There's nothing quite like the feeling, two months after your rotisserie draft, of realizing that your team has a seeping cold sore where a first baseman should be. Alas, it's happened to us all—and by "us" we mean "you, mostly. And us that one time when we drafted via BlackBerry from the floor of Circus Circus."
Don't buy it? ESPN fantasy guru Matthew Berry has won more leagues than most Roto-Rooters have entered—he participated in 10 baseball leagues last year, finishing in the money in nine—and even he freely admits to having been scorched on a semi-regular basis. Here are his picks for the biggest fantasy busts of all time.
8. Mark Davis, RP, Kansas City Royals
Year: 1990
Stats: 6 saves, 5.11 ERAs in 69 innings
"I wasn't screwed by this one, but you have to put him up there. He went from winning the Cy Young (44 saves, 1.85 ERAs in 93 innings) to losing his mind. I say it all the time: Never pay for saves. There's always a guy like Kevin Gregg or Manny Corpas who's on nobody's radar."
7. Kaz Matsui, 2B New York Mets
Year: 2004
Stats: .272 BA, 7 HRs, 44 RBIs, 14 SBs
"He hit a home run in his first at-bat, which got everybody more excited than they already were. And that first season wasn't so terrible. It just felt that way after we heard he was going to steal 30 bases and hit .300."
6. Robby Alomar, 2B New York Mets
Year: 2002
Stats: .266, 11 HRs, 53 RBIs, 16 SBs
"The year before, he had one of the best seasons ever for a second baseman (.336, 20 HRs, 100 RBIs, 30 SBs). Then he comes to New York, everybody says the Mets got him for nothing, and he just collapses. People are still pissed at him." [Laughs]
5. Richie Sexson, 1B Seattle Mariners
Year: 2007
Stats: .203 BA, .295 OBP, 23 HRs, 69 RBIs in 434 at-bats
"He killed me in Tout Wars. You know his average isn't ever going to be great, but he just fell off the map power-wise. The two years before this, he had over 30 homers and 100 RBIs, and didn't kill you that bad on average. What a waste."
4. J.D. Drew, OF St. Louis/Atlanta/Los Angeles/Boston, lifetime achievement
"Every year you hear how he's got power and speed and everything. For all the hype, he's hit more than 20 home runs twice in his 10-year career and he's never stolen 20 bases. I've always hated him. He's one of the guys from whom you take it a little personally."
3. Carl Pavano, P New York Yankees
Year: 2005
Stats: 4–6, 4.77 ERAs, 100 innings pitched
"Almost everyone the Yankees have touched the last few years—Pavano, Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright, Jeff Weaver—has turned out terrible. Pavano was bad before he got hurt. People who drafted him assumed he would get wins just because he was a Yankee. You can't be more wrong than that."
2. Hideki Irabu, P New York Yankees
Year: 1997
Stats: 5–4, 7.09 ERAs, 69 hits allowed and 20 walks in 53 innings
"After Hideo Nomo did so well, people thought this guy was going to walk in and dominate from day one. He wasn't any good, and the perception was that he was fat and lazy. Playing in New York made the expectations so high."
1. Mark Prior, P Chicago Cubs
Year: 2004
Stats: 6–4, 4.02 ERAs, only 119 innings pitched
"He was dominant the year before, so everybody expected huge things. It was partially [manager] Dusty Baker's fault, because he worked the guy so hard, but his mechanics got out of whack, too. Why even assign a year to him? He just crushes your dreams. He's done it to everybody."