With all of the Cubs prospects nearing the big leagues and the White Sox working on their "retooling" at the current time, I thought it would be a great time to dash everyone's hopes of any of them being successful baseball players by naming all of the worst busts for each team over the last 15 years. Now, understand, these are guys that the Cubs or White Sox actually gave at least a good season worth to. If the player was given up to bring someone to the Cubs or White Sox, then that forgives them and keeps them off the list. So someone like Hee-Seop Choi gets off since he was what brought Derrick Lee to the Cubs (also, his bat might actually play well today with the steroids era over). So here we go.
Francis Beltran - Beltran is the first one I used because he's a great example of a player that could have avoided this list if the Garciaparra trade had netted the Cubs more than a good Matt Murton year. Beltran was the main piece in that trade. However, before that, with the Cubs, he was simply horrible, despite being seen as a very good pitching prospect. He didn't fare any better after leaving the Cubs.
Lorenzo Barcelo - Barcelo actually started off doing alright in his first season. However, soon after that he had a rough second season, and the third season was just terrible, and only lasted for 4 appearances that year with the White Sox. Since then he hasn't pitched anywhere.
Mike Caruso - Caruso actually brought a lot of hope his rookie year. He finished third in rookie of the league voting and hit over .300. However, he was a very light hitting shortstop still, as in almost no power at all. Also, in the field he was atrocious. I'll get to that in a second though. His second year at the plate he wound up hitting only .250. Throw in that he barely ever walked, and had a slugging percentage of .297 and you can see how useless he really was at the plate. When you commit 59 errors in just two seasons, you're not going to stick. He was absolutely terrible and sent back down and later wound up with Kansas City. There he got 2 hits in 12 games for a .100 batting average. At least in the field he only made 1 error in that time.
Corey Patterson - Patterson was another player that played well before collapsing. His first full season wasn't anything special, but he was still 22 years old. A year later he got off to a great start to the year and was hitting .298 with 13 home runs in around half a season before getting hurt. He never came close to that again, and for someone who was a top 20 prospect in all of baseball, he wound up being well below average throughout the rest of his career.
Dan Wright - Wright was a highly touted prospect that just never really panned out. During his four seasons with the White Sox his lowest ERA of any season was 5.18. Sure, it was the steroid era, but that's still a bad ERA, no matter what era it is, and that was his best year.
Juan Cruz - Cruz had a better career than almost anyone on this list, as he did wind up having a nice 12 year career with a career ERA of 4.05. However, his time with the Cubs, despite one bright spot, was not the best, and when they got rid of him they didn't really get barely anything for him. He started off well, then in 2002 was actually pitching very well as a starter. However, Mark Prior's return from the disabled list meant that either he or Jason Bere had to go to the bullpen. Despite Cruz having the much better ERA at the time it was him that went into the bullpen. He didn't adjust well and watched as his ERA went up higher and higher until the Cubs were forced to trade him. Remember that he was even more highly touted coming up than Carlos Zambrano was.
Kip Wells - He actually looked okay his first year in the league, but after that he fell hard. It's amazing he even lasted 20 starts his second year in the league, and his third year in the league was tolerable, but still bad. He was traded after that for what amounted to pretty much be nothing. On a positive note, later I would often get him and Kris Benson confused with each other, and despite being completely nuts, Kris Benson did have a hot wife back then.
Joe Borchard - I almost took him off this list because he actually fell just short of 300 at bats with the White Sox and he did net the White Sox Matt Thornton in a trade. However, as far as a player goes, he's probably the worst of this bunch. Hopefully he's a sign of how far scouting has come in the last 12 years, because I'd hate to see a player with a bat that slow ever be a top 25 prospect ever again. His bat was so slow that he'd have trouble catching up with a Jamie Moyer fastball in Moyer's last year. Heck, he'd probably have trouble catching up with a Charlie Hough fastball today. I don't get where those 12 home runs came from, especially one of them being the longest in the history of New Comiskey (hate calling it the Cell or anything like it). Still though, I don't know how scouts could even have projected him to be a good player. His only season hitting over .200 for the White Sox was a year when he hit .222 in 36 at bats. So yes, I bent the rules here, but it was for good reason.
Felix Pie - Felix Pie also fell short of 300 at bats, but still had a little over 200, so I'll let him make the cut. He also didn't net the Cubs anything of value in a trade, so all in all he was a bust. He was one of the most highly touted prospects that I have seen come through the Cubs system, and at least there was reason. Athletically he reminded people of a young Vlad Guerrero with his combination of power and speed. However, he never did learn how to hit, and he was never able to even be an average player for the Cubs.
Josh Fields - Fields is one of those guys on here who actually had a decent season. In 2007 he actually had an OPS of .788. However, that was on the shoulders of his 23 home runs. He always had a very low average, and that home run power really only flashed itself in 2007. For someone the White Sox and their fans had so much hope for, he just really never was able to be a big league regular.
Brian Anderson - When the Aaron Rowand trade was made that got the White Sox Jim Thome, I was a bit worried. I mean, Thome was a great hitter still, despite his age, but he offered nothing in the field at all as a DH. At the same time, Rowand was nowhere near the hitter Thome was, but he was still a solid bat, and he played a premium defensive position, and played it well. My big question to my friends who were diehard White Sox fans was what the White Sox were going to do with center field. They confidently told me not to worry, because Brian Anderson was a sure thing to be at least a good center fielder. Boston did get 21 decent games out of Anderson, but he was absolutely horrible in his 4 1/2 years with the White Sox. It wasn't just a player not living up to the hype, he was bad. He was decent in the field and awful at the plate.
Brett Jackson - Jackson probably climbed up the ranks a bit faster than he should have, but given his mix of power and speed, it was easy to fall in love with him. I'm cheating a bit here as well since him (and the next guy) only played part of a season with the Cubs, and especially since both are still in the Cubs system still, but both were just bad with the Cubs. I will give Jackson credit for his defense being good, but he seemed to strike out every time he came up.
Josh Vitters - Yep, you probably guessed it. Vitters hit even worse than Jackson when he was up, although he didn't strike out as much. Still, he was a poor fielder and even worse at the plate. Like Brett Jackson, the book isn't totally closed on him, but don't expect him to redeem himself.
Tyler Flowers - Flowers is in the same boat as tose two, but is less of a bust. One reason is because he's at least staying at the big league level. However, his career .210 average and 27 home runs in 800 at bats won't cut it for a catcher who's really seen as more of a bat than a glove guy. He's there, but he's playing poorly.
Injury Exceptions - Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Angel Guzman are all injury exceptions that were at least worth a mention. Guzman had a good final season with the Cubs, but after that the arm injuries had gotten to be too much for him. He is still a coach in the Cubs minor league system. Everyone knows Prior's story. Clearly a case of someone who just didn't meet expectations due to injury. Before the injuries set in though he was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. The same can be said for Kerry Wood. His 20 strikeout game is still arguably the best pitched game in baseball history.
So there you have it. Things have changed a lot since many of these guys were seen as major prospects. However, there is always that chance with every player, even when they're tearing up the upper level of the minors, that they'll just top out before they can be anything than a subpar big league guy. There are guys in the upper levels for both Chicago teams that have high expectations, but still, don't let yourself get too carried away with optimism.
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