Wait, no I’m not.

The denial continues…

Player Games WPA/LI *WPA/LI*

Felix 25 +1.45 +1.74
Wash 26 -0.25 -0.29
Bedard 15 +0.41 +0.82

Player PA WPA/LI *WPA/LI* Position Defense Total

Raul 581 +1.41 +1.69 +0 -1.5 +0.19
Lopez 568 -0.13 -0.16 +0.5 -0.5 -0.16
Ichiro 616 +0.03 +0.03 +1.0 +0.5 +1.53
Beltre 556 -0.53 -0.67 +0.5 +0.5 +0.33

To sum up both posts:

Your 2008 Mariners

Stars

Felix +1.74 wins above average
Ichiro +1.53

Average Players

Bedard +0.82
Beltre +0.33
Raul +0.19
Lopez -0.16
Washburn -0.29

Below Average

Silva -1.64

Below Replacement Level

Kenji -3.05
Yunni -3.20
Vidro -3.97
Sexson -4.56
Batista -4.61

Remember this is extrapolating everyone out to a full season.

Silva’s tRA+ is 84
Batista’s tRA+ is 64

OK I almost voted Vidro, but at least he had a “hot streak” (didn’t completely suck) before we released him. And the fact that we actually released him gave him a couple brownie points.

Biggest disappointment: Johjima
Worst performance: Vidro

It’s a fairly narrow line between Batista and Vidro, though. Either of those could credibly be said to be the worst.

Could not have expected it based on what? Past performance being a guarantee of future returns?

Nobody said anything about a guarantee, as you well know, and it takes a full season’s worth of date to determine that someone has fallen off a cliff. Joh was well above average in the other years he played. Competitive advantage comes from taking the right risks, and Johjima for this season was one of those. Not so much for next year, which is why you don’t give a catcher on the wrong side of 30 a four-year deal. But ANYONE should have given Joh the benefit of the doubt until at LEAST the all-star break this year. It is doubly painful since management has been so bad at evaluating other players. Johjima was a no-brainer they couldn’t help but get right, and still it went wrong.

Which isn’t to say Vidro was a bad choice for worst, of course. As many people have said: “6. All of the above” or “7. All of the above, plus Yuni, Sexson, and your favorite other sucky player”. There’s no lack of choices on this club.

Silva sucked out my hope.

-Batista gave me hope that he’s done as a starter but could still be useful as one of the most overpaid relievers in history.
-Joh had a bad year, but so did Roy Campanella imbetween his MVP years so I chalk it up to being a catcher, and I don’t expect much of catchers anyway.
-EOF was monumentally disappointing, but how much does 1 reliever really affect a team? (Ayala not withstanding.)
-Vidro was a black hole and perhaps the worst DH the M’s will ever see, but he was still (sadly) one of the better hitters available. I blame him more on the managers. He should’ve batted in the 7-9 hole area prior to his release. And, at least he was released….hope for a new DH is preserved.

Silva doesn’t have the stuff to move to the bullpen like Batista could. And he was the third crappy contract the M’s committed to the rotation, thereby destroying more hope than any of the other shitty performances on this list combined.