With the season one-third gone now, it’s become pretty clear which players were only slumping and which players actually just suck at baseball. And yet on every team there is at least one player which for foolish reasons, whether it be an over-developed sense of loyalty, a case of GM-player man-love, a reputation for grit and hustle, or a bloated contract, the team just hasn’t been able to pull the plug on yet. In this post, we have a look at each team in the National League with an eye for the one player who really needs to be cut as soon as possible.

Dodgers – RP Guillermo Mota: This guy looks permanently broken: he gives up too many hits, he doesn’t strike enough guys out, and he walks too many batters. His WHIP is an appalling 1.79 and he needs to be shelved somewhere.

Giants – 1B Travis Ishikawa: The main job of a first baseman is to hit, so when your first baseman is the worst hitter on your team, you are doing something wrong.

Diamondbacks – CF Chris Young: Chris Young was supposed to be one of those guys whose power and speed would somehow make of for his complete lack of any ability to get on base.  Well, now you have a guy whose power and speed have fallen off, but who is even less able to get on base.  It is unbelievable that Young is still on pace for well over 500 at bats this season despite his .220 OBP. He needs to be working out his suckiness in the minor leagues.

Rockies – 3B Garret Atkins: I’ve been advocating that the Rockies trade Atkins for two years now, while there was still some perception that he was a good player, but they waited too long, and now he’s basically untradeable. Few players have benefited more from Coors Field than Atkins, and Atkins also had the benefit of his personal peak coinciding with the Rockies high profile Series run in 2007. But he was always an extremely inadequate defender at third, and now his bat has disappeared as well, even at home.

Padres – 2B David Eckstein: GM Kevin Towers calls David Eckstein the MVP of the team so far this year. He couldn’t be more wrong. Eckstein was only barely adequate defensively and offensively when he was at his peak about 5 or 6 years ago, and now at age 34, he’s pretty much got nothing left.

Cardinals – SP Todd Wellemeyer: Todd Wellemeyer shows that maybe there are limits to what pitching coach Dave Duncan can do. Kind of. Actually, it’s pretty amazing that the Cardinals have gotten as much out of Wellemeyer as they have, considering he was nobody’s idea of good starting pitcher material. But with Mitchell Boggs waiting in the wings, there’s really no reason to keep Wellemeyer around.

Brewers – 3B Bill Hall: Bill Hall couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag right now. Sure, he hit 35 homers back in 2006, but he’s done nothing at all since then, and he still has no real position defensively. For some reason, Hall still has the image of a youngster who is still developing, but when you actually go look at his age you find out he is already 29 years old, and what you see, which right now is total suckage, is probably what he really is.

Cubs – RP Aaron Heilman: Heilman was once a highly touted prospect, and did manage to throw up a few good seasons, but it’s becoming more and more clear that he’s just not all that good. Nothing about his peripherals suggests that anything is particularly wrong. His velocity is the same as ever, as are his FB/GB rates, his home run rate, his K/9 rate etc., and his BABIP is a very modest .299. Heilman simply walks too many batters, posting an unsightly 6.26 BB/9, and until that changes (if ever), he needs to be in AAA somewhere until he can learn better control.

Reds – SS Alex Gonzalez: Gonzalez was once an elite defender at shortstop, which meant that his extremely weak bat could be somewhat justified, but now he is no longer anywhere near that class, and his bat seems weaker than ever at .209/.250/.302. He needs to be cut.

Erstad is still playing?

Astros – OF Darin Erstad: Yeah, I know, Erstad is supposed to be this super-gritty former football player (except he was only a kicker), but we are a decade removed now from his last actually good season in 2000, and I’m almost surprised to see that he is actually still on a major league roster. He’s hitting .137/.211/.196.  Why is this man still anywhere near a baseball diamond?

Pirates – OF Brandon Moss: Lots of people have mentioned how one good side of trading away Nate McLouth was that it has “cleared playing time for blocked prospect Andrew McCutchen.”  But hardly anyone mentions that one of the players who was allegedly “blocking” McCutchen is Brandon Moss, a corner outfielder who has been playing every day this season despite posting a .310 OBP and only a single home run.

Marlins – 3B Emilio Bonifacio: The fact that Emilio Bonifacio, who has no business being in a major league lineup at all, is actually batting leadoff for the Marlins, despite his .294 OBP, is an indictment of the entire Marlins coaching staff and front office.

Bonifacio whiffs again

Mets – C Omir Santos: It’s a joke that the Mets actually traded away Ramon Castro to clear a spot on the roster for this guy. It’s going to be fun watching as the numbers left over from his fluky hot start rapidly sink toward the Mendoza line.

Braves – OF Garrett Anderson: I laughed out loud when I heard that the Braves signed Anderson in the offseason, and I pretty much haven’t stopped laughing since.  The poor old guy has a .289 OBP to go along with a -15 UZR/150 in left field. At this point you could probably drag Bernie Williams out of the recording studio and run him out there for better production.

Nationals – CL Joel Hanrahan: You can anoint a guy your closer, sing the praises of his “live arm,” and run him out there in save situations as much as you want, but that doesn’t mean he is going to pitch like a closer, just because you really really want him to. In what may be the worst bullpen of all time, no reliever has done more damage in more high leverage situations than Hanrahan. His 1.90 WHIP (for an alleged closer!) pretty much says it all.

Phillies – P Chan Ho Park: Park has looked finished for years now, at least when you look at his peripherals. He managed to reinvent himself as a serviceable reliever in the pitcher-friendly NL West last season, fooling the Phillies into taking him on, but it’s kind of an understatement to say that his game does not play well in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. The Park-as-starter experiment was basically doomed from the get-go, but ironically, Park has pitched even more poorly this year as a reliever than he did as a starter. This man should be enjoying his retirement somewhere, not getting thrown to the wolves every other night.

The easy thing to say when considering “what the Rockies need” is to make a snarky faith joke. But readers, I won’t do that to you or our site. Because we all know that you’ve come to expect much more high-browed, intellectually stimulating commentary from us UmpBump writers. And by jove, that’s what you’re going to get.

Poop.

Anyhow, when writing Colorado’s “Hot Offseason Action” post back in February, I wondered to myself if I was being too rough on these guys. Turns out, they’ve been worse that I thought they’d be. The Rockies have a mediocre offense to go along with sub-par pitching. Put those together and the results are rarely pretty.

Consequently, the Rockies are currently 6 games out in the NL West (which I’m thinking is pretty difficult to do) and 13 games under .500. And something tells me that their incredible run to close out the 2007 regular season is not going to repeat itself this year. Why? Because you can only beat “improbable” so many times.

So unless the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers tank big time between now and the trade deadline, the Rockies should be dealing some pieces. And no, I am not going to advocate dealing Matt Holliday. Not this year, anyway. Holliday is still under contract in 2009, albeit at a higher price. If the Rockies have no shot in hell of winning the division next year, then by all means, please do trade him away. But that’s not the case here. With some maneuvering, they could still compete in 2009. And here’s my suggestion.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TRADE GARRETT ATKINS AND PLAY IAN STEWART AT THIRD ALREADY.

This of course is not a novel idea. It’s been said and argued ad nauseum for over a year. It just hasn’t happened yet. And just because it’s been said but ignored, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. At this juncture, there are a couple of teams vying for the playoffs (Milwaukee and Minnesota) who could use offensive help at third. It’s clear that Stewart has earned a shot to be a big league regular. It just makes perfect sense. As a result of the injury to Todd Helton, Stewart was recalled from AAA this past week with Atkins moving to first for the time being, which is all well and good. But what happens when Helton returns? Move Ian Stewart to second base permanently? This seems like an odd thing to do to a young player. And so far this year, Jeff Baker is doing a better job of hitting righties so he might be their solution at second.

The Rockies do, however, need another starting pitcher if they are to compete in 2009. Ubaldo Jimenez and Aaron Cook are solid, and Jeff Francis has been better than his ERA suggests. But Jorge de la Rosa, Greg Reynolds, and Mark Redman have been disasters. Sure, it’s possible that Franklin Morales becomes a solution, but it’s not like the guy’s dominating AAA. How about something like Atkins for Boof Bonser and a B-Prospect? Or Atkins for Carlos Villanueva and a B? Teams like the Rockies really need to maximize the value of each dollar they spend. Continually blocking your best prospect just doesn’t make much sense at this point.

- What They Need Index -

Thanks to the overwhelming number of ten-year olds voting for their favorite hometown heroes (“Dad, where’s Yuniesky Betancourt?”), there will undoubtedly be a number of snubs for this year’s midsummer classic. Don’t spend the next three weeks on your hands and knees speculating about your favorite players – I have dutifully previewed the All-Star infield snubs. Enjoy.

C – BRIAN MCCANN (.352, 5 hr, 23 rbi) McCann’s fantastic year has been largely overlooked because of the Braves’ miserable first half. At times, McCann has been the Braves best hitter, lining pitches to all fields. With Adam LaRoche and Jeff Francoeur — poor on-base percentage hitters — batting ahead of him, McCann has not had many opportunities to produce. He has batted only 33 times with runners in scoring position all year. When the bottom half of the Braves lineup starts to hit, expect for McCann’s numbers to balloon.

Zvee’s Projected NL All-Star Catchers: Paul Lo Duca, Johnny Estrada

1B – JUSTIN MORNEAU (.288, 19 hr, 64 rbi) Morneau deserves to be June’s “Player of the Month.” The Twins slugger has raised his average .48 points in June — from .240 to .288 – and has put together some outlandish power numbers. With 9 HRs and 28 RBIs this month, Morneau trails only David Ortiz for the season’s AL RBI lead. He has carried the Twins to an 18-7 June record, leading them back into contention for the AL wild-card. At the beginning of the season, baseball gurus proclaimed that Morneau must have an outrageous year for the Twins to compete – he has and they are.

Zvee’s Projected AL All-Star 1B: David Ortiz, Jason Giambi, Jim Thome

2B – DAN UGGLA (.312, 13 hr, 43 rbi, 49 runs) Uggla hasn’t played in eight days because of a hamstring injury and Marlins manager Joe Girardi does not appear to be rushing him back. Despite a week-long absence, Uggla is still on pace to hit 25+ HRs, 95+ RBIs, 100+ runs from a second base position that is inherently weak in both leagues. He is a leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year and should be highly considered on All-Star ballots. What will cost Uggla is the fact that he plays in a poor baseball market for a low-budget team that receives very little national recognition.

Zvee’s Projected NL All-Star 2B: Chase Utley, Brandon Phillips.

SS – CARLOS GUILLEN (.299, 9 hr, 44 rbi) Beyond the big four (Reyes, Tejada, Jeter, Young), there is a drastic drop-off at the shortstop position. Guillen has had a solid first half for the Tigers but assuredly will not see the mid-summer classic thanks to Miguel Tejada, Derek Jeter, and Michael Young, all of whom are having spectacular seasons in the American League.

Zvee’s Projected AL All-Star SS: Miguel Tejada, Derek Jeter.

3B – JOE CREDE (.302, 14 hr, 54 rbi) Crede is enjoying the best offensive season of his six-year career, propelling the White Sox to a 51-27 record, 2^nd best in the majors. He has elevated his average .50 points from last season – .252 to .302 – and is only eight homeruns shy of matching his career high (22, set last season). Along with Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, and Jim Thome, he is one of four White Sox on pace to crack 30+ HRs and 100+ RBIs. Perhaps Crede’s first-half brilliance has been overshadowed by his teammates, because Crede is simply not getting the accolades he deserves. Although it’s possible that Ozzie Guillen could choose Crede as a Manager’s Selection, there are several other capable 3B candidates from which to choose.

Zvee’s Projected AL All-Star 3B: Alex Rodriguez, Troy Glaus.

UTIL. INF. – GARRETT ATKINS (.311, 10 hr, 53 rbi, 49 runs) Atkins is not flashy and that’s going to cost him in All-Star balloting. Many people have overlooked Atkins’ offensive year because of the Colorado altitude, but he isn’t driving people in with homeruns – in fact he has only 10 HRs on the year. Instead, Atkins has driven up his RBI numbers by becoming one of the most “clutch” hitters in baseball, sporting a .348 BA with runners-in-scoring-position. He is a vital part of a potent Rockies offense that has earned the nickname “Triple H’s” (Hawpe, Helton, Holliday). The only thing missing from the nickname is an Atkins inclusion – expect his absence to become a theme at the All-Star game, too.

Zvee’s Projected NL IF Reserves: Scott Rolen, Chipper Jones (sad but true).

Outfield snubs to come in my next article…