The 2015 Chicken Wolf All-Stars

Bad teams can have good players. Putting good numbers on bad teams is quite an impressive feat. Hitters don’t have that much of a chance to shine, fielders have to compensate for poor teammates and pitchers have to overcome all sorts of issues.

The following players were the best players on the worst teams of 2015 – any player on a team who finished 10 games under .500 or worse was eligible. I extended the team to 30 players in place of the normal 25 well, because it made sense when I did the numbers. Also, a player had to be in the organization the entire year to be eligible. They had to stick out the bad times.

The selections were made by WAR for position players, and FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) for pitchers (though I kind of fudged a couple there to make sure we had two lefty relievers). WAR was chosen because it factors in offense, defense and playing time, and FIP chosen because, well, it’s the best measure to remove stinky teammates from pitching performance.

This team is named for William “Chicken” Wolf, a good-to-great player for the Louisville Colonels of the American Association of the 1880’s. Wolf tried his best for the Colonels, who were usually awful except for 1890, the year where the best players went to the Players League and Louisville was spared from losing most all of its stalwarts (which was a blessing and a curse, I guess). Wolf is the spirit animal for these players, who put up their best effort despite all of their teams’ issues.

With no further ado – here are the 2015 Chicken Wolf All-Stars:

C – Stephen Vogt, OAK

C – Derek Norris, SD

C – Jake Realmuto, MIA

1B- Joey Votto, CIN

1B – Miguel Cabrera, DET

2B – Ian Kinsler, DET

2B – Dee Gordon, MIA

SS – Andrelton Simmons, ATL

SS – Marcus Semien, OAK

3B – Nolan Arenado, COL

3B – Kyle Seager, SEA

3B – Todd Frazier, CIN

LF – Justin Upton, SD

LF – Christian Yelich, MIA

CF – Adam Eaton, CHI

CF – Odubel Herrera, PHI

RF – Nelson Cruz, SEA

RF – JD Martinez, DET

SP – Chris Sale, CHI

SP – Tyson Ross, SD

SP – Jose Quintana, CHI

SP – Shelby Miller, ATL

SP – Sonny Gray, OAK

RP – Aroldis Chapman, CIN

RP – Carson Smith, SEA

RP – Ken Giles, PHI

RP – Will Smith, MIL

RP – David Robertson, CHI

RP – Blaine Hardy, DET

RP – Shawn Kelley, SD

Honorable Mention – Nick Hundley, AJ Pierznysnki, Josh Phegley, Jose Abreu, Freddie Freeman, Adam Lind, Robinson Cano, Brandon Phillips, DJ LeMahieu, Cory Spangenberg, Ketel Marte, Adeiny Hechavarria, Yangervis Solarte, Martin Prado, Charlie Blackmon, Billy Burns, Ryan Braun, Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Reddick, Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Verlander, Jessie Hahn, Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Anthony DeSclafani, Craig Kimbrel, Francisco Rodriguez, Arodys Vizcaino.