The 2013 season was full of disappointments.  From the biogenesis scandal to the season of Josh Hamilton, there was plenty of things for fans of baseball to be disappointed about.  Early in 2014 hasn’t been as bad, but there are still plenty of things going on that are making fans scratch their heads.

5. The Los Angeles Angels Slow Start...Again

This team has so much offensive talent, including quite possibly the best player in the game, and yet for the third straight year they are struggling out of the gates.  By the moves that have been made over the last three off season’s it is clear the Angels ownership doesn’t like missing the playoffs as they have some of the biggest moves of the offseason each year.  Even with all of those moves this team continues to struggle and there is only so far that Mike Trout can carry a team.

4. Chris Davis’ Power Outage

After 53 home runs and 138 runs batted in over the 2013 season Davis suffered a bit of a power outage to start 2014.  In his first 22 games he has only hit two home runs and driven in only 13 runs.  That projects out to only 14 home runs and 95 RBIs over a 162 game season.  The lack of power is tough to swallow but the 95 RBIs is a decent season, the problem is that now he’s on the disabled list and will probably only play in about 140 games.  Those projections are 13 home runs and 83 RBIs, not near the season the Orioles were hoping for.  The good news is the O’s have climbed into first without him.

3. Bryce Harper’s Struggles

One day Harper is benched for a lack of hustle down the first base line and days later he hustles too much and injuries himself sliding into third base.  His injury and hustling disparity aren’t what has landed him on this list.  He’s on this list because his season was eerily similar to Davis’ only worse.  In the same 22 games Harper’s 162 projections are seven home runs and 66 RBIs.  Ouch, and he is more likely to miss more games than Davis.  Also like Davis, the Nationals seem to be doing just fine without him as they have caught the Atlanta Braves for a first place tie in the NL East.

2. Prince Fielder’s Not So Royal Start

I had a feeling the trade of Fielder would affect Miguel Cabrera’s third bid as Most Valuable Player, but Cabrera is not the only one struggling.  Fielder should be raking the ball as a left handed hitter playing the majority of his games in Arlington where the ball is known to fly, but in 34 games he actually has worse stats than Davis.  He is batting what would be a career low .226 and has hit only two home runs.  Fielder is well below his .286 batting average and is in danger of hitting under 25 home runs in a season for the first time in his career.  To call that disappointing is kind of an understatement.

1. Pittsburgh Pirates Postseason Hangover

The Pirates ended the playoff drought and may have partied a little too hard to celebrate it.  After 34 games they are six games under .500 and 7.5 games back of the first place Milwaukee Brewers who are off to the hottest start in the league.  Their top starting pitcher is struggling to find his way and their leadoff guy, Starling Marte, is striking out at a high rate and power hitter Pedro Alvarez cannot seem to make contact with the ball unless it’s a home run.  To top it all off MVP Andrew McCutchen hasn’t been up to his high standards and they have failed to call up their top prospect, right fielder Gregory Polanco, even though they are getting nearly zero production out of the right fielders on the roster.  Something is wrong in the Steel City, and the Pirates need an answer fast.