Kirk Rueter was designated for reassignment today by the Giants effectively ending a ten-year career with the team. Rueter is one of just 240 who have pitched for one team for at least ten years. Jamie Moyer and Rueter joined the list this year. John Smoltz, Brad Radke, Tim Wakefield, Kenny Rogers, Mariano Rivera, and Trevor Hoffman are the other current pitchers who have pitched at least ten seasons for their current teams.

Rueter has been awful this year and has not had an ERA below average (i.e., the park-adjusted league average) since 2002, his career year (14-8, 3.23 ERA) during which Tim McCarver barraged the baseball world with evocations of Rueter's colorful nickname, "Woody". It occurred to me that with exception of two or three years, his career in San Fran has been rather lackluster.

Could Rueter be the worst pitcher to ply his trade for one team for at least ten seasons? His record in ten Giant seasons is 105-80 with a 4.32 ERA.

To answer this I first removed the pitchers who were mainly relievers during those ten years (i.e., who started at least half their games or at least 100 games in total). Of those, here are first the ones with the most wins with one club:

OK, so who were the worst. First, I have to say that Rueter doesn't even make the list:

What no Bob Walk? I don't know what I was smokin' picking on Woody, so to speak, when the world is peopled with Jerry Augustines and Craig Swans.