ESPN: Who had the Worst Defensive Season Ever?

[weams]

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/54599/who-had-the-worst-defensive-season-ever

Buster Olney ranked his top 10 team defenses in his blog post Thursday, which got me thinking about bad defense. I checked Baseball-Reference.com for their list of worst individual fielding seasons and thought it would be fun to look at the bottom 10. Defensive metrics aren't as foolproof as some other numbers, so let's dig deeper into what may have caused these poor ratings. Plus, don't you want to read about the worst defender ever? Make a guess now ...

(Note: Baseball-Reference uses fielding runs below average, which can be drawn from two different sources depending on the year. Since 2002, the site uses defensive runs saved; prior to that, it uses total zone. A third defensive metric that I'll mention in the piece below is ultimate zone rating, available at FanGraphs. It's also interesting that all 10 seasons here occurred since 1990, which is a reflection of more data available to grade defense.)

[25 Nuggets]

I must say, I didn't expect the Tigers to move Miguel Cabrera to 1B and get WORSE defense from the hot corner.

[PA724_Oriole]

I must say, I didn't expect the Tigers to move Miguel Cabrera to 1B and get WORSE defense from the hot corner.

You would think. But it takes more to play third than just lateral quickness.

Guys with a high baseball IQ like Miggy sometimes are able to overcome that weakness with good instincts and positioning from knowing how the pitcher is pitching the batter.

I realize Miggy has gotten slow and cant cover as much ground now a days, but they took arguably their smartest player and put him at the most dumbed down position in baseball.

[25 Nuggets]

I get that and it's nice to have Miggy available to play 3B, but he really belongs on the other side. It has a lot more to do with the failing of Nick Castellanos.

Detroit still made out on the Fielder/Kinsler deal because Fielder got hurt, Kinsler had his best defensive year to date at 2B, and V-Mart was a superb DH. Iglesias is coming back at SS so Castellanos simply has to step up. If he can't the Tigers should be looking to move his position or trade him.