Since the counting stats are now finally official I thought I'd do a nice breakdown of our lineup's season of FAIL.  The comparison does a nice job of pointing out where we truly sucked and also provides some hope for next season.

Least FAIL

Really these three guys are the only shining beacons of hope that isn't on the pitching staff.  Hunter gets some fail points for his stupid baserunning and declining defense but I'll cut the guy some slack since he always makes for an amusing/offensive after the game quote.

Peter Bourjos

2010 WAR 1.5 (Projected 4.6)

That projection is bizarre since he got most of those with his glove.  The assists will go down but maybe his bat will improve?  Either way Bourjos looks a lot better on paper than at the plate and oddly that's what really matters here.

Torii Hunter

2009 WAR 3.8
2010 WAR 3.4

Mike Napoli

2009 WAR 2.7
2010 WAR 2.7

Napoli does his yearly routine of 2.X WAR once again.  This time at the 1B position.  He can't match Morales' 4.5 of last season.  But he's still a solid player in the slot.  Too bad that means more playing time for Mathis.

FAIL

Bobby Abreu

2009 WAR 2.8
2010 WAR 2.1

A bigger paycheck and worse production.   His defense also fell off.   I still think Abreu wasn't a complete travesty this season but if he declines again the Angels are in trouble.

Hideki Matsui

2009 WAR 2.7
2010 WAR 1.7

Even with a down year  Matsui was an upgrade of Guerrero last year with almost a full Win over Vlad's 0.8 in 2009.  Unfortunately Vlad turned in a much better season this time around with a WAR of 2.6 which sours Matsui's mediocre performance even further.

Howie Kendrick

2009 WAR 2.3
2010 WAR 1.6

Howie was attempting to be a major fail this season but managed to step it up a bit in the second half.  He is only moderately fail.

Major FAIL


Juan Rivera

2009 WAR 3.3
2010 WAR 0.6

Rivera finally decided to not earn his paycheck.  Turning in a disasterous .720 OPS for a Left fielder who can't play defense.

Erick Aybar

2009 WAR 3.4
2010 WAR 0.7

Not to be outdone by Juan Rivera, Aybar's batting average slipped over 60 points and his WAR dropped almost a full 3 wins.

Jeff Mathis

2009 WAR 0.1
2010 WAR -0.6

Mathis managed to suck even worse than last year.  Impressive.  More playing time but he still turned in a negative result.  He would be the worst FAIL on this team if it wasn't for...
 
Brandon Wood

2010 WAR -1.8

Wood was replaced halfway through the season with "anyone else" but then officially Callaspo after the trade who turned in a 1.4 WAR performance (alhtough some of that is with KC).

That's a considerable drop from Chone Figgins' 6.1 WAR last season. 

Fortunately we didn't resign Figgins since he would have been the biggest FAIL on this team had we kept him, even trumping Wood.  His 0.5 WAR for Seattle was a disaster.  Better than Wood, but with much higher expectations and price tag.  I'd prefer anyone but Figgins. 


No Decision

Hank Conger 2010 WAR 0.0

Conger didn't get enough playing time to really judge. But still manages to be an upgrade over Mathis.  Congrats Hank! You may indeed be our starting catcher next season!

It's pretty clear where the Angels need to improve on offense and starting with the low hanging fruit is a good place to do it.   Easy moves are replacing Mathis with Conger and Wood with anyone else.  Another move might be moving Rivera onto another roster.    Aybar is the major wildcard since there really isn't a viable replacement anywhere in the system.   He can't turn in another season like this albatross.  Something needs to change.

For the lesser FAILS Matsui is not re-signed and replaced with Napoli and Morales puts up another 4+ WAR at first base.  The Angels can improve even by signing nobody if they simply just play the right people.