MLB
Five Players On Contending Teams Who Are Simply Terrible
Lots of time and resources are spent writing about the best players in the league, and rightly so. Players like Mike Trout and Justin Verlander are dominant forces in the league, practically demi-gods. But what about the opposite side of the coin? Ever stop and think there might be players who are genuinely quite awful, yet play every day? Let’s take a look. I’ve examined playoff-contending teams (as bad teams don’t care about stats as much as getting a look at some prospects) and I have the five players that shouldn’t be on playoff-contending teams, all of which I’ve seen play on TV – and trust me, their numbers are no anomaly. They’re just truly, truly bad.
The (Un)Fab Five
- Tony Wolters – Catcher, Colorado Rockies. The guy is hitting .167/.275.290 with only 3 HR in 162 AB. Those are all career lows, although he is only a career .227 hitter, to begin with. The Rockies not only employ him as a backup, but he is a platoon starter with almost-as-bad-but-not-quite Chris Iannetta. Don’t worry Chris; you managed to stay off of this list – for now. Tony seems like a nice guy, but should probably be catching AA pitchers for now until he gets his swing figured out.
- Orlando Arcia – SS/UTIL, Milwaukee Brewers. Arcia has a very substantial amount of at-bats (283), the highest of anyone on this list – as he is more than a platoon guy, but starts more often than not. His slash line of .212/.244/.272 (yes, he is slugging .272) is abysmal. Is he at least providing some pop? Nope, he has just 3 HR and 22 RBI. Arcia delivers an excellent glove but is a well broken-in pool noodle at the plate. I feel he would do more harm than good in this playoff push, but maybe Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell disagrees.
- Roberto Perez – Catcher, Cleveland Indians. Yikes. His slash line of .151/.244/.224 is not a sight for sore eyes. Or any eyes, for that matter. He has totaled 152 AB and has a measly 1 HR and 8 RBI. I am relatively confident a randomly selected fan, even slightly inebriated, could come close or surpass those numbers. Maybe Francona isn’t an “analytics” guy. Or an eye test guy. Because Perez would fall short using either.
- Josh Tomlin – RP, Cleveland Indians. Not to double-down on Cleveland, who is running away with their truly pathetic division, but Tomlin has been terrible. Tomlin sports a 6.71 ERA, which ranks 6th worst in the league of pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched. He also has a lovely 1.53 WHIP (well above league average), with five losses to not a single win. He continues to receive significant relief work. Maybe he has great intangibles and a stellar locker-room presence. Who knows.
- Chris Rusin, Jake McGee, Brian Shaw – RPs, Colorado Rockies. These three deserve their wall of significant relief pitching futility, but I instead lumped them in here. Rusin has been the worst, with a 6.85 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, and 24 BB in 46 IP. He had a stellar 2017 campaign with a sub-3 ERA but has seemingly forgotten how to pitch. Next up is McGee. He has been used all year consistently when not hurt and has 46 IP – compiling a 1.46 WHIP, and a 6.46 ERA. He hardly strikes out anyone, gives up a lot of HRs, yet is used in high-leverage situations still. Bud Black must have some outstanding loans he owes him. Finally, there is Shaw – with a league-leading (for non-closers) 5 blown saves, a shiny 6.31 ERA, and a 1.83 WHIP – 2nd worst in the league among relievers. His walk rate is among the worst in the league, and he just gave up a walk-off homer over the weekend. Why he is being used in any games where the score is within ten runs, Rockies’ fans will never understand.
Honorable Mentions
There are too many to count. I will shout out to Alex Avila (.161 avg), Juan Nicasio (6.00 ERA), and Chris Davis (not on a playoff team, but he is just having the worst season of anyone this year) for having pretty lousy seasons. There are indeed more, but I’ve done enough roasting for one day.
