Just as every baseball season has it’s surprises it also has it’s disappointments. Every year there are free agents that sign a huge contract that has teams wondering what they were thinking after just one season. You also have your teams that just completely under perform, and fail to meet expectations.
It’s not always the team that spends the most that wins in the MLB as it was for a while as you are beginning to see a lot more disparity and you see teams with high payrolls such as the Tigers, and the Red Sox not even making the playoffs.
10. Boston Red Sox
In my opinion the Red Sox Don’t belong on this list because I never bought into their offseason hype. However a ton of people thought that the Red Sox hitting was going to be good enough that a mediocre pitching staff would be good enough to win.
As it turns out the Red Sox lineup was too prone to prolonged slumps to overcome what was likely the worst starting pitching staff in baseball. Wade Miley lead the staff in both wins and ERA with only 11 wins, and a pedestrian 4.46 ERA. After all the changes made to the Red Sox roster many people thought the Red Sox would easily win the division, but they only went on to win seven more games for a total of 78 wins. This preseason hype is why the Red Sox make it to number ten on my most disappointing list of 2015.
9. Seattle Mariners
This was the year where the Mariners were supposed to make the leap to a playoff team. They went out and signed Nelson Cruz to bolster their lineup and bring some more power which worked out extremely well, but that is where positives end for the Mariners 2015 season. Robinson Cano took far too long to get hot at the plate and their ace Felix Hernandez had a down season.
Their All-Star closer from a year ago had an atrocious season posting a 5.68 ERA with the Mariners before getting cut and picked up by the Cubs. With little bullpen help, a struggling lineup that should’ve been one of the better in the American League, and an injured, and underperforming starting rotation, the Mariners fell far short of expectations and were never really close to making the playoffs.
8. Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs
After appearing in 52 games last year, and displaying some impressive pop for a middle infielder it was assumed that Baez would get a good chance to take over a starting position in the cubs infield this year. That however never happened as Addison Russell eventually got the nod at second base and after a slow start Starlin Castro made it impossible for the Cubs to make a change with how hot his bat got in the second half.
Baez however ended up only being a September call-up. Baez has the type of power and speed combo that could make him a very lethal player however he has to get an extended chance to display his abilities. Unless that cubs end up dealing Castro, Baez may wind up being a constant disappointment unless he is able to learn how to play the outfield so that he can finally get some at bats.
7. Baltimore Orioles
A year after winning the division and tying the Nationals for the second best record in baseball the Orioles never came close to replicating those results. Their lineup was good but not great this year in large part due to the struggles of Adam Jones who had the fewest homeruns since 2011, and had the worst batting average of his career since becoming a full time starter back in 2008.
To succeed the Orioles needed their hitters to have strong seasons with their lackluster starting rotation. The Orioles managed to stay in contention for a while but as the season started to come to a close they fell further and further behind the Yankees, and Blue Jays.
The pitching staff failed to go deep into games which exposed a bullpen that had it’s struggles outside of superstar Zach Britton. Now the Orioles have five key pieces possibly leaving in free agency, and outside of Manny Machado it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel for a franchise that needed to make a splash last season.
6. Greg Holland, Kansas City Royals
If the Royals had been unable to win the World Series Holland would likely be higher up on this list. Holland has been one of the better closers in baseball since taking over the job and had posted back to back seasons with a sub 2.00 ERA. Holland failed to reach 60 innings for the first time since his rookie season when he only made 15 appearances, and had his highest ERA since that same season.
Holland posted a 3.83 ERA, and after striking out at least 90 hitters in each of the past three years Holland only had 49 K’s. Fortunately for Holland he still has an incredible repertoire and this was more likely a small bump in the road in what will likely be a stellar career.
5. Johnny Cueto, Kansas City Royals
Cueto makes this list due to his total collapse upon being traded to the Royals. Cueto was having another typical Cueto type season with a 2.62 ERA with the Reds before falling apart with the Royals posting a 4.76 ERA with them. With everything the Royals gave up for him they needed Cueto to be better as it could’ve cost them home field advantage as the Blue Jays were only two wins behind them.
Cueto then went on to struggle in the first two rounds of the playoffs before finally dominating the Mets in the world Series. If Cueto hadn’t been so dominate in the World Series this could have would up being a disastrous trade for the Royals as Cueto is a free agent, and he could’ve left Kansas City without giving them any return on their investment.
This second half collapse also couldn’t have pleased fantasy owners who thought the ace they drafted was finally going to get some wins after leaving the hapless Reds for the Royals. That didn’t turn out as planned as Cueto never found his grove outside of a start here and there.
4. Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
Ellsbury was fairly good in his first year with the Yankees, but in his second year he was far from good. He only batted .257, and had by far the fewest amount of steals in any season where he has played at least 100 games with only 21 steals. Ellsbury started out great batting a fantastic .318 before the All-Star break but only hit .220 after the All-Star break.
This nearly cost the Yankees a playoff birth as their offense came and went with the bat of Ellsbury and essentially every hitter other than Greg Bird, and Didi Gregorius struggled in the second half. Ellsbury only had seven steals in the second half, which is not the type of production the Yankees were looking for when they signed him to a $135 million contract.
3. Washington Nationals
What a season it was for the Nationals. They came into the year with World Series aspirations, and for a little while in control of their division despite an underperforming offense. However the pitching staff got a little banged up namely Stephen Strasburg, and many of the other starters outside of Max Scherzer, Strasburg included when healthy started to under perform.
Then batting wise outside MVP candidate Bryce Harper, and Yunel Escobar you had a bunch of sub .250 hitters that didn’t offer very much power upside either. After finishing the season tied for the second best record in baseball who would’ve seen the Nationals not making the playoffs this year.
The Nationals played in an easy division, and should have been able to beat up on everyone but the Mets to at least remain competitive and not finish seven games out of first. After failing to meet expectations their manager was fired and replaced by Dust Baker as maybe he will be able to get them over the hump from preseason favorites to legitimate playoff threats.
2. Pablo Sandoval, Boston Red Sox
After signing a massive contract with the Red sox in the offseason for five years $95 million, Pablo did nothing to earn that money. He put up statistical lows in every batting category batting .245 with 10 homeruns, 43 runs, and 47 RBI. Pablo’s lack of offense isn’t overly surprising as he was never an offensive juggernaut but he out up stats worthy of a bench player not a $100 million caliber player.
It got so bad for Sandoval that he ended up batting in the bottom third of the order after being third or cleanup when the season started. After signing such a big contract for a team that so many had such high expectations for that abysmal season he posted has to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2015.
1. Detroit Tigers
I’m sure a lot of people have the Nationals as the biggest team to disappoint in 2015, but when you really break it down the Tigers had the more disappointing season. The Tigers went from first to worst in their division in just one season. The tigers finished 20.5 games out of first place and were 13 games under .500. Even though their pitching wasn’t top of the line it was good enough to win, and they still had a good enough offense that when the pitching struggled they should have been able to get a win.
Their main problem was a bad bullpen that could not finish out the games. Mix a bad bullpen with a bunch of injuries and you have a recipe for failure. The Tigers suffered multiple injuries to two of their best hitters in Miguel Cabrera, and Victor Martinez, and were never able to climb out of an early hole.
It got so bad that the Tigers became sellers at the trade deadline as they dealt both David Price, and Yoenis Cespedes. From first to worst is a tough pill to swallow, especially for a team that has been so good for so long which is why they made it to number one on my top ten biggest disappointments.