Mains: The worst teams of the 30-team era: Seattle Mariners third basemen
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on May 8, 2019:
As described in this article, I’m looking at the teams with the most consistently poor performance at each position on the field during the 30-team era that began in 1998. Why look at bad outcomes? Because they are, in a way, harder to come by than good performances.
The Reds have ranked highly among first basemen over the 21 years, in large part because they’ve had Joey Votto there more than half of the time. One guy can put you near the top. They rank much worse in right field, where Jay Bruce is the Reds’ only player to have more than one season with at least 400 plate appearances (he had six). It’s taken Cincinnati a lot more players to maintain mediocrity in right field than excellence at first base.
In the article referenced above, the weak position under scrutiny was White Sox center fielders. Today we move on to Mariners third basemen. (Mariners fans: If you’re thinking hey, where are our first basemen, we’re getting there.)
Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/49564/the-worst-of-the-30-team-era-mariners-third-basemen/
Originally published: May 10, 2019. Last Updated: May 10, 2019.