Carlos Pena is well known to anyone who saw Moneyball as the player that the A’s coach kept playing instead of Scott Hatteberg, despite the objections of Billy Beane.
I remember him since the A’s traded away some of my favorite Oakland players to acquire him from the Rangers back in 2002. That included Jason Hart (who was supposed to be the next Jason Giambi), Ryan Ludwick, Gerald Lard and Mario Ramos.
Sometimes its easy to forget that Pena still had a very nice 14-year career.
- Career .232/.346/.462 hitter
- Advanced stats: 117 OPS+ and 25.1 career WAR
- He would retire with 286 HR
- During his career, he led the league in HR once (39 in 2009)
- He would be selected to one all-star game, win a silver slugger, golden glove, and rate Top-10 MVP votes twice
Not bad at all. It’s a shame that the A’s could not find a way to keep him. Though I remember thinking the players that the A’s got in the trade for him (John-Ford Griffin, Jason Arnold, and Ted Lilly) were all pretty OK prospects.
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 23 | TEX | AL | 22 | 62 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 17 | .258 | .361 | .500 | .861 | 121 | |
| 2002 | 24 | TOT | AL | 115 | 397 | 19 | 52 | 41 | 111 | .242 | .316 | .448 | .764 | 106 | RoY-8 |
| 2003 | 25 | DET | AL | 131 | 452 | 18 | 50 | 53 | 123 | .248 | .332 | .440 | .772 | 108 | |
| 2004 | 26 | DET | AL | 142 | 481 | 27 | 82 | 70 | 146 | .241 | .338 | .472 | .810 | 114 | |
| 2005 | 27 | DET | AL | 79 | 260 | 18 | 44 | 31 | 95 | .235 | .325 | .477 | .802 | 113 | |
| 2006 | 28 | BOS | AL | 18 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | .273 | .351 | .424 | .776 | 96 | |
| 2007 | 29 | TBD | AL | 148 | 490 | 46 | 121 | 103 | 142 | .282 | .411 | .627 | 1.037 | 172 | MVP-9,SS |
| 2008 | 30 | TBR | AL | 139 | 490 | 31 | 102 | 96 | 166 | .247 | .377 | .494 | .871 | 129 | MVP-9,GG |
| 2009 | 31 | TBR | AL | 135 | 471 | 39 | 100 | 87 | 163 | .227 | .356 | .537 | .893 | 133 | AS |
| 2010 | 32 | TBR | AL | 144 | 484 | 28 | 84 | 87 | 158 | .196 | .325 | .407 | .732 | 103 | |
| 2011 | 33 | CHC | NL | 153 | 493 | 28 | 80 | 101 | 161 | .225 | .357 | .462 | .819 | 123 | |
| 2012 | 34 | TBR | AL | 160 | 497 | 19 | 61 | 87 | 182 | .197 | .330 | .354 | .684 | 93 | |
| 2013 | 35 | TOT | AL | 89 | 280 | 8 | 25 | 43 | 92 | .207 | .321 | .346 | .668 | 86 | |
| 2014 | 36 | TEX | AL | 18 | 59 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 | .136 | .190 | .237 | .428 | 19 | |
| 14 Y | 14 Y | 14 Y | 14 Y | 1493 | 4949 | 286 | 818 | 817 | 1577 | .232 | .346 | .462 | .808 | 117 | |
| 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 | 537 | 31 | 89 | 89 | 171 | .232 | .346 | .462 | .808 | 117 |