There have been some tremendously good performances in 2016 from unexpected sources, but also many expected big contributors have not provided the help their teams were expecting. Who has hurt their team the most in the MLB this year?
There are three different types of disappointing players – guys who were expected to be good and weren’t due to injury, guys who got injured, or guys who did something to hurt their team by not being on the field. We’ll go in reverse order:
Suspension/Absence
Pablo Sandoval, Boston Red Sox .000/.143/.000, 7 PA
Sandoval lost his job in the spring to Travis Shaw due to being not only overweight, but not hitting well at all. He then ended up on the DL with what many believed was an “excuse” injury, giving the team an excuse to keep Sandoval off of the roster. He’s only had 7 plate appearances all season.
Hector Olivera .211/.238/.263, 6 G
Olivera was part of a trade that was plenty controversial among Braves fans in July of 2015, as the Atlanta Braves traded away fan favorite Alex Wood along with top prospect Jose Peraza (among others) in a deal where Olivera was the headliner. He came into the season having already shown he wasn’t going to be able to handle the 3B position that the team had assumed he would fill and being moved to left field. He then only made it 6 games before he was involved in a domestic violence incident and was suspended 80 games by major league baseball. The Braves traded him to the San Diego Padres before he was eligible to be activated from his suspension rather than play him for their team again.
Jose Reyes .250/.302/.466, 3 HR, 4 SB, 21 G
Reyes entered the season awaiting suspension from his offseason domestic violence charge. He was sitting on the inactive list while waiting official word from the MLB headquarters as the Colorado Rockies saw his replacement, Trevor Story, come out and set the world on fire early in the season and simply not slow down, leaving Reyes without a place to play when he came back. Once MLB handed down their suspension and Reyes came close to coming back, the Rockies released him on June 23. The Mets signed him two days later after losing David Wright for the season. Interestingly, if you consider that Aroldis Chapman did not play for the Cincinnati Reds again after his suspension, having been traded to the Yankees while MLB made their decision about his suspension, none of the three players suspended under that policy played again for their team at the time of their initial incident.
Dee Gordon, Miami Marlins .293/.339/.360, 14 SB, 39 G
Yes, Gordon’s numbers have been fine this year, but there’s a reason he’s on this list. He missed 80 games to start the season with a PED suspension. With Miami clinging onto hope in the National League Wild Card race, how nice would Gordon’s speed and second base defense have come in handy over those first 80 games?
Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers .260/.320/.386, 7 HR, 5 SB, 81 G
Puig has been an enigma this year. He’s missed time with a hamstring injury that multiple reports stated he was healed from far before he was activated from the DL. Then he came back, and after struggling early, he was on fire offensively before another injury sidelined him, and that one seemed to give the team the opportunity to get Puig out of the clubhouse. He was heavily shopped at the non-waiver trade deadline, and then when no suitable offers were found, the team sent Puig to the minor leagues. Much of the issue is due to reported maturity/make up sorts of things.
Next: Injuries