Marlins First Basemen Are MLB's Worst Position Since 2007

[emkayseven]

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/p...s-for-a-decade

1. Miami Marlins 1B: minus-22.5 WAA

Starters: Mike Jacobs (2), Jorge Cantu, Gaby Sanchez (2), Carlos Lee, Logan Morrison, Garrett Jones, Justin Bour (2)

Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at those names and see that this ranking isn’t a surprise. It does show how teams can be fooled by first-base production. Marlins first basemen have averaged 21 home runs and 86 RBIs, but with a lowly .738 OPS. The MLB averages for first basemen since 2007 are 25 and 91, but with a .797 OPS. Basically, Marlins first basemen have hit like second basemen and fielded like DHs. In related news, the Marlins haven’t made the playoffs since 2003.

[Namaste]

That must be the reason why they didn't sign Chris Carter and attempt to improve 1B production. The Marlins have a reputation to live up to.

[dim]

Logan Morrison was supposed to be different. I still don't understand how he changed the player he was from his minor league numbers to the majors. Wasn't just a case of not figuring out MLB pitching, he became a totally different style hitter. Still confuses me now. I mean look at his first major league season numbers. THAT is what was expected at the very least. He seemed like a 1st base version of Yelich.

[Nick]

A lot of disappointments in that 2009-2012 era. Morrison, Hermida, Maybin I think we all hoped for big things from, and ended up flopping.

[fish16]

Maybin was such a dissapointment. I still remember that year he came up and hit .500 in the last month aftr being promoted to lead a late playoff charge that obviously came up short. Granted I remember it being a majority of singles, but how he never became anything is still mystifying.

[Nick]

Add Coghlan and Gaby Sanchez to that list as well. It's amazing to look back at their numbers and they all pretty much across the board had great starts to their careers and then either slowly declined or just eventually fell off a cliff.

[Namaste]

Hitting major league pitching is hard. Look at the increase in strikeouts the last few years.

[Nick]

Oh yeah, and I'm sure it's directly related to the work the video room guys do. Eventually they'll find a weakness.

[Swifty]

I think Bour has a chance to change the hitting like a second baseman problem, not necessarily the fielding like a DH park.

Also, does this list account for park factors. I'd imagine having bargain bin or club controlled players playing in two of the more notorious pitcher friendly parks hurts the rankings. I'd have guessed we'd have been ahead of at least like the Mariners in that time frame, seemed they tried fixing 1B every offseason for at least a decade.

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Also, if you asked me to guess our worst position since 2007 I'd have guessed catcher. Shows what perception bias can do.