Don't Believe The Hype

Todd Van Poppel, OTOH, was a complete bust.

:D

And Randy Tomlin, whatever happened to him?

Von Hayes was a pretty good player, but he never could live up to the hype of that 5 for 1 trade to the Phils which included Julio Franco.

Bill Pulsipher!
Arquimedez Pozo!
Brian Rose!
Brooks Kieschnick!
Kurt Brown (notable for being taken #5 in 1985 and never making the majors - the sixth pick was some guy named Barry Bonds)!
Proto-Francoeur Kevin Maas!

And, recently, Jeff Allison - whose painkiller addiction and near-fatal heroin overdose surely has to rank him near Nash in terms of overall ignominy.

Joe Charboneau was another a big deal and his rookie cards were going high dollar until the next season and the flop. I know there was a big Sports Illustrated article about Charboneau, but I can't remember if he got a cover story. I suppose he at least had one good season before turning back into a pumpkin.

I don't think that quote from Ted Williams hyping Daryl Strawberry ever did him much good.

I saw on a baseball site that Cal Elred announced his retirement yesterday. Eldred had a long career as an end of the bullpen pitcher and a couple of decent years as a starter, but there was a bunch of people comparing him to Tom Seaver when he came up with Milwaukee.

I suppose we should give some props to a guy like Gary Sheffield, who was hyped up big time when he came up with Milwaukee. It seemed like Sheff would flame out and he came close a few times, but somehow managed to keep it together and have a productive career.

http://www.sportlots.com/gifs/bonus/89sheffield.jpg

Willie Greene was hyped in Cinci for five years to be the future third basemen of the Reds. He started there for a couple of years, but never became a star.

Sam Horn has to be a legand of this kind of thing, criminy that big Red Sox site is named in his 'honor'.

Jose Rijo was rushed to the majors, so that The Boss would have his own young star pitcher like Doc Gooden. Rijo was a very good pitcher when he was healthy, but I always wondered if how he was treated coming up led to all of the injuries down the line.

Tim Leary had a good year with LA when they beat the A's in the series and I think may have actually gotten a decent sized free agent contract out of the Yanks a few years later. Leary sucked when he was with the Reds.

I was given a couple of Sports magazines baseball issues from 1987 by a lady at work that are a scream. Cory Snyder is featured as being a rising star well ahead of one Barry Bonds in one upcoming players article. There is a good article in one by Thomas Boswell that is also kind of "Moneyballish". I need to get them out and post some of the gems I read in them, one issue is a baseball preview and the other is some article about how much players get paid and are they worth it.