MLB Playoffs: Derek Jeter, Roy Halladay, and the 10 Players with Most to Prove
The playoffs are when legends are made. You can be a great player in the regular season, but if you fail in the playoffs, then you will be served a cold dish of doubt and ridicule.
Nobody wants to be Mr. May.
Just ask Alex Rodriguez. Until last year, he was considered Mr. Regular Season, a choke artist, a joke, and overpaid. He still may be overpaid, but he has a ring on his finger to keep him happy.
Every year there are a new crop of players with something to prove, either to themselves or to the baseball world in order to solidify their stances in the history of the game.
Here are the players with the most to prove in this postseason.
No. 10: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
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Just because he has done it once doesn't mean the pressure is entirely off.
After all, this is the guy who hit just .245 with nine RBI, four home runs, and 22 strikeouts in 24 postseason games with the Yankees prior to the 2009 championship drive.
He has shown once that he can get the job done in October. Last year, he reached base in every playoff game but two while hitting .365 with a 1.308 OPS.
If he can do something similar again this year, then there is no question that the playoff monkey is off his back and has turned into his own personal rally monkey.
No. 9: Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies
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This is the third year in a row that Lidge enters the postseason with something to prove. Hopefully for Phillies fans, it works out more like 2008 than 2009.
Lidge experienced two seasons of being one of the most automatic closers in the National League, and then Albert Pujols assaulted him in the 2005 NLCS. Lidge then went on to lose two games in the World Series for the Astros, a big reason why they were swept by the White Sox.
Since then he has been trying to recuperate to his former self.
He went into a tailspin until 2008 when he was seemingly rejuvenated, converting 41 saves in 41 opportunities. Last year, however, was the opposite of 2008, with Lidge converting only 14 of 20 save opportunities, racking up a 7.21 ERA, and blowing Game 4 of the World Series.
A large portion of the Phillies' chances lie in the right hand of Brad Lidge, and it is nearly impossible to tell what he is going to do.
No. 8: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies
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Halladay has been one of the best pitchers in the majors for the past decade.
This year alone, he pitched the MLB's 20th perfect game and has likely won himself his second Cy Young Award.
There is nothing he hasn't done in the regular season in his career. Unfortunately for him, he has been mired on a Toronto Blue Jays team that has the misfortune of being in the AL East, and therefore has never pitched a single pitch in the playoffs.
I have no doubt that Halladay will come out with everything working—just as it has been over the past month of the season.
Nonetheless, it cannot be ignored that he has never pitched in the postseason. Therefore, he must show the world what he can do under true pressure, when every game is meaningful, and one loss can mean the difference between a shiny ring on your finger and a frustrating offseason.
No. 7: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
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Votto has had quite the season.
After initially being snubbed from an All-Star selection, even though he had some of the best numbers in the league, he became a household name in the last four months and has in all likelihood earned himself the National League MVP Award.
He has become the leader of a team that in the past has been perpetually woeful, and brought them from the bowels of the NL Central to division champions.
That is all well and good, but it will all be for naught if the Reds come out flat this postseason.
Sure, you will hear from Reds fans that it is good to finally be in the playoffs for the first time since 1995, but nobody wants to go home early, and if the Reds do, then it will put some things in doubt.
If they don't at least put up a fight in the first round, then people will begin to write them off as a fluke and they will all put it together by many players having career years and playing in the rather weak NL Central.
So, it is up to Votto to not only prove himself to the world which he has only been introduced to, but to prove that the Reds are a legitimate threat for years to come.
He must put this team on his back, as he has done all year, and take them as far as he can.
No. 6: Derrek Lee, Atlanta Braves
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Derrek Lee has had a decent stint with the Braves this year, but it has been a far cry from what he used to be.
Lee has hit .286 with the Bravos, an improvement over the .259 average he put up with the Cubs this year, but the real story of Lee's season has been his drop off in home run production.
In 38 games with the Braves, Lee has hit two home runs, one every 63 at-bats. That is pretty poor.
His total this season is only 18, a large drop-off from his 35 of last year and miles away from his career high of 46 in 2005.
This postseason could be a last stand of sorts for Lee, as last year was for Hideki Matsui with the Yankees.
Lee is advancing in age and doesn't have very many productive years left as a first basemen in the National League with diminishing defensive skills and waning offensive numbers.
Look for Lee to be a man on a mission.
No. 5: Vladamir Guerrero, Texas Rangers
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The Angels thought he was too old, that he had lost his pop, that his best years were long gone, that Hideki Matsui would make a better designated hitter.
Wrongity wrong wrong wrong.
Vlad came off his worst season of his career, the first time he hit under .300 and had less than 20 home runs with at least 100 games played to put up another year of extreme productivity.
He reeled off a .300 average, 29 dingers, 114 RBI and an "in your face" to the Angels' front office.
One can only assume that he will continue to do so into the postseason.
Vlad wants to continue to show that he is not too old, or washed up and that he still has a handful of productive years left in the Majors.
No. 4: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
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As with anything in baseball, this list is filled with Yankees and includes Derek Jeter.
Jeter has had his worst year statistically since...well...ever really.
His defense is becoming increasingly suspect, but it was usually justifiable with his batting, until now.
His .268 average is a career low, his 175 hits are a career low for seasons in which he was not hurt, his .707 OPS is a career low by 64 points. It is safe to say Jeter is having a down year.
Jeter is in a trifecta of uh-oh. He is getting old, going into contract negotiations, and is surrounded by a controversy of whether or not he would change positions.
If he wants to stop the talk of him getting older and switching positions anytime soon, he must do what he has done with the Yankees for years—produce in the postseason.
If he doesn't, then he could find himself having an uncomfortable conversation with the Yankee brass about a possible position switch in the coming seasons, something that neither side would want to see.
No. 3: Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins
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Francisco Liriano, who are you?
Are you the Liriano we saw hurl the ball at an amazing pace in 2006 to go 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA, the one we saw flashes of this year? Or are you the post Tommy John surgery Liriano that posted a 5.80 ERA last year that ruined 10,000 fantasy teams?
Hopefully this postseason will put it all into perspective.
Liriano has showed us all that he is capable of being the ace of any rotation, and then five days later he will go out and make everyone think that he is washed up.
This postseason will be make or break time for the hard-throwing lefty's career.
No. 2: A.J Burnett, New York Yankees
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Burnett cannot possibly justify his huge salary with a 5.33 ERA.
This headcase has had one of the most up-and-down, and downright strange years in recent memory this season.
Burnett had an ERA of over 11 in June, a 2.00 ERA in July, and then a 6.98 ERA in August and September.
What?!
Nobody can be both that bad and that good in the same season—it seems impossible.
The only way that the $82.5 million headcase can justify his bloated salary is to do it when it counts, and help the bombers bring home another ring to the Bronx.
No. 1: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
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Longoria is an established All Star and a budding superstar, but a playoff hero he is not.
Two years ago when the Rays made their improbable run to the World Series, Longoria stunk up the place, plain and simple.
In the ALDS and ALCS, he made up for his mediocre average by mashing the cover off the ball when he did make contact. Six of his 11 hits in the first two rounds were home runs, and that was enough to cover up his struggles at the plate.
However, the wheels came off in the World Series.
Longo went 1-for-20. One hit. In 20 at-bats. With no walks. And nine strikeouts!
That atrocious stretch dragged his postseason average down to a pitiful .194 with a .254 OBP.
If he brings the bat that he brought into the ALDS and CS to every plate appearance then he will be transformed into the league's newest superstar, and if he doesn't then the Rays can most likely kiss their championship hopes goodbye.
