FanShot

The Journeyman: A Statistical Analysis

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Another fun Jon Bois article for a slow day. I clicked on the article because it featured Octavio Dotel (who has played for 12 different teams) in a Pirates uniform, but it also features mentions of former Bucs Bobby Bonilla (eight, which surprised me -- I'd forgotten how much he bounced around at the end of his career), Kenny Lofton (12, and he took the first plate appearance of the season for the '03 Pirates), Julian Tavarez (11 teams, also played with the Bucs '03), Ron Villone (12) and Josias Manzanillo (eight). Bois defines a journeyman as a player who has appeared in games for eight or more major-league teams. It would be interesting to do a similar article that focuses on players who appeared with a ton of teams not only in the majors, but in the minors and internationally. (C.J. Nitkowski springs to mind, although I'm sure there many more extreme examples.) Obviously, the data for that one would be a whole lot harder to collect. By the way, the '03 Pirates had a ton of journeymen. In addition to Lofton and Tavarez, there was Reggie Sanders (eight teams), Jose Hernandez (nine), and Matt Stairs (13). Several of those players did well for the Pirates, but that also tells you a lot about the kinds of players Dave Littlefield targeted.