in his walk year his wrc+ was only 97. the 120 was the year before and it was by far his best. The year before 120 it was 107.
I grant you he would have gotten paid more. Chris Carter hit 41 bombs and would have been the top $ guy 20 years ago.
But you put that all on these guy's defense. It's not. The 222 batting avg and 320 OBP are impacting carter much more than defense. If they were around 400 OBPs like Miggy then people would pay them and deal with the negative defense like they do with Miggy.
His WRC+ is 97 this season. It was 123 last year.
And it's not just their defense but it's a major part of it. You are right that OBP is more valuable than SLG which is why many prefer WOBA to OPS since OPS values OBP incorrectly. Be that as it may. The WAR stat as a whole accurately depicts these types of players which is my point.
Yes Miggy has bad defense and teams still pay him mega bucks. Because he is(was) a top hitter in baseball. Bad defenders who are upper echelon hitters still have really awesome WAR numbers. Horrible defenders who are just above average to good hitters do not. Which is why players like Trumbo and Kemp are generally rated as below average players and get paid accordingly.