Knuckle Curve » jose_mesa http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve Major League Baseball News from Spring Training to the World Series Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:47:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Worst of the Worst http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/worst-of-the-worst/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/worst-of-the-worst/#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:49:48 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/worst-of-the-worst/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> With the season winding down, I got to wondering who’s stinking up the joint? Here are the players with the lowest OPS+ by position (minimum 430 PA, roughly what it would take to qualify for the batting title if the season ended now) and the pitchers with the highest ERA+ (minimum 140 IP for starters, 40 G for relievers):

Worst Position Players of 2007
Pos Name Team(s) BA OBP SLG OPS+
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of September 9, 2007.
C Jason Kendall Oak/ChN .245 .300 .313 63
1B Lyle Overbay Tor .239 .317 .397 85
2B Josh Barfield Cle .245 .273 .326 59
3B Nick Punto Min .199 .286 .255 46
SS Tony Pena KC .256 .276 .334 56
Omar Vizquel SF .239 .299 .295 56
LF Jason Bay Pit .253 .331 .424 95
CF Juan Pierre LA .290 .323 .347 73
RF Delmon Young TB .293 .322 .416 92

Quick comments:

  • Kendall and Pierre have humongous contracts. Kendall’s is up at the end of the ‘07 season, but the Dodgers get to pay Pierre a total of $36.5 over the next four years. Good times.
  • Punto’s futility at the plate borders on the historic. Since 1961, only seven players have had a worse OPS+ while qualifying for a league’s batting title; the most recent was Neifi Perez, playing for the Kansas City Royals in 2002.
  • There aren’t really any bad-hitting corner outfielders. It’s surprising to see Bay at the bottom of the left fielders. We’ll cut Young some slack due to the fact that he’s starting in the big leagues at age 21. That makes up for a lot.
Worst Pitchers of 2007
Pos Name Team(s) W-L ERA ERA+
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of September 9, 2007.
RHSP Adam Eaton Phi 9-8 6.28 72
LHSP Scott Olsen Fla 9-12 5.76 73
RHRP Jose Mesa Det/Phi 1-3 7.36 61
LHRP Jay Marshall Oak 1-2 6.75 65

Kip Wells (6-16, 5.65, 76) could overtake Eaton, while Olsen’s lead over Dontrelle Willis (8-15, 5.27, 80) appears to be safe. Eaton is on pace to become the first pitcher to finish with a winning percentage while being at the absolute bottom of the ERA+ pile since Colby Lewis (10-9, 7.30, 68) did it in 2003 while “pitching” for the Texas Rangers.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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