Presenting the 2005 Anti-All-Star team

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The players slated to participate in the upcoming All-Star Game in Detroit no doubt deserve the saturation coverage they've been getting, but what about the others? Not the near misses, but rather those at the other end of the continuum.



Yes, we're talking about the worst performers of the current season. Their time has come, so let us now unveil the 2005 Anti-All-Star Team. Abandon hope all ye who enter here ...

AL



C — John Buck, Royals

An easy call on this one. Buck, despite his cool name, on the season is "hitting" to the tune of .221 AVG/.261 OBP/.352 SLG. Oh, and that's after his recent hot streak. He's one of many reasons the Royals are utterly awful this season.

1B — Travis Lee, Devil Rays

It's hard to believe Lee was once a ballyhooed prospect whom teams were clamoring to sign. His days of being a serviceable back-of-the-roster type appear to be over. His batting line of .242 AVG/.323 OBP/.340 SLG is patently unacceptable for a first baseman.

2B — Omar Infante, Tigers

The acquisition of Placido Polanco and the recent return from the DL of Carlos Guillen means Infante's going to be in for a lot more bench time in the near future. However, the first-half damage is already done. A .258 OBP is terrible, even for a middle infielder playing in Comerica.

3B — Aaron Boone, Indians

The worst player in baseball this season not named Tony Womack or Cristian Guzman? You can make a compelling case for Boone. A .193 AVG, .250 OBP and .350 SLG from a corner defender in a hitter's park say yes. The Tribe has a strong shot at the AL wild card, but they badly need to add a third baseman before the deadline.

SS — Angel Berroa, Royals

The 2003 AL Rookie of the Year is working on his second consecutive terrible year. With a .277 OBP and 343 plate appearances under his belt, Berroa is on pace to create more than 500 outs at the plate this season.

LF — Tony Womack, Yankees

Here we come to the worst player in baseball. Womack's a defensive liability anywhere in the outfield, and his OBP of .276 is appalling. However, none of that is as appalling as the fact that he's on pace to log a qualifying number of plate appearances and tally only 10 (!) extra-base hits for the entire season.

CF — Steve Finley, Angels

Laynce Nix has been worse this season in the AL, but Finley gets points off for "production relative to contract value." His glove in center has been overrated for years, and his batting line of .224 AVG/.286 OBP/.407 SLG means he's no longer got the bat to compensate. The Halos would be better off keeping Chone Figgins or Jeff DaVanon in center even after Finley comes off the DL. Won't happen, though.

RF — Sammy Sosa, Orioles

Can you imagine if he'd stayed in Chicago? The Cubs would've trotted out one of the worst offensive outfields of the modern era — Sosa, Corey Patterson and Todd Hollandsworth. Sosa's batting .229 and he's on pace for fewer than 200 total bases. The O's need to bench him before he hurts the team even more.

SP — Hideo Nomo, Devil Rays

Let's see ... a 6.80 ERA, almost as many walks as strikeouts, a 0.59 groundball-to-fly ball ratio. It's a grim statistical profile for Nomo. What's really alarming is that he's having a better year than he did in '04.

CL — Keith Foulke, Red Sox

There's nothing like terrible pitching combined with <EXTLINK href="http://www.courant.com/travel/hc-dencol-0701,0,7775492.column?coll=hc-headlines-custom-specials" target="new">abject elitism</PLAYER>. That's Foulke in '05. He's got a 6.23 ERA, and he's given up eight bombs in 39 innings.

NL



C — Chris Snyder, Diamondbacks Lots of competition for this position in the NL — perennial cipher Brad Ausmus is right there, as are Yadier Molina, Jason Phillips and Mike Lieberthal — but top honors go to Snyder. Despite playing half his games in one of the best hitter's parks around, he's got a .309 OBP and is on pace for only 23 extra-base hits this season.



1B — Doug Mientkiewicz, Mets

It doesn't matter how good your glove is if you're a first baseman with a batting line of .218 AVG/.307 OBP/.386 SLG. Mercifully, he's now on the DL. The Mets will live to regret not signing Carlos Delgado this winter.

2B — Kaz Matsui, Mets

It's unusual for a nominal contender to have two awful regulars in the lineup, but the Mets have somehow pulled that off. As for Matsui, a .281 OBP, no power to speak of and questionable defense earn him a spot on the team.

3B — Mike Lowell, Marlins

It's been a particularly strong year for NL third baseman despite the fact that Scott Rolen has lost significant time to injury and the fact that Mike Lowell has been ten shades of crappy this season.

SS — Cristian Guzman, Nationals

His .239 OBP is the lowest of any qualifier in all of baseball. When attempting to justify Guzman's continued presence in the lineup, Nats GM Jim Bowden likes to rhapsodize about his supposedly stellar defensive abilities. Ozzie Smith with 30-foot arms and a glove the size of a Buick couldn't make up for a .239 OBP.

LF — Brian Jordan, Braves

Jordan has lost playing time to Ryan Langerhans and Kelly Johnson in recent weeks and therefore is no longer on place to qualify this season. However, that shouldn't prevent his body of work in 2005 from being ridiculed. Suffice it to say, a .292 OBP and .335 SLG aren't what you want from a corner outfielder. Admirable guy, solid citizen, terrific clubhouse leader, but he's done for.

CF — Corey Patterson, Cubs

The once and future Cub savior has been fouling up the joint this season. Co-Pat's on pace for 22 homers and 24 steals, but that would be the worst 20/20 season in the annals of the game. If you're an outfielder with a .271 OBP and slugging less than .400, you're lousy no matter what kind of counting stats you're racking up.

RF — Jason Lane, Astros

Time was when Lane was held up as an overlooked prospect whose time had come. This season, he's flashed some power at times, but a .274 OBP and .441 SLG on the road undermine whatever good he's done. At least he's having a better year than Richard Hidalgo, the guy he replaced as Houston's right fielder.

SP — Eric Milton, Reds

It didn't take a genius to see that Milton's fly-ball tendencies wouldn't play well in a park like Cincy's, but it apparently did take someone smarter than GM Dan O'Brien. Milton's on pace to break Bert Blyleven's 1986 record for homers allowed in a season, but the 7.51 ERA really tells you all you need to know.

CL — Dan Kolb, Braves

When you look at Kolb's 2004 numbers and see that basement-level strikeout rate, you might have seen this coming. This year, he's keeping the ball in the park and doing a better job of ringing up the Ks, but he's also walked 23 batters in 32 innings.

Dayn Perry is a frequent contributor for FOXSports.com.
 

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1B — Doug Mientkiewicz, Mets

It doesn't matter how good your glove is if you're a first baseman with a batting line of .218 AVG/.307 OBP/.386 SLG.

Mientkiewicz is hitless in his last 21 at-bats (currently), keep up the good work.

.125 TY
 

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