30 Worst Decisions of the 2011 MLB Season

The season has less than six weeks remaining. In that time, many teams will look back upon decisions with joy, but also many with regret.

Many moves are imperfect as they are human. Some hurt more than others. A single mistake can cost a team a season. A single contract can cripple a franchise for a decade.

Problems and mistakes come in all shapes and sizes.

Thirty such poor decisions are featured here, though the list is clearly incomplete. Their are obviously certain issues that plagued some teams more than others and these are merely a sample of some errors in 2011 by players, managers and GM's.

San Diego Padres: Trading Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox

The Padres had all of one hitter last season. Now they have none.

Gonzalez has gone on to have a terrific season in Boston and is a legitimate MVP candidate. The Padres are still wallowing, and the top prospect received for Gonzalez, Anthony Rizzo, has been less than spectacular so far.

Washington Nationals: Letting Jim Riggleman Resign

With all the turmoil that is the Nationals, it was nice to know they had a steady manager.

Until this season. Riggleman resigned when he figured out he wasn't about to be retained at season's end. The Nationals need some stability and should have offered an extension to Riggleman.

Riggleman opted for the high road and now is an assistant for the Giants.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Trading for Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick

At the time, it seemed like the right move for the Pirates.

They were contending and had a chance to win the NL Central with a few well-placed offensive additions.

Sadly they went into a tail spin and sit 13 games out of first place. Ludwick and Lee will be gone after this year, as will the prospects they gave up to get them.

Tampa Bay Rays: Signing Manny Ramirez

What could really be expected of a player who already served a 50-game steroid-related suspension.

Only bad things were due to follow Ramirez. The Rays lucked out getting Ramirez to retire, but still, not a bright move on their part.

San Francisco Giants: Holding on to Barry Zito

The man and the contract that will not go away.

The Giants have been frustrated with Zito since 2007 and still need to own up and cut him loose. He is only hurting the organization, and any more time dwelling on his bloated contract only wastes company, media and fan resources, as well as the sanity of many.

New York Yankees: Wasting Their Time with Phil Hughes

The Yankees really want to a develop a good pitcher instead of buying all of them, but Phil Hughes is not the answer.

He pitched okay last season and is horrible in 2011 with a 6.55 ERA and WHIP of 1.61. Maybe he could start on another team, but not the Yankees.

Washington Nationals Signing Jayson Werth

Ugh, too much money for an underwhelming talent.

Werth was the fourth best hitter on the Phillies and is probably the fourth best on the Nationals. Werth's contract looks like another Aaron Rowand situation gone wrong.

Los Angeles Angels: Trading for Vernon Wells

Here's a brilliant idea: trade your one offensive catcher for an aged, decrepit outfielder with a humongous contract.

Mike Napoli went from the Angels to the Jays and now the Rangers, where he is having a fine season.

Vernon Wells meanwhile is hitting right around .200 with one of the lowest OBP's in the game and is earning nearly $25 million this year.

That's the right move, isn't it?

Boston Red Sox: Letting John Lackey Continue to Pitch Period

Time to cut the old dog loose.

The Red Sox are still trying to get their money out of Lackey, but to no avail.

It's time they promoted from within instead of trying to squeeze pitching out of the onion that is John Lackey.

Cleveland Indians: Trading the Farm for Ubaldo Jimenez

Ubaldo Jimenez is a good pitcher who had a great year last season.

2011 is the real Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Rockies were smart to rid of him while he had value.

The Indians were foolish to trade for him. The Indians are a few years away, but the trade might have sent them back a bit further.

Chicago White Sox: Signing Adam Dunn

On paper it seemed like a smart move: bring in a power hitting outfielder to strengthen an already strong offense.

Too bad Adam Dunn is having one of the all-time worst offensive seasons ever. Lowest batting average in the majors at .161 and only 11 home runs despite receiving over 400 plate appearances.

San Francisco Giants: The Brandon Belt Yoyo

He's a good player. He might not be Buster Posey, but with the Giants offense, who's to complain?

Management's obsession with veterans really cost the Giants in the first part of the season. Let him play and let him hit.

The Giants need not be obsessed with Aubrey Huff's 2010 numbers and should focus no his poor production in 2011.

Belt needs to be a big-leaguer.

Florida Marlins: Demoting Logan Morrison

Such a random move.

Demoted supposedly for having a low batting average.

A batting average of .248 is not low; it's very average this season. The offensively challenged Marlins really aren't in any position to be choosy.

St. Louis Cardinals: Trading Colby Rasmus

Attitude? Yes. Reason to dump a five-tool talent? Nope.

Rasmus is a budding star and yet the Cardinals let him go for a middling starting pitcher in Edwin Jackson and a bunch of meh relievers.

Who thinks the Cardinals will win the NL Central now?

Oakland A's: Trading for David DeJesus

The A's tried to get a solid outfielder who could hit around .300.

Unfortunately all they got was a .230 hitter with no arm and a suspect swing.

No wonder the A's are 16.5 games out of first place.

Boston Red Sox: Signing Carl Crawford for Wayyyy Too Much Money

The Red Sox hoped to get a player who could challenge the 30-30 barrier and hit .320.

Carl Crawford and his $142 million contract aren't exactly living up to that in his first season in Bean Town.

A .289 OBP with 7 home runs isn't exactly worth $20 million a year.

Detroit Tigers: Keeping Brandon Inge as Long as They Did

Inge was having a historically bad year until he was finally released in mid July.

Inge hit .177 with one home run in over 200 at-bats.

Why did it take the Tigers so long to replace him?

Carlos Zambrano, That Whole Thing

Can't blame the Cubs for this one. Except for keeping Zambrano around.

Carlos blew up at the team after pitching poorly yet again and faces a 30-day team suspension for disloyalty or some related charge.

Time for Carlos to ride off into the sunset on the horse he road in on.

Los Angeles Angels: Promoting Mike Trout

AA hitters rarely succeed in their first chance in the majors.

Mike Trout, despite being a top prospect, fell victim.

Trout was promoted by the Angels because of a number of injuries, but a team has to be realistic about their prospects.

Trout hit .163 in 14 games before being demoted to AAA, but overall it was a roundabout promotion.

Los Angeles Dodgers: The McCourts Mess

This situation needs to be ironed out in a hurry.

The Dodgers need to be purchased by someone who can actually pay the salaries of the players and the front office. Mark Cuban anyone?

The proceedings have gotten to the point of absurd with both McCourts fighting over what little money is left between the two of them.

The Dodgers are unfortunately caught in the middle of it all and are having a poor season partially as a result of the McCourt squabble.

Seattle Mariners: Signing Jack Cust

Anyone who gets released by the A's can't be a good pickup.

The punchless Mariners hoped to buck the trend and were treated to three home runs and a .213 average.

They finally released him, but why did that take so long?

Oakland A's: Signing Brian Fuentes

A career middle reliever thrust into the closers role all too often, Brian Fuentes was abused this season by the A's and has a league-leading eight losses as a reliever.

He's under contract for two additional years that can't pass soon enough for the the A's management.

Minnesota Twins: Letting Matt Capps Close

Joe Nathan was recovering slowly from injury, but he was still a better option than Matt Capps.

Capps in 22 save opportunities blew seven games and helped cement the Minnesota Twins in "rebuilding" mode.

Capps is out and Nathan is back in, but why did that choice even happen in the first place?

Houston Astros: Demolition of the Franchise

Perhaps, demolition is too strong a word. No, perhaps too weak.

Trading Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn for prospects is probably the right decision in the long run, but in the short term, it hurts. A lot.

There aren't a lot of reasons to watch the Astros anyway, now there are two less. That makes the number of reasons much closer to zero.

Hopefully, the 2014 season will make everyone for get this current era of Astros' futility.

Seattle Mariners: Having Chone Figgins

For guy who's supposed to play defense and get on base Figgins isn't doing much of either.

A batting average of .188, a number of injuries and a .941 fielder percentage isn't exactly what the Mariners were hoping for. He's also got some time left on his contract, and the Mariners appear to be stepping further backwards.

St. Louis Cardinals: Trading for Rafael Furcal

An injury-plagued shortstop with a massive contract is exactly what every contender should trade for at the deadline.

In bizarro world that is.

Furcal was a good shortstop, but his career with the Dodgers was poor at best and now he looks to continue that "legacy" in St. Louis.

New York Mets: Not Cleaning House

Bernie Madoff put the Mets in dire financial straights, and now they have a good deal of contracts they still have to deal with.

It was smart to unload Beltran and K-Rod, but to put their future in the hands of the injury-prone Jose Reyes is foolish.

Reyes will price himself out of the Mets' range and will leave them with nothing but coulda, woulda, shouda thoughts.

San Francisco Giants: Signing Miguel Tejada

Aged shortstops are not suppose to cost $6 million. When they do, they are suppose to produce.

Tejada sadly hasn't done much other than get a weekly paycheck for "services rendered."

On average those services are strikeouts, poor throws and back-breaking double plays.

Sounds pretty good for the cost.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Signing Juan Uribe

What's been said about aged shortstops?

Uribe got a three-year $20 million contract and hasn't seen the field since June.

The most recent photo displayed is from June 26.

A batting average of .200 and four home runs isn't worth $6 million either.

Major League Baseball: Failing to Expand Instant Replay

The biggest league-wide travesty is the league's inability to make the right call.

On the field or off.

The epic game between the Braves and Pirates underscored that fact perfectly.

The umpire clearly made the wrong call, but replay would have rectified that. Replay needs to be expanded to everything except balls and strikes.

Baseball is America's pastime, but does that mean it must abide by antiquated rules that prevent the deserving team from winning?