Less Than Zero for the Zeroes - Worst Reds of the Decade

ken — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:18 -0000

Unfortunately, several Reds phoned in their performance this decade.

With all of the attention recently focused on the all-time great Reds and best Reds of the decade, I'm feeling a little disconnected from reality after rooting for a team that hasn't had a winning season since 2000. So what brought us down this decade? Or more specifically, who? Below is my highly subjective list. My cutoff was 300 PAs or 200 IP (higher threshold for pitching due to the variability). I looked only at performance and tried to divorce the player's salary or expectations from the list. So who do you think was the biggest stinker for the decade?

Jose Acevado. 304.3 IP, 222/97/58 K/BB/HR, 5.59 ERA, 5.86 RA, 5.17 FIP. Like Jose Rijo, Acevado is related to Juan Marichal. Like Eric Milton, Acevado gave up a historic number of homeruns. One of those facts is more relevant than the other.
Juan Castro. .237/.276/.353/.628, 61 OPS+, .269 wOBA, -4.6 WAR. Easily the WAR "leader" here, I can't get too worked up about Manos given that he accumulated it over several years and rarely played as a regular. Plus, TotalZone is particularly harsh on Castro. FanGraphs has him at about a zero WAR for his Reds tenure. Negative rating or no, the Fiastro defines the Narron legacy as well as any single event in my mind.
Ryan Dempster. 204.3 IP, 150/108/40 K/BB/HR, 6.39 ERA, 6.61 RA, 5.27 FIP. Maybe the most infuriating player on the list. Dempster had two decent years with Florida before coming to the Reds in a trade for Juan Encarnacion and others in July 2002. After 1.5 years of injurious suckitude, Chicago took a free agent flier on Dempster, patiently waited for him to rehab, and then enjoyed about 12 WAR since.
Brandon Larson. 332 PA, 570 OPS, 49 OPS+, .258 wOBA, -1.4 WAR. Why it's important to look at a prospect's age as well as his performance.
Eric Milton. 370.3 IP, 231/103/73 K/BB/HR, 5.83 ERA, 6.23 RA, 5.34 FIP. Signing a flyball pitcher coming off a flukishly good 14-6 season was not a good idea. Paying him so much that you made the Yankees flinch made it an awful idea. Milton's K/BB ratio was actually tolerable, but by his nature he allowed a lot of HRs and balls in play. It didn't help that two statues were playing in the outfield.
Corey Patterson. 392 PA, .205/.238/.344/.582, 50 OPS+, .238 wOBA, -1.0 WAR. I was originally going to make my cutoff 400 PAs but lowered it to include Two-Pitch AtBaterson. Talking about the worst Reds of the decade without him would be like talking about the worst U2 albums and not mentioning Zooropa. It might not be the worst, but it has to be in the discussion. Anyways, it's pretty rare to have that low of an OBP. Including Patterson only five players have had an OBP lower than .250 in as much playing time. Two of the other four turned the trick before joining the Reds.
Willy Taveras. 437 PA, .240/.275/.285/.559, 48 OPS+, .247 wOBA, +0.4 WAR. Offensively it's about a wash between Wee Willy and Corey. Taveras had a better OBP and SB numbers (25/6 versus 14/9), but Patterson had much more slugging. TotalZone likes Taveras' fielding much more than RZR (14.1 RZR/150 games), though both WARs give Taveras an advantage (per Fangraphs: -0.3 for Taveras, -1.2 for Patterson).

Poll

Worst Red of the decade?

Jose Acevedo

7 votes

boobs

53 votes

Juan Castro

4 votes

Ryan Dempster

25 votes

Brandon Larson

57 votes

Eric Milton

262 votes

Corey Patterson

174 votes

Willy Taveras

86 votes

668 votes | Poll has closed

Heroes of the Zeros: Third Base

Slyde — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:00:22 -0000

During the aughts, the Reds had 39 different players play at least one game at 3B, including Javier Valentin, Jason Larue, Dmitri Young, and Wily Mo Pena. There was also a fan favorite, a fan whipping boy, and a guy that is more famous for a single swing on another team than anything he did with the Reds. Who do you think is the starting 3B for the Reds All Decade team? Vote in the poll after the jump.

Other ballots: Starting Rotation | Bullpen | Catcher | First base | Second base

Click header to sort table by column
	Years	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	wOBA	WAR
Aaron Boone	2000-2003	455	1889	1681	242	451	101	7	70	257	144	308	.268	.335	.462	.797	103	.339	8.4
Edwin Encarnacion	2005-2009	514	2000	1764	236	462	109	4	71	263	185	364	.262	.345	.449	.793	103	.344	1.4
Tim Hummel	2003-2004	82	219	194	19	43	9	0	3	17	16	30	.222	.285	.314	.599	58	.258	-0.9
Brandon Larson	2001-2004	109	332	291	29	52	11	0	8	37	35	86	.179	.271	.299	.570	49	.258	-1.4
Andy Phillips	2008	52	80	73	11	17	3	0	3	10	6	14	.233	.300	.397	.697	80	.307	-0.2
Joe Randa	2005	92	368	332	44	96	26	1	13	48	33	52	.289	.356	.491	.847	120	.362	1.3
Scott Rolen	2009	40	162	137	24	37	7	1	3	24	19	20	.270	.364	.401	.766	102	.342	0.9
Adam Rosales	2008-2009	105	296	259	23	55	11	1	4	21	27	50	.212	.296	.309	.605	60	.275	-0.3
Chris Stynes	2000	119	420	380	71	127	24	1	12	40	32	54	.334	.386	.497	.883	120	.378	2.5

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