The 10 biggest disappointments of baseball's first half
Hope spring eternal in spring training. Even the teams projected for the worst record in the league have reason to be optimistic. That questionable pitcher working on a new pitch might finally break through. That mysterious new free-agent unknown looks pretty good. And, hey, everyone is healthy.
For some, that optimism last a few hours. The regular season starts, and dreams are crushed. The pitcher with the new offering is still the same old guy. That unknown free-agent signing starts to show you why he was unknown. Oh, and the great health you had 12 hours ago … totally gone. Everyone has some weird ailment.
That disappointment isn’t limited to bad clubs, though. Teams projected for greatness can collapse for a number of reasons. Even the best players in the game are prone to the occasional bout of ineffectiveness.
With that in mind, we here at The Stew have put together our 10 biggest disappointments of baseball’s first half. We had high hopes for these teams and players coming into the season, but they failed to deliver.
As for disappointments, in some cases, things will get better. In others … well … let’s just leave that unsaid for now.
BRYCE HARPER, OUTFIELDER, WASHINGTON NATIONALS
By many counts, Bryce Harper hasn’t really been a disappointment. His .399 on-base percentage is excellent and his .491 slugging percentage is still solid. But this is Bryce Harper we’re talking about. He was the best player in baseball last year. Yeah, better than Mike Trout. Remember when that happened?
If anything, Harper’s appearance here speaks to the sky high expectations we have for him as a player now. While we live in a world where batting average isn’t as important as it used to be, Harper is hitting just .256. Yes, he’s doing plenty to offset that, but this was a guy who hit .330 last year. Given the talent, a second-half surge seems likely. Harper may not overtake Trout again for best player in baseball, but there’s still time for him to come close. (Chris Cwik)
DAVID PRICE, STARTING PITCHER, BOSTON RED SOX
David Price hasn’t been a disaster in Boston. He leads the American League in strikeouts. He’s among the top innings-throwers at the All-Star break. And the Red Sox look like a postseason contender. So this isn’t a Diamondbacks-like situation. But when the Red Sox made Price the highest paid player of the offseason with that $217 million deal, the expectations were sky high.
You think Red Sox fans were thinking Price would be a 9-6 pitcher at the All-Star break with a 4.34 ERA? For a pitcher whose ERA hasn’t been in the fours since his rookie season, that’s a disappointment. Price has time to turn things around, though. In fact, he looked good in July and, other than a really rough start against the Rangers on June 24, he was pretty solid in June too. (Mike Oz)
THE NEW YORK YANKEES
Armed with arguably the most dangerous bullpen trio of all-time, the Yankees were expected to dominate games once they made it to the seventh inning. Problem is, in order for this to work, they had to have a lead by the seventh.
For the most part, that hasn’t been the case. The Yankees came into the season with an old and injury prone roster, and some of those demons have come back to haunt them. Sure, CC Sabathia and Carlos Beltran have been better than expected, but Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley and every other member of the pitching staff not named Masahiro Tanaka have been terrible. For the first time in what seems like a long time, the Yankees may have to sell at the trade deadline. (Chris Cwik)
MATT HARVEY, STARTING PITCHER, NEW YORK METS
Saying that 2016 has been a disappointment for Matt Harvey could be the understatement of the season. Things began badly, and just never got better. Near the end of spring training, he was scratched with what turned out to be a bladder infection, which was an ominous sign for things to come. By mid-April, there were reports that he was having issues with his mechanics. A month later, he was struggling so much that Terry Collins was considering skipping one of his starts.
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While he did throw several strong starts in June, Harvey was carrying a 4.86 ERA when he hit the disabled list in early July. He admitted to having symptoms that were consistent with thoracic outlet syndrome, and he recently decided to have season-ending surgery to repair it. Harvey won’t be back until 2017, but at least the second half of his season won’t be as disappointing as his first. (Liz Roscher)
JUSTIN UPTON, OUTFIELDER, DETROIT TIGERS
When the Detroit Tigers signed Justin Upton to a six-year contract worth more than $130 million, they thought they were getting a guy who would prop up their offense and help power them to the top of the AL Central. That was January.
Six months later, Upton is not that guy. He’s hitting .235/.289/.381 in 85 games, and he’s hit just nine home runs. Two of those homers came on June 20, which was near the end of an 11-game stretch during which Upton hit .311/.392/.644. That’s been Upton’s most productive stretch of the year. Since then, he’s hit just .221. The season is only half over, of course, but that six-year contract is starting to look mighty long. (Liz Roscher)
DALLAS KEUCHEL, STARTING PITCHER, HOUSTON ASTROS
With an ERA closer to 5.00 than 2.50 and more losses (9) than wins (6), Dallas Keuchel hasn’t looked like the commanding left-hander who took home the AL Cy Young award last season. Where to begin? Keuchel’s strikeouts are down, his walks are up and his hard-hit rate has jumped almost 10 percent. He gave up 17 home runs in 2015. That number is already at 15 this year.
May was particularly bad, when he had a 6.63 ERA and a 1-3 record in six starts. The Astros hope two strong outings in July are a sign of things to come for Keuchel in the second half. It’ll take a few more like that to get his 4.80 ERA under four and add some more wins next to his name. (Israel Fehr)
MARCUS STROMAN, STARTING PITCHER, TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Even with just 24 regular-season starts under his belt, Marcus Stroman entered the season as the staff ace for the Blue Jays. Short on experience, the 25-year-old more than made up for it with swagger and dynamic stuff, and when he’s pitched he’d been lights-out. It became apparent early on, however, that it wouldn’t be as easy as perhaps anticipated. While the rest of Toronto’s rotation has stepped up, Stroman has struggled, with his ERA hovering over five as recently as two weeks ago.
The main issue has been keeping his fastball down in the zone, and it’s resulted in an alarming number of hard-hit balls against. The Blue Jays hope a subtle mechanical adjustment in Stroman’s delivery is enough to get him back on the right track. They’ll need him to be better if they hope to repeat as AL East champions. (Israel Fehr)
THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Give the Arizona Diamondbacks credit for being bold and going for it, but at the All-Star break, you can’t give them credit for much more than that. The D-backs are, in no uncertain terms, a disappointment. Many pundits feared that after their big offseason — in which they gave Zack Greinke $206 million and traded a lot of young talent for Shelby Miller — the D-backs would essentially be the 2016 version of the San Diego Padres. And they have been.
Miller has an ERA over 7.00 and Greinke’s 3.62 ERA is more than double what it was last season. As a team, they’re 38-52, currently last in the NL West. But this isn’t just a case of those two high-profiles moves underwhelming, the D-backs also been dragged down by injuries to A.J. Pollock, David Peralta and Rubby De La Rosa. It’s all bad, all of it. (Mike Oz)
SHELBY MILLER, STARTING PITCHER, ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
When general manager Dave Stewart acquired Miller from the Braves this winter in exchange for four players, including respected outfielder Ender Inciarte and top shortstop prospect Dansby Swanson, he did so thinking he had solidified his starting rotation. He’d already signed Zack Greinke, and Miller was going to be his top-flight No. 2.
That was then, this is now. The reality is Miller has been dreadful. In his latest outing, he was torched for six earned runs in five innings by San Diego. That pushed Miller’s season ERA to 7.14 over 69 1/3 innings, and his 1.47 strikeout-per-walk leaves little hope for improvement. Last season, Miller had some of the worst luck ever, losing 17 games while posting a 3.02 ERA. This season, he’s already lost nine, and he’s earned every one of them. (Mark Townsend)
PRINCE FIELDER, FIRST BASEMAN, TEXAS RANGERS
Hopes were high for Fielder after he bounced back from 2014 neck surgery to post All-Star numbers last season. The Rangers slugger also seemingly got a handle on his sleep apnea issues in spring training, but he’s yet to look comfortable at any point this season.
Fielder is hitting .216/.296/.343 with eight home runs at the break. That’s far below the 35 home runs he’s averaged during his previous healthy seasons. Either he’s not healthy now, or the gradual wear or tear is just slowing him down. Whatever the case, he’s clearly not the weapon he once was. It hasn’t hurt the Rangers yet, but a Fielder turn around would elevate them to extremely dangerous. (Mark Townsend)
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