As we approach the All Star Break, in the spirit of the All-Madden Team, I would like to unfortunately name the following MLB players to my First Half All-Bust Team.  These are players ranked in approximately the top-10 at their position going into this season that have wound up being a bust for fantasy owners in the first half of the year.  Players who have gone down with long term injuries may also qualify for this recognition.  Each position also includes honorable mentions.  Fantasy owners all over are hoping the following players do not appear on the year-end 2013 All-Bust Team.

CATCHER – Miguel Montero

Overall Draft Rank: 120

Current Rank: 819

Rank Differential: – 699

Miguel Montero was ranked as the 8^th best catcher going into the season.  In 2012 he knocked in 88 runs with 15 homers, and an OPS of .829. In the first half he has hit a dismal .219, with an OPS of .622 with only 31 RBI.  I am not a big fan of drafting catchers, but someone had to take the hit for this position.

Honorable mentions: Salvador Perez, Jesus Montero

FIRST BASE – Billy Butler

Overall Draft Rank: 43

Current Rank: 239

Rank Differential: –196

Billy Butler had a great 2012 season, which lead him to becoming the 7^th highest ranked first baseman going into the 2013 season.  He hit 29 Home Runs with 107 RBI at a .313 average and .883 OPS.  This season, although he has 49 RBI, he has only 8 homers, has scored only 29 times and is 43 points lower than last season.  He is not a major bust, but fantasy owners were certainly relying on more run production and power from him.

Honorable mentions: Ike Davis, Paul Konerko

SECOND BASE – Aaron Hill

Overall Draft Rank: 61

Current Rank: 895

Rank Differential: –864

Aaron Hill had the best overall season of his career in 2012, smashing 26 homers, 85 RBI, and stealing 14 bases while hitting .302 with an OPS of .882.  Although some saw that as an over-performance, it made sense that he went into 2013 as the 6^th best second baseman.  Earlier this season, he suffered a tough luck injury with a broken hand that has caused him to miss a lot of time.  He doesn’t necessarily make the list for bad performance but the injury certainly hurt fantasy owners who were expecting hard to find power and speed out of their second base spot.  Because of this, Hill is on the first half team bust.  I do expect him to produce in the second half and not make the year-end squad.

Honorable mentions: Rickie Weeks, Martin Prado

SHORTSTOP – Starlin Castro

Overall Draft Rank: 39

Current Rank: 382

Rank Differential: –343

Starlin Castro was highly touted on draft day, slotting in as the third best shortstop behind Tulowitzki and Reyes.  His sophomore season in 2012 proved he was no fluke after his rookie year.  He is expected to score a lot of runs, hit 10-15 homers, steal bases and rack up a lot of hits.  Currently his average sits at a terrible .234, which is accompanied by an OBP of .269.  You can’t steal bases and score runs if you don’t get on base.  His value has plummeted because of this and he is the unanimous choice for first half bust at shortstop.

Honorable mentions: Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins

THIRD BASE – Brett Lawrie

Overall Draft Rank: 61

Current Rank: 1003

Rank Differential: –942

Brett Lawrie went into 2013 ranked as the 9^th best third baseman to draft.  He didn’t have the season the Blue Jays expected him to have after the promise he showed in 150 at-bats in 2011, but they knew the talent was there.  He was supposed to deliver a healthy mix across all typical stat categories and so far between an awful performance and injury, he is one of the biggest busts on the list.  Before the injury he was only hitting an Adam Dunn-esque .209 with 11 runs scored and 2 stolen bases.  I personally think he is still too immature, just based on the way I have seen him act in games I’ve watched, and I fully expect him to be my starting third baseman for the end of season All-Bust Team.

Honorable mentions: Aramis Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval

OUTFIELD – Matt Kemp

Overall Draft Rank: 5

Current Rank: 384

Rank Differential: -379

Kemp was a top 5 pick for this year’s draft and has been arguably the biggest bust of all.  First round picks can destroy your team if they pan out like this.  Kemp has gone from BEAST mode to LEAST mode.  His mix of under-performance and DL stints have crushed his first half value.  He just recently went back on the DL, this time for his shoulder.  His fantasy contribution is comparable to Padres’ outfielder Kyle Blanks in the first half, no offense to Blanks, but he’s no Kemp of course.  There is a solid chance Kemp also makes the year end list, here’s hoping he doesn’t for fantasy owners’ sakes.

OUTFIELD – Giancarlo Stanton

Overall Draft Rank: 10

Current Rank: 781

Rank Differential: -771

Stanton, like Kemp, went in the first round of fantasy drafts this season.  Fans who saw him crush 37 homers in only 450 at bats last season had dreams of 50+ bombs to help vault their teams this season, myself included. Stanton started off slow out of the gate, and was eventually hampered for a little over a month with a hamstring injury.  He came back and hit five homers rather quickly, but his bat has once again cooled in July, with only 1 extra-base hit in nine games.  I fully expect him to make up for a bad first half with an excellent second half, if he can stay on the field.

OUTFIELD – Jason Heyward

Overall Draft Rank: 30

Current Rank: 507

Rank Differential: –477

Heyward entered 2013 fantasy drafts as around a top-10 outfielder.  His combination displayed in 2012 of run scoring, run production, power, and speed is a gold mine for fantasy owners.  He’s expected to hit for around 25 homers and steal 25 bases while scoring around 100 runs hitting at about .280.  Fantasy owners could have skipped him and picked up Jason Bay off of the free agent list after their draft and gotten better OF production.  That is how bad he has been.  I have faith that he can miss the end of year ALL-BUST TEAM but that remains to be seen.  His .229 average, 7 homers, and 2 stolen bases leave much to be desired.

Honorable outfield mentions: Yoenis Cespedes, BJ Upton,  Josh Hamilton

STARTING PITCHER – David Price

Overall Draft Rank: 25

Current Rank: 408

Rank Differential: -383

Choosing one starting pitcher for my first half ALL-BUST TEAM is difficult but I have chosen David Price. There are three reasons to support this choice.  First, he is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and was ranked to be the 4^th best overall pitcher on draft day behind Kershaw, Verlander, and Strasburg. Secondly, he pitched poorly when healthy in the first half. Lastly, he missed time with an injury.  He only wound up throwing 71 innnings to a 4.18 ERA.  He has pitched better since his return from the DL so I expect him to be off the year-end list but he has been a major first half disappointment for owners who expected to leave him in the SP position to rack up low ERA/WHIP numbers with a lot of strikeouts.

Honorable mentions: Cole Hamels, R.A. Dickey, Matt Cain, Yovani Gallardo

CLOSER – J.J. Putz

Overall Draft Rank: 131

Current Rank: 365

Rank Differential: -234

Choosing one closer out of the long list of disappointing game-enders was tough for me but I went with Putz for three reasons.  First, he was the highest ranked of my bust closers.  Secondly, he pitched poorly when he was the DBacks’ closer, notching five shaky saves with a bloated closer ERA of 3.86 and WHIP of 1.47.  Finally, of course, he missed a good chunk of time with an arm injury, which he may not be completely out of the woods from although he has returned to the team.  He has yet to regain the official role as team closer so owners certainly took a hit drafting this guy.

Honorable mentions: Joel Hanrahan, John Axford

 

….and there you have it folks, your 2013 First half All-Bust Team.  If you disagree or have someone you feel I missed, message me on twitter!

(Thanks to Yahoo! Sports for the rankings)