Good news and bad news. The good news is that Augie Ojeda will be heading back to Iowa and his replacement is hitting .225 points higher than him.
The bad news is that .225 points higher than Augie’s batting average is .225. Blecch.
And so, Tony Womack joins the cast of punchless wonders on the Cubs roster that includes Tom Goodwin, Kenny Lofton and Doug Glanville. Has any team ever fielded four hitters of such prowess (or lack thereof)…ever? Methinks not.
You shudder to think of the possibilities. Perhaps Dusty can trot this lineup out some night.
cf Lofton
2b Womack
rf Goodwin
lf Glanville
1b Karros
3b Martinez
ss Gonzalez
c Bako
That team could play an entire doubleheader and not get a runner past second base.
Tony Womack?
What, was Otis Nixon not available?
Because we’re dopes, we’re wondering what number Womack will wear. He usually wears #5, but that’s Goodwin’s, but if he wants to fit in, he should do what Kenny Lofton did and convince Ramon Martinez to switch numbers again.
If he does, check out the single digits on the Cubs.
1 – Augie Ojeda (.000 — 0-20)
2 – Gene Clines, 1b coach (same batting average as Augie)
3 – Wave ’em home Wendell Kim (same batting average as Augie)
4 – Doug Glanville (.158 with the Cubs)
5 – Tom Goodwin (.684 OPS)
6 – Tony Womack (.190 with Colorado!)
7 – Kenny Lofton (.335 on base average)
8 – Alex Gonzalez (.229 ba, .290 obp)
9 – Paul Bako (.213 ba, .291 slg)
That has to be the worst assortment of inepitude, ever.
You have no idea just how bad this move is. You could literally have signed country singer Lee Ann Womack and she’d have more value.
Or, perhaps Tom Wopat. He’d have been a better choice, too.
Let’s assume that Tony is going to play second base until Mark Grudzielanek comes back. He’s a bad defensive player and he can’t hit. But he can run!
Then what does he do? Pinch run?
Yikes.
You dare to knock Luke Duke, Tom Wopat?
He beats all you never saw, been in trouble with the law since the day he was born…
Andy, how about the Delino DepantyShields, Joe Girardi, Chris Stynes, Damon Buford, and Darren Lewis conglomeration of last year? That was worse.
Womack sucks big time. Some stats from Lee Sinins of baseball-encyclopedia.com:
After .652 OPS and .678 OPS seasons with the Diamondbacks, Womack is every pitchers’ dream, "hitting" .304 SLG, .251 OBA, .555 OPS, in 83 games (61 with the Diamondbacks, 21 for the Rockies and 1 for the Cubs). He has a .675 career OPS, compared to his league average of .777, in 1002 games.
Womack’s .158 offensive winning percentage is not only as offensive as they come, but he’d have to go on a big hot streak just to raise himself up to being as bad as an average Tiger.
If you took a whole team of Womacks, they’d be an impressive 11 games behind the Tigers–and that’s assuming that they are given an average pitching staff. If they gave up runs at an equivalent rate below the league average as to how many they’d score, their 9-115 record would put them 22 games behind the Tigers.
Womack has the 4th worst OPS vs. the league average, among active players
with 1000+ games–
OPS DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE G
1 Rey Sanchez -.122 .644 .766 1348
2 Brian Hunter -.114 .660 .773 1000
3 Tom Goodwin -.104 .675 .779 1189
4 Tony Womack -.102 .675 .777 1002
5 Jose Vizcaino -.099 .664 .763 1475
6 Joe Girardi -.097 .665 .762 1268
7 Chris Gomez -.090 .679 .769 1068
8 Brad Ausmus -.089 .685 .774 1283
9 Royce Clayton -.087 .678 .764 1578
10 Mike Bordick -.082 .685 .767 1692
Spudart’s info is impressive. What’s depressive is look at how many of those guys on that list are current or former Cubs…
Sanchez, Goodwin, Womack, Vizcaino, Girardi…throw in former Sock Clayton and Chicago has cornered the market.
Yikes, indeed.
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