Now on to relief pitchers and it's not surprising the majority of these season come before the Dennis Eckersley era of closers. In fact you won't find Eck or Mariano Rivera in the Top 20 but the list should give you a better appreciation for Dan Quisenberry. Maybe the most impressive season on the list though is by Eric Gagne's 2003 year as he did it in only 82 1/3 innings. Also reminds you how far he has fallen.
Top 20 Relief Pitcher Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Dan Quise
OMG two entries in one day, I'm out of control! This year I decided to track the number of games that each team had televised by MLB's three television partners. The final week's schedule was finalized today so figured I'd actually post the final "standings" for the year. I thought it'd be better to post it on the blog rather than the TWiB form because we don't need another debate of the overexposure of two certain teams from the Northeast and God knows I've instigated a few of those debates.
You know I should probably finish this up this week being that the 2008 season ends on Sunday which will make these lists out of date. But hey that also means it'll be time to work on my "famous" Bored Player Rankings which will just serve as a painful reminder of how bad the A's offense was this year.
Top 20 Designated Hitter Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Frank Thomas, 1991 - Chicago White Sox 33.8 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB C
Bored Blog Trivia Question: I really fucking hate one of the players on this list. Which one is it? (Hint: He's a rat piece of shit)
Top 20 Right Fielder Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Sammy Sosa, 2001 - Chicago Cubs 42.4 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
2001 32 C
It's 300th Blog Entry Spectacular!
Or just another random list.
Biggest surprise about this list is how little Ken Griffey Jr. shows up on it but he did spend a lot of years in the hitter friendly Kingdome.
Top 20 Center Fielder Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Carlos Beltran, 2006 - New York Mets 38.3 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+---
Say what you want about Barry Bonds, and really please I insist you say nasty things about him, but he was really, really fucking good.
Top 20 Left Fielder Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Barry Bonds, 2001 - San Francisco Giants 53.9 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+--
Now I know what you're thinking. If A-Fraud had the best third baseman season of the last 30 years, he had to have had the best shortstop season. But thankfully my Judeo-Christian friends we have been saved! But not be Jeter!? This is an outrage! Obviously our Lord and Savior is saving his best for last.
Top 20 Shortstop Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Robin Yount, 1982 - Milwaukee Brewers 38.6 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB
This list is a travesty as we have the least clutchiest player in the history of mankind on top. I'm ashamed, your ashamed, and Jeter is ashamed. Now if I did this list during 2007, the #1 spot would have been a big shock.
Top 20 Third Baseman Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Alex Rodriguez, 2007 - New York Yankees 38.7 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+-
We actually had a tie for the top spot among second basemen between a current Hall of Famer and future Hall of Famer but the current one wins out per Win Shares Above Average as they played in six fewer games.
Top 20 Second Baseman Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Ryne Sandberg, 1984 - Chicago Cubs 38.3 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+-
If you had to guess the first baseman who had the best single season of the last 30 years you might guess Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell, Albert Pujols, Jason Giambi, or maybe even Don Mattingly in his prime. And you'd be wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...at least according to Win Shares. This player's numbers don't look huge at first glance but they came in a season when in the N.L. the average team only scored 3.94 runs a game, one of only four seasons since '79 that teams a
Enough of the worst, it's time for the best. Now instead of OPS+ for these lists I'll be using Win Shares since it rates a player's all around game rather than just their offense, although the defensive measures are very flawed. Just like the worst lists I'm picking a year to start with and this time around I'm going with 1979. The reason is that I was born on October 1, 1978 which was the last day of the 1978 regular season (among the winning pitchers that day were Luis Tiant, Ferguson Jenkins,
Back by popular demand, add another "Worst" list with the worst pitcher seasons since 1961 using ERA+. Checking baseball-reference.com, unlike qualifications for the batting title, it appears the qualification for the ERA title has never changed. In order to qualify a pitcher must pitch at least one inning per team game. Now I could have gone back to 1901 then but again it would been littered with too many early 20th century pitchers that most us have never heard of. The worst ERA+ of all-time w
Now finally finishing off these Worst lists with designated hitters. Since the DH has only been around since 1973 these are the worst DH seasons of all-time. Unlike every other position, there is no additional value to be provided by DH beyond what they do with their bat. They aren't even expected to be threats on the basepaths either as most DH's are aging veterans or guys who are so slow they couldn't even handle first base. The top of the list falls into the aging veteran category as he was a
The worst offensive season by a rightfielder has stood for over 100 years as Jack Dunn in 1902 had an OPS+ of 56 (.211/.256/.249). But for this modern exercise, 1999 was officially The Year of the Shitty Hitting Outfielder as players from that season have topped the list at each outfield spot.
Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Rightfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+)
1. Derek Bell, 1999 - Houston Astros 66 OPS+ (.236/.306/.350)
2t. Cory Snyder, 1989 - Cleveland Indians 70
2
The worst offensive season by a centerfielder since 1901 was Alex Metzler in 1930 with an OPS+ of 56 (.236/.313/.302). The player on the top of this particular list came very close to breaking that record in 1999 (the year of shitting hitting outfielders?) and also made my Worst Hitters since 1986 list. Interesting thing about this list is that most of these punchless performances have happened in the last 20 years.
Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Centerfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+)
The worst offensive season but a leftfielder since 1901 was...wait...just nine years ago!? Speed can kill but it can also keep a guy in the line up who really shouldn't be anything more than a designated pinch runner.
Top 25 Worst Offenisve Leftfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+)
1. Brian Hunter, 1999 - Detroit Tigers/Seattle Mariners 48 OPS+ (.232/.280/.301)
2. Vince Coleman, 1994 - Kansas City Royals 59
3. Vince Coleman, 1986 - St. Louis Cardinals 62
4. Bill Sample,
The worst offensive season by a shortstop of all-time was Jim Levey in 1933 with an OPS+ of 24 (.195/.237/.240). Jim was a teammate of Art Scharein on the St. Louis Browns that year who my three readers will remember that he had the worst offensive ever by a third baseman that year thus teaming up for the undisputed, worst hitting left side of an infield in MLB history. Congratulations guys.
Now on to more modern players and the player at the top of this list takes both #1 and #2 spots in
Out of the way quickly, the worst offensive single season by a third baseman was Art Scharein in 1933 who nearly matched the year with an OPS+ of 34. But we're only concerned with the last 50 years and that mark was set just last season! Why didn't ESPN cover this?
Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Third Baseman Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+)
1. Nick Punto, 2007 - Minnesota Twins 52 OPS+ (.210/.291/.271)
2. Scott Brosius, 1997 - Oakland A's 53
3. Brooks Robinson, 1975 - Baltimo
In case you were wondering, and you weren't, the worst hitting season by a second baseman since 1901 was by Del Young in 1923 with an OPS+ of 23 (.194/.235/.231 in 386 plate appearances). The top of this list once again shows that a shitty player may one day become a great manager. Also, anybody know who in the Mets' organization was Doug Flynn blowing in the late 70's and the early 80's to maintain an everyday job? (edit: It was Jesus!)
Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Second Baseman Seasons
Continuing with more of the worst. Now there are positions in baseball where clubs are very willing to sacrifice defense for offense, middle infielders being most common. If you have an excellent defensive shortstop or second baseman you can often overlook their offensive shortcomings. First base is not one of those positions. Sure a great defensive first baseman is nice to have but if they can't hit, it's not wise to keep them in the line up everyday if you have a better hitting alternative who
Baseball-Reference.com Play Index is saving this blog with more useless lists1 Today I list the 25 worst individual offensive seasons according to OPS+ since 1957, who qualified for the batting title in their given year. Why 1957 instead of all the way back to the beginning modern era in 1901? Because I'm lazy and because the current guidelines for qualifying for the batting title were adopted in '57. The current rule is a player must average 3.1 plate appearances per total number of games playe
A few weeks back I finally decided to purchase a subscription to the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index since I figured it'd be helpful in putting together a few random lists to keep this blog afloat. Of course if I had known there would be a free preview over All-Star week (which ends today) I might I have waited a little longer but oh well. Now several times in the past I've mentioned that all my sports memories begin in 1986 so figured my first random list using Play Index I'd have it centered
Just here to announce that 5th installment of the second longest running football pick 'em contest in TSM history is coming soon! Look for the sign up thread in the Sports folder in the next week or so. So this entry isn't a complete waste I'm updating the all-time standings for the contest. Will anyone stop the juggernaut that is Cuban Linx this year?
All-Time Standings (in order of wins)
1. teke184 38-18
2. CanadianChris 37-18
3. Edwin MacPhisto 36-19
4. iggymcfly 34-17
Wow, two entries in one week? I'm gonna need an extended vacation after exhausting myself like this.
Next Sunday the All-Star Game reserves will be selected for this year's extra special, Yankee Stadium Circle Jerk All-Star Game presented by FOX. And hey it counts or something. I originally intended on picking my own All-Star team using all that stat geek crap I typically use but that was going to take longer than I wanted so instead I decided to make predictions for All-Star reserves prim
My blog is still not dead...getting closer though. But I remembered the NBA Draft was this week so I can get another Draftback entry in. With the NBA Draft I take different approach as I rank the players using the basketball version of Win Shares. I don't know how reliable the statistic is, and I don't quite agree with all the rankings, but at least it's an objective way to compare these player's careers at this point.
1997 NBA Draft per Career Win Shares
1. Tim Duncan, San Anton
