Jason Tyner, Designated Hitter
Posted by Sky on August 14, 2007
Honestly, if you told me the Twins chose to let their starting pitcher bat so they could have Jason Tyner play the field and not hit, I'd believe you for a few seconds. But the truth is that Tyner (and his .319 career slugging percentage) has been the Twins' DH 14 times so far in 2007. How historically bad is that decision? Well, here's a list of the worst season OPS+ numbers for hitters in the past ten years with at least 200 PAs in a season and 10 starts at DH -- basically the playing time cutoff for Tyner so far in 2007.
Cnt Player **OPS+** PA Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Randall Simon 41 214 2004 29 TOT ML 69 192 16 36 6 0 3 14 18 5 19 3 0 1 8 0 0 .188 .266 .266 .532 *3D 2 Gregg Jefferies 48 225 1999 31 DET AL 70 205 22 41 8 0 6 18 13 1 11 4 0 3 9 3 4 .200 .258 .327 .585 *D/347 3 Luis Alicea 55 273 2002 36 KCR AL 94 237 28 54 8 2 1 23 32 1 34 1 3 0 5 2 3 .228 .322 .291 .613 45D/3679 4 Robert Fick 58 253 2004 30 TOT ML 89 226 14 45 5 2 6 26 22 2 36 3 0 2 2 0 0 .199 .277 .319 .596 D73/92 5 Brian Jordan 58 233 2004 37 TEX AL 61 212 27 47 13 1 5 23 16 2 35 1 0 4 7 2 2 .222 .275 .363 .638 *9D/7 6 Greg Vaughn 60 297 2002 36 TBD AL 69 251 28 41 10 2 8 29 41 1 82 3 0 2 5 3 2 .163 .286 .315 .601 *D7 7 Shea Hillenbrand 61 204 2007 31 LAA AL 53 197 19 50 5 0 3 22 5 0 18 1 0 1 6 0 2 .254 .275 .325 .600 *D/3 8 Dee Brown 61 406 2001 23 KCR AL 106 380 39 93 19 0 7 40 22 4 81 1 1 2 12 5 3 .245 .286 .350 .636 *7D/89 9 Geronimo Berroa 61 217 1998 33 TOT AL 72 191 23 43 7 2 1 13 24 1 44 2 0 0 5 1 1 .225 .318 .298 .616 *D7/9 10 Jay Gibbons 63 290 2007 30 BAL AL 84 270 28 62 14 0 6 28 15 1 52 2 0 3 5 0 0 .230 .272 .348 .620 *7D/9 11 Terry Pendleton 63 254 1998 37 KCR AL 79 237 17 61 10 0 3 29 15 1 49 0 0 2 2 1 0 .257 .299 .338 .637 *D5 12 Tim Salmon 65 206 2004 35 ANA AL 60 186 15 47 7 0 2 23 14 0 41 2 0 4 2 1 0 .253 .306 .323 .629 *D/97 13 Willie Greene 65 248 1999 27 TOR AL 81 226 22 46 7 0 12 41 20 0 56 0 0 2 4 0 0 .204 .266 .394 .660 *D/59 14 Rondell White 66 355 2006 34 MIN AL 99 337 32 83 17 1 7 38 11 2 54 4 0 3 11 1 1 .246 .276 .365 .641 *D7 15 Orlando Palmeiro 66 270 2001 32 ANA AL 104 230 29 56 10 1 2 23 25 2 24 3 7 5 3 6 6 .243 .319 .322 .641 D97/8 16 Marty Cordova 66 221 2000 30 TOR AL 62 200 23 49 7 0 4 18 18 0 35 3 0 0 6 3 2 .245 .317 .340 .657 79D 17 Jason Kubel 72 235 2006 24 MIN AL 73 220 23 53 8 0 8 26 12 0 45 0 2 1 13 2 0 .241 .279 .386 .665 D7/9 18 Cal Ripken 73 516 2001 40 BAL AL 128 477 43 114 16 0 14 68 26 1 63 2 2 9 15 0 2 .239 .276 .361 .637 *5D 19 Aubrey Huff 73 434 2001 24 TBD AL 111 411 42 102 25 1 8 45 23 2 72 0 0 0 18 1 3 .248 .288 .372 .660 *5D3 20 Wil Cordero 73 299 2001 29 CLE AL 89 268 30 67 11 1 4 21 22 2 50 4 2 3 8 0 0 .250 .313 .343 .656 *73D/9 21 Carl Everett 74 343 2006 35 SEA AL 92 308 37 70 8 0 11 33 29 2 57 3 0 3 7 1 3 .227 .297 .360 .657 *D/79 22 Jay Gibbons 74 380 2004 27 BAL AL 97 346 36 85 14 1 10 47 29 0 64 1 1 3 11 1 1 .246 .303 .379 .682 *9D3 23 Luis Alicea 74 418 2001 35 KCR AL 113 387 44 106 16 4 4 32 23 0 56 4 3 1 6 8 6 .274 .320 .367 .687 *4D5 24 Al Martin 75 258 2003 35 TBD AL 100 238 19 60 12 2 3 26 17 4 51 2 0 1 8 2 2 .252 .306 .357 .663 *D/793 25 Joe Randa 75 636 2001 31 KCR AL 151 581 59 147 34 2 13 83 42 2 80 6 1 6 15 3 2 .253 .307 .386 .693 *5D/4 26 Javy Lopez 76 364 2006 35 TOT AL 94 342 36 86 20 1 8 35 20 0 76 2 0 0 10 0 0 .251 .297 .386 .683 *D2 27 Brian McRae 76 472 1999 31 TOT ML 134 403 47 88 17 2 12 48 57 2 86 9 1 2 8 2 7 .218 .327 .360 .687 *8D 28 Jason Tyner 77 229 2007 30 MIN AL 76 211 29 57 10 1 1 16 11 0 19 5 1 1 9 7 3 .270 .320 .341 .661 79D/8
It's interesting that Tyner isn't even the worst player to have DH'd in 2007 -- both Shea Hillenbrand and Jay Gibbons have been worse. Also, two of Minnesota's 2006 DHs, Rondell White and Jason Kubel, performed worse than Tyner in '07. Of course, this whole analysis ignores the fact that Tyner's outperforming his career line, while many of the guys listed above him were setting career lows.
August 14th, 2007 at 11:49 am
[...] just posted an entry about crappy-hitting DHs from the past ten years at the SOTD blog. Jason Tyner is actually a better option than the [...]
August 14th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Although Tyner's not as bad as you'd think, the Twins DH position this season is truly horrific. They are slugging .358 out of the DH spot. I did a quick search of players who played 50% of games at DH, and qualified for the batting title, and found only 4 who had a SLG% lower than the Twins DH position this year. Extending the cutoff to 550 PA's, no DH in history has ever slugged below .375(Ruben Sierra in 1996).I know it's unfair to compare platoon totals to a players single season totals, but it is sickening as a Twins fan. Another interesting tidbit, the Twins have 3 HR from the DH spot this season, putting them at the same number as the Brewers.