Pure Hubris

The Deadspin list of 100 Worst Baseball Players of All Time (Part 1/Part 2) is well worth your time, but it is shockingly bereft of Marlins (seriously, no Orestes Destrade, Miguel Olivo, or Emilio Bonifacio?). Maybe this offseason Ted and I will make a list of the 10 worst Marlins of all time, but in the meantime, there's always Julian Tavarez:

53. Julian Tavarez, 1993-2009 (Giants/Cardinals/Indians/Red Sox/Pirates/Rockies/Nationals/Braves/Cubs/Marlins/Brewers)
Many players with reputations for lousy personalities make up for it by winning the respect of their teammates. Julian Tavarez, who was in all fairness a pretty average pitcher, did not pursue this option. Instead, he became notorious for throwing fastballs at his former teammates after somebody—usually Tavarez, who played on ten teams—changed franchises. Tavarez called San Francisco Giants fans "a bunch of assholes and faggots." He got into fights, multiple ones during Spring Trainings, even. He broke things in dugouts and bullpens. Once, while playing for the Red Sox, Tavarez fielded a slow grounder up the line and rolled the ball to first baseman Kevin Youkilis. "Because I want to," he said.

Oh Julian, no one held a grudge like you did. Not even Jose Mesa (who famously plunked Omar Vizquel nearly every time he faced him after Vizquel trashed him in his book for blowing a save in game 7 of the 1997 World Series while both played for the Indians).

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Hey, remember Miguel Olivo?

Via the indispensable Stat of the Day blog at Baseball Reference, do you remember how awful Miguel Olivo was at getting on base? In 2006, he became the only player in MLB history to strike out over 100 times while walking less than 10 times. This year in Kansas City, Olivo has struck out 93 times with 8 walks, putting him on pace to duplicate his 2006 feat as long as he does not walk twice the rest of the season (I'd say he has a better than 50/50 shot).

Miguel was probably the biggest free-swinger on the team during 2006 and 2007. Rarely were there at bats in which he would take the first pitch. When he made contact on the first pitch, he was golden, hitting .444 with 11 home runs (he hit 16 total that year) with a 1.369 (!!) OPS. But if a pitcher got past the first pitch, Olivo wasn't that tough to retire, hitting .215 with a .555 OPS after the first pitch. Not surprisingly, the Marlins let Olivo walk after 2007, opting to go with anyone but Olivo, and eventually settling on John Baker, who could actually, you know, get on base...

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