Can you suck with 120 RBI? Does Albert Pujols suck?

There have been 463 player seasons with at least 120 RBI. Some players did it multiple times.

We all know that RBI depends a lot on opportunities. But does a certain threshold indicate that the batter must have at least not sucked?

By Joe Posnanski
THE LOST YEARS OF PUJOLS NBC Sports
Albert Pujols used to be amazing

Albert Pujols is about to finish his fifth year with the Los Angeles Angels... an overpaid designated hitter in the middle of the lineup for a going-nowhere Los Angeles Angels team.

there will be an effort by some to say Pujols is actually having a pretty good year because, you know, RBIs. He has 100 of them as of August 26, just one off the American League lead, which means he could end up with 120 or so by year’s end. He could lead the American League. We are so conditioned to think of RBIs as a meaningful statistic that it seems illogical that someone could put up 120 RBIs and have a bad year. But that’s the case with Pujols.

He has all these RBIs for two simple reasons:

1. He comes to the plate with more runners on base than any player in baseball — and it isn’t even close. It’s nice to hit behind Mike Trout, who leads the league in on-base percentage...
2. Pujols does still swat the occasional homer (he’s got 24 of them), and he has timed his hits pretty well. Sixteen of his 24 homers are with runners on base. He’s hitting .310 with men on base, .200 without. You can chalk this up to his clutch hitting abilities if you are in that camp ...
____________________

Here are the lowest OPS+ for seasons with 120 RBI:

Rk	Player	OPS+	RBI	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Moose Solters	95	134	1936	30	SLB	AL	152	676	628	100	183	45	7	17	41		76	1	6			3	0	.291	.336	.467	.802	*7/8H
2	Pinky Whitney	99	124	1932	27	PHI	NL	154	677	624	93	186	33	11	13	35		66	0	19			6		.298	.335	.449	.784	*5/4H
3	Dante Bichette	102	133	1999	35	COL	NL	151	659	593	104	177	38	2	34	54	3	84	2	0	10	15	6	6	.298	.354	.541	.895	*7/HD
4	Glenn Wright	102	121	1925	24	PIT	NL	153	660	614	97	189	32	10	18	31		32	0	15			3	7	.308	.341	.480	.822	*6/5
5	Garret Anderson	104	123	2001	29	ANA	AL	161	704	672	83	194	39	2	28	27	4	100	0	0	5	12	13	6	.289	.314	.478	.792	*78D
6	Jeff Kent	105	121	1997	29	SFG	NL	155	651	580	90	145	38	2	29	48	6	133	13	0	10	14	11	3	.250	.316	.472	.789	*43/H
7	Dante Bichette	108	122	1998	34	COL	NL	161	695	662	97	219	48	2	22	28	2	76	1	0	4	22	14	4	.331	.357	.509	.866	*79/HD
8	Vinny Castilla	109	131	2004	36	COL	NL	148	648	583	93	158	43	3	35	51	6	113	6	0	8	22	0	0	.271	.332	.535	.867	*5/H
9	Preston Wilson	109	121	2000	25	FLA	NL	161	674	605	94	160	35	3	31	55	1	187	8	0	6	11	36	14	.264	.331	.486	.817	*8/H
10	Larry Gardner	109	120	1921	35	CLE	AL	153	686	586	101	187	32	14	3	65		16	4	31			3	3	.319	.391	.437	.828	*5/H
11	Dante Bichette	112	141	1996	32	COL	NL	159	694	633	114	198	39	3	31	45	4	105	6	0	10	18	31	12	.313	.359	.531	.890	*97/H
12	Joe Carter	112	121	1993	33	TOR	AL	155	669	603	92	153	33	5	33	47	5	113	9	0	10	10	8	3	.254	.312	.489	.802	*97/DH
13	Jim Rice	112	122	1984	31	BOS	AL	159	708	657	98	184	25	7	28	44	8	102	1	0	6	36	4	0	.280	.323	.467	.791	*7/D
14	Preston Wilson	113	141	2003	28	COL	NL	155	661	600	94	169	43	1	36	54	1	139	4	0	3	23	14	7	.282	.343	.537	.880	*8/H7
15	Vern Stephens	113	144	1950	29	BOS	AL	149	693	628	125	185	34	6	30	65		43	0	0		21	1	0	.295	.361	.511	.872	*6/H
16	Vern Stephens	113	137	1948	27	BOS	AL	155	715	635	114	171	25	8	29	77		56	2	2		25	1	0	.269	.350	.471	.821	*6
17	Pie Traynor	113	124	1928	29	PIT	NL	144	640	569	91	192	38	12	3	28		10	1	42			12		.337	.370	.462	.832	*5
18	Tony Lazzeri	114	121	1930	26	NYY	AL	143	650	571	109	173	34	15	9	60		62	3	16			4	4	.303	.372	.462	.835	*45/6H37
19	Glenn Wright	114	126	1930	29	BRO	NL	135	581	532	83	171	28	12	22	32		70	0	17			2		.321	.360	.543	.903	*6/H
20	Irish Meusel	114	125	1923	30	NYG	NL	146	648	595	102	177	22	14	19	38		16	1	15			8	8	.297	.341	.477	.818	*7/H
21	Del Ennis	116	125	1953	28	PHI	NL	152	643	578	79	165	22	3	29	57		53	5	3		14	1	3	.285	.355	.484	.839	*7/H
22	Bobby Doerr	116	120	1950	32	BOS	AL	149	663	586	103	172	29	11	27	67		42	1	9		21	3	4	.294	.367	.519	.886	*4
23	Rusty Staub	117	121	1978	34	DET	AL	162	734	642	75	175	30	1	24	76	5	35	3	2	11	24	3	1	.273	.347	.435	.782	*D
24	Hank Majeski	117	120	1948	31	PHA	AL	148	645	590	88	183	41	4	12	48		43	6	2		19	2	1	.310	.368	.454	.822	*5/6
25	Matt Williams	118	142	1999	33	ARI	NL	154	678	627	98	190	37	2	35	41	9	93	2	0	8	17	2	0	.303	.344	.536	.880	*5/H
Rk	Player	OPS+	RBI	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
26	Jeromy Burnitz	118	125	1998	29	MIL	NL	161	691	609	92	160	28	1	38	70	7	158	4	1	7	9	7	4	.263	.339	.499	.838	*9/H8
27	Cecil Fielder	118	124	1992	28	DET	AL	155	676	594	80	145	22	0	35	73	8	151	2	0	7	14	0	0	.244	.325	.458	.783	*3D
28	Dale Alexander	118	135	1930	27	DET	AL	154	660	602	86	196	33	8	20	42		56	2	14			6	5	.326	.372	.507	.878	*3
29	Don Hurst	119	125	1929	23	PHI	NL	154	692	589	100	179	29	4	31	80		36	3	20			10		.304	.390	.525	.914	*3
30	Beau Bell	120	123	1936	28	SLB	AL	155	683	616	100	212	40	12	11	60		55	1	6			4	1	.344	.403	.502	.905	*937
31	Bob Meusel	120	124	1924	27	NYY	AL	143	630	579	93	188	40	11	12	32		43	5	14			26	14	.325	.365	.494	.859	*79/85

Only two are below league average, OPS+ 100, both in the 1930s with 95 and 99. Ten are below OPS+ 110, ten percent above league average. Does 10% above suck? We quickly progress to number 30 worst at 20% above, which certainly does not suck. Five of the 31 worst led their league in RBI. Only Preston Wilson led his league in SO: 187, the most of the 31. Dante Bichette led his league in hits. None of the 31 worst led in HR; Jeremy Burnitz had the most HR: 38; Larry Gardner and Pie Traynor the fewest: 3 HR. Most recent of the 31: Vinny Castilla 2004. First: Larry Gardner 1921. Cecil Fielder had the lowest BA: .244. Lowest OBP: Joe Carter: .312; no OBP over .391. Eleven SLG over .500; lowest: Rusty Staub .435.

Albert Pujols has OPS+ 110. Albert Pujols is having a good season and not simply because he has Mike Trout getting on base in front of him. His five Angels season OPS+: 138, 116, 126, 118, 110. In 3,004 Angels PA: OPS+ 123.

Pujols was better with the Cardinals when he was younger. Duh. 7,433 PA, OPS+ 170. That's why the Cardinals let him go.

The biggest bopper free agent in the off season was the much maligned first baseman Chris Davis who re-signed with Baltimore. Conventional wisdom was that he was a bad option. Conventional wisdom was that free agent OF Jason Heyward was a great value because of his fielding.

Davis leads in SO with 175 but his OPS+ is 113 and he has 32 HR, 72 RBI. In 2013 and 2015 Davis led in HR with 53 and 47.

Heyward OPS+ 70. That's 70% of league average in the batter's box.

WAR in 2016:
Davis: 2.9
Pujols: 1.0
Heyward 0.9

In 2016 neither Pujols nor Davis suck but Heyward does suck.

Conventional wisdom isn't something to flaunt. It can make you look silly.