The 20 Least Valuable Players of the Clint Hurdle Era

The Clint Hurdle era, 2011-present, has been very successful for the Pittsburgh Pirates, as the team has qualified for the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and is very likely to make it this year.   Over the now almost five seasons Hurdle has been the team's manager, many players have either helped or hurt the team's chances to win. Over this article and the next, I'm going to be ranking players on their value to the team, today focusing on the 20 players who have offered the least value.

To start things off, I want to explain that the rankings in this article will be decided upon differently than those in the "most valuable players" article, as it is somewhat difficult to say who really has offered the least value.  Basically, this article is really "The 20 Worst Players of the Clint Hurdle Era", but saying "least valuable" sounds a little less harsh.  The idea for this article came to me when I saw Sean Rodriguez ground into yet another double play during a big moment in the game against the Diamondbacks on Monday, making me wonder where he would rank among the worst players during Clint Hurdle's tenure.  So, I decided to look back at every player who has played for the Pirates since 2011, and rank them based on how poorly they performed.  While this article is largely based in statistical performance, it is still subjective.  For example, some players will rank higher on the list than others because they had larger expectations placed on them heading into their time with the Pirates, even though they may have actually had a higher performance level.  I also am choosing to keep this article relatively simplistic, focusing a lot on WAR, OPS, OPS+, ERA, ERA+, and other non-advanced stats. There will be 21 players on the most valuable list in honor of the value that Roberto Clemente offered to the team, and 20 on this list because I don't want Clemente's number to be associated with anything negative.  To be clear, number 1 on this list is the worst player the Pirates have had since 2011, and number 20 is the 20th worst player in that time frame.  Since I prefer countdowns, let's start with number 20.

(The Wins Above Replacement [WAR] number provided is the player's WAR with the Pirates since 2011.)

20.) Travis Ishikawa

WAR: -0.4

While Ishikawa hasn't been horrible in his time with the Pirates, he hasn't been anywhere near what can be considered "good".  In 97 plate appearances in 2014 and 2015, he has put up only a .645 OPS despite being the opening day starting first baseman in 2014.  He has also been underwhelming defensively, and is the third first baseman on the currents Pirates roster.  He hasn't been successful, but who cares?  He hit a walk off home run to go to the World Series in 2014 and ended up with a ring.  No matter how poorly he performs, he will always be remembered for that moment.

19.) Chad Qualls

WAR: -0.3

Quals wasn't originally on this list, but when I chose to expand it to 20 guys, he made the cut.  He had a 6.79 ERA over 13.2 innings, but actually had very good secondary numbers, including a 2.66 FIP.  Still, allowing 10 runs in 13.2 innings after coming over in a trade with the Yankees for Casey McGehee, expectations were a little higher than his performance given his history.

18.) Andrew Lambo

WAR: -0.6

Lambo wasn't really doing too poorly prior to the 2015 season, but a 1 for 25 start to the year before hitting the DL with plantar fasciitis has really hurt his career numbers.  He's always had the upside of an average MLB hitter, but I'd be very surprised if he receives too many chances moving forward.

17.) Matt Hague

WAR: -0.4

For some reason, I feel kind of bad putting Hague on this list, but he had a .513 OPS over 76 plate appearances during his time with the Pirates.  Hague exemplifies the notion that Spring Training numbers really don't matter that much.

16.) Corey Hart

WAR: -0.5

Hart was a very good hitter during his time with the Brewers, but injuries have derailed his career in the recent years.  He had a .597 OPS before an extended and ongoing DL trip, including a .417 OPS against lefties.  Considering he was brought in this year to platoon with Pedro Alvarez to face lefties, he has been extremely disappointing.

15.) Brandon Wood

WAR: -0.6

Wood was brought in during Hurdle's first year in hopes he would finally show the talent that made him a top shortstop prospect.  He received a good amount of playing time, but only put up a .625 OPS in 257 plate appearances with the team that year, and hasn't played in the majors since.

14.) Xavier Paul

WAR: 0.1

Paul had a .642 OPS in 251 plate appearances during 2011, which was the only year he spent with the Pirates.  While that isn't terrible, Paul kind of set the precedence for Hurdle's late game defensive replacements with players that don't offer much if anything with the bat.  What made this one confusing was that Paul wasn't necessarily a good defender with the team.

13.) Chase D'arnaud

WAR: -0.5

D'arnaud was at one point the "shortstop of the future" for the Pirates, but never came near that potential.  He received 157 plate appearances in parts of three seasons with the team, putting up a .507 OPS and an OPS+ of 42.

12.) Ryan Ludwick

WAR: -0.1

Ludwick, along with Derrek Lee, signified a change in the Pirates organization in 2011 as this was the first time in years that the team was labeled as a "buyer" rather than a "seller" at the trade deadline.  Naturally, there were high expectations placed on Ludwick because Pirates fans weren't used to new trade additions that were established major leaguers. Ludwick didn't live up to those expectations, hitting for a .671 OPS in 133 plate appearances, including a weak .330 slugging percentage and very poor defense in left field.  However, he had a .674 OPS with the Padres before the trade, so his performance was consistent throughout the year, but a disappointment to Pirates fans.

11.) Kevin Correia

WAR: 0.2

We may forget, but Correia was actually an All Star in 2011 after receiving a lot of run support that allowed him to be near the top of the NL leader board in wins before the break.  He was 11-7 with an ERA of 4.01 before the break, but in seven starts after the break, his ERA was 7.23.  Overall, he had a 4.49 ERA in two seasons with the team, but Pirates fans were never comfortable with Correia on the mound.

10.) John McDonald

WAR: -0.3

McDonald didn't receive much playing time with the Pirates, but in the 16 games he played with the team he batted .065 with a .268 OPS in 35 plate appearances.  It's hard to imagine a team that won 94 games once had John McDonald and Brandon Inge on the same bench.  Cringe worthy.

9.) Lyle Overbay

WAR: -0.5

Most of the players that have been on the list to this point have been bench/bullpen guys or players brought in at the trade deadline, but Overbay was the starting first baseman on Opening Day.  That makes his performance even worse, as a .227 average and .649 OPS while playing below average defense should be concerning for a bench player, let alone someone that received 391 plate appearances before being released.

8.) Erik Bedard

WAR: -0.6

Bedard was a failed reclamation project, with a 5.01 ERA in 24 starts after a strong first couple months.  He spiraled after May, and ended the season with a 75 ERA+.  Watching his facial expressions during games, one would have never guessed that anything was going wrong.

7.) Matt Diaz

WAR: -0.6

Diaz was brought in to be an exclusive platoon partner with Garrett Jones to face lefties, and didn't necessarily succeed in that role, with a .692 OPS against lefties despite a respectable .295 average.  However, he only had a .550 OPS against righties, dropping his overall OPS to .627 to go along with poor defense.

6.) Ernesto Frieri

WAR: -0.6

Frieri was a guy who had some success as a closer in the MLB, but was struggling in 2014.  He was dealt by the Angels to the Pirates for Jason Grilli in a change of scenery deal, but had a 10.13 ERA in 14 appearances.  Frieri was extremely hittable, leading to an 11.8 H/9 rate and a 1.78 WHIP.

5.) Sean Rodriguez

WAR: -0.5

You could argue that S-Rod doesn't deserve to be this poorly ranked, but the fact is that he has played in 99 out of 116 games this season and has been horrible at the plate.  In 191 plate appearances, he has a .566 OPS, including a .293 OPS in the month of July.  He received 56 plate appearances in that month, and before the Michael Morse trade was starting at first base against lefties.  How's he doing against lefties this year you may ask?  He's batting .192 with a .576 OPS while Pedro Alvarez is batting .295 against lefties with a .712 OPS.  Rodriguez is on the team because he can play multiple positions, but he is not much above average at first, there will soon be no need for him to play at other infield positions, and he has played poor defense in the outfield this year.  Granted, he has not committed an error yet this year, but every time he comes to the plate something bad seems to happen.  In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the president of the S-Rod fan club.

4.) Jonathan Sanchez

WAR: -0.9

It's easy to forget that Jonathan Sanchez was on the team in 2013, but he was a member of the Pirates rotation to start the season and is tied for the lead for lowest WAR during the Hurdle ERA.  In five games, including four starts, Sanchez had an 11.85 ERA due to poor command/control.  His WHIP in his 13.2 innings pitched?  2.42, allowing 25 hits over those 13.2 innings.  Thankfully the team cut ties with him early in the season.

3.) Michael Martinez

WAR: -0.3

I don't mean to sound too harsh here, but in terms of ability Martinez is the worst player on this list.  He never hit well in the minors and wasn't an exceptional defender, and his lack of ability showed at the major league level with the Pirates.  He batted .128 with a .363 OPS in 44 plate appearances with only one extra base hit, a double, leading to a .154 slugging percentage.  Here's a reminder that 100 is an average OPS+.  His OPS+ was 5.

2.) Brandon Inge

WAR: -0.5

Brandon Inge was a guy that just seemed to be on the team for far too long in 2013, making it all the way to August 1st before being released after being on the team since opening day.  He had a .442 OPS in 110 plate appearances, including a .181 average and only one home run despite having decent power in his career.  His WAR would be worse than that -0.5 number had he not played solid defense when he curiously received playing time.  I would say "Oh Brandon Inge, we hardly knew ye", but I think we knew him a little too well.

And the worst player of the Clint Hurdle era.....

1.) Rod Barajas

WAR: -0.9

Pirates fans are now accustomed to having great catchers, with Francisco Cervelli and Russell Martin providing great value on both offense and defense as starters over the last three years, with Chris Stewart joining them as a solid backup.  However, there was a time, a dark time, when the Pirates had to endure a season of incompetence behind the plate in 2012.  If you recall, the Pirates had a revolving door of catchers during the 2011 season due to injuries, and Barajas was brought in for 2012 because he was seen as a relatively durable option with some offensive upside.  While receiving the majority of starts behind the plate that year, Barajas posted a .206 average with a .625 OPS in 361 plate appearances, good for an OPS+ of 73. He did manage to hit 11 home runs but only drove in 31 runs, and while this may be hard to believe, he didn't manage to steal even one base.  The worst part of his season?  His 6% caught stealing rate.  The league average was 27% and even the slowest runners felt like Billy Hamilton against Barajas, totaling 93 stolen bases against only 6 runners caught stealing.  It was an event worth celebrating when runners were caught trying to steal.  However, Barajas may have turned out to be a good thing for the Pirates though, as he made it absolutely clear to management how important it is to have a strong defensive catcher, leading to Russell Martin and Francisco Cervelli.  So to Rod Barajas, from all Pirates fans, thank you!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this list. Any questions, comments, disagreements, or suggestions can be sent to me on twitter @MicMaw, or in the comment section below.