First Topic: Overrated Player

First, I had this post in mind back when I assumed Colby Rasmus would be traded to a team that was looking for a win-now, immediate-impact, let's-set-the-world-on-fire ballplayer. But after seeing the trade that had him ending up in Toronto, I was fine with that. Rasmus still has a high ceiling and going to a team like Toronto (13 games out of first with outfielders the likes of Corey Patterson and Rajai Davis to support Jose Bautista makes sense. He'll become a pretty good player there I think and I like the move Toronto made (though they sure as hell need to find someone for third base. I think I Don't Know might be available.)

So after all that, I need to throw in my guy, the most overrated name I've been hearing in connection with the trade deadline, the guy that teams are "reportedly inquiring about" as so many reporters have typed 50,000 times in the past two weeks.

It's Ryan Ludwick. Obviously, that's an older picture of him, but whatever, you don't need to know what he's been doing in San Diego because it largely doesn't matter. A lot of teams have been linked to him (Atlanta, Cincy, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston sometimes) but the truth is that he isn't the dynamic player he was a few years ago or even last year.

His stats have fallen and are getting worse by the day. As I write this, he stands at .238, 11 and 62. The 62 RBI is great, of course, and 11 homers isn't bad and seemingly could double into his total from two years ago, but the fact is, teams seem to think that they're dealing with the .299, 37, 113 Ludwick of 2008, probably from when that picture was taken.

The truth is, Ludwick is down and getting to be out. You could argue his homer total is down because he plays at the Yellowstone-sized Petco Park, but his home run totals are nearly identical in games away from Petco as they are for games in Petco. Additionally, his home run totals have fallen pretty steadily over the years, starting with his breakout 37 in 2008, to 22 in 2009, to 17 in 2010. His OPS has too, going .966, .775, .743 respectively, with this year standing at .675.

On top of everything, he is getting ice-cold at a time when teams are thinking of picking him up for pennant run. His average is .165 in the past 21 games and he's hit a grand total of 3 home runs since May ended. And though Ludwick's glove isn't bad, he's still a left fielder and teams don't exactly trade to fortify their outfield defense around this time (see Matt Holliday, 2009).

So there it is, your most overrated player at 2011's deadline: Ryan Ludwick. I like the guy, but as scouts say, "He got old quick."