2008 Baseball Early Season Slumps
Barry Zito, Robinson Cano and Big Papi Are All Struggling in April
These stars are supposed to be hitting and pitching their teams toward big awards and postseason play. Instead, they're playing like Rudy Stein of the Bad News Bears.
It is only May 3rd, so it's officially too soon to get on any of these guys cases. After all, the 2008 baseball season is still just a month old. But with every week that passes, the following players' slow starts get closer to becoming extended slumps, which could eventually lead to lost seasons. It can happen that quick. But then again, there have been countless players who have been able to recover from brutal Aprils and turn it around in May, June or even July.
Whether or not these five players can reverse course in enough time to save their seasons is still in question, but one thing is for sure: for these five players, April has been the cruelest month.
1. Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants. You knew Zito had to rank first on this list. He's having an awfully disappointing season. Barry is 0 and 6. His ERA is 7.53. National Leaguers are hitting him at a .336 clip. Recently, the Giants pulled Zito out of the rotation and banished him to the bullpen. One hopes it's something that can be fixed. Both for Barry, who can be a very good pitcher, and for the Giants, who spent more than one hundred million bucks for Zito's services over the next seven years.
2. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees. This is a guy who's supposed to win a batting title someday? This is the guy that a certain sportswriter (who shall remain shamefully nameless), picked Cano to win the American League MVP. Yet, he's batting a miserable .155 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. While this is causing panic in the Bronx (exacerbated by their pitching and injury problems), it shouldn't be. Cano is prone to slow starts. He usually doesn't kick into full gear until after the All-Star break, when he dominates for the last 75 games or so. Can he repeat his career trend or is he ready for his first bad season?
3. David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox. Big Papi is batting .196. In 107 at bats, he has just seven extra base hits. He looks very different from the man who has dominated American League pitching over the past five years. It makes a fan wonder what's changed. Maybe it's just a slow start. One would expect a serious streak pretty soon. When are they playing the Yankees?
4. Ted Lilly, Chicago Cubs. Ted Lilly is a good pitcher. Ted Lilly is a tough-minded pitcher. Ted Lilly has good stuff, nice movement and savvy gamesmanship. So why can't he get anybody out in 2008? One hates to pick on Lilly, but if he were throwing like the real Ted Lilly, the Cubs could be 20-8. If Ted can pick it up soon, the Cubs are going to win the National League Central.
5. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies. This one is a mystery. Last year, Troy was the National League Rookie of the Year. This guy hit .291 with 24 home runs and 99 RBI in 2007. Yet, a full month through the 2008 season, Tulowitzki is hitting more like Jim Mason or Fred Stanley. After 26 games, he's hitting .152 with just 1 home run and 11 RBI. Things got so bad that manager Clint Hurdle recently sat him down for a few games in favor of Clint Barmes.
Is he merely suffering the sophomore slump? Is it a hangover from the exciting (perhaps over-achieveing) 2007 season? Was last year a fluke? Well, only Troy can figure out the answers to those questions.
In fact, whether or not any of these stars can bounce back from their awful Aprils is up to them. Sure, each needs little luck, friendly bounce, an easy win, anything. Anything that will get them out of their own heads and back into their baseball self.
Only time will well, but here's one bet that each of these guys (excpet perhaps Zito) will all end up having good 2008 seasons.
