Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Early Season Surprises: The Ugly

You had to know this list was coming.



Derek Jeter

How do you prove that you are worth the 3 year/$51 million contract extension you signed in the off-season?  Obviously you get off to a .206/.300/.235 start.  He's going to make it up with his glove, right?  If only Gold Gloves actually meant guys were good defenders, the answer to that would be yes (but it's not).  Its not like he felt entitled to such a lucrative extension, did he?  Oh, yeah, he kind of did.  I'm sure that Yankees fans will hold on to the hope that he will revert to his career averages.  But Jeter is a guy who is 36 years old and coming off his worst full season in the major leagues.  I'm thinking a return to his .313/.384/.452 numbers is not imminent.


Vernon Wells

You didn't honestly think I was going to spare this guy from recognition.  Wells' ugly start to the season probably deserves its own post.  He's currently dead last in OPS among qualified players.  Almost a full hundred points below his nearest 'competitor', Juan Rivera (ironically, the guy he was traded for).  I didn't think it was actually possible for a non-pitcher to slug .114.  To think, he's only making $26.6 million.

Honorable mention: Carl Crawford ('third' on the OPS list at .378)










Mike Pelfrey

Something tells me that when the Mets named Pelfrey as their 'ace' to hold the fort until Johan Santana returns to the rotation, they weren't expecting him to be last among qualified pitchers in both WHIP and ERA.  His splits have always made him unfavorable start for fantasy owners whenever he's away from Citi Field, but he's going to have to make it out of the 5th inning on the road if he wants to stay in the rotation for the Mets, let alone fantasy owners.  Coming home this week didn't really do much for him either as he couldn't get out of the 6th against the Rockies.  Phil Hughes was a tough luck second place finisher in this contest with his 16.50 ERA and 4 MPH loss of velocity at age 24.
Honorable mention: Joe Blanton, Matt Garza, Phil Hughes






Boston Red Sox

How can this team possibly have a -32 run differential through 11 games?  Might have something to do with that 6.77 team ERA.  When exactly is John Lackey going to start earning that contract?  Why haven't they figured that the Daisuke from the 2006 World Baseball classic just isn't coming back?  On the other side, everybody not named Dustin Pedroia is off to a slow start and the lineup that everybody (yours truly, included) would maul through the AL has a team OPS lower than the vaunted lineups in KC, Houston, and NY Mets.  It's still early, but in this division, falling this far behind, this early is going to make it a very early (and expensive) end to the Red Sox October dreams.
Honorable mention: Tampa Bay Rays
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2 comments:

  1. Adam MalkaApril 14, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    I still think Hughes should get a post. The velocity dip is a big deal, in that it's more than should be expected at the beginning of the season. Lester and Hanson have already shown signs of recovering theirs, but not Philip. And if he doesn't have it this year, expect a massive trade between the Rays and Yankees before May is over. I don't think that the Yankees can hit enough to make up for that rotation.

    Also, when can we stop sweating the AL East? The Orioles and Jays are at least a couple years away, the Rays aren't going to be much better than an 80 win team, and it's clear that everyone willfully dismissed the importance of pitching when evaluating the Yanks and Saux. With those budgets, those two teams should be panned, not celebrated.

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  2. RudyApril 14, 2011 at 6:14 PM

    The beauty of you thinking that Hughes deserves his own post is that you can write it! You are an authorized contributor, after all. But all of these guys really do deserve to be on the ugly list. I guess of all of them, the least was probably expected of Wells, but with those historically bad numbers, he deserved a spot. I agree that the AL East probably gets a little too much love, especially considering the payrolls involved with the top two teams. But that doesn't take away from how ugly the starts have been for the Saux and Rays.

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