If WAR would’ve been prevalent in the late-90’s early 2000’s, then the Braves likely wouldn’t have gotten themselves in this mess. However, if they wouldn’t have gotten themselves into this mess, then we wouldn’t have wankers to write about, especially Braves One Year Wanker, Rico Brogna.
Braves One Year Wanker, Rico Brogna
What a wanker. During a run where the Braves were legitimately trying to be a World Series contender year-in and year-out, they handed some key offensive position jobs to some guys who were not key offensive position guys. The Braves had such an incredible core in the 90’s and 00’s: Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Javy Lopez, Rafael Furcal, etc. You know all the names. They produced some tremendous additional pieces: Marcus Giles, Kevin Millwood, John Rocker, etc. They would also get lucky with fliers turning in big seasons, and the 2001 season was no different. John Burkett, at age-36 season, made the All-Star team.
But the Braves had a hole at first base. Andres Galarraga had a tremendous comeback year, and he was gone. Aging veterans Bobby Bonilla and Wally Joyner didn’t get the job done in limited roles at first base the year previous. The Braves learned their lesson, right? You need a Galarraga, not a Joyner, right? No. Instead, the Braves signed Rico Brogna.
Braves One Year Wanker, Rico Brogna…Living in the Land of Bad Ideas
The team had gotten expensive with the aforementioned players all, at that point, making big money, so duct tape and chewing gum had to be used to fill out the rest of the roster. There really was no reason to think that Brogna was going to be the answer, but they had some success in the scratch-and-dent aisle, so why not? But Brogna had not had a league-average OPS since his age-26 season, and his age-31 season would be no different. At first base, no less, Brogna put up a .632 OPS, 62 OPS+. After 223 PAs, and he was gone.
The Braves would then turn to fellow wankers, one of which of the one-year persuasion. Ken Caminiti would be another person to finish his career playing first base for the Braves in 2001, and we have already read how well that went. Wes Helms got some action at first, and though he fared better (83 OPS+), it wasn’t enough to keep the Braves from digging Julio Franco out of retirement. That’s how bad it was. Franco was the only saving grace of the first base position that year, hitting .302/.376/.444 in 102 PAs at the incredible age of 42.
The Braves’ offense that year would only have two league average hitters, Chipper and Brian Jordan. The rest was a disappointing lot, with Brogna leading the pack. What a wanker.
Thanks for reading about Braves One Year Wanker, Rico Brogna. If you’ve enjoyed this series, look into our Braves History category for all the Wankers and Wonders!
Brogna looked like a hitter, but boy he wasn’t one.
My only good memory of Brogna is that when “Rico Suave” came out, it made nominating Brogna at my fantasy auction a lot more fun. This is also my only good memory of “Rico Suave.”
That’s one more good memory than I have! As a matter of fact, on reflection, I cannot call to mind a single memory of Rico Brogna in a Braves uniform. It’s sort of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
So, I decided to do what I do pretty much all the time for any reason: go to baseball-reference.com.
Perhaps, like me, you are wondering just how crappy Rico Brogna truly was. The answer is: even worse than you thought.
First, he had no power. None. His slugging percentage in 2001, the year that Barry Bonds set the all-time home run record, and the NL as a league slugged .425, was .335. His ISO was .087; the NL ISO was .164, and remember, that’s including pitchers. (Thanks to pinch hitters and designated hitters in interleague play, pitchers accounted for just under 6% of league PA.) You will not be shocked to learn that he was the worst and most punchless first sacker in all of baseball.
As a 1B, he made Gerald Perry look like Eddie Murray.
But his offense was matched by his peerless defense, peerless in the sense that, for a banjo-hitting first baseman whose primary job is to be tall and stretch out when the ball is thrown at him, he still managed to be among the very worst in baseball at that job, too. This was primarily driven by a 1997 season with the Phillies when he led all first basemen with -17 Total Zone runs. For the rest of his career, he was right around 0. He was a mediocrity who occasionally soared to putridity.
Indeed, I can absolutely guarantee you that there is exactly and precisely one reason that he struck the Braves as a valid candidate to receive 11% of the team’s at-bats: he had 104 RBI in 1998, and 102 RBI in 1999.
And yet it all started so well. In each of first two games in 2001, he had a single and a double; he was sitting at a .500 average with .750 slugging. Unfortunately, he only had two more extra base hits the rest of the month — indeed, after a double on April 16, he did not manage another extra-base hit until May 22. The end of May marked the absolute end of his playability as a major leaguer. On May 22, 25, and 26, Brogna hit four doubles in ten at-bats, raising his average from .255 to .267. For the rest of the year, he went 20 for 90 with three walks, good for a triple slash of .222/.253/.311, which is literally worse than Corky Miller’s career batting line of .193/.277/.306.
Brogna should have been cut in May, and if not in May then in June. Somehow, the Braves allowed him to pinch-hit twice after the All-Star Break before putting us our of our misery and cutting him for good.
I cannot imagine a fate worse than being the last person on earth to realize that I’m a miserable shell of my former self, play-acting a ridiculous farce wearing the clothes of the man I thought I was. I hope Rico Brogna is happy in retirement, wherever he is today. I hope the Braves never have another first baseman that bad.
So, Alex, what you’re saying is that Rico Brogna was not very good?
So, Alex, what you’re saying is that Rico Brogna was a real wanker?
I dunno, “wanker” is a word I associate with being a real jerk, and I have no idea what his personality was. I just know that he could not hit to a degree almost impossible to fathom at the height of the Steroid Era.
I think Alex is coming round to actually appreciating Rico
Rico Brogna
Not appreciably worse than, “Red Sonja”
When hitting, he was no prince but a beggar
Much like Arnold Schwartzenegger
The only thing I remember about Rico Brogna was that walk-up music was Enya.
Say, can anyone here recommend a good book about the very early days of baseball? Specifically the Civil War era through the early professional leagues in the 1870s-80s.
Definitely read Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn if you haven’t before. Brilliant book about early baseball.
By the way, good for the Braves.
https://mobile.twitter.com/kileymcd/status/1249019792813686784
Just to be clear about Rico. He had a horrible broken wrist/forearm that he just never recovered from. https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/05/12/Rico-Brogna-has-surgery-on-forearm/2483958104000/ The Braves play for him was apparently on the theory that it had recovered.
@11
Yeah…the more I’ve studied on this, the more it feels like the the Braves were the wankers because they signed him.
@11, that makes sense. Given that, the Braves possibly should have had an even shorter leash for him. But he was batting 8th on Opening Day; he was clearly just an inexpensive roster-filler.
You’d think they’d have noticed he didn’t have any punch in his bat in Spring Training.
JD Drew was the One-Year Wonderwanker
JD Drew is coming up later in the series. Hold your fire until then.
Sorry, that was all the ammo I had.
Happy Easter, everyone! New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2020/04/12/braves-one-year-wonder-aaron-harang/