St. Louis Cardinals: 30 worst players in team history

Oct 13, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Tony Cruz (48) is tagged out by Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Montero (47) during the sixth inning of game four of the NLDS at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

#23 Tony Cruz

This is dedicated to the person who told me “how dare I disrespect Tony Cruise” on an article I wrote a few months back. I will say this, had Cruz been in a different organization, he could have avoided being on a worst players list. However, here we are.

I never understood why Cruz was still with this team last season, we saw what he offered in an extended role when Yadier Molina went out for the first time in 2014, it was so bad they went outside the organization to grab AJ Pierzysnki.

Yet who did we have to backup Molina in 2015? Tony Cruz yet again. Granted Cruz was a backup catcher and didn’t get much “regular time”, he was awful when he did get to play, as is evident by his -1.1 fWAR.

While Cruz was a decent backstop (worth 6.4 runs above average in his career on defense), he was woefully unimpressive throwing runners out in his career, as Fangraphs’ fans scouting report has him rated at an average of  47 for arm strength and arm accuracy. Most of his negative fWAR comes from his woeful slash of .220/.262/.310 and 18.5% strikeout rate, this gives Cruz a -35.5 offensive runs above average rating for his career.

The change from Cruz to a more valuable backup has finally been made as the St. Louis Cardinals signed Brayan Pena earlier this offseason.

Next: World Series Hero