The Most Disappointing Players and Teams of the 2022 MLB Season
Though it's indeed not over quite yet, there are things about the 2022 Major League Baseball season that have us in the ol' "not mad, just disappointed" mindset.
So if nobody objects, we'd like to vent a little.
We'd specifically like to do so about five individual players and five teams. We surely weren't alone in expecting more from them, and thus we can't be alone in feeling let down by how they performed. One of the players even left us feeling heartbroken.
Let's start with the players and then move on to the teams.
Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds
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We've already tabbed Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson as one of the biggest losers and biggest busts of 2022, so we dare say he's a dead horse who's had enough.
As for Hunter Greene, who originated as B/R's No. 13 prospect, anyone who thinks he wasn't that bad in 2022 has a point.
The 23-year-old made 24 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and came away with a 101 ERA+. That qualifies as slightly above average, and there were times—e.g., May 15 and as he was posting a 0.62 ERA over his last five starts—when Greene looked the part of a rising ace.
As such, one supposes that what we're really disappointed about is Greene's fastball.
It definitely had velocity, as he set a new mark for starting pitchers by hitting 100 mph 337 times. Yet it was also responsible for 17 of the 24 home runs he gave up, not to mention a plus-five (which is the bad size of zero for pitchers) run value.
Let this go to show that, as nice as velocity is, it doesn't mean a whole lot when a pitcher's fastball has a flat shape and too often finds the middle of the zone. We'll wait until Greene corrects those things before getting back on the hype train.
Josh Donaldson, New York Yankees
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We recall not hating the five-player trade that the New York Yankees made with the Minnesota Twins in March. After all, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was a Gold Glove infielder, and Josh Donaldson was, you know, Josh Donaldson.
Donaldson, now 36, obviously wasn't the same player who won the American League MVP Award in 2015, but he had been aging gracefully nonetheless. From 2019 to 2021, he posted a 127 OPS+ and averaged 35 home runs per 162 games.
The one-time Vikings star's debut season in pinstripes wasn't a total loss. He played an excellent third base, to a point where it was a surprise that he didn't make the cut as a finalist for a Gold Glove Award.
Apart from that, though...well, "yikes" is an appropriate word.
That goes for the one-game suspension Donaldson earned in May for his "Jackie" remark to the Chicago White Sox's Tim Anderson. It also goes for his offensive output, which included a 94 OPS+ in the regular season and a strikeout-laden 5-for-29 flop in the postseason.
With one year and $29.8 million left on his contract, Donaldson is likely an immovable part of the Yankees roster.
Javier Báez, Detroit Tigers
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The offseason was a good one for free-agent middle infielders, as Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Javier Báez combined to haul in $885.3 million.
Yet of the bunch, nobody backfired like Báez.
Based on what he had done over his previous five seasons with the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets, the Detroit Tigers could have expected (and clearly did expect) Báez to provide power at the plate and Gold Glove defense.
What they got instead was a 93 OPS+ and 14 fewer home runs than he hit in 2021. Though Báez's strikeout rate took a turn for the better, his average exit velocity and hard-hit percentage went the other way.
Báez's defense, meanwhile, was OK in terms of outs above average (plus-two) but downright bad in those of defensive runs saved (minus-five) and ultimate zone rating (minus-10.5). He led the majors with 26 errors, and 17 were of the throwing variety.
Though Báez's contract still gives him five years to salvage his Tigers tenure, it doesn't bode well that this was his second bad season out of the last and that he's due to cross the dreaded age-30 threshold Dec. 1.
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Nick Castellanos, Philadelphia Phillies
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As hard as it often was to watch Javier Báez, he at least salvaged 2.6 rWAR.
Or 2.7 more rWAR than Nick Castellanos accumulated in the first season of his five-year, $100 million pact with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 30-year-old slugger was riding high when he agreed to join the Phillies, having posted several career highs while playing for the Reds in 2021. Among them: 34 home runs and a 138 OPS+.
To go from that to just a 95 OPS+ and 13 home runs marked quite the fall. He at one point alluded to the challenges that come with playing for a new team in a new city, though you wouldn't think those would drain any raw potency from his bat.
Relative to 2021, Castellanos' average exit velocity dipped 2.3 mph, and there was an even bigger decline in his hard-hit percentage, from 46.9 to 34.6.
Castellanos still has a chance to rewrite the script for his season in the World Series. Yet apart from a fine two-way performance in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, he has mostly been a playoff afterthought as he's gone 9-for-41 with zero home runs.
Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
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About the only compliment anyone can pay Fernando Tatis Jr. right now is that the last year of his life was a master class for how to quickly go from prodigal son to pariah.
Though he otherwise hit 42 home runs and stole 25 bases, Tatis' 2021 season ended on a down note when he and Manny Machado got into a heated altercation in the San Diego Padres dugout in September.
Then came a motorcycle accident in December, from which he walked away with a broken wrist that required surgery in March. And then, an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in August that delayed his comeback until April 2023.
It's to the Padres' credit that the Tatis saga never sunk them. To make the playoffs and dispatch two 100-win teams therewithin would be impressive under any circumstances, much less any involving not having one of MLB's most talented players.
As for Tatis, he is going to have his work cut out for him when he returns.
He'll have fences to mend within the clubhouse, and he likewise must prove that the early stardom that made him one of the faces of MLB and the recipient of a $340 million contract was real. That seems like a tall order on account of how he'll be coming back not just from the PED ban but also shoulder surgery and a second procedure on his wrist.
Los Angeles Angels
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Scoff if you like, but the Los Angeles Angels entered 2022 with a seemingly strong likelihood of snapping their streak of six straight losing seasons.
FanGraphs initially gave them a 44.7 percent chance of making the playoffs, and that figure had nearly doubled by May 15. The Angels were 11 games over .500 and jockeying with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.
"Disaster" is too kind to describe what happened next.
A 3-16 stretch preceded the firing of manager Joe Maddon on June 7, and the Angels then went 46-60 under interim manager Phil Nevin. In the end, they secured not a playoff berth but yet another losing campaign.
Injuries naturally played a role, specifically regarding Mike Trout's monthlong absence with a back condition and Anthony Rendon's sitting for three months after having wrist surgery in June. But the Angels were also just never really built for the long haul, especially in the sense that they lacked both impact talent and depth on the mound.
The buck for that stops with owner Arte Moreno, though he decided in August that he'd rather sell the team than attempt to fix it. Shohei Ohtani is thus to be credited for his civility in merely saying that he has a "negative impression" of how the season unfolded.
San Francisco Giants
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What did the San Francisco Giants do in 2021? Oh, you know. Nothing of note.
Just win a franchise-record 107 games and snap the Los Angeles Dodgers' run of eight straight National League West titles. Some kind of comedown from that always felt inevitable, but the Giants nonetheless entered 2022 with nearly 50-50 odds of returning to the postseason.
Only they went 81-81 and finished a whopping 30 games out of first place.
It wasn't all bad. Carlos Rodón and Logan Webb made for one of the best ace duos in the game, while Camilo Doval took his rightful place as the team's closer. At the plate, Joc Pederson went from scrapheap pickup to All-Star.
Alas, there just wasn't a lot of good to otherwise be found in San Francisco's season. Particularly not on the offensive side, as the Giants produced 58 fewer home runs after they led the National League in that department in 2021.
Buster Posey took 18 of those with him when he retired in November, though his absence was certainly felt in other ways. Even setting aside his very much non-quantifiable leadership, the Giants indeed missed his knack for framing strikes.
Milwaukee Brewers
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The Milwaukee Brewers didn't go wire-to-wire in the National League Central in 2021, but they came close. They spent 137 days in first place and secured the division title with 95 wins.
Because the Brewers largely retained the roster with which they did that, expectations for them were accordingly high at the outset of 2022. So were the odds, as FanGraphs had them with a 72 percent chance on Opening Day of winning the NL Central again.
And yet what followed was an 86-76 season that left the Brew Crew short of the postseason.
There is a "what are you gonna do?" element to Milwaukee's season. It dealt with more than its fair share of injuries, including ones that sidelined standout hurlers Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser and Aaron Ashby for extended stretches.
It's also fair, however, to accuse the front office of sabotage.
The team was three games up on the St. Louis Cardinals when it traded All-Star closer Josh Hader to San Diego, a move which left-hander Eric Lauer later said "didn’t send us the right message." The effects are hard to ignore, as the Milwaukee bullpen was responsible for an MLB-high-tying 16 losses amid a 29-31 finish.
Chicago White Sox
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Elsewhere in the Midwest, the Chicago White Sox began the season as more than just the favorites to win the American League Central.
By way of a 93-69 season, they had already proved they were capable of that much in 2021. Their aim was to go deeper into the postseason this time, and many (including MLB.com's Will Leitch) were on board with the idea.
So, how the heck did they go just 81-81 and finish 11 games behind the Cleveland Guardians?
Tony La Russa is the low-hanging fruit among the possible answers. But while the Hall of Fame manager was often a deserving target of criticism prior to his retirement, the White Sox actually outperformed their expected record under his watch.
It's fairer to blame the injury bug, which chomped down on basically all of Chicago's key players at one time or another. At no point were they ever even close to 100 percent.
It's an equally big factor, however, that the White Sox just didn't get what they were hoping for out of too many players. So much so that the earlier portion of this slideshow might have simply covered Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Yasmani Grandal, Yoán Moncada and even José Abreu, who hit half as many home runs as he did in 2021.
Boston Red Sox
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The Boston Red Sox generally weren't expected even to contend in 2021, much less come just two wins short of the World Series. And yet they did exactly that.
The run made them would-be contenders by default for 2022. And not totally undeservedly despite the club's relatively quiet offseason, as FanGraphs assigned them better than a 60 percent chance of making the playoffs at the outset.
By the time the Red Sox got to 11 games over .500 on June 26, those odds eclipsed 80 percent. But then came what Obi-Wan Kenobi might call "the dark times." Boston collapsed, going 36-53 over its final 89 games.
That was mostly the result of the club's dubious pitching depth. The Red Sox had more and more trouble fielding healthy hurlers as the season went along, and it showed in the form of a league-worst 5.37 ERA after June 26.
To boot, they trafficked in some Milwaukee-like self-sabotage at the trade deadline. Their trade of catcher Christian Vázquez to Houston didn't go over well, including with prospective extension candidate Xander Bogaerts.
With the Red Sox now looking ahead to an offseason that will render their roster full of holes, it's hard to escape the notion that they squandered a contention chance that won't come around again for a while.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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