In every fantasy draft there are people that highly outperform their expectations and those that highly underperform their expectations. The worst case of under performing occurs when you waste a high draft pick on the player. Here is a list of 11 busts with the ESPN Average Draft Position (ADP) Top 100, meaning that chances are you used one of your first 10 picks on one of these guys if you have them rotting the bench.
Hitter (ADP) - AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB
Pitcher (ADP) - W-L SV K ERA WHIP
Prince Fielder (15) - .259 20 6 24 0
Him going vegan helped me steer away from the 250 pound beast. But obviously given his position as the 15th highest player drafted it didn't scare off enough. You knew he wasn't going to provide speed and you couldn't bank on a high average but its the mediocre power numbers that are killing all of his fantasy owners.
Mark Teixeira (23) - .264 25 5 23 0
Typically a slow starter I don't know if fantasy owners have too much to worry about with Teixeira. But I guess when you draft someone within the first three rounds you would hope not to have 2 months with less production than Mike Jacobs.
Victor Martinez (32) - .306 9 0 15 0
If you look at just average than Victor Martinez wouldn't seem like a bust. .306 is a nice number for any player. But look at the surrounding stats. 9 Runs, 15 RBI, and zero count it zero homers. He's supposed to be far and away the best catcher in baseball. Yadier Molina has better overall numbers than Victor Martinez and he might have gone undrafted in many leagues.
CC Sabathia (33) - 3-6 0 65 5.14 1.48
He's beginning to turn his season around after a brutal start, but a 1.48 WHIP? That is miserable, plus only the 3 wins despite pitching well over his last handful of starts makes you worry about whether or not he's going to hit 15 that you thought was automatic at the start of the year.
Eric Byrnes (35) - .218 24 4 17 4
If you drafted Eric Byrnes as the 35th player I would have thought you were smoking something funny. But apparently people valued him this high and what they are getting is mediocre overall numbers with a pitiful average. To me its not that surprising.
Troy Tulowitzki (42) - .152 10 1 11 1
Arguably the biggest killer to fantasy teams this year. Tulowitzki was supposed to be a breakout candidate after his terrific end to the season. Instead he gave his teams zero production and a 6 week trip to the DL. At least if you had him and picked up Clint Barmes you're getting production.
Travis Hafner (43) - .221 17 4 20 1
Travis Hafner does have one more steal than you could expect. But that is the only thing good you can say about him.
Robinson Cano (51) - .200 12 4 12 1
He rose his average to .200 finally. That's a good thing. Cano has less RBI than Asdrubal Cabrera who has no power whatsoever and is hitting .175. That's how bad Cano has been this season.
Justin Verlander (56) - 2-7 0 40 5.61 1.41
He finally picked up a win in his last start but everything about Verlander has been much worse than expected. He has 7 losses a miserable WHIP and ERA and he only has 40 Ks in two months.
Roy Oswalt (63) - 4-4 0 49 5.43 1.43
Oswalt is similar to Verlander with slightly better numbers but with much more injury risk.
Gary Sheffield (88) - .180 12 2 8 3
It's late May, Josh Hamilton has over 50 RBI, Gary Sheffield doesn't even have double digits. How pathetic is that?
Brad Hawpe (97) - .231 16 3 17 0
Hawpe is also typically better in the second half of the season, so I would actually go out and try to convince his owners to part way with a player who has been so terrible the opening two months.
Numbers as of Wednesday Afternoon
Hitter (ADP) - AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB
Pitcher (ADP) - W-L SV K ERA WHIP
Prince Fielder (15) - .259 20 6 24 0
Him going vegan helped me steer away from the 250 pound beast. But obviously given his position as the 15th highest player drafted it didn't scare off enough. You knew he wasn't going to provide speed and you couldn't bank on a high average but its the mediocre power numbers that are killing all of his fantasy owners.
Mark Teixeira (23) - .264 25 5 23 0
Typically a slow starter I don't know if fantasy owners have too much to worry about with Teixeira. But I guess when you draft someone within the first three rounds you would hope not to have 2 months with less production than Mike Jacobs.
Victor Martinez (32) - .306 9 0 15 0
If you look at just average than Victor Martinez wouldn't seem like a bust. .306 is a nice number for any player. But look at the surrounding stats. 9 Runs, 15 RBI, and zero count it zero homers. He's supposed to be far and away the best catcher in baseball. Yadier Molina has better overall numbers than Victor Martinez and he might have gone undrafted in many leagues.
CC Sabathia (33) - 3-6 0 65 5.14 1.48
He's beginning to turn his season around after a brutal start, but a 1.48 WHIP? That is miserable, plus only the 3 wins despite pitching well over his last handful of starts makes you worry about whether or not he's going to hit 15 that you thought was automatic at the start of the year.
Eric Byrnes (35) - .218 24 4 17 4
If you drafted Eric Byrnes as the 35th player I would have thought you were smoking something funny. But apparently people valued him this high and what they are getting is mediocre overall numbers with a pitiful average. To me its not that surprising.
Troy Tulowitzki (42) - .152 10 1 11 1
Arguably the biggest killer to fantasy teams this year. Tulowitzki was supposed to be a breakout candidate after his terrific end to the season. Instead he gave his teams zero production and a 6 week trip to the DL. At least if you had him and picked up Clint Barmes you're getting production.
Travis Hafner (43) - .221 17 4 20 1
Travis Hafner does have one more steal than you could expect. But that is the only thing good you can say about him.
Robinson Cano (51) - .200 12 4 12 1
He rose his average to .200 finally. That's a good thing. Cano has less RBI than Asdrubal Cabrera who has no power whatsoever and is hitting .175. That's how bad Cano has been this season.
Justin Verlander (56) - 2-7 0 40 5.61 1.41
He finally picked up a win in his last start but everything about Verlander has been much worse than expected. He has 7 losses a miserable WHIP and ERA and he only has 40 Ks in two months.
Roy Oswalt (63) - 4-4 0 49 5.43 1.43
Oswalt is similar to Verlander with slightly better numbers but with much more injury risk.
Gary Sheffield (88) - .180 12 2 8 3
It's late May, Josh Hamilton has over 50 RBI, Gary Sheffield doesn't even have double digits. How pathetic is that?
Brad Hawpe (97) - .231 16 3 17 0
Hawpe is also typically better in the second half of the season, so I would actually go out and try to convince his owners to part way with a player who has been so terrible the opening two months.
Numbers as of Wednesday Afternoon
Comments