Chicago Cubs: SS Dansby Swanson

It has been a brutal year for well-compensated shortstops in either their age-32 or age-33 season. From Trea Turner, Javier Báez and Mookie Betts to Corey Seager, Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts, there sure are a bunch of veterans making at least $20M for a sub-.700 OPS.

Swanson’s fall from grace, though, might be the most troubling of them all.

He’s still an excellent defensive shortstop and a plus baserunner when he does get hits. But word has clearly gotten out that Swanson can’t hit anything other than fastballs this season.

Per Baseball Savant, he is batting .067 against curveballs, .051 against sliders and .040 against changeups. And because of that, he is both seeing fastballs at the lowest rate of his career and slugging (.308) as haplessly as ever.

Cincinnati Reds: DH/3B Eugenio Suárez

Over the previous eight seasons, Suárez ranked sixth in the majors with 261 home runs, culminating in last year’s 49-dinger spectacular. So Cincinnati brought him back after four years away, hoping he would beef up a lineup in which no one had more than 22 home runs in 2025. Instead, he has his worst OPS (.682) in more than a decade, even including Monday’s pair of homers in a 12-0 rout of the Mets. He might be on the trade block for a second consecutive summer, but in a much less coveted role this time around.

Milwaukee Brewers: RHP Brandon Sproat

When the Brewers gave up their final year of Freddy Peralta for Sproat and Jett Williams, it was quite clearly a long-term decision to gain a pair of top prospects that they’ll have into the 2030s. But they’re still trying to win a World Series this year, and having Sproat’s 5.70 ERA in the middle of the starting rotation isn’t much helping. (He did have a quality start last week in Las Vegas, though. No one else who pitched in the six-game stretch in that launching pad can make that claim.)

Pittsburgh Pirates: DH Marcell Ozuna

At what point does Pittsburgh just give up the ghost here and designate Ozuna for assignment? Not only is he slugging below .300 for the year, but lately, they haven’t even been using him 30 percent of the time. Ozuna has played in just five of the Pirates’ last 17 games—and was replaced by a pinch hitter in three of those five appearances. Even with both Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz on the IL, they are avoiding his .574 OPS like the plague.

St. Louis Cardinals: SS Masyn Winn

During his first full season in the majors (2024), Winn ranked top 20 among position players in bWAR. A good chunk of that value came from his glove, but he had 15 home runs and 52 extra-base hits. This year, though, he’s not hitting much of anything, on pace for around five and 31, respectively. He’s not in imminent danger of getting optioned back to the minors like Victor Scott II and Nolan Gorman recently were, but the Cardinals could really use more offense than they’ve been getting from their shortstop if they’re going to stay in playoff position.