Let’s Go Tribe, SB Nation’s go-to place for all things Cleveland Indians, recently had a fun little piece up wherein they proposed a hypothetical starting rotation for their team. Okay, so that’s not really anything out of the ordinary. Well, except this starting rotation was one built around a dubious premise: what would the worst rotation in club history look like?
I thought it was a cool idea, so just for fun, I decided to take a stab at putting together an All-Time Worst Angels Rotation. I tried to use similar criteria as the Let’s Go Tribe article, mainly looking at years where the arms in question threw at least 180 pitches, and from there I found out who was worst in various categories like WAR, ERA- and FIP.
Once I got the worst of the worst in each of the categories, I’d put those lists side by side and see what names kept popping up the most, and boom! I got myself one horrible, stinky starting rotation, filled with many names that I barely remember from my teenage years, or guys that were well before my time.
So, here we go...my stab at The Worst Rotation in Angels History.
#5. 1970 Tom Murphy Record: 16-13 ERA: 4.24 ERA-: 120 FIP: 4.76 FIP-: 129 WAR: 0.0
I don’t know much at all about Tom Murphy, other than he sure had a bad year in 1970. For a guy to pitch that many innings, and to still not even get a lousy WAR, means things were just not in the stars for ol’ Tom Murphy that season.
#4. 1997 Dennis Springer Record: 9-9 ERA: 5.18 ERA-: 114 FIP: 5.75 FIP-:125 WAR: 0.1
Springer isn’t the only pitcher from the 1997 staff that will appear on this Worst Rotation Ever. That’s just how the Halos rolled in the late 90’s...although while 1997 was pretty horrid, they were coming off an EXTREMELY BAD 1996 season where the team just couldn’t find any usable arms, at least none that would stay healthy.
#3. 1996 Shawn Boskie Record: 12-11 ERA: 5.32 ERA-:107 FIP: 5.78 FIP-:116 WAR: 0.7
Hey, speaking of the 1996 staff! Shawn Boskie wasn’t that great of a pitcher, but funny enough, Wikipedia actually says that 1996 was his best season...this was the same season in which he had the putrid numbers above, while also tying for league leader in home runs allowed (40 HRs, 12th on the all-time list for most homers given up in a season. And this was his BEST season, lol). He was also the Angels pitcher on the mound when Cal Ripken, Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s famous consecutive games played record.
#2. 1997 Allen Watson Record: 12-12 ERA: 4.93 ERA-:108 FIP: 5.33 FIP-: 116 WAR: 1.1
Another member of the 1997 Angels pitching squad shows up in my ultimate crappy rotation. But hey! He has a sweet “collector’s choice” Upper Deck card. Which collectors were actually doing the choosing is beyond me.
#1. 1988 Willie Fraser Record: 12-13 ERA: 5.41 ERA-:139 FIP: 5.46 FIP-:137 WAR: -0.7
Here he is...the creme of the crap. The ace on my staff of not-good starting pitchers. Willie Fraser, owner of a pretty sweet mustache, as well as the owner of a downright disgusting 1988 season. This dude pitched 194.2 innings for the Halos, and what did they get out of it? A negative in the fWAR column! That’s pretty bad, man. Not to mention those atrocious park/league adjusted numbers. I was but a wee lad when he was on the hill, doing his (crappy) thing, so I don’t really have any memory of this guy. For that, I am thankful.
Have you ever tried putting together your own Worst Angels Rotation of All Time? If so, I wanna know what it looked like. To the comments section!
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