As we are more than a month into the season, we can now gain an understanding of which players are under-performing and could end up with career-low years. For every surprise player we have seen, there is a also player who has disappointed. Things like expectations and money paid for the players services will be taken into consideration to determine the biggest disappointments so far right now in the MLB.
Ryan Howard
Howard used to be one of the scariest hitters in the league, let’s remember that he won the Rookie of the Year (2005) and MVP award (2006) when he was in his age 25 and 26 season. Now, we are seeing a much different Ryan Howard, he does have 7 home runs, but he is just hitting for a .236 batting average with 40 strikeouts. Not only that, but the feel when he’s batting isn’t intimidating anymore as it used to be and let’s not forget he is getting paid huge money. You might say the Phillies core is getting old, but I expected Howard to have better numbers and hot streaks similar to what Chase Utley has been doing this season.
CC Sabathia
After Sabathia had a very non-impressive year last season a lot was expected from him as he worked hard in the off-season and got into shape losing a ton of weight. Everyone thought that he would gain more strength this season because his conditioning wasn’t as good in 2013, but Sabathia hasn’t been showing any signs of that. CC owns a 3-4 record and what would be a career high 5.75 ERA, his fastball velocity is down and it doesn’t appear he will return to his dominating form.
Ubaldo Jimenez
The Orioles went out late and signed Ubaldo Jimenez to a four-year, $50 million contract that is currently looking like a waste of money. Ubaldo has been pitching a bit better his last couple of starts, but his home ballpark is Camden Yards, a park where the ball flies out. Jimenez did have a great second half of the season last year, but I just don’t see him pitching the way he did last season or the way he pitched in 2010 when he won 19 games and started the all star game. The right hander currently owns a 2-4 record with a 4.73 ERA.
Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson has been the definition of disappointing. Johnson got traded in the off-season and was penciled in to be the closer for the Oakland A’s, that didn’t work as planned for the A’s. Johnson has a 4.11 ERA and has already been removed of his closer duties. We are talking about a guy who had 50 saves in 2013 and 51 saves in 2012. Everything seems to be going downhill for Johnson now as even as a middle reliever he can’t seem to get out of an inning without damage. The A’s faithful had a special bond with their ex-closer Grant Balfour and Jim Johnson hasn’t helped the fans forget him.
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks made some aggressive moves and appeared to be ready to compete for the division in what would be a race between them and the Dodgers. They traded for Mark Trumbo and signed veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo, but right now they have a league high in losses (24) and are already 10 games behind in the NL West division. With the sudden emergence of the division rivals Rockies and Giants, it won’t be easy for the D-Backs to make a run similar to what the Dodgers did last season and get back in contention.
Tommy John Injuries
This is probably the biggest disappointment for all. Nobody benefits from having injuries and the fans miss a chance to see some of the greatest pitchers in the league. The list of pitchers who have gotten hurt from Tommy John surgery keeps growing. Jarrod Parker, Patrick Corbin, Kris Medlen, Matt Moore, Brandon Beachy, A.J. Griffin, and the list goes on. Nobody has yet found an answer to why there has been so many pitchers going down this road. For now we can only hope that this injury stops.
