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21 Jan 2010 |
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The term “bust” in fantasy baseball is almost as ambiguous and hotly debated as the word "sleeper". What makes a player a bust? And how early does someone need to be drafted in order to be considered a bust? Both questions may not have definitive answers. A bust could be a top player who has an awful season. Or it could be a top player that lost most of his season to injury. Or maybe, a bust is a guy that was so hyped up that it was not feasibly possible to meet expectations. The truth is that all three of those things fit the bill of a bust. But how do we stack up a bust against each other? As an example, J.R. Towles was certainly a bust in 2008. However, his ADP was 250-plus, which does not make him as big of a bust as some other players last season. This article will not only stack up certain busts against each other but it will also rank them. Because fantasy baseball has been in existence for nearly 30 years, it is difficult to narrow it down to only a top ten. Therefore, this will be a two-part series starting with hitters today. So without further adieu, here is a list of the biggest fantasy baseball busts of all-time: hitters. 10. Fred Lynn
Year: 1980
Lynn was on a steady incline in power numbers each season for the previous three seasons. In 1980, Lynn struggled and reverted back to the numbers he posted his second year in the majors. Lynn managed to hit for a decent average of .301, but that was down from .333. In addition, he hit 12 home runs and had 61 RBIs, in comparison to 39 and 122 from a year earlier. Lynn was a great hitter, no question. But in retrospect, 1979 might have been an overrating of the player Lynn actually was.  9. Kirk GibsonYear: 1989 Coming off an MVP season in 1988 and a memorable World Series at-bat (his only one that series), Gibson put up a stinker for an encore in 1989. Gibson played in 71 games and batted .213 with nine home runs, 28 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases. Not even close to the .290, 25 home run, 76 RBI, 31 stolen base season from the year before. 8. Dale Murphy 7. Roberto Alomar 6. Carl Crawford
Year: 2008
Crawford is a player that’s stock has dropped considerably each year over the past three years, before rebounding a bit in 2009. In 2007 he was a late first-round pick in most leagues and sported an ADP of 12.68. Crawford missed time from injury, playing in only 109 games, and was highly ineffective when healthy, batting just .273 with eight home runs, 57 RBIs, 69 runs and 25 stolen bases. Not including his brief rookie season, Crawford’s numbers last year were career lows in average, runs, and stolen bases. 5. Adrian Beltre
Year: 2005
After hitting .334 with 48 home runs and 121 RBIs in 2004, Beltre was a consensus second round pick in 2005, . He signed a big five-year, $64 million deal with the Mariners and was an instant bust, both for Seattle and fantasy managers. Beltre hit .255 with 19 home runs and 87 RBIs. For owners who were skeptical of Beltre’s breakout season (especially in a contract year), they were rewarded by letting someone else make the mistake of wasting an early pick on him. 4. Shawn Green
Year: 2003
All of the others on this list I am fortunate to say I avoided on draft day. But I must confess, Shawn Green played me for a fool not once, but twice. In 1998 and 1999, Green compiled 77 home runs, 223 RBIs, and a batting average right around .300. Spend an early draft pick on Green in 2000? Why not? Green wound up hitting only 24 home runs that season with a .269 batting average. Then, Green would bounce back for seasons of 49 home runs, 125 RBIs and 42 home runs, 114 RBIs, in 2001 and 2002. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. In 2003, Green hit just 19 home runs and knocked in 85 RBIs. 3. Darryl Strawberry 2. Preston Wilson
Year: 2004
Like Beltre, Wilson was a benefactor of a breakout season. Wilson had always put together reasonable seasons in the range of 25 home runs and 75 RBIs, but nothing like the season he had in 2003. Wilson hit .282 with 36 home runs and 141 RBIs season that year. Wilson also had speed, swiping an average of 22 bases per year over the previous four seasons. Lastly, Wilson just played his first season in Colorado and  gave fantasy managers another reason to salivate over his potential. In the four leagues I participated in in 2004, Wilson was taken 40th, 29th, 23rd, and 23rd overall. Wilson would only play in 58 games that year, hitting .248 with 6 home runs and 29 RBIs.1. Jim Thome
Year: 2005
A first-round pick in almost every draft I looked at from that year Thome only played in 59 games and hit an abysmal .207 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs. Prior to 2005, Thome had at least 40 home runs in each of the last four seasons. In addition, Thome had at least 30 home runs in nine straight seasons and at least 100 RBIs in six consecutive. You know you can't win a fantasy league in the first round, but you can certainly lose one. And for Thome owners, it must have been a seemingly impossible uphill battle. Dishonorable mentions:
Travis Hafner (2008), Troy Tulowitzki (2008), Andruw Jones (2007), Bret Boone (2004), Corey Koskie (2002), Matt Williams (2002), Ken Griffey Jr. (1995), Don Mattingly (1990), Mike Schmidt (1988), Andre Thornton (1983), George Foster (1982), Johnny Bench (1981), George Brett (1981) Egos aside, who has admittedy been your biggest bust? Do you think someone was snubbed (or lack thereof) from the list?
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Comments (13)
  written by lennymelnick, January 29, 2009
Kelly Gruber was a huge bust after a break out year
written by Shai, January 29, 2009
Don't forget the Crimedog...Fred McGriff in 2003.He joined the Dodgers and fell off a cliff.
written by MichaelMuschiano, January 27, 2009
Great mentions Ken.
Jeffries was actually one guy I had in the pool of names to begin with. What was difficult with the older guys was finding out how hyped, or how much was expected of them. With the guys over the past decade, finding information and old drafts was much more applicable. Maas was one that slipped through the cracks. Both he, and Jeffries, are great suggestions. Readers, these are all great--keep 'em coming.
written by a guest, January 27, 2009
Great list, I agree with all choices.
Just to throw two other names out ther, how about Greg Jefferies (1989) and Kevin Maas (1991) Jefferies hit .321 with a .595 SLG in his first 106 MLB AB in '88 and was a sure fire lock for ROY in '89. He ended up hitting .258, 72, 12, 58, 21, in 508 AB Maas hit 21 HR in his first 258 MLB AB in 1990. Again, NY media hyped this guy like the next big thing, and he hit .220, 69, 23, 63, 5 in 500 AB I didn't play fantasy until '98, but I'm sure these guys would have been high on draft boards. Just wanted to mention them.
written by MichaelMuschiano, January 27, 2009
Jones is in the dishonorable mentions but when I started the piece he was slated at 9 and gradually moved off the list. Jones was certainly a bust but he did finish with 26 home runs and 94 RBIs. Not great for where he was drafted, but not an awful line of power numbers.
written by MichaelMuschiano, January 27, 2009
Jason, Buhner is another great one. I think this list could have been expanded to top 50 because there have been so many disappointments!
written by MichaelMuschiano, January 27, 2009
Alomar spit in Hirschbeck's face in 1996 I believe. Funny (sad?) thing is that he did not have to serve his suspension until the beginning of the '97 season and not during the Postseason because the incident happened the last week of the '96 season.
Here is a link to the infamous spat: http://campussqueeze.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/alomar-spit8.jpg
written by Lenny Melnick, January 27, 2009
My biggest bust was Kelly Gruber coming off a huge yr Last year I kept Josh Fields Great Job Mike
written by ichirosan, January 27, 2009
Andruw Jones didn't make the cut? He was just coming from a 41 HR, 129 RBI 2006 season, with a very decent .261 AVG. His steaming pile from 2007 still hasn't been cleaned from Turner Field.
written by The Czar, January 27, 2009
Nice article.
Last season I put Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander on the same team in one of my leagues. I'm still bitter.
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Tags: Travis Hafner (2008) Troy Tulowitzki (2008) Andruw Jones (2007) Bret Boone (2004) Corey Koskie (2002) Matt Williams (2002) Ken Griffey Jr. (1995) Don Mattingly (1990) Mike Schmidt (1988) Andre Thornton (1983) George Foster (1982) Johnny Bench (1981) George Brett (1981) Jim Thome Preston Wilson Darryl Strawberry Shawn Green Adrian Beltre Carl Crawford Roberto Alomar Kirk Gibsosn Fred Lynn
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, and only three stolen bases.
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