Check out the worst OPS+ figures so far in 2009 for players qualified for the batting title:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+** Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Willy Taveras         54   2009  27 CIN NL  82 360 329  46  82 10  2  1  14  17   0  49   2  10   2   2  21  6  .249  .289  .301  .590 *8        
    2 Jason Kendall         63   2009  35 MIL NL  87 338 292  27  70 10  1  0  25  31   5  32   8   2   5  10   2  1  .240  .324  .281  .605 *2        
    3 Emilio Bonifacio      63   2009  24 FLA NL  92 425 391  57  98 11  5  1  22  26   0  81   1   3   4   4  18  7  .251  .296  .312  .608 *56/478   
    4 Edgar Renteria        66   2009  33 SFG NL  83 351 314  36  80 14  0  2  39  26   2  50   1   5   5  12   5  2  .255  .309  .318  .627 *6        
    5 Chris Young           70   2009  25 ARI NL  90 324 284  33  58 22  4  6  26  34   1  82   2   2   2   1  11  2  .204  .292  .373  .665 *8        
    6 Mike Fontenot         74   2009  29 CHC NL  88 305 273  26  63 13  1  8  31  28   3  65   1   0   3   5   2  1  .231  .302  .374  .676 *54       
    7 Jeff Francoeur        74   2009  25 TOT NL  94 376 353  34  92 14  2  7  49  12   2  51   4   1   6  10   5  2  .261  .288  .371  .659 *9        
    8 Jimmy Rollins         75   2009  30 PHI NL  91 432 397  61  94 25  2 10  45  29   1  45   2   1   3   6  17  8  .237  .290  .385  .675 *6        
    9 Daniel Murphy         76   2009  24 NYM NL  92 315 280  33  68 15  1  5  32  28   1  41   0   3   4   5   2  1  .243  .308  .357  .665 37        
   10 Adrian Beltre         77   2009  30 SEA AL  73 313 297  36  77 19  0  5  31  11   1  48   3   0   2  12   9  2  .259  .291  .374  .665 *5/D      

With his second straight season having a qualifying OPS+ under 60, it's time for Willy Taveras' playing career to be over. It doesn't matter how fast the guy is--with an OBP of .289, he's not getting on base enough and no team should be wasting plate appearances on the guy. Defensively he's an average centerfielder (not above average with that speed) and there's no reason to use him in a game except as a pinch-runner.

Something similar could be said about Jason Kendall. He's working on his 3rd straight season under an OPS+ of 75.  He slugged over .400 a few times but not since 2003 and this year his SLG is an almost impossibly-low .281. That's 10 doubles, 1 triple, and no homers in 87 games. It doesn't matter how good he might be defensively or in handling the pitching staff--no amount of positive impact he's making there can compensate for just how bad he is offensively.

Every guy on this list has a story, but two names that stick out are Jimmy Rollins and Adrian Beltre. In Beltre's case, other than his contract year of 2004, he's always been a fairly average player. This year's performance represents his worst since his rookie year in 1998. Pretty soon he won't be qualified for the batting title (he's on the DL right now) and we'll see how he does when he gets back.

Jimmy Rollins is also having the worst year of his career although he has been much, much better of late. Rollins is an overrated player and was one of the weakest MVP winners in recent memory in 2007 (even though I voted for him...) I can tolerate his career OBP of .330 but not this year's figure of .290. My guess is he continues to hit very well for the rest of the year and ends the season right around his career numbers, meaning an OPS+ still a bit below average.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 7:52 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.