Delmon Young:
Delmon Young, the player that fans love to hate. A lot of times, its pretty easy to see why. He had (or has) all the talent in the world and the perception is that he doesn't put in the appropriate effort. The guy will hack at any pitch (no more than 35 walks in a season) and whenever he catches on with a given team, it gives the fanbase of said team a sense of dread. When doing research on him, one of the articles on baseball-reference was one about the worst #1 draft picks over the last 20 years (from the website battingleadoff.com.
Offensively, he had one pretty solid season (2010) and despite the absence of any batting discretion/selection his career OPS+ is pretty average (98). However, what marginal value he brings on the offense is more than countered by being a defensive liability. He's been below replacement level defensively in every year of his career (except for 2006 when he only played 30 games).
Despite all the criticism and jokes made at his expense, the teams he has been on have tended to win games (even if he hasn't contributed to this) as he's seen post-season action the last five years and hit relatively well in the small sample size of post-season play.
The one thing that is quickly forgotten is that he is still relatively young. His closest comparison through age-27 is Jeff Francoeur another playing who struggles with the concept of what a strike zone and what it is. After turning 27, Francoeur has turned in a couple of sub-replacement level years and is barely hanging on to his career despite being young.
Andres Torres:
He has a couple of out of nowhere good seasons in 2010 & 2011but that peak has come and gone (his OPS+ has been 85-ish over the last few years). He's not getting any younger (35) and the best case scenario is for him to catch on as a fourth or fifth outfielder. His most similar player through 35 is Kosuke Fukudome who has not played since his age 35 season in 2012.
Wilson Betemit:
For most of his career, he's been good enough to do a decent job against major league pitching (104 OPS+) but never good enough to be able to play full time or to get a DH gig where his sub-par defense can be hidden. While he has played at least 20 games at four different positions, he hasn't played any of these positions well defensively as he's played sub-replacement level defense for every team he's played for. He could be a good candidate as a pinch-hitter if there's anything left in his bat which there should be since he's still relatively young (31). His most similar batter, is Russ Davis. His last season was his age 31 season which saw him hit pretty well in limited duty.
Grady Sizemore:
For a few years, it looked like Sizemore had a chance to be one of the elite players of this era. However, as what has happened with many a promising career, his appears to be derailed by injuries. He hit for a good average, had good power, good speed and a good eye (drawing 101 walks in 2007). Basically, it comes down to can he come back from his injury issues and still be a productive player. After a couple of bad years, the Indians seem to think the answer to this question is no.
The one thing to keep in mind is that he's still only 28 years old. The most similar player through age-28 was Reggie Smith. Unlike many other players top similar who basically washed out after their analyzed age, Reggie Smith's career was far from over after 28. He played for 9 more years, found himself in a few all-star games and he had a WAR above 4 in four of those seasons. Bottom line, is that if another team is willing to take a risk on Sizemore for 2014, this could be one of those unheralded moves that looks like its a genius move by the end of this year.
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