We’re more than a month into the 2013 Major League Baseball season, and there are surprises popping up everywhere. The Toronto Blue Jays, a team many experts predicted would be sitting pretty at the top of the American League East standings, is wallowing at the very bottom.
Major league disappointments
We’re more than a month into the 2013 Major League Baseball season, and there are surprises popping up everywhere. The Toronto Blue Jays, a team many experts predicted would be sitting pretty at the top of the American League East standings, is wallowing at the very bottom. The Los Angeles Angels are employing their superstar roster to battle it out with the unsurprisingly terrible Houston Astros for last place in the American League West. And the Miami Marlins…well, they’ve been horrendous as expected. But the majority of these teams’ problems have come about because of players who have not been living up to the expectations created by stellar seasons last year. Here are the top five disappointments in baseball so far in 2013.
5. David Price, Tampa Bay Rays
For the past few years, the Rays have been known for their pitching prowess: Matt Moore, Fernando Rodney and 2012’s American League Cy Young Award winner David Price. Last year Price posted the second-lowest ERA in the majors and was tied for second in wins with 20. If he wants to replicate those stats this year, he’s going to have to switch gears fast. Price currently has the ninth-highest ERA in baseball and has managed only one win in seven games pitched.
4. R.A. Dickey, Toronto Blue Jays
Like Price, Dickey had a breakout season last year, earning him a Cy Young Award in the National League. Striking out 230 batters in 233 innings with his unpredictable knuckleball, Dickey was a hot commodity at the end of the 2012 season—so much so that the New York Mets decided to trade him to the Blue Jays for a few top prospects and catcher John Buck. Mets fans were incensed at first, but have grown to accept it thanks to Dickey’s awful performance this season. With an ERA above five to go along with five losses to date, the Blue Jays may already be regretting the deal to acquire this knucklehead.
3. Josh Reddick, Oakland Athletics
To be fair, no one could have predicted Reddick’s insane season last year. Although he posted a mediocre batting average, Reddick hit 32 home runs and was one of the driving forces behind the Athletics’ run to the American League West crown. That mojo seems to have worn off, as Reddick has one of the five lowest averages in baseball with only one home run to his name this season. A word of wisdom, Josh: Lose the beard—it’s bad luck.
2. Josh Hamilton, Los Angeles Angels
One of the biggest bombshells to hit the newswire this past offseason was monster slugger Hamilton’s move from the Texas Rangers to the Angels. A career .300 hitter who tied for second in home runs last season, Hamilton was expected to be the key to the Angels’ dominance of the American League West in 2013. That plan is falling through at the moment, as Hamilton has just two home runs and a batting average leveling off at .200 so far this year.
1. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies
Truly the most depressing tale of MLB woe, this one comes to you straight from the City of Brotherly Love.
Halladay has had an outstanding career—two Cy Young awards, a perfect game and more than 2,000 strikeouts to his credit. He’s been a dependable part of the Phillies’ pitching staff for three years now, but the wheels seem to be coming off this season. Halladay presently boasts the second-highest ERA in baseball and has allowed 33 earned runs in the 34 innings he’s pitched. As of today, he’s on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.
