18   12    3   77   66    5   30   53 2.81  155
 1971   33    5    3   30   11    2  102  110    7   45   64 3.81   97
 1972   34    4    4   39    3    0   74   55    5   36   40 2.81  110
 1973   35    3    2   50    1    0   89   90    5   32   58 3.53  101
 1974   36    0    1   13    0    0   14   13    0   12   13 5.27   72
Career      156  115  490  324   84 2383 2098  137 1064 1539 3.09  114

Gary Peters

Few career progressions were quite as unpredictable as that of Peters.

In 1963, he was sensational, going 19-8 and leading the league in ERA and ERA+, waltzing away with the American League Rookie of the Year Award. But Peters achieved this as a 26-year-old rookie, after having spent four full seasons at the Triple-A level, during which he had been blandly so-so, going 13-11, 12-9, 13-10 and 8-10, with ERAs of 3.56, 4.34, 3.59 and 3.69. Nobody, least of all the White Sox, saw the dazzling 1963 performance coming.

He followed it up with another brilliant year in 1964, but in the seasons following Peters ping-ponged between league-elite performance and disasters such as 1968, in which he went 4-13 with an 81 ERA+.

Here instead we see a Peters with a more normal ascent and descent, and it’s a darn fine career altogether.

Peters was one of the best hitting pitchers of his era, delivering doubles, triples and home runs aplenty, and being deployed as a pinch-hitter nearly 100 times.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1959   22    0    0    2    0    0    1    2    0    2    1 0.00  inf
 1960   23    1    1    7    1    0   16   17    2    7   13 4.16   91
 1961   24    1    4   13    8    2   65   59    2   22   43 3.44  113
 1962   25   13   10   32   27    8  184  185   16   67  128 4.12   95
 1963   26   19    8   41   30   13  243  192    9   68  189 2.33  151
 1964   27   20    8   37   36   11  274  217   20  104  205 2.50  138
 1965   28   14   10   33   31    8  218  185   17   71  143 2.64  120
 1966   29   12   10   30   27   11  205  156   11   45  129 1.98  160
 1967   30   16   11   38   36   11  260  187   15   91  215 2.28  136
 1968   31   10   12   35   31    9  211  167   11   76  163 2.85  107
 1969   32   12   13   35   32    9  216  198   16   78  155 3.59  108
 1970   33   16   11   34   34   10  222  221   20   83  155 4.06   98
 1971   34   14   11   34   32    9  214  241   25   70  100 4.37   85
 1972   35    3    3   33    4    0   85   91   10   38   67 4.32   75
Career      150  111  404  328  100 2413 2117  173  821 1705 3.09  112

Newk

Don Newcombe

Speaking of your good-hitting pitchers: Newcombe’s line in 1955, over 117 at-bats, was nine doubles, one triple, seven homers and a batting average of .359. His OPS+ was 165 that year, which, had he qualified among the league leaders, would have placed Newcombe fourth, close behind Willie Mays, Eddie Mathews and Duke Snider, and ahead of Stan Musial and Roy Campanella.

Newcombe isn’t in the Hall of Fame, and he shouldn’t be. But there’s a plausible scenario in which Newcombe might have been deserving: His major league career was truncated by a year or two on the front end thanks to Jim Crow, he lost two more prime seasons to his Korean War draft board, and he deteriorated rapidly in his early 30s, likely as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.

The Newcombe we see here doesn’t arrive any sooner or last any longer than the real one, but he dodges the draft and generally sustains his strongest level of performance. His career win-loss record of 205-100, yielding a percentage of .672, would be among the best of all time. In this case he’d likely draw serious Hall of Fame support, and might have won the vote.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1949   23   17    8   38   31   19  244  223   17   73  149 3.17  130
 1950   24   19   11   40   35   20  267  258   22   75  130 3.70  111
 1951   25   20    9   40   36   18  272  235   19   91  164 3.28  120
 1952   26   19    7   36   31   18  239  223   26   56  146 3.18  115
 1953   27   23    9   39   36   19  268  239   28   61  135 3.38  125
 1954   28   13   10   32   30   12  205  197   24   58  112 3.64  112
 1955   29   20    5   34   31   17  234  222   35   38  143 3.20  128
 1956   30   27    7   38   36   18  268  219   33   46  139 3.06  130
 1957   31   15    8   31   29   15  218  212   29   33  111 3.27  127
 1958   32   13   10   35   26    9  191  197   27   35   90 3.87  107
 1959   33   13    8   30   29   17  222  216   25   27  100 3.16  129
 1960   34    6    9   36   17    1  137  160   18   22   63 4.48   85
Career      205  100  429  367  183 2765 2601  303  613 1482 3.40  118

38 pitches

Curt Schilling

Love him or hate him, Schilling has been among the most singular personalities of his era, as well as being among the best players.

But he’s been extremely inconsistent, and in addition to that his career has had an odd shape: the conversion from full-time reliever to starter in his mid-20s, the mushrooming strikeout rate in his late 20s, and the peak in his mid-30s. Though he’s never won a Cy Young Award, it’s pretty clear that at his best, Schilling was a Hall of Fame-caliber performer. The question remains whether the entire uneven career is Hall of Fame-worthy. My suspicion is that he will win the vote, because rightly or wrongly he’ll get significant Bloody Sock bonus points.

This version, with the valleys largely filled in, would cruise to Cooperstown.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO  ERA ERA+
 1988   21    0    3    4    4    0   15   22    3   10    4 9.82   40
 1989   22    1    2   23    1    0   32   29    3   13   22 3.55  107
 1990   23    3    4   37    5    2   77   66    4   27   55 3.06  124
 1991   24    9    8   49   13    5  151  122    7   49  109 2.71  129
 1992   25   14   11   42   26   10  226  165   11   59  147 2.35  150
 1993   26   16    7   34   34    7  235  234   23   57  186 4.02  100
 1994   27    9    8   24   24    4  159  161   17   43  122 4.14  104
 1995   28   12    8   26   26    4  185  152   19   42  217 3.16  136
 1996   29   14   12   32   32   10  235  198   21   56  267 3.13  140
 1997   30   17   11   35   35    7  254  208   25   58  319 2.97  143
 1998   31   15   14   35   35   15  269  236   23   61  300 3.25  134
 1999   32   18    8   31   31    7  230  201   29   47  255 3.12  148
 2000   33   16   11   33   33    9  246  219   26   46  261 3.40  138
 2001   34   22    6   35   35    6  257  237   37   39  293 2.98  154
 2002   35   23    7   36   35    5  259  218   29   33  316 3.23  136
 2003   36   17    7   31   30    4  218  189   23   33  238 3.17  148
 2004   37   21    6   32   32    3  227  206   23   35  203 3.26  150
 2005   38   15    7   32   25    1  175  182   21   28  158 3.97  111
 2006   39   15    7   31   31    0  204  220   28   28  183 3.97  116
Career      256  147  601  487   99 3654 3265  371  765 3654 3.30  132

Ol’ Buck

Bobo Newsom

His career was completely unbelievable from about seven different angles, his perplexing inconsistency being just one of them. Suffice to say that if someone invented the story of Bobo Newsom, we would laugh it away as totally implausible.

Here we have Bobo with a more normal career arc, and it’s still hard to believe. Something worth wondering about is whether this version of Newsom would have made the Hall of Fame. The career line of 285-264, with a 114 ERA+ in 4,859 innings, is eerily similar to that of Bert Blyleven: 287-250, 118 ERA+, 4,970 innings.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO   ERA ERA+
 1929   21    0    3    3    2    0    9   15    0    5    6 10.61   44
 1930   22    0    0    2    0    0    3    2    0    2    1  0.00  inf
 1931   23    4    6   13    9    4   69   69    4   39   36  4.18  111
 1932   24    9   13   36   20   11  168  178    9   82   74  4.26  114
 1933   25   13   12   42   30   16  224  225   12  125  129  4.56  102
 1934   26   16   20   47   32   15  262  259   15  149  135  4.01  124
 1935   27   15   18   43   34   19  267  276   13  137  134  4.23  104
 1936   28   17   15   43   38   24  286  294   13  146  156  4.32  111
 1937   29   18   14   42   38   24  296  292   20  158  185  4.46  105
 1938   30   20   16   44   40   31  330  334   30  192  226  5.08   98
 1939   31   20   11   41   37   24  292  272   19  126  192  3.58  137
 1940   32   21    5   36   34   20  264  235   19  100  164  2.83  169
 1941   33   17   13   39   35   19  268  254   16  107  168  3.45  132
 1942   34   17   13   38   35   20  267  254   14  104  158  3.47  104
 1943   35   16   11   37   31   15  249  233   14   98  143  3.23  102
 1944   36   13   15   37   33   18  265  243   11   82  142  2.82  124
 1945   37   12   16   36   33   17  253  241   10   92  128  3.01  114
 1946   38   14   13   34   31   17  237  224    7   90  114  2.93  116
 1947   39   11   11   31   28    7  199  208   10   67   82  3.34  108
 1948   40    7   11   41   25    7  176  193    7   71   74  3.43  115
 1949   41    8   11   36   23    9  160  167    9   83   69  3.96  107
 1950   42    6    9   42   11    2  125  133    8   69   52  4.26  105
 1951   43    5    6   24   11    3   93   97    5   39   38  3.69  110
 1952   44    4    4   24    5    1   60   54    4   32   27  3.88  100
 1953   45    2    1   17    2    1   39   44    3   24   16  4.89   87
Career      285  264  828  617  323 4859 4796  272 2218 2648  3.78  114

Lefty

Steve Carlton

He was obviously one of the greatest pitchers of all time, but it isn’t much of a stretch to say that Carlton might have had a distinctly better career, because he wasn’t consistent at all. Of course, in his “down” years Carlton was a very good pitcher, instead of a great one. In this regard his career has something in common with that of Roger Clemens.

Here we smooth things out a bit, and the result is a career amazingly similar to that of Warren Spahn, who was 363-245 in 5,244 innings. The machinelike production of 20-win seasons is also quite Spahnian.

Which might serve to remind us just how stunningly great Spahn was.

 Year  Age    W    L    G   GS   CG   IP    H   HR   BB   SO   ERA ERA+
 1965   20    0    0   15    2    0   25   27    3    8   21  2.52  153
 1966   21    3    3    9    9    2   52   56    2   18   25  3.12  116
 1967   22   14    9   30   28   11  193  173   10   62  168  2.98  110
 1968   23   13   11   34   33   10  232  214   11   61  162  2.99   97
 1969   24   17   11   31   31   12  236  185   15   93  210  2.17  164
 1970   25   14   15   33   32   13  245  212   20  101  202  2.98  139
 1971   26   24   10   39   39   24  310  266   20   93  241  2.67  135
 1972   27   27   10   41   41   30  346  257   17   87  310  1.97  182
 1973   28   20   15   41   41   24  320  275   23  100  267  2.86  134
 1974   29   22   12   40   40   24  319  253   19  112  275  2.54  148
 1975   30   19   12   37   37   16  269  223   25   97  195  3.08  122
 1976   31   22    9   36   36   15  268  227   22   81  197  2.87  123
 1977   32   23   10   36   36   17  283  229   25   89  198  2.64  151
 1978   33   20   12   35   35   15  265  229   28   76  180  2.73  131
 1979   34   21   10   37   37   13  278  223   20   90  250  2.92  132
 1980   35   24    9   38   38   13  304  243   15   90  286  2.34  162
 1981   36   13    4   24   24   10  190  152    9   62  179  2.42  150
 1982   37   23   11   38   38   19  296  253   17   86  286  3.10  119
 1983   38   15   16   37   37    8  284  277   20   84  275  3.11  115
 1984   39   13    7   33   33    1  229  214   14   79  163  3.58  101
 1985   40    1    8   16   16    0   92   84    6   53   48  3.33  111
 1986   41    9   14   32   32    0  176  196   25   86  120  5.10   78
 1987   42    6   14   32   21    3  152  165   24   86   91  5.74   80
 1988   43    0    1    4    1    0   10   20    5    5    5 16.76   24
Career      361  231  746  715  278 5373 4652  394 1797 4352  2.96  125

References & Resources
Everyone’s actual career (especially pitchers) includes a certain degree of year-to-year variation, and I wanted these smoothed-out versions to reflect some of that. So instead of using strict formality, I allowed myself to be a little looser, and apply a bit of artistic license. However, I did require myself to stick to some basic rules:

– I couldn’t just make stuff up; all adjusted stats have to start with the particular pitcher’s actual stat lines.
– In most cases, the stats from the season being adjusted were included (even if in a minor weighting) in the adjusted line, to give the adjusted line some of the flavor of that actual season’s performance.
– No pitcher’s career can start earlier than it did, or end later than it did.
– No adjusted season can surpass the pitcher’s actual peak season(s); the adjusted seasons act as a bridge to and from peaks, not a new peak.

I’ve endeavored to create a new version of each pitcher’s career that is idealized, but in a plausible manner. The intended effect is to enhance the actual career while not overwhelming it, to create an easily recognizable version of the actual career that is, to a reasonable degree, the best it might have been.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions about the precise formulae used for any particular pitcher.