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Washington right fielder Dave Winfield further burnished his already stellar CV tonight. The 38-year-old added a new award to his already bulging trophy case, winning All-Star Game MVP after hitting the first grand slam in a Midsummer Classic. Winfield also grew his legacy closer to that of one of the league's all-time greats: Joe Torre. But first, the game summary!

East pitchers shut down the West for five innings, allowing just three hits, and starter Joe Magrane of Cleveland and Dwight Gooden of Toronto each pitched perfect innings. The West pitched three shutout innings despite putting six men aboard, as Jose DeLeon, Jaime Navarro, and Fernando Valenzuela each pitching into, and out of, jams. 

Mark Langston was not so lucky in the fourth. After loading the bases with two singles and a walk, Toronto's Ellis Burks drove in the game's first run with a sac fly, putting the East ahead 1-0.  The next inning, Chicago's  Erik Hanson loaded the bases, then served up a  2-1 fastball to Dave Winfield, who launched it 394 to left for the first grand slam in UL All-Star Game history. The East managed to load the bases a second time, as Hanson was replaced by Bobby Thigpen, who induced a Bip Roberts strikeout to mercifully end the inning.

With a 5-0 lead after five, it looked like an East victory was well in hand. However, the West bats finally came to life off Detroit's Chris Nabholz in the sixth. Ken Caminit walked and scored on Roberts error off Delino DeShields' single. Ivan Calderon and Tony Gwynn added runs on an RBI groundout and a sac fly, trimming the score to 5-3.

Mike Scioscia drove in Kevin Mitchell in the bottom of the sixth, giving the East a 6-3 advantage, before the West mounted a rally. In the top of the seventh, Atlanta catcher Mike Stanley tripled and scored on Kal Daniels' single, making it 6-4. The top of the 8th proved to be the game's turning point. Bret Saberhagen struck out two, including Tony Gwynn after an 11-pitch at-bat, but also allowed two singles, setting up a confrontation with L.A. catcher Darrell Porter, who delivered a three-run homer that chased Saberhagen and put the West ahead 7-6. Caminiti led off the ninth with a solo shot off Dan Plesac for a 8-6 West lead, and Robin Yount halved the margin with a two-out homer off Stan Belinda in the bottom of the ninth, before the Florida close got Scioscia to pop up feebly in the infield to end the game.

Another Feather in the Cap
Winfield's first All-Star home run came in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1981, the same year that Winfield was named to the 1970s All-Decade Team. That game was a 9-4 West rout that featured Seattle's Ellis Valentine's two-homer performance. That was also the year Winfield won the first of four World Series championships—with Los Angeles in 1981 and 1985, then Manhattan in 1986 and Washington in 1987. For a while there, everywhere Winfield went, a league championship was soon to follow.

Fast forward to 1991 and Winfield wins another All-Decade Team nomination,  making him the only player other than Joe Torre to be named to two All-Decade Teams. And just as in 1981, Winfield celebrated the accolade with a home run in the All-Star Game.

Only this home run was unique.  Coming into tonight's game, there had been 65 home runs in 27 Midsummer Classics. But only two players had homered a decade apart. Joe Torre homered in 1964, 1975, and 1980. And now Winfield has homered in 1981 and 1991. And of course, no player had hit a grand slam in the All-Star Game, adding yet another feat to the future Hall-of-Famer's resume.

Here is the full list of Winfield's accolades through the years:
1976 Gold Glove
1977 Semi Series MVP
1980 RBI Champion
1981 Lew Burdette Playoff MVP
1982 Most Valuable Player
1982 OPS Champion
1984 OPS Champion
1991 All-Star Game MVP

UL Championships (1981, 1985, 1986, 1987)
All-UL Team (1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985)
All-Decade Team 1971-80
All-Decade Team 1981-90

Dave Winfield continues to add his name to very short lists. The shortest of short lists he belongs to is multiple All-Decade Team nominations. He has two, which puts him in a club of two: himself and Joe Torre. Tonight he repeated another Torre feat: homering in All-Star Games a decade apart. Only 10 players have homered twice in All-Star Games. Here is the complete list:

3 - Joe Torre
2 - Orlando Cepeda
2 - Sixto Lezcano
2 - Felix Mantilla
2 - Darrell Porter
2 - Ellis Valentine
2 - Billy Williams
2 - Dave Winfield
2 - Butch Wynegar
2 - Robin Yount

It has been a four years since our last Deadweight Digest, and the editors here at Circuit Clouts felt it was time to take a fresh look at the league's most overpaid, underperforming players. I have split the league’s contracts into three weight classes: Featherweight (500-1000), Welterweight (1000-2500k), and Heavyweight (>2500k). I’m excluding players below 500k because even the worst players aren’t really hurting their clubs too much at such low ​salaries.

As always, what follows are not appraisals of GMs, but of contracts, considering such factors as current performance, past performance, salary, years left, current and potential ratings, depth at position, tradability, and the ever-present “sentimental bozo” factor.

Also, it’s probably worth explaining what “deadweight” means in the context of UL contracts. Some synonyms from other fields might include lame duck, flameout, has-been, antediluvian, washout, or putz. What we are talking about is essentially underperforming assets; players who are paid way too much for what they are producing—or, in some cases, appear poised to cost a lot more than their likely future production would warrant.

So without any further ado, let’s get started! (all 1991 stats as of July 16)

Deadfeatherweights (500-1000)

John Burkett, BRO (1000)
The 16th overall pick in 1987, Burkett has a career WAR of  -2.5, fourth worst among active pitchers—and that's all the Triple-A level. Burkett has yet to throw at pitch at the big-league level.

Mike LaCoss, SF (950)
LaCoss had a great year with Manhattan in 1989 (10-5, 3.59, 4.1 WAR). Since then he had a 7.31 ERA in 3 starts in 1990, was traded to San Francisco, where he is 0-6, 6.11 in 14 starts and was demoted to Las Vegas.

Onix Concepcion, DEN (820)
Sure, he's a defensive replacement. But even defensive replacements should provide a net benefit. Onix is in his 11th UL season, and has produced negative WAR 8 of 11 years, including -0.6 each of the last two seasons. Since taking over the starting shortstop job after Ozzie Smith's season-ending injury, Onix has hit .188 as a starter.


Deadwelterweights (1000-2500k)

Matt Nokes, HAV (1500)
Nokes is the owner of the lowest bWAR in the league (-1.5).  The 21st overall pick in 1985, Nokes has made $10.5 million in his career and has a career WAR of 0.6. It should be mentioned, however, that Matt's 31 home runs for the Leones last year was the third most in franchise history.

Mark Eichhorn, LA (1750)
After 17 saves with Seattle in 1990 and 107 career saves, Eichhorn has struggled in his first full season with the Outlaws, posting a 7.31 ERA in 13 appearances and earning a demotion to the Queens Kings.

Jose Rijo, SF (2400)
The former face of the franchise, Rijo was 4-16, 5.56 last year and 0-2, 8.22 in two starts this year before being issued a one-way ticket to Las Vegas.


Deadheavyweights (2500+)

Andres Galarraga, BRO (3000)
The third overall pick in 1985, the Big Cat has earned $18.6 million and has produced a career WAR of 1.8. His -0.4 WAR this year is the second worst among first basemen, ahead of only Eddie Murray.

Mike Scioscia, BRO (10000)
Scioscia is the first $10 million free agent since Joe Torre in 1982.  The third highest paid player in the league (behind only Bonds and Trammell), Mike is batting .282-2-24, .676 for a WAR of 0.6. Those are not objectively horrible numbers, until one considers the price tag.

Rance Mulliniks, CLE (6400)
Rance signed a contract in early 1986 that guaranteed him at least $6 million per year from 1987-91. Mulliniks produced 1.7 WAR in '87 and a combined 1.0 WAR the last four years. He is having his best year at the plate this season (.289, .759 OPS), unfortunately it is with the Triple-A Pittsburgh Maulers.

Roger Clemens, BOS (9599)
It's only one season, but one would expect the highest paid pitcher in the league to have a winning percentage higher than .188. Clemens is 3-13 with a 0.9 WAR this year, after posting WARs of 5.2, 6.8, and 5.2 in three of the last four seasons.

Previous Digests:
#1 -Aug. 16, 1981 • #2 - Aug. 16, 1983 • #3 - Aug. 1, 1987