MLB Power Rankings: The 20 Most Worthless Players in the Major Leagues in 2011
The 2011 MLB season is starting to show us what is real and what is not. We have seen pretenders drop from the standings and contenders reemerge. We have also seen which players are efficient and which are completely worthless this season.
Every MLB season provides us with new heroes and new chumps. This list shows the latter.
These 20 players have shown themselves to be utterly inefficient this season, and they have made themselves truly worthless to their teams. Most players on this list have had their glory days in the past few seasons and most have fallen to the lowest points of their careers to date.
Bear in mind that these players have shown us what they can be worth, but are nothing of the sort this season and have therefore lowered their value.
With that, I give you the 20 most worthless players in baseball this season.
20. Vernon Wells
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Vernon Wells was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the offseason in order to bolster their offense, but he has not helped them at all.
Wells has recently come off of a stint on the DL that lasted almost a month, and he has gone one-for-nine since then. Wells is batting only .179 with four home runs and 13 RBI this season.
Wells was supposed to help rejuvenate the Los Angeles offense, but he hasn't helped them at all.
19. Jorge Posada
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The expectations for Jorge Posada may not have been as high as some of the other players on this list because he was going to split time with teammate Russell Martin, but he is still a huge disappointment for the New York Yankees.
Posada has been demoted to the ninth spot in the lineup, taken a few days off, had a feud with the hierarchy of the Yankees and his numbers have been awful. Posada is hitting only .215 with 19 RBI this year.
Posada's season has become a soap opera, and he has been essentially worthless for the Yankees.
18. Ryan Dempster
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Ryan Dempster was supposed to be one of the better pitchers for the Chicago Cubs after posting good numbers three years in a row, but he has been absolutely atrocious.
Dempster has an ERA right around 6.00, and he has a 1.457 WHIP. Dempster has been roughed up a lot this season, and that means that he won't be receiving a big contract at the end of the season despite being in the final year of his contract.
Dempster has been trash, and he belongs in the dumpster.
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17. Miguel Tejada
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A former MVP, Miguel Tejada used to go for 30 home runs while hitting .300. However, his 2011 season is a far-cry from those days.
Tejada is batting only .229, and he has had a serious power-outage, hitting only one home run with 17 RBI in 59 games.
Tejada could have played a big role for the reigning World Series winners, the San Francisco Giants, but he has taken a back seat.
16. Dan Wheeler
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Dan Wheeler was supposed to provide some support for the Boston Red Sox's bullpen, but he has hurt them more than he has helped.
Wheeler is 0-0 with a 7.00 ERA this season. His ERA is almost double his 3.93 career ERA, and his 1.44 WHIP is 22 points higher than his 1.22 career WHIP.
Wheeler is having a terrible year by any standards, and the Red Sox need him to turn his season around quickly.
15. Bobby Jenks
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After posting ERAs under 3.00 in 2007 and 2008, Jenks had decent years in 2009 and 2010. He was brought to the Red Sox for bullpen support, but he is having a very poor year.
Jenks is 2-2 with a 6.47 ERA, and a 2.35 WHIP. We thought that Jenks was struggling in Chicago because of his falling out with manager Ozzie Guillen, but it appears that that was not the case.
Jenks has been a bad reliever this year, and he was supposed to be one of the better relievers for Boston.
14. Rafael Soriano
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Rafael Soriano was the New York Yankees' big acquisition after missing out on Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke in the offseason, but he has done nothing for them so far.
Soriano had an ERA of 1.73 in 2010, and he led the AL in saves with 45. This season he has become a setup man, and he has done poorly. He has an ERA of 5.40 this year, more than triple his ERA from last season. He also has a 1.733 WHIP, more than double his WHIP of 0.833 WHIP in 2010.
Soriano as been a huge letdown for the Yanks, and he has not helped their cause at all.
13. Hanley Ramirez
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Hanley Ramirez was supposed to lead the Florida Marlins in just about every statistical category in 2011 with Dan Uggla going to Atlanta, but he is not leading the team in any except for stolen bases.
Ramirez is hitting only .210 with four home runs and 17 RBI this season. Ramirez's .306 on-base percentage is actually lower than his career batting average. The worst part about Ramirez's pathetic 2011 season is that he cannot turn it around right away, as he is on the DL.
Ramirez was a consistent All-Star, Silver Slugger winner and MVP-candidate, but 2011 has brought nothing of the sort.
12. Aroldis Chapman
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Aroldis Chapman is one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the league, and he has also hit his second year slump.
Chapman is 2-0, but his ERA is 6.92 ERA. He has allowed only six hits, but he has also allowed 10 earned runs. The reason: his walks. Chapman has surrendered 20 walks this season, and they have been his major downfall. Chapman's WHIP of 2.000 is almost twice his WHIP of 1.050 from 2010.
He has not had the success that the Reds need from him, and the team has lost their control in the NL Central due in part to his performance – or lack thereof.
11. Jason Heyward
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After batting .277 with 18 home runs and 72 RBI in his rookie season last year, we were all hoping that Jason Heyward could beat the second year slump that plagues so many great players. Unfortunately, he could not.
Heyward is currently batting .214 with seven home runs and only 14 RBI. Heyward is struggling to hit with runners in scoring position this season, hence his lack of RBI despite having a decent number of home runs. Heyward is currently on the DL, and he has not played since May 21.
Heyward has succumbed to the second year slump, and the question now is: will he break out of it when he comes back?
10. Shin-Soo Choo
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Most people expected the Cleveland Indians to be in fourth in the AL Central at this point, with Shin-Soo Choo leading their offense. Neither of these are the case.
The Indians currently sit atop the AL Central, and Choo is not helping them do it. Choo is currently batting .234 (55 points below his career average) with five home runs and 23 RBI. Choo has been overshadowed by Asdrubal Cabrera and the rest of the Cleveland offense, and he has taken a backseat-role with the team offensively.
The Indians are having one of the most surprising seasons in all of baseball, and Choo being unproductive is definitely a surprise.
9. Mike Pelfrey
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When Johan Santana went down for the majority of the fist half of the season, Mets fans looked to Mike Pelfrey to lead the pitching staff. Well that was a bad idea.
Pelfrey is currently 3-4 with an ERA well over 5.00, and a WHIP of 1.446...not the type of numbers that you want from your ace. Pelfrey is going less than six innings per start, and he has been useless in the minds of most Mets fans.
Pelfrey has not filled the void that Santana left, and Mets fans are anxiously waiting for Santana's return.
8. Chris Carpenter
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When the Cardinals lost Adam Wainwright for the season, fans turned to Chris Carpenter to lead the team, but he has not lived up to expectations.
Carpenter had gone 33-13 with an ERA under 3.00 in his last two seasons before 2011. This season, however, he is 1-6 with a 4.47 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Carpenter started the year a somewhat-decent 1-2 before losing four of his last six starts. He has not led the team in any major statistical categories this season, and he has not been the ace that he had previously been.
Carpenter has done very little to help the Cardinals in their fight for the NL Central crown, yet they are somehow still winning.
7. Dan Uggla
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Placed into a great offense, experts and fans alike (myself included) expected Dan Uggla to have a big season, but he has disappointed.
Uggla is batting 80 points below his career average at .176. He also has only seven home runs and 16 RBI. Uggla has not had an RBI since May 27, and he has not hit a home run since May 15.
Uggla has been utterly worthless over the past couple of weeks, and he needs to start getting hot now if the Braves want to overtake the Marlins and Phillies in the NL East.
6. John Lackey
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John Lackey pitched pretty well in 2010 in what was considered a down-year by his standards, but compared to 2011, 2010 was a Cy Young-type season.
Lackey is currently 3-5 with a 7.41 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. He has allowed 8+ earned runs in three of his eight starts, and has allowed at least two runs in six. Lackey had a stint on the DL this season, lasting from May 11 to June 5. Since that stint he has given up seven runs in 11.2 innings pitched.
Lackey has not done anything for the Red Sox this season, and he has been a worthless part of the team.
5. Adam Dunn
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Adam Dunn was signed to provide support to Paul Konerko and the Chicago White Sox's offense when he was signed in the offseason, but he has done nothing of the sort.
Dunn does have six home runs and 26 RBI, which are decent numbers, but he is batting a pathetic .180. Dunn needs to learn to consistently make contact if he wants to live up to expectations, leading the AL with 82 strikeouts so far.
Dunn has been worthless for sure, and his 80-point-dip in batting average is alarming to say the least.
4. Chone Figgins
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Chone Figgins was supposed to lift the Seattle offense when the Mariners signed him after the 2009 season, but he has been awful.
Figgins has dropped from a .300 hitter with the Angels in 2009, to a poor hitter in 2010, to a .193 hitter this season. He also only has one home run and 13 RBI. Figgins was terrible last season, and he is abysmal this season.
Utterly atrocious. That's the way to describe Figgins' play in Seattle.
3. Carlos Pena
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The Cubs took a risk when they signed Carlos Pena during the offseason. After the 32-year-old hit below .200 in 2010, the Cubs decided to take a chance on the former All-Star when there was not a lot of competition.
Well, that risk has not paid off.
Pena is hitting a hair over .200, and he has not had the production that the Cubs were looking for. While he does have nine home runs and 30 RBI, Pena has not strengthened the core of the Cubs' lineup. Sandwiched between Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano, Pena had the talent around him to have another monster year, but he has failed to do so.
Pena has not been terrible, but the Chicago Cubs are in fifth place in the NL Central due in part to his lack of production early in the season.
2. Phil Hughes
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After going 18-8 in 2010, fans expected Phil Hughes to have another good season. This was not the case.
Hughes has only made three starts this season, going a total of 10.1 innings and allowing 16 earned runs, for an ERA of about 14.00. Hughes' ERA of 13.94, and WHIP of 2.23 are alarming to say the least, and he is now on the 60-day DL.
Hughes has done less-than-nothing for the Yankees this season, and he is the definition of a worthless player.
1. Joe Mauer
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A former MVP, Joe Mauer has hit above .325 four times in his career, and he can also be a 20 home run hitter.
In 2011, Mauer has only played in only nine games. He is batting .235 with no home runs and only four RBI. Mauer's .289 OBP is much lower than his .326 career batting average, and it is a far-cry from his career .406 OBP average. Mauer is currently on the 60-day DL, and the loss of his talents has led to the Twins becoming a basement-dwelling team in the AL Central.
The Twins need Mauer to come back hot like he has before, but he has done nothing for the team yet.
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