2008 Underachievers

[badnews]

Miguel Cabrera (always a lock for a .900+ OPS) .833 OPS, not bad but not elite as usual

 

Vernon Wells - .777 OPS - Is he done as a standout player?

 

Jeremy Hermida - .758 OPS - I thought he'd be better than this.

 

Casey Kotchman - .753 OPS - Is the power going to come or not? I thought he was better at drawing walks than this. Shabby for a 1b.

 

Miguel Tejada - .749 OPS - On Baseball Tonight they talk like he's back to his normal self. Apparently not.

 

Alex Rios - .746 OPS. Whoa, where's his power? Coming into the season he was considered elite by some people.

 

Alex Gordon - .740 OPS... is it going to happen or not? He was supposed to be an instantly dynamic producer.

 

Ichiro - .736 OPS - 5 year, $100 million huh?

 

Mark Ellis - .711 OPS - I always hear about what an overlooked gem he is but whenever I look at his numbers they're shabby.

 

Chris Young - .704 OPS - I thought he was going to out Mike Cameron Mike Cameron but he's under Mike Cameroning it out there.

 

Coco Crisp - .703 OPS. No, he's still not back to the days of the Indians. It's not happening!

 

Carl Crawford - .697 OPS. Wow, you suck Carl Crawford.

 

Luis Castillo - .695 - MAYHAPS AN UNWISE CONTRACT BESTOWED

 

Aaron Hill - .685 OPS - Another stinky Blue Jays hitter who should be doing better

 

Orlando Cabrera - .676 OPS, giving Kenny Williams a headache for what should've been a sure-fire victory trade

 

Robinson Cano - .676 OPS. How?

 

Bobby Crosby - .675 OPS. The Long Beach shortstop no one gives a damn about any more.

 

Billy Butler - .674. He's very young but I thought he'd do better than this.

 

Gary Mathews Jr. - .668. Remember those preseason rumors about trading for him? Get that man some HGH stat.

 

Jeff Francoeur - .660 OPS. He's got a strong arm...

 

Austin Kearns - .656. Steroids?

 

Melky Cabrera - .654. I remember all the "What a young stud" talk around the time of the Santana trade rumors.

 

Varitek - .646 OPS. He looks utterly finished.

 

Juan Pierre - .644 OPS. Haw haw.

 

Brad Wilkerson - .643 OPS. It's Austin Kearns' lefthanded brother!

 

Yuniesky Betancourt - .639. I thought this guy was heading up, up, up. Wow was I wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

Daric Barton - .639. Performing like a touted Cubs position prospect.

 

Edgar Renteria - .635. WE DODGED A BULLET GENTLEMEN

 

Carlos Gomez - .634 OPS. Toolsy outfielder Number One Billion to show flashes of brilliance while putting up horrid numbers.

 

Khalil Greene - .598 OPS. ANOTHER BULLET DODGED.

 

Freddy Sanchez - .564. Wow.

 

Kenji Johjima - .539. You're not supposed to use a piano leg.

 

What a strange year so far.

 

Post thoughts and comments.

[imb]

Most of these guys just suck

[badnews]

Yeah. I don't think any of them are as bad this year as they were last year though.

[CubbieBum]

Erik Byrnes should be added. I know he's been hurt but he was bad before he got hurt and awful since (.796 OPS first month - roughly .420 OPS since). Plus he has only 4 stolen bases compared to 50 last year.

 

Also ...

 

Figgins

Helton

B.J. Upton

Carlos Pena

Konerko

Rollins (down pace wise in every stat but SB's and doubles)

Hawpe

Torii

Andruw Jones (down in every stat from last year have fun with that contract LA - fastest fall from grace ever? maybe hardest)

Sheff

Tulo

Zimmerman (OBP under .300 - I'll play for free Washington just give me a bat)

Hafner (Andruw's main competition)

[badnews]

Nice additions. Remember when people used to talk about how the Indians should hurry up and sign Hafner to a $100 million contract before he gets the money he *truly* deserves? Ouch. No way now.

 

Hunter's actually around his career averages.

 

Ryan Zimmerman has to be the sorriest "franchise player" of any franchise. That's who they're building the team around? Yeah.

[razzzorsharp]

Miguel Cabrera (always a lock for a .900+ OPS) .833 OPS, not bad but not elite as usual

 

Vernon Wells - .777 OPS - Is he done as a standout player?

 

Jeremy Hermida - .758 OPS - I thought he'd be better than this.

 

Casey Kotchman - .753 OPS - Is the power going to come or not? I thought he was better at drawing walks than this. Shabby for a 1b.

 

Miguel Tejada - .749 OPS - On Baseball Tonight they talk like he's back to his normal self. Apparently not.

 

Alex Rios - .746 OPS. Whoa, where's his power? Coming into the season he was considered elite by some people.

 

Alex Gordon - .740 OPS... is it going to happen or not? He was supposed to be an instantly dynamic producer.

 

Ichiro - .736 OPS - 5 year, $100 million huh?

 

Mark Ellis - .711 OPS - I always hear about what an overlooked gem he is but whenever I look at his numbers they're shabby.

 

Chris Young - .704 OPS - I thought he was going to out Mike Cameron Mike Cameron but he's under Mike Cameroning it out there.

 

Coco Crisp - .703 OPS. No, he's still not back to the days of the Indians. It's not happening!

 

Carl Crawford - .697 OPS. Wow, you suck Carl Crawford.

 

Luis Castillo - .695 - MAYHAPS AN UNWISE CONTRACT BESTOWED

 

Aaron Hill - .685 OPS - Another stinky Blue Jays hitter who should be doing better

 

Orlando Cabrera - .676 OPS, giving Kenny Williams a headache for what should've been a sure-fire victory trade

 

Robinson Cano - .676 OPS. How?

 

Bobby Crosby - .675 OPS. The Long Beach shortstop no one gives a damn about any more.

 

Billy Butler - .674. He's very young but I thought he'd do better than this.

 

Gary Mathews Jr. - .668. Remember those preseason rumors about trading for him? Get that man some HGH stat.

 

Jeff Francoeur - .660 OPS. He's got a strong arm...

 

Austin Kearns - .656. Steroids?

 

Melky Cabrera - .654. I remember all the "What a young stud" talk around the time of the Santana trade rumors.

 

Varitek - .646 OPS. He looks utterly finished.

 

Juan Pierre - .644 OPS. Haw haw.

 

Brad Wilkerson - .643 OPS. It's Austin Kearns' lefthanded brother!

 

Yuniesky Betancourt - .639. I thought this guy was heading up, up, up. Wow was I wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

Daric Barton - .639. Performing like a touted Cubs position prospect.

 

Edgar Renteria - .635. WE DODGED A BULLET GENTLEMEN

 

Carlos Gomez - .634 OPS. Toolsy outfielder Number One Billion to show flashes of brilliance while putting up horrid numbers.

 

Khalil Greene - .598 OPS. ANOTHER BULLET DODGED.

 

Freddy Sanchez - .564. Wow.

 

Kenji Johjima - .539. You're not supposed to use a piano leg.

 

What a strange year so far.

 

Post thoughts and comments.

 

Bolded guys are just where I think they should be based on their skillset.

[sweetpeteman]

Andruw Jones (down in every stat from last year have fun with that contract LA - fastest fall from grace ever? maybe hardest)

 

 

Nothing about Andruw is fast anymore.

 

And I loved at the beginning of the year where Pierre seemed to be doing well, finally figuring out that he needed to take pitches, only now to prove that that was a fluke.

[UMFan83]

Rickie Weeks?

[Mugged By Fluffy]

Adrian Beltre. 262 avg and .774 OPS.

 

Not absolutely Andruw Jones-like terrible, but when you're making 13.4 mil you gotta be able to do better than that.

[Yanksfan1523]

Cano is killing me! He got a contract and just isn't the same player so far. He has seemed to be coming out of it lately, but it might be too late.

 

Varitek's pending free agency may be the best thing to come out of the Posada contract. It is going to force the Red Sox to over pay for a guy who is done, but handles their pitcher well. At least I hope they do! With no one really becoming a FA (except the catcher formerly known as Pudge) and no one in their minors that is ready, they may not have a choice.

[fromthestretch]

Erik Byrnes should be added. I know he's been hurt but he was bad before he got hurt and awful since (.796 OPS first month - roughly .420 OPS since). Plus he has only 4 stolen bases compared to 50 last year.

 

Also ...

 

Figgins

Helton

B.J. Upton

Carlos Pena

Konerko

Rollins (down pace wise in every stat but SB's and doubles)

Hawpe

Torii

Andruw Jones (down in every stat from last year have fun with that contract LA - fastest fall from grace ever? maybe hardest)

Sheff

Tulo

Zimmerman (OBP under .300 - I'll play for free Washington just give me a bat)

Hafner (Andruw's main competition)

 

Upton might not be hitting as well as last season, but he's still been productive. He has vastly improved his walk rate this season.

 

Pena's overall numbers aren't all that impressive, but he's put up an OPS of .822 since the first week of May. That's not great, but did anyone really expect him to repeat his performance from last season?

 

Torii Hunter is producing like Torii Hunter. He's pretty much at his career averages this season. You could make the same argument about Rollins, although it's easy to be disappointed about his power numbers this season after what he did in 2006 and 2007.

 

As for Zimmerman, he's been playing with a tear in his shoulder this season. He's been disappointing, but it's most likely due to injury.

[fromthestretch]

Adrian Beltre. 262 avg and .774 OPS.

 

Career .785 OPS. I think people expect too much out of him based on one great season. He's put up an OPS+ of 110 this year, which is about what you can expect from him.

[badnews]

Varitek is pretty old for a catcher, and he's looked so hopeless at the plate, you can't figure many teams are going to be after his services. How much are the Red Sox going to have to overpay for him? I doubt he's going to chisel them for every last cent and if it comes down to it I think they'd just let him go if somebody else gave him something crazy like a 3/30 contract (which I doubt will happen).

[illiniguy]

How much of this is these guys are surrounded by crap?

 

How the hell are guys like Alex Gordon and Ryan Zimmerman supposed to produce huge numbers when they are the only guys on their team you can't pitch too? I mean sure they could walk more, but again as young hitters they aren't going to get the treatment many veterans do from the umpires and they aren't going to get as many pitches to drive with no one of note hitting around them.

[YearofDaCubs]

Cano is killing me! He got a contract and just isn't the same player so far. He has seemed to be coming out of it lately, but it might be too late.

 

Varitek's pending free agency may be the best thing to come out of the Posada contract. It is going to force the Red Sox to over pay for a guy who is done, but handles their pitcher well. At least I hope they do! With no one really becoming a FA (except the catcher formerly known as Pudge) and no one in their minors that is ready, they may not have a choice.

Cano has definitely been on fire lately. As for Varitek, I highly doubt they sign him to a crazy deal like the Yankees did for Posada. They know better than that. I can see them signing him to a 1yr take it or leave it deal. The Posada deal was pretty bad for the Yanks.

[mcgoobs]

Carlos Pena

 

Aside from last year, Pena has been a perennial under-performer.

[Keener98]

Bob Howry

[TruffleShuffle]

Bob Howry

 

you beat me to it.

[BigbadB]

While I can't argue with most everyone on the list, Vernon Wells has missed a significant portion of this season because of injuries. I think the book is still out on whether his status as a perennial all star is done.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

Nick Swisher ?