Feeling Blue?

Writer's note: This was written about a week and a half ago, so I threw in a minor update with each player. Cause I'm generous and love each and every one of you. Even Reefer and Saber.


It's a battle royale of depression. Reason to make fans of the respected teams cry violently as they throw beer at the TV and rip at their jersies. What makes this tragedy even more sultry in design, is that the teams these players are on are either currently contending or at least had ripe visions of contending before the season began. And just imagine if Atlanta, Boston, and Seattle just had another piece that wasn't hitting .200 or didn't have a 6 plus ERA. I know, it calls for a cheesy soap opera moment where you just want to kick the player off your team like a husband kicking the cheating wife out of the house after a 5 minute, teary eyed standoff. It's the tension and drama of baseball that makes the world go around. Personally, I'm not even sure the performances of these guys even qualify as.. performances. Face it, every season, there's a bag full of unexpected big leaguers that are so God awful, you seriously consider denouncing baseball faith and picking up Major League Soccer cause at least David Beckham hasn't done anything to embarrass himself.. yet.


Andruw Jones, Centerfield, Atlanta
Okay, three quick outlets for this man:
1. It's logical to believe he'll end up with 500 plus doubles and homeruns, as well as a gaggle of gold gloves, when his career is done. Those are the obvious accomplishments, without mentioning the subtle things he did at such a young age. But just consider he is a likely hall of fame candidate, even if every sabermetrician alive will disagree.
2. Also consider he somehow has an on base percentage over .300 when you consider other guys that will be listed do not. He also has 54 RBI's, which is pretty good when you're only hitting .211 and the strikeouts are raping the walks. Or molesting. Sorry. Violating. And you still find him on web gems every week.
3. I won't take his past credentials away. But I will point out that you have a stable top of the order in Kelly johnson, Edgar Renteria, and Chipper Jones.. all of which have held a consistent OBP, giving AJ every opportunity to be the league leader in RBIs. On any other year, he might have the lead, but he's in the middle as of now. His OPS is weaker than Mark DeRosa's. And his range and defensive capabilities have largely been lackluster this season. He's letting his offensive woes affect his mental state.

Atlanta is in a rough division, where four of the five teams could be a playoff team. They're only 2.5 behind the mets, who have vastly under-played up to their potential and they have had just about every injury you could fathom to every position you could think of. In 2005 and 2006, AJ averaged 46 homeruns, 128 RBIs, a .260 average and a .900 OPS. He's ridiculously off pace for all of those stats except maybe the RBI count, but that's all thanks to a good lineup. Tell me how the braves can survive with a guy batting more like Mike Cameron these days? This man was once an MVP candidate. It's fair to assume he could bust out in the second half, but with his strikeout rate, maybe not. It's no secret he's in a contract year, been the subject of numerous trade rumors, and well, his value is dying every 0-3 or 0-4 game. What really sums up AJ this season? Watching him bat against Ian Snell, AJ had a bad swing and popped up, stranding Chipper. AJ's reaction: bitter beer Peyton Manning face.
Impact buzz: Atlanta can't afford to not have him producing down the stretch.
7/22 Update: The dude is still hitting for power, and not much else. Which sucks for him since ATL's offense is smoking lately.


Julio Lugo, Shortstop, Boston
What does the incredible sub .600 OPS man bring about?
1. The truth that Alex Cora is better right now.
2. Should have either kept Alex Gonzalez around or stuck it out with Edgar Renteria.
3. We gave him how much for how many years?

I am not the typical baseball fan that looks to bash the red sox at any given moment, because I have never had anything against the red sox. But this ordeal is funny. As Bill Simmons will frequently point out, Lugo leads the league in terrible at bats and crotch grabs. So at 8.2 million, Lugo would be entering 2007 for the red sox as a shortstop with good range, good speed, some pop, and the capabilities to be an offensive factor for any team. But if you noticed, he started this downfall trend with the dodgers. His OPS with LA was .545. Had zero homeruns for them and his stealing became a competition of getting caught more than being successful. Perhaps Julio is allergic to big city lights, or better yet, allergic to teams with fans that give a damn. It's easy to coast in Tampa in anonymity. If there's any silver lining, Julio is 22/24 in stolen bases. But a team with a pretty good offense and for most of the year, a pretty damn good team, wouldn't it just be sweeter if they had the Julio Lugo of the last couple of years and not the sorry I'm wasting 8.2 million of your salary standing around and doing nothing except making sure my jock strap matches my crotch pattern.
Impact buzz: As nice as it would be to have him hitting, they can live with Alex Cora
7/22 Update: Lugo is on a small hitting streak. His July features a .431 OBP and a .383 average.


Jermaine Dye, Rightfield, Chicago
There's an interesting trend for this man.
1. This man was awesome back in 99-00, when he at that time peaked with 33 homeruns and .950 OPS. Injuries and mediocrity kept Jermaine Dye from mattering to any baseball fan for years until the whitesox welcomed him in. 44 homeruns, 120 RBIs, and a 1.000 OPS later, Dye is back to not being a factor for the baseball community.
2. That simply means he'll rebound in about 5 seasons with 100 plus RBIs and a wickeeeed hard OPS. Or something.
3. Not that it matters now since Chicago is really, really bad at this point. But he would have been decent trade bait.

I pretty much painted the reasons why I have never liked Jermaine Dye. He's either a product of a fantastic batting order, or he's playing to be paid handsomely. Fluke happens. But in reality, the white sox entered 2007 with hopes of contending again. And Dye was going to be a big reason why, as part of a hefty batting order with Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Joe Crede. Turns out, no. How do you go from a 1.000 OPS to being worse than Luis Terrero? By the way, as I type this, Andruw Jones just took Ian Snell waaaay out of here. 15 for AJ now, comeback is on baby!
I don't think Dye or Lugo have done anything since I started this article.
But does it matter now for Chicago? Best case scenario, the man with a golden rightfield arm needs traded for whatever they can get at this point. And then when he's about 37-38, he makes a run for MVP again with the New York Yankees.
Because they like them old, decrepit, and unpredictable.
Impact buzz: A couple months ago, he would have been important to a run. It's a moot point now.
7/22 Update: um.. Paul Konerko is still good.


Anthony Reyes, Starting Pitcher, St. Louis
It's a journey to the center of Tony La Russa's frustrations with his pitching.
1. That damn hat of Reyes' could be considered a reason why he's not won a game this season, has a 6 plus ERA and an ugly WHIP of 1.40 something something.
2. Yes, he has not won a game this season. You know, at least when Jeremy Bonderman and Mike Maroth were chasing 20 losses, they took the time to win a game or two. But Anthony Reyes has decided it would be cool to try for 0-15 or maybe get lucky and go 0-20. Could Dry1313 even manage that on OOTP?
3. Completely further off topic, Renteria with a two run hit as I type this up. Oooh ooh, eat it Julio Lugo. Um, but yeah, Anthony Reyes is 25 years of age and was expected, with the help of Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper making an out of nowhere conversion to starting pitcher, help revitalize a rotation that went east, west, and north. Instead, no.

In his defense, Kip Wells is doing great with a 3-11 record and 1.62 WHIP. And and Looper and Wainwright are a combined 13-14 with a 1.30 plus WHIP. We are not in Colorado anymore toto. Perhaps I could have just listed the St. Louis rotation. And people were so quick to pick the cardinals to win the division. My how one particular injury (Chris Carpenter) can create a mighty descent to the pits of Cincinnati Hell. Or Jerry Narron Boulevard. Oh, buttttttttt....
Impact Buzz: If Reyes and Wainwright get things going, they could be what separates St. Louis from last place or making a rebound to top the brewers. They are only 5 under .500, if anyone could imagine that with a rotation of pure fecal matter.
7/22 Update: Who knew following Jeff Suppan would be such a task?


Jeff Weaver, Starting Pitcher, Seattle
Like how I started with Weaver's replacement and worked right into.. Weaver? Well this is the story of Walt Jocketty's ex.
1. "average draft position in fantasy leagues" ..undrafted
2. "2007 salary" ...8.325 million
3. "moral of the story" ....Seattle got hosed

I get the feeling there's a "I told you so" around the corner on this one. I fully realize that La Russa eaked out 5 quality outings and mid 2's ERA in the postseason from Weaver. But somewhere in the Seattle organization, someone had to have said, "Yeah but his regular season ERA was over 5 and the angels gave up on him. We don't work magic like La Russa and Duncan. HAVE WE NOT LEARNED FROM OUR MISTAKES WITH RICHARD SEXSON AND ADRIAN BELTRE???? HAVE YOU ALL GONE MAD????" My bet is that not even Porter99 was saying that, because Porter99 strongly believes in weird transactions. *nudge*nudge* So, as of now, our buddy Jeff Weaver is a modest 2-6 with a slightly decent 6.34 ERA and a 1.60 whatever whatever WHIP. But that's after two strong outings against Oakland and Toronto. One has to wonder if the pressure of being on a team that matters again is getting to Weaver to perform. I'm sure it was a surprise even to him to learn the mariners were only two back of his brother's team. 2 !!!
Impact Buzz: Something's got to give, either Richie Sexson's OBP tops .300 or Jeff Weaver's ERA goes below 6. I'm betting on the latter and the mariners should be too. They can't depend on King Felix Rich Harden Jr. or Chae Sung Baek or whatever, or ...Miguel Batista? Oooooh, snap.
7/22 Update: This moment is brought to you by Bear Grylls.. "THIS MAN NEEDS LOTS OF VIT-UH-MEN C TO SURVIVE OUT HERE IN SUCH A TOUGH ENVIRONMENT"