Worst Angels Ever

[Angelsjunky]

The thread about Daniel Stange got me wondering - we know who the greatest Angel is, but who has been the worst in the 43 years of the franchise? Let's look at WAR.

 

Worst Angel Season Ever (by WAR)

Before going on, want to guess? Brandon Wood in 2010, perhaps, when he hit .146/.174/.208 in 81 games with terrible defense? Not quite - he didn't play enough, although that season goes down as the 2nd worst by an Angels position player at -1.8 fWAR.

 

Steve Finley also came to mind, but his crappy 2005 in which he was bad at everything, is 10th worst all time at -1.3.

 

The winner is Luis Polonia in 1993. On a cursory look, his triple-slash line isn't terrible: .271/.328/.326, plus with 55 stolen bases. But the two things I remember about Polonia is that he was terrible defensively (he had a -28.5 Def that year) and he got caught stealing a lot - coupled with those 55 SB were 24 CS.

 

What about pitchers? Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana are both in the bottom ten, but the honor goes to Ken McBride in 1964 with a -1.5 fWAR.

 

I actually thought it was going to be Jim Abbott, who had a 7.48 ERA in 142 innings in 1996, but that was during the height of the Roid Era, so his WAR ended up being 0.0.

 

Worst Angel Career Ever (by WAR)

What about for an entire Angels career? Well with pitchers there are so many with lowish innings, so it doesn't really add up. But for position players, the honor goes to....badadum...Brandon Wood! In 173 games and 494 PA he contributed a .168/.197/.259 triple-slash line. Ouch!

 

Honorable mention goes to Jeff Mathis, who managed to play in 426 games with a negative fWAR (-1.7).

[YouthofToday]

Mathis !!!!

[NrM]

The thread about Daniel Stange got me wondering - we know who the greatest Angel is, but who has been the worst in the 43 years of the franchise? Let's look at WAR.

 

Worst Angel Season Ever (by WAR)

Before going on, want to guess? Brandon Wood in 2010, perhaps, when he hit .146/.174/.208 in 81 games with terrible defense? Not quite - he didn't play enough, although that season goes down as the 2nd worst by an Angels position player at -1.8 fWAR.

 

Steve Finley also came to mind, but his crappy 2005 in which he was bad at everything, is 10th worst all time at -1.3.

 

The winner is Luis Polonia in 1993. On a cursory look, his triple-slash line isn't terrible: .271/.328/.326, plus with 55 stolen bases. But the two things I remember about Polonia is that he was terrible defensively (he had a -28.5 Def that year) and he got caught stealing a lot - coupled with those 55 SB were 24 CS.

 

What about pitchers? Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana are both in the bottom ten, but the honor goes to Ken McBride in 1964 with a -1.5 fWAR.

 

I actually thought it was going to be Jim Abbott, who had a 7.48 ERA in 142 innings in 1996, but that was during the height of the Roid Era, so his WAR ended up being 0.0.

 

Worst Angel Career Ever (by WAR)

What about for an entire Angels career? Well with pitchers there are so many with lowish innings, so it doesn't really add up. But for position players, the honor goes to....badadum...Brandon Wood! In 173 games and 494 PA he contributed a .168/.197/.259 triple-slash line. Ouch!

 

Honorable mention goes to Jeff Mathis, who managed to play in 426 games with a negative fWAR (-1.7).

Was worried Jeff Mathis wasn't going to get any love.

[mancini79]

I'm going with the Devil. Worst Angel ever.

[AngelArcher]

I think you mean 53 years.

[Michifan]

I think Mathis wins the award for worst Angel who kept starting regardless of how bad he was.

[Jimmag]

Brandon Wood and Dallas MacPherson had such high potential and both were unwatchable in the Big Leagues.

I call it a tie.

[tdawg87]

Brandon Wood and Dallas MacPherson had such high potential and both were unwatchable in the Big Leagues.

I call it a tie.

 

McPherson shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Wood. He ended up being a disappointment, sure, but it was mostly injuries that kept him from truly breaking out at the big league level. His OPS with the Angels was .755. Not great, but not even close to Brandon Wood's level of awful.

[Angelsjunky]

I hate to say it but McPherson wasn't so far from Trumbo. McPherson played in a higher offense number so his numbers are far worse than Trumbo's, but his 2006 line (in 121 PA) is straight out of Trumbo's stat sheet: .261/.298/.478.

 

I actually think if Dallas hadn't gotten injured he would have been a similar player to Trumbo. He had really bad luck. I remember him going through the same cycle two or three times: Called up the big leagues, struggling, getting hot, then getting injured. The third time (I think) kept him out of baseball for a year and ruined his career.

 

We can call Dallas a failed prospect, but he failed mainly due to injuries. We'll never know What Could Have Been.

 

Mathis failed because he just sucked and should have been a back-up (at best) but Scioscia loved him. Brandon Wood failed because he really sucked and had no plate discipline. Kotchman failed because he was mediocre (and mono and that one injury, I suppose). Howie Kendrick didn't fail but he didn't live up to the "future batting champion" hype. Of that generation of top prospects, only Aybar became about the player we thought he would be, and only Mike Napoli exceeded expectations. (I forgot Sean Rodriguez; I don't think he as much failed as Angels fans over-rated him...imagine that).

[The God of Runs]

The worst Angel ever will be Mike Trout, when he betrays us and signs with the Yankees 12 years, $350 million

[Jay]

No love for VW?

 

Considering what we paid him I'd say he ranks pretty high on the list.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Jay

[Erstad Grit]

Glen Allen Hill's run here was the worst I can ever remember. 

[Stradling]

Ricky Henderson.

[Stradling]

Jose Canseco.

[Stradling]

Fernando

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Steve FInley

[tdawg87]

Mike Napoli

[EE_]

Rob Picciolo had zero walks in his 87 game Angel career. Not even Disar could match that as much as he may have tried.

Picciolo also accumulated a -3.4 fWAR over his career.

[SoWhat]

Zach Sorensen

Edited September 20, 2013 by SoWhat

[itsKnoppUitsme]

Tom Egan!

[IEAngelsfan]

Tom Egan!

I remember Egan and yeah, he sucked.

[yk9001]

Do we get to see this list?

 

How do Belcher and Ken Hill stack up?

[Lou E Ville]

Chone Figgins in the playoffs.

[fan_since79]

The Indian burial ground on which the stadium was built. Bad vibe all around.

 

Is that true, by the way? I keep hearing this through the years but have never seen any documentation of it.

[ELEVEN]

Kent Bottenfield. 

Edited September 20, 2013 by ELEVEN