The Baseball Buffet for 11/7/2025

Issue #449

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

Leading off today is the news that the San Diego Padres have decided on 41-year old former reliever Craig Stammen as their new manager (see article by AJ Cassavell at MLB). Stammen had a 13-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2009-2022. He began as a starter and then reliever for the Nationals for seven years, and then was a reliever for the Padres for six seasons.

After retiring during the 2023 season, he stayed with the organization as an assistant to the coaching staff and in the Padres’ baseball operations department. So he brings a lot of team institutional knowledge, even though he’s never been a baseball manager at any level before.

This hire by the Padres leaves only one team—the Colorado Rockies—searching for a 2026 season manager.

Today’s Trivia Question

Sticking with the Padres for today’s question… I’ll note that Fernando Tatis Jr. became the fifth Padres’ player to win two or more Gold Glove Awards in the OF. Can you name any of the other four to do so?

Trivia answers are at the bottom of each newsletter.

NL Silver Sluggers

The 2025 NL Silver Slugger Award winners were announced yesterday (the AL winners will be announced later today). These are voted on by MLB managers and coaches, and go to the offensive player at each position. I’ll indicate in parentheses when a player has won multiple times.

• 1B - NYM Pete Alonso - interesting that this is his first time winning an SS Award!

• 2B - AZ Ketel Marte (2)

• 3B - SDP Manny Machado (3)

• SS - AZ Geraldo Perdomo

• C - COL Hunter Goodman

• OF - NYM Juan Soto (6)

• OF - AZ Corbin Carroll

• OF - CHC Kyle Tucker (2)

• DH - LAD Shohei Ohtani (4)

• U - STL Alec Burleson

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On November 7…

• 1967: Orlando Cepeda unanimously wins the NL MVP Award. "St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Orlando Cepeda becomes only the second National League player to unanimously win the MVP Award. Cepeda batted .325 with 25 home runs and 111 RBI in leading the Cardinals to the pennant. New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell swept the National League MVP voting in 1936."

• 1978: Jim Rice wins AL MVP over Ron Guidry. "In a hotly debated selection, Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice is named American League Most Valuable Player over New York Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry. Rice led the AL in home runs (46), RBI (139), hits (213), triples and slugging percentage (.600), and became the first AL player to accumulate 400 total bases in a season since Joe DiMaggio in 1937, while Guidry posted a 25-3 record with 248 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA for the pennant-winning Yankees."

• 1989: Gregg Olson wins the AL Rookie of the Year Award. "1989 - Gregg Olson of the Baltimore Orioles becomes the first relief pitcher to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Olson receives 26 of 28 first-place votes. Tom Gordon and Ken Griffey, Jr. are runner-ups."

• 1990: Sandy Alomar Jr. unanimously wins AL Rookie of the Year Award. "Cleveland Indians catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr. wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award, joining Carlton Fisk and Mark McGwire as the only players to receive the award unanimously."

• 2017: Roy Halladay dies in a plane crash. "Former two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay dies when the private plane he pilots crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, 10 miles west of St. Petersburg, FL."

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Jim Kaat (1938)

• Hall of Famer

• 25-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1959-1983, mostly with the Senators/Twins for 15 years, and the rest spread across the Cardinals, Phillies, White Sox, and Yankees

• Three-time All-Star, and won an impressive16 Gold Glove Awards

• Had 20+ wins three times, including in 1966 when he led the AL in wins with a 25-13 record

• Was a fairly good hitter as a pitcher, with a .185 average, 16 HR and 106 RBI in 1,363 PA

• Overall had a 283-237 (.544) record, 2,461 strikeouts, a 3.45 ERA, and a 108 ERA+

Sonny Gray (1989)

• First-round draft pick (18th overall) in 2011 by the Athletics

• So far has had a 13-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2013-2025, with the Athletics, Yankees, Reds, Twins, and Cardinals

• Three-time All-Star

• Has had 200+ strikeouts three times

• Overall so far has a 125-102 (.551) record, a 3.58 ERA, and a 117 ERA+

Dick Stuart (1932)

• 10-year major league career, spanning from 1958-1969, the first half with the Pirates and the second half with the Red Sox and four other clubs

• Power-hitting 1B, with 25+ HR five times

• Was an All-Star in 1961 for the Pirates with 35 HR and 117 RBI, and then had a career-high of 42 HR and an AL-leading 118 RBI for the Red Sox in 1963

• Overall had 228 HR, a .264/.316/.489 slash line, and a 117 OPS+

Joe Niekro (1944)

• 22-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1967-1988, with 11 seasons for the Astros, and the rest spread across six other clubs

• Leveraging a fastball, changeup, and knuckleball, he led the NL with 21 wins in 1979, his one All-Star campaign when he came in second in the NL Cy Young Award voting. He posted a 20-12 record and 3.55 ERA the following season and came in fourth in the CYA vote.

• Overall had a 221-204 record and a 3.59 ERA over 3,584.1 IP.

• Younger brother of Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who also had a lengthy pitching career as a knuckleballer. Joe only had one HR in 973 lifetime at-bats... and it came off his brother Phil on May 29, 1976.

In addition to Sonny Gray, other currently active players who were born on November 7 include COL Roansy Contreras, ATH Mason Barnett, PIT Rafael Flores, and NYM Jonathan Pintaro.

Baseball Quote of the Day

One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.

"When you start the game, they don't say 'Work Ball!' They say, 'Play ball!" - Willie Stargell

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Before Fernando Tatis Jr. joined them this year, the other four Padres’ OF who won two or more Gold Glove awards while with the club have been:

• Trent Grisham (2020, 2022)

• Steve Finley (1995-1996)

• Tony Gwynn (1986-1987, 1989-1991)

• Dave Winfield (1979-1980).

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• Where will the top free agents sign? Here are our predictions, by MLB writers, 11/6/2025

• 13 players tendered qualifying offer, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 11/6/2025

• Were The Blue Jays A Team Of Destiny?, by Elizabeth Muratore at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 11/7/2025

• 100 Things I Love About Baseball (Part 2), by Joe Posnanski at JoeBlogs, 11/6/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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