5 players off to surprising ice-cold starts
No one can be good all the time, and some of baseball's best are feeling the negative side of the sport's ebbs and flows more than others with the 2016 campaign reaching its third week.
Although the MLB season is still young, there's a large enough sample size available to determine who's off to a red-hot start or an ice-cold beginning.
Here are five big-leaguers off to surprisingly slow starts:
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals won 100 games last season, while only getting seven appearances - four starts - out of their ace, Wainwright, who made a stunning late-season comeback from a ruptured Achilles tendon, missing only five months.
Wainwright, however, hasn't looked like the pitcher of old, starting even before the season when he allowed a .302 opponent's batting average in spring training. The same poor results have carried over to the regular season.
The 34-year-old has allowed 29 hits in 22 1/3 innings, but the more glaring numbers are his ERA (7.25) and walk rate (four per nine innings).
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
Rodriguez plans to retire after the 2017 season, and after a remarkable comeback year in 2015 where he belted 33 home runs and collected 86 RBIs, the 40-year-old is off to a rough start.
The should-be Hall of Famer and three-time MVP is slashing a meager .145/.242/.273 and recently left a game with oblique stiffness on his left side.
Although Rodriguez said he felt good despite the injury, manager Joe Girardi isn't as optimistic, which could drastically affect his performance moving forward.
David Price, Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox $217-million man isn't off to the greatest of starts with his new club.
Although Price owns a perfect 2-0 record, his ERA sits at a concerning 7.04 after just four starts, which included a shellacking courtesy of his former club in Tampa Bay, who isn't not known for its offensive prowess.
And while Price is still striking hitters out, setting down 32 in 21 2/3 innings, Boston surely won't care about that stat if its high-priced ace can't keep runs off the board.
Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox
The Cuban sensation, who took MLB by storm during his rookie season in 2014, isn't one of the reasons the White Sox are off to a great start.
Abreu, whose averaged 30-plus home runs and 100-plus RBIs since coming to the bigs, has an OPS of just .592 to go along with 21 strikeouts.
The 29-year-old has also reportedly been named in a human trafficking indictment, where he allegedly paid former agents close to $6 million to get him to the U.S.
Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays
Archer, a popular preseason choice to challenge for the American League Cy Young Award, isn't looking like the pitcher who dominated hitters with one of the most electric sliders of all time in 2015.
After opening the year with 12 strikeouts over five innings against the Blue Jays, he stumbled to the tune of 14 earned runs over his next three starts while giving up 25 hits. The 27-year-old Rays right-hander finally showed some of his old form Monday when he held the offensively gifted Baltimore Orioles scoreless over 6 2/3 innings, but he'll need more consistency if Tampa Bay intends to compete in the AL East.