5 AL East Players That Will Be Epic Failures in 2012

Each year in Major League Baseball, there are many surprises and disappointments. Sometimes those big trade acquisitions or big name free agents don’t produce like many thought they would. Sometimes hot prospects don't acclimate to the big leagues like they were expected to.

Here, I will pick one player from each team in the AL East that wont live up to the expectations.

Carl Crawford

After the pitiful year Carl Crawford has last year, people are expecting him to turn it around this year and break out for one of the best seasons of his career.

I, on the other hand, am not on that bandwagon. I saw nothing last year to even remotely suggest that Crawford might be figuring out his issues. At the end of last season, he did hit better than his season average (.255). But when you're hitting that poorly, it is hard not to.

Expect Crawford to have an up-and-down year at best. He will never be what he was with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Michael Pineda

The Yankees biggest offseason move this last year was to trade away sensational catcher Jesus Montero to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Michael Pineda.

This trade will not help the Yankees as much as people think. At best, Pineda will win 10 games and be an innings eater.

After starting off the season hot with a 6-2 record through the first two months, Pineda fell apart and 3-8 the rest of the way, with an ERA over 4.00.

Was he really worth getting rid of the top catching prospect for?

Zach Britton

Another pitcher out of Baltimore that had an excellent start to the season, but then became wildly inconsistent.

He is now also plagued with a shoulder injury that started last season, and has reappeared this year.

So between his inconsistency and lingering injury, I don’t see Britton doing much good at all in the 2012 season.

He will show his flashes of brilliance, but the next inning, he will fall apart and lose his ball control.

Brett Lawrie

After a fairly impressive rookie season, during which Lawrie batted .293 and hit nine home runs, many expect the third baseman to improve even more.

I wouldn’t count on it. At the end of last season, Lawrie’s average began to fall as pitchers became used to him and started to figure him out.

Lawrie only recorded three multi-hit games in September, his second month in the majors, after recording nine in August. He won't bat in the high .200’s this year. He may not even hit above .250.

Sean Rodriguez

Sean Rodriguez started playing fairly well when the Rays were hit with a bunch of injuries. Batting nearly 30 points higher than his career average at first, Rodriguez got a lot of immediate attention.

This attention died rather quickly, as during the very next month, Rodriguez’s average plummeted to .188 and did not get much better the rest of the year.

If Rodriguez locks down a starting position somehow, he will disappoint many and probably lose it fairly soon.