St. Louis Cardinals: 30 worst players in team history

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Apr 24, 2014; New York, NY, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay (19) cannot get to a double by New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy (not pictured) during the 6th inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

#1 Roy Golden SP

Here we have a pitcher who doesn’t have 200 innings pitched, but has probably the worst season ever by a Cardinals’ starting pitcher. Roy pitched for the Cardinals in both 1910 and 1911, being his only two seasons as a major league player. In those two seasons, Golden combined for a -0.9 fWAR, with most of that damage coming in Golden’s 1911 season.

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That season, Golden went 4-9 with a 5.02 ERA (4.91 FIP). This included 25 starts and five appearances out of the bullpen. That season, Golden averaged almost eight walks per every nine innings he pitched, which is absolutely ridiculous. This led to Golden having a -0.7 fWAR that season.

What makes matters worse for Golden is that he pitched in what is considered the dead ball era for hitters, so pitching at this point in time was at an all time high and hitting was at an all time low. So, for Golden to post such awful numbers is incredibly indicative to how bad he was and why he makes this list.

It doesn’t surprise me that Golden never got a chance to repeat his performance after the 1910 season, as this registers as one of the worst performances of all Cardinals’ players.

Recap

Well there you have it folks, the 30 worst players in Cardinals’ history. This was a fun albeit really hard project to do. I probably missed a few guys, or gave too much or too little credit to some players, but in the end this is a list I can be proud of and a list that makes me appreciate all of the great players we have had on this team. As I disclaimed in the beginning, none of this is personal, so please don’t take this personally if you are one of these players reading this.

Next: The best Cardinals' hitters ever

I hope you enjoyed this list and come back next week as we cover the “Top 50 Greatest Players in Team History”, that list will be much more fun to create. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!