A final note on Willy Taveras

The Wee Willy Taveras era in Cincinnati is, mercifully, over. One of our loyal readers, however, pointed me to this post at FanGraphs that kinda sums up what we went through last year: Willy Taveras is jobless. Not for too long, since the A’s will either lose him on waivers — not sure lose is the right word here — or he could find himself in Triple-A. His employment in limbo stems, in large part, because his on-base percentage was .275 last season. Here’s some food for thought. Zack Greinke was pretty much the best pitcher in the American League last season. Greinke’s on-base percentage against was .276. That means, Taveras got on base less against all pitchers faced than the rest of baseball did against the league’s best pitcher. … It does surprise me that Taveras racked up nearly 400 plate appearances as the Reds’ leadoff man. I guess there’s nothing like starting every game by facing Zack Greinke. Heh. (We can laugh about it now, right? Right?)