Who are the worst players with starting jobs in the majors? Dayn Perry, who, judging from his column photo would appear to be the Coldplay of baseball writing, has a bizzaro All-star lineup of yuck proportions. The Giants lead the way with three starters on the team in Ray Durham, Rich Aurilia, and Omar Vizquel. I would think Dan Ortmeier, who’s likely to start at first for the Giants, would give Kevin Millar a run for his money as well, but these are the big leagues. You have to earn it on the field.
Jason Kendall is a nice choice behind the plate, although Paul Lo Duca, who’s already injured and is coming off some steroid allegations, might be a good fit as well. David Ross and his .300 OBP probably deserves some consideration.
Unfortunately starting pitchers aren’t part of the team, but if the Astros end up signing Bartolo Colon and give him a rotation spot, he could be your starter.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Aaron Cheats // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:47 am
This guy obviously doesn’t watch the Giants. Vizquel is still, arguably, a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop. I don’t think he’s even among the worst five players at his position, let alone one of the worst overall. Just off the top of my head, David Eckstein and Cezar Izturis are both worse. And those are just the two guys who come to mind b/c I’m a Cardinals fan.
Or is this supposed to be about fantasy baseball? I can’t tell.
2 Shinsano // Feb 5, 2008 at 11:29 am
I wondered about that too with Vizquel. He says in the piece that his glove has slipped… I was too lazy to look up the stats, so I didn’t mention it. But I just checked out the comment section and someone posted this:
“Lets look at Omar Vizquel’s Defense compared to both leagues: 2nd in Fielding%, 5th in Range Factor, 1st in Zone Rating. So tell me again how he is below average?”
Dayn’s piece is actually getting ripped by readers, as should probably be expected given the nature of it. And that may be the NORM! on Fox Sports anyway.
Mark Teahan seems a little irrational as well.
3 tim // Feb 5, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I’d think Richie Sexton would have to make any worst-star team like this over at first. Relative to the money he’s making he might be the worst player at any position. .205 AVE, .295 OBP.
4 salva // Feb 5, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I do not see Vizquel for the last couple of years :(, so I do not know how he was defensively–I think that the only way to judge defense, is in play ;)–but from other comms and media, I think that he is doing it nice, or at least no to bad!
I agree with Tim, Sexson is a member of that team! I’m a Braves fan, so I feel hugely disappointed with Andrew Jones, I know his defense is terrific, and Bobby loves him…but batting around Mendoza line all year… (even he blast 26hr and drove 94… so I guess, that is disappointment, I hope this year he caught heat again
except, of course against Braves xD).
As for the pitcher, I think about Horacio Ramirez and Jeff Weaver–I do not have any against Seattle ;)… In fact I have some huge reason to go for Mariners: Ichiro, Felix and J.J!–. For the worst closer, Armando ‘el toro’ Benitez.
5 tim // Feb 5, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I was thinking of Benitez too, although I can’t imagine he’ll have a job closing this year. Jorge Julio was the Marlin’s closer going into last year too.
Todd Jones is getting there. Or how about Joe Borowski. I know he’s got a lot of Svs, but damn…his ERA is over 5!
6 Shinsano // Feb 5, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Benitez would have to be on the team as a set up guy. Mike Maroth might have to be in the starting rotation. I’d like to get Sidney Ponson in there too, but he’d have to gain another 20 lbs. No wait, just 10 lbs.
7 Jackson // Feb 5, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Yeah, the Vizquel claim is way off. He’s still an excellent defensive shortstop, he would be an attribute on a better team.
8 ken // Feb 6, 2008 at 2:44 am
I think you owe Chris Martin an apology.
9 jwb // Feb 9, 2008 at 8:34 am
Well, if you look at shortstops with equal or worse win shares above bench, you have a bunch of unemployed or not-yet-employed guys (eg, Neifi Perez, J.J. Furmaniak) who may be done, some minor league guys (eg, Anderson Hernandez, Enrique Cruz) who may be young enough to improve, an MLB bench guy (Adam Everett), and Julio Lugo. Although Lugo is being paid quite a bit more then Vizquel, he is nine years younger and therefore is a better bet to rebound.
So, while you could make an argument that Vizquel is not the worst SS in MLB, the argument that he was last season and will be next season is pretty defensible. You’d have a rough time arguing that he was the third worst, as everyone else on the bottom of that list had far less than a regular’s playing time.
10 jwb // Feb 13, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Update: J.J. Furmaniak has signed a contract with the Yokohama Bay Stars, 6,000 man, $530K.
11 rich aurilia photo // Aug 3, 2008 at 12:42 am
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