As baseball prepares to honor its all stars, Fangraphs writer Jonah Keri published his list of the most disappointing players in MLB over the first half of the season. He picks one player from each position who has been hurting his team over the first half and at LF is the Phillies own Raul Ibanez, who has a minus-1.3 WAR so far.
↵↵↵The scary thing about Ibanez's performance (he's last among major league left fielders in WAR) is that these numbers look infinitely better than the ones he posted in April (.465 OPS). But after a monster May in which he swatted 16 extra-base hits, Ibanez hit .211/.258/.311 in June and looks like a player who should be cut -- or at least benched, given the Phillies' World Series aspirations. Despite the Tony Batista-like OBP, Ibanez's biggest problem, as ever, in his defense. He's one of the worst everyday defenders in the majors, so much so that he needs to put up major offensive numbers to become a valuable player. The Phillies are rumored to be shopping for a right-handed bat to bolster their lineup down the stretch. They should be shopping for someone to replace Ibanez, period.
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Unlike some of the players on his list like Joe Mauer, Dan Uggla & Chone Figgins Ibanez is not signed to an uber expensive long term deal. He's in the final year of his contract, so while they will still be hoping he has a better second half, the Phils won't be burdened with Raul's contract next year.
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