2009 Least Valuable Players

I've decided to wait and hand out the final edition of the monthly awards until the conclusion of the regular season for reasons that I'm sure are obvious to all human beings. In the meantime, however, I thought it'd be fun to revisit a segment that gives special recognition to the players who least deserve it. That's right, these are the guys that make us wonder why their managers would continue to write their names on the lineup card day in and day out. They're categorized by position (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OFs, SP, RP) and each hitter was required to have a minimum of 370 plate appearances. These very prestigious awards are only reserved for the ones who continued their (lack of) performance embarrassingly deep into the season.

So, without any further adu, your 2009 LVP's!





C- Dioner Navarro, Tampa Bay Rays
Stats:
.219/.259/.317
49 OPS+
.255 WOBA
-0.1 WAR













1B- Aubrey Huff, Baltimore Orioles/Detroit Tigers
Stats:
.242/.310/.388
80 OPS+
.298 WOBA
-3.1 UZR
-1.2 WAR












2B- Luis Valbuena, Cleveland Indians
Stats:
.244/.295/.403
79 OPS+
.301 WOBA
-5.3 UZR
-0.1 WAR









3B- Garret Atkins, Colorado Rockies
Stats:
.220/.300/.333
63 OPS+
.283 WOBA
-2.0 UZR
-0.9 WAR





SS- Yuniesky Betancourt, Seattle Marines/Kansas City Royals
Stats:
.244/.273/.350
65 OPS+
.270 WOBA
-20.7 UZR
-2.1 WAR









OF- Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins
Stats:
.273/.296/.397
86 OPS+
.297 WOBA
-14.2 UZR
-1.6 WAR










OF- Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox
Stats:
.232/.319/.438
93 OPS+
.331 WOBA
-16.9 UZR
-1.0 WAR










OF- Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs
Stats:
.241/.303/.423
85 OPS+
.314 WOBA
-12.4 UZR
-0.9 WAR









SP- Braden Looper, Milwaukee Brewers
Stats:
5.10 ERA
82 ERA+
1.47 WHIP
5.82 FIP
-0.8 WAR












RP- Seth McClung, Milwaukee Brewers
Stats:
5.10 ERA
83 ERA+
1.63 WHIP
6.12 FIP
-0.9 WAR







Don't give up, guys. Just last year Michael Bourn won an LVP award and he bounced back to have a 4.3 WAR. There's still hope. My apologies to Garret Anderson, Jeff Francoeur, Emilio Bonifacio, Jeff Suppan, Chris Volstad and countless others. Perhaps you can make it all the way to the top (or bottom) next season!