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The Top 10 Best/Worst Red Sox SS Seasons (1961 - 2010)

This post was inspired by a piece on www.baycityball.com regarding the worst SS seasons in their history. I decided to look at only the past 50 years and will look at both the Top 10 Worst Seasons and the Top 10 Best Seasons.

In order to qualify a Shortstop had to play the majority of his games at SS and have the most for the team for that season, for a few seasons this allowed a less than stellar "non-regular" into the mix (2004/1987).

Metrics show are www.baseball-reference.com WAR with both oWAR/dWAR shown and OPS+

 

The lists after the jump

Star-divide

Top 10 Worst SS Seasons (by WAR)

# Year Player WAR oWAR dWAR OPS+ G/SS
1 1984 Gutierrez, Jackie -2.7 -0.3 -2.4 63 150
2 1985 Gutierrez, Jackie -1.8 -1.2 -0.6 41 99
3 1982 Hoffman, Glenn -1.4 -1.1 -0.3 53 150
4 1990 Rivera, Luis -1.2 0.0 -1.2 70 112
5 1986 Romero, Ed -1.0 -0.3 -0.7 51 75
6 1981 Hoffman, Glenn -0.9 -0.4 -0.5 56 78
7 1992 Rivera, Luis -0.4 -0.4 0.0 51 93
8 1974 Guerrero, Mario -0.4 0.0 -0.4 58 93
9 2001 Lansing, Mike -0.3 0.3 -0.6 76 76
10 1971 Aparicio, Luis -0.3 0.8 -1.1 62 121

Comments: Julio Lugo justs missed the cut at #11 with his 2008 offering. 1984 must have been one interesig season. I remember Gutierrez (I had like 15 of his cards - they seemed to come in every pack), but man - 150 games at a prime defensive position and a -2.4 dWAR!! Wow. I mean its not like he rakes with the bat. The Sox then let the same guy play the majority of the 85 season. I also remember Romero as the super-sub in the mid-80s. I guess super-subs just kinda sucked back then. Lansing is horsehoed in between excellent SS seasons as you'll see later.

Top 10 Worst SS Seasons (by OPS+)

# Year Player WAR oWAR dWAR OPS+ G/SS
1 1985 Gutierrez, Jackie -1.8 -1.2 -0.6 41 99
2 2004 Reese, Pokey 1.6 -0.6 2.2 46 71
3 1986 Romero, Ed -1.0 -0.3 -0.7 51 75
4 1992 Rivera, Luis -0.4 -0.4 0.0 51 93
5 1982 Hoffman, Glenn -1.4 -1.1 -0.3 53 150
6 1981 Hoffman, Glenn -0.9 -0.4 -0.5 56 78
7 1974 Guerrero, Mario -0.4 0.0 -0.4 58 93
8 1971 Aparicio, Luis -0.3 0.8 -1.1 62 121
9 1984 Gutierrez, Jackie -2.7 -0.3 -2.4 63 150
10 2007 Lugo, Julio 0.4 0.4 0.0 65 145

Comments: So there is mister Lugo! and lo and behold the 2007 version. Wait, didn't we win something that year? Check #2 on the list - Pokey gets credit for 2004 due to Nomar/Cabrera not playing enough individually to qualify. Plus you got to love a guy who can post a 1.6 WAR with a 46 OPS+. Glenn Hoffman, well you just sucked. Aparicio gets a pass because he was like 70 when he played for us.

On to the good stuff.......

Top 10 Best SS Seasons (by WAR)

# Year Player WAR oWAR dWAR OPS+ G/SS
1 1969 Petrocelli, Rico 9.3 7.8 1.5 167 153
2 1995 Valentin, John 8.5 6.3 2.2 138 135
3 1998 Garciaparra, Nomar 7.3 6.2 1.1 140 143
4 2000 Garciaparra, Nomar 7.3 6.5 0.8 155 136
5 2003 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.7 5.4 1.3 121 156
6 2002 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.7 5.1 1.6 127 154
7 1999 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.5 7.4 -0.9 153 134
8 1997 Garciaparra, Nomar 5.9 5.0 0.9 123 153
9 1993 Valentin, John 4.8 2.6 2.2 107 144
10 1962 Bressoud, Eddie 4.7 3.2 1.5 104 153

Comments: Petrocelli, man you were just sick in 69 relative to your peers. I mean come on, 40 HR from the SS position in the 60's?? and to think you only managed 7th in the MVP voting. I'd forgotten just how good Valentin was prior to Nomar. Sox fans were drooling over that infield combo in the late 90s and BOOM injuries derail Johnny's career - shame. Nomar - you were just so darn awesome.

Top 10 Best SS Seasons (by OPS+)

# Year Player WAR oWAR dWAR OPS+ G/SS
1 1969 Petrocelli, Rico 9.3 7.8 1.5 167 153
2 2000 Garciaparra, Nomar 7.3 6.5 0.8 155 136
3 1999 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.5 7.4 -0.9 153 134
4 1998 Garciaparra, Nomar 7.3 6.2 1.1 140 143
5 1995 Valentin, John 8.5 6.3 2.2 138 135
6 1994 Valentin, John 4.3 3.2 1.1 128 83
7 2002 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.7 5.1 1.6 127 154
8 1964 Bressoud, Eddie 4.4 4.6 -0.2 125 158
9 1997 Garciaparra, Nomar 5.9 5.0 0.9 123 153
10 2003 Garciaparra, Nomar 6.7 5.4 1.3 121 156

Comments: Bats alive, the Sox have had some pretty good offensive SS in the recent past. You'd be hard pressed to find a better 3 year run than Nomar's 1998-2000....wait how the hell did we not win a championship on the back of Nomar & Pedro alone?? oh well.

-BZ

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I really liked the Pokey Reese pickup

And I don’t know how the stats work exactly, and salaries have changed alot over the last 3 decades, but is there any doubt that Lugo was our Least Valuable SS ever?

Theo-trade John Lackey for a used condom and a punch in the nose. Remember, it's all about value.

by LesterJohn on May 13, 2011 1:53 PM EDT reply actions  

On a value-per-dollar basis, I bet that's accurate.

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard

by Bloggy on May 13, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions  

Reese gives good reason for Iglesias to have a future

especially with the changing landscape of the league to an emphasis on defense over lumbering giants

by BobZupcic on May 13, 2011 2:20 PM EDT reply actions  

I look forward to Jed's placement on this list.

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard

by Bloggy on May 13, 2011 4:50 PM EDT reply actions  

On the latter two lists of course right?

DFA Rev Halofan
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
Official Baker of Red Sox Nation
Fear the Roar.

by TheLoneDavid on May 13, 2011 7:52 PM EDT up reply actions  

Natch. ;)

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard

by Bloggy on May 14, 2011 7:28 AM EDT up reply actions  

1968 was known as the year of the pitcher

It was so bad the AL had only one batter hit .300. In response, the Major Leagues lowered the mound and the strike zone was reduce, essentially taking away the high strike that existed before (This was the last significant change in the Majors). In addition, ’69 was an expansion year, which essentially takes 20 minor league pitchers and gives them jobs in the majors.

As a result, offense exploded in ’69. Rico is not the only player to have a a career year in ’69. Three guys hit over 47 homers that year – which is why he finished 7th.

Still – a great year by a great player.

It was one of those years (’87 was another, and there are all sorts of rumors why). where people did things they

by flasoxfan on May 14, 2011 9:17 AM EDT reply actions  

Yeah none of them were SS

Killebrew, Frank Howard and Reggie Jackson.

But Killebrew drove in 140 runs that year with 49 dingers, so he had some pretty big numbers in the more popular statistical categories of that time vs. Rico’s 40/97. Using a more modern stat, Rico was a 9.3 WAR accoring to baseball reference that year, whereas Reggie J. was a 9.7 and Killebrew was a 6.1. Kind of interesting.

by The Name is Dalton on May 16, 2011 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions  

still

OPS+ is adjusted so that 100 is average, right? Not a stat I use much so I could be wrong, but if that is the case, that just means that if offense in general exploded that year, his explosion as compared to average is even more impressive!

by wolf9309 on May 14, 2011 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions  

Valentin

Last Red Sox player to have an unassisted triple play :)

I sometimes forget just HOW good Nomah was!

by Rick Bentsen on May 15, 2011 5:08 PM EDT reply actions  

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