Here you have it folks – the 2012 MLB’s worst of the worst. We even included a few sabermetrics for those of you who eat numbers for breakfast. You might note that Jemile Weeks was only two home runs, and one Carlos Pena away from being the first Triple Crown Loser since 2003’s Ramon Santiago. Also, two of this year’s worst hitters happened to have decent years in terms of power (something increasingly unfortunate about modern baseball).
Here’s a rundown of this year’s worst sluggers. All batters listed have the minimum 502 plate appearances
Batting:
Batting Average – Carlos Pena (.197)
Strikeouts – Adam Dunn (222)
On-base percentage – Drew Stubbs (.277)
Slugging percentage – Jemile Weeks (.304)
OPS – Jemile Weeks (.609)
WAR – Jeff Francoeur (-2.7)
Least Hits – Carlos Pena (98)
Least RBI – Jemile Weeks (20)
Caught Stealing – Starlin Castro, Michael Bourn, Rajai Davis (13)
Least Runs Scored – A.J. Ellis (44)
Least Home Runs – Ben Revere (0)
Least Walks – Alexei Ramirez (16)
PITCHERS:
This is an ugly list. But, nonetheless, the starting pitchers listed here have the minimum 162 innings pitched.
Worst ERA – Ricky Romero (5.77)
Worst WHIP – Ricky Romero (1.67)
Most walks – Edinson Volquez, Ricky Romero (105)
Most losses – Ubaldo Jimenez (17)
Most earned runs – Luke Hochevar (118)
Most wild pitches – Tim Lincecum (17)
Most balks – Franklin Morales (5)
Most hit batters – Gavin Floyd, Ian Kennedy (14)
Most home runs allowed – Ervin Santana (39)
Most blown saves – John Axford (9)
TEAMS:
This year featured some dramatic collapses and noteworthy records. As a side-note, the Astros won 56 games in 2011, only one more than this year, making this their worst year ever. The Red Sox had their worst season since they won only 62 games in 1965, and according to sabermetrics, the Houston Astros might have scored more runs this year if they’d staffed their roster with players from their Triple-A club.
Worst team record – Houston Astros (55-107) *worst in franchise history
Worst home record – Boston Red Sox (34-47)
Worst road record – Houston Astros (20-61)
Worst team offensive WAR – Houston Astros (6.7)
Worst team defensive WAR – Colorado Rockies (-7.3)
Worst team attendance – Tampa Bay Rays 1,559,681 (19,255 avg. per game)
Worst team ERA – Colorado Rockies (5.22)
Worst team batting average – Seattle Mariners (.234)
Other:
Most Ejections by an umpire – Gary Darling (8)
Most times ejected (Manager) – Don Mattingly, Bobby Valentine (6)
Most blown money (team)
As if it weren’t bad enough these teams failed reach their goal, there’s the fact they blew a lot of money on their team. And of course, there are always those bloated contracts that flopped because of one reason or another; either an injury or general ineptitude rendered the contracts inert.
New York Yankees ($189,967,425) *lost in ALCS to Detroit
Philadelphia Phillies ($171,501,558) *did not make playoffs.
Los Angeles Dodgers ($153,324,600) *did not make playoffs.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ($138,133,500) *did not make playoffs.
Most blown money (player)
Alex Rodriguez ($29,000,000)
Vernon Wells ($21,000,000)
Carl Crawford ($20,000,000)
Josh Beckett ($17,000,000)
Roy Halladay ($20,000,000)
Ryan Howard ($20,000,000)
Stats courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com & ESPN.com
