The next of our look at best and worst season by Wins Above Replacement. which, of course, was an idea stolen from Amazin' Avenue, the Met's SB Nation Blog. The numbers are taken from Sean Smith's WAR Database.
Here are the best seasons by Jay designated hitters:
|
Rank |
Year |
Player |
WAR |
|
1 |
1993 |
Paul Molitor |
5.7 |
|
2 |
1992 |
Dave Winfield |
3.7 |
|
3 |
1994 |
Paul Molitor |
3.3 |
|
4 |
1984 |
Cliff Johnson |
2.4 |
|
5 |
1977 |
Ron Fairly |
2.0 |
|
6 |
2007 |
Frank Thomas |
2.0 |
|
7 |
1988 |
Rance Mulliniks |
1.9 |
|
8 |
1978 |
Rico Carty |
1.7 |
|
9 |
1983 |
Cliff Johnson |
1.7 |
|
10 |
2002 |
Josh Phelps |
1.7 |
And the 11 worse seasons:
|
Rank |
Year |
Player |
WAR |
|
30 |
1991 |
Rance Mulliniks |
-0.3 |
|
31 |
1988 |
Cecil Fielder |
-0.3 |
|
32 |
1979 |
Rico Carty |
-0.4 |
|
33 |
2004 |
Josh Phelps |
-0.6 |
|
34 |
1983 |
Jorge Orta |
-0.7 |
|
35 |
1991 |
Pat Tabler |
-0.7 |
|
36 |
1985 |
Al Oliver |
-0.7 |
|
37 |
2008 |
Matt Stairs |
-0.9 |
|
38 |
199 |
Willie Greene |
-1.0 |
|
39 |
1984 |
Willie Aikens |
-1.1 |
|
40 |
1997 |
Joe Carter |
-1.2 |
Quick thoughts:
- That was Joe Carter's last year with the Jays and it wasn't good.
- Mulliniks and Tabler were a platoon at DH in 1991 and neither were any good that year.
- You think Willie Aikens was poor as a DH, you should have seen him play first base.
- Yeah, Stairs was that bad last year.
- I figured we'd have some better seasons from our DH's.
- Molitor's other season, as a Jay was 0.3. His three years as a Jays went Terrific, Good and pretty bad.
- Our two best seasons for DH's were our two World Series years, though after this year Adam Lind will likely have the number two spot.
- I loved Cliff Johnson, he was one of those guys that was happy to a major leaguer. He was terrific against lefties.