The 2019 MLB season has given us some nice moments during the first half. Among those are Christian Yelich’s and Cody Bellinger’s amazing performances. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s debut also makes the first half highlights. Last but not least, the dominance by teams like the Twins, Dodgers, and Astros at the top of their divisions has been incredible to watch. However, there have also been some disappointments along the way. Take a look at the biggest flops of the first half of the regular season
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds looked like the winners of a blockbuster trade with the Dodgers this past offseason. Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and Alex Wood made their way to The Queen City as Los Angeles had to dump salary somewhere. Many baseball fans were delighted as it seemed that the Reds were finally ready to be competitive. Well, the All-Star break is right around the corner and not much has changed.
Cincy’s talent has underperformed night in and night out ever since Opening Day. Kemp was hitting just .200 with a single home run and 5 RBI when he was released on May 4. Wood is nowhere to be seen as his back problems have kept him out of action since March. Tanner Roark has also been a problem n the mound, despite having a relatively low ERA (3.51), he allows almost 9 hits every nine innings.
Eugenio Suarez and Puig are doing their parts, combining for 40 home runs and 105 RBI. However, they can only do so much if the rest of the team is sub-par at best. The Reds might be just 4.5 games away from the lead in the NL Central but, they won’t catch the Cubs and/or Brewers if they don’t pick up the pace in the second half.
Jake Arrieta
Jake Arrieta has not been the same pitcher he once was ever since leaving Chicago. A decline in quality is to be expected as his seasons at Wrigley are pretty hard to top. However, Arrieta’s boat seems to be floating over deeper waters year after year. Judging by the first half of the season, he might as well be stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by now.
He has an 8-6 record and a 4.43 ERA over 17 starts for the Phillies. Don’t let Arrieta’s record fool you, this Missouri native has struggled more on the mound than what his ERA and/or record shows. Fielders have been kind to him as his Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) stat sits quite a bit higher than his ERA at 5.15. His WHIP has also climbed a few points in 2019 at 1.418. Last, but by no means least, batters have found it easy to get hits off him as he gives up 9.2 hits every nine innings. It doesn’t seem like Arrieta’s year, again.
Robinson Cano
Where do I even start with Robinson Cano? His trade seemed so promising it almost made Brody Van Wagener fit for the GM job at Queens. He was part of the constant Mets’ rebuild process alongside closer Edwin Diaz and pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom. July has arrived and well, he has proven to be nothing more than a flop for the New York team.
The Dominican infielder is hitting .239 with 18 RBI and fewer homers than fingers on his left hand (4). His on-base percentage is not great either, sitting at .289. The fact that the organization still owes him $120 million makes his trade almost tragically comical. Behold, the first failure of the Van Wagener era.