The Failing 5 - April 29, 2013

After releasing the first installment of The Power 10 last Monday, a friend of mine suggested that I do a similar ranking of 5 disappointing teams – I give you The Failing 5. 

Most teams have played about 25 games to date, and while that obviously doesn’t make or break a season, some of these teams have raised major red flags that need to be addressed before the hole becomes too deep.

Just as I did for The Power 10, these rankings were determined by a combination of preseason expectations and actual performance.  This will not be a ranking of the 5 worst teams in baseball, but will instead focus on teams that aren’t meeting expectations – I don’t think anyone wants to read about the Astros and Marlins all season long. 

Needless to say, you don’t want your team showing up on this list:

Team	Win – Loss	Run Differential
#1 – Toronto Blue Jays	9-17	-35
Boy, where do I begin with this debacle? It’s going to start getting late early in Toronto. They have gone 1-6 vs. the Yankees this season, so I have had the opportunity to see them a great deal in the early going – and they totally fail the eye test on every level. They don’t hit. They certainly don’t pitch. And they have made several defensive blunders that have helped cost them games, specifically the ones against the Yanks.    5 of their 6 losses to the Yankees were by 2 runs or fewer. The Jays also had the lead in all 4 games against the Yankees this past weekend, only to get swept out of town with 4 disheartening losses. Good teams always find a way to win the close ones, and that goes opposite for bad teams - the Jays continue to find ways to lose, which is an ominous taste of things to come this season.   What’s Going Wrong?  Everything. The Jays woke up this morning with a .229 team batting average, the Marlins are the only team in the majors that’s worse; Melky Cabrera’s .250 average leads the starters, and Joey Bats is coming in below the Mendoza Line at .192.   Toronto is also 27th in the majors with a 4.46 team ERA – a bad thing to combine with their early-season offensive struggles. Their starting pitching has been especially brutal, with R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, and J.A. Happ leading a starting rotation that has a 5.26 ERA. Disgusting.
#2 – Los Angeles Angels	9-15	-22
Last Monday the Angels were fresh off a weekend sweep of the Tigers and appeared ready to put their early-season struggles behind them. Then came a 2-5 stretch against division rivals Texas and Seattle, pushing them right back into their funk.   They are 3-9 on the road this season, and 5-11 vs. their division rivals in the AL West. Things don’t get easier this week with series’ against Oakland and Baltimore.   What’s Going Wrong? The major culprit for this slow start has been the pitching – which was a major concern coming into the season. The Angels have a team ERA of 4.72, which is 2nd worst in the majors. The starting rotation is seriously feeling the loss of Jered Weaver, posting a collective ERA of 5.18 ERA – and Weaver is still 3-4 weeks away from returning. Joe Blanton and Jason Vargas are a combined 0-7 in 10 starts.   Offensively they are ranked 4th in the majors with a .267 average, but this is deceiving since they are only hitting .220 with runners in scoring position. This futility is led by Josh Hamilton’s .091 average in such situations (2-22).   The Angels also lead the American League in errors.
#3 – Los Angeles Dodgers	12-12	-14
Over the past week the Dodgers have done their best to erase the stench of a 6-game losing streak, going 5-2 to climb back to .500. But the issues are still there. With the senseless loss of Zack Greinke still fresh in their minds, Chad Billingsly went and blew out his elbow and will miss the rest of the season. The Dodgers will spend the remainder of the first half heavily relying on the already-questionable health of Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano to stabilize the rotation led by the stellar Clayton Kershaw. It’s time for Josh Beckett to step up.   What’s Going Wrong? In addition to being victimized by the injury bug, the Dodgers simply are not scoring runs – they have plated just 80 in 24 games, only Miami has fewer. They are hitting a ghastly .206 with runners in scoring position – with Matt Kemp coming in at just .143 in such situations (4-28).   Dodger Stadium is certainly not hitter-friendly, but this offense must improve on its 29th-ranked slugging percentage.
#4 – Cleveland Indians	9-13	-10
There was some real excitement in Cleveland heading into the regular season, with Terry Francona at the helm and several offseason acquisitions brought in to give this team a new feel after so many years of mediocrity. Unfortunately, the team has put too much faith in a rotation that will never live up to expectations. Their bullpen has been solid, but the rotation will absolutely cripple the Indians from making any kind of serious run.   What’s Going Wrong? Surprise! The rotation. Period. Cleveland starters enter today with a collective ERA of 5.53. The face of this futility is Ubaldo Jimenez, who has gotten off to an absolutely atrocious start (0-2 with a 10.06 ERA in 4 starts). Justin Masterson has been the lone bright spot for this group, posting a 4-2 record in his 6 starts with an ERA of 3.12. The rest of the rotation is 2-11 in 16 games. Only bottom-dwellers Houston and San Diego have less than the 9 quality starts the Indians have had.
#5 – Seattle Mariners	11-16	-32
The Mariners kinda flew under the radar in the offseason, focusing on taking flyers on power bats like Michael Morse, Kendrys Morales, Raul Ibanez, and Jason Bay to help improve their futile offense. So far, it hasn’t worked. Seattle still ranks 25th or worse in average, on base percentage, slugging, and runs scored. Couple the 87 runs they have scored with the 119 they have given up, and that is a recipe for an April to forget... only Toronto, Houston, and Miami have a greater negative run differential.   What’s Going Wrong? The offseason acquisitions they made have not panned out over the first month. Michael Morse got off to a blistering start with 6 HR and 9 RBI in the team’s first 9 games – but has come back to Earth, going 11-52 (.211) with 1 HR and 2 RBI in the 13 games he has played in since.    It has continued to be the same old song and dance for this offense – Dustin Ackley, where are you? The promising second baseman has a .240 average with ONE RBI in 87 at bats. Just looking up and down this paltry lineup is an eyesore: Jesus Montero (.217/2/7), Justin Smoak (.211/1/5), and Jason Bay (.229/2/5) have contributed a lineup that is hitting just .203 with runners in scoring position.   The expectations for Seattle certainly weren’t on the level of the teams above, but wherever the bar was set it will be difficult to reach it if they continue performing at this clip.