The Brewers and the Impossibly Black Hole

Not a whole lot of people have been paying attention to the Marlins. Now, this is typically the case, but the Marlins have been off the radar for months. People suspected they’d be bad, then they came out and were bad, and that was it, that was confirmation of beliefs. So maybe you didn’t notice, but since May 31, the Marlins have posted the National League’s second-best record. It’s good to have a healthy Giancarlo Stanton. By overall record, the Marlins have managed to catch up to the Astros. And they’ve narrowed the gap between themselves and the Brewers to a slim three games.

Considering how those teams were viewed before the year, this is a bit of a surprise, and it’s mostly because the Brewers have been a disaster. In every case of significant over- and under-performance, there will be a variety of contributing factors, as no one player can make that much of a difference. Baseball is a game of little things adding up, and lots has added up to lead the Brewers to 32-48. But one problem in particular has been bigger than the others. One problem has really allowed the Brewers to sink to the depths.

Instead of going the long way around, let’s tackle this head-on:

Problem

  • terrible at first base

Legitimate excuse

Legitimate excuse no. 2

Failed solutions

Jury is out

First base, for the Brewers, has been a complete and utter catastrophe, as we slide into the season’s halfway point. It’s not the difference between the team’s current record and a .500 record, but it is the difference between the team’s current record and a better record, and the team has cycled through a few players. In fairness, they weren’t prepared for both Hart and Gamel to miss the season. Those were the first two options on the depth chart, and no one would come away looking good after dealing with that kind of sudden adversity. But what’s done is done, and were the season to end today, the Brewers’ performance would be historical.

Brewers first basemen have batted a combined 321 times, with 270 of those plate appearances going to Betancourt, Gonzalez, and Francisco. I’m going to show you their slash line, although you might consider looking away and having the computer just read the numbers out loud so you don’t turn to stone:

  • .189/.231/.319

What you’re looking at is a .549 OPS, which is worse than Chris Getz’s OPS. They have a lower combined OBP than Clint Barmes. If Brewers first basemen were pitchers, they’d be the best-hitting group of pitchers, but the competition would be closer than the Brewers would like. Quietly — somewhat quietly — this position has been pulling the Brewers down toward the seafloor.

This post is only going to look at offense, although it’s worth noting the defensive metrics don’t love the Brewers’ first basemen so far, either. They’re not making up for this hitting somewhere else. By OPS, let’s take a look at the worst positions in baseball so far this season:

Team Position OPS sOPS+
Mariners SS 0.494 47
Yankees SS 0.538 60
Brewers 1B 0.549 41
Mets SS 0.552 64
Marlins SS 0.553 63
Pirates SS 0.559 66
Reds C 0.570 64
Blue Jays 2B 0.571 58
Marlins C 0.578 65
Mets 1B 0.590 55
Mets CF 0.590 61

Brendan Ryan and the Mariners’ shortstops haven’t hit, nor have the Yankees’ shortstops behind the injured Derek Jeter. We find the Brewers’ first basemen at third-worst. But you’ll notice that last column, under sOPS+. This is a Baseball-Reference measure of OPS relative to the league-wide position average, with 100 being average and something under 100 being worse than that. Let’s re-sort, this time in ascending order of sOPS+:

Team Position OPS sOPS+
Brewers 1B 0.549 41
Mariners SS 0.494 47
Mets 1B 0.590 55
Marlins 1B 0.599 56
Blue Jays 2B 0.571 58
Yankees SS 0.538 60
Mets CF 0.590 61
White Sox 3B 0.593 62
Marlins SS 0.553 63
Mets SS 0.552 64
Reds C 0.570 64
Yankees LF 0.607 64

Now the Brewers take the cake, as their first basemen have been the worst, relative to the position. We also see the Mets’ and the Marlins’ first basemen, who’ve been awful, but no one has been Brewers-awful. Not this year, which compels us to examine the history.

Following is a table of the worst positions from between 1950 and 2012, sorted by sOPS+. Pitchers are excluded, because nobody cares.

Team Season Position sOPS+
Athletics 1979 RF 41
Tigers 1977 SS 42
Cubs 1955 CF 42
Twins 1994 C 43
Colt .45s 1963 SS 43
Blue Jays 1981 3B 44
Orioles 1958 SS 44
Athletics 1978 RF 44
Mariners 2011 CF 45
Red Sox 1993 C 46
Twins 2011 C 46
Angels 2001 DH 46

In 1978, A’s right fielders posted a combined .550 OPS, as the team sorted through a bunch of different players. The next year, A’s right fielders posted a combined .556 OPS, with Tony Armas greatly out-hitting Larry Murray. That position wound up with a 41 sOPS+ — the same as the Brewers’ current sOPS+ out of first base. That’s the worst team position, by offense, since at least 1950.

What if we were to look only at first basemen? Here’s a table of the worst, sorted by OPS, since 1950 and now including 2013:

Team Season OPS sOPS+
Brewers 2013 0.549 41
Mets 2013 0.590 55
Athletics 1983 0.595 56
Yankees 1982 0.597 58
Marlins 2013 0.599 56
Mets 1979 0.601 53
Twins 1981 0.602 64
Athletics 1981 0.604 64
Senators 1957 0.605 57
White Sox 1970 0.609 53

And now here’s a table sorted by sOPS+, covering the same amount of time:

Team Season OPS sOPS+
Brewers 2013 0.549 41
Giants 1994 0.632 49
Mets 1979 0.601 53
White Sox 1970 0.609 53
Mets 2013 0.590 55
Athletics 2011 0.610 55
Athletics 1983 0.595 56
Marlins 2013 0.599 56
Senators 1957 0.605 57
Tigers 1975 0.612 57
Orioles 2010 0.625 57
Angels 2006 0.664 57

In 1994, the average first baseman posted an .851 OPS. Giants first basemen posted a combined .632 OPS, and that’s the worst baseball’s seen in a very long time. Relative to the average, this year’s Brewers have been even worse, and by a considerable margin. The difference between worst and second-worst is the same as the difference between second-worst and ninth-worst, by sOPS+. Here’s the punchline: through half of the season, Brewers first basemen have been the worst-hitting first basemen in more than 60 years. And they haven’t really done anything to make up for it with the glove.

There’s hope in the presumably coming regression. There’s hope in the newly-acquired Juan Francisco, who hits for power, if nothing else. The Brewers might not finish as the worst ever, and since this season is a loss anyhow, it doesn’t make that much of a difference. The priority is shifting to next year and to the years beyond, and this year isn’t all that important. There are valid reasons why the Brewers wound up in a lousy position, and there are valid reasons not to really care anymore. But let it not be forgotten how bad they have been. Let it not be forgotten that the Brewers played a bunch of Alex Gonzalez and Yuniesky Betancourt at first base. Things could’ve conceivably gone worse, but only by so much.





Jeff made Lookout Landing a thing, but he does not still write there about the Mariners. He does write here, sometimes about the Mariners, but usually not.

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jordan
10 years ago

Daric Barton has been the whipping boy for many A’s fans for years, but he was put through waivers I think twice this year. No-one claimed him. The Brewers or Mets could have used him. Barton for his career put up OBP/.359 OPS+/101. This is no great player, but he is a useful major leaguer for these teams

Ruki Motomiya
10 years ago
Reply to  jordan

Agreed. His contract is pretty cheap and is one year, so you don’t even have to worry about it affecting your future. Even Daric Barton’s 86 wRC+ from last year would be an improvement, wouldn’t it? Plus, his defense is a plus.

It seems like a good low risk option to place at 1B if you’re a non-contender, especially since Barton is 27 and Arb eligable, so if he does good you can keep him around next year at a fairly low cost.

Astro Villain
10 years ago
Reply to  jordan

The Mets have enough interesting options to not use a 40-man spot on Barton. Their OPS is so low because they let Davis play for an extra month or so.