All-Time Indians: Jesse Orosco

In the modern age, relievers come and go, particularly those who are left handed. Because of this, very few LOOGYs have had the opportunity to become an All-Time Indian. In fact, only Rafael Perez and Paul Assenmacher have been featured to this point as a relief pitcher who was used almost exclusively as a left handed specialist.

Jesse Orosco pitched just three years with the Indians, but was the prototype of the well traveled lefty, playing for nine different teams across 24 seasons that spanned four decades. While there is no Hall of Fame for a player like this (or the hitter equivalent, Julio Franco), it is a shame that more attention isn’t paid to the player who holds the MLB record for games pitched with 1,252.

Orosco was originally taken by the Twins in the second round of the 1978 draft, but was traded after just one season in the minors in a small deal to the New York Mets for Jerry Koosman. Jumping straight from rookie ball to the Majors, Orosco made his MLB debut on April 5th, 1979 although he made just 18 appearances before heading to AAA and attempting to lengthen out his arm. He would spend an injury shortened 1980 in AA, then nearly all of 1981 in AAA before getting a call-up in September.

He would never return to the minors after this point (outside of some rehab stints in 2000 and 2001) and would spend his first eight seasons with the Mets including both of his All-Star appearances in 1983 and 1984. An extremely impressive run, from 1981 through 1986 Orosco posted a 2.31 ERA with 91 saves in 483.2 innings, never holding an ERA above 2.75. He had a season of lesser quality in 1987 at 29 and it looked like he was a reliever who had a good run, but was washing up as he neared 30. Thinking along these lines, the Mets traded Orosco to Los Angeles in a three team, eight player deal prior to 1987.

After one year with the Dodgers, Orosco became a free agent and signed a four year deal with the Indians worth about $850K per year. While he had a good season with LA, his first year in Cleveland would be his best since his first All-Star season of 1983. He was part of a dominant bullpen that included the current closer Doug Jones and the future closer, Steve Olin. Even with this talent around him, Orosco lead the relief corps in ERA (2.08), K/9 (9.1) and average allowed (.198).

While he wasn’t used as the closer regularly, Orosco still finished 29 of the 69 games in which he appeared. Those appearances were impressive on their own as only two Indians pitchers prior to him had surpassed 69 games. This mark has been passed quite a bit since, but only two of the 27 relievers to pitch more than 69 times since Orosco threw more innings than his 78, Olin in 1992 and Paul Shuey in 1999.

Jones and Olin would continue their dominance in 1990 and Orosco would be the Indians second most used reliever behind the closer Jones with 64.2 innings in 55 appearances. It was unfortunate that the Indians of this period didn’t have the offense or starting pitching that they would have later on in the 1990’s and this great bullpen was wasted and would eventually be entirely rebuilt between 1994 and 1995. This particular season, Orosco had another step back with a 3.90 ERA, but he would improve that in 1991 as he pitched less often, but more effectively posting a 3.74 ERA.

After 1991, a team gave up on Orosco for the second time as he was traded to Milwaukee again for just the final year of team control. After a great season in 1992, the Brewers resigned Orosco as a free agent after which he had another top year in 1993 and a poor campaign in 1994. Now 38 years old, he signed as a free agent with the Orioles where he would spend the next five seasons with a 3.35 ERA in 336 appearances. The trend continued here as well as after a poor season in 1999, Orosco was traded to the Mets in December, then to the Cardinals before the 2000 season began.

He pitched just 2.1 innings with St. Louis, but still had enough left that he was able to work out a deal to return to the Dodgers where he pitched the next two seasons. Orosco’s age 45 season in 2002 would be his final effective year as he posted a 3.00 ERA and 7.3 K/9 in 27 innings. He would continue on, however, pitching with San Diego, New York and back where it started in Minnesota in 2003. Each year from 1999 on, he was the oldest player in baseball and was still effective until after he turned 45. While he wasn’t a closer with the Indians, he was during much of his time in New York and some in Baltimore allowing him to currently rank 84th in total saves (144) and 41st in games finished (501) in baseball history.

For the Tribe, he has to be considered one of the best left handed relievers in team history, although he was used often for multiple innings at a time and against right handed hitters. While he pitched less than 200 innings in Cleveland, his 3.11 ERA is very impressive, especially considering his age and innings pitched before he came to the Tribe, and there are few others who deserve comparison beyond Sid Monge, Don Mossi and Tony Sipp.

While not a Hall of Famer, Orosco had about as successful of a career as any reliever could hope for. He won his ring in 1986 with the Mets with 5.2 scoreless innings against the Red Sox, then had the opportunity to play baseball all around the country for decades more. His son, Jesse Jr. was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2008, just five years after he retired himself.