Luis Tiant

Olde Sox: The Talented Luis Tiant

Imagine if there was a player on the Red Sox today who pitched like Jon Lester and captivated the media like David Ortiz. That’d be fun, right? I mean, the team could use the starter, I know. But this has actually happened before, more or less. In the 70s, among other greats like Yaz and Evans and Rice, there was one personality that rose above them all: El Tiante, Luis Tiant.

Tiant was a great pickup by the Sox, because you know all those pitchers who teams sign or trade for coming off an injury? Those Josh Johnsons, Shaun Marcum-types? Do you still remember Wade Miller? That was Luis Tiant in 1971.

Not only was Tiant the ultimate successful reclamation project, but he’s one of those players whose personality and his unorthodox delivery overshadowed his overall performance. Yes, he was very, very good — but today’s metrics allow us to examine just how good. Was he better than his All-Star voting and records indicated at the time? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Before 1971, Tiant was a Cuban import for the Cleveland Indians — one who tore through the minor leagues before arriving in the majors and starting his big league career as a perfectly suitable mid-rotation starter. In his first five big league seasons, from 1964-1968, he was part of a formidable Cleveland rotation featuring “Sudden” Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert. When he wasn’t starting, he was dipping into the bullpen (he had 12 saves), and overall, he posted a 2.61 ERA and a 2.86 ERA.

In 1968, Tiant had his best season by far, posting an astonishing 1.74 Deserved Runs Average (DRA). DRA measures what a pitcher’s ERA should be — and what makes that DRA so astonishing is that it matches the DRA of another pitcher that year: Bob Gibson, he of the 1.12 ERA of legend. So, according to DRA, Tiant actually had just as good of a season as Gibson! The sky was the limit, and Tiant took home an All-Star berth and a fifth-place MVP finish.

If the story went the way it should have: continued success and development as a pitcher, combined with a long career as a fan favorite in Cleveland, then El Tiante never would have made it to Fenway. Of course, 1969 was a disaster for Tiant thanks to injury. His FIP ballooned to 4.68 from 1.88 the season before, and by the end of the year he was shipped off to Minnesota in a trade. Believe it or not, 1970 was even worse, as a broken scapula nearly ended his career and forced him into just 92 innings of work.

By the start of 1971, Tiant was toiling away for the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate before the Red Sox stepped in, acquired him, and brought him back to the big leagues. Things didn’t turn around immediately, as Tiant and his unorthodox delivery didn’t show marked improvement right away for the Sox. The one heartening item was that Tiant’s strikeout rate bounced back, spiking back up to 18.4%. That wasn’t as good as it was during his best seasons with Cleveland, but was a far sight better than the miserable numbers he’d put up over the previous two campaigns.

Then came 1972, and Tiant was, in many ways, back. Tiant only threw 179 innings, not quite the  hefty workload he’d shouldered during the 60s, but it was a very sharp 179. Tiant actually led the league in ERA (1.91) and posted the second-best FIP of his career (2.49). DRA was kind to him again as well, as his mark of 2.25 was the third-best among starters, behind Don Sutton and Steve Carlton.

Imagine if there was a player on the Red Sox today who pitched like Jon Lester and captivated the media like David Ortiz.

That would be the best season of Tiant’s tenure with the Sox, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t remain effective. Most importantly, Tiant would spend the next four seasons (1973-1976) logging a hefty 1,122 innings, tied for the fifth most in that span of time. That’s more — not to mention better — innings than Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins, or Jim Kaat threw in that span. He won 20 games or more three out of four seasons, and made two All-Star appearances and top-5 Cy Young finishes.

There was something notable about nearly every season. His DRA — and performance — was at its best during 1974 (2.70), 1976 was a bit of a fluky event (21 wins and 3.06 ERA, despite a career-low 11.5% strikeout rate). Maybe 1975 was the most memorable, as he battled through injury to throw exceptionally well in four post-season games, culminating in his classic performance during the “Carlton Fisk Game” — Game 6 of the World Series.

In 1977 and 1978, Tiant was more mortal, throwing only 401 innings over the two seasons, and dealing with a rising home run rate and sliding strikeout rate. ‘78 was a bit better than ‘77; Tiant’s DRA- of 78 — meaning his DRA was 22% better than league average — was in the top-10 among qualified starting pitchers. Still, the stuff was diminishing, and his days as a dominant force in the rotation were about over.

After 1978, Tiant was gone — poof. He’d signed as a free agent with the enemy, part of the rich tradition of former Red Sox gone to the Bronx. Tiant didn’t come up with the Sox, and though he belonged to Fenway, I think it would have been hard for the fans to hate Tiant too much. He was larger than life, and too colorful of a character to hate.

(Also, he wasn’t an exceptional starter in those final seasons. His two with New York, finishing out his 30s, were good but not great: 4.8 WARP in 332 innings.)

After two more partial seasons in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, ostensibly doing a charisma tour of the rest of the country, Tiant would retire, but hardly into obscurity. His larger-than-life personality served him well after baseball as a coach, cigar impresario, and man-about Fenway.

The advent of BP’s new DRA stat makes us have to reconsider Tiant’s place in history — and while time will tell how much traction the new metric gets in the public, it carefully outlines just how good he should have been during his career in Fenway. During the 70s, Boston was a terrible place to pitch, and Tiant did a remarkable job succeeding in such a dangerous zone. As BP rolls out the new version of WARP, based on DRA, in the future, you could expect to see Tiant climb up the historical ladder, and get renewed consideration as a deserving Hall of Famer.

Despite not coming to the Sox until his age-30 season, he remains a top-10 Red Sox pitcher all-time — with the potential to rise even higher based on your metric of choice. Statistically, perhaps Tiant is in the mix with Mel Parnell, Bill Monbouquette, and — yes — Jon Lester in the second tier of great Red Sox starters through history. Perhaps he’s a slight bit higher than those starters. But what truly separated Tiant from the others, from any others, was his style, his delivery, and his verve. Any way you slice the numbers, he was a classic figure in Boston sports lore, and one of the most definitive Red Sox players of his time.

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