What to Make of the Most Disappointing MLB Players and Teams of 2023
As we enter the home stretch of the 2023 MLB regular season, a bunch of players with eight-figure salaries have been either irrelevant or downright detrimental to their team's cause, and a handful of clubs have come nowhere close to living up to preseason expectations.
Remember when Luis Severino was going to be a key cog in a great Yankees rotation?
When the Mets' and Padres' offseason spending made you wonder A) if they could be stopped and B) if they had their own printing press?
When José Abreu was going to make the reigning World Series champions even better?
Or when Noah Syndergaard was supposed to make the most of his "prove you're back" one-year deal?
What happened?
And what should we make of those and other disappointing situations moving forward?
We'll touch on nine disappointments: three hitters, three pitchers and three teams, presented in no particular order aside from oscillating among those three categories.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics and records are current through the start of play on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
(It's worth mentioning up front that we won't be including Wander Franco, Julio Urías, Jimmy Cordero, etc. in this conversation. Those situations go well beyond "disappointing," and we will instead focus on the players and teams who have failed to live up to the hype on the field.)
Disappointing Hitter: Kris Bryant, Colorado Rockies
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2023 Stats: .251/.338/.379, 8 HR, 23 RBI, 65 games played
Two seasons into Colorado's seven-year, $182 million gamble on Kris Bryant, things haven't exactly gone according to plan.
The 31-year-old missed about 75 percent of last season thanks to three separate trips to the IL. But at least he hit the ball well (.330/.398/.567, 5 HR in 25 games) in between the second and third injuries, giving the Rockies hope that he would carry the offense through future, healthier seasons.
Instead, he has been just as banged up this year, and much less effective when he has been able to take the field.
Bryant lasted a whole two months before a month-long IL stint for a heel injury. He came back for three weeks and then hit the shelf again with a fractured finger. That was about six weeks ago, and at this point in what has been a hopelessly lost season for the Rockies, it's fair to wonder if they'll even bother trying to bring him back before the end of the year.
They still owe Bryant another $136 million for the next half-decade, and he has a full no-trade clause. They could always ask him nicely to waive it if he'd rather play out the rest of the contract for a team more likely to actually finish above .500 any time soon.
If he wants to stay in Colorado, though, there's not a whole lot the Rockies can do about it.
Disappointing Pitcher: Luis Severino, New York Yankees
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2023 Stats: 85.1 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 7.8 K/9
Between 2017-18, Luis Severino was one of the best starting pitchers in the majors. He made 63 starts with a 3.18 ERA and a 10.5 K/9 behind the strength of a blistering fastball and a wipeout slider.
But he missed the vast majority of 2019-21 with a combination of shoulder, lat, forearm/elbow and groin injuries. He also missed more than two months of last season and the first seven weeks of this year with lat injuries, and he hasn't had the same zip on his fastball when he has been healthy.
Severino did end August with back-to-back scoreless outings, with a season-high eight strikeouts in the latter. However, A) they came against the lowly Nationals and Tigers, and B) he entered that miniature hot streak with a 7.98 ERA for the year.
It doesn't seem to matter what he throws. Nothing has worked this year, as Severino has allowed a staggering 11.5 hits per 9.0 innings pitched. The slider that devastated opponents in 2017 and 2018 has been one of the least valuable pitches in the majors this season. And against the fastball, hitters are slugging .673, compared to what was a .445 mark between his two good years.
Basically, he's a far cry from the 23/24-year-old who was a Cy Young contender, and it's going to be intriguing to find out what the free-agent market looks like for the former ace, who turns 30 in February.
It's plausible the Yankees will extend him the one-year, $20 million-ish (exact amount still TBD) qualifying offer. But if not, Severino could be the pitcher equivalent of what Jeimer Candelario was this past winter.
Fresh off the worst season of his career at 29 years young, he signed a one-year, $5 million deal, hoping for a bounce-back campaign that would lead to a long-term deal this winter—which he is very likely going to get.
And for what it's worth, a one-year, buy-low option on a starting pitcher would be right up Tampa Bay's alley, as the Rays will likely be without Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan for most, if not all of next season as they each recover from Tommy John surgery.
Disappointing Team: New York Mets
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Preseason Win Total: 91.5
Current Win Trajectory: 75.2
By now, you might have the Mets' refrain memorized, as we've spent the entire season talking about what a disappointment they have been.
They spent, spent and spent during the offseason, content with shelling out half a billion dollars (factoring in what will be a colossal luxury-tax payment) if that's what it took to win a World Series for the first time since 1986.
But that record-setting payroll was all for naught, as they sit 26.5 games behind Atlanta in the NL East, effectively out of the postseason conversation.
In particular, Carlos Carrasco ($14 million, negative-1.3 bWAR), Starling Marte ($20.75 million, negative-0.8 bWAR) and Omar Narváez ($8 million, negative-0.3 bWAR) have been gigantic letdowns, costing a combined $42.75 million for negative-2.4 bWAR.
But it was much more than just that trio of underperformers that derailed New York's season.
At least Steve Cohen was willing to admit defeat, waving the white flag at the trade deadline in shipping out Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Tommy Pham, Mark Canha and Dominic Leone in exchange for eight prospects.
Now what, though?
Just between Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz, Kodai Senga, José Quintana, Jeff McNeil, Marte and the money they retained in trading away Scherzer and Verlander, the Mets are already committed to $174.9 million in 2024 for seven players and two former players, plus the $20 million-ish that Pete Alonso is going to cost in his final year of arbitration eligibility.
Are they going to spend big again this offseason?
Does that decision hinge on whether they think they can get Shohei Ohtani? (Do they even want to invest in Ohtani in light of his UCL injury?)
And if they decide to take it easy this offseason in preparation for a run in 2025 or 2026, might they be looking to trade away Alonso during the winter meetings?
As poorly as this season has gone for the Mets, there has been no shortage of intrigue and drama. That seems destined to follow them through the offseason, as well.
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Disappointing Hitter: Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels
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2023 Stats: .236/.361/.318, 2 HR, 22 RBI, 43 games played
Anthony Rendon couldn't even make it through Opening Day before laying the groundwork for yet another disastrous campaign with the Angels.
After going hitless with two strikeouts in the season opener, he grabbed an Oakland fan by the shirt, exchanged some words and took a swipe at him, resulting in a five-game suspension that he didn't even bother to appeal.
What else is new, though? Failing in attempts to hit and missing games have been Rendon's calling cards over the past three seasons.
The 33-year-old has been on the IL for more than two months now since fouling a ball off his shin/knee on July 4. This comes in addition to the numerous groin, wrist, hip and knee injuries Rendon had endured over the previous two seasons.
If he doesn't return down the stretch—and, really, why bother?—he will end the year having missed 338 games since the beginning of 2021, playing in just 148 contests with a .235 batting average and 13 home runs.
In other words, it has taken Rendon three years to do what José Abreu has done this season for Houston—and we'll get to how much of a disappointment Abreu has been in just a moment.
As far as what to make of Rendon's repeated shortcomings, who knows?
The Angels have neither said nor done anything to suggest they are thinking about releasing the third baseman who is owed $115.7 million over the next three years, but frustrated fans and bloggers sure have been kicking the idea around in recent weeks.
If they did opt to designate Rendon for assignment this offseason, it would solidify this as the worst contract in MLB history.
Disappointing Pitcher: Madison Bumgarner, Arizona Diamondbacks (formerly)
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2023 Stats: 16.2 IP, 10.26 ERA, 2.40 WHIP, 5.4 K/9
Madison Bumgarner's tenure in Arizona came to an abrupt and unceremonious end in April. After 11 seasons with a 3.13 ERA in San Francisco, he was released by the Diamondbacks with a 5.23 ERA in his four seasons in the desert.
And then he just...disappeared.
Once Bumgarner cleared waivers, any team could have picked him up at a pro-rated league minimum salary. We're talking, like, $600,000 on May 1, $400,000 in mid-June, etc. But it never happened, and we never heard anything else about him, save for reports that his irreparably fractured relationship with Diamondbacks' pitching consultant Dan Haren may have led to the decision to release him.
So, is MadBum done with baseball?
Moved on to the "full-time rancher" stage of his life?
Or did the 34-year-old southpaw just decide to take the rest of this season off before trying to make a comeback in 2024?
We'll see if he gets the itch again this offseason, but if his career is over, is there any chance he'll be a Hall of Famer one day?
Bumgarner had an incredible regular-season run from 2010-16, but it was his work in the World Series that could get him into Cooperstown even if he never pitches again. In 36 innings over five career appearances in the Fall Classic, he allowed just one earned run. That's a 0.25 ERA while leading his team to three titles.
That might be enough. But it sure would be fun if he came back (maybe even with the Giants) for another few seasons to try to seal the deal.
Disappointing Team: Chicago White Sox
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Preseason Win Total: 82.5
Current Win Trajectory: 61.7
The Chicago White Sox were also one of the three teams to appear in this article last season.
In 2022, they were supposed to win the AL Central by a mile, maybe take the AL pennant and perhaps even win the World Series. Instead, they sputtered their way to a .500 season, missing the playoffs by five games.
In 2023, they were supposed to be a roughly .500 team, maybe in the hunt for the AL Central crown. Instead, they are battling with the Colorado Rockies for the title of third-worst record in the majors, possibly headed for 101-plus losses for what would be the first time since 1970.
And look no further than their five highest-paid players for the reason why.
Five* players who started the season with the White Sox had a 2023 salary of at least $12 million: Lance Lynn ($18.5M), Yasmani Grandal ($18.25M), Yoán Moncada ($17.8M), Liam Hendriks ($14.33M) and Tim Anderson ($12.5M).
As such, they were supposed to be the five team leaders.
All five had a negative bWAR as on Monday.
Moncada and Hendriks were just barely in that club, both at negative-0.1. (Moncada has since climbed to a positive-0.1. Woo hoo!) At least in Hendriks' case, it's because he started the season fighting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, returned for five innings and then underwent Tommy John surgery. Moncada also made multiple trips to the IL, but he has played more than enough (74 games) to produce much more than he has.
Grandal (negative-0.5) has at least been better than last season, but the impending free agent wasn't good enough for anyone to want him at the trade deadline.
Lynn (negative-1.2 with the White Sox) was terrible this season in Chicago, but getting traded to the Dodgers was evidently the spark he needed to turn things around. You could say that's just a small sample size situation, but it probably speaks volumes to the negative impact that Chicago's clubhouse environment was having on his psyche.
But the poster boy of Chicago's disappointing season has been Anderson (negative-1.7), who lost the ability to hit a baseball out of nowhere. He had six multi-HR games over the previous five seasons, but this hasn't even been a multi-HR season for him. This would have been unfathomable before the season, but the White Sox might not even pick up his $14 million club option for 2024 at this point.
As if the season wasn't already a disaster before September began, the White Sox have lost five consecutive games to the Tigers and the Royals, the most recent of which came on a walk-off balk.
*Andrew Benintendi signed that five-year, $75 million deal in the offseason, but he's only making $8.6 million of it this season. But it's not like he has been exquisite, either, with a bWAR of 0.7.
Disappointing Hitter: José Abreu, Houston Astros
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2023 Stats: .234/.293/.351, 12 HR, 63 RBI, 118 games played
Let's start this one out with a somewhat positive spin: At least José Abreu has bounced back to some extent from his horrific start.
Through his first 50 games with the Astros, his triple slash was a ghastly .214/.269/.250 with zero home runs. Since then, he has been a much more respectable .245/.308/.416 with 12 dingers.
But he has merely bounced back from "unplayable" to "performing at a replacement level."
Even "Improved Abreu" has still been a substantial disappointment, worth only 0.1 fWAR dating back to his first home run on May 28.
And just so we're clear, it's not a case where he's providing good value at the dish and then weighed down by poor baserunning and defense. Abreu's "Offense" rating during that time is still negative-2.6, which ranks in the bottom 25 percent of the league among qualified hitters.
It has been a wholly unexpected fall from grace for the 2020 AL MVP, who had an average fWAR of 3.04 per year and an average Offense rating of 20.8 in his nine seasons with Chicago.
But Houston pretty much has to hope it's just a down year and not the beginning of the end for the first baseman who turns 37 in January, as they signed Abreu to a three-year, $58.5 million deal this past offseason.
If Abreu starts out 2024 as poorly as he did in 2023, maybe Joey Loperfido is an option. The 24-year-old is batting .284 with 22 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the minors this season, and first base is one of the five positions where he has made at least 15 starts in 2023. But he just got promoted to Triple-A a few weeks ago, and you have to figure the Astros would be reluctant to throw in the towel on Abreu.
Disappointing Pitcher: Noah Syndergaard, Dodgers/Guardians
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2023 Stats: 88.2 IP, 6.50 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 5.7 K/9
After a good-not-great-but-at-least-healthy 2022 campaign, Noah Syndergaard bet on himself.
Though we have no way of knowing what offers he received in free agency, surely some team would have been willing to go two or even three years on a deal with Thor. But at 30 years young, he had to be thinking that with one more solid season, he could get a five- or six-year deal this offseason. So he took a one-year contract with the Dodgers for $13 million, hoping that the next one would be in the vicinity of nine figures.
It did not go well.
He made it 12 starts before landing on the IL (finger blister) with a 7.16 ERA.
He gave up home runs at an astronomical rate (2.23 HR/9 for the year).
And, worst of all, his velocity was way down—from what was already way down.
Before Tommy John surgery, Syndergaard consistently sat in the 98 mph range and occasionally reached triple digits on his four-seamer. Last year, he hovered around 94 mph. Before the finger blister, he was at 92.5 mph. And when he came back with Cleveland in August, he was down to 91.7 mph.
No one even picked him up after the Guardians designated him for assignment.
Dreams of a megadeal are now long gone, and Syndergaard might even have to settle for a minor league deal just to get another shot. Former teammate Matt Harvey was in a similar boat at the same age after a brutal 2019 season, and he never really recovered.
Disappointing Team: San Diego Padres
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Preseason Win Total: 93.5
Current Win Trajectory: 76.3
We could have also gone with either the Yankees or the Cardinals as our third disappointing team, but the Padres have been such a colossal letdown after all of their offseason spending.
They signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal. They negotiated an 11-year, $350 million extension with Manny Machado, as well as a six-year, $108 million extension with Yu Darvish.
When all was said and done, their Opening Day payroll was just a shade under $250 million—roughly $37 million more than 2022, which was roughly $37 million more than 2021 which was $65 million more than any previous season.
They were supposed to be neck-and-neck with Los Angeles atop the NL West; one of the top candidates to win the World Series.
But they're eight games below .500, too far back to even be realistically considered in the wide-open wild-card race.
The maddening part is they haven't even been bad. They have a run differential on par with those of Philadelphia, Minnesota and Toronto, more than 100 runs better than Miami, who is right in the thick of that NL wild-card hunt. From a Pythagorean W-L perspective, the Padres should be 77-63 instead of 66-74. It's going to go down as one of the "unluckiest" seasons in MLB history.
And the depressing part is they have completely wasted fantastic seasons from a pair of impending free agents. Blake Snell may well win the NL Cy Young with his 2.50 ERA, and Josh Hader is having maybe the most dominant season of his dominant career, boasting a 0.78 ERA as recently as a week ago.
They're probably going to lose both of those guys this offseason, as well as starting pitchers Seth Lugo (player option) and Michael Wacha (mutual option), both of whom have been rock solid when healthy. Because if they re-sign any of those pitchers, that's less money that they can give to Juan Soto, who is about to enter his final year of arbitration eligibility.
Throw in the foregone conclusion that the Dodgers will reload this offseason—perhaps even by signing Snell and Hader—and it feels like the Padres royally botched their golden window of opportunity.
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