Top Ten Baseball Disappointments/Surprises

The baseball season has long since ended, at least as far as overall winner goes, and so the time has come to see which players most disappointed or surprised in 2005. So here we have such a collection.

Disappointments:

1. Eric Gagne (13th overall pick), ChamPeons. Once the template of what a dominating closer should be, Gagne battled injury trouble and saw virtually no playing time in 2005. The Canadian threw exactly 13 1/3 innings this season, recording one lousy win, eight lousy saves and a mere 22 strikeouts. ChamPeons has thus been forced to use a disabled list spot for Gagne all year, with keeper considerations in mind.

2. Barry Bonds (26th overall pick), Farns Equals Hero. Getting him the fourth round meant Andrew Stem pulled what appeared to be an absolute steal. But anytime a top four pick sits out the entire season, save for the final two weeks, with injury troubles, it’s a considerable bust. It didn’t seem like a bad pick at the time, but it turned into a disaster.

3. Scott Rolen (14th overall pick), Embrace A Bald Man. Injuries and complete ineptitude made Rolen’s year a dreadful one, and it makes one wonder how the St. Louis Cardinals would have dominated if Rolen had been in peak form all season. He missed a month between May and June and was shut down for good July 22, hitting .235 with five home runs and 28 RBIs in the meantime.

4. Jim Thome (15th overall pick), Thome’s A Pud. A fitting reason for Andy Viano to change his team’s name to reflect what the second round pick provided him in 2005. Now a member of ChamPeons’ roster as a disabled keeper potential, Thome hit .207 with seven homers and 30 RBIs in 59 games this year, never playing again after July 1.

5. Carlos Beltran, (8th overall pick), Madd Skillz. Sure, he’s the only first rounder in the lot, but he isn’t placed higher because Skillz had to take him with the eighth overall pick – nobody would have played it any differently. It looked like a steal at the time, particularly considering Skillz got Johan Santana one pick later in the next round, but Beltran has been hideous in New York. He has only 15 home runs, 71 RBIs and perhaps most disappointing, just 17 stolen bases.

6. Adrian Beltre (20th overall pick), ChamPeons. The same team that had bad luck with Gagne missed again one round later with Beltre, who proved to be a one year wonder after an MVP-caliber season in 2004 as a Dodger. With the Mariners, Beltre has hit a meek .255 with 19 home runs and 82 RBIs, not terrible but certainly not worthy of his pre-season ranking.

7. Curt Schilling (21st overall pick), Walgreens Wolfmen. Injuries made this asshole have a terrible year, at least in terms of what was expected. To date, the right-hander has just seven wins and an ERA soaring over 5, although the nine saves was an unexpected benefit.

8. Oliver Perez (30th overall pick), Embrace a Bald Man. Last year’s up-and-coming flamethrower turned into an idiot who cost himself tons of playing time by kicking some dugout cart and breaking his toe. In the meantime, better and even younger options (Zach Duke, Paul Maholm) came to the forefront for the Pirates. Perez scuffled while actually on the mound as well, getting just six wins and posting an ERA over 6.

9. Nomar Garciaparra (28th overall pick), Walgreens Wolfmen. Seven home runs, 23 RBIs and a mortal .266 batting average isn’t terrible for a shortstop, but it’s far below what was expected from the Cubs infielder. Of course, a significant injury that lasted from April 22 to August 6 had everything to do with that.

10. Keith Foulke (42nd overall pick), Farns Equals Hero. Foulke narrowly edges out fellow sixth-round choices Eric Chavez and Aubrey Huff for this honor, for the reason that Foulke played terribly, and then didn’t play at all. Foulke saved 15 ballgames but carried an ERA near 6 before going on the DL on July 7 and not re-appearing until early September, in a limited role.

Surprises:

1. Chris Carpenter (107th overall pick), I Love Matt Murton. It wasn’t a super late pick, but anytime you can wait 100 guys and then pick up the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young, you may have pulled just a tiny bit of a steal. Carpenter has an unpossible 21-4 record with over 200 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.42 despite just not being that good.

2. Brian Roberts (166th overall pick), I Love Matt Murton. He may have recently been injured forever, but the Orioles second baseman quickly became one of the most surprising players in baseball with a tremendous first half. The AL starter in the All-Star game finished the year hitting .314 with 18 homers, 73 RBIs, and 92 runs scored, all solid for a 2B. He also stole 27 bases.

3. Dontrelle Willis (undrafted), ChamPeons. It was perhaps the most interesting waiver claim of the year, dropping Jon Garland in favor of Willis, who somehow slipped past the draft’s 24 rounds. The left-hander has 21-9 record and 2.48 ERA for Champ…even if he could have dumped someone less valuable than …

4. Jon Garland (188th overall pick), ChamPeons. Father Abraham turned out to be the lucky recipient of the White Sox hurler, who has a slight say in the AL Cy Young race. Despite trailing off a bit, he has 17 wins and a 3.51 ERA for the team destined to choke away their surefire playoff spot.

5. Chad Cordero (163rd overall pick), Embrace a Bald Man. Nobody expected the Nationals to win many games, but Cordero has saved 100 percent of them. While that may be hyperbole, the closer has a surprising 46 saves and 1.84 ERA this year for the Nationals, a breakout year that has launched him into the closing elite.

6. Chase Utley (179th overall pick), Embrace a Bald Man. Utley turned out to be a breakout player, though he was dumped early and became a key member of Thome’s A Pud. He’s hitting .282 with 90 RBIs, 80 runs and 14 stolen bases, admirable out of a second baseman.

7. Andy Pettitte (136th overall pick), Madd Skillz. The most impressive part was Skillz hanging on to Pettitte after a slow start in the wins category, despite solid overall numbers. Lately, the left-hander has been a central part of the Houston surge into the Wild Card lead, and his overall numbers now include a 17-9 record and 2.45 ERA.

8. Derrek Lee (54th overall pick), I Love Matt Murton. I think everyone believed it was too high to take Lee here, except Eli Gieryna, who subsequently got an MVP-like season before trading Lee in August. His silly numbers include a .338 average, 44 home runs, 103 RBIs and 115 runs scored, with 15 stolen bases for measure.

9. Andruw Jones (100th overall pick), ChamPeons. Another solid player given away by Champ, who dumped Jones after a terrible start. Embrace a Bald Man caught a lucky break on the pickup, as Jones has advanced to become a frontrunner for the National League MVP. The outfielder has a Majors-leading 50 home runs with 126 RBIs.

10. Derrick Turnbow (undrafted), Father Abraham. Coming out of nowhere to become a formidable closing threat, Turnbow has 33 saves, a 7-1 record and 1.73 ERA for the Brewers. Lincoln had him after a May 2 pickup, but he was moved to Thome’s A Pud as part of a June 10 trade. Kenny Rogers and Dustin Hermanson could have also made this list as undrafted pickups.