The MLB's Five Worst

You have already read about this years five best teams. Now it is time to read about the five worst, or in business world speak the five teams with the most room for improvement. All of these teams definitely have room for improvement. While you are reviewing the list you will probably see a lot of the the same teams that are bad every year. This isnt a cop out. As pointed out in a previous post, Baseball just doesn't have that much parity. I have present the teams in reverse order from bad to worst. So, with out further ado, here are the five worst teams coming into the 2011 MLB season (oh yeah sorry for the lack of pictures, use your imagination or something).


Honorable Mention: Houston Astros: Ooo a surprise! These guys have the potential to really suck.

5. Arizona Diamondbacks (2010 Record 65-97)

Just a few short seasons ago the Diamondbacks were a team on the rise. Their offense had a promising young core, their starting pitching was strong and the bullpen was nothing special but it got the job done. It is amazing how fast things can go downhill.4. Seattle Mariners (2010 Record 61-101)

The offense was once touted as full of future All-Stars, a murders row in the making. Last year and over the off-season, Arizona cut ties with one of those expected stars by sending Mark Reynolds Baltimore. Even with his departure, Arizona still has potential stars in Chris Young, Justin Upton and Stephen Drew. Although none of them are producing at an MVP level yet and Young and Upton strike out way to much, they are still young and capable of growth. Of those three, Stephen Drew appears the closest to stardom. To compliment these young players the D-backs have an assortment of veterans and rookies. They used a similar strategy last year and hit it big with second baseman Kelly Johnson broke out by hitting .284/.370/.496. All of this leaves the Diamondbacks with an offense that should produce a sufficient amount of runs, but has the potential to do some real damage.

The offense sounds pretty good and would normally help keep a team out of the bottom of the league. Unfortunately for Arizona, the pitching staff is no where near as talented or even potentially talented as the offense. With the departure of Dan Haren and Brandon Webb, the Diamondbacks are left with a lot of nothing. There starting rotation has three players with potential in Ian Kenned, Dan Hudson and Barry Enright. However, all three are young and inexperienced, which make them very hard to predict. The other two guys in the rotation, Joe Saunders and Armando Galarraga would all be number fives on other teams.

The bull pen is even worse then the rotation. They had the worst ERA in the league last year with a 5.74. The solution to this problem was to bring in J.J. Putz and David Hernandez. Neither addition strengthens the bull pen that much. Putz, who has a history of injury, already has back stiffness and will be out for the start of the season and Hernandez, who is an improvement over many of last years relievers, isn’t that good. Basically, the Diamondback’s bull pen looks to be awful again this year.

In order to stay out of the cellar, the Diamondbacks are going to need their offense to truly click and produce at league leading levels. If the offense falters even slightly, the terrible pitching situation looks to cause another bad season in Arizona.



It has been widely reported that the Mariners offense was historically bad last year. However, incase you lived under a rock or just awoke from a comma here is a quick recap of just how bad they were. The Mariners ranked dead last in AVG, OBP and SLG. Only three players, Russell Branyan, Mike Sweeney and Ichiro, had a wRC+ above 100 (as a reminder 100 is equal to league average) and only Ichiro spent the whole year with the team. Faced with those facts it was obvious what the front office (which had been hailed only a year earlier as one of the smartest in baseball) needed to do, acquire someone that can hit.

Consequently, the Mariners off-season acquisitions were Jack Cust (who is definitely an upgrade over Griffey and Sweeney), Brendan Ryan, (a slick fielder with no bat because the M’s need more of those) and Miguel Olivo (yes, the same one that hit .167 during his first stint in Safeco). Did Jack Z and the gang miss the memo? With little or no upgrades, the Mariners offense hoping for breakout or bounce back years from guys like Michael Saunders and Milton Bradley. Basically, it looks like the offense has the potential to be just as bad this year. That is not good.

The Mariners strong point is definitely their starting pitching. Led by the reigning Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez the rotation looks strong. Both Jason Vargas and Doug Fister found success last year by throwing strikes and letting the defense (another of Seattle’s strong point) help them out. The fourth and fifth starters, Erik Bedard and Michael Pineda, are both questions marks with high upside. When healthy Bedard has consistently been one of the best pitchers in the AL. Rookie Michael Pineda has the raw stuff to dominate batters, but has never pitched in the bigs.

That brings us to Seattle’s bull pen. Although definitely not the worst in the league (that honor belongs to Arizona) Seattle’s bull pen is far from a strength. Their best reliever, David Aardsma, is injured and for the start of the season. That leaves Brandon League in charge of holding down the ninth inning duties. Although League can be a quality pitcher, his K/9 are lower then you normally like to see in a closer. After League the bull pen gets a whole lot less experienced and predictable. Dan Szymborski of Baseball Think Factory projects the M’s to have the 3rd hardest strength of schedule in the MLB. When you are playing good teams a good bull pen is essential. If the Mariners are going to win games they are going to need these young guys to perform to their expectations and hold a lot of close leads.

After a dreadfully bad 2010 campaign and with their current roster, it is hard to see the Mariners doing much better this year. The mariners break camp with another terrible offense, a strong starting rotation and a questionable bull pen. The Seattle Mariners look to be bad yet again.

3. Cleveland Indians (2010 Record 69-93)

I figure most of you have seen the classic baseball comedy Major League. Incase you haven’t here is a quick recap. The evil owner of the Cleveland Indians decides she wants to move the team so she puts together an absolutely terrible team in an attempt to dive down attendance and force a move. At the beginning of the season the group of misfits that are assembled struggle to win games. Then, when they find out what the owner is up to, they are inspired and start playing good winning baseball. While they weren’t put together in an attempt to move the franchise, the 2011 version of the Indians look to have about the similar talent level as the fictional team from the silver screen and it will take a Hollywood sized miracle for them to win games.

The offense is really counting on Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Shin-Soo Choo returning to there All-Star forms. Unfortunately for the Indians this will be a hard task to accomplish for Sizemore and Hafner. Sizemore has been injured for both of the last two seasons. Even worse the injury was to his knees. As a player who relied on heavily on speed and athleticism, healthy knees are important. On the other hand Travis Hafner has relied on raw power most of his career. That power has been dwindling since his career high of 42 HR in 2006. Differing from Sizemore and Hafner, Shin-Soo Choo shouldn’t have much trouble re-capturing his All-Star form, he never lost it. During his three full seasons with the Indians, Choo has blossomed into a legitimate All-Star, consistently posting a wRC+ of at least 135.

Unlike the offense the starting pitching has a whole lot less guys hoping to return to past form and a whole lot of guys hoping to find it for the first time. Really, only Fausto Carmona, who had a good 2007, has ever tasted major league success. That leaves 4 guys who have never started for an entire major league season rounding out the rotation. That is a lot of inexperience. Additionally, the entire starting rotation is right handed. Although maybe not a huge deal, this means there is no change of approach from day to day for opposing hitters.

The key to the bull pen is the two Perez’s, Chris and Rafael. Although he only has one year of experience, Chris is officially the closer for the Indians. This makes a lot of sense considering how many people he strikes out 61 K in 63IP. The concern with Chris is that lack of experience. Young pitchers often look good their first trip through the league only to be figure out by the opposition the next year. The Indians are hoping this doesn’t happen. The second Perez, Rafael, will act as the team’s setup man. After a career high in 2008, Rafael has seen his strikeout number fall each of the last two seasons, which is probably not a good sign. If these guys succeed the bull pen should find success. If they falter things could get ugly.

Like most bad teams on this list, the Cleveland Indians are relying on a lot of low probability things happening in their favor. If the offense returns to 2008 levels, the starting pitching all surpass their potential and the bull pen holds it together they could compete. Most likely though, the Indians will end the season battling it out with the Royals for the title of Worst in the AL Central.

2. Kansas City Royals (2010 Record 67-95)

Kansas City has been in a rebuilding mode for a while now. The good news is there is light at the end of the tunnel. A top ranked minor leagues gives them hope for the future. The bad news is the major league team is still terrible.

In one word the Kansas city offense is lacking. Outside of DH Billy Butler, who had a 130 wRC+ last year, there really isn’t anyone that can be counted on. Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur were both top list prospects at one point but have struggled to find sustained success in the majors. The rest of the guys are all very inexperienced, which leads to a certain mystery about how they will perform. However, based on the limited sample sizes I wouldn’t expect too much.

With the loss of Zack Greinke, the Kansas City rotation looks awful. It can probably best be summed up by saying Bruce Chen is projected to start. Seriously, Bruce Chen is going to be starting for the Royals. Outside of Chen, the Royals will feature guys that aren’t yet good (Luke Hochevar and Vin Mazzaro), guys are no longer good, (Jeff Francis) and guys that were never good (Kyle Davies).

The bull pen is probably the Royals best feature. However, a really good bull pen only helps your team a little. In comparison, a bad bullpen that can hurt your team a lot (see the 2010 Diamondback), so at least the Royals aren’t being hurt a lot! The highlight of the Kansas City bull pen is Joakim “The Mexecutioner” Soria who is their closer. Soria has been the Royals guaranteed All-Star a couple of times. Unlike, many bad team’s All-Stars Soria actually deserved his selection. In addition to Soria, the Royals pen features lots of hard throwers, which is good.

When your best asset is your minor leagues and their potential, your team is usually going to struggle during the major league season. Kansas City is in this exact boat. Outside of a very few players, no one on the Kansas City roster has found sustained success at the major league level. Unless, everyone has a break out year, they should expect to be playing for draft picks once again.

1. Pittsburgh Pirates (2010 Record 57-105)

It has been a long 18 years in Pittsburgh, a very long 18 years. To put it one way, the Pirates haven’t had a winning season since Barry Bonds was roaming the outfield and Jim Leyland was the manager. To put it another way, a recent High School graduate in the Pittsburgh area has never seen a winning team.

This year’s version of the Pirates features a young offense with a high upside but very little actual MLB success. Although having veterans in your starting lineup does not necessarily equate to success, it certainly helps. The Pirates veterans are to write home about. The only three of the 8 starting fielders, Lyle Overbay, Chris Snyder and Ronnie Cedeno, have any kind of substantial major league track record. None of these guys really strikes fear into opposing pitchers. Overbay is on the decline from his productive years, while Snyder and Cedeno have never had productive years to decline from. This leaves the onus to produce on the young guys. While the Pirates young guys certainly have the potential to break out big, it is unadvisable to expect second and third year players to find success right away. There are almost always growing pains. Only Andrew McCutchen, who had a wRC+ of 125 in 2009 and 2010, appears to be a sure thing. He should be manning the guaranteed All Star spot for a while.

On the pitching front things are even grimmer. Of the five projected starters only James McDonald had an ERA under 4 last year and he only had 12 starts. The number one starter is Paul Maholm, whose best attribute is probably his ability to keep pitching after he has giving up 5+ runs in the 2nd inning. The other three guys aren’t much better.

The bullpen is a little better then the starters, which is good because they will be getting a lot of work. As a group they are good at raking up strikeouts. The best at striking out the opposition is the closer Joel Hanrahan, who had a 100 K in only 69 IP last year. Like the offense, the bullpen is also young. Only Evan Meek and Hanrahan had over 20 IP last year. This lack of experience has to be seen as a warning sign.

This all boils down to a team that might be able to hit if everything goes right and certainly cant pitch. This is not a recipe for a winning team. Unless something unforeseen happens, the Buccos are going to be adding a 19th year to their record.

References: Fangraphs, Baseball Reference, Yahoo Sports, ESPN the Magazine, the Seattle Times