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In preparation for next week's Winter Meetings, and while considering James Loney's trade value, I wanted to find some context for his 2015 win score. Luck you, I decided to share them. Here are the worst single season performances in Rays history according to fWAR, as calculated by Fangraphs.
Drink responsibly.
Offense
| # | Season | Name | PA | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR |
| 1 | 2014 | Jose Molina | 247 | 5.7% | 22.3% | .009 | .233 | .178 | .230 | .187 | .196 | 21 | -1.4 |
| 2 | 2003 | Damion Easley | 110 | 1.8% | 16.4% | .075 | .216 | .187 | .202 | .262 | .203 | 15 | -1.3 |
| 3 | 2004 | Damian Rolls | 132 | 7.6% | 27.3% | .043 | .229 | .162 | .231 | .205 | .204 | 14 | -1.3 |
| 4 | 2015 | James Loney | 388 | 5.9% | 8.8% | .078 | .298 | .280 | .322 | .357 | .294 | 88 | -1.3 |
| 5 | 1999 | Quinton McCracken | 165 | 8.5% | 13.9% | .074 | .288 | .250 | .317 | .324 | .293 | 66 | -1.2 |
| 6 | 2012 | Hideki Matsui | 103 | 7.8% | 21.4% | .074 | .169 | .147 | .214 | .221 | .195 | 20 | -1.2 |
| 7 | 1999 | Bobby Smith | 219 | 7.3% | 29.2% | .075 | .248 | .181 | .244 | .256 | .230 | 25 | -1.2 |
| 8 | 2007 | Ben Zobrist | 105 | 2.9% | 20.0% | .052 | .182 | .155 | .184 | .206 | .176 | -4 | -1.1 |
| 9 | 2011 | Reid Brignac | 264 | 3.8% | 23.9% | .028 | .254 | .193 | .227 | .221 | .202 | 24 | -1.1 |
| 10 | 1999 | Jose Guillen | 186 | 5.4% | 19.4% | .095 | .298 | .244 | .312 | .339 | .294 | 66 | -1.1 |
| 11 | 2001 | Aubrey Huff | 434 | 5.3% | 16.6% | .124 | .284 | .248 | .288 | .372 | .286 | 71 | -1.0 |
| 12 | 2004 | Robert Fick | 238 | 8.4% | 13.4% | .126 | .208 | .201 | .273 | .327 | .263 | 53 | -1.0 |
| 13 | 2015 | Jake Elmore | 158 | 7.6% | 15.8% | .078 | .231 | .206 | .263 | .284 | .241 | 51 | -1.0 |
| 14 | 2006 | Jorge Cantu | 448 | 5.8% | 20.3% | .155 | .283 | .249 | .295 | .404 | .300 | 78 | -1.0 |
Bet you didn't expect a Zobrist sighting!
For the first list, I was going to cap at the top ten, but making the cutoff a full negative win was more fun.
The Molina ranking includes defense, but not sure how well that's graded here. These numbers do not account for his best skill: the glove (aka pitch framing). Likewise, the Rays believe in Loney's glove in more minute ways than Fangraphs captures. It's quite possible that UZR misses more with first base defense than at some other positions.
The commitment to defense is strong with this franchise.
Pitching
| # | Season | Name | W | L | SV | G | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BABIP | ERA | FIP | WAR |
| 1 | 2005 | Dewon Brazelton | 1 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 71 | 5.45 | 7.61 | 1.52 | .319 | 7.61 | 6.71 | -1.1 |
| 2 | 1998 | Dennis Springer | 3 | 11 | 0 | 29 | 17 | 115.2 | 3.58 | 4.67 | 1.63 | .262 | 5.45 | 6.57 | -1.0 |
| 3 | 2004 | Doug Waechter | 5 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 70.1 | 4.61 | 4.22 | 2.56 | .222 | 6.01 | 7.30 | -0.9 |
| 4 | 2005 | Travis Harper | 4 | 6 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 73.1 | 4.91 | 2.95 | 1.72 | .306 | 6.75 | 5.43 | -0.9 |
| 5 | 2003 | Nick Bierbrodt | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 35.1 | 5.09 | 5.86 | 2.29 | .376 | 9.68 | 7.59 | -0.9 |
| 6 | 2006 | Chad Orvella | 1 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 24.1 | 6.29 | 7.4 | 2.22 | .357 | 7.40 | 7.79 | -0.9 |
| 7 | 2011 | Andy Sonnanstine | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 35.2 | 3.03 | 3.03 | 2.52 | .256 | 5.55 | 7.09 | -0.8 |
| 8 | 2000 | Dwight Gooden | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 36.2 | 5.65 | 4.91 | 3.44 | .292 | 6.63 | 8.73 | -0.8 |
| 9 | 2007 | Brian Stokes | 2 | 7 | 0 | 59 | 0 | 62.1 | 5.05 | 3.61 | 1.59 | .359 | 7.07 | 5.76 | -0.8 |
| 10 | 2008 | Troy Percival | 2 | 1 | 28 | 50 | 0 | 45.2 | 7.49 | 5.32 | 1.77 | .168 | 4.53 | 5.87 | -0.8 |
On the bright side, you might think, look how long its been since we had a Rays pitcher dwindle this low in win contribution!
Au contraire, the recently released (and then sold for cash) Kirby Yates had -0.7 WAR in 20.1 IP last season, 11th on the all time single-season list, while Ernesto Frieri tallied -0.5 in 23.1 IP, good for 20th.
If you have one of the above jerseys, you win a popsicle.