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July 4, 2010

How Bad Is Kevin Cash At The Plate?

Kevin Cash's career batting stats -- .187/.249/.289 -- are so bad ...

[How bad are they?]

In the history of major league baseball, among all non-pitchers with at least 650 plate appearances, Kevin Cash has the 5th worst OPS+ of all time.

Here is the Bottom 10:
               OPS+    PA     CAREER     AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
Bill Bergen      21   3228   1901-1911  .170  .194  .201  .395
Angel Salazar    36    932   1983-1988  .212  .230  .270  .500
Chile Gomez      38    688   1935-1942  .226  .274  .250  .524
Donnie Sadler    39    861   1998-2007  .202  .262  .284  .546
Kevin Cash       40    653   2002-2010  .187  .249  .289  .538
Luis Gomez       40   1391   1974-1981  .210  .261  .239  .500
Mario Mendoza    41   1456   1974-1982  .215  .245  .262  .507
Bert Adams       41    725   1910-1919  .202  .229  .248  .477
Mick Kelleher    42   1202   1972-1982  .213  .266  .253  .520
Jerry Zimmerman  42   1118   1961-1968  .204  .269  .239  .508
If Cash can stink it up in Boston this summer, and maybe suck really bad for someone else next year, he has a chance to retire as the second-worst batter of all-time!

Bergen is in a class by himself. He played 11 seasons and hit higher than .190 only once. I wish we had game logs for him, because he must have had some hellacious slumps. (Actually, his entire career was a slump.)

Anyway, Cash is a serious black hole at the bottom of the lineup. A lineup of 9 guys with Cash's career stats (facing average pitching and fielding) would score only 2.2 runs per game and have a winning percentage of .178 (a 29-133 record).

The 1916 Philadelphia A's won the fewest games of any post-1900 team (36-117, .235); they would have finished 11.5 games ahead of the Nine Cashes. But even Cash can't match the infamous 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134, .130).
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12 comments:

  1. AmyJuly 5, 2010 at 4:14 AM

    Tek's looking damn good right now, huh? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. allanJuly 5, 2010 at 5:41 AM

    Tek's looking damn good right now, huh? :)

    Yes. Compared to one of the very worst batters in the history of the universe, Tek looks damn good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. johngoldfineJuly 5, 2010 at 5:53 AM

    Still, it's nice that there's no place for mediocrity in Boston. Even superlatively bad offers a point of pride....

    ReplyDelete
  4. laura kJuly 5, 2010 at 5:59 AM

    Compared to one of the very worst batters in the history of the universe, Tek looks damn good.

    High praise!

    ReplyDelete
  5. JimJuly 5, 2010 at 6:44 AM

    Yeah, but did you see our Molina behind the plate yesterday? He can't catch the ball. Obviously not one of the Brothers Molina. He's Un-Molina.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BklynSoxFanJuly 5, 2010 at 8:51 AM

    As long as he plays a decent defense this week. Victor Martinez is due back right after the All-Star break, so Cash can take his seat on the bench after that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. nickJuly 5, 2010 at 9:29 AM

    Here's what I don't get. There's a lot of catchers out there in the minors and wherever (skid row). Is crappy Cash really that much better than a guy OK at A or AA level? With both top AAA back-ups on the DL they must have a catcher right now...

    Theo seems to have a fondness for the crap we have known and rejected over the unknown (with a documented record of something).

    ReplyDelete
  8. mattymattyJuly 5, 2010 at 10:56 AM

    We could end up DFA'ing Cash if and when both AAA catchers come off the DL.

    Also, as horrific as Cash is at the plate, he's probably better than Molina.

    ReplyDelete
  9. allanJuly 5, 2010 at 11:23 AM

    Looked at catchers info from PawSox:

    Mark Wagner had surgery on his left hamate bone around May 1 and started a GCL rehab assignment on July 2.

    Dusty Brown, left thumb strain on June 23

    Now at Paw: Juan Apodaca (Portland) and Dan Butler (Greenville)

    The FO does not want to start the arb clock on those guys (or Luis Esposito (AA)). None of them are likely to do much better than Cash, and with Brown on rehab and Victor not out for long (we hope), they will likely ride it out. Maybe Cash sells his soul and gets a few hits.

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  10. FenFanJuly 5, 2010 at 3:10 PM

    He reminds me of a co-worker who played the guitar and, when plenty sauced, would shout "I'm Johnny NO-Cash" before breaking into song. Talent-wise, about equal.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Michael HollowayJuly 7, 2010 at 7:05 PM

    I thought Mendoza line meant you weren't good enough ...you learn something new everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mark GreenwayAugust 31, 2012 at 9:47 PM

    I was just Remeberig this post and looked it up. He ended up 3rd with an ops+ of 37

    ReplyDelete