Who Are The Worst Position Players So Far This Season?

[EvanJ]

Who are the worst positions players so far this season who have played enough to qualify? Without looking at many players, I nominate Dee Gordon, the leadoff hitter and shortstop with the Dodgers. Gordon has a .224 batting average, a .551 OPS, and more errors (17) than RBI (16).

[Bronson'sCornrows]

I like this idea. Like an All-Scrub Team. As long as people participate, this should be fun.

I would have nominated Melancon for the pen if you had asked me earlier, but he's been solid since he's come back from AAA rehab.

[Hitman23]

C- Jason Castro (HOU)
1B - Gabby Sanchez (MIA)
2B - Kelly Johnson (TOR)
3B - Mark Reynolds (BAL)
SS - Brendan Ryan (SEA)
OF - Nyger Morgan (MIL)
OF - Jordan Schafer (HOU)
OF - Rajai Davis (TOR)

SP - Tim Lincecum (SFG)
SP - Cliff Lee (PHI)
SP - Francisco Liriano (MIN)
SP - Luke Hochevar (KC)
SP - Jonathan Sanchez (KC)

CL - Carlos Marmol - (CHC)
SU - Francisco Rodriguez (MIL)


Trying to stay with guys that should provide value, or at least more than they are now. I tried to stay away from platoon guys. Open for debate, on some I'm just taking pot shots because they are frustrating me fantasy wise.

[AuroraBomberalis]

(Just pointing out ahead of time that none of these guys qualify yet)

C - Kurt Suzuki. That guy used to be the biggest Yankee killer, and was a serviceable bat from the catching position. He's got a .246 OBP with no HR and 16 RBI in 240 plate appearances (just 8 shy of qualifying). He's got the 2nd lowest OPS (.502) of anyone in MLB with at least 200 plate appearances.

The owner of the lowest OPS with a minimum of 200 PA goes to another catcher, Nick Hundley of the Padres. This one is kind of surprising, because he had a promising year last year (.824 OPS, 9 HR, 39 RBI in 281 AB) and had been progressing at least somewhat decently in his career, and entering his prime at age 28. 2012 has been unkind: .485 OPS (.226 OBP, .259 slugging) with 3 HR, 22 RBI in 197 AB. Frighteningly bad numbers right there.

Either of those guys would take the C slot if they qualified.

And I'm throwing this utility guy in there because he makes me laugh. Brent Lillibridge. This one is 100% completely unfair since he only has 70 at bats this year, but since he's currently on the Red Sox, I find him hilarious. Last in OPS of players with a minimum 75 plate appearances, he has a .382 OPS (.211 OBP, .171 SLUG) with 0 HR, 2 RBI, 4 BB, and 28 K. Projected to 600 plate appearances, that would be 218 strikeouts and only 16 RBI.

[EvanJ]

Even though he doesn't have any wins, Cliff Lee has a 4.13 ERA and there are 43 qualified pitchers (20 in the NL) with a worse ERA than that. You could replace him with Milwaukee's Randy Wolf, who had a 3.69 ERA last season and has gotten much worse with a 5.78 ERA in 2012. Wolf is tied with Pavano for the twelfth most innings pitched from 2009 to 2011 but is only tied for 73rd in innings pitched in 2012.

[Hitman23]

Even though he doesn't have any wins, Cliff Lee has a 4.13 ERA and there are 43 qualified pitchers (20 in the NL) with a worse ERA than that. You could replace him with Milwaukee's Randy Wolf, who had a 3.69 ERA last season and has gotten much worse with a 5.78 ERA in 2012. Wolf is tied with Pavano for the twelfth most innings pitched from 2009 to 2011 but is only tied for 73rd in innings pitched in 2012.

Of course. Like I said it's simply a pot shot because fantasy wise he is pissing me off. I could replace him with Brian Matusz because he is even more frustrating.

Lincecum even more so. He strikes out a ton which is still helpful. And his last 2 games, with the exception of the first inning of 2 games ago, has been untouchable.

[Yankee Tripper]

Baseball Prospectus used to run a game like this to assemble the worst team possible. A player had to have a both a terrible OPS but yet still amass PAs to "rank well" on their scale. Likewise they had to have a poor ERA but still rack up IPs to get points in pitching.

[Yankee Tripper]

ah this was it Hacking Mass - http://www.baseballprospectus.com/hm...php?mode=rules

I particulalry liked the designation of ESPN (Exuded Stiff Points, Net) to get ratings

Simply pick the players who you think will be the stiffest at each position. A team's aggregate stiffness is measured by summing the ESPN (Exuded Stiff Points, Net) of all of the players on your team. For hitters, ESPN is 0.800, minus his OBP, minus his SLG, and multiplied by plate appearances - i.e., (.8-OPS)*PA. For pitchers, the formula is the pitcher's ERA, minus 4.5, times his innings pitched, divided by three, or (ERA-4.5)*IP/3. This results in similar Stiffness scores for the firmest hitters and pitchers.

[Yankee Tripper]

C - Kurt Suzuki
1B - Gaby Sanchez
2B - Richie Week (or jemile take your pick)
SS - Dee Gordon (or Cliff Pennington/Clint Barmes)
3B - Scott Rolen
OF - Cameron Maybin
OF - Brennon Boesh
OF - Jose Tabata
- or dishonnorable OF mention with bigger names - Ichiro, BJ Upton, Drew Stubbs
DH - ?

A rotation of Minro, Hunter, Arrieta,Wolf, Noesi (Lincecum dishonorable mention for his $20M+ salary)

Closers -
Francisco 18 SV 4.97 ERA,
Bell 17 SV 5.93 ERA,
Putz 14 SV 5.02 ERA.

The above would be a truly dreadful team this year.

[Hitman23]

Oh yeah I forgot about Boesch and Tabata. Good call.

[teknetic]

A rotation of Minro, Hunter, Arrieta,Wolf, Noesi (Lincecum dishonorable mention for his $20M+ salary)

Closers -
Francisco 18 SV 4.97 ERA,
Bell 17 SV 5.93 ERA,
Putz 14 SV 5.02 ERA.

The above would be a truly dreadful team this year.

Arrieta is a total ballbuster. Zero or stud, guy doesn't seem to have an in-between.

[Big_E]

Closers -
Francisco 18 SV 4.97 ERA,
Bell 17 SV 5.93 ERA,
Putz 14 SV 5.02 ERA.

The above would be a truly dreadful team this year.

Francisco has been pretty good lately. He had two bad three-game streaks. Before going on the DL, he had a current streak of 14 appearances where he went 14.3 IP, 9 Sv, had a 1.26 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.

[ajra21]

know that lee can't be happy with his performance but surely there are worse options?

wso glad we didn't sign him. not because of this season just because those contracts rarely work out well.