MLB: Most Disappointing Players of 2016

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

Poor Performance

Shelby Miller, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks, 14 G, 7.14 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, 4.4 BB/9, 6.5 K/9
The Braves parlayed Miller’s stellar 2015 season into a huge trade in the offseason that brought outfielder Ender Inciarte and 2015 overall #1 draft pick Dansby Swanson, among others, to Atlanta. Miller was expected to pair with Zack Greinke, but he’s not been able to find the strike zone with pitches, and when he does, the ball has been getting pounded, leading to a demotion by the Diamondbacks to AAA.

Drew Storen, RP, Toronto Blue Jays/Seattle Mariners, 5.86 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9, 7.7 K/9
The Blue Jays acquired Storen to pair with Roberto Osuna at the back of their bullpen for what they hoped would be a dynamite 1-2 punch, but he’s lost nearly a full strikeout per 9 inning and allowed 2.84 ERA more than his career average coming into this season in his 2016 season. In the end, the Blue Jays just traded away Storen to get him a change of scenery.

Joe Kelly, SP, Boston Red Sox, 9 G, 6 GS, 7.62 ERA, 2.15 WHIP, 7.3 BB/9, 9.7 K/9
You could make the argument that this should be Clay Buchholz rather than Kelly, but the guy who you heard about frequently when Red Sox brass were interviewed was Kelly. He was the name that came up in podcast listening frequently when talking about who the Red Sox officials were talking up during spring training. With his big arm and solid repertoire, it’s not an outlandish take, either. Kelly has just not gotten it going all year. The big thing that’s different for him in the peripheral numbers is that his control is as bad as it’s ever been. That led to a demotion to the minor leagues, where the team is actually working with him as a reliever going forward.

Yan Gomes, C, Cleveland Indians, .165/.198/.313, 8 HR in 71 G
A catcher that has hit for a .750 OPS and 45 home runs over the last 3 years has been expected to contribute to the Indians lineup, but his play just kept getting worse, and eventually Gomes was injured, which is why you saw the Indians playing in the catcher trade market at the trade deadline.

Justin Upton, OF, Detroit Tigers, .226/.281/.371, 13 HR, 8 SB
A guy with a career .831 OPS that averaged 24 home runs and 14 stolen bases each year would typically not find himself on this list, but Upton has found a way by posting a .652 OPS, and outside of a hot streak in June/July, he’s really not even supplied consistent power for the Tigers in the first year of his new big contract.

James Shields, SP, San Diego Padres/Chicago White Sox, 5.78 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 132.1 IP, 24 GS
For a guy who averaged 227 innings and a low-3 ERA from 2011-2015, struggling to get through the 5th inning of games and generally struggling to keep the ball in the park was an odd revelation to have. The White Sox they could fix him, and they may still do that, but no this year.

Jason Heyward, OF, Chicago Cubs, 2016 .225/.304/.313, 5 HR, 8 SB
Heyward was the big free agent prize this year due to his young age and production he’d had already, producing a .785ish OPS, 16 HR, and 14 SB on average. This season has been nowhere near that. He has played his trademark excellent outfield defense, but moving to a more offensive-friendly park, it was assumed that Heyward’s numbers would uptick heavily.

Next: All Time Olympic Team

Carlos Gomez, OF, Houston Astros, 2012-2015 .272/.331/.467, 20 HR, 32 SB average; 2016 .210/.272/.322, 5 HR, 13 SB
Gomez was traded last season in the midst of an injury-plagued year, but from 2012-2015, Gomez AVERAGED a .798 OPS, 20 home runs, and 32 stolen bases, becoming one of the more dynamic players in the league to watch on a nightly basis. He’s completely run into a wall this season with Houston, and was DFA’d this week. By the time this comes out, in fact, he could even be on a new squad due to his performance hurting his time.