Ranking the Top-5 Negative WAR Careers in Twins History: Hitters

[Cody Christie]

Depending on the makeup of a team’s roster, there will be players who provide below-average value. Sometimes, it’s tough for a team to say goodbye to that style of player. Here’s a look at the five hitters who gave the Twins the most negative value.

Image courtesy of Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

On a recent episode of Gleeman and the Geek, a listener wrote in for their mailbag segment about Luis Rivas having a negative WAR for his career with the Twins. This topic brought up the idea of which Twins players have provided the most negative value for the club. Sometimes, the team can realize their mistake and cut bait after a poor performance. For other players, it takes longer for the club to realize their error. Rivas posted a -0.9 WAR for his career, the 38th-worst total in club history. So, who ranked lower than Rivas?

Honorable Mentions: Chris Latham (-1.7 WAR, 1997-99), Rondell White (-1.5 WAR, 2006-07), Drew Butera (-1.5 WAR, 2010-13), Matt Walbeck (-1.5 WAR, 1994-96)

5. Alex Ochoa
WAR: -1.8
Seasons: 1998
Ochoa accumulated 6.4 WAR for his career and won the 2002 World Series with the Angels. His lone season in a Twins uniform saw him post the worst offensive numbers of his career while also being a below-average defender. In 94 games, he hit .257/.288/.353 (.642) with 18 extra-base hits and a 66 OPS+. Minnesota used him at all three outfield positions, and FanGraphs gave him a -17.1 Defensive rating. The Twins traded Ochoa to the Brewers following the season for Darrell Nicholas, who never made a big-league appearance. 

4. Charlie Manuel
WAR: -2.1
Seasons: 1969-1972
Manuel had a terrific career as a manager, including two NL pennants and a World Series title. He broke into the big leagues with the Twins in 1969 and played parts of four seasons with the club without appearing in more than 83 games. Manuel hit .199/.276/.265 (.541) with a 53 OPS+. According to Baseball Reference, he posted a negative WAR in every season with the Twins. In October 1973, the Twins traded him with Glenn Ezell to the Dodgers for Mike Floyd and Jim Fairey. 

3. Tsuyoshi Nishioka
WAR: -2.3
Seasons: 2011-2012
Nishioka came to the Twins from Japan with plenty of hype, especially after the club traded J.J. Hardy to make room at shortstop. He struggled with the transition to the big leagues and suffered a broken leg during his first season while trying to turn a double play. In two seasons, he played in 71 games and hit .215/.267/.236 (.503) with five doubles and a 44-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Minnesota released him after two seasons so he could return to Japan, where he’d play six more seasons before retiring.  

2. Carmelo Castillo
WAR: -2.7
Seasons: 1989-1991
Castillo was a part-time player throughout his 10-year big-league career and was already over 30 when he joined the Twins. In 1989, he played 94 games and posted a 106 OPS+ with 24 extra-base hits. Based on that performance, the Twins kept him for the next two seasons, and he was one of baseball’s worst hitters. Castillo combined for a .494 OPS and a 35 OPS+ in 73 games, but he still got a World Series ring for his contributions to the ‘91 squad. Minnesota released him following that season, and he played one year in the Brewers organization before retiring. 

1. Dave McCarty
WAR: -3.2
Seasons: 1993-1995
The Twins selected McCarty with the third overall pick in the 1991 MLB Draft from Stanford University. High expectations are attached to any player taken that high in the draft, and the Twins put him on the fast track to the big-league level. Baseball America ranked him as baseball’s 16th-best prospect entering the 1993 season. McCarty debuted for the Twins that season and hit .214/.257/.286 (.542) with 19 extra-base hits and a 46 OPS+ in 98 games. He played three seasons with the Twins and had a 55 OPS+ while also providing negative defensive value. During the 1995 season, the Twins traded him to the Reds organization for John Courtright. McCarty had an 11-year big-league career while playing for seven different organizations.

Do you agree with the rankings? Who else should make the list? What pitchers will make the top five? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

 

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[Parfigliano]

Never have and never will understand how guys like Dave McCarty stay in MLB.  Couldn't hit for average or power. Couldn't get on base.  Couldn't steal bases.  Couldn't play D.  Literally a no tools player with an 11 year career.

[AceWrigley]

Charlie Manuel went to play in Japan and from age 32-37 pounded Japanese pitchers to a  .303/.385/.604/.988 (AVE/OBA/SLG/OPS) stat line. At age 36 he batted .325 with 48 homers and knocked in 125 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. The Twins sure could have used some of that pop in the early 70's if Charlie could have figured out major league pitching like he did in Japan.

He is also the Philles all-time winningest manager. See ya behind the batting cage Charlie.

[ashbury]

28 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Never have and never will understand how guys like Dave McCarty stay in MLB.  Couldn't hit for average or power. Couldn't get on base.  Couldn't steal bases.  Couldn't play D.  Literally a no tools player with an 11 year career.

The Royals did manage to unlock one half-season of value from him in 2000.  Worth the wait?  Um, no.

Meanwhile, the Twins (and 9 other teams after them) whiffed on selecting Manny Ramirez.

[AceWrigley]

Dave McCarty actually had a higher pitching WAR than he did hitting. You can look it up.

[ashbury]

In other contexts, notably Hall of Fame discussions, I like to compare and contrast the baseball-reference.com notions of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Wins Above Average (WAA).  The former sets a baseline of a mythical AAAA replacement player who can barely hold his own in the majors, while the latter sets a much higher baseline of a mythical average major leaguer.  I find that WAA holds more closely to my own idea of a HOFer, as it gives less credit for mere longevity and rewards those who are truly stellar.

Paradoxically, using WAA for the worst instead of the best players seems to shine a different light as well.  Instead of finding guys who just weren't good at all but managed to get second and third chances from the team, we get guys who plodded along for season after season at a below-average pace, but never bad enough to get kicked out (due presumably to lack of better alternatives coming up in the minors). 

You can't really field a team and call it major league, if all your players are negative WAR.  You can, by contrast, call a team of negative WAA major leaguers, but (almost by definition) you can't win a pennant with them.

Here's that list of top, er, bottom negative WAA:

• 5. Jason Kubel -7.3.  He had such promise, but the knee injury changed his career trajectory.  He wasn't wrecked, though, and had enough skill to remain in the majors a long while.  The bat couldn't quite support the loss of defense.
• 4. Gene Larkin -7.5.  1991 World Series winning hit aside, a pretty thin resume for that much playing time.
• 3. Luis Rivas -8.2.  Indeed, the guy who prompted this discussion shows up by this measure.  Our instincts aren't wrong, he was pretty bad and for an extended period.
• 2. Denny Hocking -8.2.  Jack of a few trades, master of absolutely none.  It's reasonable to speculate he held incriminating photos of Gardy.
• 1. Randy Bush -9.9.  A charter member of Stew Thornley's All-Time Dirty Name Team, and that really may be his only claim to fame, other than of course possessing two World Series rings that other, better players earned for him.

This WAA list is not "better" or "worse" than the list in the article, just a different viewpoint of what it means to be "negative".

[Parfigliano]

I think Kubel is the career leader in MLB HR's for a person born in South Dakota.  Definitely  leader for those born in Belle Fourche.  So there's a feather in his cap.

[old nurse]

4 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Never have and never will understand how guys like Dave McCarty stay in MLB.  Couldn't hit for average or power. Couldn't get on base.  Couldn't steal bases.  Couldn't play D.  Literally a no tools player with an 11 year career.

McCarty’s name is in red. All you have to do is click on it and you will have an answer 

[jmlease1]

7 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Never have and never will understand how guys like Dave McCarty stay in MLB.  Couldn't hit for average or power. Couldn't get on base.  Couldn't steal bases.  Couldn't play D.  Literally a no tools player with an 11 year career.

scholarship from being drafted so high. team that drafted him that high has to prove they weren't wrong, then someone else takes a chance on him because there had to be a reason he was drafted to high, right? then if they have any success at all, someone who try again, convincing themselves that there must be some value to unlock from such a high pick. people have trouble moving on...

[USAFChief]

WAR schmoor. Don't care about that.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is the worst MN Twin of all time.

 

 

[Parfigliano]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

WAR schmoor. Don't care about that.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is the worst MN Twin of all time.

 

 

Good times.  Amazed  that you can still see his jersey at games.  Gotta be people who lost a bet or something wearing them.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Good times.  Amazed  that you can still see his jersey at games.  Gotta be people who lost a bet or something wearing them.

They clearanced out a ton of them really cheap at the State Fair. How else are you going to get a Twins jersey for $5?

[sweetmusicviola16]

WAR. Its not the tell all end all stat that many make it out to be. Josh Donaldson. Last season hit .152 with a .249 OBP. With a bad attitude. Still had a positive WAR.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

I didn't catch which WAR you were using, but John Pacella needs to be recognized for his -1.8 bWAR in 21 games in 1982. That's quite an accomplishment.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

17 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_For_Life said:

I didn't catch which WAR you were using, but John Pacella needs to be recognized for his -1.8 bWAR in 21 games in 1982. That's quite an accomplishment.

Upon further review, both J.A. Happy and Matt Shoemaker achieved -1.8 bWAR in 2021, but in fewer games pitched than Pacella.  We'll done, gentlemen!

[Ruven]

Not even an honorable mention for Jerry Zimmerman? Maybe his defense (backup catcher) was too good. 

[ToddlerHarmon]

11 hours ago, USAFChief said:

WAR schmoor. Don't care about that.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is the worst MN Twin of all time.

Forget stats, or even the eye test. Nishi failed the nose test - he stunk

[Paul]

@&$:;/-()&$…and I thought I was finally over that JJ for Nishioka thing! And you guys have to remind me again! -/:;($)&@“(:)/-&$)!!!!

[Rosterman]

On 1/13/2024 at 11:29 AM, Parfigliano said:

Never have and never will understand how guys like Dave McCarty stay in MLB.  Couldn't hit for average or power. Couldn't get on base.  Couldn't steal bases.  Couldn't play D.  Literally a no tools player with an 11 year career.

Dave McCarty...man he hung on the fringe for a loooooong time, 11 seasons. Early 30s a regular at Kansas City and okay. But talk about a cup-of-coffee every year with mixed results.