I’ve been pivot-tabling through the historical fielding data from 1957 through 2007 and found myself staring at an interesting number. Between 2001 and 2005, Luis Rivas cost the Twins 48 runs in the field compared to the average second baseman. I had always assumed Rivas was a decent fielder. After all, he certainly wasn’t a major leaguer for his bat, as his career 80 OPS+ can attest to. Evidently I’d fallen prey to a corollary of Nichols’ Law, and I wasn’t the only one. Minnesota management felt it prudent to give Rivas over 2000 plate appearances during his tenure with the Twins.
Here’s a table showing Rivas’ seasonal plate appearances, batting wins above average, fielding wins above average, and total wins above replacement. Actually — and sorry to blow the punchline — all those negative signs represent wins below replacement.
Year PAs Bat Field Value Over Rep 2000 64 -0.1 -0.6 -0.5 2001 619 -1.8 -1.6 -1.5 2002 346 -0.7 -0.6 -0.2 2003 521 -1.5 -1.4 -1.3 2004 358 -1.1 -0.8 -0.8 2005 148 -0.6 -0.3 -0.5
That’s right. In his five seasons with Minnesota, Luis Rivas was five wins worse than the bottom of the barrel. If you would like to read about Rivas’ ineptitude in further detail, I encourage you to check out any of the 102 articles Aaron Gleeman wrote on the subject.
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.