He's 41 years old, and he's never looked better

Age ain’t nothin’ but a number they say, and to prove it, Darren Oliver is currently pitching his way into the very specific parameter record books. Dating back to the beginning of time (or 1871, whichever came first) there have only been 22 pitchers who have done relief work in their age 41 season. There are actually 63 instances of players pitching in relief at 41 years old, but for the purposes of this post, I’ve filtered my search to Qualified Innings Pitched. I mean, Wade Boggs pitched 1.1 innings in 1999 for the Devil Rays (and posted a FIP of 1.63!!!). That hardly counts as a season’s worth of work.

With advances made in health and fitness, and redefined roles on the field, it’s not surprising that athletes can perform at a high level late into their careers. Shorter appearances and use in specific situations has lightened the workload for relievers significantly, allowing guys like Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera to work into (and past) the age of 41. To me, Darren Oliver has been that old guy that happens to land on a playoff roster, but compared to other pitchers at the age of 41, he is changing that line of thinking, and cementing himself at the top of a few leaderboards.

As of this writing, he is leading all qualified 41 year old relievers with an ERA of 1.40 and a K/9 rate of 9.09, and only second behind Mariano Rivera in FIP (2.58) and WHIP (0.91). He is currently allowing 2.09 walks and 0.47 home runs, which ranks seventh on the list.

	Year	ERA			Year	FIP
Oliver	2012	1.40		Rivera	2011	2.19
Hoffman	2009	1.83		Oliver	2012	2.58
Fryman	1981	1.88		Wilhelm	1964	2.58
Rivera	2011	1.91		Hoffman	2009	2.63
Wilhelm	1964	1.99		Caldwell	1946	2.74
Caldwell	1946	2.08		Fryman	1981	2.79
Honeycutt	1995	2.96		Reed	1984	3.07
Reed	1984	3.08		Tekulve	1988	3.08
Kinder	1956	3.09		Kinder	1956	3.63
Hernandez	2006	3.11		McMahon	1971	3.76
	Year	WHIP			Year	K/9
Rivera	2011	0.90		Oliver	2012	9.08
Oliver	2012	0.91		Rivera	2011	8.80
Hoffman	2009	0.91		Brocail	2008	8.39
Wilhelm	1964	0.94		Hoffman	2009	8.00
Caldwell	1946	0.98		Orosco	1998	7.94
Honeycutt	1995	1.07		McMahon	1971	7.79
Timlin	2007	1.08		Jones	1998	7.49
Reed	1984	1.11		Eckersley	1996	7.35
Eckersley	1996	1.18		Reed	1984	7.03
Fryman	1981	1.21		Hernandez	2006	6.79
	Year	HR/9			Year	BB/9
Caldwell	1946	0.20		Eckersley	1996	0.90
Fryman	1981	0.21		Rivera	2011	1.17
Hoffman	2009	0.33		Reed	1984	1.73
Tekulve	1988	0.34		Jones	1998	1.79
Rivera	2011	0.44		Honeycutt	1995	1.97
Trucks	1958	0.44		Wilhelm	1964	2.06
Oliver	2012	0.47		Oliver	2012	2.09
Wilhelm	1964	0.48		Face	1969	2.28
Turner	1945	0.66		Timlin	2007	2.28
Hernandez	2006	0.71		Hoffman	2009	2.33

Even more impressive than the company he’s keeping on those leaderboards are the numbers he’s been putting up since being exclusively put to use in the bullpen in 2006.

Season	Team	Age	IP	ERA	FIP	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	WAR
2006	Mets	35	81.0	3.44	4.64	1.12	6.67	2.33	1.44	0.0
2007	Angels	36	64.1	3.78	3.78	1.26	7.13	3.22	0.70	0.7
2008	Angels	37	72.0	2.88	3.53	1.15	6.00	2.00	0.63	1.0
2009	Angels	38	73.0	2.71	3.32	1.14	8.01	2.71	0.62	1.5
2010	Rangers	39	61.2	2.48	2.64	1.10	9.49	2.19	0.58	1.6
2011	Rangers	40	51.0	2.29	2.77	1.14	7.76	1.94	0.53	1.3
2012	Blue Jays	41	38.2	1.40	2.58	0.91	9.08	2.09	0.47	0.9

With fewer innings pitched season by season, a declining ERA is to be expected, but what’s caught my eye are the rising WAR and declining FIP. His per-nine stats are improving as well – since 2006, his K/9 rate has gone up from 6.67 (2006 league average 7.29) to 9.08 (2012 league average 8.33), and his HR/9 rate is three times lower, from 1.44 to 0.47.

He is currently leading the Blue Jays’ revolving door bullpen in WAR, and is sitting second in FIP behind newbie Aaron Loup (2.15 FIP in 8.2 IP) which will change before long.

The Blue Jays have Oliver under contract for this season at $4 M, and they hold a $3 M team option for next season with a $500,000 buyout. Considering his current Fangraphs value is $4.1 M, and his numbers are trending in the right direction, he stands to be a tremendous value for the team next season, providing he doesn’t retire. Then again, disco records sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976. If these trends continue… a-y-y-y-y. Just three of the twenty-two qualifying relievers who pitched at 41 years old posted a lower FIP the following year. Only time will tell if he can be the fourth.