19 Responses to “Teams With 15+ Zero Or Below WAR Position Players”

1. Detroit Michael Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 6:05 pm

   No 2003 Tigers, nor the 1962 Mets (although the 1963 Mets are there).

   Even more surprising to me is that so many older teams are listed. I thought that contemporary teams have more players per year and therefore a greater chance of more lousy players per year.

2. Rob McMillin Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 6:07 pm

   Wow, I'm amazed that the 2003 Dodgers didn't make that list. Looking at their WAR numbers a little more closely, it surprises me how many of those guys are non-negative... even Fred McGriff was zero. But Alex Cora, Cesar Izturis, Jeromy Burnitz, and Jolbert Cabrera each had 200 or more PA's and provided negative WAR for the team. At one point I calculated that this team had the largest fraction of its win shares from the pitching staff than any team since at least the 1950's, and possibly in the modern era (post-1920).

3. Dr. Doom Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 6:11 pm

   You know, I don't think I'll ever cease to be amazed at the Astros 2010 record. That team was wretched, and they're record really wasn't that bad. Surprises me every time I think about it.

4. Rob McMillin Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 6:13 pm

   Ah, yes, here it is: at the time, the highest percentage of Win Shares ever for a winning team by a pitching staff.

5. OutOfLeftField Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 9:20 pm

   The '87 Dodgers (#10 on the list) sure turned it around in '88.

6. OutOfLeftField Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 9:24 pm

   @3 and surprising record of last year's Astros.

   Ditto for the '86 Expos (#29) and their 78-83 record.

7. OutOfLeftField Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 9:29 pm

   The Orioles did the trick three years running ('54 to '56).

   Great start for a ballclub in a new city.

8. Drew Cobb Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 9:44 pm

   1975 Angels. One would be hard pressed to find a worse hitting team. Adrian Garrett (a close friend of mine) played for the team for 2 months, hit 6 home runs and was tied for 2nd on the team in that category. Incredible.

9. Rick Says:
   February 15th, 2011 at 9:48 pm

   I'm quite surprised that 40 straight years of terrible Cleveland Indians teams have gone unnoticed by this list.

10. birtelcom Says:
    February 15th, 2011 at 10:27 pm

    Detroit M @1: Based on the Pythagorean win formula (the version used here at b-ref, anyway) the 1963 Mets had a slightly worse team than the 1962 Mets. Both teams would normally have expected, based on the Pythag formula, to win 50 games based on their runs scored and runs allowed, but the '63 Mets played 162 games and the '62 Mets only 160, so the '62 Mets end up with a better Pythag win percentage. Besides being awful, the '62 Mets were also very unlucky. The '63 Mets were merely awful.

11. Jim Dunne Says:
    February 15th, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    @ #6:

    The 1986 Expos had a huge year from Tim Raines, and a very good one from Hubie Brooks, which mitigated some of the damage.

    The 1996 Red Sox went 85-77, which I'm guessing makes them the best team on this list . They were actually a very good hitting team, scoring 928 runs with Mo Vaughn, John Valentin, Mike Stanley, Tim Naehring, Jose Canseco and Reggie Jefferson. What put that team on this list was that they could never find anyone to play CF, and had a whole cast of characters who tried. In 1995-96, the Duquette/Kennedy tandem would just run through players like crazy, the amounts of players used those years were unreal. So, for this exercise, by having the sample be only 25 PA's, it allows in all of the bums (as well as a few who weren't bad players but had a bad 30 AB stretch and were sent back to Pawtucket) who played there. Lee Tinsley, Alex Cole, Milt Cuyler, Darren Bragg, Dwayne Hosey...

    Beyond that, the bad defense of Mike Greenwell and Troy O'Leary sent those two under 0.0 as well.

12. Hartvig Says:
    February 15th, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    I immediately looked for the '03 Tigers too. They were close- only 1 player with a WAR above 0.7 on the entire roster- but what hurt them the most was in spite of how truly bad they were they only had 20 players meet the qualifier of 25 PA's. The '80 Sox had 23, the 69 Pilots had 25, the '30 Sox had 24, the '19 Athletics & '17 Pirates both had 22- and virtually all of the minimal qualifiers were zero or below. Even the hapless '63 Mets had 25 players qualify.

13. John Q Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 12:48 am

    The 1992 Dodgers had Mike Piazza & Daryl Strawberry on that list.

14. John Q Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 1:04 am

    Two former Mets from the "Disco Era" Mets contributed to the 1982 Rangers when they were traded during the winter/spring of '81-82, Doug Flynn and Lee Mazzilli.

    The Rangers traded Ron Darling & Walt Terrell for Lee Mazzilli. Mazzilli gave them a horrible .241/.339/.344 (-0.5 WAR) and was traded for Bucky Dent in August of '82. It's one of the best trades the Mets ever made.

    Flynn had an even worse .211/.221/.248 (-2WAR). At least he only cost the Rangers Jim Hern. Flynn would be released by the Rangers in August

15. Wine Curmudgeon Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 8:24 am

    How did any of the wretched Cubs teams from the 1950s and early 1960s not make this list?

16. Baseball Stats, Facts, & Trivia - OOTP Developments Forums Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 10:45 am

    [...] players who had a zero or lower WAR score in a single season. Put simply, these teams were bad.... Teams With 15+ Zero Or Below WAR Position Players Baseball-Reference Blog Blog Archive __________________ Life is Good [...]

17. Tmckelv Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    Another list where the 1990's Rockies can shine.

    The 1999 Rockies appear on this list and also had 4 guys with 100 RBI. I would make a guess at that being the most of any team on this particular list.

    One of those guys is, of course, our WAR punching bag Dante Bichette (34 HR, 133 RBI, .298/.354/.541, and -2.8 WAR).

18. Simon Oliver Lockwood Says:
    February 17th, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    How about the 1965 & 1966 Giants, who finished a combined 3-1/2 games out of 1st despite having half of the roster being essentially worthless? Just one slightly less crappy player each year could have meant a couple of World Series appearances.

19. Teams With 15 Zero Or Below WAR Position Players | Major Baseball News Says:
    February 27th, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    [...] More… Posted in Uncategorized Tags: AL, Chicago White Sox, Harold Baines Alan Bannister Kevin, Rk Year Tm Lg Matching, WAR « Smokin’ Hot Stove: Adrian Gonzalez You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]