Proving People Wrong or Disappointing

Every day we have athletes that prove us wrong or those who disappoint after lofty expectations. Here's a breakdown of some of those people:

 

Proved People Wrong:

• A-Rod - As River Ave Blues pointed out, A-Rod proved Buster Olney wrong. Or at least premature in his obituary. I hope last night was a breaking out for A-Rod rather than him beating up a struggling pitcher. But if A-Rod can pick it up, this offense can start rolling over people. And A-Rod certainly has a lot of people to prove wrong with the steroids allegations hanging over his head.
• Nick Swisher - Nick Swisher isn't going to win a batting title or a Gold Glove. I don't know why people care. He's serviceable in right field except for one huge error against the Red Sox. He'll never be great but he'll hustle after the ball and has a decent arm. But more importantly, he's one of the best hitters on this team as Steven Goldman points out:

Nick Swisher answered yesterday's discussion about him here with another home run, and it's tempting to let that be the final word for now. The guy is second on the Yankees in on-base percentage (to Mark Teixeira), fourth in slugging, but he leads the club in road slugging, road doubles, and road home runs by a wide, wide margin--he and Hideki Matsui are the only hitters on the team that haven't seen their numbers grossly distorted by the House that Ruth Didn't etc. He leads the team in walks, and the only reason that hasn't resulted in a higher number of runs scored by Swisher personally is that he's been buried in the bottom half of the order. There has been an awful lot of Ransom and Molina up behind Swisher.

I've said for a while I think the Yankees are wasting Swisher so far down in the order...but then again, they won't let me manage.

• Joba  - From Steven Goldman again: "Chamberlain's road record is yet another nail in the 'Joba-to-the-bullpen' argument. If this is what he can do in a neutral environment, average six innings a start and allow fewer than three runs--that's more than good enough. Few pitchers can do that"
• San Antonio Spurs - Well I don't think this team is going to be so boring offensively. They went out and got Richard Jefferson and starting him with Ginobili, Parker, Duncan they should be able to keep up offensively with the Bryants and Carmelos and Nowitzkis of the league. The question is how much this hurts the team defensively and in their chemistry. Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas were really good pieces on that team. But I think this makes them infinitely better and a favorite in the West. And, as usual they excelled at the draft, getting an A+ from Chad Ford. If DeJaun Blair can come in, be healthy, and be 80% of Kurt Thomas, this team will be tough to beat.
• Orlando Magic - Well this is all about not resting on your laurels. The last time the Magic got to a finals before 2009, they had Shaq. And many expected them to be quiet in this offseason with a team that surprised many and made the finals this year, hoping that another year of development would put them over the top. But they went out and got Vince Carter which gives them a proven offensive player to play alongside Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. If Turkoglu comes back, this team will be very good. 
• Maric Jaric - I don't know how he does it, but he has the #1 pick in the Hot NBA Wives and Girlfriends draft from The Big Lead
• Antonio Piece and Shaun O'Hara - Both made ESPN's list of most underrated players of the past decade.
• Mariano Rivera - Many said he was done. When he wasn't they said he was on PEDs. So this is what he said in Sunday Conversation (via Peter Abraham):

On PEDs: “The reason why I’m laughing is because I don’t even drink coffee. And if I don’t drink coffee, I would never put in my mind or think to put that in my body. If the talent that God has given me is not enough, well, I’ll have to quit. When I leave this game I know deep in my mind, deep in my heart that I was clean.”

And those who disappointed:

• Marlon Byrd - Working with Victor Conte to provide you "supplements" and admitting such, as Shysterball reports, is pretty f'ing dumb. Even if it's totally legit, it's really dumb. Like incredibly boneheaded.
• John Smoltz - Baseball Tonight and Ken Rosenthal thinks that this start was good? To me it looks like Chien-Ming Wang.
• Dice-K - Daisuke Matsuzaka isn't exactly living up to that $103 million contract. Rob Neyer calls him "Boston's $103 million man-bust". Oliver Perez and Wang at least had real injuries when they were put on the DL. Dice-K is just looking like another disappointing import from abroad. He had been an OK pitcher in the past, but this year according to Neyer:

This year ... Well, you know about this year.

In retrospect, investing $103 million in a pitcher who'd never pitched against most of the best hitters in the world seems at least a little bit risky, right? Particularly a pitcher who had, by all accounts, thrown an immense number of pitches before reaching physical maturity? Oh, and do you remember when Matsuzaka was held up as a shining example of why young pitchers should not be babied?

• Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte - It's not his fault, but Nady may be done. Marte hasn't pitched in a long time and may not for the rest of the season. And the Yankees have Marte for two more seasons after this one. That trade is looking worse and worse by the day. They should have insisted on Jason Bay.
• Sammy Sosa - First came the failed steroids test last week and now this week CNBC's Darren Rovell is reporting that former slugger Sammy Sosa actually altered his jersey to make his arms look bigger. Between the corked bat, this revelation about the sleeves, Sosa's walking out on the Cubs, and the PED use, it is shown that was always about Sammy and his image. Sad downfall for a guy who was so beloved in 1998.
• Andy Pettitte - According to Play Index, there are only three lefties in Major League history who have won 190 games and have a better winning percentage than Pettitte's .631: Whitey Ford, Lefty Grove, and Randy Johnson. That's better than Tom Glavine, Warren Spahn, or Steve Carlton. But after failing down the stretch last year, Pettitte is looking like he may be finished. Some of his problems at home I can understand, but he had an 8-1 lead yesterday and couldn't get out of the 4th inning. Some of that had to do with bad defense, but he was pretty brutal also. The Yankees need him to get back to pitching well, though you have to wonder whether this it for Andy being Dandy. Remember when he thought he was worth $16 million?
• Matt Holliday - This guy may be close to untradeable according to MLBTradeRumors: who is going to pay $13.5 million to take on a guy who is only hitting .197 in his last 17 games, with an OPS under .600 (his second big slump of the season)? And, moreover, who would give up any type of prospects for this guy? This move and the ditching of the movie makes this a bad month for Moneyball and Billy Beane.
• Minnesota Timberwolves - Nice job moving up in the draft and getting Ricky Rubio, but how many point guards does one team need? There has to be another trade coming? Right? And then what was the point of trading up in the first place?
• Florian Busch - ESPN reports about this German hockey player who was banned for two years for refusing to take a drug test for a few hours while he was chilling with his girlfriend. That's rough. But after this quote, you wonder what he was doing during the doping test: Germany coach Uwe Krupp said Busch was sharing "a private moment" with his girlfriend when the testing team arrived.