All Filler, No Killer

Sometimes it can be a challenge to come up with material for a trade post. I think everyone in this situation has experienced this. I mean this as no slight, of course, to the very generous Topps Baseball Fanatic, a name which practically speaks for itself. He kicked down a pretty healthy stack of my base needs from the current Topps Heritage set, to which I am very appreciative. Instead of showing off "the best" or a few "cards that intrigued me", I thought I'd instead gravitate to those that have been less fortunate. These guys have been crap.

I think Dustin Ackley's case, if he is to truly end up on the path of the can't miss flop, is one of the most frustrating. He had a very respectable rookie year on a very lousy Mariners team. I don't know if it's been the pressure to produce on a offensively challenged offense for three straight years or the salty seafood air or the garlic fries, but Ackley has been dreadful since that first year. Seattle is in the process of converting him to the outfield right now for some reason, but it's pretty surprising to see that the thing in his game that wasn't supposed to fail him (the bat) has been firing on no cylinders for some time now.

I'm not actively rooting against Brett Wallace or anything. He was the centerpiece in the trade that brought the Cardinals Matt Holliday, and then found himself traded twice more before he hit the majors. Wallace is another guy that was a question mark in the field with a solid bat, but he has a career .681 OPS in MLB and is 5 for 44 this season with Houston. Even the Full Rebuild Mode Astros may not have a place for him.

Technically speaking, Brandon League has only notched 4 of the Dodgers league leading 16 Blown Saves, but I imagine there is always a certain feeling of dread when he enters the game. He's been replaced in the closer's role by a pitching machine Kenley Jansen.

Dee Gordon can't hit anything but singles, but the (former) prospect has managed to 61 bases (and get caught 19 times) in what amounts to a full season's worth of MLB plate appearances. He does play a position of offensive limitation, so maybe he's not as bad as he seems? Of course, he did commit 18 errors last season in just 87 games. Yikes.

Also, the less said about A-Rod, the better.