6 MLB Teams That Will Not Live Up to the Hype in 2015
Big, fat, juicy offseasons will always lead to ridiculous hype.
It is the age we live in, where the Internet, social media and nonstop coverage allow the opinions to fly and the proclamations to go unchecked. But the reality of the situations can be quite different.
Often, one big trade or blockbuster signing can mask a team’s real deficiencies, and the club will fail to address a weakness. For instance, adding Max Scherzer to an already great Washington Nationals rotation makes a strength even stronger. But the team has other problem areas that Scherzer can’t fix.
So while certain teams might be good through this season, they might not live up to all the hype surrounding them. That hype comes in different forms and at different levels, as not every club carries World Series expectations.
Digging into these situations, we come up with six teams—three from each league—that could have big trouble living up to their big hype.
Boston Red Sox
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The Red Sox definitely needed a makeover after finishing in last place in the AL East in 2014, a season after winning the World Series. What they had was not going to work anymore, and the available money was burning a hole in the team’s account.
So Boston gave it out. Pablo Sandoval got $95 million, and Hanley Ramirez got $88 million. With those two, the offense will no doubt be formidable and possibly even a bulldozer that moves right through opposing pitchers as it did against Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day.
However, the Red Sox still have a glaring problem: starting pitching.
They did try to address the area, moving hard on Jon Lester in free agency and engaging the Phillies numerous times to pry Hamels from their rotation. Neither approach worked, and the organization decided committing years and nearly nine figures to James Shields was not worth the cost.
So Boston stood strong with its rotation that had Rick Porcello replacing Lester and Wade Miley attempting to regain his status as a pitcher with big upside. Clay Buchholz, who has been a mixed bag of great and awful over his career, started Opening Day and was good, but that was against the lowly Phillies.
Those three, along with Justin Masterson, could be formidable if the Sox had a true No. 1 starter. But they do not.
Clearly, the rotation has questions to answer, and this team will not live up to World Series expectations if this is the group it carries through the next six months, assuming its past somewhat predicts its future.
Washington Nationals
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As noted in the intro slide, the Nationals made a wonderful starting rotation even better by signing Max Scherzer. He will head a group that also features Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez, which gives the Nats what could be one of the best quintets of all time.
But it does not address the bullpen, which was thinned by trading Tyler Clippard, who had a 2.18 ERA, averaged 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings and was an All-Star last season as a setup guy.
It also does not cure what currently ails the club and what could end up exposing it over the course of this long season: injuries and depth.
The Nationals have already started the season without their first three hitters in the lineup—Denard Span, Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth. And there aren't any real timetables on any of their returns. In their absence, rookie Michael Taylor and Yunel Escobar hit at the top of the order, and Tyler Moore and his career .293 OBP are replacing Werth.
Clearly, the Nationals cannot afford any more injuries to their lineup, and they especially couldn’t endure one to shortstop Ian Desmond or outfielder Bryce Harper. They are too valuable in the field and the lineup.
But the Nationals, as a whole, are not a young club. They average nearly 29 years old in the field, and that is without the 31-year-old Span and soon-to-be 36-year-old Werth. They average more than 30 years old in the rotation.
The bullpen situation and the injuries could be issues that linger all season, and that would be enough to halt the Nationals’ hype parade.
Kansas City Royals
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The Royals are in a different area of the hype machine than the Red Sox or Nationals. While they are the defending American League champions, few expect them to repeat that feat, especially since they lost James Shields in free agency.
However, there has been talk of the Royals being this season’s…well, Royals. That means Kansas City could be the team that again comes out of nowhere and forces its way into the postseason when no one really thinks it is ready.
This is the hype the Royals are living with. The problem with that is Kansas City is playing in an improved division and its pitching won't be as good this year.
Shields is gone, which leaves a huge hole in the rotation. Yordano Ventura is being looked at to replace him, and while he may be good, he won’t be what Shields was last year. The Royals hope Danny Duffy is finally coming into his own, but he allowed five runs in five innings against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, which was not an impressive season debut.
In the bullpen, which was lights out last season, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland all return. But how big of an ask is it for that trio to be historically great for a second consecutive season?
The White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers make the AL Central a formidable division, as do the Royals. It just isn’t one that lends itself to a decent team winning 89 games again.
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Los Angeles Dodgers
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Aside from injuries derailing things, which they already are threatening to do, the Dodgers have a solid club…with the exception of the bullpen, last season’s weak spot that ended up costing them dearly in the postseason. This season, it has already looked shaky without closer Kenley Jansen, who is out until about mid-May after offseason foot surgery.
In the team’s second game against the San Diego Padres, the bullpen allowed six runs—three earned—on nine hits and struck out only three over three innings. Chris Hatcher, whom manager Don Mattingly is trying to establish as the team’s closer in Jansen’s absence, allowed three of the hits and four of the runs in what was a tied game in the ninth inning when he entered. He failed to record an out through four hitters faced.
Because Jansen is expected to be out for a relatively short time, the Dodgers did not attempt to sign or trade for an established closer. Instead, they are going to determine the back end of their bullpen based on nightly situations, but is anyone in that group—outside of Jansen—trustworthy in high-leverage situations?
The jury is still out, and if it comes back with a guilty verdict on this bullpen, the Dodgers will again see their championship aspirations evaporate in the late innings.
Seattle Mariners
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The Mariners are a chic World Series pick after they added slugger Nelson Cruz to their lineup and prospects Taijuan Walker and James Paxton to their rotation.
The thing is, though, they play in maybe the toughest division in baseball. The Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels will be gunning for the crown, and the Houston Astros are not going to be steamrolled over any longer.
Also, no one is completely certain how Cruz’s power will travel cross-country to Safeco Field, or O.co Coliseum or Angel Stadium for that matter—yards where he has had trouble throughout his career.
And while we all expect Walker and Paxton to have really good careers, this is the first time they are expected to be part of the major league rotation for a full season.
The Mariners are a good club, and on paper they ought to improve on an 87-win season. But there are significant roadblocks ahead that could derail their path to the Fall Classic.
Miami Marlins
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The Marlins won 77 games last season and were in the playoff conversation at the start of September. Over the offseason, they locked up Giancarlo Stanton to a massive long-term deal, acquired Mat Latos, Martin Prado, Mike Morse and Dee Gordon and expect to get ace Jose Fernandez back from his elbow surgery sometime around midseason.
That is a lot of action, but how good were the acquisitions, really?
Well, Latos has been a decent pitcher over three of the last five seasons, but he was not too good in one (2011) and was hurt for much of another (2014). And in his Marlins debut, he managed to record just two outs before being taken out after seven runs cross the plate against him.
Prado has been just OK in the last four seasons, and his 20th-place finish in the MVP voting in 2012 was nice for the resume, but he was nowhere near one of the 20 best players in the league.
Morse has pop when healthy, but he offers little else. Gordon made his name with a good six weeks last year, but he was bad enough the rest of the time that the Los Angeles Dodgers found him expendable even though he's inexpensive, stole 64 bases, hit 12 triples and isn't eligible for free agency until 2019.
While the Marlins have a blossoming trio of outfielders, the rest of the club is not all it is cracked up to be. And in a division where the Washington Nationals are easily better and the New York Mets are arguably better, the hype around the Marlins likely won’t turn into a reality in 2015.
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