Remembering Yankees of the Past: Tim Raines

This morning we discussed one of the newest members of the Hall of Fame Pudge Rodriguez’s short and rather uneventful time in Yankees pinstripes but there was a second former Yankees player to be elected to the Hall this week as well. His name was Tim “Rock” Raines and while he will likely be heading into Cooperstown with a Montreal Expos hat on his head he, and now we, will never forget his time spent here in the Bronx.

Raines was a career National League player before coming over to the American League in 1992 with the Chicago White Sox but he never found true success in the AL until his time with the Bronx Bombers. On December 28, 1995 the New York Yankees acquired Raines in a trade. Raines would be an integral part of the 1996 and 1998 World Series teams in the Bronx although his playing time was ultimately curtailed due to injury.

Raines was always considered to be a great clubhouse and chemistry type guy and he finished his Yankees tenure with a .299/.395/.429 triple slash in three seasons with 18 home runs and 118 RBI. Raines was the perfect example of what made these Yankees teams in the mid-90’s great. Raines played a position or three, he played a role and he played it well.

Now he’s playing that role in the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to him and to his family and friends. This one was a long time coming. 

Quick Hit: Comparing Dellin to Mariano in Season Two

When Dellin Betances broke into the league and broke into the back end of the New York Yankees bullpen in 2014 many compared him immediately to the Yankees legendary closer Mariano Rivera. When looking at the stats from Mariano's first full season in 1996 and Dellin's 2014 campaign you can see that Dellin met or exceeded many of Rivera's totals including passing his franchise record for strikeouts in a single season. Has Dellin met, exceeded or fallen short of Rivera's second season in the majors in only his second full season in 2015?

Dellin Betances 2015 stats (to date):

Year	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015 ★	6	3	1.36	70	8	79.2	41	15	12	5	39	124	295	2.43	1.004	4.6	0.6	4.4	14.0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Mariano Rivera's 1997 stats: 

Year	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
1997 ★	6	4	1.88	66	43	71.2	65	17	15	5	20	68	239	2.96	1.186	8.2	0.6	2.5	8.5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

You have to keep in mind that Rivera was the closer for the New York Yankees in 1997 which led to a decrease in innings pitched and subsequently most of his stats in his second season. Rivera was throwing multiple innings in 1996 where he was limited to one, and no more than two, innings in 1997. The stats don't lie either way though and they tell a very interesting story, a story that states that Betances