Every year, whether it’s a result of the player poised for a let down year or a result of a change of scenery, there will be some who take a step back the following season.

Sometimes a pitcher gets traded and it puts then in a terrible position to succeed — the most obvious case here being Colorado. 

Other times a player outperforms himself, and has no choice but to take a step back the next season.  Below are five guys who are likely to take a step back in 2016, much to the disappointment of their teams.

1. John Lackey, Starting Pitcher, Chicago Cubs 

Lackey is set to take a huge step back in the 2016 season.  Lackey is going to be 37 this year, and is coming off a season during which he out pitched his peripherals.  Lackey had a 2.77 ERA which was nearly a run lower than his FIP of 3.57.  

Lackey is only a 3.92 career ERA pitcher, and generally speaking people do not get better with age.  I have never been much of a fan of Lackey as he always gets paid like an ace without putting up the numbers of an ace.  Lackey ma be pitching for a really good Cubs team which will get him his wins, but that division is chock full of talent, that is going to bring Lackey back down to Earth, and knock that ERA back up around four or higher.

2. Dee Gordon, Second Base, Miami Marlins

Gordon had a fantastic season last year, easily the best of his career, but are those results sustainable?  While the stolen bases should be repeatable, Gordon needs to be wary of being caught stealing as often as he is.  Gordon was caught stealing on nearly 30 percent of his stolen base attempts which is a number that is entirely too high for a man with his speed.  

With such a low OBP, Gordon can’t afford to get caught stealing 20 or more times again.  Gordon has never been much of a hitter through the early hers of his career.  Gordon batted, easily a career best .333 last year.  Part of Gordon’s success last year was an inflated BABIP of .383.  That number is going to fall next year, and as a result so is Gordon’s batting average.  Gordon also bats in a very weak lineup, and even though he only had 88 runs scored last season, even that may be a tall mountain to climb especially if Giancarlo Stanton can’t stay healthy.

3. Yoenis Cespedes, Outfield, New York Mets

Cespedes got what he wanted this offseason when he signed a three year contract worth 75 million, in large pat due to a monster 57 game stretch that he had with the Mets.  Cespedes had career high’s in home runs, RBI, runs, hits, and doubles.  

During Cespedes’s short stint with the Mets he put up a career high in home run percent with 6.8, and extra base hits 14.1 percent.  Those numbers are going to fall back to his career norms, if not just a tick below now that he is going to have to play half of his games in such a monstrous ball park.  Cespedes is a good player but the 30 home run plateau is likely out of reach, and with a weak Mets lineup, Cespedes will certainly have trouble reaching 100 RBI.

4. Shelby Miller, Starting Pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks

This down season is not as much of a fault of Miller out pitching himself as it is, a bad change of scenery.  Miller left a great pitcher’s ball park, and now pitches in a great hitters park in Arizona.  Miller also leaves perhaps the worst division in baseball, with extremely weak hitting teams and goers to a division with some really good hitting teams, and of course he will have to pitch in the worst pitcher park in baseball in Coors Field.  

Now besides his surroundings changing Miller saw H9 increase just a tick, but more worrisome is that his BB9 is still hanging over three which is not a recipe for success.  Miller is still young enough to get a hang of his control issues, but if he doesn’t figure it out he is going to see his ERA rise, which is bad knows for the Diamondbacks after trading so much to get him.

5. Yunel Escobar, Infielder, Los Angeles Angels

Escobar had one of the best seasons of his career last year, and he did it as 32 years old.  Escobar’s .314 batting average was the highest of his career when paying a full season.  Escobar batted over .30 points higher than his career average, which is odd for a guy who has never really been known for his hitting.  

Escobar will be lucky hit nine home runs again, and with his defense continually declining he ay very well end up costing the Angels more runs in the long run that he helps produce.  In all likelihood Escobar will bat in the .250 range much as he had in 2012-2014, which is going to be extremely disappointing for the Angels.