TBOH Award – Biggest Disappointment: Dom Brown
Jun 10, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Domonic Brown (9) tumbles after making a catch against the San Diego Padres in the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Phillies defeated the Padres, 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Our final TBOH Award for the 2014 Philadelphia Phillies is the Biggest Disappointment of the Year. We nearly had a four way tie given there were plenty of disappointments for the Phils this year. But Domonic Brown had the majority vote.
Was A.J. Burnett worth the $15 million the Phillies gave him in 2014? That might depend on who you ask. The innings pitched, hey, that was great. They weren’t all quality innings, but the club was in a down year and somebody had to throw them. But ultimately, he was overpaid. Is that news?! I hope not.
Burnett has been touted for his clubhouse presence, he’s been around and often guys respect him. Why do I get the feeling that wasn’t the case for him with Philadelphia? I think it’s a big part of why he’s gone back to the Pirates. He simply didn’t leave the clubhouse, or the fan base for that matter, better than when he came on.
Now I know you don’t pay a guy necessarily to be a leader, but you do pay him to play. An 8-18 record with 96 walks just doesn’t cut it. Nobody should’ve expected Burnett to be a top notch starter, but I personally feel he needed to be better.
All in all, I have respect for the guy, but he’s my vote for this one.
Honestly, I considered Burnett. But he gave the Phillies 34 starts and 213.2 innings, striking out 190. We shouldn’t have expected too much more than that from the 37-year old. And what did you expect from Domonic Brown, who is awful at baseball and played down to that awful level this year? They didn’t disappoint, because I didn’t expect much. I expected Cliff Lee to team with Cole Hamels as a dynamic 1-2 punch atop the rotation, with Burnett giving us an innings-eater at the 3-hole. It wasn’t Cliff’s fault, he got hurt. Because of that, he got just the 13 starts, pitched just 81.1 innings, and in those he yielded 100 hits, going 4-5 with a 3.65 ERA. His K/BB remained outstanding, but I expected both a better performance overall, and a full season of his usual excellence. His inability to stay healthy, combined with some hiccups when he was, was a real disappointment.
Mike Lacy – Domonic Brown
Dom Brown was the Phillies’ best prospect in years. The team seemed willing to trade every prospect in their system in exchange for veterans, but Brown was the one guy they absolutely would not part with. Combined with ESPN ranking him as the top prospect in the minor leagues at one point, and Phillies fans had reason to believe he was the team’s next superstar.
Brown’s career took some time to get going. Injuries and inconsistent playing time caused him to spend 2011 and 2012 being bounced back and forth from the minor leagues. But in 2013, he was given a full-time spot, and he did not disappoint.
Thanks to an insane month-long stretch when he seemingly homered every night, Brown finally had the breakthrough season we had been waiting for. He hit 27 homers and was named to the National League All-Star team.
With the majority of the team’s veteran lineup in decline, the Phillies were counting on Brown to be a lineup anchor in 2014. But all he did was help drag the team to the bottom of the National League East.
His plate discipline – once a strength in the minor leagues – vanished. His home run total plummeted to 10. And his defense – never that good to begin with – seemed to get worse.
Instead of the team’s next superstar, Brown was one of the worst players in baseball in 2014.
Oliver Fisher – Domonic Brown
It would be so easy to pick Ryan Howard here, but I feel like he can’t be fairly judged due to the scapegoat victimization he has received, his age playing a factor, and the way the management messed him around in the platoon role.
As a result, I have had to pick Domonic Brown, as the young left-fielder really hasn’t shown any development once again. Notice how I said young, and that’s the misconception, he isn’t young anymore. At 27 years of age one feels that he would have stamped his claim as a starting outfielder by now if he was a serious player.