St. Louis Cardinals: 30 worst players in team history

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#9 Mark Mulder SP

Oh man is this one hard to write. Mulder in my opinion was one of the best acquisitions for the St. Louis Cardinals that never turned out to be much for them. Mulder fought off injuries for most of his Cardinals’ career, limiting him to only one full season in a Cardinals’ uniform.

In one of the shrewdest moves from Oakland Athletics’ GM Billy Beane, Oakland sent the hightly sought after left-hander to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Daric Barton, Dan Haren, and Kiko  Kalero. This was done after the 2004 season in which Mulder had a FIP of 4.29 in 33 starts for Oakland.

Mulder came to the Cardinals and had a solid season in 2005, going 16-8 with a 3.64 ERA (4.30 FIP). After that season, Mulder got worse and worse, as after being worth 1.9 fWAR in 2005, Mulder would go on to post a -0.9 fWAR over an injury riddled 2006-2009. Mulder finished his Cardinals’ career in 2008 with an overall ERA of 5.04 and a FIP of 5.01.

While he had the great 2005 season, Mulder very much could be considered one of the worst pitchers in St. Louis Cardinals’ history, as without his one good season, Mulder stands with a -0.9 fWAR, which would be the worst fWAR of any Cardinals’ pitcher who has pitched over 200 innings.

Next: Dumpster diving gone wrong part 3