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Baseball Primer Newsblog — The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand Friday, September 29, 2023Curve honor ‘worst baseball player of all time’
RoyalsRetro (AG#1F)
Posted: September 29, 2023 at 04:02 PM | 64 comment(s)
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1. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: September 29, 2023 at 05:11 PM (#6142764)A perfect Altoona Curve promotion, indeed!
Here is a good example right off the top of my head - Danny Ainge. Great at basketball, not so great at baseball. -2.0 bWAR, -2.2 fWAR. For 3 years the Jays tried to make him into a major league baseball player and failed. Tried him at 2B/SS/3B/LF/CF/RF/PH/DH but no luck anywhere. He couldn't hit, wasn't terrible at fielding, but negative WAR every year by both methods, 47 lifetime OPS+.
Probably not a top contender for 'the worst' but I've always like Ted Kazanski in that spot. Playing record is probably bottom 25, but it feels natural that the worst player should be either a Phillie or a Cub, and the name is a real positive here too.
Altoona is the location of The Horseshoe Curve built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1850s.
If you are in the back of a train you can look out the window across the reservoir and see the engine of your train going in the opposite direction.
bWAR slightly "prefers" Doug Flynn, -6.9 to -5.4. Flynn posted a 58 OPS+ to LeMaster's 60 and was a subpar second baseman instead of a bad shortstop.
Not really in the running here, since was really good defensively, but I was always amused by Bill Bergen and his 21 career OPS+
57 OPS+ in an incredible 2269 PA for the Mets over five seasons. Traded to Texas after the 1981 season for washed-up ex-closer Jim Kern. Mets then flipped Kern before spring training even started, shipped along with C Alex Trevino and one of the Greg Harrises to the Reds for OF George Foster, whose contract demands repelled the skinflints running the Reds.
Foster was mostly mediocre with the Mets, and in August 1986 he complained that the Mets would rather promote white guys like Gary Carter or Keith Hernandez than black guys like him. That earned Foster an immediate one-way ticket to Palookaville, thus preventing a third WS ring being placed on Foster's finger.
#rabbithole
Johnny Disaster gets bonus points for his 1985 season, when he played for 3 teams and all three lost 100. Too bad he didn't get a week or 2 with the 99 loss Rangers. He could have turned one of their wins into a loss.
An offseason staple of the mid-seasons was "Hal Lanier expected to have good year" article. New approach at the plate, or working with somebody new. The Giants seemed to genuinely expected him to hit .275 with 25 doubles every year. Still not much, but not the complete loss he was. (career .275 SLG and .255 OBP. He got a surprising amount of time batting second (decent bunter, relatively good at making [weak] contact on hit and run).
One of the truly fascinating things is his low IBB totals. In the 60s it was damned near automatic to walk the #8 hitter. Not Lanier. (only 25 career) Pitchers figured they could get Lanier.
If you look at the talent on the team and wonder why the Giants had no pennants in that period, Lanier is the single most important factor.
In 1964 they got .218/.287/.268 from SS and .240/,266/.309 from second.
In 1965 they finished second with SS giving them .227/.293/.288 and second giving them .216/.248/.282
1966 they got a little power from SS. Still terrible but I'm looking for Lanier level from both positions)
In 1967 it was .212/.254/.272 from SS and .215/,271/266 from second.
That's a remarkable record.
EDIT: And yes, they gave away so much more than the Alous.
EDIT2: One trade I missed completely. Randy Hundley and Bill Hands for Lindy McDaniel and Don Landrum. The giants generally had good catching, but Hands obviously would have helped. Get anything close to full value for those two and ...
Flynn's WAR/162 is still worse, -0.9 to -0.8. And while LeMaster was almost exclusively a shortstop, Flynn primarily played second; when playing short, he was nearly as bad as LeMaster (and, as noted, a worse hitter).
They are of course both awful, and would serve as a fine double play combo on a postwar all-dreadful team. Any suggestions for other positions?
Bat of Belanger, glove of Jeter, quite a combo.
If someone had the opposite and played for 20 years, than would be a 120 WAR player. I guess you’d have to call him Honus.
Matty made it work but he could play CF, walked about twice as often and at his peak hit .335 over a 4 year run. (30 doubles per 162 GP)
And a lot of people truly believed Jesus was the best hitter of the family so he got shot after shot -- all he needed was his own Harry Walker (since Walker took credit for turning Matty around). And gave you an empty .280
I mean he and a serviceable SP (and a bunch of cash) got the Expos Rusty Staub.
As it was, the biggest contribution he made to the Giants was being selected in the expansion draft.
Ed Kranepool 1B. 18 seasons, 6,000 PA 4.2 WAR and -16.7 WAA.
Jerry Morales CF. 14 seasons, 5,000 PA, -2.0 WAR, -18 WAA.
@30: Morales is a great choice. Kranepool is also probably as bad as a 1B could be and get that much playing time.
4052 at bats. -2.4 BBREF WAR
Skip Jutze was bad even by the unlofty standards of Astros catchers.
And Bob Stinson was the ultimate replacement-level catcher.
ETA: The obvious solution occurs to me: Reitz at 3B and Betancourt as the utility guy.
Around that, he added three more seasons of 100+ games with OPS+ in the 40's.
Gotta be the worst career of a player who finished as high as 4th in MVP voting, a year in which his slash line was .256/.291/.311 (59 OPS+). To be fair, he did lead the league in dWAR, but was only a 2.9 WAR player overall.
Randy Lerch. 164 starts, 1099 IP 83 ERA+ -3.7 WAR
Thevenow would be a good choice, but per #2 we've been looking for players post-WWII.
Another thought about Cabell. I have this vague recollection (and I could certainly be wrong) that he had a substance abuse problem which explains his 4 bad years.
How about we just do a medley of 70s and 80s Cubs? We already have Reitz, Biitner and Morales.
Steve Swisher at C. 1577 PA -1.9 WAR
Scot Thompson at 1B. 1391 PA -5.7 WAR
Vic Harris at 2B 1806 PA -6.3 WAR
Mick Kelleher at SS 1202 PA -2.4 WAR
Reitz at 3B
Biittner at LF
Morales at CF
Keith Moreland in RF 5082 PA 3.5 WAR. Moreland was cromulent as a hitter, but Lordy was he a horror show on D.
Hitting? He had a career OPS+ of 58. His best season came as a rookie (85). This guy took away at bats from the Big Red Machine!
Defense? Below average range, leading to a career Rfield mark of -20.
Baserunning? Nope. 50% success rate on steals.
Broadcasting? Fills in occasionally for the Reds radio team, to near universal poor reviews.
A true negative five tool player, who got to do it for over a decade.
Humphries led an interesting life; he was Canadian-born, the first Cornell graduate to play in the major leagues, and a teacher of classics at the Philadelphia High School for Girls. His eldest son Rolfe became a well-regarded poet and translator.
C Luis Pujols -5.2
1B Dan Meyer -6.4
2B Ted Kazanski -5.9
3B Kim Batiste -4.4
SS Jack Heidemann -6.2
LF Daryle Ward -4.5
CF Vic Harris -6.3
RF Scot Thompson -5.7
OF Karl Olson -5.1
MI Jackie Gutierrez -5.6
MI Luis Lopez -4.9
MI Andres Thomas -5.9
MI Johnnie LeMaster -5.4
UT Pat Rockett -5.5
UT Danny Sheaffer -4.7
C Bill Plummer -4.1
C Mickey Grasso -3.7
C Skip Jutze -3.7
SP John Van Benschoten -3.7
SP Jim Bullinger -3.4
SP Dewon Brazelton -3.1
SP Ruben Quevedo -3.2
SP Jimmy Jones -2.9
RP Jerry Stephenson -4.7
RP Brian Williams -4.3
RP Dan McGinn -3.9
RP Jack Hamilton -3.7
RP Frank LaCorte -3.6
Fun Fact! Three players in MLB history have been named Luis Lopez. All have negative career WAR.
Luis Lopez (1993-2005) -4.9
Luis Lopez (2001-2004) -1.0
Luis Lopez (1990-1991) -0.5
All I remember in those pre-internet days is seeing "Pujols c 4 0 0 0" way way too often in the daily boxscores.
And then they kept him on the roster for seven long years of suckitude.
Pat Rockett is such a cool name. He should have had a career.
52 - and yet, humphries might not have been the worst player on his primary team his main year in the majors (gladmon was worse, for one)
29 - this is moot, you want the hometown angle but -- i don't know how lemaster feels now, but picking a living guy who'd be willing to embrace this could be an ok gig for that guy? (lemaster did wear a jersey that said "boo" one game, after all.) after all, it worked out for hank aaron the 24th!
Yeah, I can see somebody trying to monetize "worst player ever".
It worked for Bob Uecker.
Some names are still on this list, but other players were able to cram more suck into fewer opportunities. The methodology here is WAR/PA or IP scaled to 600 PA or 200 IP to give a full-season representation. I also require that their career totals qualify for the batting or ERA title to filter out the cup of coffee guys.
Mefisto, this team is probably even worse than the above one since these are the champs on a rate basis.
C Ned Yost -3.5
1B Billy Jo Robidoux -2.6
2B Jose Arcia -3.3
3B John Vukovich -3.5
SS Kim Batiste -3.9
LF Jake Elmore -3.6
CF Karl Olson -4.1
RF Dan Briggs -2.8
OF Joe Mather -2.6
C Luis Pujols -3.4
C Skip Jutze -3.1
C Tony Cruz -2.6
MI Tommy Dean -3.4
MI Jackie Gutierrez -3.3
MI Jack Heidemann -3.1
MI Tom Upton -2.8
OF Scot Thompson -2.5
UT Danny Sheaffer -2.2
UT Paul Zuvella -2.5
SP Jerry Stephenson -3.9
SP Johnny Gray -3.6
SP Jeff Johnson -2.7
SP Phil Huffman -2.5
SP Dewon Brazelton -2.3
RP Bunky Stewart -3.0
RP Craig Anderson -2.6
RP Dan Schneider -2.4
RP Mel Nelson -2.4
RP Cuddles Marshall -2.2
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