Taking an ever-so-brief break from Duck football in advance of tomorrow’s thriller against an intimidating Washington State team …
At long last, Major League Baseball’s regular season has come to a close, and that can only mean one thing.
It’s award time.
Though the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year races have been discussed by various pundits, a few of baseball’s more fascinating trophies are still up for grabs. This space will focus on the “elite” of the American League.
American League Least Valuable Player
There are many deserving candidates in the race to take home this honor, several of whom contributed to one of the worst offenses of the modern era with the Seattle Mariners. Although we can’t pick a team for an individual award, all three nominees for Least Valuable Player suit up for the Mariners.
Chone Figgins is a versatile, speedy, on-base machine with the Angels. Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik signed Figgins to a four-year, $36 million deal last offseason. Zduriencik hoped Figgins would create an explosive one-two punch with Ichiro at the top of the Mariners’ lineup.
Oops.
Figgins hit a paltry .259 and had one of the lower OPS (on-base plus slugging) percentages of any regular player in the league this year. If Figgins’ on-field performance wasn’t bad enough, he managed to get into a dugout fight with then-Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu.
Jose Lopez, Figgins’ infield mate, was awful in 2010. Coming off a fine 2009 campaign in which he hit 25 home runs, nearly all of Lopez’s stats dropped this year. The 26-year-old hit .239, posted an on-base percentage of .270 and slugged .339. That slugging mark doesn’t even compare to slap hitters such as Freddy Sanchez of the Giants (who slugged .397) and Brett Gardner of the Yankees (who slugged .379). It’s hard to fathom Lopez was counted on to be a prime source of power for Seattle.
Somewhere between Anaheim (where he spent the first five seasons of his Major League career) and Atlanta (where he spent parts of 2008 and 2009), Casey Kotchman forgot how to hit Major League pitches. In 2010, the first baseman hit .217 with a .280 on-base percentage and .336 slugging percentage. Although he didn’t further burden Seattle with a huge contract, significantly more offense is expected out of a corner infielder.
The winner? Lopez. Just when it seemed like he was coming into his own, he had the worst on-base percentage of all American League position players with at least 500 at bats. Given the lofty expectations Lopez faced heading into the season, it’s hard to imagine a player performing any worse.
American League’s Worst Pitcher – The Non-Cy
Even though 2010 was universally considered the year of the pitcher, several Major League hurlers managed to put up pathetic numbers. The Mariners’ pitching staff (outside of King Felix, of course) was nothing to write home about, Seattle was able to escape representation in this category.
Sure, the Kansas City Royals have pretty much sucked every year I’ve been alive. But that doesn’t excuse Kyle Davies’ wretched 2010 season. Davies had the second worst WHIP and worst ERA of the 54 American League pitchers who threw at least 180 innings.
It’s difficult to believe Kevin Millwood was one of the better pitchers in baseball for parts of his career. For a cool $12 million, all Millwood did in 2010 was go 4-16 with a 5.10 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.
Oh, Scott Kazmir. Just a few years ago, you were the toast of Major League Baseball, a 23-year-old with a winning record and an ERA in the low threes. Now, you can’t stay healthy, can’t strike anybody out and had the worst ERA of any American League starter with at least 140 innings. At least you took home $8 million this year, right?
The winner? Baltimore’s Millwood. When a pitcher is paid $3 million per win, it’s not good. When that same pitcher is being counted on to be a staff ace and veteran leader? Well, that’s just awful.
[email protected]