The Pittsburgh Pirate Non-Stars, hitters version
OK, so at this point I'm getting kind of bored of writing Hot Stove posts and I'm sure everyone is getting tired of reading them. That means that I think it's the perfect time for something I've been thinking about doing since the season ended, namely trying to put together the worst 25 man roster possible of Pittsburgh Pirates from 1993-2005. I mean everyone does the "Best of" thing, everyone knows what kind of Pirates have gone on to succeed after leaving here. The question I had was who's been the absolute worst of the terrible baseball we've been watching for the last 13 years. So I fired up Baseball-Reference and put together a list. Mind you this is only one man's account of the suck-i-tude we've endured. People made the list for lots of things, failure to reach their potential, stupid things they did on the field, or being just flat out terrible. Except for one (very necessary) exception, the people that made the list as starters got significant playing time, but there was no set amount. I won't pretend I'm not biased and I know I certainly remember the past 5 years better than the previous 8, but I tried to pick a sampling from the entire era (the problem was that they weren't that bad in '93 or '94, thus no one made the team from those years). I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this, but that's what the comments are for. It's time to embrace our past, and laugh about it and at it. We'll start with the hitters today, and we'll move on to the pitchers tomorrow (because to do it all in one post would be massive). Ladies and gentleman, I give you the worst Pittsburgh Pirates, the Non-Stars, from 1993-2005.
1B- Kevin Young 2001
We watched Kevin Young play badly for a lot of years, but 2001 was the culmination of it all. He went .232/.310/.399 in '01 and played the wonderful rendition of "Kevin Young first base" where he would get to balls hit directly at him, dive for balls right next to him, miss everything else, make a couple scoops, and have Lloyd whine about how he deserved a Gold Glove.
2B- Pat Meares 2001
You can't have this team without Pat Meares. Shortly after signing with us for a reasonable sum in 1999, he suffered a debilitating hand injury and signed a 4 year, $13 million extension. He could've made the team either for this year or for his terrible 2000 year in which he spent 126 games at short. The final line in '01 was a paltry .211/.244/.304 with only 16 extra base hits and 10 walks in 280 PAs.
3B- Aramis Ramirez 2002
I'm sure this is the one that will have the most people talking. After his breakout year in 2001, Aramis got off to a hot start in April of '02 before charging the mound against the Brewers, breaking his ankle and hobbling him all season. He ended up with a .234/.279/.387 line, and his temper was part of the reason Dave Littlefield felt that he needed to deal him during the next season, making this season all the more disastrous.
SS- Mike Benjamin 1999
Can you believe we kept this guy around for three years? He was a utility guy but spent over half of the '99 season at short, going .247/.288/.364 in '99 with only one homer, but still found a way to whiff 90 times in less than 370 ABs. That and I just didn't have the heart to put scrappy little Kevin Polcovich on this team.
LF- Al Martin 1998
Like Kevin Young at first, this team just wouldn't be complete without Al Martin. His line in 1998? .239/.296/.364 with 12 homers, 47 RBIs, 20 steals, and 2 wives.
CF- Jermaine Allensworth 1997
One time I remember Tracy Morgan played Jermaine Allensworth on an SNL sketch. I don't remember what it was about and I know it wasn't funny, but I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of Allensworth's career.
RF- Derek Bell 2001
The one necessary exemption to the "regular player" rule. No "worst of" Pirate team is complete without the 2001 model of Derek Bell, the one that batted .173 and couldn't even slug .300 before getting injured amid a sea of boos during PNC's maiden year, then floating off into the sunset during the infamous "Operation Shutdown" the next spring. $9 million can't buy you much more humor.
C- Jason Kendall 2001
I didn't want to do this, but for most of the past 13 years Kendall has been our catcher. Don Slaught and Mark Parent caught from '93-'95, but weren't bad enough to merit a spot on this team. 2002 is when Kendall's power deserted him when he dropped from 10 homers to 3 and his slugging percentage continued to slide, all the way down to .356 in '02. He also batted only .283 with a .350 OBP, not terrible, but not very good for Jason Kendall.
UTIL- Abraham Nunez 2002
This was just the worst of Abe's years with us. I'm still in shock the Phillies gave him that multi-year, multi-million dollar deal.
1B2- Mark Johnson 1995
Brad Eldred worst case scenario- a right handed Mark Johnson.
OF4- Matt Lawton 2005
Sure he batted OK, but no one has ever run the bases or played right field at PNC like Matt (Law-Dog) Lawton. I don't mean that in anything that even begins to resemble a good way.
OF5- Chad Hermansen 2000
I feel bad putting the guy on here, but he symbolizes everything that's gone wrong with the Bucs in the last 13 years. Everyone had such high hopes for him and he was a complete, flat out bust. 2000 was his best shot, getting 30 some games and over 100 ABs at AAAA Pittsburgh and he was just plain pathetic.
C2- Angelo Encarnacion 1995
Again, the catcher thing is the problem. I could've put Cota here for last year, as he really had dismal numbers but I don't think he's that bad and he did come up big for us several times last year. One time around 1995 I went to a game that Encarnacion was catching and while trying to pick off a runner at first, he nailed the left handed batter in the back. Add that to the fact that he couldn't hit at all, and we have ourselves a backup backstop.
Pitchers tomorrow.
1B- Kevin Young 2001
We watched Kevin Young play badly for a lot of years, but 2001 was the culmination of it all. He went .232/.310/.399 in '01 and played the wonderful rendition of "Kevin Young first base" where he would get to balls hit directly at him, dive for balls right next to him, miss everything else, make a couple scoops, and have Lloyd whine about how he deserved a Gold Glove.
2B- Pat Meares 2001
You can't have this team without Pat Meares. Shortly after signing with us for a reasonable sum in 1999, he suffered a debilitating hand injury and signed a 4 year, $13 million extension. He could've made the team either for this year or for his terrible 2000 year in which he spent 126 games at short. The final line in '01 was a paltry .211/.244/.304 with only 16 extra base hits and 10 walks in 280 PAs.
3B- Aramis Ramirez 2002
I'm sure this is the one that will have the most people talking. After his breakout year in 2001, Aramis got off to a hot start in April of '02 before charging the mound against the Brewers, breaking his ankle and hobbling him all season. He ended up with a .234/.279/.387 line, and his temper was part of the reason Dave Littlefield felt that he needed to deal him during the next season, making this season all the more disastrous.
SS- Mike Benjamin 1999
Can you believe we kept this guy around for three years? He was a utility guy but spent over half of the '99 season at short, going .247/.288/.364 in '99 with only one homer, but still found a way to whiff 90 times in less than 370 ABs. That and I just didn't have the heart to put scrappy little Kevin Polcovich on this team.
LF- Al Martin 1998
Like Kevin Young at first, this team just wouldn't be complete without Al Martin. His line in 1998? .239/.296/.364 with 12 homers, 47 RBIs, 20 steals, and 2 wives.
CF- Jermaine Allensworth 1997
One time I remember Tracy Morgan played Jermaine Allensworth on an SNL sketch. I don't remember what it was about and I know it wasn't funny, but I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of Allensworth's career.
RF- Derek Bell 2001
The one necessary exemption to the "regular player" rule. No "worst of" Pirate team is complete without the 2001 model of Derek Bell, the one that batted .173 and couldn't even slug .300 before getting injured amid a sea of boos during PNC's maiden year, then floating off into the sunset during the infamous "Operation Shutdown" the next spring. $9 million can't buy you much more humor.
C- Jason Kendall 2001
I didn't want to do this, but for most of the past 13 years Kendall has been our catcher. Don Slaught and Mark Parent caught from '93-'95, but weren't bad enough to merit a spot on this team. 2002 is when Kendall's power deserted him when he dropped from 10 homers to 3 and his slugging percentage continued to slide, all the way down to .356 in '02. He also batted only .283 with a .350 OBP, not terrible, but not very good for Jason Kendall.
UTIL- Abraham Nunez 2002
This was just the worst of Abe's years with us. I'm still in shock the Phillies gave him that multi-year, multi-million dollar deal.
1B2- Mark Johnson 1995
Brad Eldred worst case scenario- a right handed Mark Johnson.
OF4- Matt Lawton 2005
Sure he batted OK, but no one has ever run the bases or played right field at PNC like Matt (Law-Dog) Lawton. I don't mean that in anything that even begins to resemble a good way.
OF5- Chad Hermansen 2000
I feel bad putting the guy on here, but he symbolizes everything that's gone wrong with the Bucs in the last 13 years. Everyone had such high hopes for him and he was a complete, flat out bust. 2000 was his best shot, getting 30 some games and over 100 ABs at AAAA Pittsburgh and he was just plain pathetic.
C2- Angelo Encarnacion 1995
Again, the catcher thing is the problem. I could've put Cota here for last year, as he really had dismal numbers but I don't think he's that bad and he did come up big for us several times last year. One time around 1995 I went to a game that Encarnacion was catching and while trying to pick off a runner at first, he nailed the left handed batter in the back. Add that to the fact that he couldn't hit at all, and we have ourselves a backup backstop.
Pitchers tomorrow.