Pitching and defense go hand-in-hand in baseball like love and marriage and a horse and carriage.
Yet, while such statistics as earned run average, WHIP (walk and hits per innings pitched) and strikeout-to-walk ratio can help identify who the best pitchers are, defense is much harder to quantify. Traditional defensive statistics such as fielding percentage and errors don't always accurately gauge the quality of a fielder for a variety of reasons.
However, some of the more advanced metrics developed in recent years do a better job of discerning good defense from bad as they measure how many plays a fielder made compared to the league average. Among those statistics are Baseball Prospectus' Defensive Efficiency (DE) and Fielding Runs Above Average (FRAA), and Fangraphs' Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR).
Using those statistics, let's look at the five worst defensive teams in the major leagues, some players who make them such bad fielding teams and starting pitchers must likely to be hurt by leaky defense.
Statistics as of Saturday, May 14, 2011.
Houston Astros (14-24, -7.70 units, 22-16 over/under)
The Astros are the “Lastros” when it comes to defense, as they rank last in both DE and UZR. Second baseman Bill Hall has been awful at the keystone with minus-6.2 FRAA and minus-6.3 UZR. For reference sake, every 10 points is considered the equivalent of one win or loss.
Hall ranks as the worst defensive player in baseball, according to FRAA, while UZR pegs him as the sixth-worst behind Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez, Atlanta Braves center fielder Nate McLouth, Oakland Athletics left fielder Josh Willingham, Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki and Chicago White Sox left fielder Juan Pierre.
Anyone who averages less than a combined 10.0 strikeouts and walks per nine innings can be considered a pitch-to-contact type and therefore needs a good defense behind him to be successful. Wandy Rodriguez fits that mold on the Astros, averaging 1.9 walks per nine innings and 7.1 strikeouts. The left-hander's best strategy seemingly is to keep opposing batters from hitting the ball to Hall.
Seattle Mariners (16-23, -5.47 units, 20-16-3 over/under)
The Mariners are 28th among the 30 major-league teams in DE and 27th in UZR, making them the Astros of the American League.
While Ichiro has won Gold Gloves in each of his 10 season since coming to the major leagues from Japan, it is clearly on reputation, especially in light of his advanced metrics this season. He has minus-4.8 FRAA and minus-6.6 UZR - the lowest on the team by both measures.
Pity any Mariners pitcher who allows a fly ball to the outfield. Ryan Langerhans, now at Triple-A Tacoma, is a minus-5.8 in UZR, and Milton Bradley, released earlier this week, was a minus-4.9. The Mariners have two starters who rely heavily on their defense in Doug Fister (2.3/5.9) and Jason Vargas (2.1/5.6).
Chicago Cubs (17-20, -4.12 units, 21-16 over/under)
Starlin Castro, the Cubs' 21-year-old shortstop, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week. It obviously wasn't for his defense, as his minus-4.1 FRAA is the worst on the team. He doesn't fare much better in UZR with a minus-1.9 mark.
As a team, the Cubs rank 29th in DE and 21st in UZR. Perennial left field butcher Alfonso Soriano has the worst UZR on the club at minus-2.5. FRAA treats him a little better with a minus-0.4 mark.
Carlos Zambrano needs good defense as he is walking 2.8 and striking out 6.3 per nine innings. Ironically, he is not helping his cause. He is the worst-fielding pitcher in the majors in terms of FRAA with minus-1.2.
Chicago White Sox (16-23, -8.81 units, 16-21-2 over/under)
Bad fielding abounds in the Windy City. Is it because of the wind? Or are the Cubs and White Sox eating too much deep dish pizza? Whatever the reason, a number of ChiSox are faring poorly in the defensive metrics and, as a team, they are 23rd in both DE and UZR.
Third baseman Brent Morel, who White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen predicts has a Gold Glove in his future, is minus-3.4 in FRAA, and left fielder Carlos Quentin is at 3.0, though both are on the plus side of the UZR ledger. Conversely, Pierre is awful in the UZR measure but scores positively in FRAA.
The White Sox need to support their pitchers with good defense more than most teams as they have three starters who get hitters to put the ball in play frequently: Mark Buehrle (2.4/4.2), Phil Humber (2.2/5.2) and John Danks (2.8/6.9).
Los Angeles Dodgers (19-20, -2.84, 20-16-3 over/under)
First-year manager Don Mattingly has raved about Matt Kemp's play in center fielder. FRAA and UZR disagree, grading him at minus-5.1 and minus-4.2 respectively. Kemp is part of the reason why the Dodgers rank 26th in FRAA and 18th in UZR.
Utility infielder Jamey Carroll has been a sub-par fill-in for injured shortstop Rafael Furcal, with a minus-2.2 FRAA and minus-1.7 UZR. Better up-the-middle defense would certainly aid Ted Lilly (1.8 /5.9), Jon Garland (2.8/5.9) and Hiroki Kuroda (2.2/6.9).
