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, …read more

The Oakland A’s have traded veteran catcher Jason Kendall to the Chicago Cubs for left-hander Jerry Blevins and catcher Rob Bowen. The linked article’s headline reads “Cubs strengthen catcher position,” but I don’t see how.
Kendall is batting .226/.261/.281 this season, and he’s 33 years old. Since the start of the 2005 season, his line is a surreal .271/.337/.321. Kendall’s slugging percentage is the lowest in the big leagues during that stretch:

Lowest Slugging Percentages, 2005 – 2007

Player
BA
OBP
SLG
ISO

Stats are through games of July 15, 2007, and are courtesy of David Pinto’s Day by Day Database. Minimum 1500 plate appearances.

Jason Kendall
.271
.337
.321
.050

Willy Taveras
.292
.337
.350
.058

Omar Vizquel
.275
.339
.355
.080

Juan …read more