Intended only in fun, this award honors the highest level of hitting futility by a St. Louis Cardinals pitcher in a season.
Hitting stats for St. Louis Cardinals pitchers in 2010 were already presented in the earlier article, “Wainwright repeats as Allen Watson Award winner”. Chris Carpenter’s .288 OPS brought up the rear as the worst mark by more than 100 points for those Cardinals pitchers with at least 30 plate appearances.
Against righties, Carp was absolutely terrible with just five hits and no walks in 65 plate appearances for a .191 OPS. His only home run and all four RBI were accrued in his 19 plate appearances versus left-handers, making for a .650 OPS. Further, most of his 2010 success was experienced while hitting eighth (.479 OPS versus just .126 when batting ninth).
In originally selecting the award’s namesake, I first had to unearth the worst yearly performance with the bat by a pitcher in team history, post-1900. Of the hundreds of Cardinals hurlers with at least 30 plate appearances in a season, only two posted a .000 OPS.
They are Vicente Palacios in 1994 and John Fulgham in 1980.
To break the apparent tie, I dove into the specifics.
In his season of futility, Fulgham, in his second of two career MLB seasons, had exactly 30 plate appearances. He had three sacrifices, therefore had only 27 official at-bats. He fanned 17 times, but managed to score once.
Palacios had 36 plate appearances in 1994 and also had three sacrifices. He struck out 15 times, but also ground into a double play. Palacios did not cross home plate.
Therefore, Palacios broke the close tie as having the worst hitting season by a Cardinals pitcher since at least 1900.
Here are the worst ten in team history, courtesy of the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia.
| Rk | Worst OPS pitcher | Yr | OPS |
| T1 | Vicente Palacios | 1994 | 0.000 |
| T1 | John Fulgham | 1980 | 0.000 |
| 3 | Ron Taylor | 1963 | 0.063 |
| 4 | Bob Purkey | 1965 | 0.084 |
| 5 | Jose DeLeon | 1991 | 0.087 |
| 6 | Bill Doak | 1913 | 0.095 |
| 7 | Bill Doak | 1923 | 0.104 |
| 8 | Curt Simmons | 1965 | 0.109 |
| 9 | Paul Dean | 1936 | 0.118 |
| 10 | Mike Morgan | 1996 | 0.121 |
Here are those who would have been the Palacios Award winners over the last decade plus one year. Note that Carpenter is the only name listed twice, let alone three times. Fortunately his pitching keeps him coming back.
| Year | Worst OPS pitcher | OPS |
| 2010 | Chris Carpenter | 0.288 |
| 2009 | Todd Wellemeyer | 0.256 |
| 2008 | Kyle Lohse | 0.238 |
| 2007 | Anthony Reyes | 0.154 |
| 2006 | Chris Carpenter | 0.254 |
| 2005 | Chris Carpenter | 0.211 |
| 2004 | Jeff Suppan | 0.156 |
| 2003 | Jason Simontacchi | 0.289 |
| 2002 | Chuck Finley | 0.250 |
| 2001 | Dustin Hermanson | 0.206 |
| 2000 | Garrett Stephenson | 0.162 |
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There are reasons ………. .and it isn’t athleticism …………
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/yankees/2010/11/yankees-checklist-still-incomp.html
Yankee’s are pressing the market…………..what for? Uniform tactics???????? what binds them together???? over confident from the back room tone of the collusion settlement? Wild guess is that Selig isn’t going anywhere……………….. AP is being shown a tactic ahead of his time……… he knows its coming for him………… his reaction is predictable isn’t it…………….. he has time…he thinks. It looks like a herding job to me………………..
Jeter is 36 and Albert is 30, ahem, which makes a huge difference in their negotiating position. Jeter is coming off his worst season and is unquestionably headed downhill. Cashman has no problem with Jeter testing the market, he’s not getting more from somebody else. But it would be interesting to know if anybody is returning his agent’s calls. Lozano will be checking on that.
At least Carp didn’t get hurt batting. Of our 5 opening day rotation, 2 lost most of the season due to batting inflicted injuries. Later, Westbrook injured himself batting and had surgery which will limit him to at least some extent when he reports.
It is also noteworthy that Carp led the staff in sacrifices, second most on the team, behind only . . . . . Brendan Ryan.
In the last two days, I have discovered my older brother thinks that AP should be traded and Derek Jeter should be paid more than the Yankees are offering. I think he has been taken over by aliens. He didn’t use to be this ridiculous.
“One day after general manager Brian Cashman encouraged the Yankees’ captain to shop for a better deal, the reaction throughout baseball was mild.
Of course, it only takes one team to top the Yankees, . . .
But that’s not going to happen because he is a [Yankees] icon. . . .
“There is nobody to drive the price up.”
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Derek-Jeter-will-not-get-help-from-Boston-Red-Sox-or-any-other-teams-in-contract-talks-112510
The 3/45 is quite generous. Jeter’s not worth $15M next year, so nobody is going to touch it. I doubt he’ll be stupid enough to end up in Detroit.
crdswmn, I didn’t know you are related to Westy.
OMG BB. I hadn’t thought of that. Nooooooooo.
You are both missing the obvious………… Rivera and Jeter will both be signed by the Yankee’s…..
How much will be to a degree decided by “the market”……………………who would bother bidding…. the issues is about whether a player is owed more for his fame and marketability in a specific market…
owners are claiming that the notoriety has been paid for with their money and PR apparatus……
It is whats happening…………………….. Jeter is a free agent………….he could threaten to just retire as play for less than 20………..and leave it up to them…………… AP will do the same thing…..he will threaten to just play out his contract………… question is obvious………what will the owners do…..
BD offers 27/7 with option years………he will let that set for 3 to 4 weeks…………gauging public sentiment.
Rivera, Jeter and AP all have icon value. But t is not equal value. An active Icon producing on the field is more valuable than a retired one, or a shadow. Then there is also the value as a player producing on the field. Also not equal going forward.
Mo might be serious about Tejada, who could cover 3B or SS as needed. There was a blurb on espn deportes saying the Cards, Giants and Padres are serious about him.
Uribe wants to play in SF……….SF is just waiting to see the cost……………….we don’t win that bid.
We won’t get Tejada or Uribe. We’ll get saddled with Jason Bartlett instead.
if BD offers 27/7 (i suppose that means 7/189), i’d expect it to be signed immediately. can’t see the AP camp letting that sit for 3 or 4 weeks, at all.
That’s a long way from ARod money bip. Both annual salary and life of contract. It would, I think, be the second biggest of all time.
As of now, I believe Jeter is at 6/150 and the Yankees 3/45.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/11/jeter-yankees-are-80mm-apart.htm
The Jeter camp gave that number out days ago……….precipitating the “test the free agent market” comment.
this is exactly what AP will be looking at………….and the reaction he will get when his demand is made public………………………….. there is one difference………….. Yankee’s are putting AP in play, countering the Boston position……with these moves ……..owners will win the battle for reasons I’ve already stated. They are right to claim the fame and its revenue.
If you think the Yankees wont move MT around……….or put A-Rod back at short………or a number of things…………………. you might be right, you might be wrong. They are at least building a market full of resources that could effect change.
Westy, the age dif between Jeter and Albert makes all the difference. Albert has more to offer than memories. I agree it is an important stand for Hal to make, refusing to pay for what the team has played a part in creating. But the Cards are not the Yankees and Albert is not 36.
Your not even close to the subject matter BB………….those are hardly my points. I’m watching the collusion……….I could care less about the players.
My point is that its a mistake to look to the Jeter situation for any evidence of what Albert faces. It does not take collusion to explain a lack of teams wishing to pay a 36 year old fading icon more than 3/45. A lack of teams interested in outbidding the Cards for Albert is something else.
bling– if AP is chasing A-roid money, then he’s been lying all along. i don’t think AP is a liar. he says he wants to be a career cardinal, and the”physical” will take longer than the negotiations. he’s bright enough to know stl is not the yankees.
the 7/189 westy proposed is above ryan howard, joe mauer and teixeira contracts. it’s seems a legit offer “if” stl could make happen. i’d expect AP to sign within days, not weeks. i’m not of the camp that thinks AP is chasing an A-roid contract.
Hope you’re right bip.