King Mike's Blog
  • 06:20 PM ET  10.29
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finally, I can finalize my worst of list, without Barry Zito (regard the fact that he did get 10 wins and had a fine 2nd half no matter the contract).

10. Aaron Heilman (Mets)- It's easy to see why he was one of Willie's favorite players. But by the end of the season, he was a liability because he was the weakest link. With a 3-8 record and a 5.21, he became the virus of a very bad bullpen.

9. Jose Guillen (Royals)- I don't care what his stats were. 20 homers and 97 RBI's is fine, but his character throughout the season brought down the team chemistry. It's no surprise Guillen is another Ruben Sierra, but it is a surprise that Trey Hillman has to stand him for another two years.

8. Chris Young (Diamondbacks)- In Arizona, there is a lot of speed. But if you're Chris Young, and you only steal 14 bases and strike out 165 times, have a lousy .248 average and hit 22 homers and 85 RBI's, you got to be disappointed. If he had 24 steals, he probably wouldn't be on this list.

7. Jason Isringhausen (Cardinals)- Let's face it; I probably would give Jason a pass because he was injured, but let's look closely at his April-May Stats carefully: a 9.00 ERA? 11/17, SIX BLOWN SAVES? 1-5 record? You gotta be kidding me. He wasn't even pitching good when he was back from the DL, which makes room for a younger closer in a flip-flopping team like the Cards with a manager who really doesn't know how to play the game, but sure knows how to make starters long relievers.

6. Jason Giambi (Yankees)- Again, don't be fooled by the slugger's big numbers. 32 homers, 99 RBIS, but a .247 average and a .502 slugging percentage. Plus, like A-Bucks, he couldn't score with runners in scoring position.

5. Travis Hafner (Indians)- The injury bug was a issue here and the Indians didn't show their presence from 2007, but Pronk couldn't do s--t! A .197 average? 5 homers? A .323 slugging percentage? That's just unacceptable. Even if he was healthy, the organization had to know that he was on the decline since last year.

4. Luis Castillo (Mets)- Is there such thing as a fat second baseman? According to Luis, yes there is. Who cares about the injury bug in this case. It's no wonder Damion Easley was given the starting job. I would love to see Easley play 2nd again next year, unless of course Daniel Murphy does well during the off-season. Which means Castillo will have to play backup. But let's look closely here: A .245 average, way below his career high .292. 17 steals, a decrease by two steals last year. A .305 Slugging Percentage, below .355 career wise. And a lousy .191 average down the stretch the last 10 games. This is a disappointment beyond words.

3. Justin Verlander (Tigers)- Whoa Whoa, why isn't Jake Peavy on this list? Well, for starters, Peavy was the best pitcher on a really bad Padres team hitting wise. If the Padres had more offense, he would have been a 13-17 game winner. But Verlander is unheard of. This is a guy who threw a no-no last year, and has carried the Tiger's rotation in 2006-2007. An 11-17 record, compared to 17-9 and 18-6 last year. Plus, a 4.84 ERA, well below 3.63 and 3.66. Pitchers can have bad seasons, but Verlander was a shocker. The strikeouts were there though, 163 K's.

2. Robinson Cano (Yankees)- Ah, the most overrated player in the MLB. Here is a guy who a lot of experts saw him as a triple crown threat, doesn't walk too much and is impatience, but his hot streaks would be nuclear, well above .300. Well, what the Yanks got was a .271 average (way below .303 career wise), 72 RBI's (compared to 97 last year, a 25 RBI difference), and only benched once. Blame Joe Girardi for that, he's not Joe Torre by any means, but Cano was a disappointment all year round. Who cares if he had that hand injury? His streaks were short, and his disciplined was distracted by the big contract he got last year. This is an opportunity for the Yankees to trade him, because the Bronx doesn't have the patience to wait for his streaks to happen.

Finally, the worst player in the world, which is why Barry Zito was very Neat-O in the end:

1. Andruw Jones (Dodgers)- Maybe the Braves got the benefit of the doubt in the Dodgers signing Jones. The front office must have realized that the overweight centerfielder (240 pounds!) was losing his swing after hitting 51 homers and 128 RBI's in 2005. Year by year, he was focusing too much on driving the ball deep and his swing was altered to a point where he was hitting below .200. 3 homers, 14 RBIS in 75 games with a .158 average, well below Pronk. His glove was so-so, but like Cano, this might have been all about the money, because Jones looked like he really didn't care about playing at all when he was healthy. This was probably the main reason by the Dodgers got Man-Ram, and why Jones wasn't even on the playoff roster, after so many years in the postseason with the Braves. Who cares about the critics telling him to lose weight? He's not Jim Edmonds, who found his swing long before Jones was as worst of a liability as Aaron Heilman.

 So there you have it. Brutally honest, but opinionated based on stats. Honorable mention is below:

Paul Konerko, David Ortiz, Victor Martinez, Mark Reynolds (GRAB SOME PINE), Hudson Street, Todd Helton, Melky Cabrera. 

October 29, 2008  09:13 PM ET

**** u kid u have no blogging ability wow. check my blog ****

October 29, 2008  10:19 PM ET
QUOTE(#1):

**** u kid u have no blogging ability wow. check my blog ****

And u sound very uneducated. I have seen your blogs. Learn how to type first. You sound like you've just got out of grade school.

October 30, 2008  03:33 AM ET

King Mike, I need some advise man, when I blog I write my blog into sections but when I press publish it comes out into one huge paragraph. I see how your blog is separated from thought to thought, just as if you were writing a paper. Am I doing something wrong? Because no matter what I do it still comes out looking like a novel, should I not be writing in "Post Body". It's frustrating and annoying to any of my readers. Can you try and help me out, thanks man. (BTW bigblack doesn't know what he is talking about)

October 30, 2008  11:53 AM ET

"Yankees should trade Cano", Rod Carew batted .272 in his second year (yeah this is Cano's third year) and only walked 26 times in just short of 500 ABs. He had less doubles than Cano this year and his OBP was only ten points better. Man Minny should have traded that loser.

Giambi was in the voting for comeback player of the year and played all year at first base with a .990 fielding percentage.

If this list made any sense at all you would have put Melky Cabrera (.249, .301, .341) or Phil Hughes\Ian Kennedy (Combined 0-8). All of whom where sent back to AAA ball.

November 1, 2008  09:17 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

Giambi was in the voting for comeback player of the year and played all year at first base with a .990 fielding percentage.

Sorry to correct you, but Giambi wasn't even voted for Comeback Player of the Year, perhaps on the basis that he already won the award in 2005.

And Melky was considered by many writers the wrong to be sent down this year.

November 6, 2008  07:46 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

"Yankees should trade Cano", Rod Carew batted .272 in his second year (yeah this is Cano's third year) and only walked 26 times in just short of 500 ABs. He had less doubles than Cano this year and his OBP was only ten points better. Man Minny should have traded that loser. Giambi was in the voting for comeback player of the year and played all year at first base with a .990 fielding percentage.If this list made any sense at all you would have put Melky Cabrera (.249, .301, .341) or Phil Hughes\Ian Kennedy (Combined 0-8). All of whom where sent back to AAA ball.

Look at the time of Carew, playing the game wasn't about money. Cano in the first year of a multi-million dollar deal was a disappointment because he was expected to compete for a batting title by many analysists.

 
November 6, 2008  07:49 PM ET

Melky Cabrera was essentally the wrong guy to send down to the minors. At least he had a hot start in April. But I agree he'll be talked about during the meetings.

The only thing that separates Cano from Carew is consistency. Carew was consistent even when he was injured. With Cano, it was all about pressure.

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