Mark Reynolds Fails To Join Club

Mark Reynolds really let me down this year. When he was sent to the Orioles before the 2011 season, I had grandiose dreams of a 400 strikeout performance against the power pitching of the American League East. At 196 K's, he still led the AL in striking out but, for once, that wasn't the source of my obsession. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know where I'm going with this.

Thanks to Reynolds playing third base like a fawn wondering onto the interstate for the first time, he had a pretty good chance to hit 30+ home runs and produce no value. By no value, I mean a 0.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Using Baseball-References version of WAR, only eight (8!) players have ever hit 30+ homers with an rWAR equal to or less than goose egg...

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Dave Kingman	2	1982	1986	33-37	Ind. Seasons
2	Mike Jacobs	1	2008	2008	27-27	Ind. Seasons
3	Tony Batista	1	2004	2004	30-30	Ind. Seasons
4	Dante Bichette	1	1999	1999	35-35	Ind. Seasons
5	Joe Carter	1	1996	1996	36-36	Ind. Seasons
6	Cecil Fielder	1	1995	1995	31-31	Ind. Seasons
7	Cory Snyder	1	1987	1987	24-24	Ind. Seasons
8	Tony Armas	1	1983	1983	29-29	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/29/2011.

In 1999, Dante Bichette was secretly replaced in the outfield with a can of Folgers coffee and nobody could tell the difference.

In 620 plate appearances, Reynolds hit 37 home runs and a .221/.323/.483 line. It's a pretty accurate picture of the player he has been over his five year career. But in 2011, his defense was off the charts poor and that gave him a chance to become the ninth player to join the club.

The Orioles, afraid of my Twitter campaign, moved Reynolds to first base. So, much to my chagrin, he finished the season with a 0.5 rWAR. He flirted with the zero mark several times down the stretch but, alas, it was not to be.

We were so close, people. So close.