Mr. Redlegs is watching you. Always.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Worst pitching seasons since 1950

Yes, another negative post. Since the season was a disappointment, there will obviously be some of these. The focus of this one is Bronson Arroyo. He was, without a doubt, one of the most valuable pitchers for the Reds beginning in 2006. But this year, things fell apart in a big way.

The 46 HRs have been beaten to death, but did you know he's also one of only 16 Reds pitchers since 1950 to throw sufficient innings to qualify for the ERA title, and post negative WAR and WPA?

Thankfully, he didn't quite reach the pantheon of Red pitching suckitude. That's reserved for the following seasons:

1) Eric Milton, 2005. -2.3 WAR, -4.4 WPA. Both the worst ever by a qualifying Red pitcher. Also the worst ERA+ and BAA on the list. Nothing else even compares with this atrocious season. Finished with a record of 8-15 and 6.47 ERA in 186.1 IP, and gave up 40 homers (a Red record broken by Arroyo).

2) Herm Wehmeier, 1950. A 1.70 WHIP, 5.67 ERA, led the league in walks and wild pitches. Finished with 10 wins and 18 losses.

3) Tony Cloninger, 1969. Second worst on the list for WAR. Went 11-17 with a 5.03 ERA and only threw 13 quality starts out of his 34 total.

4) Danny Graves, 2003. Ah, the great failed experiment of moving Graves to a starting role, resulting in a 4-15 record and matching 5.33 ERA.

If you look at a bunch of the same key statistics I did for this list, and apply it to MLB as a whole, Milton's '05 ranks as the second worst since 1950. Only Jose Lima, in the exact same year but with Kansas City in the American League, produced an uglier piece of work.

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