The 5 most disappointing MLB teams for the 2022 season
There were a lot of MLB teams who surprised us this year, the most obvious being the October-bound Cleveland Guardians. We also had teams like the San Francisco Giants, who won 107 games last year and now may finish below .500.
Let’s take a look at five MLB teams who were unable to live up the offseason hype, leaving their fanbases very disappointed
Detroit Tigers
That’s right. I have the Detroit Tigers as number one on my list. It may come as a surprise to many, but I really expected Detroit to make noise this year.
Last year, the Tigers went 77-85 and added some really promising names in the offseason. Starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez came from the Boston Red Sox, receiving a five-year, $77 million deal and was expected to excel at the top of the rotation. The Tigers also improved their bullpen adding lefty Andrew Chafin. They added catcher Tucker Barnhardt for catching depth, and acquired Tampa Bay Rays All-Star right fielder Austin Meadows to shore up the outfield. I haven’t even mentioned their biggest signing, infielder Javier Baez. “El Mago” was coming off one of his best offensive seasons with the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.
Things just never really clicked for the Tigers and, to be truly frank, almost everyone on their team underperformed.
Entering the 2022 season, a huge part of Detroit’s offensive production was expected to come from Baez, right fielder Robbie Grossman, second baseman Jonathan Schoop, and third baseman Jeimer Candelario. In the 2021 season, these four offensive centerpieces produced very well, averaging 115wRC+ with 23 homers. This year, the four averaged a 77 wRC+ with 12 homers. It’s no surprise the Tigers found themselves dead last in the MLB in runs per game at 3.40.
Starting pitching was a disappointment too. After just eight starts, Eduardo Rodriguez left the team for personal reasons. He returned in late August, finishing the season with a 4.02 ERA. Former first overall pick Casey Mize pitched just 10 innings before requiring season-ending Tommy John surgery. After that, Drew Hutchinson and Tyler Alexander both had 4.50+ ERAs. Lefty starter Tarik Skubal was really the only bright spot for this rotation, finishing with a 3.52 ERA in 21 starts before season-ending surgery.
The sole bright spot for Detroit was their bullpen, which finished eighth in overall bullpen ERA.
After the numerous spending and offseason acquisitions, it’s truly crazy to think the Tigers were this bad in 2022 after going 77-85 the previous season. Yes, they got unlucky with the poor production from some of their main stars, but obviously they’ve learned they need to add a lot more if they want to contend next season.
Chicago White Sox
Disappointing is merely an understatement in all honesty. The White Sox were -200 to win the AL Central when the season opened, and were coming off a really positive step forward in their 2021 season. They made the playoffs, and put together a really solid starting rotation that looked to carry them moving forward. They also added reliever Kendall Graveman, outfielder AJ Pollock, and utility player Josh Harrison to bolster roster depth.
Injuries and inconsistency are the story for the White Sox demise. The starting rotation was really bad this year, aside from Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease. Lance Lynn started the first two months on the IL and clearly wasn’t the same when he came back. He lost fastball velocity, and posted an ERA of 3.99. The same goes for Lucas Giolito, who lost 1.2 MPH on his fastball and posted a 5.00 ERA. After losing Carlos Rodon to free agency, the White Sox were forced to piece their rotation together with vets like Dallas Kuechel, Vince Velasquez, and Johnny Cueto. Both Kuechel and Velasquez pitched poorly and were designated for assignment later in the season, and the White Sox were forced to piece pitching together day-by-day.
Offensively, some of Chicago’s most important producers struggled to establish consistency. Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal both had disappointing seasons, struggling mightily offensively.
I truly thought Chicago was the best team in the AL Central and truly could contend in October. In the end, Cleveland was just more consistent offensively despite spending almost nothing in the offseason. This season is obviously a step back for Chicago, and they must decide if they want to bring back franchise first baseman Jose Abreu.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants won 107 games last year, and it’s looking like they might not finish above .500 this year.
What happened? For starters, they obviously miss the production of Future Hall of Fame catcher Buster Posey. But Posey wasn’t the only Giants vet who was stellar last season, with 1B Brandon Belt and SS Brandon Crawford having solid seasons out of nowhere too.
The Giants are a real interesting case. They were in the top half of the league for both runs per game (11th) and team ERA (12th). I really just think San Francisco was a victim of the NL West this season. Against the Dodgers, the Giants won just five games with a 5-15 overall record. Against San Diego, the Giants also struggled winning just six games, with a 6-12 overall record (with two games still to spare).
Sure, the Giants could use another bat or quality starter to add in the offseason, but they really just have to be better against their top division counterparts if they want to sniff the postseason next year.
Boston Red Sox
After making the ALCS last year with such a porous roster, the Red Sox spent over the luxury tax in the offseason and had high expectations in a competitive AL East division.
However, let’s take this “offseason spending” with a grain of salt. Going into spring training, Christian Arroyo was the starting second baseman for the team. Trevor Story was still laying around and the Sox capitalized, but only out of desperation. The Red Sox signed Story to merely be competitive, but not to contend.
Regardless, offense really wasn’t a problem for Boston. Despite losing Kiké Hernandez and Story for most of the season, the Sox were ninth in runs per game (4.52).
What really hurt this team was pitching, and you could really see it coming from a mile away. For the starting rotation, the Sox decided to piece it together with cheap veteran options. This can work if you have a strong top of the rotation, but the Red Sox do not. With an aging Chris Sale on the IL, the Sox had little top of the rotation depth coming into the season with Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta as their top starters. To back that up, they plugged in vets Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, and young reliever Garrett Whitlock. Wacha turned out to be Boston’s best starter, but aside from that it was a mess. The rotation finished with a 4.52 ERA (23rd) and saw starts from prospects Josh Winckowski, Bryan Bello, and Connor Seabold. Veteran starter James Paxton, who was signed in the offseason, failed to pitch a single inning for the Sox.
After moving Whitlock to the rotation, the Red Sox bullpen started the season without a true closer. Out of 65 save opportunities, the Red Sox blew a whopping 28. This mainly falls on Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox front office. They went into the season with a bad bullpen and tried to piece it together, failing miserably.
The Sox are now in an incredibly tough spot. Franchise third basemen Rafael Devers still needs a long-term contract, and both JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts are free agents heading into the offseason. The same goes for top starters Michael Wacha and Nathan Eovaldi. The Red Sox have money to spend, but the roster holes are beyond numerous.
The Sox must go all out if they truly want to contend next year. Hopefully they’ve learned a roster with below-average starting pitching and an awful bullpen simply won’t succeed in the AL East.
Los Angeles Angels
After acquiring Noah Syndergaard, Aaron Loup, and having a healthy Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, expectations were high for this Halos ballclub. After starting out 27-17, a devastating 14-game losing streak began which led to the firing of manager Joe Maddon and saw the loss of star third baseman Anthony Rendon to injury yet again.
By the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Angels were 15 games under .500 and decided to sell. It’s frustrating to baseball fans that the Angels continue to miss the playoffs with Trout and Ohtani. This year was even more embarrassing than last, as the Halos are hovering around 14 games below .500.
Going into the season, I was worried about the Angels roster depth … with good reason. Though they paid big for Trout and Rendon, the Angels failed to invest in their roster depth. Unsurprisingly, the Halos found themselves dead last in combined offensive production from their six through nine hitters in the lineup.
Combined 2022 offensive production,
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 13, 2022
#6-#9 hitters ♋️ pic.twitter.com/TtW8wq5jkM
The clock is ticking for the Los Angeles Angels. Trout is getting older and Ohtani is a free agent after the 2023 season. The Angels better hope to be in playoff contention next year or else they may very well lose Ohtani and become a laughingstock of an MLB franchise.
Next. Which team now has MLB's longest postseason drought. dark