The Baseball Geek: 2009 Hardcore Sports Radio All-Schmuck Team (Part 1)

Over the past month I have given my picks on who should make this year’s All-Star game. This week, it is all about the schmucks. These are the guys who make you curse under your breath or out loud as they screw you out of joy, money, 1^st place in your fantasy league, etc. So here they are the 1^st annual All-Schmuck team.

Catcher – Geovany Soto –Chicago Cubs (.236 AVG 7 HR, 25 RBI)

This is a close race as Russell Martin of the Los Angeles Dodgers has also been a huge disappointment with his 1 HR, but my vote goes to Soto. The Dodgers are still one of the best teams in baseball and Martin still calls a good game for his pitchers. Soto on the other hand is suffering through a sophomore slump and has to deal with the three ring circus of Piniella, Bradley and Zambrano in Chicago. They need a lot more than his sub .236 average and 7 home runs.

First Base – Lance Berkman – Houston Astros (.261 AVG 17 HR, 47 RBI)

Chris Davis of the Texas Rangers also receives notable mention as he is well on his way to setting the major league record in strikeouts unless the team sends him to Triple A before then. However, more is expected out of Berkman. He had a horrible April, batting .167 and is currently hitting 39 points below his career average. To his credit Berkman has turned it around to more respectable numbers over the past two months.

Second Base – Howie Kendrick – Los Angeles Angels (.231 AVG 4 HR, 22 RBI)

Once pegged as a future batting champion… although it is looking like that may be in Triple A and not the MLB. For fantasy leagues at the very worst, Kendrick was dubbed a sleeper for possibly batting ahead of guys like Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu. Instead he struggled badly out of the gate and never recovered previous form that saw him hover around .300 in the major leagues. This isn’t comforting to Angels fans who expected them to be in their lineup and fantasy owners who turned down other options like Aaron Hill and Orlando Hudson.

Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins – Philadelphia Phillies (.205 AVG 6 HR, 27 RBI)

He may be batting the in the number 3 hole for the all schmuck team because no one has fallen faster than Jimmy Rollins. He is 30 and only two years removed from the NL MVP, but as a leadoff hitter, his average and on base percentage is pathetic (.205 and .250). Rollins is a big reason why the Phillies are not pulling away in the NL East as their main competitor, the New York Mets look like they tripped over a black cat while looking at themselves in their cracked mirror. It has been so bad, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel benched Rollins for four days just to see if he could get his head straight. Phillies fans hope this will work because they need him if they want to repeat as champs.

Third Base – Alex Rodriguez – New York Yankees (.239 13 HR 41 RBI)

His season started under a relentless assault of how not to run your career. From divorcing his wife, to steroid allegations, kissing himself in a mirror for a men’s magazine and then hip surgery just before the season began. Everything seemed better though on A-Rod’s first at bat from that surgery: a home run sailing into the seats at Camden Yards in Baltimore. However A-Rod has struggled coming back and Joe Girardi seems to think he may have pushed Rodriguez back too soon, now giving him an extra day to spend with Kate Hudson… I mean to look in the mirror… I mean to rest his surgically repaired hip.