Who is the worst pitcher in Red Sox history?

[mvp 78]

That 94 team had some real s***. Gar Finnvold

[mvp 78]

How about Eric Hetzel? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hetzeer01.shtml

[mvp 78]

Mike Brown was a turd that was included in the trade to get Spike Owen and Hendu. If you told me that Mike Brown was a player on the 86 team, I wouldn't have believed you.

[sk7326]

See when I think of worst I was trying to think of guys who always sucked. I don't really want to include Dice-K or Clement as they did have good stretches and as frustrating as Dice-K was to watch, he was pretty dominant in 2008, even with his nibbling, working out of trouble ********

 

He averaged fewer than 6 innings a start - the bullpen never got relief in his outings.

[Station 13]

Buchholz isn't close to the worst, at all really. Pom on the other hand seems to be a future candidate if he doesn't turn things around. There's still time for him yet.

 

Pom and Henry Owens are heading there.

[mvp 78]

Since 1980, I'm officially stating that Steve Avery was the worst. He was brought in to offset the loss of Clemens. He was so bad that the Sox dicked him out of contract incentives. http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/02/sports/sp-28212

[a700hitter]

Since 1980, I'm officially stating that Steve Avery was the worst. He was brought in to offset the loss of Clemens. He was so bad that the Sox dicked him out of contract incentives. http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/02/sports/sp-28212

Oh yeah, he was a complete bust and a dog.

[cp176]

Oh to be young again - Tracy Stallard gets my vote. Now without looking him up, what can you tell me about him. I'll never forget his "moment" in Red Sox history. Some of the guys mentioned in this thread would have been near aces on any number of the teams I had to watch while growing up.

 

gave of #61 to Roger Maris.

[BOSOX11]

Starter: Galen Cisco

 

Reliever: Galen Cisco

[SoxHop]

Owens?

[Youk Of The Nation]

It's hard to pick one guy out of the slew of guys over the years who have outright stunk for the Sox. The problem is that you could make an argument for a lot of them, based on their stats combined with how many games they appeared in with the Sox, et cetera.

 

For me, I'll go with a guy who only pitched one game for the Sox, and did it horribly: Charlie Zink

[Dojji]

In my lifetime:

 

Starter: Julian Tavares

Meh. I actually want to disagree with this. Tavarez was a mediocre starter at best, but a mediocre starter was all he was asked to be.

 

In the wake of the decision to keep Papelbon at closer and with news that Lester's recovery was taking time we had 4 starters to break camp with that year so they threw Tavarez into the fire, and he filled in well enough to not be a dumpster fire, which considering that the guy was basically a mediocre garbage time reliever in the first place being asked to play a role WAY above his own head, for a team that was contending (and would win) a World Series that year, I feel that he gave us all one could reasonably expect and he merits an official "exceeds expectations" rating for me for his performance in 2007.

 

I mean if he was a regular starter that would be one thing, he went 7-11 with a 5.15 ERA, that wouldn't be a great outcome for a guy who's used to starting 20 or more games a year. But this is a junktime reliever thrown into the role out of desperation. We didn't exactly expect to be fielding Sandy Koufax when we moved the guy to the rotation on an emergency basis, and at the very least he kept the 5th starter role from becoming a crisis, which is all he was expected to do by team leadership. A guy who met or exceeded the expectations the team placed on him and who it took a guy getting cancer to ever start in the first place, probably doesn't belong in the "Worst. Pitcher. Ever." conversation.

 

Besides, the guy was fun to watch with his eccentric style and weird decision making. You could tell he was having fun, which made him fun to watch. And he did give us some great games, like the CG against Toronto.

 

Also, just the year before we had a fill in who had to start regularly and was far, FAR worse. Kyle Snyder.

 

Reliever: Eric Gagne (Daniel Bard is a close second)

 

Rudy Seanez was worse than both, and Daniel Bard is not a candidate for bad reliever much less worst reliever when the dude had a couple stellar years. He sucked after his shoulder fell off but I don't even care about that in a conversation like this because Bard was too good for us when he was good.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Dojji

[Youk Of The Nation]

Meh. I actually want to disagree with this. Tavarez was a mediocre starter at best, but a mediocre starter was all he was asked to be.

 

In the wake of the decision to keep Papelbon at closer and with news that Lester's recovery was taking time we had 4 starters to break camp with that year so they threw Tavarez into the fire, and he filled in well enough to not be a dumpster fire, which considering that the guy was basically a mediocre garbage time reliever in the first place being asked to play a role WAY above his own head, for a team that was contending (and would win) a World Series that year, I feel that he gave us all one could reasonably expect and he merits an official "exceeds expectations" rating for me for his performance in 2007.

 

I mean if he was a regular starter that would be one thing, he went 7-11 with a 5.15 ERA, that wouldn't be a great outcome for a guy who's used to starting 20 or more games a year. But this is a junktime reliever thrown into the role out of desperation. We didn't exactly expect to be fielding Sandy Koufax when we moved the guy to the rotation on an emergency basis, and at the very least he kept the 5th starter role from becoming a crisis, which is all he was expected to do by team leadership. A guy who met or exceeded the expectations the team placed on him and who it took a guy getting cancer to ever start in the first place, probably doesn't belong in the "Worst. Pitcher. Ever." conversation.

 

Besides, the guy was fun to watch with his eccentric style and weird decision making. You could tell he was having fun, which made him fun to watch. And he did give us some great games, like the CG against Toronto.

 

Also, just the year before we had a fill in who had to start regularly and was far, FAR worse. Kyle Snyder.

 

 

 

Rudy Seanez was worse than both, and Daniel Bard is not a candidate for bad reliever much less worst reliever when the dude had a couple stellar years. He sucked after his shoulder fell off but I don't even care about that in a conversation like this because Bard was too good for us when he was good.

 

I loved watching him roll the ball to the first baseman on a putout. He was the Manny Ramirez of pitching. Guy just did not give the slightest f*** what anyone thought of him.

[Fisk]

I had to look this up, I couldn't remember his name - Matt Young. He lost a no hitter in which he allowed 7 walks.

 

He was extremely painful to watch. Had great stuff, but never knew where the ball was going.

[Bellhorn04]

It's hard to pick one guy out of the slew of guys over the years who have outright stunk for the Sox. The problem is that you could make an argument for a lot of them, based on their stats combined with how many games they appeared in with the Sox, et cetera.

 

For me, I'll go with a guy who only pitched one game for the Sox, and did it horribly: Charlie Zink

 

It was some game though!

[Dojji]

The Red Sox came back and won Zink's game. One of those really entertaining slugfests where both teams score 2 digits of runs IIRC

 

The really weird thing about it was IIRC Zink got through 4 without a lot of damage, and then his stuff just failed the third time through the Rangers order. I thought we had a decent scrubtime starting option at the time, at least until they opened up on the poor guy.

[Youk Of The Nation]

It was some game though!

 

I still remember where I was for that game, because I was pulling into the parking lot at work when Youk hit the HR that ended up being the deciding score of the game. I almost went over the curb because I was screaming "f*** yeah"!

[notin]

He was ... but he was a ghastly watch at times ... like Matsuzaka. Not finding the strike zone, working slowly. Dice-K's 2008 was the worst "good" pitcher I ever saw.

 

Was Clement so ghastly when he was in the All Star game that year?

[notin]

According to Fangraphs, which doesn't have the same data on everyone, the worst pitcher in Sox history is Mark Clear. It isn't.

 

I say it was probably Jeff Sellers. Although the biggest disappointment in Sox history had to be either Danny Darwin or Ramiro Mendoza ...

[mvp 78]

I loved watching him roll the ball to the first baseman on a putout. He was the Manny Ramirez of pitching. Guy just did not give the slightest f*** what anyone thought of him.

 

Plus, he started a bench clearing brawl in ST. He was GOAT.

[Kimmi]

I loved watching him roll the ball to the first baseman on a putout. He was the Manny Ramirez of pitching. Guy just did not give the slightest f*** what anyone thought of him.

 

I loved Tavarez. He kept me entertained.

 

On the topic of the worst pitcher ever, I have no answer for that. There are too many to choose from and too many criteria on what constitutes 'worst'. I will say that most of the names that I've read on this thread, I would not consider the worst.

[a700hitter]

How about John Smoltz? His tour with the Red Sox was short, but it would be hard to find someone who was worse than him. He was thoroughly bad.

[Spudboy]

How about John Smoltz? His tour with the Red Sox was short, but it would be hard to find someone who was worse than him. He was thoroughly bad.

 

Yes he sucked.

 

But I think he gets a pass because he was so good for so long and most everyone thought he was either done or near done by the time he came here.

 

Really good coor guy, I think.

[a700hitter]

Yes he sucked.

 

But I think he gets a pass because he was so good for so long and most everyone thought he was either done or near done by the time he came here.

 

Really good coor guy, I think.

The thread title is Worst Red Sox pitcher. He really sucked it for us.

[jacksonianmarch]

Byung Kim, Eric Gagne, Way Back Wasdin. There's a top 15 searchable on google. Their #1 is before all of our times. Red Ruffing. Guy was terrible as a Red Sox, but after moving to NYY, he turned into a HOFer

[Bellhorn04]

The thread title is Worst Red Sox pitcher. He really sucked it for us.

 

Smoltz is a definite contender here. His numbers for us were off-the-charts bad.

[Station 13]

Byung Kim, Eric Gagne, Way Back Wasdin. There's a top 15 searchable on google. Their #1 is before all of our times. Red Ruffing. Guy was terrible as a Red Sox, but after moving to NYY, he turned into a HOFer

 

Ruffing was so young when he started. But his stats are not HoF worthy.

[Station 13]

The Red Sox came back and won Zink's game. One of those really entertaining slugfests where both teams score 2 digits of runs IIRC

 

The really weird thing about it was IIRC Zink got through 4 without a lot of damage, and then his stuff just failed the third time through the Rangers order. I thought we had a decent scrubtime starting option at the time, at least until they opened up on the poor guy.

 

That was a fun game which NESN re-runs a lot at the time. I think Papi had 2 homer in that 1st inning.

[Kimmi]

Smoltz is a definite contender here. His numbers for us were off-the-charts bad.

 

But I love Smoltz. That alone has to take his name off the contender list.

[Bellhorn04]

But I love Smoltz. That alone has to take his name off the contender list.

 

Hey, are you a closet Braves fan?

 

I have a ton of respect for Smoltz. He was great as both a starter and a closer. He has a serious golf game too, and he's a pretty good announcer.

 

I was very disappointed with his performance for us, but he was at the end of the line, obviously.