System of a Down Year

The dawn of every season not only means that anybody can win, but once the season gets underway, the best players in their game are a lock to outperform the competition. However, that is not always the case in the wild, wacky, fifth dimension world of sports. Sometimes there are players that rise from the 'player-to-be-named-later' pile and produce good numbers for their ball club. Other times the preseason predictions made by every magazine, sports talk show, and blog writer pan out without any interesting mix ups. But every year, there seems to be some players that either sign big contracts with new teams, or come off of off-season injuries and fail to produce as expected. This year the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins all have big named players who have star players that are playing more like little dippers than big dippers. 

Let's lead off this list with the south side of Chicago's big free agent signing this past offseason, Adam Dunn.

When the White Sox presented the Big Donkey with a four year/$56 Million dollar contract, general manager Kenny Williams expected what Dunn had provided for the Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Washington Nationals; a big left handed bat to provide offense to a club that desperately needed it. Dunn may have struck out more often than people have gone on Facebook in the last half decade, but he consistently hit 40 homers and drove in 100 runs for the better part of six years. Unfortunately for the south siders, the big donkey has lacked his kick. This season, Dunn's abysmal .163 batting average with the White Sox is 83 points lower than his career total of .246. The big donkey is also 29 home runs behind his career average of 38 a season and is 61 runs batted in behind his average pace of 97 RBIs per year. Dunn could be putting too much pressure on himself because of the new contract, or maybe the 31 year old slugger is over the hill. But even with Dunn floundering, the White Sox can still win the AL Central. If this is to happen, Dunn needs to hit.

Since the hits just keep on coming in baseball, the focus shifts out west to one of the most consistent hitters of our generation, Ichiro Suzuki 

The Seattle Mariners may be cellar dwellers in the AL Central, but the Mariners are able to wind up Ichiro every year and watch him get 200 hits. But this year, Ichiro has not been what we thought he is. The Mariners star currently has 109 hits and is on pace to finish with 167 for the season. Ichiro has NEVER finished a season with fewer than 200 hits in his entire ten year career with the Mariners; that streak of 200 hits every year for ten years is the longest such streak in Major League history. Also Ichiro's batting average has fallen to .267 during the 2011 campaign. That is 60 points below his career average of .327. But despite the down numbers, Ichiro's down year stems from bad luck. Balls that Ichiro would be able to slap through the opposite field gap are simply not finding the holes they usually do. The only difference between Ichiro and other hitters who are struggling is the fact that this is Ichiro's first bad year in his career. Ichiro is still the toughest out in baseball, but even he is human. And humans in sports can sometimes have bad years.

Speaking of bad years, it is time to look at the ace of the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants; Tim Lincecum

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last year with a paper mache offense and the best pitching in baseball. This season the offense has been equally as bad as last year, but every pitcher except Lincecum has been great again this year. Today, the two time Cy Young award winner is 8-8 with a 2.90 Earned run average and 146 strikeouts. Put these numbers all together and you have a very good line at the half way point of the season. Yet most of these numbers, such as wins and strikeouts, are short of the freak's usual performances. Lincecum's issue is that he has yet to be consistently dominant this season. One start the Lincecum will be the freak for six or seven innings to get the win, and then turn right around and pitch dreadfully in his next start. The San Francisco Giants are contenders to win the world series with the surplus of pitching that they have, but in order to topple the Phillies, Red Sox, Rangers, and even the Braves, Tim Lincecum has to recapture the swagger that has made him dominant.

And since pitchers and catchers have such an important bond in baseball, the focus is redirected to Twins catcher Joe Mauer.

Baseball's talent pool for catchers may be about as deep as a puddle, but for the last four years, Joe Mauer has been one of the best backstops in the game. Mauer has torn up opposing pitchers during the course of his career, hitting .326 with  15 homers and 90 runs batted in on a yearly basis. However, the injury bug bit Joe Mauer in the form of bilateral leg weakness. And while the strength in Mauer's legs have dropped, so have his numbers. This season Mauer is hitting .295 with no homers and 15 runs batted in. There is nothing wrong with a .295 batting average, but the number three hitter in a team's lineup having zero homers and only 15 runs batted in is pathetic. Plus, Mauer being hurt has really altered the way that Twins pitchers pitch, for the Twins pitchers are used to Mauer calling the game. Perhaps putting Mauer at first base or Designated hitter will prolong his career, however making that transition will likely not help Mauer in 2011.

From guys who have been hurt to guys who are simply having a bad year, struggling during points in a career is simply part of the game. And everyone that has been mentioned is a good enough player to turn this season around, despite the adversities they all face.