MLB: The Five Worst Pitching Staffs Post-Deadline
As we assess all the changes from the MLB Trade Deadline, here are the five worst pitching staffs in baseball as we hit the home stretch.
With the non-waiver trade deadline come and gone for MLB, we have a better sense of how teams stand over the last 60 games of the 2016.
In the first of two slideshows, Call to the Pen will look at what pitching staffs are primed for a run deep into October and which are ready to prepare for 2017. The competition, and the high price paid the last week of July, at the top is intense.
For the five teams at the bottom of baseball’s ladder, it is another story. Whether they tried to get the pieces in place to build for the future or already cashed in a couple years ago, the back end of Major League Baseball’s pecking order is ugly. As we look at the worst pitching staffs in the game going into the last third of the season, remember some teams weakened themselves a great deal to restock farm systems needing help. They are not tanking, per se, but they moved anyone with value to fight again tomorrow.
Others on the list are going through a bad year. It happens because of injuries or prospects not progressing as fast as their scouting reports claim. Teams gamble and fail, sometimes in fantastic fashion.
Whatever the reason is, this is a list you never want to see your team on. The good news is that none of the squads here are bad on a historical level. In 2016, there are no equals to the 1962 New York Mets or 2003 Detroit Tigers. That does not mean, however, that fortunes will change for the better soon.
Here are the five worst pitching staffs in baseball.
Next: A Red Season in Ohio
CINCINNATI REDS
With the worst ERA in all of baseball at 5.11, the Reds have earned a spot on this list. Yet, they are 15-12 since July 1st. Behind Anthony DeSclafani’s 6-0 record with a healthy ERA of 2.93, they are showing signs of life as the season crawls to a close.
Starter Dan Straily and closer Tony Cingrani have Adjusted ERA+ over 10 and allow under 7.0 hits-per-9. Folk hero Homer Bailey is pitching again. All the pieces are there for Cincinnati to make the rest of 2016 respectable.
Aside from that, the Reds have used 28 pitchers this year. Fourteen different starters have taken the hill. An injury cut Alfredo Simon out of the starting rotation, but not even his fan club thinks his 2-7 record and 9.45 ERA is anything to cheer about. Cody Reed, at 23, is learning the hard way how the Major Leagues work. He has yet to win this year, dropping all six decisions with an ERA of 7.30. Before John Lamb was demoted, his ERA was 6.43. For Lamb, his 5.23 ERA at Triple-A Louisville will not get him back to Cincy faster.
Although their Adjusted ERA+ is an MLB-worst 83, they close the season with all the major players still on the roster.
Things can only get better from here.
Next: No, It's Not Vikings Time Yet, Twin Cities.
MINNESOTA TWINS
The biggest decision the Minnesota Twins made during the deadline season came with the firing of long-time general Manager Terry Ryan.
Mired in the cellar of the American League Central at 43-65, the pitching is nothing short of atrocious. Dead last in the AL in—deep breath now as we read this list—ERA, hits allowed, runs allowed, earned runs and home runs, tossing in second-to-last in walks and third from the bottom in strikeouts, you can see why Minnesota fans are ready for the Vikings to take the field.
Okay, Ervin Santana and Brandon Kintzler have Adjusted ERA+ numbers over 100. Kintzler’s mark is 204, better than good. Aside from Santana, no other starter—all ten—have an ERA+ above 100 or a hits-per-9 rate under 10. Ricky Nolasco, traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Hector Santiago, left Minneapolis with a 4-8 record and a 5.13 ERA.
As with the Reds, they will finish 2016 with the same staff they started 2016 except for Phil Hughes. They may not get better this year, but they cannot do any worse. As disappointing as it is after last year’s 84-78 record, a focus on consistency and a new front office will bring better days ahead. As bad as they are now, they did not gut the team.
Next: Oakland's Murky Staff
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
With an offense almost as putrid as the pitching, the Oakland Athletics problems are deeper than fixing the mound staff. Trading their only decent starter in Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers with outfielder Josh Reddick for Frankie Montas and two prospects, the A’s do not have a starter with a WHIP under 1.300. Although their team ERA of 4.69 is not the worst in the AL, there is nothing on the mound the team does well. Sure, Ryan Madson and Ryan Dull are good out of the bullpen, but when you are in August and only one starter boasts a .500 record, that is awful.
Sonny Gray, the subject of trade rumors since his debut, has had a 2016 to forget. Instead of pitching himself onto a playoff contender, he sits at 5-10 with an eye-popping 5.84 ERA. Whether the problem is mechanical, because of an injury that is not obvious, or the pressure of being too good for Oakland to hold onto, he has fizzled. Last year, Gray finished third in the AL Cy Young Award vote at 14-7. This year, he leads the AL in wild pitches with 15.
It is hard to see where they go from here. They counted on Gray to blossom and Hill to keep them within striking distance of the playoffs. Instead, Kendall Graveman and his 1.413 WHIP is the team ace.
Next: San Diego's Moving On
SAN DIEGO PADRES
After their successful hosting of the All-Star Game, the San Diego Padres had a fire sale. In trading Fernando Rodney, James Shields, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea, the Padres received a boatload of prospects in return and an injured Colin Rea.
Deciding to focus on tomorrow, they not only raised a white flag for the rest of this year, those fans flocking to Petco Park are hoping the new pitchers will wear “Hello, my name is…” nametags so they know who they are. San Diego has used 28 arms so far on the hill including 13 starters. Of the six starters listed on the top of the team’s Baseball-Reference team pitching page, only Christian Friedrich is left on the team. Luis Perdomo is the only other starter with over five starts. In his 11 starts, he is 5-5 with an ERA of 6.67.
Although their team Adjusted ERA+ of 88 is fifth-worst in baseball, all the changes and the lack of experience on the remaining staff pushes them next to last on the list.
What they grabbed from the Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins in return on two of these deals should bring the Padres back to contention in a couple years. Until then, it will be brutal as the team finds a new direction.
Next: A Disaster In The Desert
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
The good news for the Arizona Diamondbacks is the return of Zack Greinke from injury. At 10-3 with a decent 3.62 ERA this year, having Greinke pitch every fifth day will be good for a team in need of an anchor.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
The bad news is deeper. In sending the top pick in last year’s draft to the Atlanta Braves for Shelby Miller, general Manager Dave Stewart appears to have made one of the worst trades in baseball history. As Dansby Swanson lights up the Mississippi Braves offense, Miller sits in Triple-A Reno. A victim of a 7.14 ERA in 14 starts netting him a 2-9 record and a WHIP of 1.745. Instead of contending in the NL West, the D-backs are dead last at 43-65.
An injury to Rubby De La Rosa and deals sending Tyler Clippard and Brad Ziegler east have shortened their depth the rest of the way. It will not help a staff dead-last in the NL in hits allowed (Washington just produced 48 in a three game span) and earned runs. No active starter has an Adjusted ERA+ above 100; they are all below average.
Lefty starters Patrick Corbin and Robbie Ray are young hurlers who show promise, but 2016 in the Valley of the Sun cannot end fast enough. What places them at the end of this list is that there is no easy way to climb out of their hole.
Next: Can Detroit Catch Cleveland?
They mortgaged the future in Swanson to gamble for a playoff spot now–a high price to pay for starters. Their lack of confidence in Miller, an All-Star last year in Atlanta, speaks volumes about where the team is headed.